If you will, let's open our Bibles
again this evening to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2. Tonight we're looking at verses
18 through 25, the last part of this chapter, and it has to
do with Christian servants. Let's read the text first of
all, beginning in verse 18. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also
to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when
you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently?
But if, when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously,
who his own self bear our sins and his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes you were healed. For you were a sheep going astray. but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your souls. Last week, we began in verse
11, and with that verse, the apostle Peter begins to exhort
believers concerning our conduct in this world. In verse 11, he
began, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
We as children of God are pilgrims in this world, and we're only
sojourning here for a short time. We need to be reminded of that
quite often. Our time here in this world is
just a short time. In comparison to eternity, if
a person, a man were to live a hundred years, what would that
be in comparison to eternity? Nothing, nothing at all. We're just passing through this
world and we live in a hostile environment. We recognize that
as God's children. The environment, the world in
which we live is hostile. It's hostile to Christ. It's
hostile to grace. This world has never been a friend
to grace. I was thinking before I came
up here just a minute ago, there was a time in this area when
the school districts would never have anything on Wednesday. They
wouldn't schedule anything on Wednesday. Why? Because people
worshiped the Lord on Wednesday. Prayer meetings were very common. And the same thing today about
Sunday. And if believers, if God's children
do not take a stand, if believers do not take a stand, then they
will encroach even upon Sundays. We know that. Because that's
the way sin is. You give it an inch and it takes
a mile. It comes in in a very sly, away,
but it doesn't just come in, it comes in and spreads. And
that's the way this world is. It never has been any different
and it never will be any different until the Lord comes again and
there's a new heaven and a new earth. Wherein dwelleth righteousness,
the scripture says. Don't you look forward to that
day. A world wherein dwells righteousness. Righteous people living here
and righteousness being wrought. Now, in living in this hostile
environment, it is important, for Christ's sake, and don't
miss that, for Christ's sake, that, as he said here in verse
12, that our conversation, our lifestyle, now he says, be honest
among the Gentiles. Having your conversation honest
among the Gentiles, but we can just substitute for Gentiles,
unbelievers. Unbelievers having your conversation,
the way you live honest among the Gentiles. Wouldn't it be
wonderful if each and every one of us tonight could live in such
a way as Daniel lived when those who hated him there in the court
of the king said, if we find anything, If we find anything
we can charge him with, it's gonna have to be something to
do with his God, because he lived such an upright life there, and
being a counselor to the king even. But tonight, we want to
go on, and these verses, as I said, they deal especially with servants,
and there's four parts to my message. First, these verses
concern servants and masters. Notice that in verse 18. Servants,
be subject to your masters with all fear. These verses we're
looking at tonight concern servants and masters. Now, when Peter
wrote this letter and the day in which he lived and the country
in which these believers lived to which he wrote, there were
two kind of servants. We know that. There were two
kinds of servants. There were those who the New
Testament calls bond, and there were those the New Testament
calls free. Bond and free. For instance,
in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13, the apostles showing there's
no difference. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We're all saved by the same blood
and righteousness of Jesus Christ. There's no difference among men
and women. No matter what nation, what nationality
we are, we're all one in Christ. And he said this, for by one
spirit are we all baptized into one body. That is the new birth.
