Biblical Humility

1:30Well, 1 Peter is a book really that is designed to help a church endure difficult times. When we look at 1 Peter, the chapter that I've just, the section I've just read from chapter 5, he begins by addressing the elders there and talking about the leadership that is necessary for a church that is going to endure, have kingdom endurance and kingdom influence, even in a world that is against it. We just then saw another section about young men submitting to those elders. And I don't know why he chose young men there. Perhaps because young men would be most likely not to submit to their elders. But obviously, it is a biblical principle that all those in the church would submit to their elders. And Peter has, throughout his letter, talked a lot about submission and this idea of submitting to government authority in chapter 2, submitting to your employer or slaving slaves and masters, back to a first century illustration. Submitting as Christ submitted him to death, even death on a cross, as our example that we are called to endure injustice in this world as Christians. Submitting, wives, submitting to your husband, chapter 3.

2:49Chapter 3, verse 7, husbands, living with your wife in an understanding way, submitting to the lordship of Christ. And so we have this idea of submission being such A crucial attribute for those who are in the church. We come to the middle of verse 5 in our text, and we see this attribute of humility, humility, a forgotten attribute, one that cannot be faked. C.S. Lewis said, There is no greater pride than the one who strikes the pose of humility.

3:26And so, therefore, it's really important that we don't try to fake humility. That it's not a posture that we put on, it's a heart attitude, and it has to be genuine. And that's true at any time in the church, but especially when the church is going through difficult times, and the church has gone through difficult times. Shortly after Peter wrote his book, just three or four years after this letter was written to the church, there was great persecution of the church in Rome. Christians were burned alive. Later in that first, second century, there were Christians who were, for entertainment, they sewed animal skins on them and had lions come in and devour them, just as entertainment in the theater or in the big stadiums in those ancient times. When you think about Peter as the one who is writing this, Peter knew all about attitudes and what attitudes not to have in the kingdom and what attitudes to have. I mean, Peter knew firsthand from our Lord, that when he told you to watch and pray, that you shouldn't be sleeping. Being drowsy is not the attitude the church should have. Peter knew that when the church is threatened, when our Lord is threatened with violence, that pulling a sword off and chopping up someone's ear, and I think he was aiming for his head and missed.

4:53That's not the attitude after Jesus healed the servant of the chief priest there and told Peter himself, those who take up the sword will die by the sword. The way of the cross, the way that the church follows when we follow our Lord, is different than the way of the world. And we should respond differently. We should be seen differently. The way of the cross is for a wife whose unbelieving husband sees the way that she responds to his ill treatment. And he says, Why is it that when I treat her so terribly, she treats me so graciously? What is it about her? The employer looks at his employee and says, Either that's the dumbest employee in the world, or he actually has something that I don't have. He pities me.

5:43The government should never look at Christians and say, oh, Christians are some of the most difficult people to deal with. We follow the way of the cross. And the way of the cross draws people, points people to Christ in a way that the world cannot comprehend. Peter had seen the resurrected Christ. Peter was there when the church was established. Peter was arrested in Acts chapter 4. He was flogged in Acts chapter 5. Peter knew all about Stephen's martyr in Acts chapter 7.

6:18Peter would have been well aware of Stephen's final words as stones were pummeling him to death. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And then those final words he got out just before he died, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. That had an impact on men like Saul of Tarsus, later to become the Apostle Paul. In Acts chapter 12, King Herod killed James, the brother of John. And he saw that the people were so pleased with that, especially the Jews, that he arrested Peter.

6:57And if it weren't for the church and their prayer for Peter and God's intervention, Peter may very well have died in the same way that James did. But now we're about three decades later in the church. Peter has seen varying levels of persecution and freedom for the church. He writes to the church during very perilous times, especially for Christians to learn how to respond to a world around them that is growing in animosity against them. The first 300 years of the church's existence, the Roman government increased its efforts to eradicate the world of Christianity.

