Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. And I hope that this program,
this message, as I preach it through the scripture of the
Bible, that it'll be a blessing to you. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from
the book of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter's first epistle, chapter
two, and I'm going to begin in verse 11. And the title of the
message is Followers of Jesus Christ. followers of Jesus Christ. Now, one of the concerns that
rings throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New, is that the
people of God, true believers, the elect of God, I've mentioned
on this program several, who are the elect? They're believers.
whom God chose before the foundation of the world and gave to Christ,
put all the responsibility of their entire salvation upon Christ,
and they are those for whom Christ stood as surety. Christ was made
responsible, accountable for the debt of their sins. He willingly
did that. Put it on my account, and therefore
He came to this world and took on him the likeness of sinful
flesh, yet without sin, the word was made flesh, dwelt among us,
who is Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, and he stood as their
substitute, as the substitute of the elect, of those whom God
made him surety, and he did for them what they could not do for
themselves. He went under the law and suffered
unto death, to redeem them from their sins by His death. And
He established righteousness that is imputed, charged to them,
whereby God could justify them. And out of His death He arose
from the dead, you see. Out of His death comes spiritual
life given to them. And so He brings them into the
kingdom through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit,
gives them life, and makes them followers of Jesus Christ. Well,
what is a follower of Christ? Well, it's one who believes in
Christ. Now listen to me very carefully
here. It's one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as He has
identified and distinguished in the Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation, in the glory of His person, who He is, God in human
flesh, God-man. You see, if a person claims to
be a Christian, a follower of Christ, but who does so just
simply saying, well, I follow the moral teachings of Christ,
that's not a follower of Christ. A person who claims to follow
Christ but who denies his deity or who denies his sinless humanity,
they're not followers of the Christ of the Bible. They're
following a counterfeit. There are moral teachings. We're
going to see that in this passage. But my friend, being a follower
of Christ means following Him as our only way and hope and
assurance of salvation. He is my salvation. And He's
God in human flesh. That's the glory of His person.
But also, being a follower of Christ means trusting in Him
as the one who put away my sins and established the only righteousness
whereby God can be just to justify me. I'm a sinner. You see, the
gospel is only good news in the context of the fact that I'm
a totally depraved sinner who cannot save myself and who would
not choose Christ were it not for His sovereign power to give
me a new heart, a new mind, new ears and new eyes to hear and
see the gospel. And so it's to follow Him, seeing
His work on the cross as being my total salvation. and that
he secured it. Well, in that context, Peter,
in verse 11 here, he begins to encourage the people of God to
be obedient. Look at verse 11. He says, Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lust, which war against the soul. Now, every true believer has
a warfare within themselves. It's called the warfare of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, against the flesh. So we have the Holy
Spirit who drives us to Christ, who gives us a desire to honor
and follow Christ, but we also have remaining sin, self-righteousness,
corruption within our flesh. And it's a warfare. And it's
a continual everyday warfare. Paul describes it in Romans 7,
14 through 25. He describes it in Galatians
chapter five. It's a continual fight. You see,
a believer is not to give in to sin, he's to declare war against
sin, realizing that everything he does falls short of the perfection
of righteousness required by God in his law. And the only
way that we're gonna find that perfection is looking to Christ,
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You're
not gonna find righteousness within yourselves, and if you
do, you're just lying to yourself, or you don't know what righteousness
is. Righteousness is not just good intentions. Righteousness
is not just trying to fight sin. Righteousness is not just moral
behavior. Righteousness is the perfection
of law and justice. And the only way we find that
perfection is in Christ. That's why we live and walk by
faith. That means looking to Christ.
resting in Him, believing in Him. Now, we are to be moral
people to follow His moral teachings, but realizing that doesn't make
us righteous. Christ has already done that
by the merits of His obedience unto death. If we're believers,
if we're Christians, followers of Christ, we realize that we
stand before God, righteous, not by works or any merit in
ourselves. but by the merit of Christ's
righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to us. Now on that
basis, and from that motive, the motive of grace, love, and
gratitude, fight sin. Verse 12, he says, having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles. Be honest, he says.
Don't be liars. Don't be deceivers. Whereas they
speak evil against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of salvation.
In other words, when they accuse you, they've got no evidence. They're wrong. And what is it
about good works that glorifies God? Well, you know, over in
the book of Matthew, chapter five and verse 16, There's a
verse that a lot of people quote and misuse. That's where Christ,
in the Sermon on the Mount, over in Matthew 5 and verse 16, he
was talking about how God's people are lights in the world. He says,
according to that light, And the light is the truth, it's
the gospel. It's not our good works, but
he says in verse 16 of Matthew 5, let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Now a lot of people take a verse
like that and they say, well, that means that I'd rather see
a sermon than hear one. That's not what it means. And
let me tell you something, no one is going to be saved by looking
at your outward character and conduct, your godly life. The
Bible says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believe it. The Bible says that it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. People
have to hear the gospel. Romans 10, 17, faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. James 1, 18, you're begotten
again by the word of truth. Somebody will say, well, you're
the only Bible that some people read. Well, if you're the only
Bible they read, they're lost and they're going to stay lost.
