So Lord may graciously help me,
I'll turn your prayerful attention to the first epistle of Peter,
chapter two, and reading verses 23 and 24. I do want to look
at this last section of this chapter. It's very instructive. 1 Peter 2 and verses 23 and 24,
who? When he was reviled, he's talking
of Christ, 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. That's 1, the first epistle of
Peter, chapter 2 and verses 23 and 24. We noted this morning that this
epistle was written to suffering Christianists scattered throughout
modern day Turkey as it as it would be today. and they were
suffering for their faith. And this epistle gives them a
sense of purpose and a sense of identity. They were suffering
for their faith. And Peter wants to encourage
them not to give up, but to realize the privilege and the blessing
of being the people of God, as we looked at this morning in
verse 9 of this chapter. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light. This is the purpose, this gives
them purpose and meaning in life. In a world today where meaning
and purpose is being sought after and identity. And here the Lord's people are
given a deep, meaningful identity. You're a chosen generation, a
blessed people, a royal priesthood. So that's what we focused on
this morning. And as Peter goes on, he then particularly comes
to verse 18 and gives this command concerning servants. In verse 18 of this chapter it
says, servants be subject to your masters with all fear. That's in the fear of the Lord,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And
the froward there means the perverse, the self-willed, those people
who are not kind, who are not honest, They abuse the people
under them in a wrong way. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the froward. Peter could have left the end
of the chapter there. This is the instruction. But he doesn't. He then goes
on and gives these gracious arguments as to why they should do this.
He could have left it, just do this, and this is what I've told
you to do. But no, you see, he fetches these great arguments
from the great head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so,
as we look through the arguments that Peter makes here, For this,
in verse 19, the first argument really is verses 19 and 20. For this is thankworthy if a
man for conscience towards God. That means you do something,
what you do at work, and you do it conscientiously, and you
do it because you feel that's the right thing to do. Like Joseph
refusing the advances of Potiphar's wife. he felt that was the wrong
thing to do and he refused those advancements and as a result
of it he was put into prison. For this is thank worthy if a
man for conscience towards God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. This is not a case of suffering
If we've done something wrong and taken it gently, this is
when we've done what is right and suffer for it. For what glory
is it, this is elaborated in verse 20, for what glory is it
if when you be buffeted for your faults you take it patiently?
You'd expect to do that. If you've done wrong and you
get punished for it, that's only right you should, and that's
not particularly honourable, but that's not what he's talking
about here. But if you do well, like Joseph
refusing Potiphar's wife's advancements, if you do well and suffer for
it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. This pleases God. You might naturally say, well,
I don't think it's acceptable. It's not acceptable in my book. Here you see, with God you see,
there's something Christ-like here. This is acceptable with
God. What happened to Joseph in his
doing right and then suffering as a result and being put in
prison? God was above it. God was with him. And God was
going to turn it out to be ultimately for his good. Ye meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good. And that's what we've got to
experience in our lives. We'll have those, if we're the children
of God, we're going to have those that are going to do evil against
us. Not because they like us, not
because they want to further our cause, not because they want
to build us up spiritually, because they dislike us. Potiphar's wife
wasn't doing it for Joseph's spiritual good, was she? She
was doing it for her own ends and her own lusts. but God was over it. You see, for what glory is it
when you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently,
but if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. This is pleasing to God. So you see, this is Peter speaking
to us as a mature Christian. Earlier on in his pathway, he
wouldn't have agreed with this either. He kicked against the
Lord Jesus when he said that he would go and suffer many things
in Jerusalem. He said, this shall not be unto
thee. This is not the way. But now you see, humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exhort you in due
season, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. He's going to say later in this,
in his epistles. So his first argument is this
is thankworthy. God approves of this. God approves of this. And so
we need to recalibrate what we think is acceptable. We might
say, no, I'm going to kick up about this. I'm going to make
a lot of trouble out of what they've done to me. I'm going
to really cause a stink. If you take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God. That's the first line of the
argument. God is pleased and if we think we are to be Christians
are to be those that seek to please their master. Is it not
what we look for as it were thinking about our end and think well
done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Lord. Surely that's what we're looking
for isn't it. We're not looking, as it were, to say, well, yes,
I knew that was the right way, but I went and gave him a piece
of my own mind anyway. This is acceptable with God. Then the second line of argument
