1 Peter, Part 4

Well, good afternoon to everyone. We'll see how today goes here. I know we have a lot of people missing today, for several reasons. I think the weather has kept some people away. If you've been watching the weather on television, you'll notice that just south of us they've had a series of tornadoes going through. Some very severe weather and rain. And I know a few people have been very reluctant to get out. Plus, we still have a number of members who are sick.

So we need to continue to pray for one another. Let's go over to 1 Peter 2. Last time we actually got down through verse 10. I'd like to just back up to verse 9 to pick up the theme and the story here. You might remember Peter begins to describe the tremendous calling that you and I have as a people.

And he compares it to what God did in the Old Testament, because some of the terminology here, if you'll remember, apply to ancient Israel. It applies to spiritual Israel today. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9, says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So at one time we were totally ignorant in total darkness, and God reveals the truth. Now, the word generation here means race, and it implies that you have a common father. Ancient Israel descended from Abraham.

You and I have a common father in that God is our father. So therefore, the reason why we're here and we're a family is because we are the family of God. Royal priesthood implies the joining of kingship and priesthood, and you and I are kings and priests today. And actually, we're in training, are we not? We're going to literally be kings and priests in the future, but right now we are in training for that.

We are a nation, meaning the word there in the Greek means a multitude of people with the same nature. What kind of nature do we have that's in common? Well, it's not talking about human nature, it's talking about the fact that God imparts to us his spirit, and we then become a holy nation. And we are a special or a peculiar people. We're God's possession. And you and I are people who have gained value because we've been owned or acquired by God, and that's actually what this word means.

Today, somebody can be famous, and because they're famous, their belongings can be sold, and people put a greater value on it, and something that might be very simple, they will sell for a great deal of money. Well, you and I are ordinary people. We're not the great mighties of this world. And we have value because we become the sons of God and the daughters of God. And so therefore, there could be no greater value placed upon us than to be the very children of God. In the great, the word means put a circle around it.

And making a circle indicates ownership. You circle it and it means you own it. So what it's talking about is each one of us is a very special, unique individual to God. When you stop and you think about it, you and I, it doesn't matter if there was never another human being, you and I have been handpicked and selected by God to be a part of his family.

And that's an awesome calling. Now, verse 10 says, who once were not a people, we were not a people. You couldn't point a finger at us and say that we were anything. But God has made us a special people, as it goes on to say here, but now we are the people of God. So we are God's people who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Now, this is a reference back to the book of Hosea. You go back to Hosea 1 and 2.

And again, I referred to this the last time. Hosea had some children. And lo am I. Lo Ruthamah. And they meant no mercy and not my people. And you remove the word lo, which is not from it. And then all at once you become my people and you have mercy. And so God actually shows here that that application of that scripture refers to us. And it's going to refer to ancient Israel when they disobeyed God and God sent them off into captivity. It was like He turned his back on them and said, you're not my people and I will not extend mercy.

But when they repented, then God extended mercy to them. And the same thing is true of us. So picking it up in verse 11 then, it says, Beloved. Now this is a term. How many people are beloved? I should say, not beloved, but beloved. How many people do you go around calling beloved?

I call my wife beloved or beloved, whichever way you want to inject that. It's not just a pleasant injection here, but it is a word that shows that God deeply loves us. That if God refers to you as beloved, that's something special. And so we need to realize as He's going through here, this whole section shows how special we are. Not that we are anything of ourselves, but we become special because God called us. We become His people. We're a chosen generation. We're a royal priesthood, and we've been called to proclaim His praises. God wants us to live a life by our conduct where we exalt Him and we show His qualities. So He says, Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul.

Now, the word sojourners and pilgrim means strangers and sojourners. You and I are looked upon today as strangers. Now, a stranger would be somebody normally, in the Old Testament, they referred to a stranger as somebody who would be more like an alien, who would come among the Israelites. Well, you and I are strangers today, and we're sojourners, meaning we're temporarily here. It describes someone who is only a temporary resident in a place whose home is somewhere else. Now, people immediately, when they read that, jump to the conclusion, our home is heaven and we're just here on earth. But that's not what it's talking about. It was a term in the Old Testament and used in the Greek translation to describe the patriarchs as they wandered in the Promised Land, the children of Israel, who were slaves and strangers in the land of Egypt. You and I today, as Christians, are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and as a result, the laws of that Kingdom are what are more binding upon us than other laws.