They need to hear the gospel. So what does a verse like this
mean when it says they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven? Well, that comes through letting
your light shine. And what is that light? That
light is Christ. That light is the gospel. That's right. We're preaching
the gospel. Now, I don't want bad character
and conduct to get in the way, of people hearing it, but that's
what they need. I'll give you an example of what
I'm talking about. I had a friend one time who gave to charity quite often. He was very much a contributor
to charitable causes around the community. He had a friend of
his from another church who told him, he said, well I know you're
a Christian because you're charitable, you give all that money. And
my friend said, oh no. He said, that doesn't make me
a Christian. Only the grace of God makes me a Christian. Only
the blood and righteousness of Christ makes me a Christian.
And you need to see that. And that's what it means to let
your light shine. That they may see your good works,
but glorify who? Draw attention to who? Not you,
not to me, but to the Father in Heaven. And how are you going
to get to the Father in Heaven? Through Jesus Christ. And that's
what Peter's talking about over here in 1 Peter 2. Look at it
again. 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, not you. Glorify God in the day of visitation,
when God visits them in salvation. Now he may or may not, we don't
know. But that's our goal. In other words, we want sinners
to see Christ. Not ourselves. We're not here
on this earth. Being a follower of Christ means
not drawing attention to yourself, but living a life so as to draw
attention to the glory of God in Christ. Making people understand
that, look, if you see me do any act of charity, any act of
kindness, any act of obedience, I want you to know something.
That is not my righteousness before God. Christ is my righteousness. I'm a sinner. And if God were
to judge me right now based upon my greatest act of charity or
my greatest act of kindness, I would be damned forever. Why?
Because all my works fall short of the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ to the praise of the glory of
God's grace. And so what I'm telling you is
this, don't look to me for salvation, look to Christ. I'm just a messenger
boy. I'm just a signpost. And look
here in verse 13. He says, submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to
the king as supreme or under governors. Verse 14, as under
them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and
for the praise of them that do well. In other words, be a good
citizen, be a law-abiding citizen. As long as the laws of the land
do not deny or ignore or cross the law of God. were to be good
citizens. He says, verse 15, for so is
the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. Whereas they accuse you of being
an evildoer, they've got no proof, no evidence. It's just an empty
accusation. Verse 16, as free and not using
your liberty, that's our liberty in Christ, for a cloak of maliciousness,
an excuse to hate people and to do people wrong, but as the
servants of God, a follower of Jesus Christ. And so in verse
17, he says, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor
the king. Be a good citizen. Show respect. You know, people today don't
even know what good citizenship is, do they? We have such an
atmosphere in our country these days that many people, they don't
understand what the blessing of liberty really is and what
it means. But he says in verse 18, servants,
be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the froward. In other words, even to those
masters who are harsh. Verse 19, for this is thankworthy
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. In other words, the witness of
that kind of service is better even if you think you're suffering,
being wronged. And so you see, this is submission
to God ultimately. And so he says in verse 20, for
what glory is it if when you be buffeted, in other words,
when you be punished for your faults, you shall take it patiently,
but if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. In other words, suffering wrongfully,
even when you're obedient, enduring patiently, looking to God. In
other words, you're not depending upon this world for your salvation.
And you're not dependent upon your boss, your master, or whatever.
You're not dependent upon them for salvation. You're looking
to God. And look at verse 21. He gives Christ as the supreme
example. For even here unto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow his steps. Now Christ is the supreme example
of this. when he suffered at the hands
of wicked men, and that includes all of humanity now, he wrongfully
suffered at the hands of wicked men. Now he justly was punished
by his father for the sins of his people charged to him. But
we meant it for evil, and he suffered wrongfully. And so he
says, of Christ in verse 22. Christ who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth. There was no lies and hypocrisy
and dishonesty in his mouth. Verse 23, who when he was reviled,
he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.
God knows our hearts. God knows what's right and what's
wrong. God, vengeance belongs to him. And so he says, verse
24, and this is a beautiful verse. Look, he says, who his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead
to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.
