Okay, 1 Peter 2.11. 1 Peter 2.11.
And Mark Isaiah 53 as well. Let's begin reading here in 1
Peter 2.11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul, having your conversation, your deportment,
your conduct, honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, which they will, they may by your good
works, which they shall behold, Glorify God in the day of visitation, in the day of judgment. Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether
it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them
that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers or for
the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that
with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men. And do this as free men, the
believers, the Lord's free man, the Lord's willing bondservant,
free. And not using liberty for a cloak
or an excuse, a disguise to be malicious, but as the servants
of God. free servants of God. Honor all. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be
subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the fraud, For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when
you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently?
But if when you do well and suffer, you take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example
that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Look with me now here at verse
21. It says, even here unto were ye called, because Christ also
suffered. Christ also suffered. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
as a stranger and a pilgrim in this earth. Peter begins here
and he says in verse 11, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims. That's what a believer is. Christ
suffered as a stranger and a pilgrim in this earth. He suffered being
falsely accused. He came to His own and His own
received Him not. He had many in His own family
who didn't believe Him. He came to His own nation and
His own nation didn't receive Him. He had many who believed
on Him but ended up departing from Him. at the end when He
went to the cross. He suffered being accused falsely. Isaiah 53 verse 3 says, He is
despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. The word honor all means esteem
all. It means consider everybody else
better than yourself. And everybody considered themselves
better than him. We esteemed him not. He suffered
submitting himself to every ordinance of man for the Father's sake. That's what Peter says here.
He says, do this for the Father's sake. Take it patiently, endure
grief for the Father's sake." Those rulers, the princes who
crucified Christ, were rulers, princes, governors
that he put there. There is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God, and yet he honored those
to whom honor was due. Luke 20, 25. He said unto them,
Render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God
the things which be God's. He loved the brotherhood. That's why he came. He feared
God. He honored the kings. And this
one who is God, as the righteous servant of God, did all of this
submitting himself to the Father as you would unto your master,
unto your employer, unto the one who sent you. He did it as
unto the Father, as unto a master that sent him to do a work that
only he could perform. Let me read Philippians to you. Turn there with me. Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 verse 8. I'm sorry, verse 6. Or verse
5. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it robbery to be equal with God. It was nothing for him to, it
was no grasp for him to be equal with God. He's equal with God. He's the son of God. But he made
himself of no reputation. That's a tough one for us, you
know it? He made himself of no reputation. And he took upon
him the form of a servant. That's even more difficult for
us. And He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Peter says, you servants, be
subject to your masters. As the servant of God, He submitted
Himself to the Father. Look over at Hebrews with me.
Let's see if I can find this. Hebrews. Hebrews chapter six. Oh, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter
five, verse eight. Though he were a son, Yet learned
he obedience. That means he experienced obedience. He submitted himself to obedience. Just what Paul just said in Philippians. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. and being made perfect,
being proven perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, perfectly obedient. He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him. Back in our text, He suffered
this at the hands of the froward. Everybody that He came in contact
with Everyone that he faced was a sinner. Everybody that he faced
were men who wanted to make themselves a reputation and not esteem him. Everyone he faced were men who
had no right to think that about themselves and every reason to
think about him and yet despised him and rejected him. Now, Peter
says here in verse 19, This is thank-worthy. This is what's
worthy of thanks. If a man for conscience toward
God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. That's what he did. That's why
he did it. To honor the Father. He suffered
wrongfully. He was accused of things that
weren't true. And he suffered for sins he didn't
commit. He suffered the just for the
unjust. For what glory is it if when
ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? Is
there any glory in that? If you sin against God and you
do that which is contrary to God's word and you suffer for
that, we ought to suffer for that, shouldn't we? No glory
in suffering for doing wrong. But if when you do well and suffer,
you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. And who
did he do this for? He suffered. Christ also suffered. Who did he do this for? Look
at verse 21. For even here unto were you called
because Christ also suffered for us. Everybody wants to be counted
as one for whom Christ died. Most do. And everybody will say
that He died for everybody. But He says here He died for
us. And if you're going to be in
the number that that includes, for us, you've got to understand
and be willing to confess that it was for us who hid our faces
from Him. It was for us who despised Him. It was for us who esteemed Him
not. It was for us who esteemed Him
as stricken and smitten of God and afflicted. Just getting what
He deserved. Just another man getting what
he deserved. Did you ever think that? Was
there ever a time when you thought that? I thought that. I thought that about him. For
a great majority of my life, I went through this world thinking
nothing whatsoever about him, not esteeming him, not honoring
him, not thinking he was worthy to be esteemed or honored, despising
him. He suffered for us who didn't
honor him. He suffered for us who didn't love him. He suffered
for us who had no fear, no reverence of him. He suffered for us who
wouldn't submit to him as our king. He suffered for us who
were the froward, the crooked and the perverse against him.
