So from our Bibles again to 1
Peter chapter 2, the passage Brother Dan read for us, the title of the message is Christ,
Our Savior and Our Example. Our text begins in verse 11 where
Peter writes, Dearly beloved, I beseech you, strangers and
pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Peter calls these to whom he
writes, dearly beloved. Peter loved the people of God. We do too, don't we? We love
each other. I hope you do. I love you. I
hope you all love each other. One of the reasons we look for
this conference is people come we haven't seen in a while, get
to visit with them. We love them. And Peter wanted
these people to know he loved them for this reason. People
tend to listen to instruction when it comes from someone who
loves them. If you know you're getting this
instruction for your benefit because they love you, you tend
to listen to it. And Peter's also writing not
just to those who are beloved of him, but beloved of the Lord. And all the instruction in these
verses is for believers. Now, this is Good instruction
for anyone, but I hope to show you before we end the message
tonight, how this applies to believers, those who are loved
of the Lord. And it's interesting that Peter
calls the beloved of the Lord, your strangers and pilgrims.
Not strangers to God, but you're strangers to this world. The
word stranger actually means an alien. Someone who's in one
country, but whose citizenship is in another country, a different
country. And that's believers. We're in this world, but our
citizenship's in heaven. We're not citizens of this place.
Our citizenship's in heaven. We're just pilgrims passing through
this place on our way home. And Peter warns us while we're
on this pilgrimage to abstain, to hold off, to restrain yourself
from fleshly lusts, which Peter says war against the soul. Hold
off. These desires of the flesh, all
the desires of the flesh. Now that means more than all
sorts of sin and iniquity and depravity that our flesh loves.
It does include that, but also includes self-righteousness.
This flesh loves self-righteousness. Abstain from it. Abstain from
getting gain from the things of this world at the expense
of your soul. You know, trying to gain riches
and popularity and influence in this world at the expense
of your integrity, at the expense of worship. I mean, think about
it. What do you want? Possessions
and influence and popularity from a place you're leaving anyway. What do you care? You're leaving
here. But we do, don't we? Believers still have these fleshly
lusts. We wish we didn't, but we do. Now, when the Lord saves a person,
he doesn't change that flesh. He doesn't take the sin nature
and the desire to sin and the enjoyment of sin out of his flesh. God causes a new man to be born,
a man who's righteous. But that flesh will never change.
And that's why the warfare begins, because the flesh has never changed.
Now he's got somebody to fight with. He's got that righteous
man to fight with. And that's where that warfare
begins. So Peter tells us, don't let
these fleshly desires control you. You're going to have them,
but don't let them control you. And Peter's warning, these he
loves now, about the desires of the flesh which war against
the soul. Peter knew what he's talking
about. This admonition does come from experience. Peter knew the
damage this war against your soul can cause. Remember the
night Peter tried to conform to the world? The night our Lord
was taken to be crucified? That mob took him. Peter tagged
along to see what would happen. And he got in with them. And
what did he do? The lust of the flesh. He didn't
want to be made fun of. He didn't want to be ridiculed.
He didn't want to be taken and thrown into prison and beaten
and crucified. So he tried to fit in. He talked
like them. He acted like them. He even denied
that he knew the Lord. That's the war against the soul. I bet Peter bore those scars
till the day he died, don't you reckon? And he gave us this advice
from his experience. These fleshly desires that took
Peter's joy, that took his peace, that he entered his fellowship
with the Lord, they didn't lose his salvation. You're not going
to lose your salvation. Christ died for you. You're not
going to lose your salvation. But Peter gives us this warning
so we don't suffer the effects, the scars of this war against
our soul that comes from the lust of the flesh like he did.
He goes on 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, you don't need me to tell
you what that verse means. Live an honest life in this world
before everybody. Unbeliever and believer alike.
Live an honest life. But especially before those who
don't know the Lord. I'm not going to give you a lot
of examples and things you ought to do in order to live right
and obey this passage of Scripture. You know right from wrong. You
know what's right and what's wrong. Then do the right thing. Even if you think it will cost
you. Do the right thing. That's living an honest life.