comes in verse 21. For even hereunto were ye called. See, God's people are called
people. They've been called out of nature's darkness. They've
been called into the kingdom of God's dear son. And here,
Peter uses this same term, to be called. They're the called
ones. For even here unto were ye called. You see, we might say, well,
when this happens in your life, something has gone wrong. And
really it shouldn't happen. Something has gone quite against
the things and really if things were going well this would never
happen. For even here unto we called. God has designed this for his
people. Why? because he wants to make us conformed
to the image of his dear son. How else are we ever going to
have fellowship with his sufferings? How else are we ever going to
experience that? He's designed it. The things that happened
in the life of Joseph, they caused him to have fellowship with Christ's
sufferings. He understood what it was to
be falsely accused, to do what is right and suffer for it, and
to be gracious in that prison, not kick up a fight all the time,
but to be diligent and helpful and godly in that prison. You
say, but I shouldn't be here. For even here unto were you caught. because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.
You see, you might think, but Christ died to pay for our sins. True. But also here, there was
an aspect of Christ did this as an example for us to follow. Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. This
is the second line of argument. Your master went this way. Are
you a follower of Christ? Do you want to be a follower
of your master? If we suffer with him, we shall
also reign with him. You see here, this is the path
of suffering, that Peter is encouraging these persecuted Christians to
recalibrate their thinking, to align their thinking with, not
that this was really God's purpose that we would live in a world
where no trouble was and no difficulties and no trials, but God has put
these things in our pathway to make us shine as lights. How
else can we be a witness to the world around us? You see it's
often when we're in difficulties and are gracious under those
difficulties that people see there's something different with
these people. There's something different. They should do this
in this situation. That's how everybody would do
it. But they don't. Why not? For even here unto where
ye called, because Christ also suffered. Peter here brings in
the greatest example of all. We could have many examples.
I gave it of Joseph as an example in the Old Testament who did
this. But Peter comes in with the greatest example, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. For even here unto where ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us. Leave in the example
that ye ye should follow his steps. And then he elaborates
as to what he meant by that. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. In other words he's saying that
when Jesus suffered it wasn't because of his sin. It wasn't
because he'd said the wrong thing or done the wrong thing and therefore
he received the due reward of his deeds. No, he was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Of course we all come short here. We're not perfect. And sin is
mixed with all that we do. And so therefore, people, when
they criticize us, they've always got some aspect of it that's
got some ground, because we're imperfect. But the greatest example
of the Lord Jesus Christ was truly, they hated me without
a cause. We read in the Psalms, Christ
said of himself, they hated me without a cause. Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth. He wasn't deceitful in
his talking. He was honest, he was faithful. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, when
he was spoken against, when he was ridiculed, when he was the
song of the drunkards as we read in the Psalms, when he was reviled,
He reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. Oh, just imagine the threatening that Christ could have given
on the cross. You do that, I'll send you to hell. He didn't. And he could have done it, couldn't
he? He could have threatened those people. Those people that
were doing such wicked things to him, he could have threatened
them. And his threatenings wouldn't have been empty, would they? And when he suffered, he threatened
not. But what did he do? And this
is what we are commanded to do. But committed himself. And that himself is in italics,
you'll notice. Or his cause. He committed himself,
his cause, to him that judges righteously. So there he was
being falsely accused, being ridiculed. He saved others himself
he cannot save. If thou be the Christ come down
from the cross and we will believe you. These are the things that
we think about, the ridicules and the reviling that Jesus received. Telling him that he was speaking
blasphemy because he said he was the son of God. Who when
he was reviled, he didn't. revile again. He didn't give
back, and he could have done so easily, couldn't he? He could
have commanded 12 legions of angels to obliterate all his
enemies, but he didn't. You see the meekness and gentleness
of Christ. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
He committed his cause to his Father. And that, beloved friends,
is what we need to do. We need to commit our cause to
our Father in heaven. Oh, but you say that they're
doing all this and Jesus wasn't delivered from the cross, was
he, in the sense that he wasn't spared from having to go through
the cross, because that was his father's will. But he was vindicated, wasn't
he? He was vindicated. He rose again
victorious over sin, death, hell and the grave. He's given a name
which is above every name, the name of Jesus. Every knee shall
bow. Every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He has a glory
above every other glory. He didn't vindicate himself.