He suffered for us who caused him the grief he suffered. He suffered for us who buffeted
him throughout all our days of rebellion. for us who had to
be arrested by Him. For us who had to be put on our
face and made to see that we have absolutely no strength,
no righteousness, no holiness, no worthiness, no ability, nothing
about ourselves to do anything to make us likable or acceptable
worthy to come into God's presence. He died for us who have to be
kept, even now, continually. Because if He leaves us alone,
if He takes His hand of grace off of us, will go right back
to that same vomit, to that same mire, to that same dung heap
and think we're righteous because of it. He died for us who still
have absolutely nothing good in our flesh. Now, is that you? Are you one of us? If so, you
can include your name here. In Isaiah 53, verse 4, he says,
Surely he hath borne Scott Keller's griefs, and carried Eric Lutter's sorrows. Yet Clay Curtis did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded
for Clay Curtis's transgressions. He was bruised for Michelle Lutter's
iniquities. The chastisement of Patty Emmerich's
peace was upon him. Have you suffered wrongfully? Have you done something that
you just couldn't figure out why somebody would persecute
you for it? You just tried. You meant well.
Your heart was in the right place. You just had their good in mind
and yet they reviled you and railed on you. Well, Christ also suffered for us. And Peter says he left us an
example that ye should follow his steps. Look at verse 22. He did no sin. Neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. Now this one knew no sin. In his mouth, which out of the
mouth the heart speaks. And that's what's being said
here. In his heart with no guile, no deceit, no hypocrisy, none
whatsoever. None at all. And this one was reviled, and
he suffered being called a wine-bibber, being called a gluttonous man,
being called one who's a friend of publicans and sinners, being
accused of sin, being accused of misdoing, being accused of
breaking his law. But he was accused of these things
by men who were nothing but God. Nothing but sin. Whose heart
was nothing but iniquity. Nothing but sin. Accusing the
prince of life in whom was no sin. Reviling him. I wish I could
revile him. Pilate saith unto them, What
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? And they all said unto him, Let
him be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out more, saying,
Let him be crucified. And they stripped Him, and they
put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns on His head, and a reed in His hand, they bowed the knee
before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hell, King of the Jews! And they spit in His face, and
they buffeted Him, and others smote Him with the palms of their
hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ! Who is it that
smote thee? Why couldn't he see them? Because they were reviling him.
They were buffeting him. They were beating him. They had
stuffed a crown of thorns down on his brow to where the blood
poured down in his eyes to where he couldn't see who it was that
was smiting him. And they knew he couldn't see
who was smiting him. and cowards that we are, said,
tell us who it is that smoked you, oh king of the Jews. And all the while that this was
going on, he was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth." He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare His generation? Who can put it into words just
the kind of venom that He endured at the hands of man? Jew and
Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, religious and irreligious,
mankind. His appearance was marred more
than any other man. And he didn't say a word. What happens when you get cut
off at the red light? What happens when You're driving
down the road minding your own business and somebody comes blazing
up trying to run up your tailpipe. What happens when you've done
the best you can do to provide for somebody and they start speaking
evil of you? Just say an unkind word or give
you an unkind look. What happens? If what Peter's declaring to
us here about following after the example of Christ, if it
was for righteousness, and if it was for holiness, and if it
was something that we were going to be accepted or rejected based
on how well we did this, which of us could do it? Which of us
would want to be accepted by the thrice holy God based on
how well we're reviled and we don't say a word back? He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Well, that's not fair. I don't
think God ought to choose some and pass by others. He was taken
from prison and from any resemblance of judgment. There's no sin in
Him. He's perfect righteousness. He's
the perfect holy character of God Almighty. He's the express
image of God. And wicked, vile, maggots called
men and women took Him and spit on His face and buffeted Him
and strung Him up on a cross. And we want to talk about fair We want to talk about our righteousness.
