Well, it's good to see everybody
tonight. Turn now in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter. In our day, it seems like the
world is in total disagreement, arguing in strife, governments against governments,
people within various governments, everybody fighting for their
rights, their rights. And our Lord has, through the
ages, saved His people in the midst of some of the darkest,
darkest times. And He's done it to show us that
in these days in which we live, He's still saving His children. And he alone is able to save
his children, and he alone shall receive the glory for saving
his children. We live in a time when everybody
in the world, on one hand, speaks as if it's better. The world speaks as if it's better
than it's ever been. We're more advanced than we've
ever been. We got more technology than we've
ever had. And yet we have less time for
the Word of God than we've ever had. You know, I was thinking
about this. I've been reading a good book
lately, written by a man who preached for years and years
and years. And he made this observation
that in the days whenever we weren't as technologically advanced
as we are, Folks would come and hear the gospel for hours, for
hours. And now we're so technologically
advanced, we can't hold our attention for more than about 45 minutes. Is that advancement? When the Lord shows us how He
saved throughout the ages and throughout the times, He's done
so because in these last days that we live in, which have been
since our Lord came and lived and laid down His life and went
back to glory, in these days in which we live, the Scripture
says that the world will wax worse and worse, worse and worse. This striving and this absolute
hatred for authority of any kind will get worse and worse and
worse. And at the same time, they'll have a form of godliness. And so on one hand, you have
religion saying all the things are better than they've ever
been and there are more people that are Christians today than
there ever have been. I'd like to hope that's the case,
but the scripture tells us they'll have a form of godliness, a real
godliness, but deny the power thereof, the authority, the authority,
God the authority, Christ the power and wisdom of God. And
so the Lord gives us these dark times and these dark examples
when he saved his people and gathered his children as stones
and assembled them in his house in the midst of such opposition
to show us that in our day there are some things that we have
that are not nearly as bad as what the believers had in the
past. government in our country and
our nation is not nearly as bad as what the early believers faced.
We're going to see some of these things tonight. I'm not going
to read a passage to you right here at first. My text tonight is the whole
first epistle of Peter. And I want to go through it and
just pick out a few things that the Lord teaches us here. And
let's pay attention to these things as we read along. 1 Peter
1.1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. This is a general epistle. This
was an epistle written and At this time, they had the Old
Testament Scriptures. Peter is writing much inspired
by the Spirit of God. He is writing much here from
these Old Testament Scriptures. And he is at the same time inspired
of God, writing the Word of God, which will be kept and gathered
together in what we have today as the New Testament. And yet,
he's writing this as an epistle to be read to all these various
believers, these believers assembled in these various places. And
as with all Scripture, the purpose of this letter is to comfort
the believer, is to comfort those scattered throughout these various
places. They were scattered, that's an
important word, because of persecution. because they didn't fit the world's
mold. They had been made a new creation. and they were out of step with
everybody else, and they were scattered, pushed away, criticized,
rebelled against, scattered, scattered. That's why they ended
up where they did, but it was all by the sovereign hand of
God that the Word might go forth into these various places and
be the light. They were the light in these
various places, those believers were, those assemblies that God
had assembled. And this epistle is to comfort
them with the single message and comfort of our great God,
which is His everlasting love and the salvation of His people
through Christ, through the Spirit of God. Our God is saving His
children. And the all-important thing,
the all-important reason for everyone here being in this world,
being assembled by God is the salvation of your soul. That's
the all-important thing. That's the only important thing.
Everything else is serving that end and serving that purpose
for God's children. In this epistle, the believer
is given every comfort, given every assurance that our salvation
is being worked by our God who is working everything together
to glorify His name and save His people. Now that's a great
reason for you sitting here tonight who have not yet cast all your
care into the hand of the Lord God. That's every reason for
you to cast your care into His hand. because He is saving. He has, He is, and He shall save
His people from ourselves, from the sin we are, from the sin
of this world. He's saving us. He will save
us. He says here, verse 1, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Mithinia. The grace
of God makes every believer a stranger in this world. We're strangers
to this world and this world is full of strangers to us. The Lord said, the world knoweth
us not because it knew him not. Scripture says that. We're children
from beyond. That's what God's children are.
