to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2, and we'll begin in verse 20,
but I wanted to, as I was studying this chapter, or this book, I
came across this that was written by John Calvin in his commentaries. And he gives us in this introduction
a context for this first book of Peter. And he says, the design
of Peter in this epistle is to exhort the faithful to the denial
of the world and the contempt of it, so that being freed from
the carnal affections and all earthly hindrances, they might
with their whole soul aspire after the celestial kingdom of
Christ. Hence, at the very beginning
he proclaims in express words the grace of God made known to
us in Christ, and at the same time he adds that it is received
by faith and possessed by hope Listen, so that the godly might
raise up their minds and hearts above the world. Is that not
what we desire when we come and worship God? I pray it is my
desire, I pray it is your desire that we might exalt our hearts
and our minds above this world. Is it not true we spend too much
time thinking about the things of this world? How much time
do we spend thinking about worldly things and we spend so little
time thinking about where we're spending eternity? Consider the
glory that shall be revealed when Jesus Christ comes back.
And I'll tell you, if we consider these things, Our hearts and
minds would be exalted, lifted up above this world's affections. And then we would be able to
better deal with our troubles and tribulations in this world. And so the apostle is encouraging
these faithful believers, he's encouraging these believers that
are scattered. And I have you know this, that
this book was written in a time of great tribulation. Some believe
it was written about A.D. 65. And if you remember, A.D. 64 was when Nero burned Rome. And he did that for to raise
up monuments in his own name, but the Romans found out that
he had done it, and he needed a scapegoat, and what did he
do? He chose Christians to be the scapegoat, and they were
hunted down. They were hunted. I read of many
that were thrown to the lions, many that were put in leather
sacks and thrown into the sea to drown, and many Nero doused
with tar and set them on fire so as to light his garden parties."
Now I'll tell you, do we think we have trouble? Do we think
we have trouble in this generation? We have some troubles. But I'll
tell you, when this book was written, the Christians were
being hunted, and what he was doing was to encourage them,
to strengthen them, to set their minds and affections not on the
things of the world, but on the things of God, the things that
glorify God in this present life. Peter is teaching in this chapter,
chapter 2, concerning our attitude toward suffering. Look what he
says to servants in verse 18. He says, servants or slaves,
be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the harsh, to the froward. For this is acceptable,
this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
grief suffering wrongfully. You see, the apostle is not condoning
slavery. But what he is saying, this was
a reality in the world in which the believer lived. And he said,
when you have a master, you should obey him whether he is harsh
or gentle. That should make no difference.
But rather, as being a believer, you should glorify God by your
obedience. by your obedience. You should
have an attitude that this is not just for the master, but
this is for the glory of God. And so, believers in Christ,
remember that while we are suffering in this world, remember this
was the promise of our Lord and the experience of our Lord. Remember our Lord, our Master. If we are believers in Christ,
we are His disciples. And if we are His disciples,
we are followers of Christ. And what did Christ, our Master,
tell us? In this world you shall have
tribulation. This world will hate you. This is a promise to you. This
world will hate you. They persecuted me, your Lord. How then will you expect to escape
persecution? You shouldn't. Isn't that what
we're always trying to do? Look for a way out? Trying to
find a way out? Christ said there's not a way
out of this. You're going to suffer persecution in this world.
They did it to me, they'll do it to you. They did it to me,
they'll do it to you. Our Lord experienced suffering. And He not only experienced suffering,
but He experienced it unjustly. Unjustly. Our Lord received evil wrongfully. He was wrongfully entreated.
And yet, how did your Master endure it? Patiently. That's how. Our Master
endured suffering patiently. How then do you suppose we should
endure suffering? Patiently. Patiently. He endured
suffering. He was worthy of all praise,
was He not? He was worthy of all praise of
angels and of men. He was the best man. He obeyed
the law of God and the law of man. He was perfect in every
way, and yet he suffered wrongfully. He was wrongfully accused of
evil. And yet, how did he bear it?
Silently. How should we bear it? Silent. As a lamb before his shearers
is dumb, so our Lord open not his mouth. If anyone had a right
to open his mouth, it was our master. Even so, believer, we
should suffer patiently, even as we are called. Look to your
text. You don't see this? Let's look at verse 21. He said, For what glory is it,
if when you are buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? Oh, we think real good of ourselves
when we're at fault, we're wrong, and somebody gets on us, and
we bear it patiently. Oh, we think, oh, what a badger.