Hold your place here. Let's notice Philippians 3.20. Go back here. Philippians 3.20 says, for our citizenship is in heaven. Now, it doesn't say we're in heaven, but it says our citizenship is in heaven. It is a heavenly Kingdom, and that Kingdom is going to come to this earth, to rule over the earth, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then, Colossians 1, just over a page here, my Bible, Colossians 1.13, you'll notice that He has delivered us from the power of darkness. So, you and I, at one time, we're in the Kingdom of Darkness, the power of darkness, Satan the devil. And He has translated us, so He's moved us from one Kingdom to another. He's translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. So, you and I then become citizens of the Kingdom of God. And what is the Gospel message all about? Well, Christ came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the good news about God's Kingdom and government. And so, you'll find that this is what verse 11 here is referring to. Coming back here again, 1 Peter 2, 11. Now, it mentions here, fleshly lust.

When the Bible generally refers to fleshly, it's talking about the nature of man apart from God. It means living without measuring up to God's standard and the help and the influence of God.

So, there is a war, as it goes on to say here, which wars against the soul.

Romans 7 would be a good chapter to tie in with this. When you want to do what's right, you find that there's a law that you do what's wrong. When you want to do good, you find evil is there. And so, we have the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life that we have to fight against. And so, we find that there is a battle going on. And the flesh itself is not evil. Christ was God in the flesh. He wasn't evil. He never sinned. And yet, He never gave in to the fleshly desires. You and I have fleshly desires. Desires like to eat, or to drink, or sex, or whatever they might be. Now, human beings don't control those desires. So therefore, they overeat, or they overdrink, or they, you know, maybe they overindulge or get involved in sexual things that they shouldn't. Well, Christ never did that. He always had total perfect control over that. But sad to say, you and I are not Christ. And we do sin, and we do make those mistakes. So, He goes on to say then, in verse 12, knowing that we are sojourners, we're here temporarily, we're strangers, in the sense that we're members of another kingdom, and we have to obey and keep God's law above man's law, there's a conflict. So, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. So, you and I must live, have a noble lifestyle, so to speak, manner of living, is what the word is referring to here when it calls or talks about your conduct. That means how you live, how you conduct yourself day by day, how you treat others, how you treat everyone you come in contact with. That you have your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. That when they speak against you, so notice, even though you may do everything honorably and obey God, keep His laws, and your conduct is honorable, that the unconverted will still speak against you.

Because, you know, they will find fault because they don't agree with what the Bible says. And when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation.

Now, you might think, well, if I'm doing right, I'm doing good, how can anybody speak against me? Well, you have to realize in the first century, Christians were written against, just as an example, their feast days, they were accused of having sexual orgies at the Passover, in sexual days. They said that Christians damaged trade, broke up families, encouraged rebellion by slaves, were haters of mankind, and anybody who objectively analyzed and were willing to investigate Christians, guess what? They found out that wasn't true. But these are some of the accusations. Many of you will remember in the early days in Big Sandy, when we kept the feast there, that the local community used to talk about how we were slaughtering animals, killing hundreds and thousands of sheep and goats and cattle, and how the blood was running in the ditches there, and all of this. They had no idea what we were doing, but they came up with all of this.

You know, the greatest advertisement you have for Christianity is your way of life. How you live. We've had people at the feast, you know, when we gather for the feast at Tabernacles, talk about what nice children you have, what fine families, you know, how cooperative, how patient. It's a shame that you have that crazy religion. And they don't realize it's that crazy religion is the reason why we're this way, and they don't equate the two together. Now, it talks here that they will glorify God in the day of visitation. Now, we know that the day of visitation refers to the second coming of Christ, to the earth, and at that time when people are resurrected, or in the white throne judgment, they will remember our example. But also, the day of visitation could refer to the fact of whenever God decides to visit somebody and open their mind and their eyes. And how many people have been called into the church as a direct result of the example of God's people, you know, the example that you said? Well, you know, that's exactly what takes place. Now, in verse 13, it says, Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to the governor as to those who are sent by him for a punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. And for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

So you and I have to submit, notice it says, to every ordinance of man.

Now, when do we not submit to every ordinance of man?

Acts 5.29, I think we all know that, but let's just go over and read it.

Acts chapter 5, in verse 29, you might remember the apostles had been brought before the council, Sanhedrin and all. They were commanded not to speak in Christ's name.

And Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The only thing that you do not obey is if you are told to disobey God, you must put God first.

And so you always put God first. Otherwise, though, there is a voluntary yielding to authority, to the ordinances of men. Actually, as we begin here in verse 13, you find that what this is talking about is a Christian's relationship to the world. How do we relate to society and to the world? It relates to a Christian's duty toward the state. Now, you need to remember, when he says this, where were they living? They were living in the Roman Empire.

