Standing Firm in God's Grace
Notes
Transcript
Summary: In 1 Peter 5:6-11, the apostle Peter encourages believers to humble themselves before God, cast their anxieties on Him, and remain watchful against the adversary while standing firm in the grace of God.
Application: This passage inspires Christians to develop a posture of humility and reliance on God, especially during times of distress. For those struggling with anxiety or spiritual warfare, it offers reassurance that God cares for their burdens and provides the strength needed to resist temptation.
Teaching: The sermon can teach that humility and vigilance are essential for spiritual health. Believers need to recognize their dependence on God's grace and actively participate in resisting the adversary's schemes to maintain their faith.
How this passage could point to Christ: Christ's redemptive work exemplifies true humility and submission to the Father's will. In His victory over sin and death, He empowers believers to stand firm and assures them of God's grace amid trials.
Big Idea: Embody humility and vigilance as you rely on God's grace to stand firm against spiritual challenges.
Recommended Study: As you prepare this sermon, consider using your Logos library to explore the historical and cultural context of Peter's audience. Look into the significance of humility in Greco-Roman society versus the Christian worldview, and examine scholarly commentaries on the nuances of 'casting all your anxiety' to deepen your understanding of the text.
December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States in Hawaii. The very next day, December 8, 1941, the United States declared war against Japan. Newspapers throughout the United States and other nations put out papers with the main headline saying war was declared. World War II was a pivotal time in the world and we can still feel some of its repercussions even today.
However, I want to point out a war which has even more significance for us. It is found in Genesis.
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
This was the first attack. Genesis 3:14 begins the declaration of war.
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;
The declaration goes and says what the curse is for each participant in the attack against God.
And still today we are at war.
We might not be fighting a war with tanks and guns. We may not be fighting a war in the conventional sense but make no mistake, we are at war.
This war is often referred to as spiritual warfare and it is. At times that title gives us a little problem. We can tend to see this war as something in the spiritual realm and there are these floaty things out there that look like sheets who are fighting this war. All we have to do is stay out of their way and live this life. That thinking places us in great danger because we are a part of this war whether we want to be in it or not.
Other lives depend upon us doing what God calls us to do. Part of what God calls us to do is to live lives to glorify Him. These lives are to point to Christ but also to show others how to be victorious against a deadly enemy.
Open your Bibles to the passage for today. 1Peter 5:6-11
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time,
7 having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world.
10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter tells us that we should embody humility, remain vigilant against the enemy but to still live knowing God has already conquered all enemies.
1. Humble Yourselves
Peter has told us multiple times that we need to be humble people.
Being humble is not easy, it goes against our sin nature. Our sin nature tells us that we are important, probably more important than the person next to us, definitely more important than someone sitting on the other side of the church.
And obviously, I must be more important than you because I am in front of everyone. E F Hutton can take lessons from me. And even worse, I could start to think that God thinks I am more important than you because He has put me up front.
Humility is probably one of the most difficult things to have. And as I have said it goes against our sin nature.
There are certain words that I have difficulty saying. No matter how much I practice saying them, no matter how I break them down and try to say them correctly, I cannot manage to get them just right. Then there are names and words in the Bible that are even more difficult for me and no matter what I do, I can’t get them right.
And then there are times when I am preaching that I start to get excited, I am trying to relay to you what God has taught me and what God has given us through His Word and as I get excited I tend to talk faster, I can get more emphatic and I know when this happens I will both trip over my own words or my excitement can come out more like I am being stern. I know this, I try not to do this but then I am I get going and it just comes out. For these reasons and others, I hate to listen to myself. But I am pretty sure God allows this to help keep my humble, to help remind me that it is His job to use His Word to help you.
So I think, in this life, we will always have a struggle staying humble. Peter knows this personally and so he has tried to remind us about this struggle. To help us remember as well as to help us know why we should be humble, Peter tells us that humility begins with humility toward God.
But why should we humble ourselves under God? I know, silly question but not really. If being humble starts with being humble under God, then reminding ourselves why often helps.
Throughout the OT, we read how God intervenes on behalf of His People. There are multiple stories about God’s intervention for His people. God always acts for the sake of those whom He has called His people. Always. Look at Exodus. An entire story of God acting for the sake of His people. Taking them from slavery to freedom and caring for them during the journey to freedom.
We also read in the OT how God will discipline His people by imposing suffering on them. We can look again at the journey of Exodus and see those times of suffering. At the end, in sight of the promised land, God has them spend more time in the desert due to their rebellion, 40 years time so that the current rebellious generation passes away.
As Christians, we are called to humble ourselves under Christ, to follow Christ and become Christ-like as we mature. And we can read how Christ humbled Himself under God.
As Christians, we know we have had and we will have times of pain, times of suffering, times of discipline but we also know from God’s repeated story of redemption that God will always protect His people and bring us safely through whatever we are facing.
We learn that God will allow suffering but that God also sets the limits of that suffering and even in the midst of that suffering, God is present with us.