You won't be sorry for doing the right thing, ever. But you
know what? No matter what you do, those
who don't know the Lord are going to call you an evildoer. Just
make sure it's not so. Just make sure what they're saying
is not true. Either they're going to hate your God and lie about
you, lie about what you've done, lie about what you believe, or
they'll call the gospel that you believe evil. And when they
kill you, they'll think they're doing God's work. All this time
they're persecuting you, they'll think that they're doing God's
work. Our Lord warned His disciples that would happen. But if you
do the right thing, live an honest life before them, even in the
day of trial. That's what this day of visitation
is. It's the day of trial, when the Lord visits you in a time
of trial. They'll see that. And they'll
say, I see how He's acting during all this. There must be something
to what he believes. Now, I hate it. I don't believe
it, but there could be something to it because I see the way he's
acting in this day of visitation. And you know, this day of visitation,
our minds all immediately go to, you know, adversity, difficult
things, things that we'd say are bad that we don't want to
happen to us, you know. But it could be riches. It may be prosperity. You know, it could be this day
of visitation could be an abundance of blessing or could be being
brought into the valley. Oftentimes, handling plenty with
the right attitude is more difficult than handling poverty with the
right attitude. Many times it's easier or more
difficult to handle when the Lord blesses you with plenty
and abundance. It's more difficult to do that
than handle adversity. And if you do this, if they see
you be kind and generous in a time of plenty, and they see you be
patient and submissive in times of trouble, you know what you'll
see? Not you, they'll see the grace
of God in you. And that's day of visitation.
When people see, ask yourself this question, will they see
the grace of God in you? Or will they see a religious
hypocrite? Now, they're looking. Which one? Look over at Job 2. Job faced this situation. Job 2, verse 7. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to
scrape himself withal. And he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife, I mean, can you imagine? I mean, can you
imagine? Then his wife said unto him,
Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this
did not Job sin with his lips. He did retain his integrity,
didn't he? That took the grace of God. You imagine being struck
with one boil and doing what Job did, much less being covered
with them. That took the grace of God. Aaron
Simpson told me, he said, I wish I wasn't having this back surgery.
I wish I wasn't having all this pain and I wish it wasn't necessary. I just, I hate it in that way.
I wish it wasn't so, but I'm thankful for it. Because I know
what Lord's doing. He's chipping away at this flesh
and whittling me down and making me not hang on so tight to this
world. Now, that took grace to say that
and mean it. And he did. I really believe
he did. That took God's grace. Is that what the world's going
to see me and you in our day of visitation? So Peter's telling
us here now live honest in this world, and verse 13 in our text,
live in this world as a law-abiding citizen. Verse 13, Submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be
to the king or 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. Submit yourselves to the law
of the land. Matthew Henry said true religion is the best support
of civil Because true religion requires submission, both for
the Lord's sake and for conscience' sake. True religion, true worship
of God is the best support of civil government. Now, if man
makes a law that's against the law of God, we'll break it. If
they make a law that says you can't worship God, well, we'll
break that law. But as long as their laws don't
cross God's laws, submit to them. Obey them. That the policeman and the judge
and your neighbors all say this. I wish everybody was like them.
I mean, they're easy to get along with. They're not a troublemaker.
They just do. I wish everybody was like them.
That's the way of believers to live in this world. You should
be a good example of what a good citizen and a good neighbor is.
God's done something for you. You believe the gospel. You believe
Christ. Don't you say God's done something for you? Well, live
like it. That's all simply what Peter's
saying right here. You just submit yourself to the
king, the supreme. In our world, it's the president. People are governors and political
powers. You know, that can be difficult.
