to 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5. this letter, this first letter of Peter. We'll be looking at verses six and seven, and Peter is rounding out this final exhortations and instructions to the people he's writing to in Asia Minor. For sake of context, I'm not going to read too far back, but just the previous verse, or part of the previous verse, so 1 Peter 5 and down to 7. And then the command to the church. Peter says, as he transitions to the church, he says, All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we Thank you for this time in which you have given us to gather, to worship, to sing your praises, to bring our requests before you, to give, to fellowship, and to hear from your word. And Lord, as we come to these words, these words which to a certain degree are clear on the surface, yet also have great depth. And there are several implications and applications for our own lives and for all your people concerning your character, concerning your commands, concerning your care, concerning your provision, concerning your providence, concerning to a certain degree your person, your being, your people, your plans, your purposes. And so, Lord, as we come to these words, these short verses, we pray for help. We pray for illumination. We pray for guidance that we would listen, that we would understand. that we would remember and that we would apply them to our lives. And I pray especially for me, Lord, that you would help me and assist me in spite of my own weaknesses that I would be faithful to preach your word to your people for their benefit and for your glory and that you would indeed speak through me and edit out those things which you don't want them to hear and edit in those things you do want them to hear. And most of all, Lord, we pray that you'd be glorified in our time together under the preaching and proclamation of your word. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. As we've been going through 1 Peter, and I've said several times and most of you are familiar with 1 Peter and the great theme of suffering and persecution and how Peter writes to these exiles, these strangers, scattered about in Asia Minor, in different places in modern-day Turkey, and just trying to reestablish themselves in churches. Some of them may have been there already. Most of them are coming, moving about, most of which are fleeing persecution or are currently under persecution or are about to go into persecution. There is a grand theme of suffering and how to suffer faithfully. And Peter continues to remind them, as many of the New Testament writers do, of their great redemption and their great salvation. That our lives as Christians goes back to how we began the Christian life with salvation and the gospel of God and following Christ. And he calls these believers to follow that example. To remember what Christ has done on our behalf and to even follow His example of suffering faithfully and in a righteous manner and not to respond sinfully to those who sin against you. And so there's these themes over and over again and he continues to point us back to Christ and to following his example to being Christ-like in every situation. And here he calls the whole church, every believer, to clothe themselves with humility toward one another. reminding us that one of the primary character traits in the Christian life is humility. And it's so primary that it's to, in a sense, be as our clothing. That's why he uses this imagery, this illustration of clothing yourself with humility. And we know you can't literally clothe yourself with humility. You don't wake up in the morning and I'm going to wear humility, but there is a sense where you can. And you are to wear it on you and it's to be something that is very apparent and characteristic of you. That people know that you are a humble person. And not a person that's so passive that they give in to any demands that someone would ask of them. You're not a doormat, so to speak, but you don't think too highly of yourself. You're humble because of who God is and what he's done in your life and who you are as his creature. that you are limited in so many ways, but that God has poured out so much grace upon you that there's no reason to be proud. And Peter quotes this principle from Proverbs of God's relationship to the proud and to the humble. You see that he is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble. James uses it as well. And then even Paul, there's a sense where he points to the humility of Christ as our example for life. That we are to, in a sense, follow his example and to remember his humility. And so, just by way of reminder, I want you to either turn to or listen to what Paul wrote to the Philippians concerning the attitude that they are to have in Philippians chapter 2 that he tells them, verse 3, to do nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves. Not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. And then he uses this example of Christ. Have this way of thinking in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. By taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." As it's been said before, and I've said before, that no one was ever so high that stooped so low. The God-man, the creator of the universe, the king of all creation, came down condescended to a sin-cursed, broken world to take on human flesh so that he could be the perfect sacrifice for us and for our sins. And even as he said, he came not to be served, but to serve, to give himself as a