First Peter chapter two. It's been a while since you've heard me say that. Almost four months. I want to publicly, before we begin, express my gratitude for our men who have filled the pulpit and have done a wonderful job in handling the Word of God. I appreciate our men. Brother Steve, who has borne a lion's share of ministry in my absence, I appreciate. I remember at the first of the year, I said, Wellington, I know there's going to come a time where I'm going to need more help. Get ready. And I told him, take the book of Jude and prepare and be ready to give sermons from it. And he has done a wonderful job and I thank him for that as well. So Wednesday night we've had men step up and take on responsibility of teaching. And I have been blessed to be able to sit and experience worship with you. from a different perspective. I rarely sit and just participate as a congregant, but generally I'm involved and engaged in the ministry of the word. So I've enjoyed it. I admire the faithfulness of this flock and I thank you that God has worked so richly in your lives that he He has brought you to be faithful in attendance and support of the ministry during my absence. So I just had to say that publicly before we begin. 1 Peter chapter two. I want to read the section that we were in back in May when I was no longer able to preach publicly with side effects from the medication that I was taking. I wanna read the section and then we're gonna review it a little bit. It's gonna be necessary, necessary for me and you that we review a little bit. And then we will get into some things that we did not finish back in May from this portion of scripture. The section that we're looking at is from verses 18 through 25. And so I want you to follow as I read this because it's all interconnected here, as we have mentioned before, and we will see it again. Beginning in verse 18, Peter writes, servants, this embodies those who are under control and ownership, servants and slaves alike, be subject to your master with all regard and reverence, respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are abusive, froward in their behavior towards you. For this is thankworthy. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. God takes note of that. It has a reward built into it. when we are willing to suffer wrongfully and keep our commitments to God before us. In verse 20, for what glory is it when you are buffeted or punished or corrected for your faults if you should take it patiently? But if when you do well and you suffer for it and you take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. He finds great joy and pleasure when that is the disposition of his children. They're faithful to him and they're willing to be patient in suffering. In verse 21, he goes on to say, he sort of shifts a little here, for even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again in response. When he suffered, he didn't threaten, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we, now being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. This section, as we've mentioned many times in the past, is a shift in Peter's focus He is focused now on the subject, front and center, is the subject of suffering in the Christian's life. Remember the readers of this letter were identified at the very beginning of the letter. They were called strangers who had been scattered throughout the Roman Empire. And in that description of who they are, he is acknowledging that they have been forcefully dispersed. It's not like they all decided, let's just move out throughout the empire. Because of persecution, they were scattered, forced, and he is writing to them. in this condition of suffering that they are going through. Many are suffering persecution at this time when Peter writes, because they are followers of Christ. And he begins his conversation, his discussion, his instruction with us on suffering. by focusing on servants and slaves, those who've been subject to abuse of treatment because of their lot in life. This had nothing to do with Christians being persecuted. Servants and slaves were suffering long before the persecution began. But he's particularly interested, as we read through this, in those who've come to faith in Christ. Servants and slaves were hearing the gospel and they were believing. And we know from the writings of Paul that there were members that were in Caesar's palace at a very high level of society, that God was saving his elect even in Caesar's palace. And here he is saving even those at the lowest level of human society. Slaves and servants are also among the elect of God. And they are to be valued. And it will be through our witness that they will hear the gospel, see it, lived out in our life. They will see the good news that God has provided salvation by our demeanor, by our conversation that we live out before them. And so Peter is speaking to these believers about suffering these servants and slaves. And he encourages these suffering saints who live at the bottom of society to respond to being mistreated like Christ responded. And so the model of Christ is not just for those who are in Caesar's palace. Following Christ is for every person in between them and the lowest level of slaves and servants. We all have the same person that we are to follow. There is no difference. He is everyone's example according to what Peter says in verse 21. 20 and 21, Peter reminds them and all of God's children that as followers of Christ, we are called, and this is stronger than just we have a vocation. Living the Christian life is a lifestyle, it is a vocation. It's our calling. But this particular word has to do with we've been summoned. We've been summoned. We have been called by God to be willing to suffer for living out our Christian faith in this world. Remembering the world hated Christ and the Apostle John said, don't expect the world to treat you any differently than it treated Christ when you live and follow him. The reason we must learn to suffer Well is because Christ is our example and we are to follow his example of suffering, we are told. And this is our inspiration for suffering by remembering Christ suffered also for us. When we think of his willingness to suffer, there's all kinds of dimensions to this that we attempted to work out and unfold for you when we dealt with this phrase some months ago. But here in this, this is our inspiration for our suffering because of