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It's been about two months since
our last sermon from Peter's letter. And I do desire your prayers
for me, not only while I continue to recover from the treatments
I receive, but even while I preach, I welcome your sustaining prayer. Two weeks ago when I finished
my treatment, I asked the doctor, how soon do you think I can be
back to some normalcy? be in the pulpit, he says, you
better give it a minimum of six to eight weeks. It's been two.
So I do feel the drain. I feel the mental sluggishness,
the physical tiredness. But I'm committed to giving you
the best that I can. And I pray that God will use
it to minister and bless your life. So, I trust that we can
enter into this together and share this time through God's
Word. The text that I want to read,
if you follow with me, I want to expand a little before, a
little after where we'll be this morning in verse number 13, but
I want to begin reading in verse number 11, so if you'll follow
with me, please. Peter writes, dearly beloved,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts. which war against the soul, having
your conversation honest 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 of 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 not using your liberty for
a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor
all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Peter continues to use, as we
have identified, a number of adjectives in verse 11 and 12,
and even on through his entire letter, to describe or to identify
who we are as God's people. This is who God's people are.
This is how you identify them, how you can recognize them. And here in verse 11, Peter is
telling us that we are a people, and he uses an adjective here
in this word that we have, this Greek word that is translated
dearly beloved, is an adjective. It is a description of who we
are. We are God's special loved people. How important it is. I remember
when we dealt with that, how important it is for me and for
you to recognize how deeply Unto the end he loved his own is how
the gospel of John speaks it. He has loved us indeed with a
love that we are only beginning to comprehend in this life and
will spend all eternity exploring its many depths. Peter uses this description of
us as kind of an obvious conclusion of gathering all of the other
descriptions that he has said about us, who we are. Remember
in verse 9, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people. We have been shown mercy who
had not been recipients of mercy in the past, but now we are recipients
of mercy. With all of this in mind, dearly
beloved, do you understand how much God has truly loved you? It's an important thing for us
to be constantly mindful of as we live out our life because
it is the impetus, it is the motivation, it is the inspiration
for us to be the people we ought to be. that God has loved us
so with such great love. And he has manifested it to us
so that we can visually picture what it looks like when he gave
us his only begotten son as the expression of his love toward
us and all that his person and work achieved on our behalf. We see it in our Lord Jesus Christ.
So God has communicated this special love to us, and we hear
it, we first heard it in the message of the gospel, in the
story, the story that we are told about how God saves sinners,
the gospel, the good news to the world. God has come to save
the lost. And he forgives them and he welcomes
them to receive his provision for our salvation. And at that
moment, we in the gospel get our first glimpse of God's love. And as believers, we are now
eager to hear God's word and through faith believe and obey
those things that we hear And through the instruction of his
word, we learn more and more about God in his plan concerning
us. And we become more and more familiar
with our true identity. The knowledge and understanding
of these things leads us to Peter's statement, God's elect people,
we are his dearly beloved people. And as we grow in this truth,
we are inspired in the doing of His will. He says, you are
this, you are chosen, you are priesthood, you're in holy nation,
so that you would show forth the praises of Him who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And so as those
who've been loved by God, we have a purpose. We have a purpose
when we gather together that he outlined in the first part
of this second chapter. We gather together, every time
we come together, it is for the purpose of worshiping God. And he has made us equipped and
able to bring effective, acceptable worship to him. And so we as
now the children of God, those who've been dearly beloved by
him, we have a purpose when we gather. And he also goes on and
he's telling us, we have a purpose when we disperse and we go out
into this dark world. We are to show forth the praises
of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. We're always a people of purpose.