ransom for many. He humbled himself. Humbled himself. And he gives us that example to follow. submitting himself to the Father's plan and purposes. And Peter calls us to have the similar attitude towards one another. It is the same as what Paul is telling the Philippian church, Peter tells the churches in Asia Minor. And what's interesting is James as well quotes the same. quotes from the same Proverbs, Proverbs 334. James quotes from it in James chapter 4. Just so you can either turn there or listen. Very similar instance. And he uses it in a sense concerning the quarrels and the conflicts in the church. Also, reminding the church to have a sense of humility and submission to one another and to God and to even God's appointed leaders in the church. But James writes in James 4, what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 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 sets himself as an enemy of God. Or do you think the Spirit speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us, but He gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The way James uses that quotation, he links pride with selfish desires. Selfish, sinful desires. Almost as a sense that you lust and do not have, so you fight and quarrel. You're in a sense spiritual adulteresses because you're turning from God to your idols, the idols of your heart. And so, because you don't get what your idol wants, or you don't get what you sinfully want, then you fight and quarrel against one another. And he links this selfish, sinful desire with pride, a sense that the people think they deserve this. They deserve what they want. He's saying, no, humble yourself. You only really deserve hell. That's all you really deserve. And God has been gracious to you to save you from hell through His Son who humbled Himself to the point of death? So why do you exalt yourself in pride and demand that you get what you want and have your way? Peter uses it in a similar way, but more along the lines of beginning with the younger men being subject to the elders of the church, but then everyone within the church to have this attitude of humility toward one another because this principle of God's character is that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. And so as Peter is exhorting these people to be humble, these believers to be humble, and all believers since then, he not only quotes this principle of humility and pride and God's grace and he's opposed to the proud and therefore we are to humble ourselves under his mighty hand. And then he speaks about how casting all our anxieties on him, and there is a link to selfish desires even there when our anxieties, fear, and worries, why we're worried, why we're fearful, why we're anxious. It's all linked to pride, unbelief. And there is a call to be humble, to be faithful, to be thankful, to rest ourselves in God's character and person. And so as Peter is giving these exhortations, and calling these believers to be faithful, I want you to see three things Peter is calling his readers and us to do here. And to take it, in a sense, from a more positive sense, a more positive bent of what he's calling us to do is, he calls us to clothe ourselves with humility, To understand that God is opposed to the proud, that He gives grace to the humble. To humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. To cast all of our anxieties, fears, worries on Him. To trust in His care for us. There's three things that Peter is calling his readers and us to do here. And it has to do with resting in the person and character of God. And the first thing he calls us to do here is to rest in the power of God. To rest in the power of God is, he says in verse 6, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Rest in the mighty hand of God. hand of God. Understand the power of God. That God is omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He is the Almighty. He can do whatever He pleases because He is the Creator and this is His creation. And so because we are His creatures living in His creation, we can and we ought to easily rest in the power of God. And not just because He is all-powerful, Though that should be enough reason for us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand. But we are called to rest in His power because of two things. First, because of His character. Because of His character, God is not just all-powerful, but He is all-wise, all-knowing, ever-present, He's faithful, He's merciful, He's gracious, He's slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and He's demonstrated His own love toward us, that own steadfast love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so it's not just the fact that he's all-powerful, but he is a gracious, good, loving, kind, merciful God. So we can rest in His power, because of His character, and because of His relationship to those who exalt themselves, those who are prideful, those who puff themselves up, those who think that they deserve better, or deserve something in this life, or complain because life is not going their way, or it's not going the way they think it ought to. This is a besetting sin of all sinners. I've told this story several times, and I tell it again. I remember taking a biblical counseling class, and we were given an assignment to do a research paper. on one of our own besetting sins, our primary sins. And I was thinking about it. What sins do I struggle with? And I was going to the root of my sin as much as possible, which you should do. What is the root