Submission

Sovereign Grace Chapel, located at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. And so, 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 wanna 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.

Submission

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