Alright, our text in 1 Peter
chapter 2 is written to believers. That's who Peter is addressing
here. Those born of the Spirit of God, those who've been given
life in Christ Jesus, the Prince of life, have eternal life and
they're free. They're free indeed. And they
are willfully the servants of God, living unto God. And walking
by faith, out by sight, no more looking on the outward appearance, no more putting any confidence
in the flesh, that is, led of the Spirit of God, submissive
to Christ. The Scripture says the kingdom
is the Lord's. Kingdom is the Lord's. And the
governor, He's the governor among the nations. He is. Last week we saw that the chain
of command doesn't stop. It doesn't cease to be. The chain
of command in the earth doesn't cease to exist because the believer
has been made free in Christ. We still have authority, and
we still have a chain of command. We started last week with the
king, the king as supreme. Verse 13, Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to
the king as supreme or unto governors, those that are under him, as
unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers,
those even under governors. And he said there, verse 15,
for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, not using liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor
all, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King. Today we
come to servants and masters. The title of the message today
is Serving the Master. Serving the Master. Verse 18,
servants be subject to your masters with all fear, with all respect,
with all honor. The servants here include those
who were hired And this time it included those who were bought
with money, it included those who were taken in wars, it included
those who were born into a house, or those who served by contract
as apprentices and so forth. Now if the Lord sent forth Peter,
And He gives us this word through the Spirit, even in the time
when true slavery, in the truest sense of the word, existed. And
He says to the servant to be in subjection to you, Master.
then as this does apply to us in our day, as it applies to
masters being those who are over you in a job, or those who are
like a teacher to a student, student to the teacher. In other
words, whoever there is that's over you that's in the authority,
submit to them. That's what the word is. Submit
to them. Servants, be subject to your master with all reverence,
with all respect. Now, The believer serves all
superiors without exception. All superiors without exception.
I want you to see this. 1 Timothy 6 verse 1. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 1. Let as many servants, that means
whoever you are that are serving somebody, let as many servants
as are under the yoke. That means all of them. All of
them. Count their own masters worthy
of all honor that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. Now what if your servant or your
master is a believer, a fellow believer? Does that mean that
you don't serve them the same as you would someone else? Does
that mean you have a little a little leeway there so that you don't
have to really listen to what they say. Look at the next verse.
And they that have believing masters, let them not despise
them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because
they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These
things teach and exhort. So we see here, brethren, that
faith doesn't erase the chain of command in this earth. And
we're going to all be under under rule, under authority in various
capacities in this life. So we serve, and as Paul says,
not as men-pleasers, not just trying to, just for the sake
of pleasing men, but truly from the heart, as unto the Lord,
as unto Christ, because it's Christ we serve. It's Christ
we serve. All right, now, what about overbearing
hard masters that are harsh? and unjust and deal with us in
that manner. First Peter 2.18, not only to
the good, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward,
also to the forward. Be sure that what we've done,
he says, verse 19, for this is thankworthy. if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. Now be sure if we
suffer, if we do endure grief from somebody that's harsh and
hard, that we've done what we were supposed to do. We've done
the job we were given to do. And that we're not suffering
because we brought it on ourselves, because we were rebellious. Verse
20, for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults,
you shall take it patiently? If we endure hardship from a
superior, But it's due to us being rebellious, or lazy, or
stealing, or robbing, or doing something contrary to what we've
been told to do. There's no honor in that. There's
no glory in that. You hear folks sometimes talk
about bearing their cross, and it'll be something like this.
They have somebody that's so harsh in dealing with them, so
rough in everything, in their job, or what have you. When in
the whole point they have a bad attitude, they're not doing their
job, they're stealing from the company, there's no glory in
it. That's not bearing the cross
at all. Not at all. Verse 20, But if when you do
well, if when you do well, you suffer and you take it patiently,
that's acceptable with God. That's acceptable with God. Shown
good, shown obedience, shown respect, conduct's been good,
still treated badly by a superior. If we endure this grief, endure
it, patiently endure it, still have good conduct, still have
a good attitude, still do our job, that's acceptable with God. That's acceptable with God. And
we're talking about truth in the heart. We're talking about
honesty. truth. Look here in verse 21. For even
here unto were you called, called to subjection to our Lord Jesus
Christ, called to serve Christ in all good fidelity, called
to obey what Christ teaches us, such as this very exhortation
right here, this instruction right here, called to good works,
to be a good worker, good worker for the Lord's sake. To be honest,
to be loyal, to be respectful, to be honorable for his sake.
