1Peter 5:6-11
The Final Four
It has been several weeks since we last looked at this book. We are
at the closing. Peter had divided the people into groups and given
counsel to them, but in the latter part of verse 5. he addressed
"all of you." To all Peter offered four counsels.
Let’s continue seeing what Peter wrote.
I. \\#6\\ Humble yourself to God
1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time:
A. WHAT is to be done?
1. The command is to humble or to lower yourself before
the Almighty God.
a. This is not the first time humility has been mention
(see \\#1Peter 5:5\\).
b. In the verse, Peter was encouraging the believers to
humble before each other.
c. To humble oneself means to think less of our rights
and entitlements and seek to lift up others more than
ourselves.
d. Humility has the see/saw effect.
(1) One cannot lift himself up without putting some
else down.
(2) I believe the opposite is true. We cannot lift
someone else up without putting ourselves down.
2. In \\#6\\, we have the same action, but it is toward
a different Person.
B. WHO is to do the humbling?
1. We are.
2. We are not to wait for God to humble us, but we are—of our
own will and desire—to humble ourselves.
C. To WHOM we are to do the humbling.
1. The Almighty God
2. What a wise thing to do!
3. We must quit thinking of what God owes us and think of
what we owe God!
D. WHY would Peter say this?
1. Many reasons but probably because all Christians would
like something else to be happening in their lives. All
creatures but especially Christians should remember that
life is not a democracy.
2. So that God Himself will lift us back up.
II. \\#7\\ Cast your care on God, because God cares for you.
1Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for
he careth for you.
A. Peter commanded the people not to carry their own problems,
but to place them on God.
B. You and I can’t carry our cares and problems. We just are not
equipped.
C. Jesus is.
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
III. \\#8-9\\ Be alert and ready because the devil wants to destroy
you.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in
your brethren that are in the world.
A. Peter wanted us to know our enemy.
1. \\#8\\ Know his identity.
a. He is the devil.
b. Have you ever noticed that the word devil is just
"evil" with a "d" put on the front of it?
c. The word devil literally means the evil one.
2. \\#8\\ Know his method. Two thoughts are given in this
short verse.
a. He "walketh" about.
(1) You cannot see it in our English Bible but that
is present tense.
(2) The Bible is not saying, "He will walk about."
(3) Neither is the Bible saying, "He did walk about."
(4) The devil is always walking about. There is
never a time when he is not there.
b. "seeking whom he may devour"
(1) He wants to destroy, slay, and remove all trace
of you.
(2) It is that reason that the devil is after you and
me to begin with.
(a) He wanted to devour Jesus but got himself
kicked to the curb.
(b) So the best he can do is attempt to devour
what Jesus left.
(c) That is us, the church, the body of Christ.
3. \\#9\\ Know His weakness.
a. Here is where I wish Peter had spent more time.
b. He just gave us one phrase.
1Peter 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith….
c. We are to resist the devil and not give into him.
d. We do it "in the faith."
(1) That is the part that I would like a bit more
instruction concerning.
(2) He did not say resist him in the word, in prayer,
in worship, in praise, etc.—although I think
all of those things might play a part in it.
(3) Peter said in the faith.
(a) Faith is a big word covering a lot of
territory; but generally, faith is what we
believe.
(b) What we believe—if we keep on believing
it—will cause the devil to flee.
(c) Like what?
i. We believe that God is good.
ii. We believe that God has a purpose.
iii. We believe that God will give us the
victory.
iv. We believe that God’s rewards will
outshine any suffering we endure here.
B. With this knowledge, Peter gave us a command.
1. \\#8\\ Be vigilant - Be awake, be alert, be on guard.
If we know and understand who our enemy is, we understand
the need to be vigilant.
2. Be sober.
a. To be sober is think properly.
b. We need to think properly when it comes to out we live
our lives. We do not want to give the devil any more
access to us via sin.
c. We need to think properly as we respond to
temptations. We need to "keep our wits" about us
no matter what is happening around us.
IV. \\#10\\ But God’s grace is going to a great work.
1Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you
perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
A. …make your perfect. Presently, God is more concerned with
perfecting our soul than our bodies; but in time, all will be
perfected.
B. …establish you. To plant you in the right direction, like a
four-sided post being set.
C. …strengthen you.
1. To make you strong where you are planted.
2. It would do no good to get us set and then the wind or
rain blow us over.
D. …settle you.
1. To make you stable where you are planted.
2. If you have ever filled in a hole you know after the rain,
you will probably have to top it off again because the
dirt settles.
3. To settle means to stablize you so that even if Satan
attacks from below the surface, you will stand firm.
Peter gave to these believers five chapters of commands and
challenges on how to face suffering. He did not tell them they could
pray or believe the suffering away. It was not God's will or Peter's
goal to remove the suffering. It was Peter's goal to teach the
believers how to stand despite the suffering. May God help us to
learn so as well.
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