7:38And throughout the years and centuries, there have been seasons where the church has had more freedom and less freedom, but more often than not, it's been less freedom. There were conquests against the church in the 7th and 10th centuries, the Holy Land wars of the Middle Ages, John Hus being burned at the stake in 1415. That same year that John Huss was burned at the stake, they declared John Wycliffe a heretic, although John Wycliffe was already dead. Later, they exhumed his body and burned his bones to show their animosity against him as a heretic. That was persecution against the true church.

8:18The reign of Bloody Mary in the 1500s, during her five-year reign in England, 280 Christians were burned at the stake, many of them church leaders, including Hugh Latimer, who was burned together with Nicholas Ridley. They took them and bound them in chains around their hands and bound chains around their waists and put them back to back with a stake in the middle and brought bundles of wood and piled it up all around them and then brought one bundle of wood. They took sacks of gunpowder and tied it around their necks so when the flames got up there, there would be a Big explosion.

9:02They brought a burning bundle of sticks and set the other sticks around them on fire. And as the flames are coming up, Latimer yells out to Ridley, Be of good comfort, brother Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust will never be put out. Through it, all the church has endured, including a time from 1628 to 1640 where 4,000 Puritans fled to the United States, to the colonies.

9:4077 of those 4,000 were ordained ministers. It was about the time in 1620 that a group of people with a Christian worldview got on a ship called the Mayflower and came over to this land. And though the tide of animosity against the church in our own day can hardly compare with the violence and persecution the church has experienced over the years, there is a sense today in America where Christians need encouragement. If you have found yourself in recent days watching or listening to a newscast and being disheartened because the tide of the news seems to be threatening the freedom that the church enjoys, Be encouraged. The attitudes in this chapter are for you to employ.

10:41In the midst of growing hostility or animosity, we need to be united. And therefore, each one of us needs to be practicing biblical humility toward one another. And in our passage in 1 Peter 5, verses 5 through 7, we find really three evidences of humility that should help you to evaluate whether you're ready for a difficult time. Three evidences of humility for you in the church. This is such a rich section on humility because Peter doesn't only tell us to be humble, but he gives us evidences of what humility looks like. And that's great because we can look at the evidences and look at our own lives and say, am I really being humble or am I just striking the pose of humility?

11:35Again, once again, this is great to hear from Peter because Peter knew what it was like to not be humble. Once prematurely vowed before our Lord, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Actually, Peter, tonight, before the rooster crows, three times, you. Will deny me. About three decades later, now, Peter is admonishing the church to be humble, and he has these evidences of true humility. And the first evidence we find is true humility serves others. Biblical humility serves one another, serves others. Take a look, middle of verse five, it says, Clothe yourselves with humility. Notice the object here, the focus of it, toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The word clothe yourselves is an interesting word here. It actually means to tie on or to bind on. And it became an expression often associated with service or humility because in ancient times, when a slave was in a house, before he would do menial tasks, tasks like washing feet, tasks like cleaning dirty areas. In order to keep the filth and stain off of himself, he was given an apron and he would tie it on. And that expression, tie it on, or bind it on, became so associated with lowly, humble action, and that's the picture here. Peter uses these words, clothe yourselves with humility. Tie it on.

13:20He has in mind that the church will be so unlike the world, the world never wants to be seen as a slave, humble, doing dirty work. To be big shots, important, but he says, all of you, all of you. He's just spoken to the elders and then to young men, but now he's saying, Everybody in the church, including the elders, including the young men, including women, younger women, older women, wealthy, poor, educated, uneducated, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility.

13:58He quotes Proverbs 3:34, an Old Testament passage. It might be in caps in your scriptures. The quote is this: For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And what's interesting about this is that in Proverbs, it's within the context of those who are proud against God, those who rise up and smite God or are stiff-armed to God, those who scoff at God, God is opposed to them for scoffing at him. That's the Old Testament use and context behind Proverbs 3:34.

14:42James quotes the same proverb and also puts it in the context of those who are against God. In James 4, verses 4 through 7, James writes, You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes To be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God, or do you think that Scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us, but He gives greater grace. Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit, therefore, to God.