See what good I'm doing, I'm bearing this. No! You deserve
that. Whatever it is you did wrong,
you deserve the punishment. That's not thank-worthy. He said, but if when you do well
you suffer for it. You take it patiently. Listen,
this is acceptable with God. This is acceptable. For even
here unto You, were you called? Do you know that believer in
Christ that you were called to suffering? You were called to
it. I remember talking to Brother
JD The night that I believe the Lord first, he heard the gospel. I don't know if at that time
the Lord saved him or not. I just know this, he had heard
something and he was excited. He was excited. I didn't hear,
never heard this before. Never heard of the grace of God.
And I remember telling him, get ready. If you believe this, you
will suffer. And I had no idea how hard his
suffering would be. It's been hard. But I'll tell
you, it's been that way for all of us. The Lord promised when
we were believers that we were called to suffer. But what is the response of our
flesh? When you suffer, what is the response? When you suffer
wrongfully. Now I'm not even talking about
when you suffer and you deserve it. I'm talking about when you
suffer wrongfully for doing well. What is the immediate reaction
of our flesh? Is it not to resist? That's the
immediate reaction of the flesh. Is to resist. When we're under wrongful condemnation,
our flesh desires to fight. And not only fight, but avenge
ourselves. I'm going to get even with that
guy. How dare he? How dare he? But yet, what does
the Apostle Paul say concerning this? Over in Romans 12, he says
this, Romans 12 and verse 19, it says this, Dearly beloved,
listen, avenge not yourselves. Listen, but rather give place,
and I looked up that word place, what that means is like a scabber,
like you would put a sword away. He said, give place, put away
your anger, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay.
What are we doing when we try to avenge ourselves, believer?
We are taking what rightfully belongs to God, vengeance. Vengeance is not ours. It belongs only to God. Therefore, when we are wrongfully
entreated, believer, how are we to suffer this? We are to
suffer this by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the apostle says in our text. He says, even here unto
you were called, verse 21, because Christ also suffered for us,
listen, leaving us an example. that we should follow in his,
we should follow his steps. In another place it says, be
ye followers of God as dear children. What does that mean? Imitators,
imitators of God. We should be imitators of Christ. That's how the believers should
deal with trouble. We should be imitators of our
Lord Jesus Christ, following His example. He left us an example. And as He committed, listen,
as He committed all things to God in providence, should we
not also commit all things to the judgment of God in providence?
When the Lord Jesus Christ was hungry for bread, 40 days he
had been without bread. He could have easily made the
stones bread when Satan tempted him. He said, if you be the Son
of God, make these stones into bread. He could have easily done
that. Why did he not do that? Because
he was subject to the will of God. If God wanted that, he would
have told him or he would have made it bread. but he received
no word from God and that stone was still a stone. So what did
he do? He continued to suffer patiently.
Even so should we suffer patiently as our Lord declared. So then, as you suffer, believer
in Christ, how then are we to suffer? What attitude or what
is the motive for our suffering? Listen to this first thing. God does all things well. When you suffer, keep this in
mind, God does all things well. To exercise the grace that is
given to us, both in well-doing and patient suffering, which
we are called to, we should recognize that God does all things well
for us. In Genesis 18, it says, Shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? You bet he will. The judge of all the earth will
do right. God will do right because God is right. God will do good
because God is good. He will do right because He is
light and in Him is no darkness at all. In other words, everything
that God does in time and eternity is perfect. You have any regrets? I tell you, God has none. He
has no regrets. God does all things right. In God there is no variableness
nor shadow of turning. All He has purposed to do and
all that He is doing, all that He promised to do, all that He
decreed to do, we know that is exactly what will be done. So
what is being done? Exactly what God determined to
be done. And in the eyes of the saints,
this should be marvelous. This should be marvelous in our
eyes that God has determined all things. This should help
us in the exercise of patient suffering to know that God does
all things well. First of all, the God that does
all things well, behold our sovereign God and wonder at His power and
will. He says in Isaiah 46, He said,
I'm God and there beside me there's no other God. I'm it. I'm God. Declaring the end at the beginning. And from ancient time the things
that were not yet done saying, all my counsel shall stand and
I will do all my pleasure. Over in Ephesians chapter 1,
we should consider that our salvation in Christ is according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His
will. Your salvation is not according to anything that happens in time.