Children from beyond. I told you Sunday, that's what
the Hebrew word means. We're going to hear that. You're
going to hear that some more. I'm hoping to show you some of that
maybe this Sunday and then again as we go through this epistle
together. We're beloved. Be loved. Loved before. by God, by His
own choosing. That's what He says here, verse
2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the foreordination of
God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. He says, Grace
unto you, in peace be multiplied. From before the foundation of
the world, from beyond, God chose us in Christ. He chose you who
believe Him by His grace. He chose you. He singled you
out. He picked you. He chose you,
not because of anything in you, because He would. He chose you.
He chose His people from beyond, from before, from before the
foundation of the world. And He blessed His people with
all spiritual blessings by choosing them and putting them in Christ
and entrusting the whole work of our salvation to His Son,
to the praise and the glory and the honor of His great name and
His great grace. He did that. He predestinated
His children to be conformed to the image of His Son. He predestinated
His children. He predestinated everything.
He predetermined. He predestined. those that He put in Christ,
to come to know Christ by His grace. He did that. He sent forth
His Son in time, at the exact appointed time called the fullness
of time, in Christ Jesus, by Himself, without the help of
you or me or any of the children He came to save. That's what
a Savior is. Somebody who comes to save those
who can't save themselves. He came and by Himself satisfied
His own law, satisfied His own justice, declared the glory of
God, just and justifier, declared who He is in the person of His
Son, in Christ the Lord. He did that. And this same God,
this same Savior, this same Triune God, to whom all, whose power
has been given to Christ Jesus, His Son, He works everything
together and He brings the gospel of this true and glorious salvation
to everyone that He chose and put in Christ, to everyone He
died for, to everyone that He will have hear the word of truth.
He brings this gospel to them. and through the Spirit, He purges
their conscience from dead works to Christ Jesus who becomes everything
in their heart. Their wisdom with God and their
wisdom in this world. Their righteousness, their complete,
He's the sanctifier, He's our sanctification and He it is who
sanctifyeth. He's made our sanctification,
our separation, the one who made us, truly made us children from
beyond. And He's made redemption to us. He is the liberator. He is the
one who freed us from all the bondage we are in ourselves,
from all the bondage of this world, from all the bondage of
our own ignorance, the bondage of our own self, the bondage
of the great adversary, the devil. He freed us, and He's become
that freedom, and He continues to be these things to us. And
it's by this sincere milk of the Word that He makes us babies,
just babies, absolutely dependent upon Him. And He increases this
love for Him through this very Word by which He called us. And
He keeps doing it. He keeps doing it. Whereunto
He called you by our gospel, the word by which the gospel
is preached unto you. The scripture says He delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. That's what God the Father has
done. Has done. Listen to that. Delivered us
from the power of darkness. The power of darkness, we don't
have really any idea how great that power is. And He's delivered
us from it. And He's translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. We're in that kingdom now. We're
in that now. He wrote that to the Colossians.