underlying idols? And I thought, well, there's several things I struggle with, but they all, to a certain degree, find their foundation or their source in selfishness. So if I can somehow put to death selfishness, then I will also put to death a whole host of sins that are downstream from selfishness. And I was about to gather resources and work on this paper until the next week or so, and someone asked a question about this paper that was due, and the professor said, oh yeah, you cannot do your paper on selfishness, pride, or unbelief, because all sins find their root in those sins. Selfishness, pride, and unbelief. We all deal with that to a certain degree, and if you don't, you're just not aware of it. We come out of the womb loving ourselves, demanding our way. And it's rooted in pride, selfishness, and unbelief. And God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And so time and time again in the Christian life, and beginning with the call of the gospel, We are called to humble ourselves. Even the call to repent and to believe upon Christ as Lord and Savior, that is a call to humility. To stop thinking that we know our own way, or we have it all figured out, or we know how to save ourselves, or how to get to heaven. You know, you look at all the false religions and they're rooted in pride. Works-based religions. If I can just do X, Y, and Z, then I can work my way and earn my way to heaven. And if I fail, I'll just try harder. The Bible says, no, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and there is, in a sense, nothing you can do except cast yourself upon the mercies of God, and humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, and ask for grace, for forgiveness. And so we can rest in the power of God because of his character, that he is not only all-powerful, but he's merciful, he's gracious, he's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He's faithful. He's a good God. He's a loving God. He is the standard of goodness and love. But we can also rest in the power of God because of his ability. Quite clearly, he is able. He's able to deliver us from any circumstance. And right here when we see, when Peter lists, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, he uses that phrase, mighty hand of God, as a Jewish believer, an apostle, Some of these people, they may have been Jews, probably a mix of Jew and Gentile. But he's thinking way back in the Old Testament of God's deliverance. Even what God said through Moses to his people, that he delivered his people, or he will deliver his people, and he has delivered his people out of Egypt with a mighty hand. With his mighty hand. that He is able to deliver us out of any circumstance whenever and however He chooses to do so. And yet we remain in circumstances because He chooses to keep us there. And so we are called to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, knowing that He has not only ordained our circumstances and decreed that we are there, and He is keeping us there until the time in which He seems fit to deliver us, we rest in His power because of His character and because of His ability to deliver with a mighty hand or to judge and discipline with a mighty hand. And yes, this is in no way means that we're not responsible, that we shouldn't plan or we shouldn't be wise with our lives and our schedules and our plans for the next year, five years, ten years, especially if you're young and what you're going to do with your life. It does not in no way diminish human responsibility that God is sovereign and all powerful. But there is a sense in which we lay our plans before God, or even as the proverb says, that man plans his way, but God directs his steps. And we see a sense of tension there, that we are to plan our ways. It's wise to plan. We are to plan accordingly, but God will direct our steps. concerning this principle of humility and pride and how God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble. I like what John Kitchen writes in his commentary concerning this passage. And I think he gets at the core of what Peter's trying to say. He writes, when one arranges one's life in submission to God, the floodgates of grace are opened from the throne, and all we require in our time of need is supplied. From Hebrews 4.16 to approach the throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need. Then he goes on, he writes, when one refuses to do so, God Himself arrays Himself in active opposition against everything the rebellious one attempts. The mighty hand of God will be arranged in opposition to you or open to supply you. It just depends on how you choose to posture yourself in relation to it. Basically, how are you going to posture yourself in relation to God's power, and God's character, and God's ability, and God's works and promises and word, His being, all that He is, all that He has done, all that He has said. How are you going to posture yourself in relationship to God? Are you going to submit to Him and humble yourself before Him and before His word and His clear commands? Or are you going to continue to think that you know what's best for you? Peter calls his readers and calls us to rest in the power of God. But second, he calls us to rest in the providence of God. To rest in the providence of God that he goes on, he says, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. That he may exalt you at the proper time. Meaning that he has plans and purposes for all times and for all peoples. We are to rest in the providence of God, knowing