Turn with me back to 1 Peter
chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, and I'm going
to read 11 through 25. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust, 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. Servants,
be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But
if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Amen. So if you remember, the
last thing we went through was the preciousness of Jesus Christ. and the preciousness of what
he has done. His blood is precious for what it has done for the
people of God. He is precious to God the Father,
and he is precious to his people. He is hated by this world, and
by that I mean those who were not one of his, but even his
people before he comes to them to reveal them to himself. We
are the children of wrath, even as others, the scripture says.
But Christ is the rock on which salvation is built, and this
rock, this foundation, is rejected of meaning. Then we get here,
and what do we see in a lot of this passage? Submission. Not something we necessarily
like to think about, or something we necessarily do all the time.
Especially as it speaks of submission here. But the fact, the truth
of the matter is, we should. We are told to do this. We are
not just told to submit to God or to the brotherhood, but to
those who have authority over us. A lot of those over us are
unbelievers. Here's a quick point, though.
The God we serve is both over us and them. So if you're not
submitting to them, then you're not submitting to God. This is
God telling this to us here. And he's the one who has put
those in these places and that for our good. We have to be around
them. But we read that God has ordained
them that they be. What is it that he's ordained
them for? To punish evildoers. For that I am thankful. but also
for the commending of those that do well. This does not mean that we will
always do this, but yet we are told to submit to them. We are
told to do what we are supposed to do when it comes to them and
the laws they make and or enforce. Obey the laws of the land. It
does not say it here, but there's only one exception to this, and
turn over to Acts 5. for that for me. Acts 5. And just to get the whole context,
I'm going to read this whole 25 to 42. Acts 5 verse 25. Then came one and told them,
saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing
in the temple and teaching the people. Then went the captain
with the officers and brought them without violence, for they
feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And
when they had brought them, they set them before the council,
and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly
command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold,
ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to
bring this man's blood upon us? Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. that God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath
given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were
cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. Then stood there
up in the council a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the
law, had a reputation among all the people, and commanded to
put the apostles forth a little space, and said unto them, Ye
men of Israel, take heed to yourself what ye intend to do as touching
these men, For before these days rose up Phidias, boasting himself
to be somebody to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined
themselves, who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were
scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas
of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people
after him. He also perished, and all, even
as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain
from these men, and let them alone. For if this counsel or
this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be
of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest happily ye be found even
to fight against God. And to him they agreed, and when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded
that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them
go. And they departed from the presence
of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in
every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. If what we are told goes against
God or his gospel, if doing that thing or not doing that thing
goes against him to do it, then we obey God rather than men,
especially as it concerns the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. But here we are told to do the
right thing, and even if we are not commended and rather condemned
of men, we are told to keep our mouth shut. There is a reason
why this is so, and that reason is we have an example to go by. Before I go into that, though,
I want to say this. Is this saying that we should
never seek justice in this world? If you would, turn with me to
Acts 16. Acts 16. Very familiar to you. Acts 16,
34-40. Acts 16, verse 34. And when he had brought them
into his house, he set meat before them. And this is the Philippian
Jailer who and asked them, you know, what must I do to be saved?
And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before
them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And
when it was day, the magistrate sent the sergeant, saying, Let
those men go. And the keeper of the prison
told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let
you go. Now, therefore, depart and go
in peace. But Paul said unto them, They
have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us
into prison. And now do they thrust us out
privately? Nay, verily, but let them come
themselves, and fetch us out. And the sergeants told these
words unto the magistrates, and they feared when they heard that
they were Romans. And they came and besought them
and brought them out and desired them to part out of the city.
And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of
Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted
them and departed." It's striking to me that when
they were first beaten and given stripes at the first, and maybe
even before that, but Paul and Silas said nothing. at least
by what we were told in Scripture, and we know why, because of God. They could have spoken up and
said they were Roman citizens right to start with, but they
kept their mouth shut. They suffered for the speaking
of the truth, doing the right thing. And this is what it's
talking about in our text. When we are about and in doing
work in the name of Jesus Christ, and men and women condemn us
for it, then we are to take it patiently, is what it says. But
then, when all is said and done, and if they have, by the law
of the land, done something to us that was unlawful, we call
them on the carpet. We do not leave it alone then.
