for government, we've looked last week at the different spheres that God's placed us in, in the Christian life, the various hats that he's placed on our head that we wear all at once. We have our individual Christian life before God, and then there's the family life that he's placed us in, the church life, the civil sphere, and then also the workplace. And tonight, we will be looking at the civil sphere. So let me read our text once more in light of the context 1 Peter 2 verse 12 is really a text that sheds light on the whole passage. We're not gonna understand it in its proper context unless we read it. So let's look at verse 12 again by way of reminder in 1 Peter 2, and then I'll read to verse 17. Verse 12 of 1 Peter 2, Peter says, We've seen that it's self-controlled. That's fruit of the Spirit. They, these Gentiles, may see your good deeds, and here's their response, that they would glorify God on the day of visitation. And then he gets into the different spheres. Verse 13, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. This text of the civil sphere, it's found in the context of verse 12. What Peter is getting at is that there is a way of living in the civil sphere that God's placed us under as Canadian citizens that either glorifies God or does not glorify Him, or honors God before the Gentiles. or does not honor God before the Gentiles. Peter's saying that there is a way for Christian living in the civil sphere that will bring glory and honor to God on the day of visitation, that unbelievers would see our good deeds and therefore glorify our God in heaven by our conduct, our way of life, even in difficult circumstances. He's writing in these different spheres because there's Christians in each sphere that are suffering. So we could look at our day and say, well, we have hard times upon us in light of this civil sphere that we're placed under as Canadian citizens. But that's nothing new in Scripture. We see that Peter is writing to Christians here in verse 13 all the way down to verse 17 that are starting to suffer under this civil magistrate that God's placed them under. There is a temptation for these believers, however, to to try and modify their way of living. And we can see that in our day as well. As the civil magistrates are not fulfilling their duty, but they're actually punishing that which is good in society, as Christians stand up for righteousness, they're suffering for righteousness, and the magistrates are punishing them for that righteousness. So they're not functioning in the way that God's designed them to function. And the believers in this day, they're either going to the one extreme, as we saw last week, of anarchy, and saying, well, this civil magistrate that I'm under is giving me a bad taste for all magistrates, and therefore there's no requirement to have any authority upon me in the term of the civil sphere. And that's an unbiblical way of thinking. God, we'll see, has a design for the civil magistrate. So we could go that way with some of Peter's audience. Or the other audience in the Christian circles is saying, well, If this is what Nero and the civil magistrates are going to do for us, maybe we should actually just conform our entire life to Nero and therefore have a completely submissive life in all of life, even when they're requiring us to do something that pricks our conscience or violates God's will. There's this temptation in the church as well. to begin to think that the civil state has authority over every sphere of life. So there's two extremes that maybe one of us is tending towards or could be tempted towards. And my goal this evening is not to flush out every question and answer on the civil magistrates, but to give us a biblical framework that God gives us so that we can use our minds, the mind of Christ, if we're in Christ, to biblically discern how to live for Him in this realm And we'll do this in two ways. We'll have the framework of God's design. And when we see his design, we'll understand how the civil magistrates should function. And then we'll understand our role within the sphere, knowing that Christ calls us to glorify him in every single area of life that he's placed us under, because this world is his world. And Jesus Christ says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So first, this evening, What's God's design? We don't want to think there's no good design in the civil magistrates, but we don't want to go to the other side and think that this design is all-encompassing, because it's not biblically. It's not a design invented by men. Sometimes we think it that way. Even before I was converted, I remember going through civics and careers class, and I thought that it was man's design of government. I thought some man at some point in history put that together and simply put the structures into society, into what we have, but the Bible doesn't speak that way. The Bible actually tells us God is the ultimate designer and builder and implementer and the one who instituted the civil magistrates in society. And we won't turn there because we'll get into it, but all the way back post we see the government or a civil magistrate starting to be established in Genesis 9 verse 5 to 6. And it's God, we'll get to this in our series in the morning, it's God who puts in the sword, capital punishment, to punish those evildoers in that period in history. There's men and women that are shedding innocent blood, they're murdering those made in God's image. And God says, if you shed the blood of man, It will be required of your blood to be shed as well. There's capital punishment that God places in society after the fall in this fallen world to have a restraining effect on evil. And we'll see later that this is God's design in the present