15:24God is opposed to those who rise up against Him. As one writer said, the sinner may shake his fists up to the heavens, but God will determine how many times He will shake that fist and whether or not He will live another day to shake it again. But what's interesting about Peter, when he quotes Proverbs 3:34, it's not within the context of shaking your fist at God, it's shaking your fist at one another. It's at pride coming up between one another. We learn that God is not only opposed to those who scoff at Him, but He is against you if you demonstrate pride against your brother.

16:11Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The application is here: that we should be putting others above ourselves. We should consider others to be better than ourselves. We should refuse to put the spotlight on us or on our own accomplishment, but instead show care and concern to those who are around us. Sometimes when I'm talking to people, a number of years ago, somebody told me this illustration, it's just stuck in my mind. But he says, imagine there's a spotlight on you every time you talk about yourself. And you're in a conversation with someone else. And when you ask them about them and they talk about themselves, you put the spotlight on them. We live in a culture and a society where we want people to think good of us. And so we're constantly turning the spotlight on ourselves. Well, I did this and I accomplished this and I did this. And well, is it, oh, that? Well, that's nothing. Wait till you hear what I did. And this is all about me.

17:29I wonder if you had a 30-minute conversation with somebody and you timed the amount of time the spotlight was on yourself or on them, how much you'd be reaching out and saying, oh, but what about you? I tell this to every person who comes on a mission trip. When we were over in Africa and we'd invite mission trips over, people would say, what advice do you give us before we go home? And I would say, minister to others. Because the tendency is they say, hey, how was your trip? What did you do? What was it like? And it sounds like they're interested. And the minute you start talking about Malawi and the city of Lelongway and the people at Central African Preaching Academy, and there's this one guy, and all of a sudden their eyes just kind of glaze over, and they can't, there's not going. And then you could walk away from that conversation. You've just talked for 20 minutes about something. They walk away and they're like, wow, I don't know how to relate to that. So I said, I tell people, they ask you about the ministry you're involved in, take that spotlight and turn it on them. How are you doing? We've been gone for a couple weeks. What's going on with your family? What about this situation with your uncle? Or, hey, you know, and keep on asking, keep on ministering to them.

18:39Make them tear it out of you. If they want to know, they're not going to let it go. Why is it that we have to talk about ourselves and our ministry and what we did and you people who stayed back here? The church needs to avoid pride, an attribute which many people don't even think about. Everybody wants to say we're number one. That's what I told Thomas yesterday. We're number two, baby. We're number two. And I'm proud of that, number two, because I don't want to be number one. Because number one, I'd be too proud.

19:25What would you rather have? God's opposition against you or his grace bestowed you? Upon you, because God gives grace to the humble. We know we need unmerited favor. We know we need it for salvation, but do you realize you need it every day? That every day is a gift from God and you need His grace to grow? If you want His grace, be humble because God gives grace to the humble. And that humility is evidenced when you serve others. But there's a second evidence of humility in our passage, a second evidence of humility, not only when you serve others, but humility is evidenced in your life when you settle yourself under God's hand. When you settle yourself under God's hand. Take a look at verse 6.

20:22Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. There are many places in Scripture where you can see a contrast in the way that the Lord's hand works. I was fascinated with this verse. I said, why does he mention the Lord's hand? What is it about the Lord's hand? How do we humble ourselves under his hand? So first I had to understand what is the Lord's hand? How is that used in Scripture? Well, what we find in Scripture is that sometimes the Lord's hand brings Deliverance, grace, blessing, but the same hand other times brings destruction, judgment, difficulty.

21:13The Lord's hand. And I want to take you to a couple passages, so I want you to bear with me. I want you to see how the Lord's hand starts to just pop out of Scripture in places where you didn't recognize it before. Turn with me to Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 13. Keep your finger there in 1 Peter 5. We'll come back there, but we're going to go a few places in between because I want to see what the Lord's hand is about. Exodus chapter 13. You may remember that Moses gave instructions regarding the first Passover, and he was already telling them that when you get to the promised land, you're going to be practicing this, and that for seven days before the Passover, you're going to be eating unleavened bread. And on the seventh day, there'll be a feast with a lamb, and the lamb will be sacrificed. Can you imagine keeping a baby lamb in your home with young kids for a number of days and say, all right, it's time for us to slaughter baby lamb, little lamby. They've named it, right?

