Back there to 1 Peter chapter
3. 1 Peter chapter 3. This morning we saw that out
of Psalm 127, how that the Lord is the builder of the house and
the keeper of the city. And how that He really does work
everything together. to humble his children and to
teach us that. Peter's dealing with very much
the same subject and he gives us something that is truly a
very, very comforting word. We're in a world
of sin. We're in a world of suffering.
And the apostle Peter says here to the believer, sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts. That means remember who He is. Remember
He's above all. Remember He's doing all, working
in all, accomplishing in all, whether we think it's good or
we think it's evil. And he describes the suffering that the Lord Jesus
Christ endured when he finished the work given him of the Father.
Let's start there in verse 18. He says, For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins. The just. He is the just. The only just one. Not a man on this earth is just,
but this one of himself, I himself, is just. And he died for the
unjust, those who are altogether unrighteous
sinners. And He did it that He might bring
us to God. That word might doesn't mean
that He, perhaps, by chance, maybe, pretty please might do
it. It means He did it. He did it. We like to put the cart before
the horse and say, well, if I let Him and I make His good effects
to me, then He did it. I got news for you. He did it.
He did it. He might let you in on the fact
that He did it. If He did it for you, He will.
He will. We've got to see Him as the one
who's doing everything. Bringing it past His purpose.
Well, it says here, He was put to death in the flesh. But, it says, quickened by the
Spirit. And everything he suffered and
everything he endured, it was in the flesh. It was in human
nature. But he was quickened, made alive,
raised from the dead by the Spirit. I want you to see three things
in this phrase. Put to death in the flesh, quickened
by the Spirit. I've titled this, Put to Death
in the Flesh, Quickened by the Spirit. I want you to see these
three things. I want you to see the declaration,
that which is declared by the resurrection of Christ. I want
you to see the glorification, by the resurrection of Christ.
And I want you to see the edification by the resurrection of Christ.
The declaration, the glorification, and the edification. Let's start
with the declaration by the resurrection. What's declared here when it
tells us this just one who was put to death in the flesh was
quickened by the Spirit? Look over at Romans chapter 1
verse 3. It's declaring to us that the
Son of God, that this one is the Son of God. That He is the
Son of God and that when He was raised, it declares He's the
Son of God by the resurrection. Look at Romans 1-3. Paul is speaking about the gospel. which afore was promised by His
prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And here's what the Gospel is.
It's concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He was really a
man. He took upon Him human nature.
He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was made of
a woman. Made under the law. But now look
at this. And declared the Son of God with
power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. We worship one God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. But one God. One God. And all three, each person in
the Godhead, is said in Scripture to have had a part in raising
Him from the dead. And that declares to us the oneness
and the unity of Christ Jesus, this One who did take human flesh. It describes the oneness of Him,
the unity of Him, with God, that He indeed is God in human flesh. It declares that fact by the
fact that all were together in this thing. All were together
in this thing. But had Christ been raised by
God the Father, or had He been raised by God the Holy Spirit,
and not raised Himself, He actually Himself raised Himself by the
power of His Godhead being the Son of God, then it wouldn't
have declared Him to be the Son of God with power. But, He did. There's been many that's been
raised from the dead. Lazarus was raised from the dead,
but it didn't declare He was God. There'll be many raised
from the dead, but it's not going to declare their God. But this
one raised from the dead, he was raised by himself and declared
he is the Son of God. Look at John 2. I want you to
see a few scriptures. John 2. The Pharisees came to him. These
were men who were very religious. These were men who were very
moral. But they couldn't see past the
end of their nose. And they come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God in human flesh, and they said this to Him. They
said, verse 18, What signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou
doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, forty and
six years was this temple in building. It took us that long
to build this temple. You're going to rear it up in
three days? But he spake of the temple of
his body, and he said, I will raise it up. Look at John 10
and verse 18. John 10 and verse 18. He says in verse 17, he said,
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, I lay
it down on myself. Everything that was done to him.
when He was crucified, when He was put to death in the flesh,
He was laying down His life. He was doing everything according
to His will and purpose. But He says, I have power to
lay it down, I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father. And back in our text there, if
you look back, Peter further declares that he is the eternal
Son of God, eternal in His Godhead. In verse 19, he says, by which,
by this same Spirit, he went and preached to sinners in Noah's
day, during Noah's day. He went there and preached to
them. Sinners who were now dead, who were now in prison, who were
now not in some place of limbo, who were now perished. and hell. But he went there and he preached.
