The Hope of Humbly Trusting God in Suffering

This week we reach the end of our study of the book of 1 Peter. And don’t you worry, we will jump right into a study of 2 Peter in a few weeks.

We have been navigating our way through our study for this year called Hope for Everyday Life.

Today we turn our attention to 1 Peter 5:6-14. Our study today is called The Hope of Humbly Trusting God in Suffering

5You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

6Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12 Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!

13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.

14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

Let’s look today for 3 Ways to Strengthen Your Hope in God in the Middle of Your Suffering.

I. Humbly Trust in the God of Hope(5b-7)

clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, 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.

• - Let us think through the context leading us to this point in the passage.

• We have discussed multiple time that these folks were in the midst of some pretty significant persecution, trials, testing, and suffering.

• They had been warned at the end of chapter 4 that testing was coming in particular to the “household of God.”

• We discussed 2 weeks ago that the Pastor or the shepherd needs to be ready to lead the church in the midst of the testing that is coming to the church.

• At the very end of the sermon 2 weeks ago we mentioned that those who are in the church need to be prepared to humble themselves under that leadership that the church will provide.

• How do I humbly trust in the God of hope?

Humble yourself.

• - What ultimately does pride say about your belief in the power of God?

• At the end of the day your pride ultimately is you claiming to possess more power than the very one whom you are refusing to humble yourself to.

• Think about that for a second.

• My pride says I with my limited knowledge, strength and ability believes that I am greater than you.

• My basketball 1 on 1 game with the All-American at my college during my freshman year of college.

• Under the mighty hand of God.

• The mighty hand of God is referring to his sovereign power at work.

• God is working and directing and guiding even in the midst of the suffering.

• I hope that you are keenly aware of your own inability to navigate the suffering of this life on your own.

• “I do not believe that God ever fills a cup that was not empty or that He ever fills a man’s mouth with His word while that man has his mouth full of his own words. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.” - Charles Spurgeon,

• He exalts you!

• God’s purpose for your humility under His mighty hand is so that He can exalt you.

• What does Pride ultimately do?

• It destroys you.

• Eventually your pride will fail you.

• Eventually the end of all sin is destruction.

• But humility is exalted in the end.

• What is this exalting?

• Even in considering this phrase we may be tempted to show our pride.

• So, if I am humble enough for long enough then eventually God will lift me up on some sort of winners platform of humility and there I will stand with great pride rejoicing in the recognition of my own humility.

Casting your cares on him

• - This is a supporting participle in this particular passage.

• In other words, one of the expressions of humility is that you cast your anxieties on Him.

• The word cares here could be used to describe a whole lot of different things.

• Anxieties,

• Discontentment

• Discouragement,

• Despair,

• Questioning

• Pain

• Suffering

• I can do it.

• I can face my anxieties in my own strength and make it

• I can over come the discontentment in my life and eventually get what I want out of life.

• I can overcome my discouragement by masking it with overachieving, or some form of hiding from the realities

• I am able to endure my despair

• I will figure out the best way for me to live

• I can take on the pain

• I can endure this suffering.

• Your pride will never be able to sufficiently provide the peace you want in the midst of your suffering.

Trust in the Care of God.

because He cares for you.

• - In the end your pride will rob you of the sweetest care that God wants to provide for you.

• I love the picture of this mighty hand that ultimately leads to our perfect care.

• Isaiah 40:10-11, “Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

• Think about the imagery of this picture.

• God with His all powerful arm full of might.

• The muscles are rippling, the veins are popping, the shirt is tearing under the might and the power represented here.

• And yet He is still gentle and comforting and caring that scared little lamb.

• On one hand he is destroying those who rise up against Him and with the other hand He is comforting those who are suffering.

II. Resist the Attacks of the Devil (8-9)

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

What is the description of the adversary, the devil?

(Picture of lion stalking prey)

• - Descriptions of a stalking lion here

• Dramatic build up with a shock element of attack…

Be of a sober spirit

Be of sober spirit,

• - In the simplest form of the word what is the opposite of sober?

• o It is to be impaired or drunk

• o In other words to not be in a state to think clearly.