22:15Why? Why must lammy die? Because if there's not a sacrifice, it would be you. Exodus 13, verse 14. And it shall be when your son asks you in a time to come, saying, What is this? This, and you shall say to him, with a powerful hand, the Lord brought us up out of Egypt from the house of slavery. Skip down to chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 19. Notice here this story about deliverance. Notice the use of Moses' hand. Notice also lightning and thunder and things we don't usually think about when we think about the parting of the Red Sea. Verse 19 of chapter 14 of Exodus. The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And there was a cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus one did not come near the other all night. So we have this army, the Egyptian army, Pharaoh and all his soldiers and chariots pursuing them. The people are afraid. They're backed up against the Red Sea. And there's a light, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud both appear, and they're separating the two so that the Pharaoh's army doesn't come to them. Verse 21, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and he made them drive with difficulty. So the Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Moses' hand brought deliverance when he pushed it away from Egypt, and the sea opened, and there was wind, and there was light, and it was a whirlwind, and they went through the sea. And when Moses put his hand the other way, the wheels fell off.

25:10And the waters subsided. Verse 28, the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them. Not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on the right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day. From the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord and in his servant Moses. Skip down to chapter 15, verse 3. This is the song that they sang. Moses and the children of Israel sang this song. And in verse 3, what do they say? What do they sing? The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea, and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep covers them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, do you see whose hand? Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. Whose hand was it that delivered, and whose hand was it that brought destruction? It was the Lord's.

26:32God's mighty hand brings both blessing and difficulty into people's lives. Move over to the New Testament, Luke chapter 1. Keep your fingers still there in 1 Peter 5, but we're going to go to Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke, there in the New Testament. Luke chapter 1, verse 49. The Lord has revealed to Mary that she is with child, and Mary sings to the Lord. The Lord. And in Luke chapter 1, verse 49, Mary, part of Mary's song, she sings this, Luke 1, verse 49, for the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.

27:29He has done mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble. Here we have not the hand of God but his arm, but the same principle, bringing down those who are against him, even kings, and exalting those who are humble, like Mary, even bringing down mercy on generation after generation after generation, verse 50. Because God's hand or his arm is so mighty, and because it brings both trials and destruction and brings both blessings and destruction, when we think about God's hand, we should be humble under his hand.

28:24We should be seeking to be humble. You don't need to turn there, but I think of John. The Baptist in John chapter 3. John the Baptist, whom Jesus said there has been no greater man than him, who had become kind of a big theological deal in the Old Testament, early first century, the New Testament, end of the Old Testament, beginning of the New Testament, the first century there, just before Christ and his public ministry. John the Baptist was there to pave the way, to announce the coming of the Lord. He baptized people, and people were flocking out to him in large numbers to be baptized. And he had disciples. He was a real theological attraction. People today go see an ark. Back then, they went to go see John the Baptist.

29:22And right at the peak of his ministry out there, he had a dilemma. His disciples pointed out to him that Jesus and his disciples were now baptizing people. And in John 3, 26, they said, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him. How did John the Baptist reply? Well, let's get it going, boys. We've got to get a better church growth movement going here or something. I am not the Christ, he says. I'm a friend of the bridegroom. I rejoice at the sound of his voice. And then that fantastic verse. John 3.30, he must increase. I must decrease.

30:09That is somebody who understood what it meant to live under the mighty hand of God. John the Baptist knew his role. His role was to avoid the temptation to exalt himself, but rather find out how he could exalt Christ more. When is that proper time for us to be exalted? When will Christ lift you up? I know that there are serious trials that we go through. I was reading a passage the other day and it talked about patient endurance. And I kept on thinking, wow, patience and endurance are together all the time. And quite frankly, patience would be a lot easier if I didn't have to endure it for so long. If I could just get over patience quickly, it wouldn't be so difficult.

