God Comes to the Individual

God orchestrates the circumstances in our lives so that, as we go through life, we are perfected, so that when we see Jesus we will be like Him. Life is a constant discovery of the love of God and His goodness to us; it is trials that reveal this to us.

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If you can imagine the Great Fire of London which destroyed about 90 churches and displaced hundreds of people. The scapegoat for that fire was the fact that it was put out that French Catholics had started it. A similar effect of a fire was felt in Rome in the year 64 AD. The Roman Emperor, Nero, was blamed for it because he had said that he wanted to rebuild many of the buildings in Rome. He in turn passed the blame of the fire to the Christians. It was this that started the persecution of the Christians. It was incredibly barbaric. When news of what Nero was doing percolated out throughout the Roman Empire it reached areas of what we now call Turkey. Peter wrote this letter about this time, so at the very time that there was the news of the persecution of the Christians, Peter’s letter was written that was going to include messages that would be of incredible value for that time.

1 Peter 1:1

1 Peter 5:12

We have here a time when things were really happening as far as being a Christian was concerned. That’s why in these twelve verse Peter refers to a trial of your faith.

1 Peter 1:1-2

There’s a wonderful explanation there, in verse two, of who does what in the Trinity. When we did the series on Acts it was to do with the fact that God the Spirit was very active when the church was first launched.

1 Peter 1:3-5

He establishes right at the start where those people stood in Jesus Christ, what it was that Jesus had done for them, what it was that the gift of the spirit was still doing in them. In these verses eleven things are confirmed that they can be thankful for. In the midst of difficult circumstances it’s good to remember the foundation on which you stand and what God has done for you.

Peter had walked with Jesus; he was an apostle. Here this apostle gives thanks to the Father for Jesus Christ. We are thankful for his mercy, for the fact that He has caused us to be born from above. It is His mercy that has reached out to you and me. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean for God to reach out to an individual to draw them to His love? It is His mercy that does that. God is interested in us. Our hope is this: when we see Him we will be like Him. This means that as we go through life we are being perfected through the circumstances that we’re going through. Peter had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and had also talked with Him. As Jesus took out that guilt of when Peter denied Him, gently withdrew, and Peter could look up. Now, via the letter of Peter, he in turn is communicating to people who are going to encounter things they would never have imagined. We have an incorruptible inheritance, undefiled, that is kept in heaven for us. Our hope is built on certainty. It is built on the confirmed faith that God has given to you and me that as we go through life, when we see Him we shall be like Him. That does not make life a drudgery. The things that God has prepared for those who love Him are wonderful. We are shielded by faith for that salvation to be revealed in the last time. We are talking about the ultimate salvation, when we will see Him.

He paints the picture of their picture in God, and then in verse 3 – 5 he states all the things we can be grateful for.

1 Peter 1:6-7

The circumstances of life right now have relevance. The outworking of the trial is specifically marked for me when I am to presented before God at the end of my life. There is going to be praise, honour, glory to God from you, as it were, as you’ve witnessed how God has brought you through the trial that you are now in. We must consider how we are approaching the circumstances in our life? We must be in the situation where we are confirming what He has done for us, and are resting on that foundation. We must not look at the circumstances; this will only bring fear. The trial of your faith is more precious than gold.

1 Peter 1:8-9

John 20:24-28

God reaches people in different ways. Rather than try and shoehorn into an experience like we had, what God does is come to an individual in such a way that they know Him. When Thomas said that he probably was ridiculed slightly by the other disciples. When he spoke he didn’t know that Jesus had heard him. A week went by and Jesus came to him. He didn’t chide Thomas for not believing, He simply told him to thrust his hand in his side. There was a tailor-made encounter with the living God. In your life when God is moving it isn’t that He’s trying to make you into an experience of someone else. He is meeting you at your point inside exactly. The fact that you have that awareness of emptiness within is God working in you. You think that way because God is working in you. Woe betide us if we try to make everyone have the same experience.

John 20:29

Peter knew that he was writing to people who had not seen Jesus physically. He knew the love in Jesus’ words that He spoke to Thomas: “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

1 Peter 1:9-12

I am confirming to you tonight that the circumstances you are going through are tailor-made so that you can encounter the love of God. Through the circumstances that we go through it is a constant discovery, more and more, despite all the pressure and seeming impossibilities, a constant discovery of God’s love for you. You are in the palm of His hand; no man can take you from the palm of His hand. He is a wonderful, living God.