Called to endure suffering for the sake of Christ. Paul told
the Philippians, you've been called brethren. It's given to
you in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but
to suffer for His sake. Suffer for His sake. Now I want
to show you, first of all, Christ is our example. Christ is our
example. Verse 21, because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow
His steps. Now, we know who this speaks
to. It speaks to the ones Peter's
been speaking to from the beginning. The us he's been speaking to
from the beginning. Those who were chosen of God,
sanctified of the Spirit, redeemed by the blood of Christ, brought
into this eternal, everlasting, unchangeable union with Christ,
who settled and resting in Him. We're not talking about things
here to obtain acceptance with God. We're talking about things
that God says as His children. If we do these things, it's not
that we ought to get something extra for doing these things.
It's just what we ought to have done. What we ought to have done.
We're His children. His children. Alright, now let's
see what Christ did. We follow His steps. Christ took
the form of a servant. We know Paul said that to the
Philippians. Let this man be in you which was in Christ. He's
God. Equal with God. Thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. Son of God. And yet, because
it pleased the Father, because it was pleasing to His Father.
We just read here what is acceptable to God, what's pleasing to God.
Because it pleased His Father, He came to where we are and took
the form of a servant. He didn't make Himself a reputation.
He could have. He didn't usurp authority over
men. He could have. He's the King
over the King. But He came and He submitted
Himself as a servant. And being found in fashion as
a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Because you know who He was serving?
You know who He was serving? He was serving His Father. He
was serving God the Father. That's what Peter's telling us
here. Who are we serving? We're serving God. We're serving
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We're serving
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we're serving. That's
who He was serving. He was serving God so that He
could work out a righteousness for His people wherein His people
would be accepted of God. That's what He was doing. That's
what He was doing. Verse 21. It says Christ also
suffered for us. He suffered a contradiction of
sinners. He suffered the tempting of Satan. He suffered being reviled by
religion, by scribes, and by the most astute men of religion. He suffered at the hands of kings,
and He suffered at the hands of governors who the king sent.
And He suffered at the hands of courts, judges who mocked
Him. with no judgment whatsoever.
He suffered at the hands of crowds of strangers who railed upon
Him. Now, let's consider the character
as He suffered. Look at verse 22. Who did no
sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. We know our Savior
was that holy thing conceived in the womb of the Virgin of
the Holy Ghost. We know He's without sin in His nature. But
even as He went about, And he suffered these things at the
hands of men. He never committed anything contrary
to the men at whose hands he suffered these things. He did
no sin. He did nothing for which to be
accused. He did nothing for which to be
reviled. He did nothing for which anybody could take fault with
him. Nothing at all. Neither, neither
was any guile found in his mouth. You know what guile is? It's
saying one thing when you really mean something else. It's saying
one thing when you're either trying to get your own agenda,
or you're trying to trick somebody, or you're trying to get somebody
else, make them look a little worse so you look a little better.
It's just deceit. It's craftiness. None of that
was in his mouth. None of that was in his mouth.
He asked this, which of you convinces me of sin? And he said, and if
I say the truth, why don't you believe me? He did no sin to
be able to charge him with, and he said, and all I speak to you
is the truth. Well, look at verse 23. Who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. He did no sin, neither was guile in his mouth. When he was
reviled, he didn't revile back. When he suffered, he didn't threaten
back. What did he suffer? Turn over
to Matthew 27. Sinful men, sinful men called
him, this one who is the Prince of Life, This one who is without
sin, this one who is spotless, the Lamb of God. Sinful men called
Him a devil, called Him a wine-bibber, called Him a friend of sinners,
but He reviled not again. How bad did it get? Matthew 27,
39. And they that passed by reviled
Him, wagging their heads. He's hanging on a cross. naked, unrecognizable. He had been beaten
so badly. And they that passed by reviled
Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priests, the chief priests, they mocked him along with the
scribes and along with the elders. And they said he saved others,
himself he cannot save. He couldn't, could he? The everlasting
covenant between He and the Father is what He was fulfilling. And
He saved others, but He could not come down off that cross.
He couldn't save Himself off that cross. He could not. If
He did, He don't fulfill the covenant He came to fulfill.