30:57But we have to endure things, and it seems like, when is this ever going to be over? These trials last for years, lifetimes. When will we be exalted out of them? According to 1 Peter 5, 6, it's never if you're going to lift yourself up. It's only God who lifts you up out of, who exalts you. Take a look at verse 6, that he may exalt you. And he may do that in your lifetime. It may be through increased blessing, like he did. With Mary. It may be with deeper fellowship with him. It may be at a time where you're delivered from a certain suffering or trial that you're been involved in. But even if it's not, even if the trial that you're in lasts the rest of your life, we believe in a future exaltation that is way better than any exaltation that could exist down here.

31:55Back in 1 Peter chapter 5, just skip down a little bit to where this passage is going. Take a look at 1 Peter 5, verse 10. It says, After you have suffered 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. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. His eternal glory in Christ. We cannot imagine how great that will be. It's our Lord who prayed, Father, I desire, John 17, Father, I desire that thou, whom you have given me, be with me where I am.

32:38And yet so often we pray, Father, we desire that those who belong to Christ be with us where we are. Whose prayer will win the day? Philippians 3, 13, and 14, Paul said, But one thing I do, forgetting what lies before me, And reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. There is a future hope that we have which helps us to understand God's mighty hand. Lord, use whatever means necessary for your kingdom. I have hope in you. I deserve eternal punishment in hell.

33:28We say things like, well, I don't deserve to be treated that way. We deserve to be much treated much worse than we are treated, much more poorly than we are treated. We deserve eternal punishment. There's not a one of us who says we deserve to be alive today, but God, who is gracious to all of us, has allowed us to rise again out of our beds and to come and hear his word. And if you have yet to submit yourself to his lordship, you have no hope.

34:00Perhaps you've never bowed your knee to Jesus. You have never been caught up into a focus that says, thy will be done, not my will. Out of gratitude for the work that he's done in your life, he's taken a sinner who deserved death, and he sent his son who never sinned. And since the wages of sin are death and Jesus never sinned, Jesus never had to die. He could have lived here for centuries. He could be here today, sinless.

34:30He could be here in bodily form today, yet he allowed himself to be crucified as your substitute, as a sacrifice for you, who, according to Romans chapter 4, deserve the wrath of God, and yet by his grace, those who repent and turn and trust in Christ as Lord, your sin has been taken out of your account and placed into his account, where he pays for it fully on the cross, and his righteousness taken out of his account and placed into your account, so that when God sees you, he says, a perfect life, washed, cleansed, pure, just like my son. That's grace. That's grace which not only gives us salvation, but gives us a hope for a future glory that is better than we could ever imagine. If you have not yet repented of your sins, I urge you this day, fall to your knees and repent before the holy God. You have no hope of standing before him with your sin unless Christ pays for your sin. You are either a slave of Christ or you are a slave to your sin. And this world is so deceived that they think that being a slave to sin is better than being a slave to Christ. But there is no master as great as Christ. And there is no master as evil as your sin. Don't you see you can be set free? Set free not only from the pain. Penalty of sin, but the power of sin, because Romans 6 says, sin shall not have dominion over you. And not only the power of sin, but the penalty of sin, because one day you will be free from the presence of sin with Him in glory.

36:16Clothe yourself with humility under a hand that brings both blessings and trials. It's evidenced as you serve others. It's evidenced in the way you settle under God, no matter what the circumstances are around you, humbly realizing He is the one who's in control. But there's a third evidence in our passage of genuine humility, and that is not only serving others, not only settling under God's hand, but it is a steady trust in Him. A steady trust in Him. Take a look at verse 7: casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Some look at this and see it's another attitude that you should have, a worry-free attitude. But the fact that it begins with a word casting, it's a participle. It describes, it tells us about something before. We are to be humble while we are casting. And so there's a relationship between casting your worry or your anxiety on Him.