We're all baptized into one body. whether we be Jews or Gentiles. Now that was a great division
among the Jews. You were either a Jew or a Gentile. And as far as the Jews were concerned,
the Gentiles were dogs. They were the worst of individuals. Prejudice, it's always been around,
hasn't it? And there's only one cure, really,
and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the scripture here
says, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jew or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, whether we
be bond servants or free servants, and have all been made to drink
into one spirit. To be bond, of course, would
be to be in captivity. A person in those days might
be a slave in a number of different ways. He may have been taken
in war, may have been captured in war. And I thought about that
young girl that was taken in captivity into the house of Naaman
back in the days of Elisha. She was an Israelite, wasn't
she? She was a Jewish girl and she was captured And she wasn't
the only one captured, but she became a servant. She was bond. But yet she testified there in
that country of God's grace and God's power and God's profit
in her homeland. But a person might become bond
by being captured in war. A person might be born into a
state of bondage, of slavery, or a person at that time might
sell himself. His position in life, his position
in society might be reduced down to it was either starve to death
or become a servant, become a slave. And many became slaves in that
way. There were many slaves who were
members of these New Testament churches. Let me make that point. There were many who were bond. They would be servants. Now others
were free, but they too were servants. Every, and I thank
God that we live in a time and we live in a country where there
are no bond servants. There are free servants. Every
person in this building tonight who has a job, who works for
someone else, you are a servant. You are an employee and you are
a servant, but you are a free servant, a free servant. Now
these verses address both classes of servants, those who were bond
and those who were free. But not only do we see here in
this verse that there were two classes of servants, there are
two classes of masters. Look at the verse again, verse
18. Servants, be subject unto your masters with all fear, not
only to the good, There were some masters who were good, not only to the good and gentle,
but also, here's another class of masters, froward. I looked
that word up again, froward, we don't use the word, it's an
archaic word, but the Greek word from which it is translated means
crooked. A master who's crooked or bent. The meaning is perverse. You
work for a man, you have a boss or maybe a woman boss who's perverse,
crooked. John Gill defined a master like
this as being ill-natured, first of all, just ill-natured. I imagine
some of you can remember you've had some bosses like that. Maybe
you've worked for some people. They're just ill-natured. And
then not only ill-natured, but morose, gloomy, just gloomy,
and rigorous, rigorous, demanding more than maybe they should.
And I looked at that word rigorous. I was reading through Exodus
this past week, and I read about the Israelites. They were made
to serve with rigor. They had masters, didn't they?
I don't know if they were in bondage, but they were made to
serve with rigor, the Israelites did in Egypt. So that's the first part of my
message, their servants and their masters. Now the second part
is, these verses concern the conduct of both servants and
masters. the conduct of those servants
who are bond and those servants who are free. But these verses
here mainly deal with servants who have a forward master, who
have an adverse master, an ill-natured, morose, or rigorous master. And I want you to notice there
in verse 18 where he said, servants, be subject to your masters with
all fear. Now, the fear of man bringeth
a snare, one of the Proverbs says. Paul told Timothy, God
hath not given us a spirit of fear. What does he mean here
in all fear? Well, I think personally that
he's speaking about the fear of the Lord. the fear of the
Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. And all of God's children
have the fear of the Lord, and that's the way servants should
serve their masters, whether they are bond or free, as unto
the Lord. Fear of the Lord. Now, servants are exhorted to
be subject to their masters, but we should always remember
that a servant, an employee, our subjection must first of
all be to God, to God. And I want to go back because
of something I said last Sunday evening in the message. I don't
know if I made this clear. I want to make it clear that
all government, all authority is ordained of God. Now once
you look back in Romans chapter 13, The apostle here in Romans 13,
let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there's
no power but of God. 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 damnations. Now notice, for rulers, for rulers
are not a terror, Do good works. Person lives in this world and
he obeys the laws. He doesn't fear the rulers, just
like when you're driving your car and the speed limit's 30
miles an hour and you're driving 30 miles an hour and you look
over there and there's a police car over there. That doesn't
bother you at all, does it? No, rulers, they're not terrorists. to citizens and to those who
do well, but to the evil, but to those who break the law, lawbreakers. Will thou then not be afraid
of the power? Now, the point I want to clarify
and make sure it's clear is simply this. Yes, all power is ordained
of God, these rulers are ordained of God, we are to be subject
unto them as God's children UNLESS they command us or would have
us to do something which is CONTRARY to the law of God. Just like
when Peter and John were beaten in Acts chapter 4, I believe
it is, by the religious authorities, and they were commanded Don't
you teach anymore here in Jerusalem the name of Jesus Christ. You
just shut up and sit down. You just don't teach anymore.
