Turn back to 1 Peter chapter 2. Walking in his steps. Walking in his
steps. It says in verse 21, leaving
us an example. Christ left us an example that
ye should follow His steps. Christ Himself is the perfect
pattern. He is the perfect pattern. How did He walk? How did He walk? We know by the Word of God that
He walked first by faith. He believed God. He believed
God perfectly. He's God. What a mystery. He's God in the flesh. And yet
he is a real man who walked by faith. That man truly walked
by faith. Yet he's God. He's God to be
believed and he's God And as a man, he believed God. And he
walked in obedience. Scripture says he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He was an obedient servant, an
obedient son. And he walked with singleness
of purpose. God's glory. He said in one place,
my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. My purpose
for being here is to do the will of Him that sent me. Should our
purpose be any less? It should be the same. This is
our Lord, our God, our Redeemer. our elder brother, and we should
walk as he walked, leaving us an example to follow in his steps. I'm going to pick up in verse
9. We left off, I think, in verse 9 or 10 last time. I want to
pick up in verse 9 and work down through these verses. Peter writing
to those scattered abroad, scattered by afflictions and persecutions.
They had to leave their homes, their jobs. Some had to leave
their families and leave because of the gospel they believed,
because they followed in His steps. And that's what it cost. It cost them their lives, their
homes, their jobs and their families. It was costly. But Peter says
here in verse 9, to those scattered abroad, and this is so encouraging
to them and to us, ye are a chosen generation. The world hates you.
The world despises you. Your old friends don't want anything
to do with you now. But God does. God chose you. God who is holy. And you who
are so sinful and so wretched, God chose you. You are a chosen
generation. You are a royal priesthood. Do
I look like a king priest standing here? Do you look like one? Well, you are. The angel said to Jacob, your
name is not Jacob no more. It's Israel. Because as a prince
has thou power with God. You realize that? I look at you. I look at Evelyn. You realize
you have power with God? Lee? Frank? As a prince, you
have power with God? I tell you what, if we realized
that, we would be in prayer more often. We would be in prayer more often.
Chosen generation. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. In this world that's made up
of nations, sinful nations, there is, in this world right now,
a holy nation. It's the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Him, she's holy. She's holy. That's what he's saying. You
are right now. You are a chosen generation now. You are a royal
priesthood now. You are a holy nation now. You
are a peculiar, a purchased people, a blood bought people. When I
sit down to study, and to put these messages together. I do think that I'm preaching
to the Lord's blood-bought people. I think of what it cost Him to
have you, and then put you under my care as an under-shepherd. Blood-bought, peculiar, purchased.
Purchased. If you're going to purchase something, normally we look at the item we are going
to purchase, and what is it we look for? To see if it's worth
what we are going to pay for it, don't we? You're not worth,
and I'm not worth what it costs to get us. You know, when I went to buy
my truck, I offered the man what I thought it was worth. And it
was a new truck. And I offered him what I thought
it was worth. And I was not going to pay any more than what I thought
it was worth. But I'm telling you, this man
is worthless to God. Now, we're worth something to
each other. I need you. You need me. We need each other's
service. But I'm telling you, to God, we add nothing to Him.
We add nothing to God. He adds everything to us. He
is our glory. He is our bragging rights. But
I was worthless. Worthless. And yet He said, you
are a purchased people. You cost something. You cost
the blood of God's Son. You cost the torture of God's
Son. You cost something. A great price. A great price. And He did this, that you should
show forth the praises or the virtues. Oh, the virtues of our God. They're
infinite, aren't they? This is our reason for existence.
Oh, that we could realize this, especially realize it while you're
young, early in life. My whole purpose for being here
on this earth is to show forth the virtues, the praises of my
God. That's my reason for being. The only reason for the existence
of John the Baptist was to stand before Israel and say, behold,
the Lamb of God. That's our reason for existence.
And we're only here for a little while. We're just here for a
little while. And oh, that God would enable
us to do it as much as possible. As much as possible. We are a
purchased people and we are here to show forth the praises of
Him who has called you out of darkness. We were in darkness. We love darkness. We love sin. We drink iniquity like water.