That is not the way of our time. The way of our time is to be
contrary and speak against and rebel against these positions
of authority. And I'm right there. I mean,
there have been presidents and governors and political rulers
I have strongly disagreed with. I disagree with their philosophy,
their everything. But we're told, submit to their
authority. When Peter was writing this epistle,
you know who was Caesar in Rome? Nero. Well, even Nixon wasn't
that bad. I mean, you know, if he could
tell these believers, now you submit to this man. Can't we
submit to the rules of our day? You know, think about it. These
people in the positions of authority, I mean, not just talking about
the present, I mean, every position of authority, teachers and policemen
and everywhere. Those people are in that position
of authority, not by accident. But by the appointment of God.
God put them there. They're not there accidentally.
God put them there. These people are the ministers
of the Lord. Ministers for earthly good, to
maintain order so this world doesn't go into chaos. They're
God's ministers to accomplish God's will in earthly matters. Now, that will may be what we
call good or may be what we call bad. I don't know. But either
way, they're God's ministers to accomplish God's will. The
exact same way pastors and elders are God's ministers. Look back
at Romans 13. We read this to open the service. I'll show you this. These people,
men, women in these positions of authority are God's ministers. In Romans 13, verse 1. Let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power
but of God. All the power that gets from
Him. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves a damnation. For rulers are not adherent to
good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Well, do that which is good, and thou shalt have
the praise of the same." That's just logical, isn't it? 4 He is the minister of God to
thee for good. Now if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he
is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must be, needs
be subject, not only for wrath, not because you're afraid to
punish it, but also for conscience sake, because this is the Lord's
will for you. Now if you look back in our text,
this is the will of God, that his people live subject to the
laws and authority of the land through which we are passing."
Verse 15 in our text, "'For so is the will of God, that with
well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.'"
Now, if you live as a good citizen, you live an honest life, you
try to do the right thing, well, then you follow the will of God.
That's God's will for His children. That ought to be all we need
to hear on the subject. That's God's will? Well, we'll follow it as
obedient children. But this is also God's will,
that you live as a good citizen, you're honest, you do the right
thing so that you will put the unbeliever to silence. This word
silence that Peter used means muzzle. Do the right thing and
you won't give them ammunition and they'll be muzzled. They
won't have anything to say about you. Now, in this verse, unbelievers
are described with two words, ignorance and foolish. Someone
who doesn't believe Christ. They're ignorant. Ignorant of
God's righteousness. They prove it because what are
they doing? They're going about to establish their own righteousness.
They're ignorant of sin, what sin really is. They're ignorant
of the spirituality of the law. They're ignorant of who God is.
They don't know that God's the Sovereign Savior. They don't
know God's not up there wringing His hands, hoping and begging
and pleading somebody will accept Him. They don't know He's the
Sovereign Savior. They're ignorant of the gospel
of grace. We looked at this last Wednesday, there's believers
and there's builders. Well, they're not believers, they're still
building. They're still trying to build their own salvation
and their own righteousness. And they're foolish. They're
trying to build an eternal house on sand without Christ as the
foundation. They're so foolish, they won't
beg God for mercy. I'm not making fun of them. I'm
not belittling them in any way. This is just a fact. You and
I were the same way before God saved us. Ignorant and foolish. Well, then let's set a good example
for them. That's what God's put you here for, to be a good example
to them. Maybe they'll see, hey, there's
something to what he believes, and they'll come hear the gospel.
Could be. Verse 16, as free. You're not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness. but as servants of God. Now,
believers are God's free men. Christ has set us free from sin,
hasn't he? He set us free from the law.
We're free from condemnation. We're free from Satan. But you're
not free to sin. That's foolish. Shall we sin
that grace may abound? God forbid. You're not free to
sin. You're not free to hurt others.
You're God's free men, but there's things you're not free to do.
Your citizenship is in heaven, you who believe. Your citizenship
is not on this earth, but now you're not free to ignore the
laws of the land. Just like an ambassador to the
United States, he abides by our laws while he's here. He's not
a citizen here, his citizenship is in another country. But while
he's here, he abides by our laws. Now you're the servant of God.