We're in that now. And He did it by the sprinkling
of Jesus, the blood of Jesus Christ. all by Christ freely
bestowed upon us grace and freely multiplies this grace and this
peace unto us. The peace that He gives, the
peace of heart, the peace of knowing that we can never, ever,
ever, ever be separated from Him who chose us from the beginning. Can't be. Just can't be. That's
what He means here when He tells us that we've been elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Everything of grace of God. so that it's all worked together
by God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. God alone gets the glory. And
that's what he says to us next. All the praise and the honor
is God alone. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's He done? He's begotten
us again. He's born us anew to a living
hope. Verse 3. Which according to His
abundant mercy, Abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
Hope according to mercy. That's what we have Hope that's
living hope Jesus Christ in you the hope of glory a person Jesus
Christ alive resurrected satisfied God and he's all the believer's
satisfaction. God's satisfied in him and I'm
satisfied in him, aren't you? We're satisfied, we got everything
in him. Secure hope, it's by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. And it's to, verse four, to an
inheritance, incorruptible. That means I can't corrupt it,
you can't either. That means nobody in this world
can corrupt it. Satan can't corrupt it. No enemy
of hell can corrupt it. No enemy of God can corrupt it. No enemy of ours can corrupt
it. None of our enemies can corrupt it. It's incorruptible. It's
undefiled. It fadeth not away. It's reserved
in heaven for you. How can I be sure of this? Because
it's not in your power. We're kept by the power of God.
Look at verse 5. "...who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time." It's all of grace. It's all of His power. It's all
through faith. That is, everything's in His
hand. That's what God-given faith trusts.
Everything is in the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-keeping hand
of God Almighty. Everything. And resting everything
in His hand, who shall confirm us unto the end that you may
be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful
by whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus
Christ. I love this, salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. It's ready. It's ready. The believer's
salvation is finished. Our salvation is ready. There's
nothing else to be done. Our salvation shall be revealed
in the last time. It's ready to be revealed. And
this is the end of our faith. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Look at the end of verse 7. At
the appearing of Jesus Christ. The end of your faith. The salvation
of your souls. Our faithful God in this good
hope is our rejoicing even in the heaviness of trial. Verse
6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. The trial that they were in is
something that you and I can't even imagine. The trial that
the believers faced then, we're really, in our day and
time, mamby-pambys, what we are. These folks were suffering some
trials. You know, they would take the
believer. Government, powers, they would
take the believer. And they would, along with those,
at this time already, already, Satan was working in the name
of Christ already. We saw it, we see it throughout
the book of Galatia. They were already working in
the name of Christ, Satan was. And they, together, joined with
those who hated the name of Christ, joined together. You know, they
take believers, and sew them up in a bag and throw them in
a body of water and sit and laugh and joke and watch them sink. Dip them in vats of oil and watch
them fry. Do everything imaginable to them. And the Lord declares here through
the Spirit of God through Peter, and he says, still, though it
be for a season that you're in this trial, and it was needful,
God was working over everything that was happening, and it was
needful. And he said, though this trial
comes upon you, don't be conformed to the world. Don't turn around
and be like the world. Don't lose hope. Don't lose confidence
that you have that's been given to you by God, by this incorruptible
seed, by this Word, because everything about the flesh is grass. It's
just going to wither away just like the grass comes up today
and tomorrow it's gone. Fellas, we can tend to it. We
can go out there and aerate it in the fall, overseed it in the
fall. Try to wait to the spring and
go out there and fertilize it and do all the things you want
to do to it. It's grass. It's grass. It's just not going
to last. It's grass. The sun comes up
by God's power, withers away. He withholds the rain, withers
away. It's grass. It is grass. But
this is what he tells us to remember. chapter 2, verse 5. Remember
that we're living stones that have been placed by the hand
of God. We are His holy temple and we're
built, not only we're built upon Christ the foundation and we're
built by Christ, the governor. Look at verse 5. Now we're going
to read through this quite a bit tonight, so stay with me here.
1 Peter 2, 5. Ye also is lively stone, You
see, He's our living hope and we're like living stones. You
get the picture here? You put a stone upon a stone
in a building. We get to thinking about building
a church. We get to thinking about what
the church ought to be and get this ideal of what it ought to
be and how we can assemble it and all the things it should
be. And He reminds us here, He's building it. You're a stone.
And He's putting you in it. And together He's showing us
He's building this house. He's putting each living stone
in place. And He'll bring the headstone
crying, Grace, grace unto it. This is Zerubbabel. This is our
governor. This is Christ Jesus, the one
who told Zerubbabel, I'm building the house. I'm building the house. Zerubbabel was a governor. He thought he was building it.
