All right. We're going to be in First Peter
this morning, and I'm just going to open in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, Father, we ask that your spirit would be among us this
morning. Lord, that you would fall upon
us. Lord, that you would help us to hear by the spirit. Lord, and not in our flesh, Lord, we pray that you would
bless this people here. Lord, bless us, for we need you.
We need the blood of Christ to cover us and to cleanse us from
all sin. Lord, have mercy upon us. We
pray this in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen. All right,
so we'll be in 1 Peter 2, verse 11. And I don't know how well we'll be able to get
into all the verses, but I'm going to read from 11 to 17. 1 Peter 2, 11 to 17. He writes,
Dearly Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, They may, by your good works, which
they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 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, and
for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God,
that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood,
fear God, honor the king. Now Peter here is elaborating
on the walk of the child of God. And he's drawing upon this from
that which he said in verse 9, which we looked at last week,
where he ascribes to the Church of God these beautiful definitions,
these beautiful terms that declare and show us and reveal to us
what God has done for us, how he's blessed us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that we see these things here,
but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy
nation, a peculiar people. These are descriptions that the
bride of Christ is given to her, of her father, all these blessings
in the Lord Jesus Christ. She's greatly enriched and bejeweled
and just decorated with all these terms that in her flesh she's
none of these things, but these are all the blessings that we
receive in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now catch this from verse 9,
because it's important to our text this morning. He says, that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. So that the child, the
church of God, isn't walking in a manner that is inconsistent
with her calling, her vocation. that she's been called to in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior is righteous, He's
holy, He's merciful, He's poured out His blessings upon us, not
so that we can take these blessings and just use them and spend them
in our flesh, but that we might know Him and grow in Him and
serve Him and serve the brethren. So He's poured out all these
blessings upon us. And we're to remember that He's called
us out of darkness. He's not saved us and washed
us by the blood of Christ and left us in darkness and left
us indifferent to these things and unknowledgeable of these
things. He's called us out of darkness and He's called us as
children of light, right? So that He's making known to
us what His will is, what He's done for us in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we might know Him and serve Him and rejoice in
Him and serve one another. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
he said, in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 5 and 6, he said, ye are
all the children of light and the children of the day. We are
not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. So that he's saying,
all this world is passed by the glory and the mercy of God. They
are laying asleep. They are dead in trespasses and
sins. They have no knowledge of these
things. They have no desire to know these things. They don't
care about these things. That's not the same way with
you. The Lord has revealed himself to you and he's not left you
in darkness. He's called you into light. so
that we might know him. So our title this morning is
Showing Forth the Praises of Our God. Showing Forth the Praises
of Our God. And I have four divisions, but
like I said, I don't know if we'll be able to cover them all
thoroughly, but the first is the exhortation to the brethren. Second, the benefit of heeding
the exhortation. And then Peter gives us an example,
and then we'll see and look at the manifest will of God in these
things. So first, the exhortation. He
says in verse 11, 1 Peter 2, 11, dearly beloved, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul. Now, Peter begins the exhortation
saying, dearly beloved, dearly beloved. He cares about these
people. He definitely, desperately cares
about these people and he knows what sin does in a believer. He understands that we are flesh
and that we are sinners, saved by the grace and mercy of God. And he says, dearly beloved,
beloved of the Lord God, who spared not his own son, who spared
not the best that he had, we who can do nothing for him and
give him nothing and add nothing to God, this one, this God, saved
us by cleansing us from our sins and bringing us into a knowledge
and the light of the glory of God our Savior. So that's who
he's writing to. And this is Peter that's writing
this. Peter, think about Peter. Peter who's reflecting upon the
very fact that he knows what a vile sinner he is. This is
Peter who spoke belligerently and abruptly, got in the Lord's
way so that the Savior rebuked him, saying, Get thee behind
me, Satan. He knows that. He knows what
he is in the flesh. This is Peter who denied the
Lord of glory three times on the night that he was crucified.