Walking Through the Valley

The 6 verses that we will be looking at this evening will be incredibly familiar to most of you. So the danger is that you will switch off, thinking ‘Oh, I already know this’. But it will be relevant to us all.

As I’ve been talking to people this week, what God has been doing in many lives, he has been sorting out the foundations in our life. For David here, this encapsulates his whole understanding of who God is.

Psalms 23:1-6

V1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Turning that verse around, He will always but always provide for my needs. I shall not want. It’s an impossibility with the Lord as my shepherd, that I will be in need of anything. The reason why it’s an impossibility is because the Lord places his name to what this psalm is all about.

Amplifying the words about God being our shepherd, this is Jesus speaking:

John 10:1-5

Jesus, in like vein to the psalmist, portrayed this whole concept of he himself being the shepherd. In verse 6 it says ‘Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.’ So then Jesus amplified his meaning:

John 10:7-19

I am the good shepherd (New Testament). The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want (Old Testament). I shall not be in a situation where God will not make provision in its entirety for me. I lay down my life for the sheep, Jesus says. When Jesus spoke about being the good shepherd, it was he himself. But it’s he himself who has laid himself down for you. He has made full provision for every single thing that you require both in this life and in the life to come.

I physically lay down my life for the sheep so that the sheep will be cared for; so that they will be able to find pasture; so that they will be able to go in and out. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. Where we go through life; where there are pressures that some people are encountering that they never had to encounter before, your reaction to that pressure will determine how much you will rely on God for your provision.

I won’t want. I won’t be in need. The answer and the provision to meet the requirements, have already been sorted. And bang on time and at the right time, those answers will be there for you, so then you will say, “God, only you could have provided the answer and provided in that way, because I wouldn’t have been able to sort it out in that way.”

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

So there’s a place of peace in my life, as it says in verse 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. But that isn’t the place where I’m meant to remain in. I’m not going to be in a place where peace prevails and that’s the only place I’m going to be. That’s not how you are going to live your Christian life. God will provide that peace in the midst of adversity. I am walking through this situation; I am not going to stop in this situation and let fear grip my heart or stop and let the whole circumstances overwhelm me. I am going to be able to say, later, I can see the way God has led me and the paths of righteousness that he has led me into, and I know that it has been God. At times, I have looked around and I’ve seen the problems and I’ve listed them. But I learned, in the middle of the situation (this is what you will be saying when you look back) that I somehow managed to keep going and look forward.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

They’re the key four words: for his name’s sake. Everything in your life is set so that when you go through the circumstances you’re in, when you walk through that, you will be able to proclaim, loud and clear, it’s Jesus Christ who has made provision all the way through; he has kept me and it’s for his name’s sake that I'm saying this because I want to give the glory to him. That’s what I'm going to do.

Don’t ask the question, “Why am I in this situation?” It doesn’t help to analyse. No, I’m in this situation and I’m going to look to God as my provider.

Hebrews 20:13-14

He’s the shepherd of the sheep. But the purpose of what you’re going through at the moment, is to make us perfect in every good work, for us to do his will, for him to work in us and to do that which is pleasing in his sight. If we try to plan it out, we get it totally and utterly wrong. The way God sorts our life out, he loves us, he causes us to walk in the paths of righteousness and the outworking of this is that he works in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight. We’re not here to make a camp, we’re here to walk through. And the outworking of this will be that it is well pleasing in his sight.

In your reaction to what is going on in your life at the moment, is it that you are going to go like a clam into its shell and hope against hope that something will happen. OR are you going to be like the man with that pound and think “Right I’m going to do something with my life. There’s no way I’m going to blame God for where I’m at.” I’m going in and out of new pasture. Whatever it is, the outworking of what I’m doing and my reaction to these pressures is crucial. Because those reactions will either work out something that is well-pleasing in his sight or like the man in the parable where he just kept the pound safe and did nothing with it. We want to be like those men who did something with the pound and saw how God provided through our situation.

