The words we'll examine tonight come out of 1 Peter 2, verses 21 through 25. 1 Peter 2, 21 through 25. Returning there, let us understand what lies before us. Suffering. Peter's writing about suffering, and he puts this understanding and this conversation about suffering right in the middle of a discourse It's talking about submission to the civil leaders, submission from slaves to their masters, and then following, we'll see submission from the wife to the husband. You go, well, why do you take this break, Peter, in your teaching of submission and the system of authorities within this world to talk about suffering? Because we recognize that in this world, we are going to suffer. and we have the example of Christ. Think about it, he just got done telling the servants, or the slaves, to be subject to their masters, even those that are unjust. You think there's some suffering that's gonna occur with an unjust master? Oh, yeah. I mean, you can think of maybe an unjust teacher you had back in school, or in school now, if you're homeschooled, don't say anything, right? But you can think like, was it easy? Was there pain and suffering that happened there? Absolutely. So we see he's laying out this complex for us to see and to grasp because what we're having to deal with is we have a new identity in Christ. We are a holy nation, a righteous people, yet we're living in this world under the system that at times is unjust and unrighteous. And Peter is calling us to suffer in righteousness. Now notice that, we're not just to suffer, just to suffer. No, to suffer in obedience to Christ. We must recognize that suffering is part of the fall. In the garden, before sin entered the scene, there was no suffering. Suffering simply put is pain, distress, hardship. There was none of that. Right now we can't even fathom that, right? We can't even kind of picture it. Like maybe, maybe a day at Hershey Park is a day of no suffering, but then you're hot, your legs hurt. So even that doesn't work. We can't comprehend this idea that there was absolutely no suffering in the world. And then we know that at the fall, Sin enters the scene, there's punishments dealt with, dealt out, and suffering is a part of the fall. There's pain in childbirth, there's sweating of the brow in the labor of gathering food, there's pain, there's destruction of our bodies and death, all of this is suffering. So we must recognize that suffering is part of the fall. So simply suffering is not righteousness. Everyone suffers. Everyone suffers. The most pagan atheist out there suffers in some way in their lives. So suffering itself is not righteous. But what we'll see tonight is Peter roots it that our suffering in righteousness, our suffering in obedience to God is honorable because we're walking the steps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That when we suffer just for random things, or when we suffer because of our sin, you shouldn't be patting yourself on the back saying, look how good of a Christian I am, I'm suffering. The righteousness comes when you are obedient to Christ, yet the world still attacks. Yet, the oppressors are still pushing down. And in your obedience brings extra suffering from the world. This is the glory of walking in Christ. This is the glory and the example that Christ gives to us. That in his righteousness he suffers, and we should walk in his footsteps. So let us look at 1 Peter 2, starting in verse 21. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd. overseer of your souls." A lot of this language is taken right out of that Isaiah 53 passage. You hear echoes of it. The suffering servant is often what that chapter in Isaiah is referred to or called. You see the language of being healed by the wounds of Christ. You see the language of a shepherd coming and caring for us. All of that is wrapped up in the Old Testament. And here comes Christ onto the scene, fulfilling the prophecy that has been promised throughout all of history. And Peter gives us the hard and tough command of Christ being our example in suffering. Look at verse 21, for to this you have been called. To what? The suffering, and think back, he's talking directly to the slaves that are to be subject to their masters. He's saying to this, for to this you have been called. Why am I called to suffer in this world? Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. We're gonna talk about that tonight, understanding the example of righteous suffering, not just general suffering. I think there's a temptation in us that any kind of suffering in this world, we find joy in, and we say, oh, look how good it is. Look how great this is that we're suffering, and this is what a Christian's all about, is suffering. But often the drunk that got arrested for drinking and driving is sitting in the prison cell. I'm a good Christian. I'm suffering. I've been imprisoned, right? Well, no, you've been in prison because of your crime and your sin. You've been in prison because of your unrighteous living. So we're not just talking about any kind of suffering. or if we're consuming and doing drugs and then our bodies are deteriorating faster, the Christian shouldn't sit back and say, look how righteous I am. This is what it means to suffer. My body's deteriorating because I'm taking drugs. What a great Christian I am, right? That's foolish, right, Jordan? Yeah, it's foolish. You guys are so far over here. I feel like I