to have a restrainer or a punishment against evildoers. and then also in that light to promote that which is good and righteous and which will cause society to flourish. So it's not a design of man, but it's a design of God going all the way back to Genesis 9 and then further established throughout history in different times and periods and places. So that's God's design. It's from him. Now, let's see this in the text and let God speak. If you look in 1 Peter 2, verse 13 and 14, There's a phrase here that is used here to show us that God's the author of the civil magistrates. He's the one who's implemented governing authorities in this world. It's not from man, but it's from God. Look at our text, verse 13 and 14. We'll get to the subject part later on, but verse 13 of 1 Peter 2 tells us to be subject, for the Lord's sake, and then here it is, to every human institution, but then he goes to the source. Who's the one who put these institutions in place? Whether it be the emperor as supreme, or to the governors, and here's a phrase I want us to see, as sent by him. Who's the one that sent the governors or the emperors in this day? Or who's the one that has put in our place a prime minister or premiers or whatever that says it's sent by him? It's for the Lord's sake and it's sent by the Lord himself. God, here Peter's saying, is the one who's established government. Now, you can say that's not too clear. So if you go back to Romans 13 for a moment, A parallel text here that Paul's dealing with a different issue in regards to the civil magistrates in his letter, but he still establishes the same truth of God implementing this institution in society. If you look in Romans 13, verse one to verse three, again, look at the source. Who designed the civil authorities? It's God, not man. Romans 13, verse one. Let every person be subject to governing authorities, And then look at the source that he goes to. Four, there is no authority except from God. So he says, this is the supreme authority. This is the sphere of sovereignties. The ultimate head, the ultimate one with authority over all things is God. There would be no authority in this world if it was not from God. All authority flows out of God. He has supreme authority over all things. We saw that last week. And then Paul says, And those that exist, these different spheres of authority that exist in this world, whether the family, the church, the civil magistrates, here in this text the civil magistrates, all that family, he says all these things with authority in this world that exist, have been instituted, verse one, by God. Every authority in this world is from God. And then he'll go into the civil authorities, verse two. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities, the civil magistrates, resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. So here's a clear text on why we should not do away with civil authorities and think that anarchy is the way forward. If you resist the civil magistrates, Paul says you're actually resisting God. You're resisting something that God's designed in this fallen world as a restraining effect for evil and a promoter of good. So if you're fleeing from that, you're actually fleeing from the will of God for the flourishing of society. We need to know that. Verse three of Romans 13, Paul goes on for rulers in God's design. are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval." So the designer of government, the one who built government, it's obviously God. He's appointed it. It's his domain for our good. The second question is, well, if it's his design, what's the role of government? How are they to operate? What are the parameters that God has implemented in this world? What areas of authority do the civil magistrates have in this world as his institution? And we'll see this back in our text in 1 Peter 2, verse 14. Peter uses this purpose statement. It's a to, a preposition. to tell us what the emperor as supreme or the governors that have been sent by God are to do in this world in their ideal sense. And we'll get to the dilemma of what do we do when they're not functioning this way. But verse 14. If you look there, to punish, 1 Peter 2 verse 14, they've been sent by God to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. That's the parameter that God's given. Now, Paul, dealing with a different aspect of the government, he'll also add on taxes, and I'd argue that in a biblical, reasonable sense, taxes can be a means that the government uses as God's steward to promote good. There's abuses in that, and there's abuses in this address that Peter's referring to. Now, Peter's not gonna go into taxes, because that's not an issue that's happening in Rome, but what he's addressing is that there's tyrannical players working here in civil magistrates that are actually punishing Christians for good deeds in Christ and for promoting good. And Peter, he's beginning with an honest take of this framework, that their design is to punish that which is evil and to praise that which is good. And we need to understand then that what Peter's given us here is not an all-encompassing authority that they've been given, but what he's doing here is is giving us a limited authority. There are parameters and there is a sphere that God's given the civil magistrates to operate within. And the primary one here is to punish evil and praise that which is good. It's limited, it's delegated. In other words, you can understand it as their task is to bear the sword according to Genesis 9 on evildoers and to promote the well-being, the flourishing of society, as Paul would mention as well. But the question I want to now ask under this point of God's design, if this design of the civil magistrate has been affirmed and shown