what he was willing to do for us It is our opportunity and privilege to suffer for him, for his namesake, for his cause as we live out our Christian life in this world. We should be willing to suffer for him just as he has suffered for us. We're called, summoned to conduct our life accordingly. follow in his steps. We must be ready and willing, according to Peter, to be willing to suffer, but not just to suffer, but to learn how to suffer. and to look to Christ as our example. Suffering is not in and of itself something special. It is only special when we are willing to suffer as followers of Christ living after his example. And so we are told to follow his example in suffering in verse 21. And this word follow is a verb that speaks of intentionality and resolve. This is the right thing to do. Therefore, we choose to follow in his steps. It's not something simply imposed on us. We make a conscious decision. We will follow Christ. This is intentional on our part. And what it means to follow Christ is then worked out by Peter in the next three verses. We are to follow Christ, he says, who? Three times, who? And we are given three examples of how Christ suffered wrongfully. And we are to look at these examples and set them before us and imitate them to follow in his steps. when we are called on to suffer in our life. In verse 22, we're told that Christ, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Christ did no sin, not even one, no sin. Sin is the statement. No sin. The absolute negative. He was a perfect man without sin. And yet he suffered as a sinner because he bore our sins. He suffered for our sins, which he will explain in a few moments. Even though he never fell short of perfect obedience, He suffered. No sin. In verse 23, we find we are to follow Christ who, he gives us a statement again, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Christ as a righteous man who is innocent, did not respond in a sinful manner, even though he was falsely accused and mistreated. We are told not, not, twice, not this way, not that way. He did not sin. But when mistreated, and accused wrongly, what did he do? Because it's important to identify this because he's our example here. What did he do? He gave his life to God, his father. It's the ideas he committed, meaning he just took the reins, he took everything and put it into his hands and left it there. If this is what the father wants for me, he was consciously saying, okay, it wouldn't be easy. He would even cry out if it's possible, God. But he took his life in the midst of suffering and said, I choose to trust my father with the outcome. I will not take things into my own hand. I will not do what I could do. He had the power to call angels to rescue. But no, he took his life and he committed it entirely to him who judges righteously. And we are to follow this example. That's what Peter's teaching us here. He's showing the grandeur of Christ dealing with suffering and says, here's your model. Here's your example. Follow him, behave like him. When you are called upon to go through difficulties in your life, when you, because you choose to live for me, suffer, follow me. Follow my way as you go forward. And then in verse 24, we are told that Christ who, and this is amazing here because we are being instructed by Peter to follow Christ into this, into this marvelous thing that Peter is going to open up, Christ who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. We are to follow him into this great activity that he accomplished to recognize that there's something extremely deep and mysterious about how we were in Christ when he did this. We were placed there As it has been stated already this morning, we have been placed there in Christ before the foundations of the world were ever put into motion and created. We were placed in Christ. And so wherever Christ goes, we go with him and we are to identify that path that we go on and recognize its purpose for our life. Christ, who went to the cross for me. He was willing to die for my sin. How are we reluctant to take up our cross and follow him? That shouldn't be the case. We should be willing to follow him in this as well. Jesus made it very clear that discipleship requires this. We cannot be a disciple, a follower of Christ, unless we are willing to go into this realm also of suffering by taking up our cross, by denying ourselves by putting our sin to death, to mortify it, so that it does not rule over us and gain any power in our life. Christ put our sin to death. We are to go into that same process. We are to follow him and do the same thing. Christ, who his own self, no one did this for him. He did this himself. It's personal. Only he could do this, to bear our sins in his own body on the tree. He was cursed. This idea of the tree goes all the way back to Deuteronomy, where if someone was convicted of certain crimes that had been done and they were to die, their body was to be hanged from a tree until the evening and then taken down as a sign of being abandoned by God. Abandoned by God. And this is what Christ endured. for us and we are not to be unwilling to go down this same road and to allow Christ to take us down this path with him of self-denial and dying to sin just as he has done. Scriptures are filled with references that deal with this particular process, particularly in Romans 6, 7, and 8. Colossians chapter three. And so we are called to follow Christ. We like him are now dead to sin because his people were in him when he went to the cross and died. And we like him are now raised from the dead because we were in him before the foundation of the world. And to what end has God done all of this? It's to inspire our response that ought to be normal, that ought to be the correct response, that we, being dead to sin, should now live unto righteousness. That's why. We should live unto righteousness. So if our understanding of what Christ has done for us and we are called to follow him in his suffering, even his suffering to the cross, which we are now to be willing to engage in in our own life, we do this for what reason? Why do you say no to sin? Why do you deny yourself? What is the purpose and the goal of it all? Why did Jesus take your sin to the cross and there die and pay the penalty for it so it would never judge you? Why? So that we would live unto righteousness. That's why. Live, that we should live unto righteousness. The word should here is what