We're here for a purpose, we go out there for a purpose. We
are never without a purpose. And the thing that motivates
us to achieve those things that we've been called to do is the
knowledge of God's love toward us. That's what draws us to worship. It's what inspires our willingness
to be a light in the world. We want others to know what we
know about God. And so we show forth his
glory, as it were, to the world. And so in verse 11, Peter calls
us dearly beloved. He then beseeches us that we
abstain from fleshly lusts. And there again, we reminded
you there's another adjective, a description. We are fleshly
beings, and as such, we have a fleshly nature which have fleshly
lusts. They're natural to us. Some are
good, some are not so good. We must abstain from those which
are evil and sinful, contrary to God's intentions for us. We
are to abstain from them. We are to say no to them. We
are to keep them from entangling themselves into our life. Every
day we live, we get stained and damaged by the things around
us, and we're always confessing and acknowledging and confessing
to receive forgiveness for those failures that we encounter day
by day. But we are not to allow these
things to entangle themselves. We are not to invite these things
into our life and take control of our life. We are to abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And we must
be conscious, according to Peter here in verse 12, we must be
conscious of our mission and be intentional in our living
as living honestly among the nations of the world wherever
we live and whenever we live on the earth. We have a mission to live honestly
before the nations of the world. And every one of us have the
same mission, wherever there is a church offering praises
to God today, yesterday, tomorrow, wherever believers are offering
their praises to God, we all have the same mission. Doesn't
matter when we live on the earth or where we live, we have the
same mission, to live honestly among the nations of the world. All of this is important because
it lends itself to what Peter's about to be abrupt with, submit
yourselves. This makes no sense if we don't
have this information kind of leading us into his statements. So yes, it matters how we live. Verse 12, having your conversation
honest. We dealt with that to some length
when we were there several months ago, that we are to be living
honestly. referring to that we all have
the same common goal wherever we live, whenever we live. It is that we live our life in
such a manner that they see the world where we live sees a well-ordered,
a well-structured, symmetry, beauty in our life. Christianity
is not a desirable thing just because you say it's wonderful. Our life must show that it is
wonderful by the symmetry and beauty and order that it brings
to us. The way we live. God's nature is beautiful. So
should our life be beautiful as we take in his influences
through his word and spirit upon us. living honestly among the
Gentiles. And we must live each day remembering
that those around us who see and hear us, remember they have
an appointment with God, by the way, and Peter makes it clear
that we are preparing them by our good works for that day of
appointment with God. that they will glorify God as
a result of what they beheld. Now, we mentioned that day of
visitation that Peter mentions here, that those who witness
our life will give glory to God in the day of visitation. It
may mean in reference to their own salvation. When they encounter
God's deliverance in their life, they hear the gospel and they
begin to embrace the truth. They will glorify God for the
good works that you lived out before them. And if it's in reference to the
Day of Judgment, it refers to the same thing. They will be
brought to memory. the good works that you lived
that they rejected and they will still give glory to God for the
good works they beheld from your life. That's what Peter is saying
here in verse 12. They may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. So we need to see this big picture
of God's plan for us. When we gather together, there's
a very clearly defined plan for us. And when we go out into the world
and live our life, there's a clearly defined plan for us. And we need
to recognize that we are a part of God's ongoing work of redemption
in this world. We are participants with God
in this wonderful plan. And so in verses 13 through 17
is an extension of our good works and living honestly among the
different nations wherever God plants his people now and throughout
history. It's been the same thing. Living
in the world means that we will be under the structure and authority
of a human government. That is something that is real. We must not ignore human government
because we're members of God's kingdom and somehow conclude
that we are not subject to earthly rulers. This is important for Peter to
clarify because there was this brewing sentiment among the zealots
of the Jews to cast off the Roman yoke and make war with Rome. This was a growing thing, and
less than 10 years from when Peter writes, that rebellion
was going to reach its peak. and millions would die under
the Roman sword attempting to rebel against Rome. The thing that's often a mystery
here, and I love how Peter works through all of this and lands
in verse 17 at the end there where he does, and we'll work