Your salvation is according to the purpose of Him, of God, who
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Every
sinner who has heard and believed the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ should be confident that God, who does all His will,
has eternally decreed and promised to do you nothing but good. When evil comes upon you, do
you believe that? When trouble comes your way,
do you believe that God does all things for your good. I tell
you the flesh immediately does it. And so then let us consider that
God who spared not His own Son. Consider the greatness of your
Savior. Consider that God spared Him
not, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with
Him freely give us all things? In Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse
11, God says, I know my thoughts for you, thoughts of peace and
not of evil. God says, I know my thoughts
for you. In Genesis 32 and verse 12, God tells Jacob, Jacob, whom
God loved from before the foundation of the world, also received the
promise of God that He would surely and absolutely, without
doubt, He said, I will do you good through the seed. Through the seed of promise.
which is Christ. Do you not see then, believer,
in your trouble? You should look up. You should
keep your head looking to glory in this matter of God's goodness
and what He's done for you. It is from Christ that all the blessings
of God flow to His saints. This is the decree of God who
cannot change, that He has determined to do you good. Behold the promises
of our sovereign God to do us good. Go over to Jeremiah chapter
32. Look at these promises. When you are in trouble, I encourage
you to take out these promises. Spend time going over them and
meditating on them. These are God's promises to you
that His purpose, whose will cannot be changed. Jeremiah 32
and verse 37. Now I want you to notice how
many times the word I or I will are in these verses. Behold,
this is God speaking, I will gather them from out of all the
countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my
fury, and in great wrath. I will bring them again to this
place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. And they shall
be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one
heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, and for
the good of them and of their children after them. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. Did you hear what God said? God
is happy to do you good. It is God's heart to do you good. And he said, I will plant them
in the land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole
soul. That's what God says about you.
He says, I'm determined to do you good. He said, I'll gather
you, I'll save you, I'll give you a new heart. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you. I'll be your God and you will
be my people. This is God's good promises to
us. Go over to Zephaniah chapter 3. Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 14. The scripture says, unto God's
people sing, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O Israel, and be glad
and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. This
is why. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Did you just read that? I read
that. Did you read it? Thou shalt not see evil anymore. What is God saying to His people?
He's saying that whatever has happened is not evil. That thing
that you and I are suffering is not meant of God for our evil. It is meant for our good. Thou
shalt not see evil anymore. You see, the good of our salvation
was purposed, accomplished, and applied, and it is kept by God. Remember Jonah, when he said salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. The
good purpose of our Father was that He chose us in eternity.
And He said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Remember that our Savior had
accomplished our good. God the Father purposed our good
by choosing us unto salvation. But our Savior, our Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom we are to follow, He actually accomplished our
salvation. He accomplished our salvation.
The Son purposed our good in submitting Himself to be our
surety, and at the appointed time came down from heaven and
condescended to men of lowest state, and being born as the
lowest man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. even even the death
of the cross in 2nd Corinthians 8 the Apostle says for you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for
your sakes he became poor For what reason would he who
is rich become poor? Rich in glory, rich in righteousness,
rich in praise. He condescended to become a man
to suffer for what purpose? That you through his poverty
might be made rich. Behold the grace of your Master.
Look what the Apostle says in our text. The Lord Jesus Christ
leaving us an example to follow in 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 bear our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we Being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose
stripes we are healed. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and suffered greatly in the flesh so as to provide
righteousness for you. He humbled himself. He suffered
and said not a word. when He obeyed the law of God
for you. Jesus who knew no sin and the
spotless Lamb of God, He humbled Himself not only to be our righteousness,
but to bear our sins. He who knew no sin, God made
Him sin for us. And what did He say about that? He said nothing. He endured it,
despising the shame. He bare our sins in His own body. He willingly yielded Himself
to the Father, despising the guilt of our sins that was charged
to His death. Yet He endured untold agony and
sorrow under the vengeance of God without mercy. Now take your suffering and put it next to his. It's no comparison. It's no comparison. Jesus was
wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity,
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes
we are healed. At the cross of Christ The good
of His sheep, the good of every elect sinner was accomplished.
Redemption, atonement, reconciliation, peace with God was made with
our Lord Jesus Christ on that cross 2,000 years ago. He made
that peace for us. Is that not good? I tell you,
to the sinner who knows Christ, it is good. It is good. Even so was all our good accomplished
by the Son of God in His death and righteousness. And after
Jesus accomplished that, what happened? He rose again for our
justification. In other words, by His rising
from the dead, He showed us that sin was gone. Sin was gone. Death could no longer hold Him. God raised Him from the dead
and justified Him, declared Him to be without sin. to be free
from all sin, forever putting it away. Even so, believer, we
are justified before God in our union with Him. And now, all
of this goodness, consider all the goodness that God has purposed
for you, that God promised you, that Christ accomplished for
you, consider this, He's now applied it. Isn't that good news? That He's applied it! The Spirit
of God has and will apply all the good the Father purposed
and all the good the Son accomplished to every one of His children. This should give us great joy.