The concept of walking through is there in Psalm 23V4:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

I’m walking through. It’s an active verb. It is not something that I’m becoming stuck in; so absorbed in the analysis of the situation that I’m like a rabbit in the headlights; I can’t move. NO I’m walking through; I’m trusting God; the Lord is my shepherd...’and he has already prepared the answer. And It will come bang on time, every time, always. Never too early and never too late; bang on time.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

V5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psalms 92:10-16


Fruit is possible in old age. Fruit as unto God; communicating the life of God to someone else. If you’re of old age here, God wants to bring forth fruit in your life. God has brought pressures to you because He loves to communicate to you his faithfulness and his love and who he is. He wants to freely make available that knowledge of him.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

It doesn’t matter what age you are, you can still flourish.

V5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Let me just read you the Psalm in a more paraphrased version,

Eugene Peterson - The Message:
1-3 God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. 4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd's crook makes me feel secure.5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. All the days of my life.

He used the word ‘pursue’ as the verb there. Goodness and mercy pursuing me, following me, surrounding me. By his holy spirit, God’s life is inside you. Christ in you the hope of glory is prompting you that the opportunities that you have at the moment, despite all the pressures, is to prove his faithfulness and his love and who he is to you. I don’t know your circumstances but I know that God uses these to convey to you his love and how he can provide. He loves you.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

In Revelation 19:9 it refers to the marriage supper of the lamb. When you look back, what is going to be the testimony of your life? It is going to be ‘the Lord is my shepherd and I know the Lord has brought me through.’ It is God who has put that faith in your heart. And what we have examined tonight is timely for you. He loves you. It makes you think, if someone doesn’t have a faith of Jesus Christ in their life...The pressure you’re in is not too much. The circumstances of your life are not impossible.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Not some days, not when you’re being good. ALL the days of my life. And what we need to do is align our thinking with who God is and so that our reactions to the circumstances in our life is to bring gory to him. There is no way I am going to get bitter in any situation that I’m going to throw something at God, “Why!?” No. He has given his life for me. He is the Good Shepherd, I shall not want.

Dwelling in God

‘God’ and ‘love’ are synonymous. Dwelling in God and dwelling in love are the same thing. Nothing will prevent God working out His purposes for you. So when you’re trying to figure things out, remember the context of the life He’s given you and what He’s done already. Will anything prevent God from blessing you? No. Is there any circumstance in my life that God cannot sort out for the good? No. He will make provision – God is love.

God is love. It is worth confirming to your heart constantly, the fact that God loves you because that’s who He is – He can’t but love, that’s His nature.

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1 John 4:15 - 16

‘God’ and ‘love’ are synonymous. Dwelling in God and dwelling in love are the same thing. You are a special human being because of what God has done in you. His love for you is so great that He sent His Son to earth to die for you.

Romans 8:28

All things work together for good to those who are the called, according to whose purpose? His purpose. When you become a Christian, your aims and ambitions are changed and your life is lived out for Him.

Romans 8:29

In a church you are brothers and sisters because you are united by that common purpose, to serve God and live according to His purposes.

Romans 8:31 - 32

There is no stint to God’s provision for you. It’s inevitable – you can’t stop it. For those looking for it, it’s on its way.

Romans 8:33 - 34

He is still involved in your life, minute by minute, constantly re-affirming what He has done for you on the cross.

Romans 8:35

Nothing will prevent God working out His purposes for you – He is love. So when you’re trying to figure things out, remember the context of the life He’s given you and what He’s done already. Will anything prevent God from blessing you? No.

Romans 8:36 - 37

The way He conquered things for you was that He conquered sin in your life. He took away the power of it and the outworking of it that was all wrong. Sin causes death but He conquered death. That is why the cross is empty – He was buried, put in a tomb and rose from the dead. Now Paul writes, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us”. So when you are involved and immersed in God’s love, inevitably you are more than a conqueror, because God is love and there is nothing on this earth that can prevent you from being blessed by God; there is nothing that can get in the way of God’s love for you.

Romans 8:38 - 39

It’s impossible for you to be separated from God, who is love. If you let this sink in in your situation it makes things different because you see things from a perspective of God in your life, not of you trying to work out the circumstances in your life. I’m a Christian – a Christ-one, as a result of what He has done for me. Is there any circumstance in my life that God cannot sort out for the good? No. Is there any provision that He can’t make for my needs? No. He will make provision. Why is it that sometimes I want things to be done sooner that it happens? Let me confirm to you that the timing of God’s provision in your life will be perfect and inevitable and certain and sure. God is love, and the more you think about who God is, the more it is imperative that we are open to allow His provision to come forth.