We didn't fight against it. We tried to figure out how in
the world we could fulfill the lust of our flesh. We did. It was the way we were. Trying to
do that. But God called us out of darkness
into His marvelous... We heard that word this morning,
didn't we? Marvelous. Marvelous light. A light into
which no man can approach, but we can now. We can approach. God Almighty, who is light, and
stand in His presence and converse with Him. The very fact that
He has us gathered together this evening, reading His Word, enlightening
us, illuminating us. Oh, I tell you, that's priceless.
That's priceless. Which in time past were not a
people. Our ancestors were pagans. Our ancestors were nothing but
pagans dancing around a fire somewhere. You go back far enough,
you'll find one somewhere dancing around a fire. Pagans. Idolatrous pagans. They were
without God and without hope in this world. That's our ancestry. But not so now. Not so now. Now we are saints and fellow
citizens with the household of God, but are now the people of
God. You remember this morning, he
said, I'll take the kingdom of God from you and give it to another
nation. We are that nation. We are that holy nation. And
we've been given the gospel. We've been given to it. It's
been given to us. which had not obtained mercy. Most of my ancestry is in hell, and yours too. Trace it back. Pagans, idol worshippers, most
of them perished. And yet God showed mercy to this
one, and this one, and this one. who had not obtained mercy, but
now have obtained mercy." You've obtained it. We have obtained
saving, sovereign mercy. We are now His people, God's
people. And now that we have obtained
mercy, and He has saved us, He's given us the gospel, let us walk
as men and women who've tasted that the Lord is gracious. Who
have tasted the mercy of God. And that's what Peter's going
to deal with here. They'll walk. You're children of God. And here's
what he's going to teach. Now walk like it. Walk like it. Walk it. Dearly beloved, I beseech you. He doesn't say,
I command you. He puts himself down on their
level. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain. Stay away from. Abstain from fleshly lust, which
war, and I tell you what, it is a war. If you don't know what
that is, you've never been born again. It is a war, which war
against the soul, trying to take man's soul back down, trying
to drag him off into hell. Now Peter calls them, dearly
beloved, to let them know that this writing, this epistle is
coming from his heart. He's writing to them as a brother
to a brother, just like you'd write to your brother. You're
writing from the heart, and he's writing from his heart. He said,
dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. He
addresses them as strangers and pilgrims. What's a pilgrim? What's a pilgrim? Wester's Dictionary
says that a pilgrim is a traveler to a sacred place. It is a wayfarer. And he says it's a wanderer. If you are a believer, God's
made you a believer. You are a pilgrim. You are one
headed to a sacred place. Heaven. A city whose builder
and maker is God. That's where you're headed. You
and I are pilgrims. We're strangers to this world.
They don't know us anymore. And we're pilgrims. This is not
home. Really, it's not home. I told
Vicki the other night, I said, I can see why now. These older
folks. I said, I can see why now they
say, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to leave this place. And I've had Henry tell me several
times before he moved down there, I wish the Lord would take me
on home. A pilgrim. This is not home. And I'm glad
it's not. It'd be a sad home. It'd be a
tough one. If this was it, for a long, long,
long, long time, it'd be tough. But this is just a journey. It's
a journey, that's what it is. And as you travel home, as you travel on your way home,
you pilgrims and you strangers, as you travel home, abstain from
fleshly lusts which war against the soul, because you're going
to run into temptations. You're going to run into these
things that's going to try you and tempt you and pull at you,
because you still have that old nature that's going to tug at
you. And he says, stay away from those
things. If you play with a snake long enough, you're going to
get bit. You're going to get bit. I saw
a program where a guy was a snake handler. Rattlesnakes. He had
one or two fingers missing. I don't remember, one or two.
Snake bit him. Lost his finger. Do it long enough. The closer you stand to the fire,
The odds are you're going to get burned. And he's saying abstain. Get away from it. Get away from
it. You're not as strong as you think
you are. You're not as strong as you think you are. And he
says abstain from these things. He knows what he's talking about.
Remember, this is the man who denied the Lord three times.
He knows what he's talking about. He knows what this warfare in
the soul is about. We still live in this flesh,
and the motions of sin still war. It wars in our souls. It wars against us. Against our
soul. To bring it down. Now there cannot
be a war without two opposing parties. You can't have that. You know, there was a time I
didn't have a war. But now I do. There's times when
I feel that warfare more intense than at other times. Boy, it
pulls you. It struggles you. It struggles
with it. In the believer, it is the flesh
and the Spirit warring against one another. Look over in Romans
chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Paul wrote
this as a believer. He says in verse 14, For we know that the law is spiritual,
that I am carnal by nature, sold under sinking. For that which
I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I."