This should give us great encouragement that not one of God's elect will
be lost. Not one. Everyone. Andrew and I were reading in
Revelation, I think it was last night, but we were reading and
he said, I didn't understand the 24 elders. What is that? And I said, look, it's not real
chairs. They're not real chairs there
for just 24 people. This is a picture for us. Notice that there are 24 seats
and 24 people. That tells us that not one is
going to be missing. And there's not going to be one
extra without a chair. Everyone that God purposed to
save and Christ saved, He will save. He will save. And this
24, we saw this, that there were 12 patriarchs, and then there
were 12 apostles. You see, the New Testament saints,
all of those in the Old Testament, and all of those in the New Testament,
they all will be saved. You see, not one is going to
miss. You see, the apostle says in our text in verse 25, for
you were sheep going astray. That's true. That's true. Remember, believer, that we were
at one time lost. We were at one time without God
in this world. Remember who Peter is speaking
to. He is speaking to the elect. And I'll tell you, only the elect,
only those who are made aware of their sin understand the need
of Christ. We need Christ, don't we? We
need Him. He's speaking to the elect, to
those who are sanctified by the Spirit of God unto the sprinkling
of blood of the blood of Jesus Christ. Unto you He is speaking,
believer. This God of grace is not to everyone,
is it? He's not a God of grace to everyone, but He is a God of grace to everyone
that believeth. to everyone that believeth. We
do believe in whosoever will. I believe that all of God's elect
are the whosoever will. We just don't believe in whosoever
won't. We don't believe God chose whosoever won't. We believe God
chose whosoever will. We do. There is no salvation
apart from sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth by the preaching of the gospel. Well, this is God's chosen means
to apply the blood of Christ. Faith in Christ is the evidence
of grace and is never the cause of grace. How many are so deceived
today as to believe that faith is the cause of grace? Oh, we
don't hold that at all. Faith is never the cause of grace.
It is the result of grace. It is the effect of grace. Faith
in Christ. To believe on Christ is necessary
for salvation. It is necessary that faith come
by the grace of God. so that our salvation might be
sure." That's what the Apostle said in Romans chapter 4, isn't
it? He said, it is of faith. Let
me read it so I don't misquote it. Romans chapter 4 and verse
16, therefore, it is of faith that by grace. What's by grace? Faith. Faith's by grace. Faith
is by grace to the end, to this purpose, that the promise might
be sure to all the seed. You see, it's by faith, and that
by grace, so that it's sure. Salvation is sure to all the
seed. Therefore, believer, because
our salvation is by grace and it is sure, God then gets all
the glory. Is that not right? God gets all
the glory. There's no boasting in us. There's
no causing us that he should give us this grace and love. That God should cause us who
were by nature haters of God to love him. Is that not good? Is that not been good that God
has caused us to love Him? Who were haters, rebels, now
we're sons. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we, that we should be called
the sons of God. It's as though John was saying,
you gotta be kidding me. That we Should be called the sons
behold what manner of love the father's bestowed upon us now
if any man Perish listen to me. It will be because of his sin
it will be because of his sin and None will be able to blame
God in that day So listen simply to the gospel he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be
damned Now, who here doesn't understand
those words? They're very plain, aren't they? This to us who by grace believe
is a precious gospel. Is this not a precious gospel? The Father purposed your good,
the Son accomplished your good, the Spirit applied that goodness
to your heart in regeneration of your soul and gave you faith
to believe. Is it not then reasonable for
us to live in obedience to God? Isn't that what the Apostle said
in Romans 12? I beseech you by the mercies of, because of the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Not a sacrifice for sin. That's
already been accomplished. A sacrifice unto God, holy and
acceptable. You see, everything that we do
in obedience to God is not for salvation, but rather because
of salvation. Our obedience to God is because
of salvation. This is what Peter is trying
to tell us. And by doing this in obedience, we are lifting
our eyes off of the world and looking to Christ. Our obedience to God is not the
cause of our salvation, but rather because of it. True faith, friends,
is not just turning over a new leaf or jailhouse conversion.
