Okay, go ahead and take your Bibles and turn back to 1st Peter. Turn to 1st Peter. We're gonna pick up in verse 18. We don't have a ton of time left tonight, so we're gonna have to fly through. It's not that easy, Ben. But that was, again, last week as we looked at verses 13 to 17, that entire section focused on submission. And Peter's encouragement, his imperative command to us is that we must live lives of submissive obedience to every earthly authority that God has placed over us. Okay, and again, this was the entire focus of last week's passage. All of verses 13 to 17 emphasize this. Peter is talking about how we can practice biblical obedience and submission ultimately for God's glory. That was the critical piece. Your submission, your obedience to your earthly authorities, brings God glory. And that's ultimately why we do it. Peter began writing in verse 13. If you're looking at that in 1 Peter chapter 2, he says, And we know that all authority comes from God and is instituted for our good. And so Peter's instruction is incredibly clear. Unless we're being commanded to sin, we must submit. Some individuals try to even wash the concept of obedience out of the word submit. They would say, well, to submit in this context, it doesn't really mean to obey. It just kind of means to be respectful or to have a sense that that person is your authority. And this is impossible to do because Peter uses the term submission and obedience interchangeably throughout his epistle. When Peter says submit, he means obey. He makes that very clear. And so also what's critically important is the reason that we must submit. The reason we must submit is listed in verse 15. Look at that. Peter says, for this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Remember, the most fundamental mission of a believer, your most base function as a believer should be what? To show God's glory to the world. That is why God saved you. That's why God saved you. Peter even talks about the nature of the church and the body of believers even temporarily replacing Israel as God's chosen people. Why? Because Israel had failed to bring God the glory that he deserved. And so he temporarily sets them aside. He replaces them with the church. God's promises to Israel are not void. The church does not replace Israel. But for a temporary time, it is our job to stand in and fill that gap and to bring God's glory to spread it to the nations. Peter writes that Christians must avoid the pitfall of insubordination, of sin. We must avoid this completely by seeking to live with exemplary character, such upstanding character that any accusation of wrongdoing would be viewed as foolish, Peter says in verse 15, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Peter concludes this section by discussing the freedom that we have in Christ and he foreshadows the example of Jesus Christ. His life and death is an example to us of perfect submission, and we'll see that in our passage in verses 18 to 25, as Peter, again, he's foreshadowing the freedom we have in Christ. He will expound upon that in verses 18 to 25, and we'll see that this evening. Again, this freedom in Christ, it motivates us to do good. It enables us to live Righteously, you might say. Peter also is advocated for this view in chapter 1 in verse 18. Peter says, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways. Again, this is the biblical understanding of freedom in Christ. It is freedom from sin and freedom to obey. Sometimes we get a mixed up understanding of what freedom in Christ truly looks like. And we think that freedom in Christ kind of means I can just do whatever I want. There are no rules that I need to follow. And actually any kind of rules, any requirement to obey is legalistic. That is not a proper biblical view of obedience or submission. And so Peter says this freedom enables us to obey. In fact, this is the way we experience freedom is by obeying God. And so we will fully examine the conclusion of chapter 2 this week, verses 18 to 25, and we will witness the submission of our Lord Jesus and consider how we might follow His example. So as you consider this, let's just read through our whole text this evening. We'll look at verses 18 to 25, and then we'll pray and get started. Peter says this, beginning in verse 18, For what credit is it if when you are sinning and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll dive into our text. Dear Lord, we are thankful for Jesus Christ. We're thankful for his sacrifice for us. We're thankful for his work on the cross, that we can experience salvation in him, that we can have a restored relationship with him, that by his stripes, we are healed. that even when all we like sheep had gone astray, you laid your wrath on him, that we might have forgiveness of our sins. God, we thank you for this wonderful reality of redemption today. I pray that as believers, we would live in light of that reality, that it would again give us freedom to walk in righteousness and newness of life. But God, I pray for any who have not experienced that redemption in your son, Jesus Christ, that they would turn from their sins and cling to Christ alone for salvation. In Jesus name. Amen. Many years ago, the captain of a ship stood on the bridge of his ship, and as he looked into the dark night, he saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately, he told his signalman to send a message, alter your course 10 degrees south. Promptly, a return message was received, alter your course 10 degrees north. The captain was irritated by the response. His command had been ignored. And so he instructed his signalman again to send another message. Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am the captain. And soon another message was received. Alter your course 10 degrees north. I'm a seaman, third class Jones. Now the captain was enraged. Fully intending to intimidate the other vessel, he demanded his signalman send a third and final message. Alter your course 10 degrees south. I am a battleship. Then the reply came, alter your course 10 degrees north. I am a lighthouse. In life, many times we have a cacophony of voices raining down on our lives. Live this way, prioritize these things. In the midst of our darkness, one voice rings out above the rest, and that is Jesus Christ. He has set a clear example for us to follow. At times, just like that, Captain, we may be tempted to call out to Jesus, alter your course. I wanna do things my way. I wanna live my way. we must remember Jesus is our lighthouse. Choosing to ignore his example and his words will have devastating consequences on our lives. And so with this in mind, let's look down at verses 18 to 25 to see the example that Peter lays out for us in the following verses. Notice verse 18. Peter begins this section, again, picking up from verses 13 to 17. The context hasn't changed at all. He's still talking about submission. And you'll notice this right away. He says, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. And now recall again, as we begin verse 18, since verse 11 of chapter two, Peter has shifted his focus to focus immensely on practical application of the doctrine that we engaged in the first two chapters. Remember, chapters one and partway through chapter two, we're focusing on doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, and mainly salvation, okay? This is what's known as the doctrine of soteriology, that focuses on our salvation. This is Peter's primary focus through chapters 1 and 2. He keeps reminding the believers of their salvation, the hope of glorification that they must look ahead to. And so as Peter shifts his focus, he's seeking to demonstrate to his audience how their doctrine, and specifically how their salvation, should impact the way that they live. This is indeed very practical. Again, as Peter begins to talk about specific societal roles in this passage, you will see him get immensely practical. He's saying, in this specific role, this is how your salvation should work itself out. In this specific role, this is how your salvation should set you apart. It should make you look different in your station in life. And so as you consider this, we see citizens submitting to government authorities. We saw that in verses 13 to 17. We see slaves submitting to masters, wives submitting to husbands. Again, it's important for us to recognize this shift in Peter's focus. He's going very, very practical with us. Second, as we engage in verses 18 and following, it's important that we recognize some realities about slavery and about social justice. So again, Peter begins saying, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. And so at various points throughout history, even very, very recently, Christianity has been criticized because the Bible never explicitly condemns slavery. Okay, and so let's look very quickly at what ancient slavery looked like and why the Bible never explicitly condemns this. Because this is a critical issue for us to understand. This is an apologetic issue even still today. Unbelievers will frequently point out, well, the Bible doesn't say anything about slavery or against slavery. And so those are questions we want to be prepared to answer. And so, notice, number one, first of all, I want you to understand slavery in the Bible was culturally very different from what we saw practiced in the 1800s in the American South, okay? First of all, I want you to understand how slaves were acquired in Rome. Individuals could be conquered in Roman conquests and kidnapped as slaves. Now, this is still an unbiblical practice. In Deuteronomy 24, the Bible says specifically, anyone who kidnaps another man and forces him into servitude, that is to be punished by death. And so, understand very clearly, number one, especially the type of slavery that we saw practice in the mid-1800s in America, that is condemned by death in the Old Testament, very clearly. That's Deuteronomy 24. Again, there's a list of extra commands that didn't fit into a specific category, kind of miscellaneous commands that falls under that category. I believe it's verse 7. But again, this was simply the culture back then. To the victor goes the spoils. This is how war worked. When you conquered a people, everything that people owned, including the people themselves, became your property. And so this was just how it worked back then. In Roman culture, you could also sell yourself into slavery for financial purposes. So if you were financially destitute and you had no way to recover, you could sell yourself into slavery as almost an indentured servant type of idea. And so some people would do this. You could also be born into slavery in Roman culture. And so with all this being said, it's important that we note while slavery was still not a good practice, slaves were often acquired in unbiblical ways, slavery in Rome differs very critically from American slavery in that it is not race-based at all. It is not race-based at all. We understand clearly that American slavery is race-based. In Rome, slaves could come from any ethnic background. Oftentimes slaves were very similar ethnic backgrounds to their masters, so it wasn't racially based in any way. The other thing I want you to notice quickly is in ancient slavery, slaves were often smart and capable individuals. There was no restrictions on what kind of education a slave could pursue. Some