through the details here over the next couple of weeks, but
Peter shows there's a wonderful connection here. Fear God, honor
the king. Fear God, honor the king. There is something here that
is possible because we're exhorted to do it. fear God and honor
the king. And so as he works through all
of this, he lands here in this final statement or declaration
about our responsibility to government. I mentioned in our last sermon
that God has established several institutions that are beneficial
for society and humanity as a whole, but especially for his children
We mentioned these institutions that help to prevent chaos and
promote order in the world. There's marriage, there's church,
there's government. These are the three primary institutions
that God has established for our benefit, for all the world's
benefit, though they may not fully understand it. We do, and
we accept that God has established government as an institution
that we are to respect. Peter in verse 13 begins this
section from verses 13 through 17 with an imperative, something
that it's a clear declaration, a statement that is true, and
that which we are responsible to do, and that is this, submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Peter states in this phrase the
duty, our duty to human government. Pretty simple, isn't it? Submit
yourselves. That's the duty. of the believer,
the church, to human government. He then states the extent of
that duty to every ordinance of man. And then he gives the reason for
the Lord's sake. And so we want to explore these
over the next couple of weeks. I want to spend the balance of
my my time with you and focus on this duty itself this morning,
the submit yourselves. That's the duty. Very clear. We know the context. It's about
government. And here's the duty that he is writing to all Christians
wherever they are, whenever they exist, doesn't matter what form
of government they are under at the time when this is read,
we as Christians receive it as an apostolic exhortation to us
from God. Submit yourselves. That is our
duty. But before we begin to explore
it, a couple of statements I want to make to kind of qualify this
a little bit. While this statement is given
without exceptions, when you look in this, do you see except
for this or except for that? You don't see any exceptions
here, right? It's a plainly stated duty. Submit yourselves. Human nature is always looking
for the exceptions to the rule, and I understand that, especially
in a rule like this. God gives us this emphatic statement
as an expression of his will, which will be stated in just
a verse or two. human government as his institution,
and he wants us to respect and yield to its authority over us.
That's a general rule. Wherever we live, whenever we
live, whatever government we are under, the general rule is
that we submit ourselves. Okay. Peter has already reasoned
this out for us in verse number 12 to some level that we would
not be criticized. We would stop people from saying
terrible things about Christians being unruly and always against
the government and things of that nature. They're speaking
evil of you. You need to silence them and
submit yourselves. many churches, I know if you've
read church history, you're familiar with different situations within
history with the church and government. Many churches throughout history
have been forced to sort through, are there exceptions to this
general rule? Well, for example, our duty to
God will always supersede our duty to human authority, right?
Human governments cannot forbid what God commands, nor can they
command what God forbids. There's a limitation to submitting
to human governments. Though we have the general rule
that is stated here. Well, this may sound a little
simple, we know it's not. Church history is filled with
different conclusions of good men seeking to do the will of
God concerning this matter. Some supported rebellion against
an oppressive, abusive government and entered into a revolution
against the King of England, right? Many Christians entered into
that battle. Some did not. Others fled from oppression,
the evil kingdoms, in pursuit of a new land where they could
worship without oppression. Pilgrims landed on our shores
to do that. They just didn't feel it was
necessary just to sit there and be abused. And so they took their
families and sailed to another continent. Others found ways to live and
worship God during the oppression of an evil government. So there are different responses
and reactions, different ways that the church throughout history
has chosen to understand these things and to apply them to their
church. We're not there to have to be
forced to sort this through right now. And so it is not my goal
to sort through the exceptions to the rule. We're stating what
the rule is. But I do want to mention that
there are some exceptions. that are worth considering. So the duty that Peter is giving
us here, this general duty, is to submit yourselves. It's helpful for us to know when
Peter wrote this, isn't it, and what government was in authority
when he wrote this. This is not a time of a constitutional
republic. This is the Roman government
that he is referring to. And he tells all of them who
are scattered all over the Roman Empire to do what? Submit yourselves. That's the general rule that
we need to respect. submit. Peter uses this word. We developed this to some length.