He waited for his father to vindicate him. but committed himself, his
cause, to him that judgeth righteously. You see, if we seek to judge,
we seldom judge righteously. And we have that as what we read
in Romans chapter 12, verse 19. It says this, Romans 12, verse
19, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. Avenge not yourselves. If I can just give this as an
illustration. Think of it like this. If you
had some children you were looking after, but the parents were in
the room, and yet the children were in this room with you. And
one of the children did something that was wrong or unkind to one
of the other children. And you started getting there
and telling off this child for misbehaving. And the parents
were there. Well the parents can't really
then tell the child off because you can't all be at the child
and it wasn't your place to tell the child off. The parents were
there they can tell the child off and sort the child out. That's a little illustration
of what we have here. Dearly beloved avenge not yourselves
but rather give place. You see when you're in there
trying to tell this child off that isn't even your child The people who should be telling
the child off, as it were, can't get on and do it because you're
in the way. And I think that's what verse 19 is telling us.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place. Back off. Back off. Leave the right person
to do the judging and to do the avenging. Let the parents do
it in my example. They're the ones that have been
given the God responsibility to do such a chastening that's
necessary. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine. You see, the real parents have
been given God responsibility to instruct their children and
to chasten their children when they misbehave. And if you're
in the room, it's not your place to do it. And so it is in our
little lives. So often we grab the situation
and think, I've got to sort this out. I've got to give them, I've
got to show them who I am, and I've got to sort this problem
out myself. but rather give place for it
is written vengeance is mine. We might think of how we might
be able to retaliate against somebody, how the schemes and
how the malice and as we looked at this morning, wherefore laying
aside all malice and guile, how we can deceive them and trip
them up and the hypocrisies that we might be able to twist things
round so that we avoid the cross. and the envies and the evil speakings,
all those things that we think we can get them back with. Vengeance
is mine, I will repay. So simple, isn't it? Saith the
Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil. but overcome evil with good. Let this mind be in you that
was also in Christ Jesus. 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.
And his committing of himself to his father was not in vain.
He was vindicated. He was given a name which is
above every name. His father cared for him. Thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy holy one to see
corruption. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. A scene that we think about this
coming week. in the sufferings of Christ,
the garden of Gethsemane, how he pleaded with his father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. That's the second
argument. So the first argument is it's
acceptable to God, it's pleasing to God. The second argument is
it's what Christ did on our behalf. The third argument we read in
verse 24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the
tree. The Lord Jesus in suffering was
that this is where it's different than our suffering. See, we can't
bear our own sins by suffering and pay for our own own salvation. We can't do that. But Christ did, you see, who
his own self bare our sins in his body. His sufferings were
meritorious. They paid for our sins. Who his
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, on the
cross, the cross of Calvary. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree, we read. And he was made a curse for us.
who his own self buries our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.
Here you see Peter is bringing in what we often refer to in
baptism, isn't it? To go down into the waters, to
die to self, to rise again to newness of life. This is the
picture here. that we being dead to sins, you
see, I don't know whether many of you, I don't know how many
of you have been next to a dead body, perhaps the one you love, but
whatever you say to them, if you were to shout at them, there
would be no response, would there? They wouldn't answer back, would
they? They wouldn't answer back and shout back at you, would
they? who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin. That's why he died, that we should
die to sin. That sinful reaction of malice,
of guile, of hypocrisies, of envies, of evil speaking, the
outpouring of our old nature as a response of being reviled
in some way. We're to be dead to sins, we're
not to respond to it. We're to be like that dead person
that whatever we say to them, there's a silence isn't there?