37:23One of the first things that we see in verse 7 that really, really we should say, what does this word casting mean? How does one cast anxiety? Well, the word cast here means to throw. And it was used in ancient times of fishermen who would cast their nets. And in those days, many of the nets were heavy and they were hand-woven and they were round, circular nets, large nets, and they would have rocks or weights tied all around it like a parachute, except for with strings. There would be ropes coming down. There would be just rocks. And then there'd be the web above it. And they would take it and roll it up a certain way, and they would have to heave it, cast it, throw it overboard. And if they did it halfway, it would not open and it would be useless. It'd have to be drugged back in. But if they opened it correctly, it would go down to the bottom of the area they were fishing in, of the sea or the lake, and it would trap fish in there and they'd have a drawstring. And they'd pull the drawstring and it would tighten it together and they'd be able to lift up that. And it was a lot of work. But the key was, how did you cast it?

38:30Did you do it half-heartedly? In fact, this Psalm, this verse here of casting your anxiety, somewhat reminds me of the Hebrew word to roll or to commit. In Psalm 37, verse 5, there's a verse which says, Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him, and he will do it. Commit. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. The reason it reminds me of. Because this word commit is a word that literally means in the Hebrew to roll, to roll off. And it was used sometimes to describe Bedouins who would load camels. Can you imagine how tough it would be to get a heavy burden on top of a camel? I mean, camels, their legs, you know, bend both directions, but they can't really lie flat, right? So they would build a ramp, and the camel would kneel down next to the ramp, which that would be something impressive just to get that to do that. But then they would take their burden and they would roll it up the ramp. And just before that last roll, they would use this word, commit, roll. Because if you do it halfway, it slides between the ramp and the camel, and it's hard work for everybody, including the camel, to get it back around. So now you commit, you roll it off, and it goes on to the camel.

39:55You're rolling, you're committing your way to the Lord. Whatever you desire, Lord, I commit it to you. Verse 7 of 1 Peter 5, casting my anxiety upon you. One of the keys to genuine humility is casting your cares wholeheartedly onto the Lord, trusting that He will deal with them. So you don't have to. You can be wronged because He sees what's happening to you, because He cares for you. I can't hardly believe that it's. That, but it does. The God of all creation, he knows what's happening to you. You're concerned because you're threatened, people are wronging you, you're being maligned, your life is being threatened, your family's being threatened, your freedom is being threatened. Cast your anxiety onto Him.

40:51And someone might say, Well, but how do I do that? Because I hear what you're saying, Pastor, and it's true, I know I should. But my problem is, I go to bed and my mind is just circling. It's like there's a video just playing over and over and over again. And the anxiety that I have, I can't get rid of because it just keeps on playing and playing and playing. It's like an old, you know, a record. You guys know what records are. But anyway, so it's like this thing is just going, and I can't get it out. How can I get it out? And with what do I replace it? How do I do that? I'm going to take you to another passage because I think it's related, and I want to show you an example of a psalmist who was going through exactly what you're doing, and he found the key of how to take that tape out of his own mind and put in what he should be thinking on. Turn with me to Psalm 77. We read most of this psalm at the beginning of the service. Pastor Baber read this: Psalm 77.

42:05It says in Psalm 77, My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud. My voice rises to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. In the night, my hand was stretched out with weariness. My soul refused to be comforted. When I remembered God, then I am disturbed. When I sigh, then my spirit grows faint. We don't know what's going on in this psalmist's life, but it's clear that there's some kind of agony that's going on in his mind, that this trial that he's going through, he is worn out.

42:43Take a look at verse 4. Have you ever felt this way? You have held my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I've considered the days of old, the years of long ago. I will remember my song in the night. I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders. Will the Lord reject forever? And will he never be favorable again? Has his loving kindness ceased forever? Has his promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Or has he in anger withdrawn his compassion? You see what's going on here?