slaves were skilled craftsmen. They could be blacksmiths or carpenters. Slaves could be doctors, nurses, teachers, even musicians could be slaves. It was not uncommon at all for a master to own slaves that were smarter than him or even better educated than him. Sometimes it just ended up that your station in life, whatever happened, you had to kind of take this route. And it was a societal structure. And so there were people that were slaves that were very, very effective in the business world. They were doctors, nurses, people that were very smart individuals. In Rome, slaves could even be compensated for their work. Some had the option to purchase their freedom. Again, this stands in stark contrast to early American slavery, where slaves were kidnapped, forced into labor without pay. They had no hope of being freed. They weren't allowed to pursue areas of education and things like this. As you consider this, it's important that we note many times when people make objections to the Bible that it didn't speak out against slavery. It's important to note that the Bible clearly does speak out against slavery, and the slavery that we see mentioned in the New Testament differed greatly from the slavery that we saw in early America. Also, Many scholars note that there was extensive Roman legislation that regulated the treatment of slaves. Again, even with this in mind, we still must acknowledge the harsh reality that slaves were viewed as property. Even though Rome regulated how you could treat your slaves and what you could do with them, slaves were still not viewed as, in a sense, autonomous individuals. They were viewed as your property in Rome. Slaves could be punished and abused by their masters for disobedience. Slaves could even be killed by their masters for disobedience. The treatment of slaves, again, it depended very heavily on the grace, the kindness of a particular master. And so with these facts about ancient slavery and Roman slavery specifically in mind, there are a couple truths that we want to acknowledge when we look at slavery in the Bible and in the New Testament. All right, so number one, the biggest question is why doesn't the Bible outrightly condemn slavery or encourage slaves to liberate themselves from their masters, right? When Peter writes about this, and he says very clearly, servants, be subject to your masters. Why does he say that? Why does he not encourage them? If this is still an unbiblical societal structure, which it was, why does Peter not encourage them? Break free from those kind of chains, break free from the bondage of that societal structure. There are several reasons. Notice at first, the Bible never condones or encourages slavery, and that's an important distinction to make. The Bible never encourages or condones slavery, and actually Christians down through history have been leaders in the abolitionist movement, okay? So an accurate telling of history does also reflect the good that Christianity and the Bible has done in fighting against slavery. The Bible never teaches that slavery is a societal structure instituted by God. All right, that's very important. The Bible gives us several structures that are instituted by God for your good and for my good. Some of those structures are the government, which we looked at last week. Some of those structures are parents. Some of those structures are just the home in general and the way that the home is supposed to function. The Bible talks about all of these societal structures and says that they are instituted by God for your good. Parents are instituted by God for your good. You listen to their authority because they're instituted by God. Same thing with government authorities. Same thing with church authorities. And so as you think about this, In the issue of slavery, the Bible never tells us that God has instituted slavery as a good societal structure. Actually, we see clearly that slavery is instituted by humans, and Peter compares it in a stark contrast. He'll begin in chapter three by looking at the home, by looking at the relationship of a husband and a wife, and this is a structure that is instituted by God, and Peter wants us to see clearly. Do you understand the damage that's done by something like slavery, a man-made institution, versus an institution that is established by God? the home in chapter three. And so we see this truth, again, very clearly demonstrated. Peter wants us to understand slavery was deeply flawed and manmade. The same truth that we examined in verses 13 to 17 still apply here for slaves. Remember, if you are commanded to do something evil, sinful, or in any way opposed to God's will, you must respectfully disobey your authorities. You are to submit for the Lord's sake. And so when an authority says, do something that would be sin, that's where we have to stop. The same was true for slaves. Peter never commands, the Bible nowhere commands slaves to be so subservient to their masters that they would disobey God or sin in some way in order to obey their masters. That's also a critical thing to understand. Finally, and probably most importantly, do not miss this. The New Testament authors and apostles do not emphasize liberation or breaking away from slavery for several reasons. First, this would have been foolish in the societal context. And I want to read a quote from a commentator. He says this, Modern people often ask why New Testament writers did not criticize the institution of slavery or advocate its overthrow. He says the latter was completely unrealistic for the fledgling New Testament church in the Roman Empire. Any such attempt would be doomed to futility. Remember, Peter's writing to the believers of the