Silence and a stony silence in death. But that's the picture
here, dead to sin. Then when we raise out of the
water in newness of life, there's life here, there's something
to be done positively. That you should live unto righteousness. You see, we should live and as
we respond in these gracious ways. When he was reviled, he
reviled not again. When we manifest this, we are
living out of the Spirit. We are doing what it says in
Romans 12, you see. Therefore if thine enemy hunger,
feed him and get your own back. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Oh,
he'll feel very uncomfortable, won't he? I suddenly realise.
Even King Saul realised that when David was kind to him a
number of times. It broke his heart in a way,
didn't it? when he realized that David could have killed him in
the cave, and another time as well, and David hadn't killed
him, it caused him to realize his sin. Sadly, he only realized
it for a moment and then went back to his old ways of selfishness
and jealousy against David. Very sad character. But even
David's kindness to Saul caused Saul to recognize the grace in
David. Thou shalt heap coals of fire
on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil of good. That ye should live unto righteousness. We're to live out of him, you
see. We're to live in that power of the resurrection. We're to
be dead to the sin and we're to live to him. So the reaction
of a Christian, if we're walking in the spirit, which we're sadly
not always, But if we're in our right mind and we're doing what
we should be doing, then we will be manifesting the fruit of the
Spirit, that ye should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed. You see, there's the healing
stripes. This is Isaiah 53, isn't it? By his stripes we are healed. The healing balm. You see, when
we manifest this Spirit, it's a Spirit that's Totally counter-cultural. Totally opposite that what everything
in the world would say you should do. But this is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he did. As we come
to this time of the year when we remember his false accusations
against him. He was silent. He was silent. Because as our substitute, he
was standing in our place. And if he said, I'm not guilty,
then where did our sin go? As the substitute, as the bearer,
God had made him to be sin for us, that knew no sin, that we
should be made the righteousness of God in him, by whose stripes
he were healed. Then the last argument comes
here in verse 25. For ye were as sheep going astray. The last hymn we had this morning
was all about the good shepherd caring for his sheep. For ye
were as sheep going astray. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. That's what ye were, sheep going
astray. Sheep without a shepherd. Sheep that have got to defend
themselves. You see, if you've got a sheep on its own and it's
got aggression and difficulty, it's got to do its own thing.
It's got nobody to protect it. And that's a picture of us outside
of Christ. We've no shepherd. We've nobody
to care for us. All we've got to do is fire back
with the full ammunition of the lust of the flesh and the pride
of life. That's all we've got. Full ammunition. You were a sheep
going astray, but you now return unto the shepherd and the bishop. You've got a shepherd now, you
see. So when these people come and do all these evils to you,
you've got a shepherd. I know in that book, The Lord
is My Shepherd, of Douglas Macmillan. He stated that case once when
he was having trouble with the sheep. I think it was foxes coming
and killing the lambs. And it had been happening several
nights. And so one night, he went to
the top of a hill where he could see, it was in the summertime,
I guess it was early morning, so he could just about see And he was from the top of one
of the hills and he saw this fox working. And this fox was
driving the sheep from left to right like a sheepdog, trying
to get them stuck in a boggy area. And he was trying to get
the lambs, you see, separated from the sheep so that they were
vulnerable. And then they would go in and
take those lambs and kill them. And he watched this going on
from the top of this hillside. He was amazed at what this fox
was doing. And just as the fox, as it were, was about to go for
the kill and to get those lambs and to totally destroy them, I think he blew a whistle or
something to show that the shepherd was there and the fox was gone.
You see, that's a picture of us. We have a good shepherd.