At this time, I believe Nero was the Caesar, the emperor. And so, therefore, when he says, submit yourself to every ordinance, to the king as supreme, he's obviously talking here about the fact that you must submit and respect the office. You might not always respect what the person does, but you have to respect that office that a person holds. And then it talks about governors and so on. Verse 15, for this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of the foolish. You can never argue someone into agreement, but the legitimate argument is many times shut up by good works. They may say, well, these people are ignorant or whatever, but our good deeds are the things that will stand up and shine before them. Put to silence. And the word means close their mouth. It means like closing the mouth with a muzzle, where they won't have anything they can say. Again, they may not like your religion. They may speak against the religion, speak against the church, but they will have to respect and praise your example. If you're law-abiding, you submit, you pay your taxes, you're a good neighbor, you help people around you, what are they going to say?

Now, in verse 16, as free and not using your liberty as a cloak for vice, but as servants of God. Now, you and I are free, where we have experienced grace, but we are not to use that liberty that we have as an excuse to disobey. Now, can you think of anyone or any organization or any people in the modern era who've done that, who've used the cloak of liberty to throw off the Sabbath day and the holy days and to get rid of God's law? You see, any Christian doctrine can be perverted as an excuse for evil if a person wants to. The doctrine of grace can be perverted as an excuse for sending to one's heart's content. But we know of people who've said grace means that God has freed us from the law, freed us from having to keep the commandments, therefore we don't have to do that.

And so, grace has been perverted into excuse for sending.

The doctrine of love of God can be sentimentalized as an excuse for breaking His law.

So, Christian freedom is something that the Bible warns us not to use it as a cloak of vice. And the word here for vice means wickedness.

But as servants of God, you and I are to be servants of God.

Even the pagan philosophers realize that perfect freedom is a product of perfect obedience. Now, Seneca, as an example, said no one is free who is a slave of his body.

Why? Well, because you're a slave of your body and to its pulls.

Cicero said we are the servants of the law that we may be able to be free. Plutarch said instead insisted that every bad man is a slave.

Another philosopher declared that no bad man can ever be free.

Christian freedom, remember this, is always conditioned by Christian responsibility.

You must be responsible for your actions. Christian freedom does not mean freedom to do as we like. It means being free to do as we ought, as we should. Now, notice the book of Jude.

Jude 4.

We find that in the New Testament church, the first century, that this situation was already occurring, where grace was being turned into license to do evil.

Verse 4 says, certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness.

Lasciviousness is just simply a license to do what you want to do. And denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we just finished the book of James, but what does James 1.25 say?

That God's law is called a law of liberty.

If you keep God's law, what does it do? Well, it frees you from the penalties of breaking it. When you break God's law, you come under a penalty.

James 2.12 says the same thing.

So you and I cannot use our liberty that we have as an excuse to disobey.

Now, going on here, then, verse 17, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Now, again, when Peter wrote this, remember, there were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.

Sixty million.

Everyone who by the law was consigned not to be a person, but a thing. They had no rights whatsoever as slaves. And people were just regarded as a number.

So, along comes Peter, and he says, honor all people.

That's slaves, free men, everybody.

But especially love the brotherhood. That's the church. You know, those who are part of the brotherhood. Brothers. We say, how are you doing, brother? And we talk about sisters. No, sisters, no. We talk about brothers and sisters as far as the church. But then we're told to fear God.

And notice, it says, honor the king.

So, even if the king was Nero, you still have to honor him.

And you have to respect the office. Now, he goes on and he gets into a subject that's going to bleed on over into chapter 3, as we will see.

He begins to talk about servants. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. Now, this is an interesting section of Scripture, because where in the New Testament do you find slavery condemned?

Where does it come out and say, get rid of all your slaves?

Ah, it doesn't.

Now, many slave owners treated the slaves with kindness.

In the Roman Empire, I mentioned there was almost as many slaves as there were Roman citizens.

It depended on who the master was, how the slave was treated.

There were slaves who were treated kindly, even though they didn't have any legal rights.

Justice for a slave was strictly what his master decreed it, and his master could have him killed, or he could treat him kindly.

At that time, many children that were produced by a slave automatically became a slave of the master. The master owned them, just like you would own cattle. You have cows out here, they have calves. They're your calves. You have a slave, they have children. They're your slaves. I mean, that's the way it worked.

And Peter's advice was intended to help those in slavery live in a way that their masters would show them favor. Just as living in the Roman Empire, he was telling them how to get along under the government, the system they were living in. So, here you find the same thing. I asked the question why none of the New Testament writers condemned slavery. Well, there's several reasons. One, they'd always lived in the world where there was slaves. Slavery was the norm. This wasn't the abnormal, it was the norm.