Look back at 1 Peter 1.11. Searching what? Or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.
He's talking about how did the prophets preach? How did they
know of Christ? the Spirit of Christ which was
in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. So here's the declaration. Why is it that you believe that
this man actually raised himself from the dead? I believe it because
it declares he really is God the Son, God in human flesh. And He really did, by this glorious
act of quickening Himself by His own eternal power in Godhead,
by Him being the Son of God, He declared, that's who He is,
He's God the Son. That's the declaration in the
resurrection, that He's declared here. Now, I want you to see
the glorification of this. We're going to get to you and
me, but we're going to stay with Him first, and then we'll get
to us last. All right, we'll see this thing
is not about you and me preeminently. It's about God preeminently.
It's about His glory and what He's done. Now let's see the
glorification in this resurrection. He says there in verse 18, put
to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. In heaven's glory. Where's heaven? It's wherever
God is. Where is He? He's described to
us as being seated upon a throne. Wherever God is, right now, the
human nature, that human body that He took, the Son of God,
that He joined with His divine nature, it's glorified human
nature. It's glorified, a glorified body. Now let me work up to this and
tell you why this is good news. All of those that God, that Christ
came to redeem, died. And we died spiritually. We have
a corrupt nature. A corrupt nature. You're going
to do, and I'm going to do, whatever our nature is. Whatever our fleshly
dictates are, that's what we're going to do. That's what we're
going to do. God's got to give us a heart. He's got to make us new. He's
got to give us something new. Well, all this work has been
accomplished by Christ when He came and He took the nature of
His seed, His children. He took the nature of them. He
took that nature in order to die. He took that nature because
the only way justice could be absolutely satisfied is for him
to die. The only way death could be conquered
was for him to die and conquer death. And that's what he came
to do. Now look at Hebrews 2. Hebrews
2. Look at verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, this is what we're talking about
when we talk about this human nature. Flesh and blood. He also himself likewise took
part of the same. God the Son came down and took
part of the same. Why? That through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage, in prison, kept, bound. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. He took on the nature of Abraham's
children, those who were given to God. Romans 9 said, they're
not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they're children,
all children of Abraham, are they all the true children of
God. But He took the nature of these corrupt, fallen children
whom God gave Him before the world began. Why? Look at verse 17. Wherefore in
all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God. What does this mean, him being
a faithful, merciful high priest? To make reconciliation, to reconcile
his people to God for the sins of the people. That's why he
died. He died, he suffered for sins. He suffered for sin. Now, when
he walked this earth, Christ Jesus, this man, Christ Jesus,
he was holy, he was perfect. That's the significance of him
being conceived in the womb of a virgin, was that he's not of
man. He's not of the seed of man. He's not corrupt. He wasn't conceived
in sin. He's conceived of the Holy Ghost.
So He comes forth from His mother's womb holy, unlike us who come
forth from our mother's womb speaking lies, who come forth
from our mother's womb condemned. But while He was on this earth, in that body, in that human nature. There was a difference in that
body which He had when He walked this earth and which He now has
in glory. There's a difference in it. It's
still a human body, still with hands and feet, still the human
nature, but it's glorified. It's glorified. While He was
here, listen, the significance, while He was here, while He was
serving God the Father for His people, he was subject to the
infirmities of his people. He not only suffered for sins
in the sense that he put away the sins of his people, he suffered
for sins in the sense that all of the infirmities that you and
I suffer that is due to sin, he suffered in his flesh. He
was touched with all of those even though he didn't have sin.