And what was their response? You judge whether it's better
to obey God or man. But for us, we have no choice. We're going to obey God. We're
going to preach. And the same thing is true here
with servants, that is employees, and their masters, their employers,
their bosses, if we use that term. If a master were to tell,
here's a Christian, he's working for a man or a woman who is his
employer, and he says, I want you to lie about this. I want
you to tell a lie. You know that's not true, but
we've got to do this or we're gonna lose business. Are you
to lie? Are you to be subject to? Of
course not. We obey a higher ruler, and that is God. And God has said that we not
lie, that we tell the truth. If your boss were to have you
misrepresent your product, Are you commanded to do that? We're
told here to be subject to these masters? Of course not. We have
a higher power that we are subject to. Now, John Brown, one of the
English pastors, was very much used of God in his day, but he
pointed out these four things that show the Christian servants servitude, or how our obedience
rather, our obedience, how it should be. And he, he names these
four things. If you're working for someone,
you have a boss, number one, respect, respect, you should
respect the man you work for the man that's over you. A woman
should respect number, number two, faithfulness. You should
be faithful. He's paying you for eight hours
work. then you should give him eight hours work. Faithfulness. You are supposed to be on the
job at 8 a.m. You don't get there 10 minutes
after 8. 15 minutes after 8. Faithfulness. Diligence. There's a third thing, diligence.
And I would include in that in being diligent and doing your
job. The job that you've been assigned.
And the last thing, cheerfulness. To be cheerful. To thank God
that you've got a job. Cheerful. You know, people, some
people go to work in the morning and they just show up in a bad
mood. A Christian shouldn't do that. A believer shouldn't do that.
We've always got cause to rejoice, to be thankful, to praise God,
To be cheerful. If someone asks you how you're
doing, I'm doing good. The Lord's good. This is a good
day. The sun's shining. And always, I'm having a bad
day, you know. I'm having a bad day today. No,
be cheerful. It makes the work environment
much better, much better. These masters here, In this case,
I want you to notice, they had the power to buffet. Notice that
in verse 20, these masters. For what glory is it if when
you be buffeted? Now, this of course would only
have meant those who were bond. Surely a person who was free,
his master did not buffet him. This word buffet, It means to
strike with the fist, to strike with the fist, and then to strike
in any way. But basically it just means to
maltreat a servant. And I want to say a word about
that word, thankworthy, in verse 19. For this is thankworthy. Did you know that word that is
translated there, thank-worthy, is the word grace? It's the very
same word that's translated grace in Ephesians 2 and verse 8. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. What he is saying here is the
conduct here that Peter is exhorting servants to have concerning their
masters, it is to be the result of having experienced the grace
of God. You know, the grace of God is
something we don't just talk about and teach about, but it
is something that we are to live out, to live out. And that's
what he's speaking of here, living out the grace that God has worked
in us. I think of that verse in Titus
where the apostle Paul said, for the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching. God's grace teaches
us, doesn't it? Not only saves us, but it teaches
us. And what does it teach us? Paul
says that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live
soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. This is thankworthy,
this is the product of having experienced the grace of God,
this kind of conduct that he's exhorting these believers to
manifest. The third, this is a conduct
to which Christians are called, verse 21, for even here unto
were you called. This conduct is to be that of
patience, under undeserved suffering, suffering that you do not deserve. Patience is to be manifested. And the apostle gives two motives
for this. Two motives for this patient
suffering when working for a boss that is unjust, that is perverse. Number one, this is acceptable
to God. Verse 20, for what glory is it
if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently? But if, now notice, when you
do well and suffer for it, you suffer for it, you've done your
job, you've done a good job, but you have a boss, an employer
that is perverse, crooked, bent. When you do well and suffer for
it, you take it patiently. Now notice, this is acceptable
to God. This conduct is acceptable to
God. And isn't it amazing that God
gives you the grace to live this out and then he honors you or
rewards you for this grace that he has given you. And the second
motive, not only because this is acceptable with God, but number
two, Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that
we should follow in his steps. What an example of undeserved
suffering. Right? What an example of undeserved
suffering. Christ only went about doing
good, healing, supplying the needs of individuals. He only
went about doing good, and yet he suffered for it. He suffered
for it. His patient suffering under the
will of God, who did no sin, verse 22. Neither was guile found