He denied him three times, and he had to stew in that and reflect
on that for days and weeks until the Lord restored him. He denied
the Lord of Glory who would, in a few hours from that time,
lay down his very life and shed his precious blood to save Peter
from his sins. And so Peter knows what we are
in the flesh and he says, dearly beloved, dearly beloved, don't
hear this exhortation in the flesh. That's not where it's
going. It's not going to us in the flesh. We're to hear it in
the spirit because God has saved us. He's cleansed us from our
sins. He's delivered us from the darkness
that we are by nature. brought us into the glory of
his light and the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might know him
and serve him and rejoice in him evermore. And he says, dearly
beloved. And it's not just that way with
Peter, but even his pastors, right? His pastors were not here
because, no pastors here because we're holier than any of you,
that we're better than any of you, that we've arrived or excelled
in these things more than any of you. I would venture to say
that it's because we're more corrupt and we know what vile
sinners we are. We've been shown these things
and shown that we're not able to save ourselves, that there's
nothing that we can do to make ourselves righteous with the
Lord. And he's shown us these things, brought us down very
low, that we might know him that he saved us and that he did all
this work. So there's nothing about us as
a pastor or even as Peter as an apostle that makes us more
qualified to tell you how to live your life and what to do
or not to do. That's not what this is about. So Peter's not
saying this as an overlord of the people, but one who's been
taught, the Lord himself, that he's a sinner in need of the
grace of God, and he knows what the corruption of sin does to
us. He knows, he's seen the effects
of it, he's seen it manifest in his own flesh, and how it
was those very sins that put the Lord of glory on the cross
to pay for those sins. In Ezekiel 3.17, our Lord said
to Ezekiel, son of man, I have made thee a watchman under the
house of Israel, Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give
them warning from me." Teach the people. Tell them what I
tell you to say. You tell them what I've given to you. And again
in Hebrews 13, 17, it says, "'Obey them that have the rule over
you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as
they that must give account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.'" So
that phrase there, they watch for your souls. And that's what
jumped out at me when the Lord gave me a pastor in Clay Curtis. That, you know, I understood
that man's just being faithful to preach the gospel, to declare
the whole word of God that I might know my Savior and be joyful
in Him and not serving myself and not being corrupted by this
flesh and looking to these things. But he was faithful to preach
the gospel and it fed me and instructed me and taught me the
things that I needed to hear and the things I needed to know.
So it's not as an overlord. It's not because we're able or
better or have these things under control in ourselves. Not at
all. Not at all. We desperately need the Lord
Jesus Christ every hour because we are sinners and you'll see
that. What he's saying is, there's great joy and benefit in not
giving yourselves over to the lusts of your flesh, and hearing
this, and hearing it by faith. And he says in verse 11, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul. And what that calls to mind is
that we are strangers and pilgrims here in this earth. This isn't
our lasting city. This place isn't our inheritance,
right? This isn't what the Lord has
created us to inherit and that this is the final place. The
world talks like that, right? YOLO and you only live once,
that type of thing, where this is all they have. So that's all
the pursuits and all their life is going towards this one thing
because this is all that they have as far as they're concerned.
But like Abraham, in Hebrews 11, 9, by faith Abraham sojourned
in the land of promise. He was there in that physical
land which God had promised to him. But he did so as in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise. Why? Why did he do that? For
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. So Abraham, by faith, understood
even though God had promised him that land, that really isn't
the final inheritance of the believer. We're here in the church
of God where it says that the walls and the bulwarks are salvation,
so that we're all in the city of God by salvation. It's not
a physical city, we're in We're covered in the blood of Christ.
We're in the city of God because of what Christ has done for us,
that he has saved us. And that's why we're fellow citizens,
one with another. But we're looking for that heavenly
Jerusalem, waiting for that day when the Lord returns and delivers
us from the body of this death. Now, the apostle The apostles
warn us, they use sometimes a negative way in which they instruct us
and sometimes a positive way in which they instruct us. And
negatively speaking, if you will, where the apostles are saying,
don't do this, don't do these things. And he says in Romans
12, 2, For example, be not conformed to this world. And then 2 Corinthians
6.17, he says, come out from among them and be ye separate. And 1 Thessalonians 5.22, he
says, abstain from all appearance of evil. Ephesians 5.11, he says,
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Why? Why should we do those things?