Well, that doesn't mean that you can ignore the laws of the
land and that doesn't mean you don't have to listen to your
boss down at work. You do still work for him. He's God's authority
over you. He's still your boss, even though
God's your God. So don't sneak off at work and
read your Bible. When you should be working, that's
wrong. You know, and if you do and you get caught and your boss
tells you, hey, get back to work. Don't be mad at him. He's doing
the right thing. You're the one doing the wrong
thing. He's right. Get back to work. That's what
you're being paid to do. And some will say, well, now
I'm free to read my Bible and what I'm doing, reading my Bible
is more important than what he wants me to do at work. Well,
technically that's true, but that's maliciousness. Saying
what I'm doing, reading my Bible is more important. Using that
as an excuse not to work. That's maliciousness. This word
maliciousness here is wicked. That's wickedness. That's being
a bad employee and a bad example for a believer to set. And if
you do that, what's your boss going to do when he goes home?
He's going to tell his wife, you don't believe this guy down here at
work. What is he doing? He's going to speak bad of our
Savior, bad of the gospel that we preach, because you did the
wrong thing. Read your Bible at home. You
know, you're doing something else you enjoy, watching TV,
watching a movie. Turn it off. Read your Bible. That's more important, isn't
it? Doesn't the same logic apply? Read your Bible at home and work
while you're at work. That's the best way for a believer
to serve both God and your boss. Now, verse 17, honor all men.
Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Honor
all men. Give honor to whom honor is due,
even to unbelievers. Yes, they hate God. Yes, they
don't know God, but be kind to them. Give them honor when honors
do. Every one of us who believe hated
God once too. Aren't you glad somebody's kind
to you? Well, let's be kind to others. Be kind and loving to everyone,
especially the brotherhood, especially the family of God. This is the
family of God. Families don't go around acting
up and striking out at one another. That's ugly. That's maliciousness. Don't act like that. Love your
families, your brothers and sisters. For goodness sake, love each
other. You've got the same father, got the same heart, same nature.
Love one another. And give honor to people who
are in positions of authority from the president right on down.
Even if you don't like the man, always give honor to the office,
always. Remember, he's not there by accident. And in that way, God put him
in that office, whatever that office of authority may be. Did
God put him there? Well, then he's the Lord's anointing.
Don't speak against him. Don't put your hand against him.
Verse 18, servants, be subject to your masters with all fear,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. Just
do a good job at work. It doesn't matter if you have
a good boss or a bad boss, do a good job. Now I've had both. I've had good bosses and I've
had bad bosses. But no matter what, work under the Lord. It doesn't
matter what kind of boss you have. Work under the Lord. Settles
the whole issue, doesn't it? Just work under the Lord. Do
a good job. But what glory is it if when
you be buffeted for your faults, you should take it patiently?
But if when you do well and you suffer for it and you still take
it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Now, these words, thankworthy
and acceptable, they're both the same word, translated different,
but they're both the same word. And they mean what is due of
grace, the fruit of grace. And the fruit of grace is patience
and long suffering. Now, if you suffer wrongfully
because you're doing the right thing, you're following your
conscience toward God and you endure patiently, you don't murmur
against God's providence, why'd you do that? Well, that's God's
grace, isn't it? That's not natural to the flesh.
That's due to the grace of God in us. And if we ever suffer
patiently in any way for the Lord's sake, it's God's grace,
isn't it? All those martyrs, Fox's Book
of Martyrs, How do those people do all that? The grace of God. It's the grace of God that made
them not turn back, not recant. But now, this is a horse of another
color if you end up suffering at the hand of the law because
you broke the law of the land. You can't blame that for following
the Lord. That's not the result of you
following the Lord. That's your doing. Like I said, I'm not going to
give you a big list of things that you're supposed to do to obey
this portion of Scripture. I could never give you a complete
list anyway. I'd leave something that was
very important out and I would include things that are just
my pet peeves and not in God's Word. But I will give you the
greatest motivation a believer can ever have to live an honest
life before men. Remember, here's talking to believers,
those who are beloved of the Lord, those who are beloved of
other believers, they're believers, they're dearly beloved. To the
child of God, the greatest motivation that you can ever have to live
a holy life is salvation by grace. It's not the law. It's not me
up here giving you a list of regulations that you have to
follow, you know, in order to know. That's what Joe Terrell
said Sunday. But you got us. You know, well,
you're saved by grace, but you got to do this. But you got no,
no, but you got us. No regulations. Well, if you
don't do this, you'll be sorry. No, this is the believer's motivation. Follow the example of Christ
out of a loving heart, out of a heart that's thankful. Follow
the example of Christ because you desire to be like Christ
more than anything. That's the believer's desire.