have to give two sermons and come back. We don't want this idea of just any kind of suffering is righteous, because the whole world then is righteous. They're all suffering. What we must plant our suffering in is are we suffering because we are walking in obedience to Christ? Is our suffering a result of our obedience? That's the key. Is our suffering a result of our obedience to God and to Christ? Are we walking in that example? Not just general suffering. I lay that out and make this point so evident is because I want us to be grounded as we think through what's the suffering that Christ gave us an example and the suffering that we can maybe expect in our lives. Because it's there. It's there and we must be prepared to to walk in the likeness of Christ in this suffering. I do think our, while the whole world suffers from our failing bodies, right? Everyone dies, everyone has physical pains. And while that itself is not righteous, how we go through that is righteousness, can be righteousness. Are we hoping in something greater? While our bodies ache and our bodies are in pain and we're in the hospitals. So often when we come to visit you guys that are in the hospitals, it's actually an encouragement for Pastor Matt and I. Like why is this person so happy in such pain and really kind of a miserable place? because it's the work of Christ, it's the work of the Holy Spirit within your life, and that suffering, that's the endurance that is bringing hope and it's producing something good. So the pain itself isn't necessarily the suffering that Peter's talking about, but how you endure through it is. Now, there are times that people go through physical pain because of their obedience to Christ. We have church history to show this to us. We have a long lineage of saints that have gone to their deaths in obedience to Christ. They've been persecuted and put to death because of obedience to Christ. I picked out five, which is really hard for me, because church history is fun, and if you start looking to the martyrs that have gone before us or those that have suffered in obedience to Christ, you have probably two years of study in front of you. If you study every hour for the rest of your life, you'll see this. So Polycarp of Smyrna is 155 AD, really old guy. Right, really old, John? Okay. He's one of the earliest church fathers, has a connection to the apostles. He died at the stake. He was burned to death, and the story goes that as they burned him, he wasn't burning the way they wanted him to burn. He was sitting in the stake, and the flames were around him, and he kept singing psalms. And if you really wanna upset the pagans, as they're trying to kill you, be singing the worship of God. So then they pierced him. Anyone know why he was burned at the stake? He refused to burn incense to Caesar. His worship was to God, his worship was to Christ, and not to Caesar. And this was the death penalty. He went to his death because of his obedience to Christ. There is only one Lord, or one king that he will worship. This is a general one, the 8th and 9th century. If you wanna have some fun, study the Berber, or the Berber Christians. This is Northern Africa. And at this time, there was an Islamic caliphate going through the world, the known world. And the records are skewed a little bit, but thousands, if not tens of thousands of Christians were put to death. Why were they put to death? They refused to convert to Islam. The rule was you worship and follow Islam or we cut off your head. Thousands of Christians went to their deaths because they would not bow to someone else. They would not worship a false god. They stayed true to Christ. Let's jump forward in history. John Hus, Johannes Hus, whatever dramatic language you wanna use for his name, 1415. He died, he was burned as well, that's a popular way of killing back in the good old days. Anyone know how John Huss or why John Huss died? Someone's mouthing something, I can't read lips, I'm sorry, Harmony. You could sign it to me, I still wouldn't understand it. Essentially, he wanted the Bible in the hands of people who put him to death, the Pope. He said, well, that's not a good thing. John Huston, he had a lot of drama with the Pope at that time, but he was saying the Pope isn't the ultimate authority, and we need the word of God in the streets. And he was put to death for that. John Ford, this man wasn't put to death for his faith and his obedience, but John Bunyan? John Bunyan's a good Puritan and tinker. He wasn't a theologian. He wasn't a professionally trained theologian, and he was imprisoned. The reason he was imprisoned, multiple times, he was known by the prison guards. You don't wanna be known by prison guards. Maybe you do, actually. If you're like John Bunyan, he was known by the prison guards because he would get arrested for preaching the gospel. The Church of England at that time did not want unlicensed, untrained people to be preaching and teaching. They outlawed it. John Bunyan said, you can't stop the preaching of God's word, and he was arrested multiple times. It actually was a good thing for him. We get a lot of great writings from John Bunyan when he was in prison. So Matty, you want some peace time to write? We'll get you in the jail. You'll have all the time in the world to lift weights and to write. The last one, Adam Smith-Connor, anyone familiar with that name? November 20, 22, he's a British