Does it sound like a confused man? No, it sounds like a war,
a battle going on. This happens to everyone whom
God saves. This battle, this war of that
new man and that old man fighting each other. If then I do that
which I would not, I can send unto the law that is good. Now
then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. He's talking here about two totally
different natures opposing one another. Opposing one another. I know that in me, and listen
to how he clarifies this. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh. He says I'm talking about the
flesh. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me. Oh, I would that I did not sin. I would that I was more faithful. I would that I believed with
a perfect faith. I would to God that I believed
even more than I do. But how to perform that which is good,
I find not. I cannot overcome this completely.
When I think I've whipped it, really I end up with self-righteousness. Oh, but when I think I've gotten
it, well, it sneaks up on me again. That's right. Turn the
channel to the wrong place. You find out there it is again.
Pulls and tugs at you. For the good that I would, I
don't do. I do not. How many times have
you known to do something, that you ought to do something or
help somebody, and you didn't do it? But the evil which I would
not, I do. I wish I hadn't said that. I wouldn't have thought that, done
that. Now, if I do that, I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. What Paul
is doing here, he's recognizing this warfare. He's recognizing
these two natures that's in every believer. He recognizes it. And he's putting them in their
proper place. But that's what goes on. That's
what goes on. And when we give in to these
things, and from time to time we do,
too many times we do, We bring the chastening hand of God on
us, and it slows down spiritual growth. Paul said to those Corinthians,
I'm writing to you as unto babes, because I can't write to you
as men. He said, right now, you ought
to be young men. I'm paraphrasing. He said, for the time is, you've
had plenty of time to be young men, but you're babes. And why? Why is that? Sin. You keep giving in to it. You
keep giving in to it. Now, having your conversation
that is your life, your lifestyle. Realize here, he's writing to
strangers and pilgrims. And that's what we are. And he's
saying to each one of them that are scattered and are going to
these different places that they've never been before. People have
never met them. They've never met each other. And he says, when you go, as
you go, have your life, your life to honest, have it honest
among the Gentiles, the pagans, that whereas they speak against
you as evil doers, they may buy your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Conduct yourself
properly before men, so that when they slander your name because
of the gospel you preach, The gospel you believe may speak
evil of you because of the gospel that you believe. They may, by your good works,
by your conduct, which they shall see, they will glorify God in
the day of visitation. What is that day of visitation? When God visits you with trial. When God brings trials, hard
trials, your way, they're watching. They're watching. And they will
have to acknowledge, even though they don't believe your gospel,
they have to acknowledge there's something different about you. They have to acknowledge it.
They glorify God by your good works. In the day when God visits
you with trials, And they have to watch you go through those
trials. They watch you. And they've got to confess. There's
something to that. There's something to what they're
saying. There's something to what they believe. There's something
to it. And who knows? Who knows? Your conduct under trials may
win somebody. Just like Paul, he talks about
the wife. By her conversation, her lifestyle
may win her husband. That applies in every area. By
your conduct under trials, who knows what somebody may think?
I've got to go hear what this person believes. It's done something
for him. This is not the same person. And then as you travel home,
as you pilgrims travel home, Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake. You see, they were going to different
places. A lot of these were Jews. They were scattered. They ran
out of town, out of Jerusalem. So as you travel home, you pilgrims,
submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, for
His glory, whether it be to the King as Supreme, because everyone
in authority is in authority by God. God set up the authority,
didn't He? Did not God set up the rule of
authority, the chain of command? Did He not set that up? Well,
to obey the governments, to obey the laws of the land is to obey
God. He's not talking about laws that
go against His laws. He's not talking about that.
I mean, we wouldn't do that. But He's talking about laws that
are honest and for the good of the community and the people.
Follow them. Spurgeon said this, the gospel
is no doctrine of anarchy. The gospel is not a doctrine
of anarchy. It's a doctrine of peace. It promotes peace. The most peaceful
people in this town are those who believe God. And don't use your liberty as
an excuse to be disobedient to the laws
of the land where you live. Well, I don't have to obey God's
laws. I don't pay attention to yours.
