We've been looking at several texts in the New Testament that concern anxiety, and we come this morning to the last one to which we are looking in 1 Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 and 7. This is an oft-quoted text and one that I like very much. 1 Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 and 7. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you." May God be pleased to help us understand this wonderful word which he gives us. Every month I use R.C. Sproul's Table Talk in my daily devotions, and if you don't use it, I commend it to you. It's quite good. One of the articles in Table Talk this month speaks about God in these terms. I just want to read a couple of paragraphs. When we consider the nature of God, we realize that nothing can possibly destroy or impair his internal and eternal blessedness. God is not given to mood swings. His wrath must never be conceived as an eruption into paroxysms of anger in which he loses his temper. His anger reflects his manifest disapproval of wickedness. But even this divine displeasure, which the Bible expresses in anthropomorphic language, cannot create an emotional crisis in the divine being. We are not to view God as a disinterested spectator of human affairs. Yet neither may we view him as an anxious Olympian who wrings his hand in nervous frustration at the vicissitudes that befall his creation. All things are under his sovereign control. Anxiety is an intrinsic impossibility for him. You see, this is what we're talking about. Anxiety is an intrinsic impossibility for God. And that's very amazing to us. Is Jesus Christ God in human form? Did Jesus Christ ever suffer from anxiety? I don't think so. I think Jesus Christ had many concerns, but I don't think he suffered from the kinds of anxieties that we often encounter in our own hearts. If we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, folks, I really believe this is the case, anxiety must wane, assurance must wax strong. How can this be the case? I think our text leads us in the proper direction. Look at it again in 1 Peter 5, verses 6 and 7. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxieties upon him, because he cares for you. The circumstances of life may humble us, but they never humble the living God. And I think that's what verse six is getting at when Peter says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God." Doesn't God have a mighty hand? Surely He does. I think probably 100% of evangelical Christianity believes and confesses the sovereignty of God. But I suspect that when it comes down to practical matters in life, Maybe even 90% of evangelical Christianity rejects the absolute sovereignty of God. I suspect that's the case. And I wonder this morning, if in your heart of hearts, you acquiesce to the sovereignty of God over all things, to the mighty hand of God. I wonder if you do. Do you know that God is in control of all things in His universe? Do you know in your heart of hearts that this is true? When I was a chaplain in Vietnam, my driver and I, in a little jeep, drove hundreds of miles over roads that were often mined. You know, mines in the road, that when you step on them, they blow up. And we drove over hundreds of miles of road that were often mined, without incident. I thank God he's in control of things like that. I certainly was in control of those roads, and I know tens of thousands of G.I.s in South Vietnam during that time wish they were in control of those roads, but they weren't. God was in control, and I'm thankful that that was the case. Our text says, Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God. The text actually reads, literally reads, be humbled. It's a passive, which means action is taken upon people like you and me. Very often circumstances do seem to be out of control and we are humbled by those circumstances. I want to look at a couple of texts elsewhere in the Bible that lead us in a particular direction. One of them is Acts 14 verses 21 and 22. If you turn in your Bibles with me there, Acts 14. verses 21 and 22. And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Here was the Apostle Paul and his company traveling, going back and encouraging the people that he saw converted, and he was giving them these words. Imagine this now. I'm not sure that we would give people these words, especially new converts, these words. Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. To most of us, those aren't real happy words. Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. That's true, folks. And there are those of us in this congregation who know very well that that's true. God does not take us out of the circumstances of this life and place us in eternal bliss the moment we are converted. That does not happen. 2 Timothy 3, verse 12. Paul gives some similar words. 2 Timothy 3, verse 12. 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 says, and indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom. Now, why do we talk this way? Why do we speak in these terms? when we are dealing with the subject of anxiety. Well, the very simple reason is this, folks, that the circumstances that God brings along our way, that God places us in, are designed to a large extent to humble us. They really are designed to humble us. Be humbled under the mighty hand of God. Our text tells us in 1 Peter 5 and in verse 6, be humbled under the mighty hand of God. And all of this has to do with our entering the kingdom of being perfected in the kingdom. A few moments ago, we prayed What is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now those words in the Lord's Prayer, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, That petition of the Lord's Prayer has profound significance. Listen to what the Westminster Shorter Catechism says about this. What do we pray for in the third petition? In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, we pray that God, by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things as the angels do in heaven. That God would make us, by His grace, willing and able to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things as the angels do in heaven. As we pass through this life, and are humbled by the circumstances of this life, and we learn to submit to God's mighty hands, we look forward to an exaltation in glory which is to come. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. What is the proper time? The big time, folks, when Christ comes a second time in glory. And the dead will be raised incorruptible. And we'll all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. And we're all moving towards that if we really trust in Christ. We're all moving towards that time. And God is working with us and preparing us for that time. That's what's happening. And we need to keep in mind the fact that we have to have that eternal perspective. What do we do in the meantime? Well, let's look at our text again. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him. I want to tell you something, folks. Being humbled in this life involves our recognizing our need for prayer. Recognizing our need for prayer. Look at how these two texts, or these two verses, 6 and 7, are connected. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. casting all your anxiety upon Him. Being humbled before God involves a recognition that we do pray, that we do cast all of our anxieties upon Him. And this includes every conceivable anxiety that might come our way. We started out this series talking about Matthew six. And what did Jesus talk about in Matthew six? He said, don't be anxious about food and clothing, right? He said, don't be anxious about the future. In first Corinthians seven, we saw that the apostle Paul tells us that we ought not to be anxious in the midst of various relationships. And we kind of laugh because relationships are really the occasion for anxiety to arise in our lives. But what is this text here telling us? This text here is telling us that in every one of those circumstances, we need to be praying. We need to be casting our cares upon God. We need to be lifting our voices to God in prayer. Every relationship of life is involved here. All the common relationships that we have in the church, in our families, in our work, in a missions team, all of those relationships, we ought to be praying about and thoroughly bringing before God. We ought to be doing that. And this is very interesting, too. The other end of the spectrum is involved. The big things, not just the little things, but the big things. We tend to bring the big things before God, not just the little things. Irma and I had a big decision to make early this year, and not many of you know about it. We were asked to go to Los Angeles to preach. And we were asked to candidate in Los Angeles. And we really had to search our hearts before God. Regarding this decision. Because this was a decision that would affect the rest of our lives and it would affect the rest of the life of this congregation here. That's how those things work. And so we set that before the Lord. And we said, in the end, that we'll stay. That was a big decision for us. The big things and the little things are to be cast upon God. Now look at this word, casting, for a moment. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him. There's only one other place in the New Testament that that word casting is used, and I'd like you to look at it. It's in Luke 19, and it's in a very interesting place. So if you'd look in your Bibles at Luke 19 verses 33 Luke 19, verses 33 through 35. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying the colt? And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and they threw their garments on the colt. and put Jesus on it. They cast their garments on the colt. Do you get this picture? They took their garments off and they threw those garments on the colt. That's the same word that's used in our text. Casting all of our cares upon him because he cares for us. Casting those garments on the colt. When I saw that, all sorts of pictures began to crop up in my mind. The Apostle Paul talks about our taking off the old man as a suit of clothes and putting on the new man as a suit of clothes. It's a very interesting picture. And it's very interesting because we've already talked about this. Anxiety stems from the fact that we are, as fallen individuals, as fallen creatures, even converted, we are anxious people. And that anxiety stems from the fact that we are anxious people. We are sinful creatures. And that anxiety crops up from our sinful nature, our old man. And we need to take off that old man, like an old garment, and put on the new man, which is in Christ Jesus. So that's one picture that came to mind. Here's another picture that came to mind. Do you remember the scapegoat in the Old Testament? That goat that the high priest was to take once a year was a goat without blemish, and the high priest would go out and lay his hands on the head of the goat and confess all the sins of the people of Israel on that goat. And when he was done confessing the sins of the people, that goat was led out into the wilderness, away from the people. And the symbolism is terrific because here's a picture of our sins being taken away. It's a picture of how our sins are placed upon Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ, our sins are removed from us. They are taken away from us. It's amazing because in this same fashion, our anxieties are to be placed upon Christ. You see, they are to be cast upon Jesus Christ. Now, I had to do a little bit of wrestling with this, because, you see, if our anxieties really crop up from the inside, from hearts that are not pure before God, and they crop up from the old nature, these anxieties, what we're saying is that These anxieties come from the old nature, from the old person, from the old man. They're part of our sinful nature. But you see, all of our sins have been placed on Christ. If we're Christians, isn't this true? All of our sins have been placed on Christ. And He died on that cross and paid the penalty for those sins. But how do we experience release? personally experience release from those sins? Well, the Bible says, if we confess our sins, right? If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So what do we have to do? To experience release from the guilt of sins, we have to confess those sins before God, right? In other words, we have to come to God in prayer, we have to talk to God about those sins, we need to repent of them, and we receive cleansing from those sins. Anxiety, folks, is a part of that package. See, this is a wonderful thing. Anxiety is a sin that erupts from anxious hearts from the old nature. And what do we need to do when we are anxious people and filled with anxiety? How do we find release from those anxieties? We've got to come to God in prayer. That's what we have to do. This is what our text is telling us. 1 Peter, let's look at it again. 1 Peter chapter 5. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxieties upon him. Praying, coming to God in prayer, talking to him about those anxious thoughts, those situations, whatever they may be. I think, folks, I think that one of the things we have forgotten is that prayer is a vital means of grace. I really think we've forgotten that that's the case. What are the means The Catechism asks, What are the means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, the sacraments, and prayer. Prayer is a means of grace. We talk about prayer being a means of communion with God. Prayer is a means whereby the sovereign God of the universe brings about His will in our lives. And so we have to come to God in prayer, and we have to cast those anxieties upon Him. And this prayer is a means whereby He quells our anxious hearts. I think this is absolutely tremendous. I put in the bulletin a quote from a book called The Parable of the Ten Virgins, and you might want to look at this in your bulletin. It's under the title, On Using the Means of Grace. And Thomas Shepard is talking about problems within the Church. He's talking to professing Christians. And I just want to read a little bit of this quote on using the means of grace. But why do those within the church perish, he asks. Is it because there is no remedy? No. But because they do not use the remedy. Is it because they want means? No. but because they do not effectually improve means. Here they fall short. Herein they discover themselves. Look but upon the next parable of the talents. See, he's talking about the parable of the ten virgins, and now he refers to the parable of the talents. One of them was cast off and cast out. Why? Because he had no talent? No. but because he had no mind or list to use his talent. He did not make his gain out of it or attain his end. All ordinances of God at all that time we have under them are talents. All the ordinances of God are talents. The ordinances of God are the Word of God, the sacraments and prayer. You know, we need to utilize prayer. Prayer is an ordinance of God. Prayer is a talent that God has given to us. We need to utilize it. We talk about it, but do we utilize it effectively? Are we on our faces before God, praying, agonizing? Are we? To my shame, I say, I haven't been the way I ought to be. We need to utilize this tremendous means of grace, folks. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. And what does Peter then say? Casting all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. Do you realize how much God cares for you? We have a perverted sense of care, I really think we do. We don't understand care the way we should, and thus we don't understand God's care the way we should. God has a peculiar care for his people. Please look at a couple of other texts with me if you would. Mark 4. Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4 and verses 35 through 38. And on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, Let us go over to the other side. And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them, just as he was in the boat. And the other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. And he himself was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care? Do you not care that we are perishing? See, this is from the perspective of the disciples now. They're saying to the master who's asleep in the boat, don't you care? This is the human view of care. What's the matter with you, Jesus? Don't you care? We're like little children too often. I remember it so well, and I ran through the living room of our house when I was a kid, and a lamp just jumped off the table and landed on the floor. I mean, it just literally jumped off the table. And my mother came into the room, and she was very upset with me. How did that lamp get on the floor? I don't know, Mom. I knew very well how that lamp got on the floor. It didn't just jump off the table and land on the floor in a bunch of pieces. But then comes the rebuke, right? Then comes the rebuke. And what is the thought in my mind as a youngster? Oh, Mom, don't you care for me? Don't you love me? That's our view of it. Luke 10. Luke chapter 10. Now, I know I'm going to be in trouble here. Luke 10, because this is Mary and Martha again. Luke 10, verses 38 and following. Now, as they were traveling along, he entered a city A certain village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home, and she had a sister called Mary who, moreover, was listening to the Lord's word seated at his feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care? Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Don't you care, Jesus, that I'm all alone and my sister's left me all alone? What's the matter with you, Jesus? Don't you care? See, this is our approach to care, generally. We're so self-centered. God is not that way at all. And our perspective on the care of God needs to be shifted drastically. I want you to look now at John chapter 10, if you would please. John chapter 10, and verses 12 and following. John 10, 12. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and is not concerned. He does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. The hireling doesn't care for the sheep, but folks, the good shepherd cares. Jesus cares. Christian, Jesus cares for you. Jesus has the care of a shepherd for you. He has a unique and ultimate care for you. And he is ushering you, dear Christian, through the tribulations and toils and anxieties of this life into glory which is to come. Jesus has a care for you. The Good Shepherd does care for his people in a very unique way. And I submit to you, my friends, that when we understand the ultimate motivation to cast all of our anxieties upon God because He does care for us, we will do it. We will do it. When we see how much God does care for us, I think of the children of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. What must they have fought? as God kept them in that wilderness for forty years. Did God care for them? Yes. God gave them bread from heaven, manna. Don't be anxious about what you'll eat. He said to them. God gave them quail in the wilderness. He brought that quail. Don't be anxious about what you'll eat. God gave them water from a rock. Don't be anxious about what you'll drink. God cared for those people in a unique and wonderful way because He saw His people. God cares for you, dear Christian. Even in this wilderness life, in which you find yourself. I mentioned earlier those roads in Vietnam that we traveled on. You know what? I think the roads in USA are just as dangerous. I really do. And I know that we prayed much regarding our children as they've driven on those roads. by themselves. Not all accidents have been avoided, but God's care has always been present. God cares. I think that's wonderful. Some of you know better than I do those who were in Kobe during the earthquake. And God cared for his children in that circumstance. God does care. We've seen the wonderful care of God in this congregation as families have faced dread disease. And those diseases have not always been overcome. But we have always experienced the care of God. Isn't that true? God does care. The anxieties of life can be cast upon God because He does care. That's what I want you to see, dear friends. Look at our text again. 1 Peter, chapter 5. 1 Peter, chapter 5. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper casting all your anxieties upon Him, because He cares for you. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for this text. Forgive me that I poorly expounded Grant, however, O God, that your word will be brought home to our hearts, and that as a result, we will find your care, and the real release from the anxieties and worries of this life. I pray that you bless each one of us to that end. In Jesus' name, Amen.