to us that it's God's design, and if that's their role to primarily restrain evil and promote good, What do we do in our context when we see God's design in Scripture, but we're living in a day where we see the civil magistrates not operating in a way that God has designed. We need to wrestle with that. It's okay to try and think biblically about that. It's not scandalous. It's not something we should stray away from, but we need to realize if this is an area of life that God's placed us in, we're Christians living in Canada, We want to know how to glorify Him in this area, in our relationship to the state and to others in this sphere of sovereignty. Now let me give you a quote and then I'll give us two ways to work towards God's design of government and then we'll get back to how to live a submissive life in relation to that. But John Murray, a theologian, Helpful that there's men throughout church history that have thought hard about these things. You could read many confessions of the faith, but John Murray from Westminster Seminary in his commentary on Romans has a helpful take here about how do we deal with the civil magistrates as Christians? And Murray says the following, it's a little lengthy, but I hope it's helpful. He writes, that we as Christians know that civil authorities must never trespass the sphere of the family or the church, and they must guard our God-given rights. So we understand that. We're gonna see the other spheres. The civil magistrate's domain, delegated authority, is not to step into the family or to step into the church and direct those different spheres that God's placed. They're to guard our inalienable rights. But John Murray writes this, there's a fatal error in the church of our day, and he wrote in, I think, the 70s or something like that, or earlier on, and he says, here's a fatal error. How will the civil authorities know that these are their God-given duties and roles without Christians instructing them? Now that's a thought I want us to just ponder for a moment. If this is God's given design, and this book is the Word of Truth, and God instituted these authorities, civil magistrates, to fulfill these God-given duties, Well, how are they to understand that this is their God-given role in society if, as John Murray says, we don't have Christians instructing them? Now, we understand that the church doesn't rule the state, there's a separation of church and state, but God has given Christians that live in each sphere of civil authority, he's given us his word, he's given us the gospel, he's given us means that we ought to wield in our society so that we can hold our civil authorities in account. for how they ought to operate so that society would flourish, that goodness would be promoted, that evil would be punished, and that things would go well in our society as a society falls back on God's moral design for human life and the flourishing of humanity. So how do we deal with this? We're Christians that live in Canada, and I believe there's two ways that we could love our Canadian neighbors. The first one is quite simple. We'll see it through every sphere. We ought to bring the gospel that saved us into every area of life. And we ought to bring the word of truth to bear light to every area of life. So this is not a domain that we can't bring the gospel of truth to and bear light on. This is not a domain where we cannot bring God's word and his standards and how he's operated this world and designed humanity and all of that. It's not a domain or a sphere that we can't shed light on. God speaks about it in Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. So God says, I've given you a blueprint that you ought to instruct and go about this so that society would flourish and that your neighbor would live a life that is well. So how do we do that? The first way I'll point us to is in 1 Timothy. If you turn there with me, 1 Timothy 2, verse 1 of 4, it begins this way. I mean, Paul, if you look here, he talks about praying for all people. There's that phrase in 1 Timothy 2. And then he goes in verse 4 again to mention that phrase, all people, and God desires all people to be saved. So where do we begin? We need to understand that the ultimate solution to man's greatest problem, and even all the chaos and corruption in our society and even in our governments, it all goes back to this, man's rebellion against God. It goes back to civil authorities being placed in authority with alienated hearts against God, that they love that which God hates. and hate that which God loves. So to begin here, as we think about this fear that God's placed us under in God's design, where do we begin? Paul in 1 Timothy 2 tells us that we ought to begin with prayer. We ought to understand that the greatest problem of man is man's sin and rebellion against God, and the only remedy to society is the gospel of salvation. That men and women, all people, Paul will say, God wants to save. He wants to save all kinds of people. Look at what he begins with, 1 Timothy 2, that phrase, all people. First of all, verse 1, And then he uses that phrase, verse 3 and 4, why this is good and pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So he's using a sandwich kind of terminology here. I want you to pray for all people, intercede for all people, and this is what I want you to pray for. Think of every person in society and pray for their salvation, that they would be saved from their sins and come to the knowledge of the truth. But then he says in the middle, but I don't want you to forget that this civil authority, it's not off your prayer list. Verse 2, in the middle, he actually defines who the all people are that he's referring to. That God, verse 2 of 1 Timothy 2, He wants you to pray for all people. Here's the all people he wants you to pray for, for kings and all who are in high places, for what purpose? That we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. So he's saying that if you want the gospel to flourish without hindrances in society, plead with God for your kings and rulers and authorities, take that seriously. It's not off God's domain, why? Well, he says, I want to save, verse four. I desire all people, and that all people is found in verse two. I desire, the Lord says, through the pen of Paul, to save all peoples. Yes, I desire even to save kings and rulers and authorities. And when they're saved from their sins, what will they do? They want to love that which God loves and hate that which God hates. And in their sphere of authority, as they're reconciled to God, what will they ultimately do? Well, they'll want to punish that which is evil and despicable and horrendous in God's sight because they hate that sin. And they'll want to reward good. They'll want to see God glorified through their deeds. That's the first command for us from the scripture in light of God's design for government. When we see corruption going on in our day, it should drive us to our knees. I mean, we should see the poles rising and then flood the throne of grace with prayers. Jesus says you have not because you ask not. Do we think that way? That God desires even to save kings from their sins? That He wants to see them reconciled to Him? Do we pray that? That's the ultimate solution. But then practically, humanly speaking, as we understand that priority and have our priorities put in place, the second way we can go about this is by raising up godly Christian leaders that will serve the Lord in some public duty, some civil sphere. We need men and women to go into this area of life like we do for every area of life. We need godly Christians in the home. We need godly Christians in the workplace. And this can be a workplace for some Christians. You look throughout the scriptures and God raised up mighty leaders and even throughout church history to have a wonderful influence in society and have a salt and light effect. That's what we want to see in our day and pray for. Now, what does this look like? You say, well, how does someone get all the way up to be the prime minister of this land? How can we ever have, practically speaking, a prime minister that loves the Lord and longs to implement policies that punish evil and reward that which is good and promote society. Well, there's a, I think it's Jesse referred to it this morning in Zurich, there's the Magberg Confession that reformers thought about. And it really comes back down to 1 Peter 2, verse 13 and 14. If you go back there, the reformers understood There's a hierarchy of authority even within the sphere of civil authorities. And so if we're to have an influence upon the prime minister of our land, well what has God placed us under? He's placed us also under a premier. And here in 1 Peter 2 verse 13 and 14, there's the emperor as supreme in their day, but then under them there's governors that are sent by Him sent by God and then sent by the emperor through the hand of God to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. Well, Christians in the Reformation thought about this. What happens if we have a supreme leader, the one that is head over the whole country, and they go opposite to God's standard and start to punish that which is good and reward that which is evil? Well, the Reformers had a confession, the Magberg Confession in 1550. They put it this way, I think it's helpful for us to think of how do we get leaders into these places of authority. One reformer puts it this way, that whenever a superior magistrates, in this context, the emperor as supreme, Whenever the superior magistrate persecutes his subjects, then by law of nature, but also divine law and by true religion, the inferior magistrate ought to resist him. So you think of a practical example in our day, the prime minister of Alberta maybe is stepping against some policy that the prime minister is going at, and that's a legitimate biblical thing to do where the emperor is resisted by a governor under, that's called the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. And so if we want to have an effect on the emperor, or our prime minister, or that regard practically, God's people have thought through this. Let's think about the doctrine of the lesser magistrates. God's placed us within municipality, there's boards that Christians can get on and we start with the lesser so that we can have healthy policy votes and healthy political activities that promote good and punish evil on the municipal level and then that municipal level will have an effect on provincial level, and that provincial level will have an effect on the federal level. That's a doctrine that's found in Scripture that God's given us to place Christians in. So, as we think of the government and God's design for it, He doesn't just say, I'm giving you one layer of authority, but he's given us achievable authorities that Christians can be raised up in and put on a board. Often, I think my in-laws, they're on the board of the Conservatives in Manitoba, and they actually get to put up policy for the Conservatives and have pro-life policy, and they vote on it, and then they go to the national convention and they vote on it there. We can have legitimate assault and light influence If we're willing, that's God's design. The second aspect I want us to look at is how do we submit? How do we submit when a government may punish evil or not punish evil and not reward good? How do we function? The command here, it's not a, well, it's not an if-then statement. We'll see that there's a framework here to