He was touched with all those same feelings of our infirmities.
He was. And this was absolutely necessary
in order for him, in that human nature, to be able to lay down
that human nature, to be able to die in human flesh. As God he couldn't die, but as
a man he could. And in the weakness of this flesh,
he could die. I want you to look over at 1
Corinthians 15.45. 1 Corinthians 15.45. I was looking at this 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45. So it is written. Verse 44 says there's a natural
body and there's a spiritual body. So it's written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Now this first man Adam is Adam
in the garden, and this last Adam is Christ Jesus the Lord.
That's what the text tells us a little further down the page.
Verse 47, the second man is the Lord from heaven. He's the Lord
from heaven. But watch this now, how be it
that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterward
that which is spiritual. Not that the Spirit of God didn't
dwell in Christ, not that that he was not the holy and perfect
God-man when he walked this earth. Listen to this. I want you to
read this to you. John Guild made this statement.
Yea, even Christ's natural body was before his spiritual one.
That is, before his glorified body. That is, the body taken
from the virgin and formed in her womb in which he lived here
on earth. Now let me give you some examples
of the things he suffered. In the flesh, he was born like
the people, just like his people. He was truly born, just like
you and I are born. He was nourished with food and
he grew. He slept when he got tired. He sorrowed. He wept. He was a real body. His was a
real body, true flesh and blood. He truly took our human nature
with his divine nature. And in that nature, he was subject,
made under the law. He subjected himself willingly. He willingly submitted to the
Father. He willingly submitted to powers
and principalities. He willingly submitted, subjected
himself under the law. He did this. And he did all of
this so that he could fulfill everything in the place of those
He died for, that they might be made righteous. In other words, that they might
truly be righteous because He did everything
that the believer can't do. He did
everything you and I cannot do. right up to the point that he
went to the cross and he laid down his life. And that's what
he did. He was like that lamb, you know,
that lamb in the Passover was put up and he had to be observed
and he had to be made sure there was no spot or blemish in him. Christ walked in this body subject
to everything you and I are subject to. And he was touched with the
same feelings of our infirmities that we are. I mean, just like we are. And yet there was no guile in
his mouth, no guile in his heart. He never sinned. He never thought
an ill thought. He never did one thing contrary
to holy God. Never. And so he was without
blemish. He was without spot. And so he
was fit to lay down that life and subject himself to the will
of his father, which meant he's going to have to go to the cross
and bear this shameful death. with the sins of His people,
the iniquity of His people, all the punishment that was due to
His people, everything poured out in fullness from God and
from men. When He was on the cross, there
was nobody with Him. There wasn't anybody standing
with Him. God the Father was justifying was punishing and
declaring His justice and punishing all that He would reconcile to
Himself. And there wasn't anybody standing
around there who was helping in nailing Him to the cross.
Nobody there was for Him. You know, we think, we get to
thinking, we think, why can't people believe? I just don't
know why they don't believe. That's us at the foot of the
cross. That's us nailing Him to the cross. That's us inflicting
stripes upon Him. That's us doing that. Every now and then God just gives
us a little while to let us see that's us. He gives us just enough of our
own selves and just enough of our own flesh unrestrains it
just enough to let us see, yeah, that's me. That's me. If He does not keep me, that
is me. That's me. But nobody was with
Him. And the Scripture says, in that
nature now, get with me, in that nature, He was able to die. And Peter says here, He was put
to death in the flesh. He had a man sinned, A man had
to die. A man committed the transgression,
one man had to die. By one man's disobedience, sin
entered in. And death by sin. So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Just one. We're either going
to be in Adam or we're going to be in Christ. But in this
death, he was put to death in the flesh. Paul said he was crucified
through weakness. that weakness of this flesh. It had to be that way. But, Peter
says, He was quickened by the Spirit. He was raised in power. And so
now, this very nature, I want you, we're getting to something,
this very nature He took, in His very body, just like I said,
He took this that he took together with his Godhead as God, the
Son of God. This very body has been raised
a glorified body, glorified human nature. It's the same as it was
in substance when he walked this earth. Do you remember when he
came to his own and they said, we thought you're a spirit. And he said, behold my hands
and my feet. It's I myself. He said, handle me and see. He
said, a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as you see me have. But now, This human nature. They watched Him go up into heaven. And now this same one, this same
human nature, this same one who represents all of His people,
this same one who represents everybody for whom He died, This
same one who is the last Adam, who is a representative and a
head of everybody for whom he died. This one is raised so that
he is, there in glory, sits one, a man, sits a man, who is the
perfection of wisdom that you and I have got to be made. The
perfection of righteousness that you and I have got to be made.