that he will humble or he will exalt at the proper time. He will do all things according to his timeline. Or as one pastor noted concerning this verse, you know, he said, he said, some people's perspective is that they will gladly take humbling on Monday and exaltation on Tuesday. But it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes we're humbled for a long time and sometimes we're lifted up for a short time or vice versa. Or maybe we're lifted up but not as high as we thought we should be. Or maybe we're humbled but more than we thought we ought to be humbled. That's God's prerogative and according to God's timeline. that He will exalt us at the proper time. And there's a sense where this may be leaning heavily on our glorification, on the eternal state. Not so much in an earthly sense. But it does have an implication for earthly time that God will exalt his people. And you see throughout scripture and even some of the characters God uses, even as I said last week, Moses was known as a humble man. Some of the character traits of the saints, the heroes of the faith, you think of Daniel, very humble man. You think of all the saints. Yes, they had their flaws as any sinful person, but many of them were humble. They were marked by humility, and God used them. He exalted them. He put them in positions where they would be an example to the people of God, and a good example, not a bad example. So we rest in the providence of God, knowing that He has worked all things according to His timeline, according to His plans. Peter implies that we rest in the providence of God in our lives, and we do that first by accepting His sovereignty. His sovereignty over all things, even linking back to His mighty hand. That by His hand and by the word of His mouth, He has created all things. And He governs all things. And yes, as I said, in no way means we're not responsible for our actions or our plans or our thoughts. But in a mysterious way, God is able to, in a sense, Work those two things out together in great consistency, that mankind is responsible, but God is still sovereign. Or as I was trying to work out this issue and the tension between man's responsibility and God's sovereignty, I viewed it as a sense of delegated sovereignty. That God, in appointing the times and places in which we live and move and have our being, has delegated to us, to each human being, a certain level of human sovereignty to govern themselves, whether that be in a family, or in a neighborhood, or in a job place, or in a community, or a city, or a state, or a country. concerning their abilities, but He maintains complete sovereignty and He exercises it always and directs each and every person according to His plans and purposes. We can rest in the providence of God by accepting His sovereignty. His sovereignty over time, His sovereignty over matter, His sovereignty over events, circumstances, peoples, nations, etc. ad infinitum. If God is the Creator, then He has complete control over His creation. I've said, and others have said before, that God really is God. He really is. We accept His sovereignty over all aspects of His creation, and over our lives, over our relationships, over our living situation, and even the doctrine of providence. That is, in a sense, an exercise of His sovereignty in His creation, of how the application of His sovereignty. And even unbelievers can see this to a certain degree as they look back on their lives, or as I've said and quoted John Flavel before, who famously said, reading God's providence is like reading Hebrew, you do it backwards. You don't always see it in the present. Sometimes if you're very sensitive, you might see it, but then you're not even sure. But if you look back on your life, and the older you are, the easier it is to see, why am I here? Why am I here in this city? Why do I have this job? Why did I marry this person? Why do I have these kids? Why do I have these neighbors? Why did I meet this person in this place? And we have this 30-second conversation that changed the whole course of my life because he handed me a Bible tract. or offered me a job, which led me to this city, which led me to meet my spouse, and so on and so forth. And we see God's guiding hand. But we are called to rest in His providence by accepting His sovereignty, and even over every little detail. Because that will dispel our anxiety, fear, and worry to a certain degree. I think it takes a large part of your lifetime to train yourself to rest in God's sovereignty and his providential plans to the point that anxiety and fear and worry doesn't have such a stronghold on your heart as it used to. And some people are better at this than others. Some personalities are more prone to fear, anxiety, and worry than others. But if we rest in the providence of God, if we rest in His power, if we understand who our God is and what He has done in our lives, what He's promised to do, then we should be able to rest in Him. I think of recent events. in our country and it reminded me of even the previous year. We've had a lot of changes in our country and I just think back to roughly a year ago, roughly a year ago before we had our current president and he was campaigning. And we didn't know how this would go. And it is like, as they say every year, this is the most important election year. And sometimes that seems somewhat true or more true than other times. It seemed pretty true. Whatever direction it went, it would change our country drastically. But I remember a point in time roughly a year