He did save others, and He was in the process of saving others,
but He couldn't spare Himself and do that. If He be the King
of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe
Him." Do you think they would have? Verse 43, He trusted in God,
let Him deliver Him now, if He'll have Him. For He said, I'm the
Son of God. And the thieves also, which were
crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth. This is what
he said in Psalm 38, 12. He said, They also that seek
after my life lay snares for me. They that seek my hurt speak
mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long. But
I, as a deaf man, heard not. And I was as a dumb man that
openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth
not and in whose mouth are no reproofs. Aren't you glad? if he would have said one word, if he would have reviled them
with one word, if he would have had one word of guile in his
mouth for them, if he would have opened his mouth and said one
thing to them as he bore that, me and you might as well be in
hell right now. Because his sacrifice would have
done absolutely no good whatsoever. But he didn't. But what did he
do? Back in our text, verse 23. But he committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. How many times when he walked
this earth did we see him go off alone to pray to the Father? You see him walking through this
earth and he was about to go and face the awful weight of being made sin for his people. And he said this, he said, now
is my soul troubled. And he said, Father, what should
I say? Should I say, save me from this
hour? He said, it's for this hour that
I came into this world. This is why I came into this
world. He came into this world to bear
the sins of His people in His body. That's why He had to have
a body made Him. He came to bear what His people
are, that He might make His people the righteousness of God in Him.
That's why He came. To deny so is to deny the Son
of God come in the flesh. Because that's what He came for.
That's what He came for. And He said, but what will I
say? Father, glorify Thy name. Do as You will. And there came
a voice from heaven and said, I've glorified it and I'll glorify
it again. He committed everything to Him
that judgeth righteously. While the whole world was looking
at Him and saying, everything that we said about Him, judging
with these eyes, judging by this reason, judging by the black
heart that we have within us, He committed everything to Him
that judges righteously, that knows, that truly knew. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane
and He said, Father, if I must drink this cup, Thy will be done. And even there on that cross,
even when He was suffering what He suffered and little smart
alecks were running around Him and wagging their head and reviling
at Him and blaspheming the name of God with their lips in the
name of their imaginary God while they were doing that, even after
He bore the separation of God, the condemnation that was due
unto His people, even after He bore that, He said, into thy hands, commend thou
my spirit." And he gave up the ghost. He never, ever ceased
giving everything, committing everything unto the hands of
his Father, to Him that judgeth righteously. Even when they were
sitting there mocking Him like they were, and reviling them
like they were, because there was some in that very crowd for
whom he was dying, He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. So we follow his example. We follow his example. As we
serve, we don't rob our employers of their time or their products. of their time or their products.
It's easy to rob our employer of their time. You know that? And not even give it a second
thought. Don't rob them of their time or their products. Don't
speak craftily with a gal. Just do the job we're given.
Don't threaten back. Commit yourself to your true
master. Commit yourself to him whom you're
really serving. Him who's done all this for you,
whom you're really serving. Lord Paul said, I've endured
many persecutions. And he said, and it's the Lord
that delivered me out of them all. Well, but secondly, I want you
to see Christ is more than an example. Christ is more than
an example. He is the preeminent example.
That's not all he is. He's not just an example. This
world preaches Him as an example, a martyr. Just follow Him and
try to be like Him. He was a good man like Buddha
or Allah or anybody. No, this is God we're talking
about. What was He doing there on that
cross? Verse 24, "...who His own self
bare our sins in His own body on the tree." his own self, not another. He suffered for others. He bore
something for others. He is the substitute of those
God gave him before the world was made. He is his own self. Bear our sins in his own body. He didn't have any of his own
sins, but he bore all the sins of God's elect in his own body. And He did it on the tree. What's
the significance of that? Galatians 3.15 says, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. That's what He was doing.
Being made a curse for us. For it's written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. You know, there's a lot of, if
you look down through the history of this country, sadly, sadly,
you'll see a lot of slaves who were hung from trees. Does that
mean they were cursed? It doesn't mean it's simply because
he was nailed to a tree, that's what made him cursed. When you
see Him hanging on a tree, you'll know this is the one whom God
has made a curse for you that you might be free from the curse
of the law. Those other two there wasn't
bearing the curse for you. He was. He was. He was. And all those enemies that mocked
Him, from the king to the governors to the priests to the masters,
they had no idea. the kind of weight that he was
bearing in his own body on that tree and what he was accomplishing
thereby had no idea. When it says he bare our sins
in his own body, he bore the filth of them, he bore the guilt
of them, and he bore the condemnation of them. Everything you are as
an elect child of God, he bore. I don't want to make light of
it. I don't think you can press the nastiness of it enough. I remember when I was working.