Don’t be bitter, don’t regret, don’t think He has missed you out, don’t think, “He always blesses that person but never me”. Don’t think like that. Rejoice in what is happening to another person because you can see how faithful God is and who He is to them. You may say, “Well that is all very well but you don’t know the circumstances of my life”. I don’t but I know that these words are timely for you. Why are they timely? Because anything which causes us to realise once again that you are a child of God, that He has called you: He’s given you faith and you can confess Him as the Son of God; as we read in 1 John 4, it is a result of what He has done. By rights we shouldn’t be involved with Him, but He persevered, fulfilled what God wanted, went obediently to the cross, gave His life so that I could be preaching here, conveying to you who He is.

Sometimes things happen and it throws you: step back. Who is in control? God is. He has started in my life something eternal. Is He going to finish what He started? Yes, by taking us through circumstances where each time, it will be a discovery of how much He loves you. That is what He does.

For Paul, everything that happened to him was evidence of how God would provide for him through every circumstance – and the same applies to us.

Going Forward in God

No matter how impossible the circumstances we face, God has provided a way for us as we go forward in Him.

Ephesians 2:5 – 6

As a Christian, you live knowing that Jesus Christ is the answer for everything. His life is inside you, and you know that you can trust God in any circumstances as you go forward. It’s a glorious thing to know your times are in God’s hand.

There was a particular time when the children of Israel faced an impossible situation. When you face the impossible God is able to see you through, He is able to fulfil His destiny in your life.

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Isaiah 51:15

It was an impossible situation, but He divided the sea. He rebuked the sea and, according to Nahum made it dry. It was not until 800 years later Isaiah wrote these words. This was an event of such significance that it was still recalled.

There came a time in the history of the children of Israel when their situation couldn’t have got any worse. They had been slaves of the Egyptians, ten plagues had been brought on the Egyptians, and still Pharaoh would not let them go. The Passover came and the firstborn of every Egyptian died, and the children of Israel thought that now they had made it. Pharoah finally agreed to let them leave Egypt.

There are some people today who need to realise that when it seems impossible to go forward, God is opening the way for you. God can sort things out.

Exodus 12:31 – 32

The following is history...

Exodus 14:1 – 5

Suddenly the Egyptians realised that they were letting their slaves go. To the Israelites it must have appeared that everything was sorted out for them but suddenly they were facing another problem.

Exodus 14:6 – 9

The Israelites must have been thinking “We thought it was sorted, Lord. There was an agreement. What are you doing?”

When the Passover happened the firstborn of every Egyptian family had died. But the one thing the plagues hadn’t touched was the army, and Pharaoh trusted the army.

Sometimes we look at situations which we thought were resolved, and fear comes inside. But fear not. Jesus Christ lives on the inside. Perfect love casts out fear. Don’t be afraid.

Exodus 14:10 – 12

The children of Israel were trapped at a dead end with 600 relentless chariots coming after them. There really was nowhere to go. There were over 1.5 million people, with the sea ahead of them, the wilderness behind, and the chariots approaching. What they thought was sorted out apparently was not. And the complaints and murmuring set in.

Exodus 14:13

“Fear not”. God used those same words with Abraham in Genesis 5, to Joshua, to Gideon, to Daniel.

Luke 12:31 - 32

Without God in this world, there is fear – fear of the economy, of the credit crunch, of the knife culture. You can’t but fear without God.

If you’re not a Christian, God wants to show you something. He’s saying that this Christianity you have heard about is something you need to get involved in. Jesus is speaking to you right now. You know you’ve been worried about the way things are, about your own life.

God is on the throne. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. He has a future for each person on this earth.

The children of Israel heard Moses say, “Fear not”.

Isaiah 26:3

The only way to get peace inside and going forward is in God.

You have only to look at the news these days, and it’s as though each day brings something worse than the day before. People are asking what is the answer, what is the way forward, what is the fabric of society meant to be? Do politicians have the answer? The more it goes on, the more imperative it is that we should not be silent about our faith. Jesus Christ is on the throne. He has the answer. There is a way for society He knows about. It involves one person at a time coming to know Him.