in his mouth. Here's the motive, here's his
example, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. The fourth part of my message
is, let us remember this, Christ suffered more than just to be
an example. He is an example for all of us,
but we know that he's much more than an example. Notice these
three truths about his suffering. His sufferings and death were
substitutionary. Notice who his own self bear
our sins. in his own body. The sins of
his people. If you are one of his children
tonight, God took your sin. This is what, this is the gospel,
isn't it? Substitution of Christ. He took our place that we might
take his place. He took our place, our sins,
that we might take His place. His place was a son of God. The son of God. He suffered for
us. He bared our sins in his own
body on the tree. His whole life, from his birth
to his death on the cross, was a life of substitutionary suffering. But it was on the cross where
The sins of his people were charged to his account and he suffered. And he suffered to satisfy God's
holy justice. The second thing is his sufferings
and death accomplished. And I like that, don't you? I
like to emphasize the fact that the death of Christ accomplished
didn't just make something possible. It accomplished all that God
intended. It accomplished. And what he
tells us here, his sufferings and death accomplished our deliverance
from condemnation. Notice he says that we, being
dead to sin, should live under righteousness. It accomplished
the fact that we are now, believers are now dead to sin. And I've
made this statement before, let me remind us of this. I've often
said, we are dead to sin, but sin is not dead to us. You say,
what's the difference? Sin is dead to us in the sense
that sin has lost its power to condemn us. It cannot condemn
us. Why? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again. Sin cannot condemn us. Why? Because he answered for our sin. He carried our sins away. The
fact that he took them upon himself and bore them in his body on
the tree and then laid his body laid in the tomb and Three days
later, he comes out of that tomb, but our sins didn't come out. Our sins didn't come out. No,
he bore them away, removed them like that scapegoat pictured
in the Old Testament when the high priest on the Day of Atonement,
after the atonement had been made and the blood had been sprinkled
on the mercy seat, he confesses the sins. of the nation of Israel
on the head of that live goat, and it's led by a just man, and
it's led out into a place uninhabited, and the picture is, you're never
to see that goat again. You're never to see him again.
Why? Because he carried our sins away. He buried them in his own body
on the tree. And his sufferings and death
accomplished our deliverance from condemnation. We cannot
be condemned because Christ has died. The third thing, his sufferings
and death brings about our healing and our return. Look at what
he says in the last verse, or the last part of verse 24, and
then the last verse. By whose stripes you were healed. Sin in the Bible, is pictured
in many different ways, but one of the ways it is pictured as
a disease, as an incurable disease. And men have sought out many
remedies, many cures, but there's only one, by his stripes. You see that? By whose stripes
you were healed. By his suffering, and death,
you were healed. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. And by his stripes, we are healed. This is a cure, and it's the
only cure for sin, by his stripes, by his suffering, by his blood
shedding, his death. This is a cure which could never
have entered into the mind of man to conceive. And even when
it's made known, when it is proclaimed and preached, the world says,
that's foolish. That's foolishness to the wisdom
of this world. Here's a man who's all covered
over with diseases, and you're telling me that he's healed by
this man over here, his stripes, his suffering. How does that
help this man? That's the gospel, isn't it?
That's the gospel. By his stripes, by his suffering,
by his death, and that alone, we are healed. healed of that
awful, awful disease of sin. And the last thing, we were all
like sheep. One thing about a sheep, when
a sheep goes astray, if the shepherd doesn't find him, you better
just kiss him goodbye. He's never coming back on his
own. And that's just so. And that's
the way all of us were. If we are saved tonight, we were
sheep. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world and given to him, him to be our shepherd
and we to be his sheep. But when we came into this world,
we were like sheep going astray. And we would have continued going
astray if the good shepherd had not come and found us. Had 100 sheep in that parable,
didn't he? And he missed one of them. One
out of 100. You've got 99 there. Isn't that enough? Oh, no. Oh, no. I've got to find that
one. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. And he will seek until he finds
each and every one of his sheep. And we are returned unto him
as a shepherd and bishop, that is the overseer of our souls. It is through God's free and
powerful grace that we are returned. You say return? Yes, return. You see, before the foundation
of the world, we were given unto him to be his bride, but we fell. We fell. And everyone has gone
astray. Every man has turned to his own
way. But now we've returned. We've been brought back by the
saving grace of God. May the Lord bless this word,
those of us here tonight.