Paul said, don't use that kind of liberty. That's a misuse of
liberty. That's a misuse of it. And do
this disobedience. Be obedient, listen, for the
Lord's sake. Not as men pleases, but for the
Lord's sake, for His glory. Be a good employee for His sake.
Be a good wife or husband, employer, employee for His sake. A good
citizen for His sake. We are His children. Our conduct
is a reflection on Him. It's not our children's conduct
a reflection on us, you know, the parents. It sure is. By our
conduct, we either honor Him or bring an approach on His name.
And Peter says, as strangers and pilgrims, as you're journeying
home and you go through these different places, he says, you
obey the laws of the land. You abstain from these fleshly
lusts which war against the soul. Don't you use your freedom as
a cloak. Don't use it in a wrong way.
Use it in a way that glorifies God. And what is that, he says,
and he's going to show us here? It's submission. Submission. For so is the will of God that
with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men." Not arguing, not rebellion. He said well-doing, well-doing. God the Father is well-pleased
and honored when His children walk in obedience to Him. Not to submit to the laws of
the land is nothing more than rank rebellion against God. That's
all it is. It shows an unregenerate heart.
And the way God uses to silence ignorant men, you know how it is? Our natural
way of thinking is totally opposite of God's. The way God uses to silence ignorant
men is by your submission, by your gentleness, by your kindness. By your long-suffering. That's
how He puts to silence ignorant men. The foolishness of ignorant
men. That's how He does it. By your
well-doing. By your well-doing. I tell you
what, when you're not fighting back on their terms, you're not
giving them any fuel for the fire, are you? You're not stoking
the fire. Now, I'm not talking about being
like an old shoe kicked around. He's not talking about that.
Not at all. But he's saying in these areas
of government and workplace, he said, be submissive, be obedient,
be a good servant. You're a child of God. You're
a child of the King. You represent the King. As free,
he says, not using your liberty for a cloak or an excuse of maliciousness,
but as a servant of God. All in Christ are free. They're
free. However, this freedom does not
release us from obedience to the laws of the land in which
we live. If I leave here and I go over
to Russia, I am going to obey the laws of Russia, as long as
they're not in conflict with the laws of God. I'm going to
obey them. And as you go, as you pilgrims,
as you pilgrims travel home, and that's what we're doing,
we're traveling home, Honor all men. You know, God made man in
His own image. It's marred by sin. But I tell
you what, there's still a little stamp there. There's still a
little image of it left. But it's God's creation. God
made man. Honor all men. When you do that,
you're just showing that you're not above anybody. You know,
when you don't, you say, I don't care what you think of me. Well,
the first problem with that statement is, I don't care. That's the
first problem with that statement. We should never say, I don't
care. I don't care what you think of me. That's me saying, I'm
up here, you're down here. So what you think of me doesn't
matter. If you're like this, that's the way it ought to be.
I do care. Not in the sense that it's going
to change my life and all that, but I do care because it's a
reflection on my Father. It's a reflection on Him. He
says, Honor all men, love the brotherhood. Fear God and honor
the King. Show respect to all men. Law
stands the same. I think that one of the reasons
that teaching would be so hard, and you teach and others teach,
I think one of the reasons that teaching, to me, would be so
hard in this day is that there's just no respect. The respect
that's just been lost. Not taught in the home. To respect
authority. You know, if they're not going
to respect authority, respect what you have to say. You know, if a person sitting here
has no respect for me, that person is not going to listen to me.
It doesn't matter what I have to say. They're not going to
listen to me. Love the brotherhood. Do well
to all men, especially those of the household of faith, the
Scripture teaches us. Fear God. This is the beginning
of wisdom, the Scripture says. If this is missing, if the fear
of God is missing, I can assure you this, there will be no respect
for anyone. When there is no fear of God,
there is no respect for anything that God has or has to do with
or that is made or anything. No respect. And honor the king. Respect the office he fills.
God put him there. God put him there. And servants? You household servants? Many of them were household servants.