ago when our current president was almost assassinated. And it was said that right before that shot, that bullet hit his ear, that he turned his head slightly just before the shot so that it kind of grazed his ear. And I'm not too sure about whether he turned just in time or what happened, but I do know that, I do know this, that if that bullet was one inch closer to one side, we would be living in an entirely different world right now. Not just an entirely different country, an entirely different world. God was sovereign over that bullet. But, you know, thinking of the events of the past week, why didn't Charlie Kirk move his head? Why didn't someone walk in front of him? Why didn't a strong wind come and blow that bullet over just a little bit? Why didn't a bird fly in the way, which I've seen happen on rifle ranges? Or why didn't the shooter twitch as he squeezed the trigger? Because in God's providential plans for Charlie Kirk and for his family and for all the people associated with him and his impact in this country and in this world, under God's sovereign care and his perfect providence, he allowed that event to take place. And even some might even not want to admit this, but he even ordained it to happen. God has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble, Proverbs 16, 4. And His ways are higher than ours. And he works out things in ways which we can never understand. And he's never only just doing one thing in your life, but he's doing multiple things at multiple times in your lives, and the lives of all the people around you, and in all the lives of the people in the world, and down to minute details of a cell, and why a cell goes cancerous, and why it remains healthy. Everything. And I tell you, yes, people close to Charlie are going to grieve him, even as they have the memorial service this afternoon, I pray. Because it seems as if under God's wise, perfect providence, he's going to have probably an exponentially greater impact. now than he would have had he remained alive. And that's true for almost every Christian martyr throughout church history. God knows, and he knows better than we do. And it's not just that instance, but it's every instance, every tragedy, every trial, every blessing, every grace, is according to His perfect providential plans for His creation. And we rest in the providence of God by accepting His sovereignty over all things, but also by embracing His perfect will. By embracing His perfect will for us and for creation. And we would like to know the will of God for all the details of our lives, especially when you're younger and you're at the crossroads of life and you're a young man or young woman and you're wrestling with where am I going to live, what career am I going to choose, what college will I go to, what vocational school, who will I marry, all these questions which young people and sometimes even older people still struggle with. And we would like to know those details which fall in the realm of his secret will that he has not given to us, that information. And we don't know until we see providence unfold. But as one pastor famously said, there's a reason why it's called his secret will. Because it's a secret. Pretty profound, but it's a secret to you. It's not a secret to Him. He knows exactly what He's doing in eternity past. He knew it until eternity future. But it's secret to us, but we are called to rest in His revealed will, in His perfect providence, to look to Him, to trust in Him, to hope in Him, to obey Him, and to rest in His providence and to trust that He will work out His secret will in our lives and all the lives of all peoples for their good and for His glory. And a perfect passage which speaks to this is Deuteronomy 20, actually I'll quote first. Genesis 50 20 as Joseph is says to his brothers as for you you meant evil against me But God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day to keep many people alive and so Joseph accepted God's perfect providence for him and for his life and the lives of his brothers and his family and his country and But another verse speaks to this, Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law. We're not to preoccupy ourselves with God's secret will, that's His secret will. We're to occupy ourselves with His revealed will. and His commandments, and His expressed desires and will for us, first and foremost, as John MacArthur wrote that little booklet, and it's in the MacArthur Study Bible, Found God's Will, or in the MacArthur Study Bible, and he alliterates, as many preachers are wont to do, God's will for us is first that you be saved, that you come to salvation. And yes, that in no way contradicts his sovereignty or the fact that people go to hell, but he does will that people be saved and be sanctified and be submissive and to be settled. And so we, occupy ourselves with God's perfect will. We rest in the providence of God by accepting His sovereignty over every aspect of His creation, and then second, by embracing His perfect will for us and for all peoples everywhere and every time and place. Once again, John MacArthur wrote concerning this passage that one of the evidences of lack of submission and humility is impatience with God. and patience. It's not happening according to our timeline, according to our schedule. We want it now and we want it in our ways. And because we don't get it, because it's not under the purview of God's sovereignty or His providential plans, then when we don't get what we want, we become anxious and fearful