43:27He's in agony. He's in agony because something's going on in his life, and he can't sleep, and he can't talk, and he's just spent. And he's starting to wonder: is God being ungracious to me? Will he ever be gracious to me again? Does he understand that God both delivers and brings trials? I think so. Take a look at verse 10. Then I said, It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.

43:58This is someone who enjoyed a time of blessing, but right now they are struggling. It's hard. Skip down a couple of verses. Verse 13. This is what we read at the beginning of the service. It sounds like a completely different psalm. Your way, O God, is holy. What God is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders. You have made known your strength among the peoples. You have by your power redeemed your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Who are the people of Jacob and Joseph? Israel. When did he redeem them? During the flood. During the flood, that's Moses, Genesis, Noah. With Moses, the Red Sea, part of the Red Sea, the anti-flood, the dry land flood. Look at verse 16.

44:48The waters saw you, O God. The waters saw you, and they were in anguish. The deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water. The skies gave forth a sound. Your arrows flashed. And there. There was a sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind. We're getting more details here about the parting of the Red Sea than are given in Exodus. There were flashes of light, there were sounds of thunder, there was a whirlwind. We heard about the wind before, but now we're seeing, wow, this was something else. And then it says, The lightings lit up the world, the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea, and your path in the mighty waters, and your footprints may not be known. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

45:33Who led them? God led them. Well, how do you maintain the mindset of genuine humility? How do you get out of it, how do you do what this psalmist did? How do you get out of this thing, this trial you're going through, going through your mind over and over again? How do you get to where you're praising God for what He's done? It's the hinge verses, the verses we skipped over. That's where the difference was made. Take a look at verses 11 and 12. Verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 77 says, I shall remember the deeds of the Lord. Surely I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work and muse on all your deeds.

46:16Brothers and sisters, those nights where you can't stop thinking about something. One of the reasons why is you're thinking about yourself and how this affects you and the agony you're. Going through and what the psalmist had to do. And though there are real times of trial and there's a time for sorrow, what you may need to do is to just take out a pad of paper and take out a pen and start reading the scriptures and just start taking notes on all that God has accomplished. Everything that He has done. He has a perfect track record.

47:01You think of Joseph in jail for two years? How do you come out of that? A wrong accusation? How do you come out with a good attitude? You understand you're under the mighty hand of God and His ways are perfect. And this may not be the way that you would have written the chapter of your life, but He has always done it right. He has always brought out for the glory of His name and the benefit of His people. So, Father, thy will be done. Use whatever means necessary, but help me remind me of who you are and what you've done so that I'm not focusing on me and me and me, so that I'm focusing on you and you and you and who you are and what you've done. Because the mighty hand of God, the hand of all creation, the one who brings both trials and blessings according to His good will, the one whom I know that I can throw all of my concerns upon because He cares for me.

48:00I'm blown away that it says he cares for me. Who am I? We live in a world that wants to run towards the spotlight. Look at me. Look at how great I am. We should be running away. Look at Christ. Look at who he is. Trust in him. He cares for you. What a comfort this passage is. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. We've seen examples of this through serving others, through settling ourselves under the hand of God, and through a steady trust that focuses not on us, but on what God has done, casting our anxiety on him. The way that works is: if he's going to take care of every issue that involves me, I don't have to defend myself. I don't have to fight other people for my name. I'm willing to fight for his name. But it's not about me.

49:22Let's pray. Our Father God, how grateful we are for Peter. And this first attribute in the list of many more that we should have. And yet we come before you with a biblical perception of humility, of what it really looks like, of how it is lived out. Thank you, Father. What a comfort to be reminded that you care for us. This world and those who are against you, they endeavor to distract us from seeing who you really are. Help us to resist the devil. Help us to submit ourselves to you. Help us to be self-controlled. Help us to be alert, standing firm in our faith. Help us to endure suffering. And may our complete hope and trust be not in the things of this world, but in the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory in Christ. We pray, Father, that you would use your perfect ways to make us more like you, confirm our faith, strengthen us in the faith, establish us for your purposes. You are to be exalted. It's in Jesus' name we pray this. Amen.