The Lord said, I'm building it. I'm building it. Look, ye also
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
that's Christ, elect, that's Christ, chosen of God and precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. unto
you therefore which believe. He's precious. He's precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. The gospel is going to be offensive.
The gospel is going to always be offensive. It's the stone
that's going to crush all those who stumble over it. They're
going to fall on it and be broken. Did you see Sunday we talked,
I gave you that illustration about Christ our rock and all
the boats that have perished on it. Did you see that boat
this week that hit that rock? I forget now what... People just
loaded up on this boat trying to seek asylum in some country,
and the boat ran up on the rocks on the shore, and it just destroyed
it. But ye, he says, are a chosen
generation. Chosen generation. Timeless. I'm going to get into something
later about this, but let me just say this to you now. We'll
look at this more later. You know there's a generation
of vipers. The Lord said, oh you generation
of vipers. He wasn't talking about just 30 years of people. There's a generation of vipers
and there's a generation of the Lord, the regeneration, the procreation
of God Almighty through the incorruptible seed. And that's His timeless
world without end. That's His generation, His people. A royal priesthood made kings
and priests under our God by what He's accomplished. And holy
nation, His nation. He speaks, hear ye nations. But
he says, I'm doing everything to protect my holy nation. That
means a nation that's been set apart from all the rest of the
nations. You know what nation that is? It's his people that
he's everlastingly loved, that he's drawn together, that he's
planted together as his spiritual house and built up together.
He's called them a house. He's called them a generation.
He's called them a royal priesthood. He says here you're a holy nation,
a peculiar people. That means you've been purchased. That means you've been bought.
Bought out and sought out. Kept. Kept by. That you should
show forth the praises of Him, the virtues of Him who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Where in time
past, Time passed. You were not a people. You are
always the people of God, but you were not a people in that
the Gentiles at one time, He showed His favor to Israel, showing
us as a picture of who His holy nation is. But now, He's gone
into the Gentiles and He's called out His people from among the
Gentile nation. And He says here, and to you
and I personally, you were not a people at one time. You were
enemies in your mind by wicked works. You hated God. You were
children of wrath, even as others. But now are the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
And he says, I beseech you then, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. That's all
they do. You know? That's all our fleshly
lusts do. They war against The inward creation
of God. That which is the soul here is
not that every man has a soul, but we're talking about here
that which is God's creation. That which God has wrought. Inwardly. The most inward thing. All our
fleshly lusts just war against that. They war against it. Well,
what's the fruit of this grace working in us? What are this
virtue that God is working in His children, that He's increasing
and that He's causing us to behold and to rejoice in Christ only
so that we're not conformed to this work? Kept through every
trial. What is this grace going to do? It's going to create submission. Submission to God. The authority. The authority. Look now down at chapter 3 and
verse 22. He's gone into heaven. He's on
the right hand of God. Angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto Him. He is the authority. All power
in heaven and earth is His. Now, with that in mind, let's
look at what He says to us here. Grace will teach us when we've
submitted to the authority, when we've submitted to Him. We can
submit to the political and civil rulers, for Christ's sake, because
we know who's ruling. We know who's ruling them. We're
not wrestling against... I'm not wrestling against any
man, any person in government who's... I'm wrestling... My
enemy is powers and principalities and somebody that's ruling them. But God, my Savior, is ruling
everybody. He's ruling all things, angels
and powers and authorities, everything. Now, remember this is during
the time of wicked, wicked, wicked men, emperors who were killing
the saints of God. And knowing that Christ reigns,
brethren, and even here He's speaking through Peter through
the Spirit of God, and He says this, in our day, It's so much easier. Isn't it? It ought to be. Look
here, 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 as to them that are sent by the king for
the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do
well. For so is the will of God. This is the will of that with
well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. With well-doing. What's well-doing
he's talking about? Submission. Submission. Remember what Christ said? He
said you could have no power except it were given you from
above. He committed everything to the Father, the judge who
judges righteously. as free, not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor
all. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God.