Our text is not saying for us to be limp dishrags. And I believe
you can equate this passage to this, wise as serpents and harmless
as doves. I know another instance where
Paul used what he was accused of to cause a division among
the people that was there to get him. I think it was between
the Sadducees and the Pharisees where Paul said he was brought
to that hearing because of the rising of the dead or something
like that. It turned those two groups against
each other so that they started arguing between themselves and
caused some of them to want to let Paul go. We do not have to raise up in
retribution or vengeance, because our God is the God of vengeance.
He is in absolute sovereign control. He put those who are over us
in the place they are in. He will repay when it pleases
Him, and it will be right and just, and it will be for our
good. He will make a way, just as He
did for Paul and Silas, their way out, so to speak. It was
this, it was done to them because of what was done to them because
they were Roman citizens. So the laws of the land ultimately
worked for them by the grace of God. These men would not bother
them anymore, they just wanted them to get out of here. This
doing by them and any doing to obey, submit to those over us
is not a doing to be seen of men. If we do these things to
be seen of men, and if we are honest we have to say sometimes
we do do things to be seen of men, but if we do, we have our
reward. We do these things as it says
here in our text in verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake. We do it as it says here for
the Lord's sake. Not that we might add anything
to him, but because he deserves it. We do it because of what
he has done for us, and we'll see more about that in a little
bit. But as I've said, this is submission. But this submission
is under man as a secondary, if you will, a secondary submission. Because we are told in verse
16 this. as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God. We do this as servants, those
who are submitted to Jesus Christ. Our submission to them is a result
of our submission to Him. And that submission only comes
by and through Him. If God, the one who has been
spoken of throughout all these first two chapters of Peter,
if this God comes to you in power and reveals himself to you, you
will submit to him because you will come to know and see he
is your only hope. And as been said here before
many times, you will come to take sides with God against yourself. You will do these things in a
good conscience toward God, verse 19. For this is thank worthy,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. And if you notice here, this
includes enduring grief. But what is this conscience toward
God? We are told about baptism in
the next chapter. It says, the like figure where
into even baptism doth also now save us. Not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those who, and
this is going to kind of give an overview of what I went through
before in 1 Peter, but those who are elect of God, those who
are kept by God through faith, those who endure these trials
of faith, those who have been redeemed by his precious blood,
those born of God, and those who have been brought forth by
his gospel which speaks of the word of life. Those who come
to see that Jesus Christ is precious, precious to God and precious
to His people, those are they who in His appointed time come
to have this good conscience toward God. What does this really
mean? It simply means we take sides
with God or against ourselves. We submit to Him. We agree with
God that what He does is right. But also we see here in this
passage, we come to know, and if God permits us to bow down
to this truth, we will be more at rest, if you will, if he teaches
us this. But we see that he is in absolute
sovereign control. And if you remember what Scott
Richardson said, that's like saying water's wet three times.
God, it says, has put all those over you where they are. God
is good to us. Did he put them there for the
purpose of giving us grief? That's not what it says. It says
this in verse 14, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well.
That's why it says God sent them. They are there to take care of
those who do evil. We are told to pray that we might
live peaceable lives. God has men and women in place
controlling them as he controls all things. He may allow them
or others to cause us to suffer for doing good. That is certainly
part of the context. But this is to the glory of God. They will not get away with it.