dispersion. They had been dispersed, run out of their homes because of persecution. It would have been utterly foolish for Peter to say, rise up and overthrow your slave masters, when this was the way that the world worked. This was the Greco-Roman societal structure. It was widely agreed upon and understood. They would have had zero success doing any such overthrow, and so Peter doesn't spend time on it. Second, because slavery would not be overthrown in the Roman Empire, it would not be beneficial for the New Testament writers to spend any time railing against the injustices of slavery. Their purpose was to help believers live in their various stations of life. This type of liberation focus would not have been helpful. Again, as you think about the purpose, Peter's writing with a purpose. Peter doesn't write because he doesn't have anything else to do, and so he just decides, I guess I'll just write a letter to these churches that are dispersed across Asia Minor. No, no, no. Peter's writing for a purpose. He says, these churches desperately need encouragement. These believers are facing immense persecution. They need encouragement. And so throughout his epistle, he writes about the glory of their salvation. Continue to suffer well for the Lord's sake. Keep your eyes fixed on your eternal inheritance in Christ. And he does this to take their focus off the temporal and fix it on the eternal. Now, if Peter writes a letter talking about the horrendous nature of slavery and how they must seek to start this revolution and overthrow their slave masters, that this wouldn't have been beneficial to where they were. He's writing to encourage them again in the Lord. Finally, freedom, equality, societal reform was not the focus of the New Testament authors because, don't miss this, it is not the focus of the gospel. Freedom, equality, and societal reform is not the focus of the gospel. Ultimately, the apostles were preachers of the gospel. The purpose of the gospel is not to free you from government tyranny, from racial oppression, or from gender inequality. That is not the purpose of the gospel. And so this is why these apostles don't talk about it. The gospel is about liberation from sin. That is it. The gospel is about liberation from sin. That is why Jesus came to paint the gospel as preaching any other message of liberation is a false gospel spoken by a false teacher and a heretic. Unfortunately, over the past several years, many pastors, popular pastors within Christian circles have strayed from sound biblical teaching. They've begun to preach about race relations and CRT and gender equality. Again, let me be very clear. This is a total perversion of the gospel that we read about in the Bible. That is not the purpose. Jesus doesn't come to free you from racial oppression. Jesus very clearly did not come to free the Jews from government tyranny. That's why many of the Jews don't follow him. They're waiting for him to overthrow the tyrannical government that they lived under, and he won't do it. What is he waiting on? Judas betrays him to force his hand. You won't do it? I'll make you do it. I know you've got it in you. So he sells him out to the Pharisees, and they kill him. Because Jesus's purpose wasn't societal reform. It will be. it will be when he comes again. It wasn't the first time. And so that's not the gospel we preach. It wasn't the gospel he preached. And it's not the gospel the apostles preach. Again, the New Testament authors don't devote significant time to this in their writings because it's not an issue. That's not the purpose of the Bible and it wasn't the purpose of Jesus. And so in addition to this, I want you to understand very clearly and I want you to be as equipped as possible to confront these issues when they face you. So if you're talking through the Bible and you're trying to witness to someone and this is an objection that they make, Many times objections like this are made in a purposeful attempt to tie knots, okay? Now, what do I mean when I say tying knots? I mean that many times they're using a fallacious argumentation to distract from the real problem at hand, okay? Let me illustrate it this way. If I were to give one of you a rope in this room, and I were to say tie a knot in that rope as hard as you can, as firm of a knot as you can possibly tie, you'd probably be able to tie a knot fairly quickly. I mean, maybe one minute tops and you could get a pretty solid knot in a rope. Now imagine how much longer it's going to take me to untie the knot. This is what a lot of times people are trying to do. When they throw out questions like this, they're trying to quickly distract from the real issue. They're trying to tie up a knot in an argument or in a debate and say, there, now deal with that. Try and figure that out. And so you're going to sit there and kind of go, OK, I got to work through this problem and this problem. And you're trying to untie this knot, in a sense. It doesn't need to be there. It distracts from the main issue. And so as you think about this, very easy to tie a knot in a rope. Very difficult to untie a knot in a rope. And so again, when skeptics do this, they're trying to avoid acknowledging the larger point. And so they're introducing inconsequential topics to the discussion. They attempt to confuse and distract in this way. If you're interested, this is formally known as a logical fallacy. It's called a red herring fallacy. It's introducing false information into an argument. We may not even say false information, superfluous information. It's not necessary. And so again, this is a red herring. Now, as you think about all that, that's a lot of information. If you want more information