Honor the King. The second thing we see here
is grace is going to teach us to submit to our employers. Now
listen to this, 1 Peter 2.18. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the froward. For this is thankworthy if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
Now what does he mean here when he says servants to masters? He means slaves to those slave
owners. That's exactly what it means.
And it was legal and free and carried out fully in this day
and time. Now, that's a bad thing. That's
a horrible thing for one man to use another man as just personal
property, like a combine, like a plow like an animal, like a
mule, like a beast to accomplish His purpose. But now, when God
shows us this and says this through His Spirit concerning something
so evil, there were some that were gentle, but there were some
who were just mean, froward. He said, submit to Him, submit
to Him. Now if He tells you that, then
when I get up and go to work to an employer who's paying me
to do something, paying me. And I'm going to go home to my
family when it's over, to my own home and my own house. And
I can do that, Cana. I can serve him, the employer,
the employer. And again, what's our motive?
What's our example in everything? Christ, Christ who suffered for
us and who is the perfection of our salvation. Look here in
verse 20. He says, 1 Peter 2.20. He says,
for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults
you shall take it patiently? If you've done something wrong
and you're chasing for it, there's no glory in that if you take
that patiently. But if when you do well and suffer
you take it patiently, this is what God says is acceptable,
virtuous. For even here unto were you called,
you were called for this purpose, called to suffer for, suffer
this way. Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps.
He did no sin. When we suffer, We know this. We may have been obeying outwardly
and done well and suffered for it, but this one did no sin. No sin. In thought, word, or
deed, he did no sin. Christ our Lord did no sin. Born
that holy thing. And he says, neither was guile found in his
mouth. No hypocrisy. He never said anything in hypocrisy,
simply to try to appease somebody so he could
get politically what he wanted. There was no guile in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he didn't revile again, like a lamb. Peter declared Isaiah 53 to him,
like a lamb that's quiet, that's silent before it shivers. So he didn't open his mouth.
He didn't open his, spit upon, slapped, beat, stripped naked,
everything that could possibly be done to him, he didn't revile
again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously. You know, we sometimes, well,
the world always does this. The world looks at what is really
the strength of the believer and calls it utter weakness.
But the utter weakness is for us to have no strength in ourselves
but to commit everything to God. And you know what? In the Garden
of Gethsemane, He committed everything to Him. He committed everything
to Him that judgeth righteously. And you know, this world looks
at that as utter, just pathetic weakness. You know what these
disciples did at the time when He was suffering that, sweating
as it were, gravedropper's blood? They were asleep. They were asleep. That's where we are most of the
time. Asleep. And He's done this for us. Continues
to keep us. And He says here, and He did
this, "...who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins..." And we are dead to them. Dead to them. Dead to sin. Just like a man who is dead is
dead to sin. We who have been born of God
are dead to sin. When He died, we died to sin.
Dead to sin. And that we should live unto
righteousness. Not that we ought to. We are
alive. Reckon ye yourselves indeed to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. We are alive
unto righteousness. We were the servants and slaves
of sin. Now we are the servants of God the Lord our righteousness. by whose stripes you were healed.
For you were sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." Aren't you so glad? If any sin would have been found
in Him, if any guile would have been found in His mouth, if He
would have reviled those that reviled Him, if He would have
threatened those that did all those things to Him, He would
have not committed the whole thing unto the sovereign God
of heaven and earth. He is that God, but as the servant
glorifying the Father and saving His people from their sins, He
committed everything to Him and He saved His people thereby.
Strengthened by an angel in the Garden of Gethsemane and went
forth and bare the sins of His own people in His own body. Aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad that He did what
He did? Because with His stripes we are
healed. with his stripes were healed. And that's what the princes
of this world did to him. I believe I can just commit everything
to him. He's the one that's judging righteously. What did Isaiah 33 say to us?