is referred to as an auxiliary verb. You may be familiar with that. It is intended to emphasize the main action that is here, and that is live. Live is the action that we are being called to. Should denotes the obligation or duty to do it. We should do this. We have all the reason and the motivation for doing it. What would prevent us from doing it? We should. We should live unto righteousness. Should compelled and motivated by what? What he's done for us. And it has been a grand thing that he's done for us. And we should be motivated in response to live unto righteousness, living as true followers of Christ. It means that we are conforming our life to the will of God to live unto righteousness. There is no other righteousness that we can do that is acceptable to God. Christ has made us righteous by his righteousness. Therefore, we should now live devoted to a life of doing what is right according to our Father's will, not to be right with him, but because Christ has made us righteous by including us in his life. when he came and he lived and he died and rose again for us. He made us righteous people. And we are being challenged by the example of what Christ did that we enter into that same journey that he entered into. Peter's making it very clear. He's our example and we are to follow even into this. where we are willing to take up our cross and die to sin and live unto righteousness. Christ did that. Are you willing to follow him in that? That's the challenge from Peter. and the Spirit of God to us today. Therefore, because of this, we are to live unto righteousness." Just a note of distinction here, too, that's worth noting. We know that the word live is the primary verb, and should is telling us how we ought to live. But the word righteousness, you would think, refers to certain actions. It's a non-feminine gender. It's not actions. It's not focused on a list of actions that we should do. But rather, righteousness here is a mindset. It's a disposition that governs and manages the way that we think. Live unto righteousness, meaning live as those whose minds have been radically changed and committed to follow your father's will. Have that kind of mindset. So he's not talking about particulars. He's talking just about the way we think. Every day, the way we think. It is a new way of thinking. It is consistently a new way of thinking. God's people, because of Christ, think differently than the rest of the world. Our mind and our affection have been made alive unto spiritual things that the world does not understand. And we are to live guided by a righteous way of thinking. You see how we've entered into this relationship following Christ. And just as he was raised from the dead, a new life, we follow him into that same encounter, the same experience. And it begins with a new way of thinking. Paul said to the church at Philippi in chapter two, speaking of Christ, he says, let this mind be in you that is in Christ. And then he tells us about Christ. And this is the mindset that we are to have. Christ did it. But we are to have the mindset that has been worked out in detail there in Philippians 2. The right response to Christ, who did this work for us, is that we should live by setting our mind and affections on things above. That's the righteousness that he is referring to here. We follow Christ into these things. And then Peter adds this closing clause, and this will be our last focus this morning, at the end of verse 24, that we should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. This is sort of a summary statement, but it's going to take his thinking to another place here, and we'll save that for next Sunday, which is verse 25. But for a moment, think about this statement. By whose stripes you are healed. There is causality in this, as they refer to a cause and effect is taking place here. And so we could read it this way. Christ, by whose stripes we are healed, we could read it, we are healed because of his stripes. There's the cause and effect. We are healed this morning, whatever that means. We are healed because of his stripes. Sin is humanly an incurable disease. Sin is a curse that no human can free themselves from. Sin is a death that no human can overcome except for one man, Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of God, who became the Son of Man to receive the stripes I deserve. He took the beating that I deserved. He was bruised for me and for you. The punishment, the bruises that we deserved, he took them so that we can be healed. The actions of Christ produced this for us. What is it? Healed, meaning we've been cured. We've been made whole. How did that happen? Christ took my stripes and he has just articulated all of what that meant. And this becomes, right at the end, that we should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed becomes a part of the motivation for why we live unto righteousness. Because of what Christ has done for us this morning. I want to close by reading a few references. Let's go first to Isaiah chapter 53 because this is what Peter is quoting from. Look at Isaiah chapter 53. In verse number four and five, and then we'll read verses 10 through 12, but look at verses four and five. Surely, speaking of the the suffering servant that is to come and suffer for us, the Messiah. Surely he hath borne our griefs. He hath carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But his wounds, he was wounded for our transgressions. bruised and smitten of God for sure. But he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. Peter carries this all the way over to the conclusion there of verse 24. By his stripes, we have been healed. bruised, smithen of God, afflicted. Why? For us and for our crimes. Jump down to verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his sown offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Christ has done this for us. And Peter is doing something remarkable here in this idea of following Christ. He is saying, follow him into this. Follow him into this. Be willing to suffer for him as he has suffered for you. Be willing to expose your life to ridicule and abuse because you're standing up for that which is right. Just as he has done this wonderful work for you. And so when we suffer, and we will, we are instructed to look to Christ and follow His example. Just one reference on this out of Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews in chapter number 