Why should we abstain and refrain and put off these things? He
says in Titus 2.11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men. teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purified unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
And then he tells Pastor Titus in verse 15, these things speak,
and exhort, and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise
thee. And that's because in our flesh,
remember I sat in a pew just like you, and I heard from a
man just like me, and he preached and The flesh gets provoked.
The flesh says, why is he saying that to me? Who does he think
he is? Why is that being said to me? And that's the Lord is
dealing with us. He's going to root that out.
He's going to root that root of bitterness out and deal with
it as we have need. I don't know if all you had that,
but I'm saying, and myself, the Lord had to deal with me very
much because I'm full of sin and darkness in this flesh. And
I needed to hear the things that I heard. And so he made sure
that I heard them. All right, so that's more of
a negative way. And then a positive way in which it could be said
is how Paul said it to the Colossians in 3 verses 1 and 2. If ye then
be risen with Christ, seek those things. Positively seek those
things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God. Set your affection on things above not on the things
on the earth. So there's different ways in
which they instruct us and they tell us all the time abstain
from these things. Don't do that because it's not
good. It's not needful. It's not profitable. It's not helpful to your souls
to seek those things. But instead seek the Lord Jesus
Christ because he is giving you that which is good and pleasing
and pleasant. I don't remember the time period,
but there was a family, I think it was an Asian family, I read
of somewhere, and I don't know if it was this country, I think
it was, or it was another war-torn country, and it said that they
were so hungry, they had so little food, that they were eating bark
off a tree. They found some bark that they
could scrape off the top and get to the next layer, and they
were eating it, and it filled their belly. But they all died
of starvation. because it had no nutrition. And you know, when we feed and
fill ourselves with the husks of this world, it may fill your
belly for a time and take away that that hankering pain of hunger,
but there's no nutrition in it. It's of no value. It's not going
to profit you in the long term. It's not going to profit you
spiritually speaking. And he calls us strangers and
pilgrims. And, you know, if you're in a
strange place, you're not letting your guard down, you don't feel
comfortable, you're out of place, you're not sure of the surroundings,
you're not sure of the people, you don't know what they're like,
and so you're careful, and your guard is up, and you're not just
relaxing and being yourself, like as if you're at Joe's, you
know, and you're playing a game of cricket or whatever, or not cricket,
croquet, you know, you're relaxed, you're being yourselves, you're
with brethren, you're among friends and people that you care about,
so you can be more relaxed, but when you're out there, you're
not. And it reminds me of when I was a young child, maybe eight
or nine years old, my parents had gone out to California to
visit some friends and being the youngest, I benefited from
that. And I was with them and we crossed over the border into
Tijuana, Mexico. And I remember being on the main
street, the main drag there, and it was pretty and colorful
and there's shops and there's all these shopkeepers and all
these other tourists and Americans walking around. And it felt very
nice and comfortable. And we went through an alleyway,
and we came out on the other side. And we were not in Kansas
anymore. We were suddenly in a place where
we weren't supposed to be. There was men standing around
in groups of three or four, leaning up against some buildings with
white beater t-shirts on, and it looked pretty menacing. And
I think about that a lot, thinking, what went through my dad's head
then? Because it was just him and my
mom and me, eight years old. What am I going to do? What's
my mom going to do if a group of guys came around? My dad was
on edge. He wasn't talking to us. He wasn't
paying attention to us and laughing it up. He was aware, very much
aware of his surroundings until we got to the next block, turned
right, and we're back on the street where we were supposed
to be as tourists. That's what it is. We're going through this
life. Just be aware. This place isn't your friend. They're not.
It's a dangerous place. So don't get too comfortable
and think everything's just fine and all right. I'm not trying
to steal your joy or make you uneasy in any way. I'm just saying,
be aware. This isn't your inheritance.
This isn't what the Lord has for us. There are things that
would love to destroy us and separate us from our Lord. Now, so Peter says, abstain from
fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And the fact that he
says that to us means that he's identifying with each of us,
right? We all know if he's saying abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, that means,
yeah, because we're in the flesh and our flesh isn't any better.
It's not any better today than it was yesterday. No matter how
much religion, how many years you sat under the gospel, your
flesh is no better. He understands, I understand,
because I too am a man of like passions, just like each of you.