He's the judge, he's our lawgiver, he's our king. He shall save
us. He alone is able to turn the
king's heart, whether so ever he will, He alone is able to
make your brother stand, make you stand, make his children
stand, hedge us about from our enemies, and keep us. He alone
is able to do that. So we just commit everything
to him. Everything. Everything. Here's the next thing. Grace teaches us to honor God
in our homes, submitting to one another. Chapter 3, verse 1. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives,
while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
This is the whole purpose of everything about submission.
It's so that people will realize There's nothing about you like
the rest of this world. They're not going to see it till
the day of God's visitation, till he comes in power and makes
them to take notice. But they will see it. They'll
just naturally see it. But then, in that day of visitation,
you didn't deal with me like everybody else. He says here,
who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel,
but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which
is in the sight of God of great price. Beautiful picture here
of the church of God, isn't it? This is so, this is just straight
true for a wife to her husband. This is a beautiful picture of
the church. We're not, our adornment's not the outward adornment of
the gold and silver of this world, the plating and adornment of
the Babylon who is the harlot. That's not it. It's a quiet and
a meek spirit. So the wife, so the wife. For
after this manner in the old time, the holy women also, who
trusted in God, who committed everything into His hand, who
trusted everything to the Judge of heaven and earth, adorned
themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands, even
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters she
are." Now he's bringing it to, he's talking to women. And He
said, you're children. Children. And He's talking to
every believer, too. He's talking to all of us together.
Whose daughters you are, children you are, as long as you do well
and are not afraid with any amazement. Just keep trusting Him. Don't
be conformed to this world. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell
with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace
of life." Why? Why is all this? That your prayers
be not hindered. It's hard to pray. In the midst
of a fight, it's just hard to pray. Isn't it? It's just hard
to pray. Well, grace teaches us to live
together without criticizing one another. Look at verse, at
the next verse, finally, finally. Verse 8, be all of one mind,
having compassion one of another, love as brethren, pitiful, courteous,
not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary
wise, Blessing. Now that's contrary, isn't it? That's opposite of our nature. Our nature. But blessing. Knowing that you're there unto
call that you should inherit a blessing. A blessing. Let him refrain his tongue. He
that will love life and see good day, let him refrain his tongue
from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let Him eschew
evil, do good. Let Him seek peace and ensue
it. You know what? I don't think we realize how just
one questionable word, how it eats like a canker. That's what
we're talking about here. We're talking about just one
critical word. One critical word. Hath God said? This ought to be an oasis of
refreshing. This place right here. And when
I say this place, I don't mean, I do mean this place, I do mean
when we come together here, but I mean you as the dwelling place
of the Spirit of God in this Waste-howling wilderness. This
ought to be a place. We ought to be with one another,
children of refreshing, that speaks that which is honoring,
as knowing that the adorning and the plaiting and the outward
adornment, that's not what we're looking at. This, what God's
done is in spirit, what God's done is in truth, And then he talks about the Lord's
house. Look back over at 1 Peter 5. I'll cut it short here. 1 Peter 5. Grace teaches his pastor to be
a faithful under-shepherd to the sheep. 1 Peter 5.1. The elders which are among you
I exhort This is Peter speaking, who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ. That's what an elder is, a witness
of the sufferings of Christ. I'm trying to talk to you tonight
about what Christ suffered. So we look to Him in the midst
of our suffering and don't start looking to each other and criticizing
each other and rebelling against all authority. Look to Him, a
witness of His suffering. And a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Partaker of the divine, being
called into the fellowship of His Son, being made one with
Christ. You're a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. You know what I cherish? One
thing I cherish. I cherish. You think about it. Peter wasn't a young person.
This word elder doesn't mean aged. But Peter wasn't young. Peter was old at this time. He was very old. But he had been
an apostle of Jesus Christ for a long time. And one thing I
cherish is faithful men who have served where I stand for 30,
40, 50 years, who tell me exactly what Peter
says here to others who are now serving where Peter has served.