12, keeping our eyes upon Christ following him, following him in his life, following him in his death, following Christ. And whenever we go through suffering, we are to look to him as our example of how to deal properly with the suffering we are exposed to. And here we have the exhortation to this end, Hebrews 12, one through three, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience, endurance, the race that has been set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, catch this closely now, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, dear brethren, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your own mind. Look to Him. Consider Him always in the midst of all of our trials and difficulties. Look to Christ who endured these things. Why? He saw the joy, the benefit, the outcome on the other side of suffering. And this is the same thing that is to inspire us in our labors as well. And also, when we suffer, we are to exhort it to trust in the sovereign and wise judgments of God, who does all things righteously. One of the great themes of the Psalms is the righteous judgments of God, particularly Psalm 119. righteous judgments, righteous judgments, righteous judgments. It's working that out in the pilgrim's life in those 22 octaves of the pilgrim's journey. God is righteous in his judgments. He makes no mistakes. He executes everything perfectly. He has not only his glory in mind, but our well-being is attached to his glory. And so everything he is doing, it is not just to promote his own glorious name in the world, it's to build and refine his own people who themselves reflect his glory in the world. We can trust him, doesn't matter how difficult life is. Like Christ, we follow his example when in the midst of difficulties, serious difficulties, we take our life and we turn it over and put it into his hands and we trust him with the details and the outcome of whatever is to happen and take place. in our life. Jesus stressed this in his own ministry, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount when he tried to help his disciples early on as his ministry of the kingdom was going forward. He wanted them to understand your father cares for you. Don't doubt this. Know this. Before we go forward, your father cares for you. He cares for birds, he cares for flowers, and you're much more precious to him than birds and flowers. Don't worry about the details and the things that are overwhelming you. Know that your father cares for you. And so if you take your life and you put him first, right? Jesus encouraged them to do that. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, right? And all the things that you have need of, they will be provided and given to you. So how important it is that we, in our life, put our trust in our father. We must develop a righteous mindset by hearing God's word for us, his will for us through his word. We develop a righteous mindset by submitting to the authority of that word over our life. We develop this righteous mindset by obeying as we lean upon the aid of God's own spirit, his illuminating, his guiding, and strengthening of our life. Righteous living comes with right thinking, and that is shaped by the word of God. One last passage, and this we'll close with, is in Romans chapter six. If you look at that briefly, Romans chapter 6, I'll begin in verse number 5 and read through verse 13. Here's this call of Paul as he reasons out what Peter has said to us in these few verses about following Christ, even into his death and resurrection power. Paul mentions it here this way, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. That's assumed. If we've done one, the other will be true. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin, which he took my sin into his own body, might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Okay? Pretty logical, clear? For he that is dead is freed from sin. And so as we're seeing Peter work this out in his text, we see Paul working it out in his text here in verse, in chapter six. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him. So you see, we follow him into the one, and we also follow and experience the other. We live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth continually unto God. Likewise, brethren, likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead. indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is how it all happened. It's through Christ that made this work. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust thereof. There's no reason for you to succumb and be controlled by sin, brethren. The reason is He took it on his own body and he took it into the grave when he died. It's gone. Where's my sin? It's gone. Totally gone. As far as the east is from the west, it's gone. and so has its power to control our life. So neither yield you yourselves as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, don't yield yourself to this end, but rather yield yourselves unto God. Here is the surrender that takes place in our life continually as those that are alive from the dead. and your members, your being, your bodies, ministry and life, give it as instruments of righteousness unto God. So Peter is dealing with all of this in these few short verses, that suffering, suffering is a normal part of the Christian life. We need to follow Christ and learn from him how he dealt with suffering. Even how he dealt with sin. He suffered for sin. By his stripes we are healed. And so now we have to deal with sin. How do we deal with sin? We deal with sin by taking up our cross and mortifying those things that are contrary to God, self-denial, so that we can now live, live unto righteousness. That's the call of our life. Inspired by what? The example of Christ, who did all of this for us, so that we can live unto righteousness. And because we can, We should, we should live unto righteousness. Father, thank you for the privilege of standing before these good people and opening your word and sharing its truth with them. I pray that this review and consideration of things where we have been in the past has been a refreshment for them. and has refocused their attention again on the things that you are instructing us out of the book of Peter. And may you bless us as we move forward and consider more of what you have for us to learn about suffering in the Christian life. We ask this father in your son's name and for your glory, amen.