process and live through. But if you go back to 1 Peter 2, this command here, is given when they're living under a tyrannical government. So you can submit biblically for the Lord's sake, verse 13 of 1 Peter 2, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. He'll tell us how we submit and what it is to submit in verse 15 to verse 17, and that's where we will land on. That word, as we have seen last week, submits. Verse 13, it's this governing verb that has implications on the whole section here. It is this willful, this joyful, this voluntary submission, bringing our will in alignment with an authority that God's placed us under. That's a helpful way of thinking about it, but there's also limits to this submission. So it's not an all-encompassing submission. Tom Schreiner in Southern Seminary puts it this way on verse 13. He says that the authority of the rulers is not absolute. It's for the Lord's sake. They do not infringe upon God's lordship. They should be disobeyed if their command toward a Christian is to contravene God's will. So we are to submit, but there's parameters. We need to understand that. Let me just remind you the framework of when we do not submit to the civil authorities in our ultimate submission to God. It's not exhaustive, but there's three legitimate ways. pray about it and have biblical proof and wisdom that we're living by. The first is when the magistrate commands what God forbids, that's actually punishing that which is good. If God commands something, that's something good. And if a civil magistrate says, I'm forbidding you to do what God commands. That's not His authority to do so. And so, in submission to God, who says something is good and I command you to do something, out of our submission to Christ the head, who has all authority, we submit to Him and we take whatever consequences that we face as Canadian citizens. The second one is, if the magistrate, or rather, commands what God forbids, but then forbid what God commands. You might have got that mixed up, but we get the point. And then finally, if the civil magistrate calls us to do something that is not theirs to command. If they say that you have to paint every house purple, or always wear a hat on, or all that, that's more of a conscience thing, whether you want to submit or not. If you don't want to, for conscience sake, well, you don't have to. That's not their authority ultimately. We pray through those realities. So this submission, it's joyful, it's willful, it's voluntary, but it has parameters. But Peter here, he doesn't get into all the parameters. What he's getting at is a problem here in his society, that he's trying to get them back to a biblical understanding of submission. So don't go to that one extreme, don't go to that other extreme, but have a biblical, good, healthy understanding of submission. Because if you're a Christian, God, by grace, has submitted and subdued your heart to be in alignment with His will. So by virtue of that, because we are submissive to the one who has all authority, we wanna submit also to those who he's given authority to carry out his purposes in this world. And if you look in verse 15, the way that we live is a life in alignment with God's will. Verse 15 all the way down to verse 17 is building upon this verb to submit. So verse 15 of 1 Peter 2, essentially says that this is the will of God. What is the will of God? To submit to the authorities that He's placed you under, the civil magistrates. This is God's will. Don't abandon it. Why does God want you to have a submissive spirit? He says, verse 15, that by doing good you should put to shame, or you should put to silence rather, some translations have, the ignorance of foolish people." What is he getting at? These believers are suffering for righteousness, but Peter's saying it's God's will that you submit, even if you suffer for doing righteousness under the government that you're submitting to, even if there's consequences. You can see this in chapter 3 for a moment, verse 13 to 17 here. a glimpse as to what these believers are suffering for. They're suffering for righteousness. They're doing good, but the government's punishing them for doing that good. But they're to have the spirit of submissiveness still in proper context. But chapter 3, verse 13, Peter gives us a glimpse into what they're going through here under the civil magistrates and the unbelievers that they're to glorify God in. Verse 13 of chapter 3, Peter says, now who is there to harm you if you're zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, or do not be troubled. Verse 15, and often this is an apologetic text. It's in the context of suffering for Christ, for righteousness. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord. So know who's supreme, do good, and even if you suffer for that, under the civil magistrates, He's saying, always be prepared, verse 15, to make a defense to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that's in you, yet, look what he says, do it with gentleness and respect. This is a submissive heart that he's getting at. It's not a jellyfish kind of spined submissiveness. We stand confidently in the Lord, but there's this submissive, gentle, respectful spirit, verse 16, having a good conscience. So that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. That's the same thing he's saying in the civil magistrates. He's saying that if you live for Jesus Christ in the realm of the political sphere and suffer for righteousness, and they condemn you and call you an evildoer for your good deeds, they'll be put to shame. What he's getting at is, may they not call you an evildoer for your conduct. May they not look at Christians, even if they persecute Christians, and see them having a tongue