This same word shows up several times in Peter's letter. Paul
uses it a few times, and the place we noticed it particularly
when it showed up in church body life and submitting to authority,
and also in marriage where the wife is asked to submit to her
husband. This particular word is a military
word, that's where it was originally sort of formed and developed
in thinking, and it referred to a Roman soldier when he was
brought into the ranks of that army, he himself made a promise,
a vow, he took a sacrament before the King Caesar in his name,
that he would submit himself to whatever ranks were above
him, the authorities that had been established. He would willingly
not be forced, but he would willingly put himself under authority. It was a choice that he would make. And Peter
is saying the same thing here, that we are to submit ourselves
This shouldn't be something you're forced to do. This is something
that you should voluntarily do. You accept the authority as God's
institution and you submit to it. That's the general rule that
is to govern our life. We are to be ready and willing
To do this, we shouldn't require the government to force us to
do what it requires of us. This kind of submission that
Peter's referring to is a voluntary yielding. And in God's word,
that here is presented to us as something desirable that we
yield. that we are people who are so
concerned not about our own liberties and our own freedoms but our
witness what others the world will think
of us. Peter is not is not limiting this general
principle to a good kind of government, you know. I mean, I mentioned
we live under a constitutional republic. Very few people understand
what that even means, but we understand its value. And I think
of all of the potential governments of the world, We probably are
enjoying one of the highest levels and standards of human government
that can be formed. What an honor it is and a privilege
for us to live in a constitutional republic. But Rome wasn't that way when
Peter wrote these words. And these words are read all
over the world today. These words have been read throughout
all nations throughout 2,000 years. And I mentioned when we first
began to even think about these things that we need to be familiar
with Daniel and the three Hebrew children and how they interacted
with worldly government. and the power of God to work
through us when we obey because God told them to surrender, to
yield, to bow in terms of yielding to the authority of the Babylonian
empire. What a powerful thing God did
through these and other believers who lived as light among those
heathens. But no matter what the form of
government is here, it really doesn't matter. Our duty is the
same, and it's to submit ourselves. And why is this important for
us today, to understand as we read this, even though we're
not in a position of oppression like the people that read this
letter on Peter's day, what they were experiencing, horrible things. 60 A.D. is when this is believed,
marked to have been written by Peter, and that is really close
to the time when Nero began to be concerned about the rapid
growth of Christianity throughout the empire, and he devised ways
to turn the nation against them. And so he found ways to entertain
the Colosseum attenders by putting Christians out in the middle
of a big Colosseum and letting lions and wild beasts and other
gladiators butcher Christians for entertainment purposes. I mean, this is the period of
time here. He also took thousands of them,
dipped them into pitch, fastened them to a pole, elevated them
throughout the city, lit them on fire to burn, all in an effort
to intimidate Christianity and to slow down its growth. This
is when Peter wrote These words, submit yourselves. The same period of time, whether
it was a little before, same time, a little after, we don't
know, but the same year that he wrote this, Paul wrote the
book of Romans. Interesting, right? The church
in Rome dealing with all these issues. Look at Romans chapter
13. Another important passage just
to pull in to the conversation here and finding direction from
God concerning our relationship to human earthly governments. So I'll read here verses 1 through
8 in chapter 13, if you would. Let, that interesting little
word kind of denotes that implies that we're not to allow any restrictions
or hindrances to interfere with what he is about to say. Let
every soul He's not writing to the people who lead the government
of Rome to the Roman Senate or to the people in the streets
who hated Christianity or ungodly. He's writing to the souls of
the church in Rome. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. They wouldn't exist if God did
not want them to exist. They may not be an ideal kind
of government. We may not even understand why
God has it established as a government. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
exist unless God says it exists. It's ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power resisteth the ordinance of God." Pretty well simplifies it just
like Peter did. Submit yourselves. And they that resist shall receive
to themselves the judgment that will come for having resisted.
It could be just what Rome will do to them or how God will hold
them accountable. For rulers are not a terror.