I want to be holy. I want to be righteous. I want
to awake in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our
chief desire. Now, first and foremost, Christ
is our Savior. Christ is our example. Don't
get that backwards. Don't say, well, he's our example,
and then you learn he's our Savior. No. First and foremost, Christ
is our Savior. Then second, he's our example.
See this in 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. Now, believers are called to
suffer for the Lord's sake. and were also called to follow
the example of our Lord. Well, did the Lord Jesus do all
these things we've been reading? Well, certainly He did. Verse
22, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Now,
first, I never get tired of reading verses like this. Reading these
verses that set forth the sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I never get tired of that. because He's my righteousness. His perfect righteousness is
my righteousness. It's mine because He gave it
to me. I didn't produce any of it. It's
mine because He gave it to me. And this is so important, being
made righteous, because no one can be saved. No one can spend
eternity in glory in the presence of God unless you are made as
righteous, God Himself. It's an absolute necessity. And
in Christ my Savior, I am as righteous as God's own Son. That
His righteousness is my righteousness. He's my Savior. But second, Christ
is also our example. He's our Redeemer and He's our
example. And He perfectly did everything
Peter lists here in this chapter. Didn't our Lord Jesus abstain
from fleshly lusts? He never committed a sin, a thought,
word or deed. When it might have benefited
his flesh, he never did it. Never sinned. His conversation,
his life was honest among the Gentiles and the Jews too. They
spoke against him as an evildoer, but it wasn't so. Even Pilate,
the foolish, ignorant man Pilate, he saw through that. He said,
I find no fault in this man. They had to go out and find witnesses
who lie because they couldn't condemn him for anything he actually
did. He lived an honest life. And
our Lord Jesus, the King of kings, submitted himself to civil authority
in his creation. He kept all the Jewish law and
all the Roman law too. He even paid taxes. He said,
render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar. He got a coin
out of fish's mouth and said, Peter, go pay the taxes. Honest
life. If anyone was ever free, the
Lord Jesus Christ was free. Yet He came as a servant of God
and the servant of men. And did He fear? Did He reverence
His Father? He honored all men. Now, He called
them out for their sin. He pointed out their self-righteousness,
but He didn't belittle them. He honored the kings of the earth
and the king of heaven. And Christ our Savior loved the
brotherhood. He loved his people so much,
he gave his life, a ransom for their sins. That isn't love,
the ocean's dry. There's no clouds in the sky
and the sparrow can't fly. He loved the brotherhood. Just dwell on the love of Christ
for his people. He loves his people with an eternal,
everlasting love. Well, now, if Christ is my example,
if the love of God and the grace of God is my motivation, I don't
need anybody to give me a big list of things I'm supposed to
do. I'll know. I'll just know because I've got
a nature. Is it holy? Do it. Is it fleshly? Don't do it. Is it honest? Is it submissive? Is it loving?
Then do it. Just follow the example of Christ. Look here at verse 23. Who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Now Peter knew about the lust of the flesh that wore against
the soul. And Peter also knew about the sacrifice of Christ.