He's just about finished his course. He's just about to partake
of that glory. Christ told him how he's going
to die. He's just about to be a partaker of that suffering
until the end, just as Christ was rejected of men. He's about
to partake of that very suffering and then be in glory with Christ.
It's been a long time. for him to get this knowledge,
to give this word. And you know, he gives it very
simply and very briefly. Three things, and I guess every
word of counsel I've ever had from any faithful man who served,
where I'm serving, could be just summed up in these three words
right here. The first one is not to be slothful
in the work. He says, feed the flock of God
which is among you, taking the oversight, not by constraint,
but willingly. Let me try to give you that by
just telling you what Christ said. Christ said, I must be
about my Father's business. He said, in everything He did,
He did for those giving Him of the Father. That's what He did. Let this be my heart every day
when I wake up anew. feed the flock, ever be seeking
the bread from heaven, the sheep food, Christ the bread, seeing
Christ, seeing Christ, being like a householder who's bringing
out of his treasure things new and old and showing you constantly,
see Christ here, see Christ here, see Christ there, see Christ
there. This is how God's gonna strengthen the hearts. This is
how he puts those living stones together. This is how he points
us to him and away from each other, looking for that food.
which is among you. That's key. You know, I'm not
chargeable before God for those that he may yet add to this flock. I'm not chargeable for them.
You know who I'm chargeable for? The ones he's already added.
Somebody said one time, we don't have services anymore on such
and such a night because we only have about two or three people. The old pastor said, ask more
than you want to give account for it. Chargeable for those, for those
which are among you, not by constraint. That means it's not a job, it's
not a dread, it's not wearisome, it's not slave labor. It's a
privilege. It's a privilege. Oh, I want
to always remember how I felt. This is a calling. I don't always
remember how I felt when God used you to make it evident that
he called me. I thought this is a privilege,
a privilege. Paul said, though I preach the
gospel, I don't have anything to glory of. It's not like, this
is not something that I'm, it's not to bring glory to me. It's
not about that. He said, necessities laid upon
me. Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel. That's the first thing. Give
yourself to the work. Give yourself to the work. Feed
the flock. Feed the flock. Feed the flock.
Let the critics criticize. Just keep your nose in the book. Keep feeding, feeding, feeding.
And we do, we feed, we feed here, we feed when we're together,
we feed when we talk, we feed constantly trying to feed on
this bread. That's the first thing. The second
thing is, not for any self gain. Don't be out for self gain. Look
at verse 2. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. In other
words, what we saw Sunday, Christ said, I didn't come to be ministered
unto, I came to minister. and to give my life a ransom
for many. Anything else is filthy lucre.
If I'm trying to do something for you to minister to me, for
you to give your life for me, that's filthy lucre. That's selfish
gain. I'm not out for that. I came
here for one purpose, to minister to you. That's the second thing
ever faithful The pastor of God teaches me, every time I talk
to him, put your nose in the book, feed the flock. Don't do
anything for yourself. Don't do it for yourself. Here's
the third thing. Don't try to drive them by force,
lead them by example. Verse three, neither is being
lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
You know, we saw this all through the book of James, didn't we? If I've experienced the power
of God and know that it took the power of God to make me willing
to trust Christ, and it yet takes the power of God to work all
the trial together to bring me to His feet constantly, continually,
and keep me there, don't I know whose power it's going to take
to work obedience in my brethren? So the example is, wait on Him
to work the power, and I tell you, I hate to be felt like I'm
put under somebody's thumb and felt like I'm being, trying to
be forced to do something. I know how that feels. And I
don't want to do that to anybody. Just don't. And it won't do any
good. It just won't do any good. Paul
said, I came preaching Christ to you because if I got you to
do anything, it wouldn't be of the power of God. That's right. And verse 4 says, When the Chief
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away. You know what Christ's crown
of glory was? The joy set before Him, seeing
His Father honored and glorified and exalted and seeing His brethren
saved. Those children given Him of the
Father, see them saved. That was His joy. You know what
my crown is? The Chief Shepherd. Chief Shepard. He's my crown. He's my king. He's my crown. And seeing those
that he's given to me, entrusted to me, to point you to him, to
see him say, that's it. It just ain't about
me. It's not. It's just not. Paul
said, what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing? For not
even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.