That only lasts for a little while and pretty soon those who
do so turn back to their vomit. But our Lord tells us this about
true believers. He said, they will yield fruit. He said, They that receive the
seed on good ground, he that heareth the word and understandeth
it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundred,
some sixty, and some thirty. But listen to me, all of them
bear fruit. All of them bear fruit. True
believers will bear fruit because we have a new nature. We have a new heart. The apostle says that we are a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become,
what, new. I have a new agenda. When Christ
saved me, I had a new life, new purpose. It's very simple. Believe Christ. Love Christ. and hope in Christ. You see,
everything of my life rests in Christ. I desire with all my heart to
serve God, to serve God. Back in our text, the apostle
gives us a couple of illustrations. Here he's talking about, he tells
the servants, and we've read that just before. You know, we
don't have slavery, but I tell you this, we have employers,
don't we? We've got people that you work for. Well, you should be the best
employee possible. Why? For your employers? No.
For God's glory. For God's glory. Christians should
be the most dependable people. We should be the most dependable
people. Not for the glory of man, but
for God. Wives, submit yourself to your
husband. Be in subjection to your husbands.
I'll tell you what, this flies in the face of modern view of
wives, doesn't it? It just flies in the face of
it. The apostle says that you are
wives, you that are wives, that you should be in subjection to
your own husbands, that if they obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation of their wives,
while they behold your chastened conversation coupled with fear.
whose adorning, let it not be with the outward adorning of
the plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or putting
on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, which
is not corruptible, even an ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
is in the sight of God of great price." In other words, he says, spend
more time thinking about your conversation than your beauty. Why should wives be in subjection
to their husband? Didn't you just read it? In the
sight of God, it is of great price. Is that not good enough
for a believer? That's a good enough reason. And he says, likewise, you husbands
dwell with them according to knowledge. giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of
life, that your prayers be not hindered. Husbands are likewise
to yield themselves in knowledge. In other words, I must as a husband
consider my own self. Am I not a sinner saved by grace? If any man thinketh he stand,
take heed lest he fall. I should also have knowledge
of my wife in that she is a believer too. If she's a believer in Christ,
then should I not treat her as a sister in Christ and lead her
in love and gentleness because she is the weaker vessel? I should. I tell you, when I read these
things, they stab me in the heart. Because I know this should be
my conversation. This should be my lifestyle.
That I should be like Christ and love her as Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. And I tell you, I don't want
my prayers to be hindered. Do you? If we are not living in obedience
to our master, our prayers will be hindered. Believers, we should take great
care as to not have our prayers hindered. And I'll give you five
short causes as why our prayers are hindered. lukewarmness to
the things of God. Doesn't that hinder prayer? Devotions, worship, the heart,
a heart cold and indifferent to the things of God hinders
our prayers because our affection is set on this world. Having
too much to do hinders our prayers. Isn't that right? Too much business, too much work.
Work is a gift of God, but it never should intrude on our prayers
or our worship of God. Remember Martha? You said she
come to the Lord crying because she had what? Too much to do.
Lord, I'm feeding you. Look at this. Isn't feeding the
Lord Jesus Christ a good work? Isn't that a good work? But what'd
our Lord say? Martha, you are cumbered too
much with serving. You should have rather chose
to sit at my feet instead of being too busy. Spurgeon said
this, I never heard of anyone who was cumbered about with much
praying. Have you? No. Prayer is the lifeblood of every
action and should saturate our entire life. Isn't that right? Praying is the end of preaching. Preaching that does not end in
prayer is a message that has fallen on a cold heart. Three,
doing too little hinders our prayer. Everybody's always pining,
what do I do? What do I do? Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Pray for
the believers. Lack of order hinders our prayer.
How many times do we rush into prayer and try to squeeze it
in? As though we got something better
to do than pray. I'm convicted of this. We should
have appointed times of prayer where no one can come in. No one should intrude in your
time with the Lord. And lack of understanding the
power of prayer hinders it. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth what? Much. And I tell you, prayer is a mystery.
It is a mystery. Because prayer doesn't change
God's will, God's purpose. But we know this, that it's powerful. that God hears our prayers and
answers our prayers. Therefore, believer, pray. In
the midst of all your troubles, pray. And when you don't feel like
praying, pray. Has God not done us good? Do you suffer in this world? Because of God's goodness, we
should take it patiently. We should be obedient children
that our prayers should not be hindered. May God help us to
be obedient to him, to love him, to set him above everything and
everybody. Pray that God bless us. The stand
will be dismissed in prayer.