Peter knew this sacrifice is the only hope that he had for
atonement of his sin. The word reviled he uses here
means to heap abuse upon. Isn't that what happened to our
Lord? They didn't just abuse him. They
heaped abuse upon him. What did he do when they did
that? He didn't turn around and abuse his abusers. kept his mouth
shut. Even though he had the power
to destroy them, he didn't do it. Instead, what did he do? He prayed they would be forgiven. Now, I don't know almost anything
about that, but I know this. Whoever our Lord prayed would
be forgiven, they're forgiven. Would you have done that? Prayed
that those people who Did all those horrible things you'd be
forgiven? Our Lord did. And He gave us in His Word an
example. He saved that thief who just
a little while ago had been railing on him. Heaping abuse upon him.
Oh, the patience of our Savior. And the love our Savior has for
sinners. And when our Lord suffered under
the hand of man, He didn't threaten him. He didn't threaten him with
hell's fire. He committed His case to the Father. He said,
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Now, why did the Lord
suffer all that and never one time open his mouth? Why did
he one time ever defend himself? Ever? Because he was guilty as
charged. He was made to be guilty of every
accusation they threw against him. But verse 24 is what it
says, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. Our Savior became guilty of the
sin of his people, not like he was guilty, like he was guilty. He became guilty. Those sins
became his. So when they accused him of blasphemy,
it was true. Because you and I are guilty
of blasphemy. When they accused him of sedition,
it was true. Because you and I are guilty
of sedition against God's throne and sometimes from time to time
against the king too, aren't we? The rulers of this earth.
Christ bore our sins in his own body. The Father made the Son
to be guilty. of all the sin of all of his
people. He was guilty of our original
sin in Adam. He was guilty of our sins of
act, our sins of thought, our sins of motive. He was guilty
of every one of our sins which were against him. He became guilty
of all of them. And he bore that sin away. He bore it in his body and bore
it away to a land uninhabited just like the scapegoat of old.
Christ bore the guilt of sin so His people would be made not
guilty. Christ bore the filth of sin so He could cleanse His
people from all their sin. Christ bore the iniquity of our
sin so He would make His people holy. Christ bore the shame of
sin so His people would be covered in His righteousness and never
be ashamed. for all the punishment of that
sin. He suffered all the consequences of that sin that was in his body
because the sin was his. It wasn't like it was his. It
was his and he must suffer for it. Justice demands it. And he
suffered hell for his people. Now, I don't know if hell is
full of fire or not. Maybe that's figurative. Maybe
it's literal. I really don't know. But I do
know this. The worst suffering of hell is
not eternally burning in a flame. I remember being a boy and hearing
about the fires of hell and just, I mean, it terrified me. Just as the most terrifying thing
you can think of being burned up and never burning. It's just. That's nothing compared to the
real suffering of hell. The real suffering of hell is
the absence of the presence of God, the absence of his mercy,
the absence of his love. Hell is wherever God's not. And
Christ suffered. being separated from his father.
He is separated from the love of his father, separated from
union with his father, so that his people would be eternally
with the father and never suffer separation from the father. And
then Christ died. Because when sin is finished,
it bringeth forth death. He died for those sins that were
laid on him because they were his and he must die. Christ tasted
death. for every son. Christ took the
stinger of death. So that sting will never touch
his people. No one for whom Christ died will
ever die. Ever. He died as our substitute,
didn't he? He died the death we deserve.
Well, then we'll never die. We'll sleep, but we'll never
die because Christ died for us as our substitute. Now that's
the Savior's work of salvation for his people. Does that thrill
your soul? I'm telling you, that thrills
me. That's salvation in Christ. I
mean, it just thrills me. That is the greatest news a human
being can ever hear. I'll give you, summing everything
up here, three ways the gospel affects God's elect. First, this
is the gospel. that comforts God's people. When your sin depresses you,
it fills you full of anxiety, you think, oh, the Lord couldn't
have saved me. I wouldn't have done that. I
wouldn't have thought that. When your sin fills you with
anxiety, quit looking at yourself and look to Christ. Look to Him
who already bore your sin in His own body on the tree. I love
the way Peter says his own body. It's not just like it was some
random person's body. This was personal to our Lord.