Ephesians 1:19 – 23

The reason why we have an empty cross is that when He went to the cross, He took our sin, broke the power of it, was buried and rose from the dead – and the power of God that brought Him up from the dead is the power which comes by His Holy Spirit to live within an individual.

God has everything under His feet. There isn’t one thing God doesn’t know about, and isn’t involved in. He loves you, and there is peace in heaven. There is never a ripple of any fear or doubt, because in heaven everything has been completed.

As you evaluate your circumstances, you can have confidence that God is taking you forward, that He will see you through. On our own, we can’t do it. The world does not have an answer. The children of Israel did not have an answer.

“Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Some of the children of Israel thought there was no chance it would happen. Others said they didn’t know how it would happen, but they believed.

Exodus 14:14

Forget your way of working things out, your way of coming up with an answer. It’s the Lord who fights for us and sees us through. Fear not, stand still. It’s the Lord who fights for us and we will see the salvation of the Lord. Don’t worry about whether it will work out or not. Of course it will.

Exodus 14:15-18

I wonder what Moses thought when God said that. He’d been used to miraculous power. He’d seen the burning bush. He’d seen the plagues. And now, something else miraculous was to happen – something we would still talk about today. God had the solution. It’s something you’d never dream of, because humanly speaking it is not possible.

Exodus 14:19

God provided a solution the children of Israel didn’t think of. In their mind they followed the cloud. Suddenly it was switched about. You think there is no way forward, but God has the solution.

Exodus 14:20-31

This was an incredible miracle because there was no way forward. Humanly speaking it was impossible. You may think that the situation you are facing is impossible, but God has prepared the solution. It doesn’t matter what anyone says. God knows what He is doing, and He has already provided a way forward for you in the circumstances of your life.

Philippians 4:19

The guarantee is that God is who He is. The God who has started a work in your life will complete it. And whatever your need, God will supply all that need.

Hebrews 11:29

I don’t think there was a motorway formed through the sea which they just strolled through. I think the people started, and as they went forward it moved apart, and they kept going. Each step they took, the miracle provision continued, by faith. And there were a lot of people, over 1.5 million. Step by step by step. Our God is a God of miracles. He has done everything, and it’s perfect to provide a solution for your life.

Ephesians 2:5 – 6

Jesus Christ living on the inside

His Holy Spirit lives in us now. And the pillar of fire is a type of the Holy Spirit, the protection. With Jesus Christ living on the inside, as you go forward, remind yourself that we have a God who makes the impossible possible. He will and He does. Everything begins and ends in Him.

Rejoice in Understanding and Knowing Him

I want to refer to the fact that it’s a good thing to glory in God and not to commend ourselves or compare ourselves one with another in any context.

2 Corinthians 10:12

2 Corinthians 10:17-19

It’s important that you and I have the commendation of the Lord in the way we live, talk with one another and treat one another. The enemy of our souls strives on the results of us comparing one another because it takes your sight away from God himself. Our perspective becomes wrong and warped when we compare each other.

Matthew 20:1-12

Their reaction to how the lord of the vineyard paid them was a human way of looking at things: “We’ve worked the whole day in the hot sun and you’re giving those who have worked only one hour, you’re giving them the same wage as us; it can’t be fair.”

Matthew 20:13-16

Matthew 6:23

It matters how we react to what God is doing in one another. It matters how we react even to such an extent that we can react wrongly and an evil aspect comes in and it’s possible that that affects our whole outlook and our view becomes warped. We accept what God is doing in our own lives but we question what God is doing in someone else’s life. We cannot accept that the Lord is good.

We do wrong if we compare ourselves one with another of our experiences of the “day” and we forget our relationship with God. What is he wanting to do in my life? Are the circumstances in my life at this time an opportuntiy for God to get hold of me. Or are they circumstances wrongly read into and mean you have a warped outlook on life. It’s not wise to compare ourselves one with another in that way.

Jeremiah 9:23-25

This is saying we need to glory in who God is and the nature of God. In this scripture we have lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness. What I want to commend to you this evening to do is to rejoice in how God has opened your eyes to understand and know who he is. He is exercising these three things in the church and in each of our lives. He is perfecting things in you in the best way he can. Don’t compare your experience with someone else’s. Rejoice in understanding and knowing him. “I am the Lord which exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, for in these things I delight.”