Give obedience. Listen, not just to the good
ones. That's easy. You haven't gained
anything there. Not just to the good ones. Thank
God if you have a good one. Thank God if you have a good
master. A good employer. But also to the bad ones. The
frowards. The crooked, you be obedient
to them, you serve them too. Well, that's just so against
nature, isn't it? That's just so against nature. This is where,
I tell you what, this is where, as the old adage is, where the
rubber meets the road. This is where, this is where
faith is proven in these things. Be obedient, not only to the
good ones, but also to the bad ones. Why? Well, this is thank-worthy. It's thank-worthy. If a man for
a conscience, a clear conscience, a good conscience toward God,
endure grief, suffering wrongfully, knowing that all things are of
God. If all things are of God, and
I say I believe that, and I'm employed by this man who is a
crook, Tough person to work for. And if I believe all things are of
God, then I'm going to take it patiently. I'm going to bear
what you have to bear, do my job as unto the Lord. God is well pleased with this,
he says. God's well pleased. What glory is it if when you
be buffeted for your fault, you take it patiently? What glory
is in that? You deserve it. I don't care how patiently you
take it, you deserve it. But if when you do well, you're
doing your job, you're obedient, and you suffer for it. And these
believers, these pilgrims, they were not That's called an anarchy. They were accused of that in
that day. They were accused of being against the government.
They were not against the government. They were good citizens. But
they suffered for the gospel, they believed. They suffered
for Christ's sake. He said, and when that happens,
you take it patiently. Did not our Lord take it patiently?
Did he not do it? He said, this is pleasing to
God. For even here unto where you called, because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow
in His steps. Suffering for well-doing, suffering for the gospel sake,
is inseparable with your calling. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. Why? Because Christ our master
suffered for us and the servant is not greater than the master.
If he suffered for it, we are too. We will too. The gospel you preach and believe
will bring persecution. You count on it. It will. And
he left us a perfect example of how to walk. How to walk. He walked in obedience. When
he was reviled, he didn't revile back. He said he did no sin. He never committed one sin. Through all his sufferings, through
all those accusations, through all that beating that he took,
that torment, and that whipping, and that driving of the nails,
not one time did he lose his temper. God would have to give us grace.
Because if I was slapped one time, I'd be fighting mad. But He would have to give us
grace to bear it. But Christ never lost His temper. He never reviled. He never said,
I'll get you. You just wait. He didn't do that. You know what He said? When all
this was done, And all this suffering that he endured, Father forgive
them. They don't know what they're
doing. No deceit was ever in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered,
he didn't threaten them with vengeance. That's what it said. Scripture says he opened not
his mouth. Try that sometimes. Try that one sometimes. When
somebody wronged you, when somebody hurt you, try not opening your
mouth. He opened not his mouth. And he didn't have to try not
to do it either. There was no malice. Absence of malice. Let me finish this. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself. This is what he did. And here
is our example. This is how we handle everything. Everything. He committed himself
to him that judges righteously. Just commit ourselves to him.
He committed himself, his case, to him who judges righteously.
I'd much rather. God has to give us the grace
to do this, but I would much rather have God defend my right
than me defend it. I'd mess it up every time. I'd
end up taking away somebody else's rights trying to defend mine.
That sure is a work. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body. on the tree. As you said this
morning, he was made sin. He took an end to himself and
bear the punishment of it, bear the guilt of it, bear the filth
of it, that we being dead to sins, to the power of it, the
reigning power of it, should live unto righteousness. This
is our life, to live unto righteousness. By whose stripes? You were healed. You're healed by his stripes.
If you're his, you've been born of God. You've been healed. You
have been healed by his stripes. Look what he did for you. He
who knew no sin suffered at the hands of justice for sins that
he did not commit. And he didn't complain. Well,
that's not fair. How many times have we said that?
That's just not fair. That's not right. Really? How many times have I said that? That's just not... Well, he suffered
for sins he didn't commit and never said a word. Never said
a word. How much more ought we, who have
been washed in the blood of the Lamb, be longsuffering with one
another and with all men? How much more? For ye were... I'll close here. as sheep going
astray, but are now returning to the shepherd and bishop of
your souls. Of all people on this earth, we ought to be the
most thankful and the most gracious and the most long-suffering. We were lost, but now we are
found. Blind, but now we see. Thank God for His amazing grace
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray God help us to walk
even as He walked. This is the message to the pilgrims. This is our message to us as
we walk through this life. Okay, Mike.