He bore the sin of those dearly beloved in his own body on the
tree, and he put it away through the sacrifice of himself. He
did that for you who believe. And when you quit looking at
yourself and look at Christ, well, there's no more anxiety
over sin, is there? When you look at Christ, when
you look at yourself, all you see is sin. But when you look
at Christ, you say, what sin? It's gone under the blood. All my sin sicknesses have been
healed by His stripes. Well, then I won't be full of
fear and anxiety over sin, will I? This is the gospel that comforts
the hearts of God's people. Second, this is the gospel that
guides the believers' walk through our pilgrimage. Our Lord suffered
justice at the hand of the Father, because those sins became His
and He suffered justice at the hand of His Father, so His people
would never face justice for our sin. But our Lord suffered
unjustly at the hands of men, didn't He? He didn't do one thing
to deserve the treatment they gave Him, not one. But didn't
He endure that grief, suffering wrongfully? He endured it patiently,
didn't He? When he was buffeted, he never
struck back. He said, I gave my back to the
smiters. I gave my cheeks to them that
would pluck off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. He suffered patiently for his
people. Now, when I consider how Christ
suffered for me. Could I bear a little heartache
for the sake of the gospel through this walk? Could I? When I consider
how Christ suffered for me, could I suffer patiently just a little
bit for the cause and the name and the glory of our Redeemer?
Could I bear the reproaches of the gospel patiently like Christ
bore the reproach of my sin? Could I learn to pray for my
enemies like our Lord prayed for His enemies? Father, forgive
them. Could I show kindness to my enemies like our Lord showed
kindness to people? Like He showed kindness to me. Can I submit to earthly authority? Like my Savior submitted to authority. He submitted to His Father's
will. He even submitted to civil will, even when it was wrong.
Now, we won't do this perfectly, of course. But a believer is
going to have the desire. If you're a believer, this appeals
to you because you love the Lord. You love the Savior. And best
as you know how, you'll follow Him. Because Christ died for
me. And because he died for me, I
live under righteousness. Because Christ died for me, I'm
dead to sin. Now, I'll show you why I say
that. Christ died for the sin of his
people, didn't he? When he died, I died in him. If you believe Christ, when he
died, you died in him. When Christ arose from the tomb,
why did he arise? Because he was free from sin.
All that sin was paid for. He was free from sin. That's
why he could if he wasn't free from sin, sin would demand he
be dead. He's free from sin. Well, then I'm free from sin,
too. If I'm in Christ, I am free from sin as he is, so are we
in this world. Well, how is he free from sin? Well, then, as you pass through
this world here below, live like you're free from sin. Live under
righteousness. Look at Romans chapter 6. Live under righteousness. If
you're dead unto sins, then live under righteousness. Romans 6
verse 10. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, just like Our Lord,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God." This is the gospel
that guides the believer's walk. through this world. And last,
this is the gospel that draws sinners to Christ. Verse 25 in
our text. For you were a sheep going astray,
but now you're returned unto the shepherd and bishops of your
soul. Why were you a sheep going astray? Because that's your nature. That's
Adam's rebellious nature. Why are you now returned unto
the shepherd and bishop of your soul? Because Christ also suffered
for us. That's the gospel that draws
God's people to Christ. All right. Well, I pray the Lord
will bless that to you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
Thee for the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. How He would
suffer for us, how he would take the sins of his people and his
own body on the tree and put them away, that we may be dead
to sins and live under righteousness. Oh, Father, how we thank Thee
for the forgiveness of sins. How we thank You for Your eternal
love. How we thank You that You called
us by Your grace, revealed Your Son to us and in us. And Father, we beg that You would
put in us the fruit of grace, that we would walk in this world
wisely, honestly, humbly, submissive to Your will, the will of the
authority that You put over us. Cause us in this life to give
a good witness the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who
suffered for us, that we might live under righteousness. Father,
we are thankful. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we give thanks. Amen.