We want to talk about our following after holiness. He was cut off out of the land
of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. And he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit found in his mouth. Peter says back in verse 23,
he says, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but, here's what he did, now watch this,
but committed himself, his cause, everything to Him that judgeth
righteously." I read Romans 3 to you a lot.
That the righteousness of God that's witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, everything that this book says is manifest Not
by works we do. Not by our faith. Not by our
faithfulness. But by the faith of Christ. By the faithfulness of Christ
and by God's trusting in Christ to perform the work. And right
here, brethren, we have the two. God the Father's faith in His
Son and God the Son's faith in His Father. We have them right
here. The Son of God, the righteous
servant of God, committed everything to Him that judgeth righteously. He knew as He suffered these
things, He knew that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He knew that that God was pleased
to bruise the Son of Man. And so He committed Himself to
him that judgeth righteously. He knew that He was the One whom
God had set forth a propitiation, satisfaction, satisfaction as
God calls satisfaction. Perfect holy character. Perfect obedience. Perfect submission. perfect satisfaction to eternal
justice. He knew God had sent him forth
to be satisfaction for His people through faith in His blood, in
His vicarious death, in His substitutionary death on the cross, in Him alone. And he knew that when he went
to that cross, he was going to be declaring God his Father Just. Just. Righteous. Holy God. And at the same time,
he would be declaring God is the one who justifies his people. God is the one who saves his
people. God is the one who makes his
people everything God requires for his people to be to come
into his presence. And He went to that cross to
justify His people. And therefore, He committed everything
to Him that judgeth righteously. He said, Now is my soul troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. For this came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified and I'll glorify it again." This
is the faithfulness of God Almighty in whom the believer trusts. God the Father promising to raise
His Son from the dead. God the Son promising to lay
down His life to declare God just and the justifier. The faithful
God. And here is the righteous servant
of God. He commits himself to Him that judgeth righteously. And God made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Try to enter into this faithfulness
of God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In that night thou art
When he cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? I know that the book of Proverbs
are written and they are the words of the Everlasting Father. Do you know why Christ is called
the Everlasting Father? was the father of a generation,
of a people. And through his corrupted seed,
they died. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven. He's a quickening spirit. And
through his incorruptible seed, he rebirths us and we're born
again. And he's our father for everlasting. Moses was faithful in his house
as a servant. Christ as a son over his own
house. In my house, in my own house,
to my earthly father, I'm a son. But to my children, I'm a father. I'm a son over my own house. And what I do with my children
and what I do for my children is for one reason, it's to glorify
my father. I want, I sent my children down
to Arkansas to be with my father for a month. You know, what would thrill me more than
anything is to hear him say, son, you've done a good job with
those children. They're so well behaved. They're
so obedient. You've done so well with those
children. You know what I'd say to him?
You taught me. You taught me. This is God the
Father and God the Son. God the Son is a Son over His
own house, and everything He's done for His children, He's done
to make them perfectly righteous, so that He presents them to the
Father. And the Father says, Well done,
Son. Well done, Son. And the Son says,
Father, all the glory and the praise and the honors to You. And I know this in Proverbs as
the everlasting father, as the wise Solomon Christ Jesus is
speaking. And Christ Jesus says to us that
if a father spares the rod from the child, he hates that child. Let me ask you a question. If
God the Father, who faithfully promised that He would satisfy
the justice of the Son of God in the person of the Son of Man
at Calvary, if when He made Him sin, if He had spared the rod
from His Son, would He not have been saying, I hate you. I hate what you've done. But
He didn't spare the rod because He loved His Son. And His Son
faithfully went to that cross to lay down His life to put away
the sin of His people. And He poured out the rod of
His wrath on His Son to justify His people, to make His people
the righteousness of God because He loved His Son. That's why He did it. And His
Son, our wise Solomon, our everlasting Father says, If you love your
children, if you love your children, correct them. That don't mean
just because you're upset because they won't do what you tell them
to. It means teach them about Christ Jesus, the Son of God.