I know what it is to have lust in the flesh, to want things
in this life, to desire these things and pursue these things.
I understand. That's why he says, abstain from
these things, because the flesh hasn't changed. It's not improved.
It's not reformed. It's not gotten better than it
was. So these things still rise up
in us. These thoughts still come into
our minds. and they're not going to do us
any good when we pursue those things and seek after those things. Now it is true that there are
men in this world that will tell you, I've got it under control. I've taken control of these things
and I can now do this and if you do what I do, if you listen
to me and you do like I do, You put starch in your britches and
you get yourself all agitated and upset so you're never comfortable,
then everything will work out and you can get this flesh under
control. No, this flesh is out of control. It's still a wild
beast. It still does the things that
it wants to do and that's why we have these fleshly lusts and
why he has to say, brethren, abstain from them. Don't feed
into them. Don't give into those things
because they're there. They're going to rise up. They
are going to come because that's not going to change in any one
of us. It's just what it is. So don't listen to those that
tell you, you can put that stuff so far away that you'll never
see it again. No, it's there. It's very much,
it's very much there. So it tells us that our flesh
is corrupt. It's not gotten any better. It's
not going to produce any good fruit and never will produce
any good fruit. It's always going to produce
dead fruit and that which pleases itself and not the Lord. So But
understand, though, brethren, that sin is never, it's never
going to destroy the child of God. It isn't. Your sin is not
going to destroy you. There are people that have spoken
up in the scriptures that have shipwrecked their faith, that
have, you know, played with it, thinking they were fine with
it. That serpent bit, and that poison went in, and their consciences
were seared, and they fell away. It's because they weren't the
Lord's people. So the true child of God, the
Lord's not going to allow sin to so conquer you and to destroy
you that you're going to die spiritually. The Lord's people
can't die spiritually. The Lord has saved them. His
blood has covered them from their sins. It's delivered us. He's
given us life. God doesn't change his gifts. He doesn't change his mind about
those things. You know, he who hath begun a good work in you
shall perform it unto the end. As he said in Philippians 1.6,
he shall perform it unto the end. So it's not like it's going
to destroy us, but If I'm being honest, I know what sin does. I've played with it. I've toyed
around with it. It distresses the soul. It brings
distress to the soul. It does not produce comfort or
any peace or any joy. It distresses the soul. He says,
of staining from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. In
a war, do you see kids out there playing games and girls out there
picking flowers in the middle of guys firing guns and blowing
off cannons and dropping bombs and things like that? No, it's
a war. People are dying. People are
getting arms ripped off and all kinds of evil things are going
on. it's a war. So when he says it's,
which war against the soul is because when you do, when you
sin and you know you're doing something that the Lord is dealing
with you in, it brings distress of soul. It does. And it makes
war. It wreaks havoc against your
soul, against your thoughts. And you think, I'm a wicked,
wicked, vile person. You know, and you start beating
yourself up and you're going through emotions like that, so
it brings distress of soul, it robs us of comfort, of peace,
and of joy, alright, because now you're focused on that, you're
thinking about what have I done, it stunts your growth, it hinders
you from service to your brethren, and thinking about them, and
praying for them, because now all you're thinking about is,
Lord, what have I done? I can't believe I did that again. So,
you know, you find yourself toiling with that guilt and that condemnation
until the Lord is pleased to restore you, and comfort you,
and heal you, and assure you, you're mine. You're mine, and
I love you, and I forgive you. Don't give it another thought. But there is that time where
we go through that pain and that suffering. I mean, if I'm being
honest, I can't just shut it off and say, well, the blood
of Jesus covers me, and that's why I died, so I can just do
these sins and not have to worry about it. That's not what he's
taught me. It's true that it's not going
to destroy me and kill me forever, but it brings pain and suffering,
and it does wreak war against my soul. And he's saying, don't
do those things. It's just attacking you. It's
bringing you down. It's taking your thoughts off
of Christ, and it's putting them on your flesh. Don't do that,
because you have his spirit in you. He's not going to allow
you just to go on sinning and sinning and sinning and sinning
without any thought. There may be a time. but he's
going to deal with it. He'll deal with it and root it
out because it has no place in there. Turn over to Romans 7.