It was an accepted practice. There had been a number of slave rebellions in the Roman Empire. We all remember Spartacus and that particular movie.

They were always crushed without mercy. So, you have a church congregation and half your congregation slaves and you tell them, you need to rebel against your master. You need to run off.

Well, guess what? They'd be hunted down like dogs and killed.

So, you know, that was exactly what was going to happen. It was not the United States, 1950, 60, 70, or 1800, 1863, or whatever period of time. The church had advocated the abolishment, if the church had advocated the abolishment of slavery, it would have been viewed as an enemy of the state. And therefore, they would have started cracking down on the church and would have wiped or tried to wipe it out. The teachings of the New Testament had already greatly modified and improved the relationship between masters and slaves. And so, basically, what Peter and the other writers did was to try to teach those who were slaves how to treat their master, how to work. And if you were a master, how to treat your slaves. And we know in one case where the book of Philemon, you know, one slave had run away, Paul brought him back, but he asked the owner, you know, please, you know, the Onesimus here is serving me and helping me, let him go free.

And he didn't command him. He used a lot of psychology and vague, and probably he did.

What you have to realize is that there are some things that cannot be changed quickly.

Even though you might like to see them changed, there are some situations where you don't have any control over it. And to, you know, teach otherwise. I mean, there could be all kinds of reasons other than what I've mentioned here, but it is significant that at that time, in those days, that you don't find the New Testament writers just writing against it, and it just wasn't something that was done. Notice you're to submit to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. The gentle Ones would be those who would be moderate in justice and who would be kind to you, and the harsh Ones would be those who are self-centered and selfish and unfair, and maybe they take advantage of you. Now, in verse 19, For this is commendable if because of conscious towards God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. Now, the word commendable means an act that goes beyond the ordinary course. It is the Greek word charos, which means from which we get grace. So, he's talking about, here is an action, and it's very commendable if because of your conscience, as it says here, towards God, because you want to obey God. You want to be a Christian. You want to set a good example. You endure grief, and you suffer wrongfully. See, Peter anticipated a very important question that would come up. What if I submit? What if I work for my master's if I were working for Jesus Christ? I have a good attitude, and I'm still mistreated. What should I do? Peter cites the example of Jesus Christ, as we will see here. His ultimate answer is, you are not living this way of life just so you'll be treated, better treated. You know, that's a spin-off, yes. You're living this way of life because it is the right way to live. Now, you stop and think about how many of us have ever been confronted with a major trial because we are living this way of life. The Sabbath, maybe, and losing your job, taking the holy days off, and, you know, having difficulty. I remember my wife and I, Norm and I, once went to the Feast of Tabernacles. And as we were about to leave, we'd never had a problem with this before.

One of the schools said, no, your kids can't take off, and they're going to be docked. Well, we were headed for South Africa, back in 1987. There wasn't much we could do. I just said, we're taking them out. You go read up on the law because this was the state of Pennsylvania. Actually, the state of Pennsylvania had passed a law mentioning the worldwide Church of God, and they mean all the holy days. So this was a principal who really didn't know where he stood.

So we took kids out of school, our children. I think there were two of them in that school. We left for the Feast. We came back about three weeks later, and we went back to the school. There was no problem. In the meantime, they had found out what the law says. But how many of us have run into that type of thing where your children are... my wife was a teenager.

When she first started attending the Feast, and she had the same problem that many of you young people do in going to school and having to get your lessons, go to the Feast, study, come back. There were times that her grades were docked as a result of her keeping the Feast. So Peter cites the example, you do what's right. You and I are going to be blessed because we're doing what's right. You may not always be treated right as far as society is concerned.

So you and I need to display the mind of Christ, even if we are treated in an unjust way.

Okay, let's go on to verse 20 here.

For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently?

But when you do good and suffer and you take it patiently, this is commendable to God. The word credit means, well, what glory, what good report is it if you're beaten for your faults? I mean, if you're at fault, Peter said, you know, maybe you deserve the punishment. Nobody deserves to be beaten, obviously, but you know, you can't say, well, I'm being treated unjustly here because you're at fault. The thing to do is to do good, do right, and then if you suffer, you are noticed. Are you to scream, pull your hair out? No, it says you take it patiently. This is commendable to God. God never promised that nothing bad would happen to Christians.