Teach them about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. Turn them from this world. Turn them from the pollution
of this flesh. Correct them and set them down and teach them
about Christ the Lord. Oh brethren, this is where righteousness
is. But when he cried out there,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As God was pouring
out his wrath upon him, he said in the same breath, Father, into
thy hands commit I my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. You
see the faithfulness of the Father and the faithfulness of the righteous
Son of God, the Servant of God, Christ Jesus, the Mediator. And
brethren, when He did that, mercy of God and the truth of God,
the mercy of God and the righteousness of God, the mercy of God and
the justice of God met together right there at Calvary in perfect,
perfect harmony. More than me you can even enter
into. Perfect harmony. And it says
in Proverbs, mercy and truth preserve the King. And His throne
is upheld by mercy. And God the Father said, Sit
thou at My right hand, King of kings and Lord of lords, until
I make your enemies your footstool. Well done, My good and faithful
servant. Well done. It says in Isaiah 53, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. I want you to see this. Turn
there with me real quick. Isaiah 53.10. You're going to
like this. You're going to like this right
here. Isaiah 53.10. It pleased, it satisfied the
Lord to bruise him. Mercy and justice met together
in harmony. Satisfaction right there in the
Lord on the cross. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see seed. He shall prolong days. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. You see that? He shall see seed. I want you to look now over at
Psalm 22, verse 30. Psalm 22, verse 30. Hold your place there in Isaiah
53. We're coming right back. Psalm 22, verse 30. A seed shall serve him. A son shall serve him. A child shall serve him. A faithful
one shall serve him. And it shall be accounted to
the Lord for a generation. The first word singular, AC,
shall serve Him. The second word, it shall be
accounted to the Lord for a generation, is plural. You remember that
royal priesthood we read about there in Peter? That holy nation,
that generation? What Christ did, and what He
did and how He did it, God saw His Son. And in what the high
priest did, God saw that whole royal priesthood do it. And He counted it as all His
children doing what that Son did. Now turn back there to Isaiah
53.10. When He shall make His soul an
offering for sin, He shall see seed. He shall see a generation
in His Son, and His Son standing for that generation, and He shall
prolong days. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of
His soul and shall be satisfied. Why? By his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, that whole generation, that whole
bunch of children, that whole royal priesthood, that whole
nation, called Israel, called his people. For he shall bear
their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong." He's seated at God's right hand. And you know where
he's going to, what he's dividing? He's dividing the inheritance
that God appointed unto Him. And He's dividing it with His
children that are joint heirs with Him. Because He hath poured
out His soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He bare the sin of meeting. He made intercession for the
transgressors. He can do with His own whatever
He will. And He's chosen they be with
Him where He is, that they may behold His glory, the glory He
had with the Father from before the world ever began. And guess
what? Everyone for whom He died shall
see His glory and shall be with Him because of what He did. And Peter says here in verse
24, 1 Peter 2.24, he says, "...who his own self bear our sins, and
his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness." Now, remember what we saw in Romans
6? You are dead unto sin and you
are alive unto God. Reckon yourself to be so just
as real as Christ is dead unto sin and alive unto God. If you're
in Him and you're trusting Him alone, you're dead unto sin and
alive unto God. It doesn't mean you ought to
be. You are. You are. And this is our motivation. This is our constraint. This
is what moves us, brethren, because I'm not trying to be holy. I
am holy. I'm not trying to be righteous.