They don't oppose that ought to be. Now here's something where
a lot of those who find exceptions to the rule kind of dig their
heels in here. But just listen to it. Rulers
are not designed and intended to be a terror to good works,
but to the evil works. Will thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good and thou
shall have praise of the same. Government will eventually at
some point acknowledge those who do well and promote those
who do well, Daniel. And the government will also
see those who are evil and eventually eliminate them. We saw that in
the book of Daniel. For he, the rulers, he is the
minister of God to thee for good. There's an important thing that
we'd love to develop, but we don't have time. They are accountable
to God to do the right thing, and they will give an account
to God for what they have done. He, by design, God has appointed
him to be the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou
do that which is evil, you have a reason to be afraid, for he
that beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister
of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore you must needs be subject. Here's the same emphasis that
Peter has made. you must needs be subject. Not
only for wrath's sake, you don't want to be hauled into the court
and judged as a rebel, as someone who breaks the law. You don't
want that to happen, but for your own conscience sake. Why
would that matter? Because you know what God has
asked you to do. And if you openly begin to defy those things, your
conscience will be troubled, ought to be troubled when you
defy. the powers that be. Verse six,
it is for this cause that we also pay tribute. We pay our
taxes, right? We pay tribute. The Jews said,
Lord, we're free people. What do you want us to do? Do
we pay taxes to Caesar, this Gentile? Jesus, right? He taught them. A fish, took
the fish, took the coin out of the mouth. Whose image is on
that coin? Caesar's. Well then, give to
Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs
to God. The image of God in you belongs to God. Give him his
money, but you give God your life. And for this cause we pay tribute,
for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this
very thing. So render therefore to all their
dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to who custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. You may not think they're
very honorable. Boy, politicians honorable? Hard to find them. But somehow
we are called upon to show honor to whom honor is due. And so the instruction and exhortations
here are no different than what Peter is saying, and he wrote
them at the same period that Peter wrote his, and he wrote
them to the church sitting in the city of Rome. And he not
only says the same things, he expands on it. These things are important to
God or they wouldn't be here. And so we ask the question, why
are these things important to God? Why it is important to him
that we respond to this duty? It is because our mission is
more important than our freedom, our possessions, even our safety. Our mission is often carried
out even in the most oppressive of situations. Read Foxe's Book
of Martyrs. Read through the century the
Christians who have died for their faith, but in their shedding
of their blood, God produced changes. among others, and even
nations." And so, let me close with what Paul finishes up here. Go to the end of chapter 13,
beginning in verse 11. He says, and that knowing, he's
writing to these same people that he's just exhorted them
to, like Peter, submit to government. And he says, and knowing that
the time The time that now is, is high time to awake out of
our sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we believed."
Now, I really don't believe Paul is referring to the second coming
here, but I do believe he's referring to our meeting, our Redeemer,
the day of visitation is coming. Get ready. That's the point. Get ready. The night is far spent,
brethren. You can look around you in the
city of Rome. You know the time has arrived. Get ready. The night is far spent. The day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Listen
to this. Let us walk honestly. That was
Peter's emphasis, right? Let us go out into this world
that hates us and probably is going to kill us. Let us go out
into the world as light, put on the armor of God, and walk
honestly before them. Let them see the beauty of your
Christianity. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh. Abstain from the fleshly
lust which wore against your soul and will hinder you from living
the life that God intends for you to live as your appointed
mission in this world. Let the nations see. Let them
observe the people of God who in faith and confidence in him
are not intimidated by the world. The threatenings of the world
do not hinder us from being obedient to God. It's not that we fear
the king. We fear God and honor the king. It is God whom we fear, not man.
And he is to be our priority as we think about human government. And we'll look a little deeper
into some things that Peter says. But the thing I want to leave
with you this morning is simply Know your duty to human government.
Submit yourselves. That's the duty. Father, we thank
you for your word and its clarity. Thank you that we can be reminded, be challenged, maybe repent of
some attitudes and behaviors of our life. Help us to live
before the world in a manner that it would show forth the
praises of our God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. Help the world to see the beauty
of our life as we reflect the beauty of your glory. We ask
in Christ's name. Amen.
Submit to Government
Series Exposition of 1 Peter
1 Peter 2:11–17; Daniel; Romans 13:1–7, 11–14.
| Sermon ID | 125241454582204 |
| Duration | 43:10 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Peter 2:13 |
| Language | English |
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