For ye are our glory and our joy. What does that mean? You know,
over in Galatians, Paul said, you restore somebody overtaken
in a fault, considering yourself, lest ye also be tempted. And
he says, then you'll have rejoicing in yourself. That means that
glory, that joy that's in your heart is, I didn't constrain and compel
anybody to do this. God did this. I got great joy
in that, great rejoicing in that. And I'll tell you, that's what is the joy and the rejoicing
of God's people. The Galatians, the Judaizers,
they were trying to compel other people to do what they thought
they ought to do. I said, restore. You know what that is? Restore.
You know what you do, Art, when all these years you've been working
and you go in there, you stock the shelves. Stock the shelves. It doesn't mean try to empty
the shelves. Stock them. Restore them. That's right. These riches of Christ. Load
them up. Load them up. And then you'll have rejoicing
in yourself. When you see them turn, you'll know God did this. God did this. He did this by
His power. I didn't make anybody do anything.
He did it. All right. Here's the last thing.
Verse 5. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves
unto the elder. Yea, all of you, be subject one
to another. That word subject means submit,
submission. Subject, esteem other better
than yourself. Be clothed with humility, for
God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves,
therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time. You see the opposite there? If
we're going to be exalted, it'll be in God's time by God rather
than us trying to do it in our time ourselves and exalt ourselves. You see that? That's the opposite
of pride is trusting God to exalt in due time your brethren in
due time. Casting all your care upon Him. That's what we're talking about.
Trusting Him to do it. for He cared for you. He's the
one that'll do it. He's done it, He's doing it,
and He should have. Be sober, be vigilant. This is
just another way of saying consider yourself lest you also be tempted.
Be on guard. Why? Because your adversary the
devil has a roaring line. Isn't that the opposite of what
this non-critical tongue, this quiet spirit, this quietness.
Isn't that the opposite of that roaring lion? It's what you hear
when you turn on the news. This station's for one person,
this station's for another person. Everybody's just roaring lion. Opposite of quiet. He's walking
about seeking whom He may devour, and there's only one way you're
going to resist Him. Steadfast in the faith. That means looking
to Christ. Casting everything into His hand.
And know that the same afflictions, what you're going through right
now, so your brethren are. So your brethren are. And here's
the end of it. Every individual trial right
now, if need be, and this whole trial called a season, this whole
trial of life, this is what's going to be the end of it. This
is our assurance, verse 10. But the God of all grace who
hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, that's
how we got in this, in this fellowship, isn't it? By His power. by His
grace, by His calling. He's called us under His eternal
glory by Jesus Christ. That means it can't end. He called
us there now. After that you've suffered a
while, make you perfect, establish you, strengthen, settle you.
And this is what we'll say, to Him be the glory and dominion
forever and ever. You know what He's doing? When
the true Spirit of Grace works submission in our heart through
these trials, He stops us from being able to remove our teachers
into a corner anymore. We went a long time, and every
time we'd get angry, we'd get us a new teacher, remove them.
When He works this submission to the authority, to God who's
in subjection, He works it so that we don't remove our teachers
in a corner anymore. Because now He's speaking in
the heart, and He's settling, establishing, strengthening you
through the sincere milk of the Word. And He continually keeps
us in the way this way. This is what He does through
the Gospel. Exactly what He does through
the Gospel. And He says there at the end
of verse 12, this is the true grace of God wherein you stand.
That's it. To Him be glory and dominion,
and dominion, and dominion, and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.