I just want you to see this, Romans 7. Paul is talking about
sin in the flesh here in Romans 7. Go down to verse 21. He says, I find then a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. It's not the
creation of Christ. It's not the new man in us that's
sinning. That new man does not sin. That new man delights in
the Lord Jesus Christ. When you sin, it's your flesh.
Your flesh is what's sinning. So he says, I find in the law
that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in
my members. warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. When you start sinning and just
giving in to that thing and you do it, now you're in war. Now it's assaulting that new
man, you're in captivity, and we're not to be the servants
of sin, we're not to be enslaved by sin, we're not to be overpowered
by sin. And he says there in verse 24,
a wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? And there you see that weariness
in the flesh. In the new man, we think, there
I go again. I've done it, sinned again against
the Lord, and it just, it wreaks war against us, and now you have
that guilt and that attack, if you will, in which we go through. But he says in verse 25, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's our faithful God
restoring us again, trusting to see that Christ has put away
that sin. He has dealt with it. We're not
destroyed. We're not shipwrecked. We're
not off back into this world as others, but he's delivered
us from it. So then he says, with the mind I myself serve
the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So brethren,
abstain from fleshly lusts because they war against the soul. They
war against that new creation which Christ has created in us
and they send us down a path that is just not profitable.
It just distresses the soul and it saps the joy and the peace
that we have in our Savior until He restores us again in Himself. So it's a great benefit to us
to not want to do those things, to not want to sin, to not want
to go that way because it does no good for us or our brethren. And then the second point we
see the benefit of heeding the exhortation. He says in verse
12, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that
whereas they speak against you as evildoers, They may by your
good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation. Now, it's not uncommon when people
hear that you're a Christian to judge you, to condemn you,
to think evil of you, right? And there's many reasons why
they do this. There's many reasons why they
would condemn us or think evil thoughts towards us. You know,
they may have had a bad experience with so-called Christians, you
know, and seeing things that just turn them off. They may
be dealing with their own guilt and their own feeling of condemnation
or, you know, sometimes we don't know why they judge us or treat
us harshly or things like that. And it may even be that they've
seen behaviors in us in the past which don't reconcile with what
they think a Christian should be like, right? And they may
see something that they can judge you. So there's many times where
we just think, well, it's just better off for me not to even
let people know I'm a Christian because I just don't feel like
going through that judging and that harsh criticism because
they don't understand anyway and they're just going to judge
me by human means and human reasoning and I just don't want to deal
with it. You know, sometimes we can be tempted just to be
like them, just to conform and fit in and just be like they
are, to avoid it to such a degree that they would never even know
or be surprised to hear that we have a hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So, you know, it's just something that we do in this
world where we can find ourselves in that place where nobody even
knows I'm a Christian, but just know Whatever you do, they're
going to judge you incorrectly anyway. If they're in the flesh
by nature, they're going to judge you harshly anyway, because if
they don't have the spirit of Christ, then they're only going
to judge you by the flesh that they have, according to their
human intellect and their wisdom and their experiences and things
like that. It doesn't matter what you do. What I'm saying
is, if you try to hide it and just fit in with them, thinking
that maybe I'll just be like them so they're a little more
open to hear what I have to say later on, it's not going to change
anyway. Whether you try to conform with
them, whether you don't try to conform with them, they're going
to find something to criticize you with anyway. If you conform
to them, they're just going to say, well, you're a hypocrite
because you were doing the same thing I do anyway. And if you don't conform
with them, they're going to say, well, I just don't like you because
you're a goody two-shoes or whatever, and there's no friendship there. So don't try and change your
behaviors or your actions just to try and fit in for fear of
them judging you, because they're going to judge you anyway. But what we are to do is, we
know what the Lord has told us in his scriptures. And the Lord
teaches us through his scriptures. Just trust him. Live according
to how he's revealing his word to you. Seek him and just trust
him. We can't try to outsmart the
flesh and other people. win them to Christ through subtlety
and things like that. It's not, what I'm saying is
it's not going to work. Just live as the Lord is revealing
to you that you should live. Just be honest before all men.
If you do something, do it unto the Lord and just trust Him.