They may get away with it with me, but they will not get away
with it with our Heavenly Father. But if we do evil and suffer
for it, what does that do but show us justice from God for
our actions? It says he put them in the place
for the punishment of evildoers. I know we often preach messages
and we say things like this, we are told to do these things,
but we do not always do them. And that's kind of the point
of being told in scripture to do things. It's obvious that
we do not do these things as we should. That is why we are
reminded in scripture to do these things. We are reminded that
the God we serve is in absolute sovereign control and we should
conduct ourselves as though we believe him. But there's something
else here that is very important about our conduct and why we
do these things. Verse 21. For even here unto
were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example that ye should follow his steps. Then Peter
goes through his example, that is, Christ's example. It is acceptable
that we do good and suffer for it, taking it patiently. We deserve
much worse. But we are once again reminded
by God of what this is all about. It is all about his only begotten
son. What does it go on to say in
verse 22? Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who did no sin. All he did was
good. And there was no doubt that everything
he did was good. What he did before men and what
he did before God, the Father, was acceptable and good. He never
sinned. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. Jesus Christ did not come into this world to trick anybody
into doing anything. He did not even try to trick
anyone to get out of doing what he had to do. He knew he was
going to be put to death, tortured by men, and forsaken of God the
Father. Yet what are we told here? When
he was reviled, he reviled not again. When men, and I'm talking
about the whole lump here, when men revile him, they deserve
to be reviled back. But Jesus Christ's purpose was
not to come here to revile men, to put them in their place and
thank God for that. He never threatened anyone even
though he did nothing wrong to them or toward God. However,
there would be one time and one thing that would cause or necessitate
that the father would forsake the son when he bare. That is, he took up something
that was not his. In taking this up, the father,
because God is just, he had to forsake the son. What was it
that Jesus Christ bare for us? Listen to this as we think about
Jesus Christ being our example of suffering, even when he did
all things right. He bare our sins. This bearing was done in his
own body. It was our sins that put him
there to suffer, even though he did all things good. That's
the point I'm trying to make this morning. He suffered for
us and because of us. Why then can we not suffer for
His namesake, even when we do the right thing? This is why
we do these things, because we are looking to Him, Joe, who
is our example, who suffered in our stead, who was forsaken
of God in our stead. There's enough reason there to
do the right thing, to do good, and that for His namesake, as
His servant, having a good conscience toward Him, knowing what He has
done. This is where we see a just God
and a Savior. This is where we see a just God
and the God who has justified by what He has done. I did not
read it, but this submission topic keeps going into the next
chapter, speaking of wives and husbands submitting to one another.
We can see where this is not an outward or verbal thing, where
we tell men and women or let them know in some overt way about
what we are doing. So read verse three of chapter
three. And this is speaking of women,
the wives submitting to their husbands, verse three. who's
adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel. It's not what you're wearing
or what you look like. And I want to add, this is not
telling women not to do these things. It's not telling women
not to plait their hair or not to wear gold or not to put on
apparel. Because if it meant these things as something they
should not do, then they could not or should not put on apparel.
But I'm sure most women are thankful that it's not saying that. No,
Peter is saying that it's not, that's not what's being said
here, and he's talking about those things, but read verse
4. That'll tell us what this is. but let it be the hidden
man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight
of God of great price. This is what God, as it says
here, it says it's this hidden man, that one who is subservient
to God, one that desires to serve him, but this is what God says
is of great price to him. By this, just maybe the disobedient
one might come to see the truth of the matter, and not by me
condemning or writing their case to do so. But by God's grace,
it is to be done in this manner spoken of here. This doesn't
just go for husbands and wives, but to any who you're under. And what I mean is this good
conversation, God may just use to bring one of his to himself. Isn't that what happened to Paul
and Silas? Don't get me wrong, it is God that does the work
to bring someone to himself, but he may use you. But he does
this by us doing the right thing, the good thing, that which pleases
him. So in conclusion, our walk in
this world matters. There will be suffering in this
world, but suffering for doing evil is not pleasant because
we deserve the suffering if we do evil. But what a blessing
it is to do the right thing, having him on our mind and those
things he has done for us. This pleases God. God is in control
of all those above you, so they will not get away with anything.
God will repay, says the Word of God. But maybe, just maybe,
God will use a situation you are in while amongst the enemy
to cause you to witness to them. It says they will see these works.
Not by you saying anything, just seeing that you are doing the
right thing. That glorifies God. But next
week we're going to look at this witness for the God of Scripture.
For this God who knew no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth, the one who bear our sins in his own body to redeem us
to God, amen. Dear Lord God, thank you once
again for allowing us to be here to hear your word, dear Lord. Thank you for having a place
where we can gather, dear Lord, and thank you for all these men
and women here, dear Lord. You've kept us for so many years,
dear Lord, and you'll keep us for as long as you determine
to keep us, dear Lord. Be with those who are out there
who are ailing, dear Lord, and comfort them. Improve their health,
dear Lord, if that be your will, or improve it ultimately and
take them on to be with you. All these things we ask in Christ's
name, amen.