Now our subject this morning
is going to be our example in suffering. Christ our example
in suffering. But as we go through these verses,
I want us to be able to see Christ our example in all things, in
all manners of walk of life. And we begin in verse 17 where
Peter says, honor all men. Now we know that scripture teaches
honor to whom honor is due. But you know, that doesn't just
mean, it's not exclusively referring to men or women who have some
rank, some level of importance. It's not just talking about rich
people or influential people. It's to honor all men. Even men
of low degree are to be honored by us. You remember earlier in
this chapter when we studied the phrase, he is precious. You know, one of the meanings
of that word precious is honor. unto you therefore which believe,
he is an honor." Christ honored you. If you're a believer, Christ
has honored you with his presence. He's honored you with his friendship. He's honored you by being your
Savior. He is an honor. And we're men
of low degree. That's our example, to honor
all men. Next, he says, love the brotherhood.
Now, we're to honor all men, but there is a special love that's
reserved for the brotherhood, for the family. And it's not
just our family here. Here we're having a conference.
We've got visitors this morning, visitors the last two days. It's
love the brotherhood, whenever we see them, wherever they're
from. We go out of our way to show our love for the brotherhood,
just as Christ went out of His way. How far did He come down
out of His way? for the people that he loved,
were to do the same thing. He's our example. Next, Peter
says, fear God. Now this, you know, is not a
slavish fear. It's a reference. It's in awe
of God, because God is God. He is God. He's to be honored.
He's to be feared. He's to be worshipped. He's God.
And to me, it seems like this exhortation probably should be
listed first. Because you can't do any of the
others. You can't love the brotherhood and honor all men and honor the
king unless you first truly fear God. If you truly fear God, then
these other exhortations will fall right into place. Fear God. Next, he says, honor the king.
Now, the president in our country occupies the highest office in
the land. And that should command the most
respect in the land, his office. Now, I know many times the man
doesn't, by his actions and so forth. He doesn't necessarily,
in his person, command the most respect. But we're still told
to speak well of him. Certainly, why not speak evil
of him? And I know that's not the American way. I mean, that's
simply not the American way. But that's the believer's way.
And that doesn't mean we can't disagree with the man, but you
still show him respect. And more than speak well of him,
we should pray for him. I thought this morning as I was
looking over my notes, the best way to honor man is to pray for
him. You know, the Lord can take an
evil man and make him a good president. We should pray for
him. Then verse 18, he goes on and he says, servants, be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward. Scripture comes right where we
live. You can't hide from the command
of Scripture. This gets us right where we live
now. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, with all respect. Now, I've got some comments on
this verse, but I want you to understand first of all, I'm
not telling you what I do Anybody with any chance reads
this understands. I don't have the right attitude
about this, but now this is what scripture tells us. Employees
are to be subject to our boss. He's the boss. We're to do what
he says, when he says it, how he says it. He's the boss. And
that's easy to do when you've got a good boss. Over the time
of my career, I've had some good bosses. And I mean to tell you,
I do. anything for him. I mean anything
because they're a good boss. But Peter's clear to point out
we're not just be subject to the good boss, to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward. I looked that word froward up.
It means unfair. When he's an unfair boss, be
subject to him. illegal to be subject to him. That's what Scripture says. Perverse. We're still to be subject to
him. That's what Scripture says. Now that doesn't mean you can't
look for another job, but as long as he's your boss, Scripture
says we're to be subject to him, we're to try to please him. Matthew
Henry says we're to try to please the boss that's easy to please.
And we're to put the same effort into pleasing the boss that's
impossible to please. That's what Scripture is saying.
And we're to remember that the Lord gave that man, we know the
Lord gave that man authority, don't we? Now we know that. Look
over in Ephesians chapter 6. This will, to the believer, now
to the unbeliever I really don't have any words of wisdom here,
but to the believer, here's our motivation. This will fix our
attitude right here in Ephesians 6 verse 5. Servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. That's the key right there. Not
with I service as men pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart, with good will, doing service
as to the Lord, and not to men. Now that right there will fix
the believer's attitude. And just like we honor the king,
I tell you, an awful good way to honor the boss is to pray
for him. To pray for him, and we need
to pray that the Lord will give us this attitude as an employee.
This is a true story. I couldn't make this up. This
week, I was at work, walked into the office. A man had some things
to go over with him. I asked him. He's sitting there
at his desk with his head in his hands like this. I said,
what are you doing? Is everything all right?" He
said, yeah, everything's all right. I said, what are you doing? He
said, I'm praying. I said, what are you praying about? He said,
I'm praying to the Lord to give me a good attitude about my boss.