The perfection of holiness that you and I have got to be made.
And there He is so perfect in our nature that God receives
Him to Himself in communion with Him This God who is of two pure
eyes to look upon sin, He receives him to Himself. And in Him, Colossians
2 verse 9 says, In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead
and all the fullness of perfect human nature, perfect glorified
body, perfect man dwells in Him. Every bit of it. And when He
raised Him there, He gave Him, God's so pleased with Him, He
gave Him to have life in Himself, gave Him the authority to execute
judgment because He is the Son of Man. Now listen to that, the
Son of Man. What does that mean? Because
He's the Son of Man. Because He's the Adam. What about the first Adam? It just, now it's just the Adam. Christ, Jesus, the Son of Man. The perfect man. And everybody,
and now look at this, verse 22. He's gone into heaven, and is
on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being
made subject unto Him. What I'm saying is, in that human
nature, He made Himself subject to all these. But now, they're all subject
to Him. The Son of Man. This One who
is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. I like to think
of that. I love to think that in glory
there is a man who is my mediator, who is the one who is God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is totally and completely
satisfied with. completely and totally has a
glory in Him. We're talking about a glory here,
and this is not going to be communicated to me and you. This is something
surpassing all what we're talking about in Him. And He's sitting there right
now, and He still knows the feeling of our infirmities. But He's
not subject to them anymore. They're all subject to Him now. Do you know what that means?
What's going to curb our sin? What's going to subdue our sin? What's going to make sin not
have dominion over you? What's going to make It's going to restrain you. The
power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. What's going to make a man stop Exalting himself and looking
at himself and walking around and thinking he's done something
that's gonna please God This one who has all power in himself
who has life in himself who is able through the Spirit of God
to bring down everything in subjection to him He's raised from the dead and he dieth no more. Death hath
no more dominion over him. He once subjected himself to
it in this natural body, but he is not subjected to it anymore
in his glorified body. He died, but he died unto sin
one time. He subjected himself to it one
time. But he's not dying to it anymore.
He's living unto God now. All right? That's the glorification
of it. Now, what does all that mean
for you that's sitting there who can't do one thing to please
God in yourself? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that you can't do one thing to please God? I'm not talking about by the
Spirit of God dwelling, I'm talking about you. You. It's like you're born from
Adam and me. We can't do one thing to please
Him. So, what does all this mean for us? What does this one declaring
He's the Son of God and declaring that now there's a man, perfect,
who's one, God and man, one. In one. The fullness of the Godhead
bodily. What does that mean for me and
you? Sitting here. The benefits that everyone is
going to receive. Everyone that He died for. They
have to. They have to receive this. Because
you see, it is finished. It's done. He's not operating
in a co-effort with anybody. He's not operating in an effort
where, now, if you'll do something, all that he did, well, it really
took place. No, no, no, no. It really took
place. And he really is in glory. And he really shall make this
known in the hearts of everybody. Because here's the reality of
it. Every elect child of God was baptized with the baptism
with which Christ was immersed when He was immersed. I'm not
talking about water baptism. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about, Peter says here, look here in 1 Peter 3, 20. And he talks here about when
Noah was there in the days of Noah, and the Lord waited while
the ark was preparing. He says, where in few, that is,
eight souls were saved. Now look here what he says. He
says this was a figure, it was a type of the baptism which Christ
himself was baptized with. Look at 1 Peter 3.21 and take
out that parenthetical expression. He said, that art was the like
figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us by the
resurrection of Christ. By what he did. Christ was immersed,
like that ark was immersed in the rain of God's divine judgment. Christ was immersed in the rain
of God's wrath. Christ was immersed in death
completely. He died and he was put completely
in a grave. But now, by his own power in
Godhead, He's raised to newness of life and glory where there
is the man in whom everybody that He did all that for, they
were in Him when He did it and they're in Him now. Look, though
every believer wasn't born, I want you to turn to Ephesians. I was
going to have you look at Colossians 2 and I think I still will, but
I want you to turn to Ephesians. Ephesians. And this is, I want
you to see this, that this immersion that he went through, this is
what baptism pictures, this is what the art pictures. But look
now, here it says, verse 18 talks about the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened. It says in Ephesians 1 verse
17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, that your eyes of your understanding might be
enlightened, that you might know what is the hope of His calling,
what truly the gospel is, what truly the hope of His calling
is, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
that which He gives to those who are called and sanctified
by Him. and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power," now watch this, "...to usward who believe." This
is what He's going to make known when He makes us to believe Him,
when He calls us by His grace. He's not going to make us at
that time see that at that time all of a sudden now we're, we've
all of a sudden been raised up now and we're sitting with Him.
This is what He's going to make us to see. He's going to make
us see we've been there. We already been there the whole
time, even though we were too ignorant and ignorant and ignorant
and walking around acting like we were somebody. Watch. according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him
from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name in this name, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which
is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."
That means when He raised that glorified body, His elect body,
all His mystical body, the whole church was raised in Him, so
that as He is, that's how they are. And it's for this cause,
this is how they've been since God put them in Christ. Now it's
effectively accomplished by what Christ did through His work,
having finished the work, and when it's revealed to us by the
Spirit of God, we behold in newness of life. There's my hope. There's my hope. I've been walking
around putting all my confidence in my will. Now I know that every time I
was defending falsehood, I wasn't defending anything but my own
profession, my own will, and everything I did. Now I've been
made to see he did it all. And I've been sitting there with
him the whole time. This is the baptism He was baptized
with. And I'll show you Colossians
2 because I'm convinced this is... And then He... Then you
hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. And
He makes you alive to behold these things that by grace you're
saved. And when you behold something
like this, you think a man's going to be able to resist that?
Huh? You think you're going to be
able to resist the glory of God the Father? Come on now! Who are you? And who am I? Really? Look, but this is what Colossians
2, this is what, Colossians 2, 11. This is what, this is what He
makes us to behold. Look, verse 2, let's go back,
2, 9. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in Him. You know what complete means,
don't you? That means... I don't even know how to describe
complete. You can't do it. It's nothing
to be done. You can't do anything to it.
It's done. Complete. Which is the head of all principality
and power. Now watch. How did all this come
about? In whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision made without
hands, and the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ. Now watch this again. Buried
with him in baptism. We're not even talking about
water baptism yet. But we were buried with Him in baptism, when
He was immersed in judgment on the cross, when He was immersed
in the grave. Wherein also you are risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God, God's faithfulness,
God's power, who has raised Him from the dead, and you Now we
come to you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him and forgiven
you all trespasses. He's blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that were against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And in all of
that submitting Himself, subjecting Himself under all those powers
and principalities over whom now He reigns, this is how He
came to reign over them. He spoiled them all because he
subjected himself. He spoiled principalities and
powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. Therefore, let no man judge you
in what you eat or what you drink or in observance of a holy day.