I've had some bad jobs. But I remember particularly working
one time when the job I was given by my employer was to clean out
the grease traps and the sewer. It was all connected, the whole
thing. And you'd get dressed up where
you look like, you know, one of these hazmat spacemen, you
know, but it didn't matter. I mean, you, when you went home,
you just scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed cause it was filthy. It was nasty. I mean, it was just, it just
turned your stomach to think about getting some on you. You
ever been dealing with something like that, that's nasty, you
know, and it, and you go to, you go to put down the mop, you
go to put, and it's splashed back and just little sprinkles
of it splash up in your face. I see you sitting there squinching
your eyes. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? It's
nasty. This is what made his soul be
troubled when he was going to the cross. This one didn't know
any sin. This one knew what it was to
be holy, spotless lamb of God. And he's going to bear this horrendous
thing and bear the wrath of God justly because of it and be separated
from the Father because of it. And he did that. What do you
accomplish by that? Here's the third thing, the accomplishment.
What did our Savior accomplish for His people by His perfect
obedience unto death? Verse 24, "...who His own self bare our
sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins..."
How dead to it? You're dead. You're dead. You're
dead to the filth of it. You're dead to the guilt of it.
And you're dead to the condemnation of it. That's right. It's in us. And it will be in
this body of death until we put it off. But we're dead to it. We're dead to it. When He died,
we died. He says here that we being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness. Do you have eternal life? Do
you have spiritual life? Do you have everlasting life?
Do you know this? This is a fact. There is no life
unless it's perfectly righteous. There is no life unless there's
absolute holiness. None. Did you know that no death
was ever in the world when there was no sin in the world? Adam
wasn't dead and there was no death in the world. Nothing was
dead. You know what God's people are
who have been born of His Spirit? That man created of God. They're righteous. They're holy. They're alive. You know what
proof of it is? They're alive. They believe God. They put no confidence in the
flesh anymore. Put no confidence in the things
we once put confidence in. We believe God now. How can that
be? Alive. Alive. And won't ever die. Won't ever
die. Look at that last phrase. By
whose stripes ye might be healed, or being healed, were healed. Knowing this, our old man is
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin. There's not a sinner laying in
any one of those graves over there in the graveyard. They're
all dead. They're dead to sin. Dead to
it. If we be dead with Christ, we
believe we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead, He dies no more. Death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once." Do you know why he died? He died
unto sin one time. But He put it away, and He conquered
death for His people. And now He has no... He put away
sin. There is, He shall come again,
the Hebrew writer says, without sin. He put it away. He is the
scapegoat who took it completely away. It's gone. And death's gone. You think Christ
is going to die again? You think Christ is going to
go to the cross again? You think Christ is going to be reviled
by men again? You think Christ is going to suffer again? No
way at all. He says, Reckon ye yourselves
also to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto righteousness.
Alive unto Him. He died and we're free. We're
washed, we're justified, and we're made whole. Look, verse
25. You were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Not only did he die, he came
and he got you. You know, a sheep is, I read
this somewhere, a sheep's the only animal that can't find his
way home. I don't know if that's so or
not, but most everything else can find its way home. Says sheep
can't find its way home. He came, and he found his sheep,
and he finds his sheep, and he gives them life, and he makes
them to see what he's done, and he tells them to quit fretting.
He puts them in, he said, you're in my bosom, I'm carrying you
home, and he brings us home. So when we're suffering, whether
it's the king, or whether it's the governor under him, or whether
it's those sent by the governors, or whether it's that one who's
in charge who owns the whole company, or whether it's one
under him that's running the district, or whether it's one
that's under him that's dealing with you in your cubicle, or
whether it's one that's dealing with you out there while you're
trying to cut grass or mow a yard. and He's wanting to be harsh
with you and deal harshly with you and persecute you and revile
you and say all manner of evil against you, know this, you're
not serving Him. You're serving Christ. So do
a better job for Him than anybody else on the crew. We're alive. We're alive in the
righteousness. And He's coming back. Our King's
coming back, the one we serve, and bringing us home. Amen.