His boss is the froward. Now I said, is it working? He said, not yet, but God's able. I said, I'll come back in a while.
He said, all right. That's the word to pray for him
and to pray for ourselves, that we have the right attitude. And
I thought of this, Christ, our example, was subject to his parents
and to teachers or elders and priests, you know, there in this
town. And compared to him, they were the froward. And he knew
it. He was more wise. He's God. But was subject to them with
all fear. That's our example. Now read
on, verse 19. He says, for this is thankworthy,
if a man, for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering
wrongfully. Now, when a believer is a good
employee, they're an obedient employee, an obedient wife, an
obedient child, a good citizen, yet they still suffer wrongfully,
being mistreated. They have to put up with a lot
of grief, but they do it with the right attitude, with a good
conscience toward God. Scripture says that's thank-worthy. Now, I thought and thought and
thought on that, and then I looked up what that word means. It means,
this word thank-worthy, it means what is due to grace. That's what that word means.
It also means of the merciful kindness by which God exerts
His holy influence upon our souls. That's thank-worthy. If we have
the right attitude He's the one who did it by what
is due to Christ, by his merciful kindness. He exerted his holy
influence upon our souls. He's the one to be thanked, especially
in this situation. Now, go on verse 20. For what
glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take
it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer
for it and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
Now, this is the other side of the coin. You have an employee
who's lazy. He's rebellious. Steals from
his company. Eventually he gets fired. Maybe even arrested. That happened
a week or two ago right here in our town. A fella stealing
from the company for years probably. And they caught him. They took
him out of there in handcuffs. He's arrested. He can't go down
there and draw unemployment. He's fired for cause. You're
stealing from the company. He may end up going to jail.
Well, that man's not a martyr. His boss is not being fraud and
persecuting him. He's being punished for his faults.
He's getting what he deserves. Now, if he'd just plead guilty
and take his punishment quietly and go on, he doesn't deserve
any glory. What do you want him to do? There's
a fellow I work with, he's 16 years old, got caught speeding,
and he was, he's speeding. So he goes to his court date
before the judge, and he's sitting there, his case is on down in
the docket, you know, he sees all these other people come before
the judge. And they're, you know, got an excuse for this, excuse
for that, and I wasn't doing it, and his radar detector's
wrong, all this stuff. And the judge is just laying
the wood to him. I mean, he's mad, and he's just
laying the wood to him. This kid is shaking in his boots. He's scared to death of this
judge. Finally, his name gets called. He goes up before the
judge, and the judge doesn't even look at him. He's looking
down at the case and says, how do you plead? He says, guilty.
And the judge snapped his head up and said, what did you say?
He said, guilty, your honor. The judge looked down, looked
back, and he said, son, I can't remember the last time somebody
come to my courtroom and pled guilty to speed law. He said,
I'll let you off with a warning. He said, don't you ever come
back to my court. He never did. He never did. But you ought not
get a medal for abetting your criminal when you're a criminal.
He said, you ought not. But if when you've done well
and you're persecuted, Now pleading guilty to the judge
when you're a criminal, that might be acceptable to the judge,
but not to God. But suffering patiently is acceptable
with God. And I look that word up, and
this word acceptable is the exact same word as thank-worthy from
earlier. It's due to grace. It's because
the merciful kindness of God has been exerted on our souls. It's acceptable because the Lord
enabled it. That's why it's acceptable, because
He enabled it. Now 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 this is
the key to the whole thing right here, to the believer. Every
believer is called, we know, to obedience, aren't we? We're
called to goodness, we're called to a holy walk, we're called
to good works, and we're called to suffer for Christ's sake.
Look at Philippians chapter 1, I'll show you that. We're called
to suffer for Christ's sake. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 27. Only let your conversation be
as it become of the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your
adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also
to suffer for his sake. Having the same conflict that
you see in me, and now here to be in me. Paul says, I suffer
it, and everyone else who's been called to faith in Christ is
called to suffer this too. And when we do suffer, times
of trial, mistreatment, you're misunderstood by the world or
whatever, the Lord's given us an example how to suffer these
things. And our example is our Redeemer. I think the answer To every question
that a believer asks is look to Christ. Are you a sinner?
You need salvation? Look to Him. Look to Him for
salvation. Look to Him for forgiveness of
sins. Look to Him for righteousness. Look to Him to put away your
sin. And keep looking to Him. Look to Him as your example.
He's given us an example that we should follow in His steps. He's an example to us of love.
He's our example for forgiveness. You want to know how to forgive
someone? Look to Christ. He's our example of faithfulness.
He's our example of humility. He's our example of zeal. He's
our example of meekness. He's our example of living a
holy life. He's our example in every step we take. Peter says
that we should follow in his steps. I've used this example
before, but every time I see this is what I think of. I remember
being a little guy. I had to be three or four. We
lived in Michigan. And what I remember is a big
snow. Of course, any snow, I guess,
is big. Just a little guy, you know. And I remember going out
in the snow. Mom got me all bundled up, you
know, in my outfit. Here I'm ready to go. Dad's going
to go out and shovel the driveway. And he's got his big shovel.
And I may have a little one or something. I don't know. But
off he goes. And here I am following. And I'm trying my best to follow. I can't reach. My legs will not
reach as far as His next step when. But I followed in His steps. It may have taken me two steps
to get there, but when I got there, I put my little foot right
in that great big boot print, following His steps. And I'm
telling you right now, we cannot perfectly follow the steps of
our Lord, but we can follow Him. You follow Him, follow in His
steps. Our example is our us. He suffered. He suffered more than we can
ever imagine how He suffered. He suffered for us. For God's elect. So you'll never
suffer that. He suffered the full force of
God's wrath against sin. So you'll never have to. Not
if you're one of God's elect. You will never suffer it because
Christ suffered it. Our example suffered it for He
suffered as a substitute for sin. Our substitute took our
place before God. But He did more than just trade
places with us. We didn't just move over and
Christ moved into our place. He became sin for us. He was actually made guilty. He suffered for us. He was made
guilty. So God says, you're not guilty. If you're in Christ, you're not
guilty because Christ was made guilty. He suffered for you. Now, no son of Adam can ever
imagine the horror of God's Holy Son being made sin. All we know is sin. He knew no
sin. And He was made to be sin for
us. And He suffered. Because He was
made sin, He suffered for us. He suffered to make reconciliation
for sin. He suffered to make payment. Payment in full for our sins.
You know, in Scripture, God says sin demands death. Where God
finds sin, there will be death. Without the shedding of blood,
it's not just giving a pint, it's all. This is the blood of
death. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. So Christ, our Redeemer, our
example, He suffered death, poured out His precious blood as payment
for our sins. And it wasn't a quick death.
Scripture describes his suffering as agony, agony, the physical
sufferings, his pain, his humiliation. And he suffered agony of soul,
separation from the Father. He suffered for us, for his people. And our Lord certainly did not
suffer. because he sinned. If anyone
ever suffered wrongfully at the hands of men, it was our Redeemer,
our example. Look at verse 22. Who did no
sin? Neither was guile found in his
mouth. Our Lord never committed a sin
of thought. He never committed a sin of motive. He never committed a sin of action.
He was without sin, pure and holy. There's no guile in his
mouth. There is no exaggeration. There
is no deceit. There's pure truth. He came in
the likeness of sinful flesh, but without sin. Well, if Christ
never sinned, why did He suffer so much? Why did He suffer more
than any other man? He set the example for us. When
He suffered, He suffered, giving us an example of how we should
suffer if we're ever persecuted without a cause. Look at verse
23. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judged righteously. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. He had an abuse heaped on him
and never responded. He was called a lying piper.
He never responded. He never revealed their wicked
hearts, the ones who were charging him. He was accused of lying
by men who were lying themselves. He never responded to the liars.
He was accused of sedition. He never responded to those rebels
who were rebels against the government of Rome and the government of
God. He never responded. When he suffered,
He didn't threaten future judgment and future damnation. When he
was scourged, what did he do? He gave his back to the smiters. They would never have scourged
him unless he gave them his back. He gave his face to those who
would pluck out his beard. He was beaten without mercy,
just by hatred of those Roman soldiers. He never threatened
them. The thieves. Crucified on either
side of Him, railed on Him. He never reviled them for their
crimes. He never called them what they
were, did He? In fact, what did He do? Have
mercy and saved one of them. That shamed me, didn't it? I
would never suffer like that apart from God's grace. When
they drove those nails into His precious hands and feet. He didn't
just strike out at them and call a legion of angels to wipe them
all out. What did he do? He prayed, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. He
carried his cross past those women weeping for them. He turned
and told them, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for
your children. Don't weep for me. And he went
and offered to sacrifice for sin. to the hand of the righteous
judge, Father, into thy hands I commune my spirit." That's
our example. You know, we suffer. We want
people to feel sorry for us. Don't weep for me. And we ought
to sympathize. And I'm, I want to be careful
I say that. We ought to sympathize with one
another. But yet there's this element
that we should follow the example of our Lord. Don't weep for me.
When we're persecuted, we should be like our Lord and ignore it,
to suffer it patiently and pray for them who are persecuting
us. Isn't that what our Lord taught us in Matthew 5, the Sermon
on the Mount? But I say unto you, He said,
love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you. And then we should do like our
Lord, and commit ourselves into the hand of the righteous judge.
He knows what's going on. Commit ourselves to him, to his
care, and let him take care of you. But here's our Lord. Never sinned,
no guile in his mouth, never knew sin. Then why did he suffer? Why did he suffer? Well, here's
a good clue for us. And all those times our Lord
is being accused. Now, He did suffer wrongfully.
Yet, there is an element that He suffered justice. Never one
time did our Lord ever defend Himself. Well, why not? Because
the sins of God's elect had been charged to Him. And He stood
there a guilty man. He suffered for us. God, when God imputed the sins,
He didn't just carry them on his back like a pack. They were
imputed to him. Look at verse 24. "...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 ye are healed." Christ
suffered because he'd bear our sins. That's why he suffered.
He suffered at the hands of men. wrongfully, yet he still suffered
God's justice because he became guilty of our sins, the sins
of God's elect. And he bore all of our sins.
He bore our original sin in Adam. He bore our sins of action. He
bore our sins of thought. He bore our sins of motive. He
bore our sins of the tongue. He bore our sins of the eye.
He bore the filth of our sin and washed it away with his blood.
He bore the guilt of our sin. He bore the curse
of our sin. That's why He died to curse the
death of the cross, because He died bearing the curse of our
sin. Christ bore that great burden
of our sin. The burden that was so great
it would have crushed anyone else. No one else could carry
this burden, but our Lord did. He bore it. The burden that would
have crushed us. He bore it, and my friends, I'm
telling you, He bore that mountain of sin. Just like the scapegoat
bore the sins of children of Israel into the wilderness to
never be seen again, our Redeemer bore our sins away as far as
the east is from the west. He bore them away. And he bore
that sin in his own precious body. This is no mere paper transaction. This is not, well, I'll impute
these sins to you, but they're not really yours. They became
his. He became guilty, and the sin
of God's elect in reality was imputed to our Lord, so much
so that Scripture says He bore them in His own body. And He suffered, body and soul,
because those sins were charged to Him. He died because those
sins were charged to Him. If He wasn't guilty, the Father
never would have killed Him. He suffered unimaginable horrors
because my sin was charged to him at Calvary. Sin is a horrible
disease. That's what it is. It's a disease.
And it's a hereditary disease. It's a disease that we pass on
to those precious babies over there in that room. It's passed
on from generation to generation to generation. so that we're
born dead with a sin-sick soul. But there's a cure. There is
one who can take that disease away. And we're healed from all
of our diseases by His stripes. We're healed because Christ,
our Redeemer, our example, took our sickness. He took our sin
and He gave us His health. He took our sin and gave us His
righteousness, His holiness. He gave us His life. The great
physician doesn't make a house call, carry a black bag full
of medicine he's going to try. The great physician comes and
he is the medicine. He is the cure. He is the balm
of Gilead. So now, believers, all those
for whom Christ died are dead to sin. You're dead to sin. We're dead to sin because our
sin was imputed to Christ and he put it away. It'll never be
charged to you if it was charged to Christ. Our sin is dead to
us, so we're dead to it. We're dead to the power of sin.
We're dead to the punishment of sin. You're not going to be
punished for your sin if Christ was. We're dead to the condemnation
of sin because it's Christ who died. The sin that was imputed
to Christ is dead to you as if you never committed. You're dead
to sin. That's how complete salvation
in Christ is. So a believer lives a life, not
to please ourselves, but to please the One who gave Himself for
us. That's why we live to please
Him. It's our desire to please Him,
to live as He lived, to be as He is. You're dead to sin. In verse 25, For ye were a sheep
going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop
of your souls." We were a sheep going astray. If we're ever left
to go our way, it's the wrong way. That's the way we'll go
is the wrong way, away from God. But now, we're turned. Well, why are we turned? Well,
I decided I'd do right and follow Jesus. No, sir. We turned because
the shepherd came where we were and picked us up and turned us
around. He picked us up and turned around
and carried us home. We returned because Christ came
where we were and found us and returned us to himself, carrying
us close to his side. We returned to him because he
pulled us up close to himself. I looked that word bishop up
to. It means overseer. He's the one who's the overseer.
He watches out for the souls of his elect. He watches and
keeps us safe. You're safe from the wolves.
This is like what Tom preached on about the king's highway is
a safe way. Why is it safe? Because the overseer
Watch us out for your soul. Watch us out for the wolves and
keep it where those ravenous beasts don't come that way. It's
a safe way because of our Redeemer. He's our Redeemer and He's our
example. And next week we'll continue
looking at this in marriage. It's the same principle, Christ
our example. Alright, well Lord bless you.