like the world, and carrying flags that cuss our Prime Minister. That's not biblical submission. I've seen Christians support that. It's not biblical submission. They should see Christians even suffering for righteousness. And there's a spirit of gentleness, a spirit when reviled, yet not reviling back. That's what Peter's getting at. It's more of a posture of heart that when they slander you, verse 16 of chapter three, they'll see your good behavior in Christ. They'll see something extraordinary. They'll press you down in the furnace and they'll see good deeds flowing out of you. And you'll be glorifying God, like verse 12 of chapter two that he's talking about. That's what he's getting at. this posture of a submissive heart in Christ, voluntarily, joyfully serving him in all areas of life. It may not be easy, it may not be pleasant, but they ought to see our good deeds. And even if they condemn us, it ought to be for good conduct and not ungodly conduct and not inappropriate speech. How do we know he's talking about that? Well, this leads to the second aspect of how we ought to live. He uses the word in verse 16 of 1 Peter 2 in this way, live, But this is a modifying verb, the ultimate verb against verse 13. Submit. Here's how you submit. Here's the way of life. Here's the posture of your heart that you're living under Christ in, in this sphere. Live, and he'll give us three ways we submit, defined biblically. He says, live as people who are free. Not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. So we say, well how do we live? a submissive heart biblically when our government's not doing what God designed them to do. Peter gives us a hint here what he's getting at when he means submission. He doesn't mean that you ought to give your entire life in every area to the government, but what he's saying is three things. First, we submit as free people. That's what he says in the text. This submission for the Lord's sake, verse 13, is found in verse 16, live as people who are free. What's he reminding believers? There's some in that church in Asia Minor who think that, well, you know, maybe Caesar does have every area of my life. Maybe, maybe we should start to say Caesar is Lord and not Christ is Lord, because when we say Christ is Lord, we're getting persecuted. And maybe Caesar has a little more authority than what we're actually giving him and submitting to. Peter says, no, that's not biblical as well. You're actually free. Your submission to Caesar is voluntary, joyfully, it's willful. You're a free people as you submit. You're submitting as people who are free. In other words, he's saying Caesar doesn't own you. You need to have that framework. In your submission to Caesar, you need to know, and Caesar needs to know, he doesn't own you. He doesn't have his image stamped upon you. Jesus gives us that illustration. He says to those in the Roman Empire, whose image is on the coin? And they say Caesar's. And he's saying, give to Caesar. What is Caesar's? Taxes are an area of Caesar's authority. But then he says, Whose image is upon you, essentially? Well, you have God's image upon you. He has all authority over your life. Peter's reminding the believers there who are tending towards that other extreme. He's saying, you ultimately belong to Christ. He's bought you with his own blood. You're his. He's freed you to serve him in all areas of life. And we voluntarily submit to this institution out of reverence and love for Jesus Christ. So you're free. And then he says, how ought we to live as free in Christ? If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed, Jesus says. But, verse 16 says, don't abuse that freedom. He's saying, don't have an ungodly, unself-controlled life, essentially, what he's building upon in the civil sphere. Verse 16, he says, In that second phrase after the comma, he says, don't use your freedom as a cover up for evil. In other words, since Christ has set you free, don't use this freedom in Jesus Christ to have evil deeds in this sphere. In other words, he's saying that God wants you to have this self-controlled life, verse 12, so that even if you suffer under Nero, They'll see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven, that you ought to have this exemplary fruit of the spirit life, even in this area of life, that the world may hate you. But it won't be because of our ungodly conduct, our ungodly speech, our ungodly demeanor. Why? Because we're followers of the Lamb. And what does the Lamb's life look like in our life? You see that in next week's text, chapter two, verse 21. Peter says, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you. How did he suffer under Pontius Pilate and all the religious leaders? Look, it says He left us an example so that we might follow His steps. 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, but committed and entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He's saying, don't abuse this freedom that you have in Christ. Follow the Lamb's way of life in all of life. And then thirdly, he shakes up the priority structure again. So the anarchist or the total submissiveness is brought to the middle, and he does that in verse 16, that last phrase in verse 17. There's that phrase, you live as servants of God, And then he uses the word honor. First, honor everyone. And then finally, honor the emperor. As we've seen, it's not that he's saying the emperor is supreme, but he's making a contrast. You fear God. You don't fear Nero. You don't fear Caesar. You don't fear the civil magistrates. Fear is given to God. You fear God. But a way you submit to Caesar, a way you live a submissive life, is to honor him. You don't fear him, but you honor him as a servant of God for good in this society as they operate in that sphere. That's what Peter's getting at. You're living as servants of God. Ultimately, he's summarizing that we enjoy this life ultimately under God's control, that we honor everyone, we love the brotherhood, those in Christ, but we fear God, we honor the emperor. One way that I think this is helpful, if you remember Tom Askell, he has a podcast, I forget what it's called, but it's on Romans 13, it's on 1 Peter 2, and he talks about how do we submit to a governing authority, how do we obey this text to honor? The emperor here, and I found it helpful, he says, we need to know we honor the office. You may not have respect for the one holding the office, but we ought to, in our submissiveness, honor the emperor. What he's saying is honor the office. And so Tom Askell, it's an evidence of grace, even under Biden, that defeats my whole point. Let me say this. He says, don't call him Biden, don't call him Trudeau, but honor the office that God's appointed that man in. Even if you see that man's ungodliness and you don't approve of his life, God has placed that man in that office in a civil magistrate sphere under God's ultimate authority. And so Tom Askel, I've never heard him say anything else, but he always called President Biden by the name President Biden, because that's the office that God's called us to honor. President Biden at that time, or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And so that's not a far-fetched way that we can exercise a submissive spirit. We may not honor the person in the office in a way of approving their sinful life, but we honor the office that God's placed them in. And so one way I encourage myself, I need to do it, we've seen that slip up even in the sermon, to genuinely Call our Prime Minister, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, because that is the place that God's placed that man in. He's appointed there by God, ultimately. We know throughout the Scriptures that the King's heart is in the hand of God, and so God's fulfilling his purposes even in our government today. Why? Well, let me conclude with verse 12, and we'll see the connection later to verse 3. But verse 12, It shows us that this area of life, God's design for civil magistrates, God's purpose for how we live in light of them, is so that they, as 1 Peter 2, verse 12 says, that these Gentiles would see our honorable life, so that when they speak evil against us as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God. What's he talking about? Well, look at this as we wrap up. Chapter 3, verse 1, the same phrase here of conduct. that Peter uses in chapter 2 verse 12 is also used in chapter 3 verse 1 in terms of a gospel witness or of conversion, salvation. You see that in chapter 3 verse 1 with wives having a submissive life to unbelieving husbands. Look what he says. It's the same phrase that he's using in chapter 2 verse 12 and that he uses even in our text as well in light of our life. Chapter 3 verse 1, speaking of wives, here's your gospel witness if you have an unbelieving husband. He says, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, if they don't obey the gospel of salvation and obey the word of truth, look what he says. It's interesting. They may be one without a word, by the conduct of their wives. This winning or this conduct that goes all the way back to chapter two, verse 12, is this way of life that glorifies God and God blesses for the salvation of unbelievers. So you can pull that all together and say, why should we care about having a God-glorifying life in the civil sphere? That God may use it to save sinners in our day. And he may even use it to save civil magistrates. I'll conclude with this story. I believe Tim Stevens, who was unjustly persecuted for preaching the word and gathering his flock during the last couple years. Well, the Lord did a wonderful thing. He saved a policeman from, I believe, the Calgary police force and the whole, you could say, the magistrates of the land. They were there for another man's funeral. One of the police died and was converted prior to that, and what they saw was the man they persecuted, the man that they threw in prison, and that man, it's almost like what Peter's getting at. They saw his life, they heard his message, but then they're face to face with him again, and the Lord used that to bless different civil magistrates in different spheres of life. That's what Peter's getting at. God cares about our message, but he also cares about our way of life. He wants a heart that is a submissive heart to Jesus Christ, and that's a tender heart, as Tom Askell says, but a spine of steel. And that's the hard part of the Christian life, having that balance, both a spine of steel, but a tender heart. And that can happen through Jesus Christ our Lord in our lives. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this text and how, Lord, you don't leave any area of our life untouched. We pray, Father, that you would help us. We ask that you'd forgive us for not honoring the emperor in our land, the kings and authorities in different ways. Failing to honor the office at times, Lord, I confess that as well and pray, Father, that you'd help us to have a biblical framework in these challenging days to know that we can live a submissive life by the posture of our hearts before you. We pray that you'd give us wisdom, Lord, that we would stand, that we would have good deeds, that we would have good conduct, that we would even be used in how we live for you in this world and what we proclaim to be the blessing of salvation to all peoples, to kings, but all through every area of life, Lord, knowing that you desire to save all peoples for your namesake. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're going to conclude with