and worried and maybe even impatient, irritable, angry. We might lash out at other people because we have a problem with humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God and submitting to His sovereign will for us in that time and place. There's a strong link between humility and anxiety. We think we know what ought to happen. We think we know what ought to take place. And so much so that we begin to, in a sense, expect that to happen, expect that to take place. And then oftentimes reality slaps us in the face and it doesn't happen or it doesn't take place. A perfect illustration of this is, you know, road rage. You set out on your trip, and you schedule it, and I should, you know, reach this destination at this time. And you plan, and like a lot of people, sometimes maybe you don't hit the road as you planned to, or maybe you do hit the road. at the time you plan to hit the road, and so surely I'll get there, or maybe it's like, oh, I'll make up time on the road. Or you start out early, and surely I'll get there early. And then reality happens, and there's someone who, you know, maybe named after the ancient King Jehu on the road, and doesn't know what they're doing, or maybe there's an accident, or maybe you have a breakdown, or whatever, a host of possible circumstances, and reality doesn't match your expectations. So then there's, using a musical term, there's dissonance. between your expectation and reality. There's not harmony. Your expectations are not in harmony with reality. And so then you either become anxious, worried, fearful, angry, whatever. Your heart is churning out sinful motives one after the other. Maybe even it's coming out of your mouth. you know, hand and arm signals. But everything flows from the heart. It flows from your heart. And God calls us to rest our weary hearts in Him, to align our hearts and our wills with Him, to rest in His power, to rest in His providence, and to rest in His provision. That He really does care for us. Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. This picture, and some of you are familiar with this, it's been explained to you. of casting or rolling off the burden as you roll off this picture of what they do in the ancient world and I think they still do it in certain places today when you have a beast of burden like a donkey or a camel or a horse that's carrying something on its back and you transition to another animal and you bring them side by side, you roll the burden, the weight off onto the other animal. So He now carries it. Or it can be used as the disciples cast the blankets on the colt for Jesus to sit on. Throwing it completely off of you. All your burdens, all your anxieties on the Lord. Because you can't bear them. You can't bear them. In our pride, we try to bear those anxieties, those cares, those worries about what may happen tomorrow, what may happen with our job, what may happen with a relationship issue, what may happen with our nation, our state, our governing authorities, burdens which are too heavy for us to bear because we're not meant to bear those burdens because it's not our responsibility. God will take care of that because He cares for us. And so we cast those burdens upon Him. And Peter here is quoting from Psalm 55 and verse 22. Cast your burden upon Yahweh and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. Now it may seem that there are times in which you're doing what's righteously and you are shaken, you're maybe even afflicted, but a complete shaken out of His care. If you are His, no one can snatch you out of His hand. You can't be shaken out of His hand. Cast your burden upon him and he will sustain you. Even Psalm 55, I'm not going to go through it now, but there are several points of even affliction, betrayal in that Psalm. Peter is calling his readers and us to rest in the provision of God and we do that by doing two things here. First, by believing in his control. that He is in control over His creation. He is in control over circumstances. He's in control of our lives. At any point in time, He can deliver us or He can change our circumstances. He can make one of our bad and foolish and even sinful decisions to turn out for the good. or vice versa, where we're doing what's righteous, we're doing what's faithful. I care for this person, I just want to share the gospel with them and how they can escape from hell and have eternal life, and they're just mocking me, they're scoffing me, they're hating me, they made me lose my job or whatever. Physical harm, killing, God is in control and we rest in His provision, His care for us by believing in His control. John MacArthur once again says, Christians are to cast all of their discontent, all of their discouragement, all of their despair and suffering on the Lord and trust Him for knowing what He's doing with their lives. Because He does know what He's doing. And in that tension where we want different circumstances, and it's hard to trust Him, it's hard to rest in His power, it's hard to rest in His providence, it's hard to rest in His provision. In that instance, that tension, He is growing us. He is shaping us. He is, in a sense, as one pastor said, He's turning up the heat. to cause the impurities in our heart to bubble up to the surface so that we would confess those sins, that we would repent from them, that we would turn from them, and learn to trust in Him more and more, to love Him more and more, to trust in His sovereignty. We rest in His provision by believing in His control, second, by trusting