All those sheep with the lambs going to and fro with this fox
going round, they say, well, where's our shepherd? We're all
on our own, perhaps, they thought. But you see, we have a shepherd
that looks and cares and watches. And he could see what that fox
was doing. He could see all the malice and the selfishness and
the unkindness that was going on. But you see, he came at that
critical time and delivered the sheep, delivered the lambs from
that fox at that time. But a picture of our good shepherd,
you see, you're not on your own, that's the point. If you're on
your own, well, that's all you can do is fire back with all
the lusts of the flesh, with all the ammunition of hell. All
the malice and the guile and the evil speaking. You let it
all go. Let it all go. That's all you've
got. But the Lord's people have something
better, don't they? They have a good shepherd. He
laid down his life for his sheep. He loves his sheep. He cares
for his sheep. And he's doing this for their
eternal good. For you were a sheep going astray. but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your souls. You have a good shepherd, the
one that cares for you and is able to protect you and able
to say, thus far shalt thou come and no further. You see, that
fox was, oh, he was getting closer and closer to the kill, but there
was a stop. and how the Lord is able to do
that with his people. Thus far shut they'll go, and
no further. And you see he's able to stand
up for his people, that he might have the glory. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. So we see this commandment, servants,
be subject to your masters with all fear, in the fear of the
Lord, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. And we all have masters in one
sense over us, in different capacities, those in authority over us, at
school, at work, in the family. And they're not always good,
they're not always right. But here you see, The instruction
of Peter is, in the spirit of God, is to use these arguments so that when we come into those
times when they are difficult, people are doing wrong things. It's not saying that these Frohwood
masters are good. He's not praising them for being
Frohwood, no. They will have to give an account
themselves. Masters, remember that you're
going to have a given account. So these wicked masters, they
will be punished. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. I will repay. But not for us. See, we need to walk humbly before
our God. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.
that he may exhort you in due season. Cast in all your care
upon him, for he careth for you. He cares for those sheep. He's
a good shepherd. The good shepherd that laid down
his life for his sheep does not want to lose his sheep, does
he? That shepherd got up in the night to care for his sheep.
He realized there was those foxes destroying his flocks, and he
got up to find out what was going on, and he delivered them. For
ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of our souls. Servants, be subject to your
masters, to the warfare, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward. Oh, you say, I've got such a
difficult boss, so unreasonable. It's a wonderful thing when an
unreasonable person over you causes you to have a deeper knowledge
of Christ, causes you to have fellowship
with his sufferings. Paul says that, doesn't he, in
Philippians, Philippians chapter 3, that I may know him, this is
Philippians 3 verse 10, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection. This is the power. The power
of the resurrection to change us from firing back in our own
natural sinful firepower to responding by the grace of God. See this
is powerful. This sends a signal out to the
world. It's alright going around saying
you need to be a Christian but this speaks. People will notice
this. They say, you're different. You
didn't do what I expected you to do. You didn't say what I
expected you to say. That I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. See, when
we realise that God is overall as that good shepherd, then the
person who's done you the most damage Joseph with his brothers
that sold him with envy and hatred and jealousy and wickedness. It was a wicked thing they did
to Joseph. Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. God is able to take the greatest
evil that comes against you to be for your spiritual good. And that changes our attitude.
That changes our outlook. It changes us from being, to
realise that we are children, royal children, of a shepherd
that cares for his sheep so much that he doesn't leave us to make
this world our rest. He doesn't leave us to bed down
here below to enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season. He's training
us and preparing us for glory. cross before the crown. You see, we are to be followers
of him. And so, as dear Peter writes this pastoral epistle
to suffering Christians, he didn't always get it right. He fell,
he denied his Lord with oaths and curses, but he writes to other Christians
to exhort them how they should act and how he desired to act,
although he knew what it was to fall. And so we have one speaking
here that has experienced the fall, experienced the grace of
God, experienced what it is to be restored and then seeks to
restore others, like David. David, after he fell with the
matter of Bathsheba, naturally you say, well, David, your mouth
is shut now, you can't preach anymore, you've done that, that's
it. Your witness is over. That's what the politicians would
say. Gotta resign. This is what David says in Psalm
51. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, uphold me with thy free spirit, then will I teach
transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
David is going to use his experience of the grace and mercy of God.
When he felt that he was restored, he was going to preach to others.
Preach about the truth. of the mercy of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ.