His was not a theological love. His was a genuine heart love
for all believers in Christ. True believers do love one another. John said, If any man love not
his brother, the love of God is not in him. He that loveth
not knoweth not God. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples. when you love one another. So
he calls them dearly, dearly beloved, because to him they
were. The second reason why Peter calls
these people dearly beloved is because he wants to assure them
that the things he's about to say, the things he's about to teach
them and show come from a sincere affection for them. He has their
welfare and well-being at heart. We teach our children because
we love them. That's why we teach them. That's
why we discipline our children. That's why we give to our children.
That's why we instruct them. That's why we warn them. It's
because we love them. This salutation, dearly beloved,
comes from the heart of this apostle who loves these people
and wants them to know that the things he's about to say to them
was because he did love them. And he says, dearly beloved,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, this world is not our
home, we're passing through. We're strangers and pilgrims
here. And as the people of God, passing through this land, he
says, abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul. Why
must the people of God be warned about fleshly lust? Well, the
first reason is this. Every believer is still a human
being. Every believer is a human being
living in a fleshly body and every believer is subject to
all the desires of this flesh and the motions of sin. Carnal
desires, covetousness, pride, oh yes, jealousy, envy, anger,
vengeance, ingratitude, self-love, vainglory, fear, doubt, unbelief. How does Peter know that we're
subject to these things? Because he experienced them himself. He doesn't expect us, as he writes
to us, to be free from the motions of sin because he experienced
them. He's writing about what he experienced. And he tells us he knows these
motions of sin are real and they're present in every believer. And
he does not tell us that we'll be without them. He tells us
to abstain from them. He's saying suppress these motions
of sin. Refuse to allow them to control
us. They're enemies to spiritual
growth. They're enemies to spiritual
joy. They're enemies to spiritual
peace. And he says here, abstain from
these things because they war against your soul. They can't
destroy your soul. They cannot destroy your soul,
but they can cause your soul much pain and much anguish and
much unrest and much sorrow. And these things, indulged, can
bring chastisement of God upon us. So, dearly beloved, I beseech
you, as strangers and pilgrims, suppress, put down, abstain from
these carnal desires and fleshly lusts. They war against your
soul. They're the enemy of our souls.
And then he says in verse 12, Having your conversation, your
behavior, honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak evil
of you, they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your
good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation. Here's what he's saying in that
verse. Let's conduct ourselves properly. and honestly and righteously
in the presence of unbelievers especially. In the presence of
unbelievers and believers, but especially he names the Gentiles
here. Having your behavior honest among
the Gentiles. Now what's this? Whereas they
speak against you as evildoers, They do not believe your gospel,
your neighbors, your friends, your co-workers, some of your
family. They do not believe the gospel
you believe. They do not honor and glorify your God. And they
may even accuse you of being a fanatic, a radical, an evildoer,
a disturber of the brethren. That's what they accuse Paul
of being, a disturber of the brethren. They accuse you of
being a false prophet, a preacher of error, and they give you a
difficult time. But you live in an honest, loving,
kind, and righteous way before them. Listen, that whereas they
speak of you as evildoers, they may by your good works and by
your kindness And by your attitude, which they shall behold, glorify
God in the day of visitation." What is this day of visitation? Well, some people seem to think
it's the day of the return of the Lord, when our Lord Jesus
Christ will come back. It may be. But somehow I cannot
connect this with These people who are enemies of the gospel,
who despise those who preach and love the gospel, and call
us evildoers and false prophets, that when Christ comes again,
they're going to glorify God because of us. I believe this.
Now listen to me. In the day of visitation, is
the day or time when God especially visits you and me. Visits us. You say, God's with
us all the time. He certainly is, but there's
certain times when God visits men and women, sometimes in prosperity,
sometimes in disappointment, sometimes in joy, sometimes in
sorrow. Sometimes in success, sometimes
in failure. Sometimes in trouble and affliction
and trial. Prosperity or poverty. Times of joy or times of great
sorrow. Times of special blessing, times
of special affliction. How would you react to that?
How you react is what he's talking about here. And they behold your
attitude and your spirit and your response to the hand of
God, whether it be heavy or light, and they glorify God. They say,
well, I don't believe what he believes, but he does. And evidently
what he believes has done something for him or her. And they're an
example. And in that way, God gets the
glory because it's not of you, it's of Him. Now listen to Job
in Job 2. Turn to Job 2 verse 10. And Job's
wife and his three friends and everybody else came down hard
on him when God visited him. God visited him. See what I just
said that? It came out, God visited him.
Well, God was with Job all the time. Yeah, but one day God put
His hand on him. Powerfully. Powerfully. And some of you have been here.
And in verse 9 of Job 2, "...then said his wife unto him," She
wasn't a believer. She's one of those people that
he's talking about here. "...Do you still retain your
integrity?" Why don't you just curse God and die? "...And he
said to her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh."
You speak like someone that hasn't been exposed to any knowledge.
What? Shall we receive good at the
hand of God? And shall we not receive evil?
And all this did not Job send with his lips. And men came to
glorify God. by the conduct of this man under
this visitation from God. So that's what he's saying here
in verse 12. Live your life. Live your life, not just when
the sun's shining, but when it's raining. Not just when you're
on the mountain, but when you're in the valley. Not in times of
blessings only, but times of trial. Live your life honestly. among the Gentiles, among the
unbelievers, among whomever you dwell among. If whereas they
speak of you as a false prophet or evil doer, in the day of visitation
they'll glorify your God. Why? They'll behold your good
works and give God the credit. That's what that's saying. Alright,
verse 13 and 14. Now, he's still saying, dearly
beloved, I'm going to say some things to you, and I want you
to know I love you. He says in verse 13, Submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be
to the king as supreme, or under governors as under them that
are sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise
of them that do well. You know, some religious people
are not good citizens. Some religious people have become
quite obnoxious and troublesome in their attitude towards the
government and toward our leaders and towards taxes. Someone was
telling me just recently preacher in this community here who's
fought income tax and fought state tax and refused to pay
tax, fighting public schools and the
education of children. It's not just our children that
must be educated, it's everybody's children. But no, they start
their own religious schools and home schools and refuse to pay
taxes to public schools. That's the law of the land that
children go to school. They fight civil authority. This
is a bad testimony. I don't care who does it, it's
a bad testimony and it's not the way of the Lord. The Lord's
way is this way. Listen to verse 13. You, dearly
beloved, submit yourself to every ordinance of man, whether that
be a street tax or a school tax or an income tax or a state tax
or whatever tax it is. or whether it be a policeman,
or whether it be a judge, or whether it be a law made by the
federal government, unless it denies the law of God. Now that's
different. If they pass a law we can't worship,
we'll break the law. If they pass a law that you can't
preach the gospel, we'll break the law. God's law, where God's
law crosses man's law, we'll break man's law. That as long
as man's laws and requirements do not break God's law, render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things
that are God's. And be a good citizen. Be an example. Don't bring reproach upon our
Lord by taking part in these things. Don't do it. Obey the laws of the land. Honor
people who are in authority. Live in the community. in the
state, in the nation, as a good, obedient citizen, setting a good
example for others. That's right. Turn to Romans
13. This is so clear in Romans 13. Romans chapter 13, verse 1. Let's read these first
eight verses here. Let every soul in the church
be subject to the higher powers. People that are in authority.
There's no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. We're talking about Congress,
the President, governors, policemen, school teachers, people in authority,
chief officers. No power but that which is ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
authority, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation, destruction. Rulers are not a
terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. Obey the law. For he, and this
is the sheriff, the deputy sheriff, this is anybody in authority
who's over us. He's a minister of God for order
and peace and to prevent chaos. He's a minister of God to thee
for good. You say, well, he's not a believer. He's still a
minister of God. He's still an instrument of God,
ordained of God. If you do that which is evil,
be afraid. He beareth not to sow it in vain.
He is the minister of God, a revenger that executes wrath upon them
that do evil. Wherefore, you must needs be
subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. But for this cause, pay ye tribute. Pay taxes also. They are God's
ministers. You know, you think about taxes.
We ride on streets and highways. Fire protection, police protection.
Our children go to school, get their books free. There are just
so many advantages that come to us through this pooling of
our resources. Pay tribute. They are God's ministers
attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore
to all their dues, listen, tribute to whom tribute is due. Taxes
to whom taxes, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor
to whom honor, and owe no man anything. Don't owe these things,
pay them. This is not talking about don't
ever borrow any money. If you couldn't borrow money,
most of you couldn't own a house. The scripture talks about lending
money, tells us to lend without usury, lend without interest
among ourselves. But you can live and people can
borrow. But what this is saying, don't
owe man or man honor to whom honor is due. Don't owe a man
obedience to whom obedience is due. Don't owe respect where
respect is due. Pay it. Do it. That's what it's
saying. And love one another. He that
loveth another hath fulfilled God's law. Well, that's pretty
clear isn't it? Verse 15, For so is the will
of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. Two words describe the natural
man. People who do not believe the
gospel, do not love God. People who do not worship God,
people who do not believe this message, believe the Word, people
who do not have any interest in God, and they are the ones
who criticize you and me and all who do believe. Two words
to describe them, ignorance and foolish. This is the will of God for you.
Believe the gospel, love the gospel, contend for the gospel,
preach the gospel. But live a life of respect and
honor and tribute and obedience and honesty before all men. And in doing so, you'll put to
silence. And you know, the chief weapon of the world
against believers is the tongue. That's their chief weapon. They
love to find fault. with you and with your gospel
and with your God. They can find no fault with Him,
but they find fault with us. And that's their chief weapon,
is the tongue to cut you to pieces. Cut you to pieces. They do not
know God, they're ignorant. And the fool has said in his
heart, know God for me. So that describes them pretty
well, that they're ignorant, they don't know God, don't know
His Word, don't know His power. And they're fools. Because any
man's a fool who will not have God reign over him. So, live
your life in such a way, this is the will of God, that by your
lifestyle, and there are people out there talking about different
lifestyles. There's one lifestyle that's right here. It's defined
right here. Here's the lifestyle. And by
this lifestyle, you put to silence. cutting critical tongues of evil
people who do not know God and who are fools. Verse 16, as free. You are free. We are free. You shall know the Son. The Son
will set you free. The truth shall set you free. We are free. We are free. We are free from the penalty
of sin. Christ has paid that penalty. We are free from the
curse of the law. We're free from judgment. There's
no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. We have free access
to God through the blood of Christ. But we're not free to sin. We're not free to live in contempt
of God's laws or man's law. We're not free to despise authority. We're not free to have our own
way. rather to submit to his way.
We show ourselves to be the true servants of God by a holy and
honest lifestyle. You pray, listen, only use not
your freedom for a cloak of maliciousness and evil, but as servants of
God, walk in honesty and holiness and righteousness And listen to these instructions
here. Listen carefully. Honor all men. Honor all men. Those to whom honor and respect
and obedience is due. There are a lot of areas here. There's age. Age is to be honored
and respected. I found two things in Russia. The people there honor two things. They honor age. Older people
are respected, admired, and honored. And secondly, they respect wisdom. Anyone who has experience and
judgment and wisdom, those people, they listen. It is a little different in this
country. Age is tolerated in most places. And experience and wisdom is
not always sought. Advice and counsel is not sought.
When it is sought, it's not followed. But I found those people to respect
and honor those two things. Age. They'd listen to to me because
I was older. And they listened to me and to
Bill Clark, who was over there preaching, because they knew
we were experienced men in the work. Age, office. A person who holds
an office. A person who has a position,
a rank, authority. Whether they are believers or
unbelievers, they are to be honored. That's
where honor all. Honor all. Parents, you may have an unbelieving
mother or father, but you honor them. Respect them. Honor your father and mother
that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
has given thee. This is the commandment with
promise. Husbands are to be honored. respected, wives to be loved, mothers honored,
respected. I tell all you young parents,
don't ever allow one of your children to sass their mother. Don't ever do it. Don't ever
do it. Let them know from the start,
you don't talk back to your mom or to your dad. honor of teachers. People are fleeing
the profession of school teaching because your children and my
children can't be managed anymore, can't be disciplined. And I'll
tell you why they can't be disciplined in school because nobody disciplines
them in the home. That's right. And there are a
lot of people who are quitting the profession. because they
can't stand to be with our children. Isn't that horrible in this country? Honor school teacher. Parents
don't ever take the side of your child against that teacher. That's
right, school officials, employers, government officials,
officers of the law, pastors, elders. Peace and order in society
or in any organization requires authority. It requires strong
authority. It requires obedience on the
part of those who are part of it. That's right. Honor people to whom honor is
due. That's what it says. Pay tribute
to them. Love the brotherhood. We are
to love all people, but especially the brotherhood, especially the
body of Christ. Let me show you a scripture in
Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, verse 10. Listen to this. As you have therefore
opportunity, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all men, but especially unto them of the household of faith.
I tell people who come by here, and we help them, we help, Marty
helps, she's got a generous heart just like you have a generous
heart who helps anybody who's in need. But I tell people this,
if I have an opportunity to talk to them when they come by begging,
I tell them this, I've never met a person who's a believer,
who knows the gospel, who's a member of a church, who ever had to
go out and beg. I tell them, I say, where do
you go to church? I used to go, or I'd go anywhere. I like them all, you know. Somebody
said, what's your denomination? He said, I'm radio. I like them
all. But I've never met one of God's seed begging bread. The brotherhood takes care of
the brotherhood. Honor all men. Do good to all,
but especially this household of faith. That's what he's saying
there. Fear God. Worship God. Honor, respect,
praise God. I was glad when they said to
me, let's go to the house of God. Let's exalt and magnify
His name. Let's come together and raise
the flag up on the pole. Say, this is a place and a people
who worship God. Fear God. Worship God. Now listen,
honor the king. Now listen to me a moment. The king or the president holds
a high office. He represents authority. He represents
God-granted authority. His is an office that's to be
respected. It's to be honored regardless
of the man. And I understand the disappointments
that we feel toward many of our elected officials. They have
disappointed us in so many areas. But let's be careful how we speak
about that office, about that person in the office. And I've
been guilty of this as much as anybody here. But as our children
and others whom we're teaching when you teach social government
and things like that. If you tear down the person in
the office, you tear down the office to those children, you're bringing disrespect on
the office. I know he's just a man, but the
flags, that's just a piece of cloth too. But it represents
freedom. It represents our nation. It
represents a lot of blood that's been shed that we might be doing
what we're doing right here tonight. And I really, a man that burns
that flag, I'm for putting him under the jail. You don't have any freedom to
destroy the things in which we believe. And that's, you know
back, was it Charles I that they beheaded? Charles I, a long time
ago, I don't know, 1600 or something back in England. They took their
king, and he was a bad king, I know that, he wasn't a good
king. But they took him off the throne and cut his head off. And some of the preachers, it
was a popular thing, people wanted to get rid of Charles. But some
wise old Puritan preachers exhorted their members not to take part
in that. Because they said, he's not just
a bad man, he's not just a man, he's the king. And he represents
the throne, the authority, he's God's king. Don't touch them
that way. Use other means. They were wise
men. So that's what he's saying here.
Honor the king. We haven't had many good kings.
We haven't had very many godly presidents. But I tell you, it's not the man that's the office
that we've got to honor and respect. It's not the man that's the badge.
It's the badge. This reverence for God, this
respect for authority, this good citizenship, this honor and tribute
and obedience to whom it's due, carries over into the workplace.
Listen to this. And every man or woman that works
in here is a servant to somebody. Somebody is your boss. Somebody
is over you. Be subject to your masters. Be
subject to your foreman, to your bosses, to your employer, with
all fear. Not only to the good ones, not only to the gentle ones,
but to the mean ones. If you can't do that, quit your
job and work somewhere else. That's right. I'm telling you
the truth. This is what Peter said. The boss may not be a believer,
and most of the time they're not. The boss may not always
be nice and gentle and kind, and many times they're not. And
the boss may not always be right. But he's always in charge. And our cooperation and our work
ethic contributes to peace and order and obedience. And to our relationship with
our Lord. A peaceful relationship. For
this, verse 19, for this is thank-worthy. This is thank-worthy. This is
commended by God. If a man for conscience toward
God endure grief, suffering wrongly, but what glory is it if you be
buffeted for your own faults? You take it patiently. But if
you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is
acceptable to God. Here's what he's saying. If we
believe and preach and love the gospel, and we endeavor to walk,
in an obedient fashion, peaceful fashion, before others, in a
way that honors God, and we suffer reproach and persecution and
ill feelings. If we suffer for this walk and
for this gospel, let's take it patiently. This is acceptable
to God. That's what he's saying. But
it depends on what the persecution is over. He said, again, he said,
like I told you a while ago, some religious people are obnoxious.
It's like the man that was reading the Bible on the job and his
boss told him to get to work. He said, I'm having my devotions.
That's foolish. His devotions ought to be done
at home, not on the job. I remember back in the service,
there was a young man who was on guard duty He was reading
the Bible or doing something and they court-martialed him. And the whole churches all got
up in arms about it. Well, listen, I've stood guard
duty. I know the rules for guard duty. We were to recite certain
rules for guard duty. You don't do anything on guard
duty but guard. And the young religious man was
wrong. Have your devotions at home. work at the mill. Well, let's have a prayer meeting
at lunchtime. No, have your lunch. Have your
prayer meeting at home. That's right. I'm telling you
the truth. And a lot of this religious persecution is people's
own fault. That's right now. Dearly beloved,
I'm going to tell you something, dearly beloved, that if so, because
I love you and because these things are so, If religious persecution
is brought on by our personal faults and our personal desire
to have our own way and do our own thing at the expense of other
responsibility, and we get persecution because of our bad attitude and
our lack of consideration for other people, What profit is
it? That's what he said. Tell me,
he said, verse 20, what glory is it if you have religious persecution
because you can't get along with anybody? Because you demand that
everybody do things our way. You know what I'm talking about. Verse 21. for even here unto where you
call." Now he's talking about persecution trials. He's talking
about, this is the lot of every believer. We live in an unfriendly world.
The world is not friendly to this gospel. It's not friendly
to Christ. It's not friendly to His sovereignty,
His majesty, His glory, His elective grace. His atonement, His righteousness,
His resurrection, His good providence. They're not friendly to that
gospel. And here unto where you call. Because also Christ suffered
for us, leaving us an example we should follow His step. Turn
with me to a couple of scriptures. John 15. This is what Peter is
saying. John 15. Listen to this, John
chapter 15, let's read verse 18. John 15 verse 18, listen to this. If the world hate you, John 15
verse 18, you know it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you, love his own. But because you're not of the
world, I've chosen you out of the world. I've chosen you and
called you and justified you and sanctified you and given
you the gospel and changed you. And you're not of the world.
Therefore the world hates you. But remember the word that I
said to you, the servant's not greater than his Lord. If they
persecuted me, they'll persecute you. If they kept my sins, they'll
keep yours. And that's the reason Peter said,
Verse 21, look back at my text, chapter 2, for even here unto
where you call, I've chosen you and called you to this very wall. He said they'll cast you out
of the synagogues. The time will come, the master said to his
disciples, when men who kill you will think they're doing
God a favor. John 16. When they kill you,
and they did, they killed all the apostles but one. Eleven of them were martyred.
Some of them were crucified, some of them were beheaded, some
of them were stoned. But every apostle was murdered
by religious people who thought they did God a favor. John, on
the Isle of Patmos, I don't know what happened to John, but the
rest of them were martyred. And that's what Peter's saying,
you're called. You're into where you're called.
Christ is our example. He was despised, not for what
He did, was He? He was despised for what He said.
Not for what He did. One day they took up stones to
stone Him, and He said, wait. These religious men with their
rocks, their stones in their hands, to stone Him for blasphemy.
He said, many good works have I done among you. For which of
these do you stone Me? They said, we're not stoning
you for good works. We have no objection to good
works. We're stoning you because you're a man and you said you're
God. It's not what he did, it's what
he said. And folks don't hate you and me for what we're doing.
I hope they don't. They shouldn't anyway. We shouldn't
be doing what the haters are doing. What you saying? What you believe, that's why
they hate you. And Christ is our example. Verse
22, He did no sin. Look at verse 22. There was no
guile found in His mouth. And when He was reviled, He didn't
revile them. When He suffered, He didn't threaten
them. He committed Himself to God that judgeth righteously.
and his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness by his
stripes we hear." He's our example. You know, I thought of two things. Two things. We leave our cause. Don't hate those who hate you. Let's pray for those who hate
our gospel. and leave our cause to the Heavenly
Father. That's what Christ did. But two
things I thought of. Number one, it's only by God's
grace that I believe this gospel. It's only by God's grace that
I'm not among those who hate those who preach the gospel.
That's right. It's only by God's grace that
I'm not the enemy of Christ Jesus. And secondly, God is able to
turn their hatred into faith. Did you know that? He did solitarsis.
And I do. There's some people I'm greatly
interested in who don't love this gospel. They're enemies
of this gospel. And being an enemy of the gospel,
they're my enemy. Not my enemy from this end, but
from that end. Not from this end, no. Except
for the grace of God, I'd be one of them. That's what Richard
Baxter said when he saw a drunk walking down the street. He said,
there, there, except for the grace of God, goes Richard Baxter. And so it may be, like Saul of
Tarsus, he'll turn them to Christ. It may be. Hating them won't
do it. Getting angry with them won't
do it. Cursing them out won't do it. Nagging them, browbeating
them won't do it. The wrath of man does not work
the righteousness of God. Never did, never will. You, verse 25, were a sheep going
astray. But now, by God's grace, return
unto the shepherd and bishop of your soul. Let me read you
a little. But Charles Wesley wrote this,
Jesus Christ, the Lamb has bled, he bore our sins upon the tree.
Beneath our curse he bowed his head, tis finished, he died for
me. See where before the throne he
stands and pours that all-prevailing prayer, points to his side and
lifts his hands, and shows our names are written there. He ever
lives for us to pray. He lives that we with him may
reign. Amen to all that he doth say. For our priest will never pray
in vain. I prayed for you, he said. And
he doesn't pray in vain. Let's sing Brother Chuck, number
53, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear. Soothes
his sorrows, calms his fears, drives away his fears.