Now, first of all, you need to understand something. He's not talking about everybody
without exception here. He's talking about those who
are true believers. He's talking about sinners saved
by grace. He's talking about those whom
God chose before the foundation of the world. Back up in verse
nine of this verse in 1 Peter 2, or this chapter. You're a
chosen generation. God chose you. If you're a believer,
a true believer now, then realize that God chose you before the
foundation of the world. Your name was written in the
Lamb's Book of Life before this world was ever created. And if
you're a believer, a true believer now, not just a false Christian
believing a false gospel and trusting a counterfeit Christ,
but if you're a true believer, you stand before God redeemed
by the blood of Christ, justified before God by His righteousness
imputed, accounted to you. That means you're forgiven of
all your sins because Christ died for those sins. It says
here in verse 24, he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ,
God in a human body. And in that body, he bore the
sins of his people on that tree called the cross. How did he
bear them? He's the sin bearer. He's the
sin offering. Well, the Bible says he was bruised
for our iniquities. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. In the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter five and verse 21, it says this, it says, for God made
him to be sin, made him sin. How was Christ made sin? Well,
it says it right here. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. The sins of God's people were
imputed to him, charged to him. In other words, he took that
sin debt on himself. It's like being in debt. And
somebody comes along and says, put that debt on my account,
I'll repay it. That's what happened. That's
Christ, the surety of his people. And what he did when he bore
those sins in his own body on the tree, he suffered, he bled,
he died in order to pay the debt, pay that penalty. And in exchange,
he gives us two things. He gives us, first of all, legally,
a righteousness that makes us acceptable unto God. And it's
his righteousness, which he worked out on the tree. His suffering
under death, it's the merit, it's called in Romans 117, the
righteousness of God. And it's the merits, the value,
the worth of what Christ as God in human flesh did on that tree. When he suffered, he bled and
he died. He drank damnation dry. He conquered
sin, conquered death, conquered Satan, conquered the grave. And
the reason that he arose again the third day is that in his
death, he fully satisfied the justice of God and brought forth
righteousness, an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. So that's
the first thing that he gave in return. He took my sins in
his body on the tree. My sins were imputed to Him.
He died and He satisfied justice. And in return, first of all,
legally, He gave me a righteousness that equals the demands of God's
law and justice. And secondly, out of that righteousness,
He gave me spiritual life to believe and to follow Him. That's
why I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I'm born again by the Spirit.
And the reason that life, see by nature I was dead in trespasses
and sins. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. By nature I had no capacity,
no ability, no desire to believe in and follow Christ. But when
God sent forth the Spirit from Christ, he gave me the resurrection
life of Christ. I was born again, I was regenerated. He gave me a new heart. He gave
me spiritual eyes and spiritual ears. I was born again. Evidence
by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and repenting of dead
works. So he says in verse 24, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin. Now, how
does that mean being dead to sin? It means we can't be condemned
for our sins. God doesn't charge our sins to
us. that we should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes
you were healed. And verse 25, for you were as
sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and
bishop of your souls. What he's saying here is that
all that Christ accomplished on Calvary legally justifies
me before God and spiritually gives me life to believe in and
to follow him. And it's called living unto righteousness. What does that mean? It means
living unto Christ. It means trusting Christ for
all salvation. It means resting in Him for all
the righteousness that God requires and that I need to be saved.
It means following Him, seeking to obey Him, knowing that that
doesn't make me righteous, that I'm accepted with God through
Jesus Christ, that I'm in Him. And how does he define it here? He says, well, we were as sheep
going astray. Isaiah said that in Isaiah 53.
All we are like sheep going his own way. That's the lost sheep. That's the elect of God who are
still lost. But when Christ, the Good Shepherd,
the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, That's what he mentions
here, unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. When he finds
his sheep, having died for them, he picks them up and brings them
into the fold. And that's what he says, you're
turned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. You're
turned to Christ. That's what following Christ
means. It's living a life of God-given faith, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He's my shepherd. I'm a sheep. He's the shepherd.
He takes care of me. He guides me. He gives me everything
that I need. And he's the bishop of my soul.
He's like the supreme pastor, the supreme elder, the elder
brother. That's what Christ is. And so
having been saved by the grace of God, Having been secured into
the fold of the shepherd and the bishop, then we are to follow
him in his word as he directs us. We're not under the law because
the law can only condemn. We've been delivered from the
law, but we're under Christ. If he's the shepherd and bishop
of my soul, that means I'm under him. It means he's my Lord and
my master. And He's given me His Spirit
to indwell me permanently. And that's what that means. The
Spirit of God will not be taken away from His people. They can't
lose salvation. He said, I'll abide in them.
He'll send the Spirit to abide in them. That's to continue in
them. And He will not let us go. Christ, once He brings His
sheep into the fold, He will not let them go. He said that
in the book of John chapter 10. When he talked about being the
good shepherd, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. He said in verse 27 of John 10,
he said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me,
followers of Christ. He said in verse 28, I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. He says in verse 29, my father
which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to
pluck them out of my father's hand. Verse 30, I and my father
are one. So to be a follower of Christ
is to be one of his sheep. who He knows, and who know Him,
and who follows Him. Again, who trust Him, who rest
in Him, and follow Him for all righteousness, for all forgiveness,
for all eternal life, for all glory. He's my all in all. And He's everything. He's, as
we said last week, He's precious. unto those who believe, because
they see that there's no other hope and no other way out of
this mess of sin but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So follow
Him. I hope you'll join us next week for another message from
God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.