guy, Smith-Connor is the most British last name you can have. He was arrested, anyone know why he was arrested? He was silently praying 50 meters away from an abortion clinic. How scandalous, how dangerous of a man. So we see this understanding of persecution and suffering is not foreign. We have an example right here, 2022. We have examples around the world of Christians still going to their deaths in obedience to Christ. So the question is, how could have all of these people and all the martyrs and all those that have suffered throughout history endured such suffering? because they have the example of Christ. Let us look at this example. What does it mean to suffer righteously? What should we expect and how should it look in our lives? So let's look. Verse 21, we know that Christ is our example. He's left us the example so that you might follow in his steps. Here is how Christ suffered. Verse 22, he committed no sin. Beloved, let us keep this forefront in our minds. He committed, how much sin? No sin, zero sin. Now, if we think about our own lives, many of the pains and distress and hardships have been brought onto our lives because of our foolishness, right? Or maybe I'm just speaking on my own behalf here. We have a lot of suffering, a lot of pain because we've said something foolish. We've done something foolish, we've harmed someone by how we've talked, we've conducted ourselves in an unrighteous way and it's brought a hardship into our lives. But here we see Christ and His suffering is the suffering on the cross, the going to His physical death and the separation from the Father, taking on the punishment of our sins, even though He had committed no sins. So what's our example? Is that we should be living lives, we should be walking in such a way that we are living righteously, we should not be committing sins. So that if that's when the suffering comes is when we haven't broken the law, the law of God, we haven't broken the law of God and we haven't sinned against God, yet we're suffering, we're walking in the example of Christ. There's two aspects to Christ's example for us. One is he fulfilled the law. He fulfilled the law. What the law required, he did. The form of worship required, he did. This is the active aspect of Christ, that he is actively obeying the law. He's actively participating in the instructions of the Lord. He is doing and acting in the context of history where he lived in fulfillment of the law. But there's also an internal, maybe more private aspect of the law and the sin that Christ did not commit, was that he worshiped God rightly in his heart. You know, we hear about the law of not murdering and not committing adultery, and then what does Jesus do? He comes onto the scene and says, yeah, that's true, but then what's he do? In Matthew 5, he starts to pierce into the heart of man. Our hearts are corrupt, our hearts are dirty. We can make the list and we can get really disciplined and not break the law outwardly, but inside it's just oozing with filth and disgust. Jesus didn't even break that law. Jesus didn't even sin in his heart or in his thoughts. The sinlessness of Christ is perfect. Not even a hint of sin is found within him. His actions, his conduct, his desires, his wants, all are righteous and are sinless. 1 Peter 1, verse 19 says, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, what kind of lamb? Without blemish or spot. Christ is perfect, sinless. This is the example laid before us. When I say that, we start to go, well, I can't do it. I can't be sinless. I have this issue of sin. I have this lust and this pride and this hatred within me. How am I to do this? Well, it's walking in the example of Christ. If you have been born again, you've been indwelled by the Holy Spirit, meaning you are a new creation, and you're going, how should I live as this new creation? You look to the example of Christ. Walking in obedience, not sinning against God. That's maybe the first thing we gotta hold in our minds. If we're suffering, is there a sin that has brought that suffering upon us? If not, then you are walking in the likeness of Christ. But it's not only that he doesn't sin, we will also see something about his words. Look with me back in verse 22. He committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. This is maybe the hardest words for me to accept and comprehend. Not that I'm sinless, I'm not saying that, but when I'm thinking about my sin issue, this is often where it lies, is in my words. Deceit, revile, and threats. That's the words that Jesus does not commit. His deceit, he doesn't lie. He doesn't lie. Persecution's coming down around him. And if you know the gospel stories and the testimonies within the gospels, you see time after time, Jesus has an opportunity. Just say you're not the Lord. Just say you're not the son of God. Just say that you're not God. Just say that you're not who you are. If you say that, then we'll leave you alone. We won't bother you. We won't persecute you. What's he do? He's not gonna lie. He's not gonna lie and deceive, make false claims. He allows the suffering to come in. The accusation is the suffering's coming to him because of truth, he's enduring it. He also doesn't twist it. He could start lying about someone else, right? Well, yeah, I am the son of God, but then over here, there's John the Baptist, you gotta deal with him, he's the real problem. Or Barabbas, you could really deal with Barabbas, he's right in front of you guys, you see his crimes, deal with him. The deceit is not on the lips of Christ. Is it on our lips? Often. Often when the suffering, the persecution comes, we want to lie our way out of it. Or has the suffering come because of your lies? You've been caught up in some lie. You've been sowing lies and storytelling for so much that finally you forget what you told. It now comes back around on you and you're caught. And now you're suffering. And you're going, woe is me. My wife's now mad at me. My boss is upset at me. He fired me because I lied about how much product we were producing. But you know what, I'm just a good Christian. This is what I'm called to do, is suffer for Christ. Well, not if you're lying. Not if the suffering was brought on because you've been lying about your conduct. You've been lying within society. The example Christ lays before us is he suffers even when he did not lie. His language was not deceitful. Revile. He didn't revile. Look again with me. He says when he was reviled, He did not revile in return. So when he was slandered, and he was talked bad about, what did he not do? He did not slander. He did not talk bad about the people slandering him. Friends, is this our nature? Make you laughing, because you know me, and you know that's not our nature in the flesh. What happens? Let's just go to a Thanksgiving dinner, Your cousin, who you can't stand to read on Facebook, is now in front of you, and they say one thing off-colored about you. What are you gonna do? Oh, you're gonna crush him. You've been storing up. Every time you take a shower, you've been thinking about what you're gonna say to them when you sit down with them for dinner. That's not what Christ does. Even when the slander's in the attacks, he's being lied about. What's he not do? He doesn't come back with a sharp tongue. He doesn't come back and say, let me break you down. Let me destroy you. He doesn't fall for that. Because often what happens, look, we think we have the best response. We're quick-witted, someone attacks us, we have the perfect punch to hit back with. Does that often end the conflict? No, it intensifies it, right? The hardship just gets worse. That relationship is more broken than ever before. We think, oh, this is gonna solve the problem, or we just feel good in the moment, so we revolve, we cut back with a sharp tongue, and it causes problems. Here's Christ going to His death, being lied about, being slandered. Think about the mockery, the mockery of the crown of thorns they put on His head. They were mocking Him. Oh, the King of the Jews. Or when he's hanging on the cross, oh, oh, get down if you're so great. Solve this, get yourself down. The mockery there. And what does Jesus say from the cross? Oh, oh, and he comes back with a sharp response? Does even in his suffering and his death and as the attacks of slander are coming at him, you see mercy and grace from our Lord and Savior. Mercy and grace and love being poured out against the ignorance of these people. So we see his suffering doesn't come because of his revile. And then lastly, the suffering doesn't come because of his threats. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. That's our temptation too, we're in the bad situation. Our boss has done something to us, we're upset about it. and you go, when I get out of this situation, oh, you just wait till the next week. I'm going to, and then you lay it out. Or your friends, you just, or really, it's probably your enemies at that point, you just wait till you're not around, and you're gonna find out what I'm gonna say about you, right? It's these threats that we put out there. This is our defense mechanism. This is our defense mechanism. We're trying to fight our way out of the suffering. The pain's coming upon us, and what are we gonna do? We're gonna fight our way out of it. That's not the example Christ lays before us. He did not threaten. Was Jesus powerful? Yes. If he wanted to, could he have called down destruction upon the people, bring suffering upon him? Yes. Oh, he could have threatened them, right? You just wait, you just wait, I'm going to X, Y, Z you after this. That's not what he does. What's he do in his suffering? And we read in Isaiah 53, he's silent. He's the lamb going before the sheriff, he's silent. He's enduring the suffering, not lashing out with his words, which are so tempting for us. using his tongue as this weapon to fight and to destroy his enemies. But his suffering, he goes in silence, hanging on the cross for us. Now, how is he able to do this? Yes, he's Christ, right? He's God. But notice what Peter says, why he is able to do this. The end of verse 23, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Continued, meaning it's a continuous action, it's not just a once and done thing. Continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Beloved, every martyr, every Christian that has been persecuted throughout all of history has done and followed Jesus in this example. They have continued in trusting themselves to him who judges justly. They're trusting themselves to God. They're trusting God is good and righteous. They're trusting God that he is the ultimate judge and all of wickedness, all of sin, all of the enemies will be judged one day. Why is this helpful for us in enduring suffering? Because we know that the enemies will not get away with it. The suffering will not go unpunished. Those that have brought the suffering upon us will not just be, well, okay, it's just okay, just go on. They will be punished. Our problem is we often don't see it in our lifetime. We often don't get to see the punishment laid out. Your boss causes suffering upon you at times because of your righteous living, and they persecute you, or your friends do it, or the world does it. We see the governments do it around the world, the persecution of Christians for being Christian. And we won't often get to see the fulfillment of justice laid out. We want justice in our lives. we want justice, the world wants justice, and we see the only true and eternal justice comes at the hand of the Lord. It gives us hope to endure through that suffering, and all the pain, the Christians going to their death, they won't get to see the punishment and the justice poured out for their death, for their murder, but they trust in the Lord that He sits in heaven enthroned. They trust in the Lord that He will judge everyone one day, and everyone will stand before Him. And those enemies that have sent and persecuted the Christians will receive the punishment for their wickedness. Or, Christ has endured their punishment for them. Think about that. There may be instances, I believe there's many instances that those that have persecuted Christians will be washed, cleansed by the blood of Christ, and Christ will take that punishment for the persecution of Christians. How can I believe such a thing? There's a little man named Paul in scripture. Persecuting Christians, sinful act, murderous man in this instance. He's a murderous man persecuting Christians. He comes to faith in Christ. Does that mean those sins and that punishment just got washed away? No, it's placed on Christ. Christ paid for that sin in his death before Paul ever committed it. The only way we can endure suffering is to believe that God is just and he will judge everyone one day, even the enemies. and us as well, and we stand in the righteousness of Christ, and we pray for our enemies to one day stand in the righteousness of Christ. We pray for those persecuting us to stand in the righteousness of Christ. Beloved, we do desire for suffering to go away. Don't hear me that, oh, because you're suffering because of walking in obedience to Christ, you just gotta endure it, you don't ever need to fight against it, ever stop it. Right, do we want the unjust slave owner to be just or unjust? We want them to be just. We want them to be kind to their slaves. We're praying for that, we're preaching a gospel that teaches that, but ultimately, we don't know if we'll see them turn from their wickedness. We know that God is just. He is the just judge sitting in heaven. Acts 17, 29 through 31 is an example of this, that He is the judge and the judge will judge justly. It was kind of a repeat of word intentionally. The judge will judge justly through one man. That's what Acts 17 tells us, through one man, Christ Jesus. So we have this hope in front of us that in the suffering, in the pain, we know that everything will be made right in the end, even if we don't get to see it in our lifetime. So are we walking in the example of Christ? Is our suffering coming upon us when we're not sinning, when our words aren't sharp and trying to destroy, and when we are trusting in the just judge? This is the example of Christ. So in our suffering, this is how we should be operating, not sinning, not belittling with our words, not lying, not reviling, no threats, and then we're walking in hope of God. So what's our reward in Christ's suffering? What's our reward in Christ's suffering? Look with me in verse 24 and 25. He himself, so the suffering of Christ, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Our reward of Christ's suffering is that we can walk in his righteousness, that we can live in his righteousness, that we have been healed by his righteousness, that he is a good overseeing shepherd of our souls. Our reward is that we die to sin and live to righteousness. So Christ's suffering has brought the reward to us. He himself bore our sins in his body. Remember, he was the one that didn't sin. He's the lamb that didn't speak out and lash out and lies and reviling and threats. He's the one that hasn't committed any sin and doesn't deserve the punishment. He's the one that went to the cross. So his suffering is because of you and I. His suffering is because of our sins, and He willfully went to the cross. Why? It's to bear our sins in His body, to take on the punishment of death and destruction that you and I owe to God. We owe it, and Jesus took it on our behalf. Jesus paid it on our behalf. Romans 3, 23 through 26, this is what it's all about, that He is the propitiation, the payment for our sins, So his death is our death to sin. His life is our life in righteousness. It starts to change how we live in this world. That if you are in Christ, you have died to sin and you now live in righteousness. You have the spirit of God dwelling within you and you can now walk and live in a righteous way. And that you have killed and are killing your sins. That's our reward. Our reward is that we can kill our sins. Our reward is that we have a new spirit, a new nature within us that causes us to hate sin and fight against it. Our reward is that we have been made righteous before a holy God, and he looks at us and says, you are my