in His care, that he cares for us. You know, most of us have either heard this from a child or a sibling, or maybe we've said it ourselves when we were children with tear-filled eyes and maybe some anger and frustration directing at our parents who we thought were in complete control and saying, you don't care about me. And yes, there's probably some instances in which that is true about an earthly parent. But it's never, it has never been, it will never be true about our Heavenly Father. He always cares for us. He always knows what's best. He always knows what's good for us. We can trust Him, even though we may not know what's around the corner or what tomorrow may bring or what the diagnosis will be. We can trust him because he is God and he is good. And sometimes he puts us through trials to sanctify us. Sometimes he does it to discipline us. In fact, always he puts us through trials to sanctify us, to reveal things in our hearts. Sometimes it's for discipline because of our sin, because we're going the wrong way and it's to turn us around. Sometimes it's to equip us, to make us stronger. Sometimes we may feel as if God has been taking us to the woodshed, when in reality, he's just been taking us to the gym. And we complain because we would prefer to remain spiritual couch potatoes and become spiritual athletes. But he's putting more weight on the bar. He's causing us to run faster. He's making us stronger because He has something down the line that He needs us to be stronger for, to be more faithful in. There's multiple things God is doing at multiple times in multiple places for our good and for His glory. This is why Paul writes this famous passage, famous memory passage. Sadly, because I changed translations, it's a mush now. Philippians 4, verse 4, "...rejoice in the Lord always." Again, I will say, rejoice. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. There's no circumstance, and that's in a sense a command. There's no circumstance outside of that command. Rejoice in the Lord always, and the only way you can possibly do that is if you're in the Lord. If you know the Lord, if you've repented from your sins, trusted in Christ for salvation, have understood that He is Lord of all creation, that this is His world, His universe, or as some Pastors have said, you know, if you don't like the way the world is, go create your own. This is His world, His universe. He's running it according to His dictates, according to His wisdom, according to His power. And we can only rejoice in that as if we are in Him, if we know Him as Lord and Savior. And so if you're here this morning, you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior, you're unsure. The call is the same, repent from your sins, trust in Him for salvation, turn and believe that you may know Him as Lord because He is a gracious and kind master and then you can rejoice in Him. And yes, this may take your whole Christian life to get to a point where you're rejoicing in Him always, but Paul repeats it. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. He's near. He's coming back soon. Sooner than we think. So, we are to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What is this peace of God? It's that peace in the midst of the storm. When everybody else is anxious and fearful and worried and wringing their hands and saying, what will we do? I don't know what's gonna turn out. I don't know where this country is going or the state or what's gonna happen to my job and the company or the neighbors I have to deal with or et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. With every circumstance and in the worst of circumstances, If we're rejoicing in the Lord, we're trusting in Him, we know that He is coming back soon, we cast our burdens upon Him in prayer, all of our anxieties, all of our cares, we are thankful for everything, then there is a supernatural peace which will protect us and guard us and guide us in that time and in the days to come, knowing that We don't know all things and we don't need to know, but we have a Father in heaven who does know and he cares for us. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace, for your mercy, for your kindness. We thank you most of all for your grace and salvation. That though we were dead in our transgressions and sins, you by your grace made us alive in Christ Jesus. Lord, I pray especially for those in our midst who do not know you, who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior, that you would work in their hearts and minds and show them their sin and their depravity and that they deserve hell, they deserve judgment for their sins against you, but you are gracious and merciful and have offered a way in which they can be forgiven through your Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this world to live a life that they could not live and went to the cross to die the death that they deserve to die. but by his wounds they can be healed, they can be forgiven, they can be restored, they can be made right. And Lord, I pray for those of us, and even myself, who struggle with anxiety, fear, worry about the future, about what lies around the corner, that you would remind us of your faithfulness, of your steadfast love, of your promises, and that we would rest in your care for us, in your provision, in your providence, in your power, in your being, in your person, in all that you are and all that you've promised to do. We thank you, Lord, for your grace. And it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.