Even if they judge you, because you don't know how the Lord is
going to use it. You don't know how He's going to lay it to their
heart or how they're going to perceive it or understand it. You know,
He said in Matthew 5, 16, He said, Well, he said, yeah, 516, let
your light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Now, that light
isn't talking about the good works that you do in the flesh.
Who is the light of men? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as he said in verse 15, well, he says, you are the light of
the world, right? Because he's revealed himself to his people. You're the light of the world.
In other words, you're the ones that are carrying forth the effects
of the gospel of Christ in you, like Him saving you from your
sins, Him revealing Himself as a precious Savior that's kind
and merciful and gracious to you in spite of all your sin.
You're impacted by that. We're affected by that. And He's
saying, go forth into the world. You're the light of it. The way
we saw it was from other people, too, preaching the gospel. and
being honest with us and not hiding these things to us. And
he says, you're a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. And
he says in verse 15, men don't light a candle and put it under
a bushel. They don't hide it. So neither does God. If God has
revealed Christ to you, don't go and hide it and try and hide
it from people for fear that they're going to judge you because
God didn't do that. He didn't, he didn't reveal Christ
to us that we could go and hide it, take our talent, dig down
in the dirt and hide it in the ground. and just give it back
to him later at the end, but rather we're to invest it here
in this world in the sense that he's given us, he's revealed
Christ to us. Don't be afraid to be honest
before others. Some are going to judge you and
some you don't know. The Lord may use it to strike
them in the heart and reveal to them their need of Christ.
So he says, let your light so shine before men, not your good
works where you're lording it over others and saying, look
at me. Don't do what you do, do what I do. That's not what
he's saying. He's saying, let Christ work his work in you,
his power in you. Be honest and trust him to work
out all these things and call out his people that they may
see your good works. Our good works are not our good
works in the flesh, they're Christ. Let them see that kindness and
that gentleness and that mercy and grace that he's shown to
us that they may see those good works which your father's worked
in you, in your heart, and delivered you from the love of this world
and the flesh. That's what glorifies your Father
in heaven, is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ and just living
according as He's revealed Himself to you. He said, turn over to
2 Corinthians. I'm going to have to stop pretty
soon. Let me see if I can wrap it up.
2 Corinthians 4, in verse 1. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 1. Paul
writes to the church there at Corinth, he says, Therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not. We all have been given a certain
amount of time here on this life after conversion. The Lord has
been kind to us and we're living here in this life, we're going
about, we have our jobs, we have the livelihoods that we have
and things like that. We all have a certain amount of time.
We're not to just go hide out and hide under a rock and pretend
like we don't know the Lord, but again, being honest. And
he says, verse two, but we've renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And that's
what we do. And he says, but if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. All right, they're
going to judge you regardless. They're going to judge because
they're not going to understand. If they don't have the Spirit of Christ,
they're going to judge you in the flesh anyway, according to
their corrupt mind. We know, we have the same corrupt
thoughts and the same misunderstandings about everything ourselves, so
they're going to judge you. And if they do, it's because
the Gospel is hid from them, and they're blinded by these
things. They don't see them. Just be honest. And then Peter
gives an example in verse 13. It says in verse 13, he says,
submit yourselves. This is the example he gives.