I am righteous. I'm not trying to fulfill the
law I have fully established the law in precept and it's got
nothing to say against me. I'm dead to it But because I am Look by whose
stripes you were healed because I'm healed because I was as a
sheep going astray But now I'm returning to the shepherd and
bishop of my soul. I You know who I want to follow? Who I want to honor? Who I want
to be glorified in everything? The shepherd and bishop of my
soul. Do you need any other motivation? Does a sinner need any other
restraint than that? If that won't do it, brethren,
there ain't nothing that will do it. If that won't do it, nothing
else will do it. If that won't do it, nothing
else will do it. Just won't. Just won't. Well, here's the
application. Christ has left us here to be
witnesses unto Him. And as we suffer, remember, He
also suffered for us. And what did He do by doing that?
He purged all our sin. By the Spirit of God, we're made
a new creation in Him. We're perfected forever by His
one offering. We're complete in Him because
He suffered for us. Christ is alive unto God. And
you're dead unto sin and alive unto God. Look at chapter 4 and
verse 1 there. For as much then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves. You want some
armor? You want some weapons? You want
something that you can fight this fight with and nobody will
be able to defeat you at all? Arm yourselves with the same
mind. That means when you're reviled, Just committed to him. Trust
him. That means when your boss says
something, and treats you, takes advantage of you, and shorts
you on your pay, and makes you work extra hours, and don't give
you the bonus, and says things about you, and all that, just trust him. You don't have
to fight back. What did you ever accomplish?
by stiffening up your neck, and standing up straight, puffing
out your chest, and going up to somebody that offended you,
and letting them know how they offended you. What did you ever
accomplish by that? You made them madder, and you got madder,
and both of you walked away saying, well, I told him. And both of
you walked away just as opposite and as far away from Christ as
you could get. You know what'll just squelch
it? He opened not His mouth, but
He committed it unto Him that judgeth righteously. People won't fight you if they
just fight in the air. It just ain't any fun. And he says here, arm yourselves
that way. For he that suffered in the flesh
hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest
of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will
of God. And so have you. And the love of Christ constrains
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then all
for whom he died were dead. And he died for all that they
which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. So he says, these fleshly
lusts that we have, all they do is war against the soul. He
said, just abstain from them. Do your dead level best to abstain
from them. And as you're trying to abstain
from them, don't forget to cast all your care on him. Mortify
the deeds of the flesh through the spirit. I'm not thinking
you can do it on your own through him Hey, I want to quit sinning. I'd be glad when it's gone. Won't
you I? Mean just simple things that
you would think Well clay, I stopped at a long time ago. Why can't
you stop it? Well, I don't know. I probably
got some you had stopped Why don't you stop them? Don't you
have them that you just say, I don't want to do this anymore. Why do I keep on in this way? It's because of what I am in
His flesh. But He kept us here in His flesh to teach us, brethren,
to commit it all to Him. If we're going to be saved, it's
going to be lock, stock, and barrel in Him alone. And look,
when we suffer for righteousness sake, commit it to the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. Look down at verse 19. Chapter
4, verse 19. Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God. That means for righteousness
sake. That means when you haven't done anything to make somebody
turn around and revile you. Commit the keeping of your souls
to Him and well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. Look at chapter
5 and verse 6. Chapter 5 and verse 6. Humble
yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him. Can you read that last part?
And believe it. For He careth. When you're awake, He careth. When you're asleep, He careth
for you. When you close your eyes at night
and you're as defenseless as you ever are, He careth for you
even then. He doesn't slumber. He careth
for you even then. When you think you have things
in your power, things that are... you're able to do things by your
flesh, He's caring for you then. Not to let you get too carried
away in that. And when you think that you have no power and that
you see that it's just all out of your hand, He brought you
there to remind you He's caring for you. He careth for you. You know what love does? It submits.
You know what love does? It esteems others better than
themselves. You know what love does? It covers
a multitude of sins. You know what love does? It lays
down its life for those it loves. That's what Christ did. Christ
is love. And that's what He did. And that's
what He teaches us in the Spirit to do. Strive. Make it your chief desire. Strive
to do it.