on ancient slavery and how that plays into this text, you can obviously ask me afterwards. I can email you some notes or something like that. Let's look at the end of verse 18 as we consider this. Peter begins saying, Now Peter's point could not be clearer. While it's undeniably easier to submit to good and gracious masters, he's calling the believers to submit even to those masters that are anything but good. In fact, Peter uses the Greek word. It's a Greek word that is scolios, okay, or scolios. This is the word literally means to be crooked or bent. And this word is where we get our medical term, scoliosis. You may have heard of that before. It refers to an unhealthy curvature in the spine. And so as you think about this, believers must be so faithfully obedient that they even submit to those masters who are morally corrupt and perverse. This is Peter's point. Even those masters that are crooked, scolios, those masters that are perverted, you must submit to them. That's not an excuse to disobey or be insubordinate. As you consider this, I'm sure that many of you at different points potentially, and you will definitely feel this way in the future again, have felt like you were being treated unjustly in a situation, especially maybe by an authority. Maybe at a job or even at home with your parents, you feel you are not receiving fair treatment. This passage commands you to persevere in your obedience to unfair, unreasonable, even at times wicked authorities. Because that is the example that Jesus left for us. Notice what Peter says in verse 19. Peter says in verse 19, he follows it up, The word for opens verse 19. It demonstrates a connection to the previous context that we saw in verse 18. Peter is giving us the reason behind why we must submit. And so as he does this, he says, we must submit even to unfair and sinful masters. This is why you must submit, because it is a gracious thing. When being mindful of God, you endure hardship and unjust suffering. What does the phrase, when being mindful of God mean? This is actually the key phrase in this verse that everything is conditioned upon. It does not count for anything when a believer stubbornly persists in the face of unjust suffering, simply because he's determined not to be broken. This is talking specifically about your attitude. When you face unjust suffering, your attitude matters. Are you mindful of God, or do you just persevere just because you're determined to prove that you won't be broken? This attitude is ultimately rooted in anger and selfishness. Instead, the believer must be conscious of God when they suffer injustice. This is to be confident in the good plan of a sovereign God for your life. This looks like recognizing that all suffering, even suffering inflicted by unjust masters, is meant for your growth in Christlikeness. That's what Peter means when he says, be mindful of God in this suffering. You recognize that ultimately God is using this for his glory, for your sanctification. This is also the confident recognition that God is the ultimate writer of wrongs. His justice is pure, unbiased, and he will pour out perfect wrath and vengeance upon the unbelieving nations at the second coming of Christ. And this is a critical point for us to understand. Many times, this type of attitude towards suffering, it is completely foreign to us, especially as Americans. You know, what? I'm just supposed to lay down and get walked over? Right, that's actually what Peter's saying. We have to remember Back when we began the study, the whole focus of the epistle is that the believers were living as spiritual exiles. That is Peter's focus. We're temporarily living in a land that is not our home. You today, if you follow Jesus Christ, you are a spiritual exile and Peter wants you to grasp that. And then he wants it to overflow into your life. He wants your knowledge to affect how you live. That's why we have the transition in verse 11 of chapter two. Many times our lives, though, don't reflect that truth. Many times as believers, we don't live like we're spiritual exiles. We do everything in our power to make our existence more convenient. We do everything we can to make our lives more comfortable. Peter's point here is that if your sole goal in life is to be comfortable, listen closely, you're a fool. If your sole goal in life is to be comfortable, you are a fool. Not only is it not possible, but it's not why God ransomed you. That's an old man desire. It's a futile pursuit. Comfort. Convenience. Life isn't about your comfort. Your life is owned by God. Your ultimate responsibility is to glorify Him. John Newton, the author of the song Faith's Review and Expectation, you may know it as Amazing Grace, John Newton would tell the story of a man who received word that a distant relative had unexpectedly died. All he needed to do was travel into the city, visit the courthouse to receive a multi-million dollar inheritance. The man quickly got ready and jumped into his carriage. He headed to town. While he was still about a mile away from the courthouse, a wheel broke on his carriage and he would have to walk the final mile in order to receive his inheritance. The whole way, the man wrung his hands and cried about his broken carriage, all the while forgetting that he would shortly be the recipient of a life-changing inheritance. You see Peter's point? This really isn't much to ask. When you consider the marvelous reward of salvation that we have already been given as believers, are you willing to be uncomfortable for a little while in order to receive that inheritance? You, in a sense, have a mile walk. And many times as believers, we cry the whole way about how difficult it is. Peter