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 and for
the praise of them that do well. If I was to just sort of bring
this to the front of where we are, we live in a nation where
there's a two-party system. It's very divisive. It's probably
been more divisive in the past than it is, but it's pretty divisive
now. We can get caught up in things. Now we live in an age where there's
the internet and you can drill into all kinds of things You
know, there's conspiracy theories. I know, like I have a hobby sometimes
where I just look up conspiracy theories because it just, it
cracks me up. And some of them are pretty interesting and pretty,
you know, pretty, pretty good, but don't get swept up with those
things. Trust the Lord. He's able, just
the election of Trump alone shows you that the Lord is able to
just break right on in there and just destroy all kinds of
ideas and thoughts. I never thought he was going
to be elected. So the Lord is able to thwart
any evil, anything that's coming against you. And I'm not saying
be unwise or indifferent. I'm not saying go out and eat
foods with GMO and things like that, genetically modified. There's
enough to say, I don't know about that. I don't know why they're
accepting it. But trust the Lord. He's able to protect you. He's
able to undo the works of darkness. They're going to break out one
of these days and something may take hold for a time because
if it does, it's all in the will of the Lord and trust Him that
He's able to stop what needs to be stopped and able to allow
to come to pass what comes to pass because it's all working
towards His glory and the way He's going to reveal Christ in
that the end in that day, right? Peter, Paul said, if possible,
as much as lies within you live peaceably with all men or be
at peace with all men. So don't be afraid to pay your
taxes and to do what you need to do. If you don't pay your
taxes, you know, I understand that there's differences in where
some of us are in, you know, our thoughts about the government,
but trust them. You know, if a cop pulls you
over, don't be afraid to do what you gotta, you know, speak nicely
and kindly because if you say the wrong thing, you're probably
going to end up in trouble with him. But the Lord's put those
things in place for his purposes and his will. David said in 1 Chronicles, Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven. and in
the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all." God is sovereign. He's able to do and effect that
which pleases Him, and He is doing it. He's definitely doing
His will and working His purpose. And then Peter says, For so is
the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men, as free and not using your liberty for a cloak
of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. So we don't
need to be caught up in the causes of men and getting wrapped up
in all that and don't invest your time and your energy And
that, you know, if you've looked into certain theories, into certain
things that are out there, you know how many hours it takes
to study and to be fully aware of those things. It takes you
hours away from just doing other things that could be more profitable
to the brethren. And he says, honor all men, right,
to whom honors do give honor. Love the brotherhood, because
that's our Lord's commandment to us. That's why he told us
to love one another. Fear God because he's sovereign
over all and has all things in control. He's working his will.
You don't need to fear that. Honor the king. That is the one
who, you know, that civil authority over you, they're there for a
reason and for a purpose. So there may be corrupt and evil
things going on. I mean, when Peter wrote it,
he was under the Roman government. And the Roman government was
pretty cruel and pretty evil and pretty wicked. And he said,
honor those whom honor is due. Just be, love the Lord, be honest
before others. Are they going to do wickedly
and do evil things? Yeah, they are. But don't retaliate
and don't do like they do. Just trust the Lord. I feel like
this word was a bit stretched out and maybe I shouldn't have
gone into the last verses. But brethren, I would just say
as one who, you know, is here not because I'm more holy than
you or because I've got it together, that's not it. But the Lord has
shown me that just trust Him. You don't, the flesh is going
to lust for the things that the flesh lusts for. And when you
give into that, I know from personal experience, it just distresses
the soul. It doesn't do anything good. It's like that, that bark,
like you're just eating bark. It may fill your belly for a
time and satisfy that pain and hunger, but it gives you no nutrition.
There's nothing lasting in it. It's not of any benefit or value
to us. So trust the Lord that He knows
what He's doing when He's teaching you and delivering you from that
sin. He's gonna take us through ways
that we would learn and know and understand that He's our
all. He is precious. He laid down
His life for us, shed His blood to save us from sin. So, don't
be so free and easy with sin, saying, oh well, it doesn't matter.
I've thought those thoughts and the Lord dealt with me. The Lord
showed me that. No, it's not. You don't just
sin and say, oh well, the Lord forgave me. It's not. We are
forgiven. You're not going to die. If you're
the Lord, you're not going to die. Don't do that because it's
not profitable to yourself or to the brethren. Trust him. He
saved us from that. We're not enemies. Alright, now
I'm just rambling. So let's close in prayer and
we'll be dismissed for a few minutes. Our gracious Lord, we
thank you, Father. Lord, for your mercy. We thank
you for your grace in saving us from our sins and cleansing
us from all sin. Lord, take these words, not my
words, but lay your truth and the Spirit to the hearts of your
people. Lord, help us to see that there's no profit in sin.
It's just wars against our soul. It distresses us and takes our
hearts and minds off of that which is joyful and pleasing
and rejoicing. Everything that's rejoicing and
glorious about you, Lord, it takes our eyes off of that. Father,
please, for those of us who are struggling with sin and guilt
and condemnation, Lord, I ask that you would send your spirit
of peace into our hearts. that your son would come and
heal us, and comfort us, and succor us, and restore us again
in the peace and the joy of our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen.