First Peter, chapter number two. Follow as I read the general context from which we'll take our text again this morning. I'll begin in verse number 11. Follow, please. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Having your manner of living honest, beautifying the symmetry of your life, being lived out among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day a visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing You may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, and yet not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all, love the brotherhood, fear God, Honor the King. If I were to capsulize or condense all of Peter's instructions and exhortations that we've considered since we've started our study, and it's been a journey, and put all of it into a few words that would focus on this, our mission, our purpose as God's people. During these days as pilgrims, we are given a twofold mission, a twofold purpose. And Peter is clear that God's people are, first, worshipers. He goes to great lengths to describe who we worship, why we worship, how we worship, when we worship. And I have personally found that the Spirit through the Apostle Peter has challenged me, and I trust you as well, to see and not forget worship as our priority as God's people. Can you name something higher and more important than that? Would you challenge that statement? I don't think so. Our purpose throughout our pilgrimage is that we put a priority upon worship. God made us his worshipers who would respond to him with our praises and gratitude for our salvation. Everything that Peter has taught us and exhorted us to do is connected to our worship. Pilgrims are worshipers who know and understand the great purpose of our gathering together and forming the temple of God is to carry out our number one priority, our purpose, to be worshipers. During the days of our pilgrimage, which will at some point in time become the priority of eternity, worshiping God. But I said there's a twofold purpose that I have found as I condense all of this into a few thoughts. The second part of our mission, however, cannot be done without this first part. Worshippers of God are the witnesses of God. That's the other part of our purpose. And Peter makes that equally clear. We are to be witnesses for him during the days of our pilgrimage on the earth. Our purpose is to assemble together with our fellow pilgrims and worship. And when we leave, disperse back into the world where God has placed us. We are to be God's witnesses. We are his light bearers, whose life and words reveal the glory of God to a world living in spiritual darkness. This twofold purpose of God's people never changes. As long as we live on the earth, these are our priorities. Whenever God's people have lived on the earth, 2,000 years since Peter wrote it, the church has opened these books, they've read this, they've learned their priorities. It hasn't changed. To worship and to witness. Whenever we have lived on the earth as pilgrims, and wherever we have lived on the earth as pilgrims, this does not change. Culture doesn't change our mission. We change culture as we carry out our mission. Even when we are called to suffer, circumstances don't dictate our mission. By faith, we trust in our sovereign God and his rule over all things, and whatever we are called to go through, we can rest assured that all trials will work together for his glory and for our good. We don't doubt that. Trials don't remove us or somehow meant to distract us from our purpose. We are presently working through Peter's instructions here in verses 13 through 17 regarding our relationship to human government. Our mission is not controlled by the government we live under. Our purpose remains the same, always. And as pilgrims, we know that God has ordained human governments, he makes that clear, as his institution, and it exists for the general well-being for all humanity. God has created government and ordained it for that purpose. We know governments are flawed. And there's no earthly kind that can be said to be a perfect government because they're led by flawed humans. So we accept that. Peter summarizes our general duty to human governments in a very simple way in verse 13 when he simply says, submit yourselves. This is the duty of every child of God. We are to yield willingly is denoted in that submit. willingly yield to the established laws of the country, the realm we live in, and no one should be forced by the realm or the government to force us to do the right things. We ought to do it willingly. That's the idea. Submit yourselves. Generally speaking, our mission doesn't conflict with human government. There are times, as we have stated before, the government cannot tell us to disobey God. They don't have the power to do that. We must obey God rather than man when those moments occur. But generally speaking, government does not interfere. with our purpose, our mission on the earth. Submit. And Peter also tells us the extent of our duty when he says to every ordinance of man. And so whether it's federal, kind of boiling it down to where we live, whether it's federal laws, state laws, local laws, and whatever the category of these laws might fall under, in order for us to live in peace and to maintain our purpose as light in the world, we must submit to every ordinance of man. These are not complicated things, they just require us to work them out into our life. As humans, even God's elect people, we are limited in our knowledge and understanding of God's purposes being worked out in the world with human governments. Can you look at human governments in the world and explain to me how God is at work in all of that? You would really have to work hard because we don't know. But we have confidence God is doing it. God through human government is working out his will on the earth to accomplish his eternal purposes. And we, by faith, accept that. Our part is to simply carry out the duty to the extent that has been mentioned. And here's all we need to know. We do it for the Lord's sake, says Peter. That's why we do it. We do it for his sake. For his name's sake. That we should not behave in a manner that defames his name, but rather exalts his fame. We do this so that whatever we do, he is being glorified. We do it for the Lord's sake. And we are at peace with that simple explanation concerning why we do what we do. We know that governments will give an account for how they governed. All those who are in authority will stand before God and give a full account for how they governed. Verse 14 makes that clear when he says, no matter who it is that is in authority, we respond to them properly because they have been sent by God and King for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. And so their accountability will be basically focused on two things when they stand before God. All officials in power, all who make laws and all who impose those laws and execute those laws will give an account to God for those laws. And it's real simple what he holds them accountable to, twofold responsibility. They are established by God to punish evildoers, right? meaning to take out or carry out vengeance on criminals who violate the established laws. Paul said in Romans 13 that government is the sword of God's judgment against evildoers. Laws are meant to protect the innocent and punish those who disregard human life and property. Vengeance upon them is the duty of government against evil. And the other duty is for all who are in authority must promote is that they are to promote them that do well, is how he puts it here at the end of verse 14. And so government is to go out of their way to do the right thing. We can definitely see the opposite going on when a culture fails in its basic duty to its citizens, when evil is admired, even praised, as we see a lot of it in our own culture. There's a cancer in our culture that we understand exists. No matter how many advances we might make and push back against it, the cancer is there. And we can see it in this fact that evil is admired and even praised and good is shamed and even punished. The very opposite of what God ordained government to do. We rest in that because we know no one's getting away with anything. There is a day of an accountability and they will stand before God and give an account. And so in verse 15, it is God's will for his pilgrim children that we are, he says, for so is the will of God, that with well doing, and it's the idea that God's children are to be do-gooders. When it comes to the matter of law and supporting those who are sent to administer law, punish evil doers, and promote Do-gooders. We, as Christians, are engaged in that kind of activity. We are promoters of that. We are do-gooders, is how Peter says it, with well-doing. This is the conduct that God requires of his people, and we too will give an account for our response to the authority of those who carry out the laws. We are to shut the mouths or not give any reason to those in authority over us to criticize our Christian faith and beliefs. Anything that might defame the Lord. So it is our good works that we are to be doing that are meant to be a witness for the things of God that will silence our critics. Silence the ignorance of foolish men by doing good. It's not complicated. This is to mean just going about doing good, living life as you should, do the right thing, make right choices, treat people properly. It's not complicated. In verse 16, This is where we'll spend the rest of our time this morning. This is really a part of verse 15, so it ought to be read together with it. He says, for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. There's one sentence here. is to be considered as a whole. We silence those who criticize us by submitting and supporting the established laws, not because we are slaves, but because we are free. We are free people. Where is Peter going with this description of God's people? He uses another adjective here, right? We are free people. That's how God's people are to be known, free people. What kind of freedom is he referring to? Remember, Peter is writing to believers scattered all throughout the Roman Empire. And at that time in history, It is estimated that Rome had over 60 million slaves, at least. Many of them were used by the Roman government to do work that needed to be done for the empire. They were road builders. They cut down forests. They built buildings and bridges. They were actively engaged in the work of the Roman empire. Many of them, most of them. Other slaves were sold and used to serve the wealthy landowners. They worked the fields, took care of the herds, flocks. And their life was not their own. They lived in bondage to a master. Some slaves were guilty. We know this not only by history, but it's implied in both Paul and Peter. Some slaves were guilty of participating or leaning toward revolting that was taking place throughout the empire, all over the empire, and Rome was constantly sending its legions to put down these revolts. Many slaves participated, hoping they could break free from the Roman yoke of bondage. If you were a slave and you saw a revolt, you probably would think, this is a good opportunity. A natural man, not a spiritual one, of course, So when Peter tells the Christians to live as free people, he is not encouraging rebellion against human government. Don't even think that way. So what are we free from and from whom are we free? I'm sure we could all come up with some basic good answers to this, but I want you to hear it from the Scriptures. Go back to the Gospel of John, chapter number 8, John's Gospel, chapter 8, thinking about what is Peter saying that we are free people? What does that mean? We'll listen to Jesus. and Paul on the subject as well. Jesus in chapter 8 of John, beginning in verse number 30, he says, and as he was speaking, teaching these words, many believed on him. It's interesting that believing on Jesus and his words do not necessarily equal true conversion. And then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, so he's gonna be very direct here, gonna sort it out. If, condition, you continue in my word, then are you my disciples truly indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jesus uses the same Greek word that Peter does, but he uses the verb form. And why does he do this? He does this because true freedom is determined by those who continue. They remain steadfast. They follow his word and truth. In other words, Jesus is saying that this is how free people act. They act as my disciples indeed, truly. and they will continue to be learners of my word." Because remember Isaiah talked about that as he projected into the future the Messiah and what would happen. He talked about the disciples being learners of the truth. Anticipated that. And here it's being fulfilled through the words of Jesus. But notice verse 33, how they respond. They answered him, We're of Abraham's seed. And we're never in bondage to any man. You kind of scratch your head in that response, but we were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall be made free? And so in their response, they don't refer to the actions of freedom, they refer to that description of being free. The adjective, right? We're free people. Jesus was talking about how free people behave. And they're just focusing on the fact we're free people. And he is challenging the way they're thinking. This because you say you're free, and you don't do those things that free people do, raises a big suspicion over whether or not you are God's disciples. And so there, Jesus responds to them in verse 34. Truly, truly, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is a servant of sin." So he's taken this whole subject into a different realm, suddenly pivoting here to a deeper place. He's aroused their curiosity, but they're floating on the surface up here. And so he's going to take this thing to a deeper place for them to think. They thought they were free. Of course, this word refers to someone who's been freed, liberated from bondage. And in a sense, that was true of them. God has always liberated them from bondage, whether it was in Egypt, under certain rules of different governments, and they were still waiting to be freed from the Roman yoke. They were focused on the description not the action of what freedom is. They believed that they were a free people, but didn't have the works of free people, which Jesus explains as the actions of continuing to hear and obey his word. Jesus now takes this to the place in verse 34, where he brings up the subject of sin as a master. So he's got their attention thinking about this subject. Now he's gonna take it where it really needs to go. So he brings up the subject of sin as a slave or master and those who commit it or they continue in their sins without resistance, they are not truly free people but are the slaves of sin. Isn't that what he says here? I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. The word servant here is that Greek word doulos, right? And it means slave, the lowest form of slavery known. Whosoever committeth, continueth. finds no need to resist or make changes in their life. John works this out in his epistle that Steve will get into as he labors through that book. God's people don't continue to sin is how John said it. Jesus saying is that they are not committed to continue to sin, but whosoever committed continues to sin. is the slave of sin. So this whole idea of freedom and slavery and what are we free from, it's all coming to life here in Jesus' teachings. A slave, a servant, lives in bondage and has not been liberated or set free. You've not been liberated. You've not been set free. You say you believe. You say you're free people. But if you're not continuing in my word, then you have not been liberated. You are still in slavery to sin. And so in verses 35, and the servant, he goes on, Jesus does, and the servant abideth not in the house forever. Kind of puts an interesting spin on this here that's very significant. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. So Jesus makes a connection now between our sonship and his sonship. The true children of Abraham are free indeed. We are made the children of Abraham by faith and true faith continues in the words of the truth. And this is how we identify the free people of God. They hear, they submit, they obey. No matter where you go in the New Testament, it doesn't take you too long in your reading to come across this reality. It's said many times by the apostles and by Christ himself. And so Peter, Peter, who was there that day, he heard these words, is telling us, taking spinning off of these words of Jesus as he's guided by the Spirit of God, that we are free people. He's referring to free people here. Well, we go back to John's Gospel, Jesus tells us who real free people are. In case there was any doubt in your mind, who are the free people? Jesus has clarified that for us. We are free from those things that once held us in bondage. We are no longer slaves to our sin. Sin is not our master any longer. Isn't that how Jesus taught it here? Another, quickly, another statement by Jesus in Matthew 6. During his Sermon on the Mount, he uses similar language here in talking about the choice between the things of the world and the things of God. We have to make a decision about what is going to preoccupy our mind, what is going to consume our interest, what is our number one priority. Jesus gives some great information here for whom? Kingdom children, right? He's not writing to the world, he's writing to his own people who are subject to this. We don't ever want to think that we are not subject to this reality, this temptation called mammon, the things of this world. Jesus said in verse 24, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You, my disciples, you, children of the kingdom, You cannot serve God as your priority and make the things of this life and this world your priority. Can't do it. You'll have to choose. Jesus is not teaching his disciples that this is a one-time choice. Okay, you start out, you gotta make a big decision here right at the beginning of your Christian life. Who are you gonna choose to serve? Well, in a sense, we do, but that's not what he's saying here, it's a one-time decision. But rather, it is a constant choice of the human will. Who will I serve? And you may make that decision 10 times, 20 times, 30 times every day. It's a choice that his followers must make throughout their entire lifetime. Both masters require service. And Jesus tells his disciples that we must exercise our freed will. I mean, isn't it a wonderful thing? They talk about free will. Free will is in bondage until it's redeemed, then it becomes free. It's freed. Freed from the bondage of sin and the world, his agents, the world, the flesh, and the devil. We've been freed and given now a will that we can make choices. We have the liberty to make these choices. Jesus said it, either you will choose. You're going to have to make a choice constantly in your life. What will you choose? One more passage to glance at on this that Peter has raised of what is who are the free people. Look at Romans chapter number six. I appreciate Steve, a couple of weeks ago, reading and commenting on this chapter for us. We won't take the time to read the whole chapter. I'll just highlight a few references where this idea of being free is focused on. In verse number six, Knowing this, okay, well, knowing what? Well, how God worked out this whole matter of taking your sinful nature in his own body to the cross and killing it there so it'd have no real lasting power over your life. The chains have been broken. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not be the servants, the slaves of sin any longer. Verse 7, for he that is dead is freed. Do you hear the language of what is encouraging us here? You are freed. You've been set free. If Christ took your old nature to the cross and he killed it there in his own body when he died, that reality never changes. We may not always act that way. We may not always make choices consistent with this, but it doesn't change the fact we've been freed. We have been set free. In verse 11, he talks about the importance of reckoning this to be true, because now we're dealing with mystical things. I mean, these are deep things. How do we make sense out of these truths? Reckon it. Count it to be so. Because it is. Reckon it to be so. Believe it is so. Because it is declared to us by Christ. And therefore, verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it with the lust thereof. He's not saying there's no lust in the flesh. He's not saying that we don't have the temptations to yield to its influences. He's just telling us what has happened and how we need to respond to these truths. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that you should obey it in its lusts. Going down to verse number 16, Paul writes, know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, sounds like Jesus now here, His servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. And so who is your master? Who are you a slave to? If we habitually continually yield and surrender ourself to our lust and we have no ambition and desire to do that which is right, why do we do that which is right? He goes on to say that we might become holy, that we might be holy people and therefore we actively engage in doing that which is right. This is how you identify free people that have truly been freed from the master of sin. And so, but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, you have become the slaves to righteousness. And so, we We hear these words, and Paul is going to quickly remind us, lest we get overwhelmed here about whether or not we are truly God's people, he's going to say, what God has done is permanent. We need to figure out how to reckon it and apply it is the big issue here. Because the truth is, according to Romans 7, we don't do very well with this. We are always making wrong decisions, and we're always doing the wrong things. The things we want to do, we don't do. We know we should do, but we don't. And the things we don't want to do, we know we shouldn't, we end up doing. Doesn't that describe you? Describes me. Very flawed in our application of this glorious freedom that God has given to us. But as Peter has said, Paul has taught, brethren, you're free people. You're free people. And the way that that is distinguished is by the continuance, the interest in righteousness, doing what is right. Free people. But remember, this is not something that you can just sort of, and all too often, I confess this has been a failure in my life from season to season, all too often I go through life without the contemplation of this reality. At this moment, I'm gonna make a choice. And who am I yielding to in this choice? I'm going to allow some master to rule over me for a period of time. And sin wants to be that master of our life because it still dwells in our flesh, like Paul said in Romans 7. But no one else makes this choice for you. You must make this choice. It's you choose. God has freed your will to choose. And he's told you all that he's done and provided, so you will choose the right things. Then going back to 1 Peter, kind of wrapping it up here, this verse 16 in chapter number 2, if you would, 1 Peter 2. We are to live in this world, we are lightbearers of God, which implies we're making right decisions, we're living righteously. As lightbearers in the world, we're doing good, that's the will of God concerning us. And so as free people, we do not use our liberty Christian liberty, we do not use our freedom to cloak any sinful, evil ways of thinking, trying to cover up things. This was a big thing back a few decades ago, Christian liberty being abused. It always seems to cycle round and around throughout Christianity. And Peter is simply saying, no, don't do it. Don't use your liberty this way. That's a wrong way to use your freedom, to cover up your sinful attitudes and behavior, saying I'm free. You're free to behave badly. No. We are free. to be the servants of God. And here's to me, this is impactful for me because what Peter is saying, we once were slaves. God set us free, made us free people. Now choose to be slaves to a different master. And that master is God. So what an interesting decision we have to make. Will we make our master in this life? There's an interesting drama that unfolds in the Old Testament when Israel had been Redeemed as slaves out of Egypt and brought into the land of promise, shortly thereafter they received some real instructions from God to them through God's servant Moses. He gave them instructions and laws that manage their relationship with God and their relationship with one another. And in those laws that he gave, You get up finally around Exodus 21 and you find that there's the subject of slavery that comes up. And it seems as though God's people, through wasteful living, neglect, bad investments, get in debt, can't pay their debt off, then they owe their life to those to whom they owe their debt. And so they become the servants, the slaves of those masters. And God inserted this interesting little bit of information because it has everything to do with how we are to understand it for today. He said, there will be some who have found such a blessing and a joy of having their master who is so kind and generous, they don't want to leave. They don't want to leave. What do we do? Well, you take them to this place, you take all and you bore a hole into their ear and that forever declares. They are bond servants. They are not slaves because they're forced. They're slaves because they want to be slaves. What kind of a people is that? Bond servants. And yet when it comes throughout the Old Testament and you read the prophets who declare that we are the servants of the Lord, they use that word. And when you read the Psalms, as was read earlier, the word servant, it's that word. Psalms 119, 13 times that word is found in Psalms 119. It's all over the place. It's a declaration of people who understand what God has done and are so blessed by his kindness and mercy to them. They don't want to go anywhere else. They want to make him their master. And this is what Peter's talking about here. Free people who then give their life freely. to be the slaves of God. I trust that as we contemplate this, not only today in these moments, but as we leave this place, I know that studying this again has made me a little more conscious, a lot more conscious, not a little more, a lot more conscious of the decisions I'm making. That I'm constantly, I'm given this freedom. Which master will I choose in this moment? That's a thing that we have to search out in our life and be accountable for. This should be our goal. to continue in the word just as Jesus sought. These are the free people indeed, to continue to fight sin and sin's agents of world, flesh, and the devil. This is a good motto for 2025. Live as free people. A few years ago, we were in Ephesians 4, walk worthy of his calling. Remember that? Here's another one. Live as free people. This is who God has called us to be. He set us free to do this. What a pleasure. Would a father want his children to do what they had to do because they were afraid if they didn't they would suffer or he was forcing their hand? God doesn't want that from his children. He set us free so that we can make this beautiful choice. to be his servants. May God help us in the coming year to do that more, more fully. Our Father, we thank you for your word and for the things that we have considered this morning. We are thankful for all the things that we've heard and sung, prayed, and I pray that the spoken word, this simple context of Peter's thought as free Not to use our liberty, our emancipation, our liberation as a means to serve ourself, but as a means to be the servants of God. May that become more fresh and real to us in this coming year, I ask in Christ's name, amen.