• o If you knew you were in a situation where you may be attacked at any moment and time you would not want to be in a state of impairment that would prohibit you from reacting in an appropriate way.

• Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

• 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Be alert

be on the alert.

• - What is the opposite of alert?

• o It is to be asleep.

• o Have you ever been in a position where you are so tired but you need to be on watch for something, but then you fell asleep and the thing you were watching for happened and you failed to stop it?

• o Insert picture of racoon

• § Racoon example

Stand firm in your faith.

• - How do you resist the attacks of the devil?

• By being sure to be firm in your faith.

• 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

• What does this verse tell us about being prepared for the attacks of the devil?

• § You need to have your mind prepared for those attacks by being reminded of the strength of the hope that is found in Christ.

• § So, you are aware of the danger of the lurking lion that is seeking to devour you, but instead of lurking in fear and looking around every corner, instead you are prepared by having your mind prepared for potential attacks.

• Notice this verse says that you are fixing your hope completely on the grace that will be revealed to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

• Friends are you preparing your mind by learning from the Word of God in a way that will enable you to stand strong.

• When lions attack large animals they do not rely as much on their ability to sneak up on them. Instead they circle the herd and try to cause chaos to identify the slowest, weakest, and easiest pray.

• Similarly, the devil loves to attack those who are beaten down through their suffering.

• In the midst of your suffering be prepared for the attacks that are sure to come due to your weakened state.

• Develop this thought even more.

• How do you prepare your minds?

• Are you regularly studying God’s Word.

• Are you regularly digging deep into the truths of God’s Word

• If the only source of your spiritual strengthening is found on Sunday mornings and that is it, then you are not going to be prepared enough for those attacks.

• 1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.”

• By praying for help in the midst of the attack.

• · You are sober-minded through your prayers.

• · Christian it is impossible to live a sober-minded and alert life if you are not actively praying for God’s mighty hand to protect you.

• o Application:

1. Parents

1. Children

1. Adults

- One last thing I want you to notice about this verse is this key phrase

• - - But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

- In the midst of your suffering it is possible to feel like you are the only one who is experiencing this suffering.

- All around the world there are other people who are going through suffering and they are needing to resist the Devil and to stand firm in their faith.

- I love to hear the stories of people who have experienced much suffering simply for their faith in Christ.

- Insert an example from Irfan.

- These stories encourage me to take a stand.

Endure Suffering with Eternity in Focus (10-11)

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

What does it mean that you will suffer for a little while?

- My idea of a little while is like 8 minutes maybe max.

- I can handle 8 minutes of suffering pretty well

- Is there hope if the suffering is short?

- It seems though that the suffering seems to go a whole lot longer than 8 minutes.

- What if I told you that your perspective on a little while may be off?

Do you see the end of the little while in this verse?

Now you might say, Pastor Johnny I need to see a little more proof of this.

- I am so glad you asked.

- 1 Peter 1:6–7 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

• According to this verse for a little while you will be distressed by various trials, which allow you to prove your faith.
• And when does it end in this verse?
• So how long is a little while?
  • It is your life span.
  • That may seem like a long time to be expected to potentially endure suffering.
  • You might be thinking I just want a little bit of peace with no suffering.
  • Where is the encouragement in this train of thought?
• 1 Peter 1:24–25 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
  • Compared to the rest that is offered in eternity the sufferings of this life are very short.
  • What percentage of eternity is 80 years?
  • It is nothing in comparison.
• 2 Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
• Finish this thought!

God will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

• After your suffering the glory of God will come and what will God do for those who have been suffering?

1. Perfect – God will renew you. You have suffered much so you need to be made whole again.

1. Confirm – God will stabilize you after your period of suffering

1. Strengthen you after your suffering so you can worship Him for eternity.

1. Establish – you will be established for a life of eternal praise to our glorious God

Rejoice in the Sovereignty of God

To Him be dominion forever and ever.

• 1 Peter 4:11, Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

• His dominion is the source of hope to face the suffering.

1. God is strong enough to pull all of this off.

1. Trust him in the midst of your suffering.