says, you must be prepared to face discomfort, to face trials, to face suffering in order to bring honor and glory to God with your life. You must be prepared to do this. This is your base level mission as a believer. Peter says, when you do this, this is a good and gracious thing in the sight of God. Notice verse 20. Peter is seeking to make a very clear point that he already implied in verse 19. He follows up in verse 20 and strengthens the command. He says, But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." Again, he's building off of the implication that he leaves us with at the end of verse 19. He says, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly. This is a critical qualifier. The suffering is unjust. When you endure that suffering, unjust suffering, it's a gracious thing in the sight of God. It's of no credit if you are beaten for a sin that you knowingly committed. Again, before you go off thinking that you're racking up crowns in heaven by being disrespectful to your parents and being grounded for it, Peter says, no, you're not going to receive any credit when you're justly punished for sin. This is a characteristic of the world as well. Many unbelievers will take their justly deserved punishments without complaint. Many who live in the world can recognize, I messed up and I get punished because I made a mistake. What sets a believer apart is quietly, graciously suffering an unjust punishment. Submissively suffering an unjust punishment from an unjust master sets a believer apart from the world. This teaching aligns very closely with the teachings of Jesus in Luke chapter six, verses 32 through 36. Jesus says this, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount, but love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Believers are to be unique. We are commanded to be a salt and a light to the lost. We're not commanded to do the same things that unsaved people are willing to do. And that's essentially what Jesus is emphasizing in this passage in Luke 6, 32 through 36. Peter echoes a similar truth here. What good is it if you suffer quietly for something you did wrong? Even the world does that. Even sinners do that. Jesus commands us we must love the unlovable, do good to the wicked, love our enemies, why? Because we are sons of the Most High. The one who is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. What a beautiful verse. The one who showed mercy when you deserve wrath. This is what God does for you. You do that for others. Because you're truly a Son of the Most High, you must live like Him. You must look like Him. Peter's made this point throughout his epistle. We're commanded to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy. We must faithfully endure unjust suffering because that is the model left for us by Jesus Christ. Now in verse 21, Peter is going to continue building on verses 18 through 20 so far. He says in verse 21, for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. Now, maybe you've made it this far into the passage, and you're thinking, well, this doesn't really apply to me, because I'm not a servant, and slavery doesn't really exist in the modern world anymore, so I can basically just ignore this section of Scripture. Understand, this is not a suggestion. Peter doesn't offer this as a suggestion if you want extra credit, right? If you wanna be extra spiritual, then you should submit, even when treated unjustly. But if you're okay just being average spiritual, then go ahead and fight for your rights. Put up a fight when you're being walked over. Absolutely not. Just to make his thought process incredibly clear, Peter strengthens the call for all believers, all Christ followers must live this way. He says, for to this you have been called. Referring to salvation. When you're a disciple of Christ, this is how you're expected to live. Commentator Wayne Grudem says, the general principles regarding suffering in verses 19 to 25 apply readily to all others under higher authority, whether in business, in marriage, or family, in education, or in respect to government. Especially here in verses 21 to 25, the teachings are put in terms that apply to Christians generally. This isn't just talking about slaves and masters anymore. As soon as Peter says, for to this you have been called, Now he's talking about believers. You have been called to this type of submission. He says at the end of verse 21 that Christ has left you an example so that you might follow in his steps. The word example in Greek carries the idea of writing that would be placed under a paper for the purpose of copying the letters underneath. The word Peter uses, it doesn't translate directly to meaning example. It literally is in a sense communicating, this is a stencil. Peter equates Jesus's life to an outline for you to trace your life over. Notice verse 22 as he continues describing the life of Jesus. He says, Quoting from Isaiah 53 verse 9, Peter says that Jesus was the most unjustly persecuted man ever. And I remember maybe once or twice as a child, insisting to my dad that I did not do the crime or commit the offense that I was being accused of. And he would occasionally respond, well, if you didn't do it then, consider this a makeup punishment for something else I didn't catch. If you've ever been told that, you understand. Peter's telling us very clearly, this is not the same for Jesus. He's committed no sin. that this isn't like, well, you know, maybe you were innocent on this count, but we know you're guilty on some other counts. And so this punishment counts regardless, even if you are innocent in this way. No, no, no. Peter says Jesus committed no sin, ever. There was nothing for him to be accused of or found guilty on a charge of any kind. He never even sinned with his mouth, Peter said. No deceit was found in his mouth. James writes in James 3 too, if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man. Peter says Jesus did not even sin with his words. And so not only did he live a perfect life and never sin with his mouth, but even during the mock trial that he received, Jesus still suffered silently. Notice verse 23. When you read through the crucifixion account and consider all of the provocation that Jesus endured, it's remarkable that he does not even respond to his abusers. And just consider this for a moment. Have you ever gotten into an argument with someone? Maybe a parent, maybe a sibling, even a friend. And as the argument progresses, things get a little bit more heated. Eventually you just lose your temper and say, you just make me so mad. I'm sure all of us at some point have done that, but do you recognize from this passage how biblically inaccurate that response is? You just make me fill in the blank. No one makes you mad. Nobody can alter your emotions. No one can make you upset. How do we know this? Jesus left an example. Even when he was provoked, he did not retaliate. No one ever has any right to say, you made me feel this way. Peter says, follow the example of Jesus. And so what does Jesus do? Peter says he did not threaten, but instead continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. In the original language, Peter uses this word, in the imperfect tense, it implies that this is a repeated action. Peter says entrusting, he continued entrusting. Jesus kept on entrusting himself to his heavenly Father. This is what it looks like to suffer and be mindful of God. You are purposefully placing yourself in the care of one who is infinitely more powerful than you and loves you everlastingly. This is entrusting yourself to the Father. This is to say, I am letting go of this situation. I am placing myself in the good and loving care of my Heavenly Father. You can trust Him. And notice verse 24, Peter writes, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. Peter moves into a clear gospel presentation explaining that Jesus bore our sins on the cross. He paid our penalty. He did all of this for a purpose that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. This is the freedom that he was mentioning back in verses 13 to 17. This is spiritual freedom. This was the purpose of Jesus's death, to free us from our sin so that we might walk in newness of life. Our new life in Christ is empowered by his grace and the Holy Spirit so that we truly are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Peter says, by his wounds, you have been healed. This is another quote from Isaiah 53, verse five, a chapter chock full of messianic prophecy. The point is clear. By the suffering of Jesus, we are morally, we are spiritually healed from our sins. Do you know him? You have a relationship with Him. If you don't, you can't reap any of the spiritual blessings that we read about in this passage. You will die in your sins, separated from God forever in hell. If you do have a relationship with Him, you have died instead to your sins. Your life is to be lived in the righteousness of Christ that He purchased for you at the cross. Peter concludes this section writing poetically, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Isaiah writes in chapter 53, verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Today, do you submit to your authorities the way Jesus did? This is a high call to righteousness, one that we cannot possibly fulfill on our own. The ability, the understanding to lay down our rights and suffer even when accused unjustly. Because this is what Jesus did. Because we recognize it's only a short time. We're looking forward with an eternal perspective. If you know Jesus today and have a relationship with Him, you can live by His grace and by His strength. You can follow the example that he sets for us in this passage. You can live a life not consumed by fleshly desires and worldly comforts, but a life defined by an eternal focus and a desire to bring God glory above all else. I want to also encourage you, for those of you that maybe don't submit to your authorities like this, and maybe you struggle to do that, perhaps you even find this kind of submission impossible, it may very well be that you don't truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ, who gave himself for you so that you might be free from your sins. The first stanza of the song Power in the Blood says this, would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There is wonderful power in the blood. Do you recognize the power that you have in the blood of Jesus Christ today? Let's go ahead and bow and close with a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we're thankful for the power that is afforded to us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the ability to walk in newness of life because of Jesus's death. Lord, we are completely undeserving of such love. And so we recognize the command is rooted in your love for us, that we love others in the same way that Jesus suffered, we must also be willing to suffer. God, I pray that you would give us the strength to do this as believers. I pray for those here that find this kind of submission and obedience to be difficult. I pray that they would examine their own hearts and lives and maybe they truly don't know you as their Savior, Lord. I pray that you would convict them of that. You would draw them to yourself and that you would give them eyes to see and ears to hear. Lord, we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.