child. What a beautiful reward. And notice that that righteousness is what? Is it dead righteousness? Is it lifeless righteousness? No, it's that we live to righteousness. We are living and functioning and moving. It's why Peter gives us this example of to walk like Christ, because we are alive. News flash, right? If you hear me, you're alive. Some famous philosopher, old guy probably said that while wearing a toga. If you're hearing me, you're alive. So if we are alive in righteousness and we are living and functioning and yet we're in this world that is still corrupt and God is still redeeming it, we can function in righteousness even in a corrupt world. Gives us hope. We can function in righteousness. We can live in righteousness even in a corrupt world. Even if you're a slave owned by an unjust slave master. Even if you are a person, a citizen of an unjust and wicked nation, you can live in righteousness. The outside factors of our lives do not dictate the righteousness of Christ within us. So our first reward is that we die to sin and live to righteousness. The second reward that comes from Christ's suffering is by his wounds you have been healed. Oh, friend, I'm having a stroke up here is where I'm processing. By His wounds, we're healed. His wounds are reward. His blood are healing. His death are life. By His wounds, you have been healed. The Son of God, the fully God, fully man, Jesus Christ suffered He took on wounds, physical piercings of his body, spiritual suffering from the Father, so that we can be healed, that our bodies can be made new, that our spirits can be made new. His wounds brought us healing. If that doesn't blow your minds, if that's not the biggest, whatever fancy word of contradiction, but a good contradiction we have in this world, that his wounds have brought us healing. His suffering has brought us righteousness. Beloved, this is the reality we live in, that Christ suffered so that we can be healed from our sin. Christ suffered that we can be healed from this fall. Christ suffered so that we can be made righteous and live with Him forever. Is that the Christ we worship? Is that the gospel we preach? That Christ's wounds are bringing healing? Now, if there's healing that is needed, there must be a wound, there must be an injury to happen, and we know that's sin. Often we wanna avoid that conversation in the world. We just gotta say, Christ loves, he's love, he's love, absolutely. But what's his love done? What's his love accomplished? His love has taken him to the cross so that all of our spiritual wounds, our deadness, as Ephesians tells us, that we were dead in our sins, that that can be healed because of Christ's suffering. That's our Lord and Savior, that's part of our reward. We die to sin, we live to righteousness. His wounds have brought us healing. Now if you walked into your doctor's office And you say, hey, doc, my shoulder hurts. And he says, okay, and he just cuts his hand right in front of you. You're like, all right, I'm going to find a new physician, right? There's a problem here. This didn't solve my shoulder issue. I have a shoulder issue, now I have PTSD from seeing my doctor do that to himself. Because there's the physical side there. That's not how doctors function. But the one who created the body and the soul is the one who has died to redeem the body and the soul. He can heal and make things new in miraculous ways. The third reward that we have is that he is, and we have, he is an overseer, we have a shepherd. Verse 25, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. I got nervous this morning, Pastor Matt started going down that passage. I was like, please cut it off, cut it off. but it was good for me to hear and be reminded that we have a good shepherd. Why is this a reward for us? It's because we used to be lost. We used to be dumb sheep just wandering, following after passions, following after our own desires, getting lost, getting stuck. and gullies, and stuck, and fences. Some of my favorite videos on YouTube is sheep stuck somewhere. I have two. If you want to watch them, come talk to me. There's one where a sheep is stuck in a fence up on top of a mountain. This guy rescues it. And then what's the sheep do? He takes a step and tumbles down the mountain. And then the other one, the sheep is stuck upside down in this ditch. And a guy comes and rescues it, picks it up, frees it from the ditch. The sheep takes two leaps and falls right back into the ditch. And the guy has to go rescue it again. favorite videos, it's how I fall asleep at night. Kind of. But they're foolish. And here's what's happening is we're often referred to as sheep. Stuck in ditches, right? Aren't we stuck in the ditch and the fence of death and sin? We can rip our head out of that fence every once in a while, but what do we do? We just fall down a hill into another trap of sin and temptation. We're lost, we're just wandering, we can't find our way. We can't seem to figure out where to eat. I'm not talking about Waffle House or IHOP. I'm talking about the spiritual food that we need. We're seeking after fulfillment and fullness and everything other than Christ. It's who we are outside of Christ. But here, he has come while we were straying like sheep. He has suffered on our behalf and now, we have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of our souls. We now have a guide. We now have one who stands over us, protecting us from the enemy. We have a protector from the enemy. The attacks of Satan aren't that strong when you are in Christ Jesus. We have one that is nourishing us. He has led us to streams of fresh and soothing and healing water. We have one that has taken us to pastures of green grass, filling our bellies up and making us joyful. This is what Psalm 23 is telling us, right? Psalm 23 is all about this good shepherd guiding and leading and protecting us. We have a shepherd that's getting us through this life, guiding us through the maze of this world we live in and the lives we have. Friends, we must recognize that this reward of a shepherd is glorious. We were lost before him, now he is ours. We were wandering before him and now he's leading us. We were in danger of every attack, yet now we are protected. Our shepherd is good. But notice that Peter ends with the shepherd imagery. There's a little debate, why would he end with the shepherd imagery? Is it that important? Sometimes in Greek writing, you emphasize the most important things in the beginning of a statement, or sometimes in the end of a larger context, you end on what's maybe the most important statement. And there's some nerds can have debates over what that is and where that is. But I think Peter is being very intentional of landing this discourse of suffering on us having a good shepherd, having a shepherd over us. Why? Because remember, this is right in the middle of the context of talking about submission to authority. And if we understand the shepherd is the authority of the sheep, and we can jump back up to verse 17 of the same chapter, it says, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God. Fear God, honor the emperor. Fear God's there. Why? It's because we recognize that we have a good, great shepherd over all institutions, over all systems in this world. Jesus, our good shepherd, is over the civil government. Amen, somebody. Yeah, that he is over the civil government. So even if a civil government operates and does wicked and unjust things, we have our good shepherds over them. And one day that politician, that government will bow their knee to our shepherd. Even if you are a slave and slave to an unjust slave master, there's a good shepherd that's over that unjust slave master. And one day that wicked slave master will bow their knee to Christ Jesus. And later on, we'll see wives are to submit to their husbands. Even if you have a wicked husband who's unjust and unrighteous, we know that we have a good, good shepherd over that unruly husband. And that husband one day will bow before Christ. I believe that Peter is putting this at the end of this discourse to remind us that all the principalities and the powers of this world that seem to have a lot of influence and a lot of power within our lives are all subject to our great shepherd, Jesus Christ. He sits in heaven now. He sits at the right hand of the Father now, having dominion over heaven and earth now. Now we can endure the suffering. that's where He is, we're gonna one day enter with Him. If we are walking in righteousness and we are suffering because of it, and we go to the stake and burn because of walking in obedience to Christ, what's the worst thing gonna happen to us? We die and enter the presence of Christ? Amen. Let's go. Let's go now. Oh, what's gonna happen if our boss fires us because we are not going to lie in our productions or our documentation, and we refuse to lie, and he says, okay, you're out of here? Now, hear me, it hurts. You will feel the pain of losing the job and the salary, but the reward that waits in heaven for us surpasses that suffering. It surpasses the suffering of this life. Yes, the world will mock us. Oh, you believe in God. You believe in this Bible that was written by a bunch of people thousands of years ago. Just some made up man in the sky. Have you heard this? These lies and these slanders? And we say, yes, we do. We walk in that. That slander, your friends and your family and your enemies mocking you does hurt. Don't hear me and say, oh, it doesn't hurt. It's not pain. No, that is suffering. but can we endure it because we know the reward is much grander? That one day we will stand before Him and He will say, you are my child. It's not the slanderous attacks of the enemy anymore. We endure the suffering righteously by walking in the example of Christ, and we rejoice in our reward that we have gained from Christ. And beloved, I want us to be encouraged by this and see that we live as Christians today, knowing that we have a good shepherd in heaven on our behalf. Let's go before him in prayer. Oh holy God, we thank you. We thank you for this truth. Lord, I ask that you strengthen us. Give us the endurance. Give us the strength and the knowledge to walk in obedience to you. May we see this as the suffering you've called us to. May we see the goodness at work, your goodness at work in all things. And Lord, when we sin, when we bring on the suffering upon ourselves for our foolishness, cause us to repent quickly, cause us to confess it to you quickly. and give us strength to walk through the punishment and the discipline that's laid out because of our sin. And Father, may we rejoice in the goodness of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. May we think of this regularly in our lives and may we proclaim it to the world every chance we get. We pray this in Jesus's name, amen.