Those who will obey God in this manner, by humbling themselves under His power, will be exalted by God at the right time. Satan wants you to think otherwise. Satan wants us to think that it is impossible for us to make it through whatever we are facing. It doesn’t matter what it is; it doesn’t matter that others have faced it and even worse, but Satan whispers, life is not worth this. Nothing is worth this.
God shouts to us, “I am … I am worth all this and more.” God tells us not only is He worth this but that at the right time He will lift us up and exalt us.
And it is all because He cares for us. And when we can grasp this; when we face the pain and turn to God and humble ourselves, we will find peace. Not simply a little break from the suffering but we will find peace even in the midst of suffering.
2. Heed the Adversary's Tactics
Even though we know God is sovereign and that God will protect us, we must head Satan’s tactics.
Keith Green has a song called, No One Believes In Me Anymore. Let me share some of the lyrics.
Oh, my job keeps getting easier
As time keeps slipping away
I can imitate your brightest light
And make your night look just like day
I put some truth in every lie
To tickle itching ears
You know I'm drawing people just like flies
'Cause they like what they hear
Further on in the song he sings:
Everyone likes a winner
With my help, you're guaranteed to win
And hey, man, you ain't no sinner
You've got the truth within
And as your life slips by
You believe the lie that you did it on your own
But don't worry
I'll be there to help you share our dark eternal home
And the refrain that continues though out the song is:
‘Cause no one believes in me any more.
The biblical writers took the existence of Satan and demons as a reality. Modern culture explains Satan away as bad chemical reactions in the brain that causes mental and physical issues. We can treat it by seeing a psychiatrist or physician. We either talk about it or medicate it and that takes care of the silly notion there is a devil or demons. ‘Cause no one believes in me any more.
The biblical writes not only believed in the existence of Satan and demons but they also wrote about him. Peter explains what our role is as a Christian that will help defeat Satan and the demons.
We are to be of sober and on the alert.
Sober means that we must be self-controlled. Being self-controlled means that we don’t let our emotions or our desires control our actions. It doesn’t negate our emotions, nor does it say our emotions are wrong. But we do not let those emotions or our desires be the major influence in our actions.
To be alert means that we are aware, that we are awake and not falling asleep. Part of being alert is that we recognize the existence of God’s enemy. I am not saying that every evil things is done by Satan or one of his demons. The fact is much in our lives that is bad is because we live in a fallen and sinful world. But Satan and demons do exist and they are at work against God. A major way they work is against God’s people. And so, we must recognize and be aware of their existence.
In the book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis observes that two opposing mistakes Christians make about Satan and demons is to disbelieve in their existence or to have an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.
Peter counters both of these by telling us that we must be sober and alert, know they do exist and they not only attack us but they do our brothers and sisters everywhere. And then tells us that if we stand firm in our faith we can resist them. Know that Satan exists but also know that God has defeated him and we are to stand firm in our faith looking toward God.
Though we try to be humble and we know God’s adversary is against us, we will still make mistakes and sin.
3. Hope in God's Restoration
At those times, we still know that God will restore us.
When Christ said it is finished and then died on the cross, He meant it is finished. It isn’t partially done. It isn’t almost over. It is finished, meaning the work on the cross has completed the payment for our sins. There is nothing else needed to have God’s forgiveness for our sins.
John MacArthur explained it this way. When God looks at the cross He sees me nailed to that cross. When God looks at me, He sees Christ, who died for me.
My sins have been taken away and Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to me.
Peter tells us this is more than a wish. Peter tells us that the God of grace “will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
I think the first part of that is the greatest. God Himself will do this.
If you want to do some work to your house invloving several things, you first have to find a contractor that can do that work. Then that contractor will supervise others who work for him and at times will sub contract some of the work out. God isn’t saying he is going to send His legal team to get things done. He is saying that He Himself will do all the planning and work to accomplish His plan for you. And He won’t stop until that plan is worked out perfectly, and you are actually established, or you have permanent residence in His mansion.
No matter what your sin is. No matter what you think of your sin. No matter what others think of your sin. No matter what the consequences of your sin are in this life, God forgives you and says repent, turn away from that sin and back to me and enjoy the life I have planned for you.
From time to time I get one of those fake messages through FB. It is supposed to be someone you know. They start out by asking you how you are and what you are doing like they are concerned about you. And then they want to know if you have heard about some new program and they can help you with that program. Just give them so much money and you will eventually get so much more in return.
This can make us leary when we hear that God cares for us. The world wants us to think that God doesn’t even exist or at the very least He can’t really care for you since He can do nothing about the evil that exists.
The truth is the opposite. God cares for you. God cares about you. God cares more than anyone else can. How do I know this?
Two ways. First, and though it might sound simple is the most important; the Bible tells me so.
Second, God through His mercy didn’t kill me last night like I deserved and God through His grace allowed me to live today.
What about you?
Let’s pray.