Don't let any man take you back now to the law of God and say,
but now. except you do so, you can't be
saved. Peter said of that, he said,
us Jews are going to be saved just like those Gentiles who
didn't even have the Word of God. We're going to be saved
through this work of the operation of God wherein He's made Christ
known in our hearts to behold to us that He is the One who
has done all the work. And we're complete in Him. Complete
in Him. Alright, now. Let's wind this
up. This is what Christ meant when
He said, I'm the resurrection and the life. It's not an event. It's a person. He is the resurrection and the
life. And everybody that believes on Him, though He were dead,
He shall live. Do you believe that? You believe on Him? Now, what are we confessing in
Believer's Baptism and Water Baptism? We're confessing. It's not the putting away of
the filth of flesh. I guarantee you this, when you're
baptized, I bet you, when you take a shower at home, I bet
you screw up harder than you do when you're baptized. That
baptism is not going to wash away any filth of your flesh.
If you come there with dirty hands, you're going to leave
that baptismal pool with dirty hands. But here's what it is. It is the answer of a good conscience
toward God. It means God has circumcised
my heart. God has made me new in the heart.
And I behold now, salvation is not a works of righteousness
which I do, It's all of God. My conscience has been washed.
It's been purged from filth so that now I behold Him. And I'm
confessing now that when He was immersed in that death on the
cross, when He was immersed in that grave, so was I. And when
He came out of it, so did I. And I'm complete. That's what
He says there in verse 21. Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.
All of this is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, what does
all that have to do, Peter, with us, the fact that we're going
through this life and we're suffering now and we get all caught up
in things we shouldn't and we get all, what does all that have
to do with it? This same one who knows the feeling
of our infirmities, this same one who's put away the sin of
his people, this same one in whom we're complete now, which
cannot be undone, nothing, you can't undo it. You can't undo
it. If you continue believing, that's going to be evidence that
Christ did something for you that can't be undone. If you
stop believing Him and you decide, well, I can take that or leave
it. You hadn't undone anything. All you did is prove nothing
was ever done for you in the beginning. I'm talking about
me. That's something. But what does
all this have to do with the fact that I'm going to suffer
now and sin plagues me and all that? Because he's touched with
the feeling of our infirmities and because he is the great high
priest, he's not only faithful to God to perform these things,
he's merciful to act towards you and me and has power to act
towards you and me to send forth the comforter in our hearts by
the Spirit of God and subdue. Everything that's got us all
twisted and sideways Even if he don't even take us out of
the stuff that just right there in the heart can just speak in
a calm and you're still and you're at peace. Because he's able to
do it. For in that he himself suffered
being tempted, he's able to comfort you in all your temptations. And one day, look back at 1 Peter
1.3, one day these corrupt bodies that we have and this flesh that
plagues us, just like He was raised in that glorified nature,
He's going to raise us. We're going to be raised and
be like Him, conformed to His image with a glorified body. Look at this, 1 Peter 1.3, knowing this, I'm sorry, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible. How incorruptible? If Christ can be corrupted, then
your inheritance can be. If the Son of God can come down
again and have to do the work all over again, which he can't. It's done. Undefiled, fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith. You know that's a powerful word,
through faith. It means through you not turning again and trying
to save yourself, through you entirely trusting everything
into His hand, through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. So, Peter's telling us here in
every hour, in every situation, whether you're the president
and a believer, or whether you're a governor under him and a believer,
or whether you're under the president and governors who hate God and
want to destroy you, or whether you're a man working in a place
and you've got somebody running roughshod over you, or whether
you're a husband who has an unbelieving wife or a wife who has an unbelieving
husband, or whether you're brethren once with one another, We don't
have to try to be masters over one another. We don't have to
try to riot and get our way with one another. We have this great
mortification of our flesh, of our own flesh, and know that
this One who has subdued us is able to subdue all things to
Himself, so that we just keep our eyes on Him, keep looking
to Him, keep trusting Him, and by His Spirit, our risen Redeemer
will see to it that one of these days we're going to awake and
be completely and totally satisfied when we awake in his likeness. Amen.