There are those who teach, you know, the prosperity gospel that you obey God, God will bless you, and you'll become a millionaire, a thousandaire, you know, you'll have all of these, you'll have a car and two cars in the big house, you know, two cars in the big house, and all of these things. Well, that doesn't square up the scriptures. How many of the original apostles died because they were martyred? Well, 11 out of 12. Paul was martyred. Probably, you know, any number of New Testament Christians were martyred also. We know thousands of them were. You know, they suffered. So, we have to realize that God still expects us to obey because our ultimate reward is not now, our ultimate reward is in God's kingdom, and that's what we're looking forward to. In verse 21, it says, to this you were called, see, this is what you were called to, because Christ also suffered. Now, see, Christ isn't asking us to do anything that he didn't do. Did he suffer? Well, he suffered more than any of us ever think about suffering. For this you were called because Christ also suffered, but notice who did he suffer for? For us. In other words, for all humanity, but for us, who are in the church right now, leaving us an example. So, he set an example that you should follow his steps. So, we are to live the same way Christ did. He suffered. He never sinned, even though they accused him of sin. He never broke God's law. Never once did he suffer never once did he do that, and yet he was persecuted. He was rejected. He was called a illegitimate child. He was called everything you could think of under the sun, and yet he was not guilty of any of that. When we suffer unjustly, it's very easy for all of us to become angry, bitter, upset, and God knows exactly what we're going through, and he knows exactly what we're suffering because he suffered the just for the unjust. We were the unjust. He was the just, and yet Christ was willing to suffer for us. When it says, he said an example, example means model or pattern to be copied. It's interesting, this is a word that's used in the Greek here, which literally means underwriting. What it means is it's like a teacher who gives a child a book. Maybe many of you will remember learning your ABCs and how to print. You'd have a book where the letters were formed faintly, and you were to take your pen, and you were to trace over those, where you learned how to make your ABCs. Well, that's what this is talking about. That you and I follow the pattern that has been set there before us, and Christ set the pattern for us to follow. The word follow means to literally take the same road, same path. We're going in the same direction toward the kingdom of God. Now verse 22 says, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Christ was not deceitful. He was not too faced. He never sinned. When he was reviled, that means to be insulted, rebuked, corrected, ridiculed. You know all of that. When he was reviled, he did not revile in turn. How often somebody makes fun of you, ridicules you? Do you want to get back at him, or do you want to say something? When he suffered, he did not threaten. I'll get you. And he didn't threaten, but he committed himself to him who judges righteously. The word committed means entrusted.

Brethren, can we come to the point where we realize that God's in charge?

And as a Christian, that when things happen to us, come our way, we pray about it, we ask for God's intervention, if God allows things to continue, that there is a reason that we place ourselves in God's hand and ask for his help, ask for his strength, ask for his guidance.

And then verse 24 says, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

This is a word in the Septuagint translation that's used in the Old Testament of the priest, carrying a sacrifice up to the altar when it says bore. They bore or they carry the animal that was to be burned, placed it up here on the altar. And so he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. The word tree just means wood here, an object fashioned out of wood. And so, that we, having died to sins, when you and I are baptized, we bury the old man.

We die to sins, but that we might live for righteousness. You see, we cannot continue to, let's say it's not just enough to repent of our sins. So this is what today's of unleavened bread picture. We put the leavening out, don't we? But guess what? We, the unleavened bread during that period of time, picturing putting righteousness in. So one's out, one's in. And you and I are to live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. So we know that Jesus Christ was beaten, he was scourged. The word stripes here, actually in the Greek, means bruise. And it's talking about a scar produced by scourging. The word is singular, not plural.

And basically, in a sense, Peter in his mind's eye is looking back at Christ because he saw him being scourged, or after he was scourged, saw him crucified. And it's almost like his beating, his body that was beat to a pulp in his mind was like a single bruise, you know, just a single beating. And that's what he's referring to. You and I are to die to a life of sin, and we are now to live to a life of righteousness. So we find that the Bible is very clear that by his stripes we're healed. That's physical healing. But, brethren, we have so many ways that we need to be healed.

How many of us need emotionally to be healed? Psychologically to be healed? You know, many different ways. And Christ's sacrifice was there for the complete healing of all of us. And then verse 25, for you were like sheep going astray. That's the way all of us have been. Better like sheep going off in different directions and not following the shepherd. But now you've returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Now, the word here when it says sheep going astray means habitually going astray. In the past, before God called us, we were habitually living our own way of life. We did what came naturally. We lived in sin. When it talks about the shepherd, the shepherd is a reference to the tenderness and care God has for his people. The word overseer refers to watchman or guardian. And it is a word that was used in the Greek to mean the protector of public safety, the guardian of honor and honesty. And so we find that God tenderly looks after us and cares for us just like a shepherd does the sheep and that he is there to protect us and guard us and look after us. Okay, that brings us to the end of chapter 2. So we will take a break, have another song, have announcements, and we'll come back for part 2 and pick it up in chapter 3.