1 Peter chapter number 2. And we will be reading verses 18 through 20 as we begin this morning. 1 Peter 2 verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently. But if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Give me boldness as I present it, give me clarity. Lord, I pray you'd give, through your spirit, wisdom and understanding to each hearer. May they seek wisdom as hidden treasure this morning, not being content with simply getting a nugget here and there, but Lord, may they really understand your word and may they desire to apply it. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I asked the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace, might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face. T'was he who taught me thus to pray, and he, I trust, has answered prayer, but it has been in such a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favored hour, at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all the fair designs I schemed, blasted my gourds, and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling cried. Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free and break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou mayest find thy all in me. Now many of the great old hymns, probably more so than the songs you'll hear in modern churches, recognized a critical reality, and that is that Christians can expect to face significant suffering in this world. The Apostle Paul gave us, of course, a crystal clear summary of this. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now this expectation stands in stark contrast to the message that is promoted on TBN and in other Christian media outlets today. Prosperity teachers advocate what is called the word of faith. And this is the idea that believers can simply speak blessings into their lives and then expect to have them. I just learned recently that Joel Osteen has a new book out entitled, Speak the Blessing. Send your words in the direction you want your life to go. This is what he says right at the beginning of chapter one. I didn't buy the book. I got the Amazon preview. I could spend my money on better things than heresy, This is what he says, he says, our words have creative power. When we speak something out, we are giving it the right to come to pass. It's one thing to believe you're healed, but when you say, I am healed, that's what releases the healing. It's not enough to just believe you have favor, believe that you're blessed, believe that you're going to fulfill your dreams. The scripture says that the spirit of faith is in your words. When you say, I am blessed, I have favor, I am coming out of debt, angels go to work, good breaks will find you, and the right people will track you down. You can think positively, you can believe that you will receive favor, you can pray for God's blessings and that's all good, but nothing happens until you speak the blessing. The miracle is in your mouth. There is healing in your mouth, there is freedom in your mouth, and there are new levels in your mouth. If you're fighting a sickness, it's easy to talk about the medical report and how bad it looks. I don't think I'll ever get well. When you speak that out, you're calling in more defeat, more sickness. You need to change what you're saying. The scripture says, let the weak say, I am strong. It doesn't say, let the weak talk about the weakness. Let the weak call five friends and discuss the problem. That's giving life to the negative. I'm not asking you to deny the facts of the sickness, but just say what God says about you. Your report should be, God is restoring health to me. He will fulfill the number of my days." By the way, the scripture that Osteen cites there is Joel 3.10. And in its context, as Brother Rowland was emphasizing this morning, we have to pay attention to the context, that is one of the blessings that comes during the Christ Millennial reign. It is not a promise that those that are weak can simply make themselves strong by declaring themselves to be strong. If it is true that believers can simply deliver themselves from trouble by speaking blessings into their lives, then someone didn't send the Apostle Peter the memo. All throughout 1 Peter, the Apostle reveals to us that Christians can expect to face suffering in this world, sometimes even very severe suffering. The first hint of this comes back in chapter 1, a verse that we've looked at many times, chapter 1 and verse 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in a heaviness through manifold temptations. Now this is not simply the possibility of a minor inconvenience from time to time or an irritation. Peter speaks of manifold temptations, various kinds of trials that impose themselves on the believer's life. And you notice what they bring with them, heaviness, sorrow. But there's one type of trial that receives extended focus in 1 Peter, and that is specifically persecution, especially undeserved suffering for the cause of Christ. Let me share several examples with you. Chapter 2, verse 12, they speak against you as evil doers. Chapter 2, verse 19, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. Chapter 2, verse 20, when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. Chapter 3, verse 14, but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, Chapter 3, verse 16, whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers. And verse 17, for it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evildoing. Chapter 4, verse 4, they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Chapter 4, verse 12, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. Verse 14 of chapter 4, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ. Verse 16, if any man suffer as a Christian. Chapter 5, verse 9, the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. And then verse 10, after that ye have suffered a while. This is what Peter's readers were experiencing. And this is what they could continue to expect during their earthly pilgrimage. As history tells us, in all likelihood, when Peter was writing this epistle, this was before even Nero's major purge of believers from the Roman Empire took place. And so even this suffering that they were enduring at the time of his writing was about to get much worse. There was no indication that Peter's readers could simply speak blessings into their lives and then somehow avoid suffering. No, this type of suffering we are told again and again in 1 Peter was the will of God. In fact, chapter 4 and verse 13 make it clear that the type of suffering we face as Christians is no ordinary suffering. Notice it. but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. Now wait a minute. We can handle the thought of dealing with an occasional sickness or an injury. We can understand dealing with the occasional mockery of those that are opposed to the gospel. But partakers of Christ's sufferings? as in shedding sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane, as in enduring the mockery of the Roman soldiers who plaited a crown of thorns and pressed it on his head, as in suffering the shame and the tremendous physical agony of the cross. Now we obviously understand that most of us are not going to experience those things literally. But yet it provides a graphic image, does it not? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I don't agree with all of his theology. He had some serious problems. But I think he put it well when he said this, that when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Incidentally, this is why so many would-be disciples turned away from Christ during his earthly ministry. If you turn back to Luke chapter 9, you see one of the clearest demonstrations of this. Luke chapter 9 and verse 57. Luke 9, verse 57, "'And it came to pass that as they went in the way, "'a certain man said unto him, "'Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.' "'And Jesus said unto him, "'Foxes have holes and birds of the airs have nests, "'but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.'" You're really gonna follow me wherever I go? Because we're not headed to Trump Tower here. We're not headed even to the Hilton or the Hyatt. You may very well find yourself homeless. Verse 59, and he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And there are many who have cast aspersion on our Lord because of this instruction. And it has been suggested that, well, you know, perhaps he was just kind of waiting around so he could collect the inheritance. That's possible. But it's also possible, dear friends, that allegiance to Christ comes above everything else. Even the burying of the dead in this case. I mean, think of the opportunity this man had. Christ standing right there before him. And he turned him away. Verse 61, and another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. All excuses. But in each case, these potential would-be disciples were not prepared to pay the cost. They were not prepared to suffer for Christ. I'm afraid that we have modern evangelicals and even fundamentalists who have no vision of suffering for Christ. It's the type of very shallow gospel presentations that we hear. They try to make it as easy as possible for people to profess faith in Jesus. Oh, just repeat this prayer after me and boom, you're in the kingdom of God. If you ever doubt it, it's a work of Satan. Is that what we see in the ministry of Jesus? Think of how Jesus approached people like this. Now I don't doubt, friends, salvation is simple. Simple enough that even a young child can understand it. But easy? I could make a strong scriptural case that salvation is not only not easy, it's actually impossible by human standards. Think of when Jesus encountered the rich young ruler. And of course, he turned away because he had great riches. And there's this interaction that takes place between Jesus and the disciples. And the disciples, they hear Jesus making this remark that if you're gonna enter the kingdom of God, it's easier actually for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. And so the disciples, they ask, well, who then can be saved? They're not thinking of the rich man as kind of this snarly, evil, greedy type of person. They're thinking of the rich as those that are especially endued by God with all kinds of blessing. So, if He's not going to make it, how are any of us other people, us mere mortals, how are we going to make it compared to Him? And what Jesus says is, with men, this is impossible. just as impossible as a camel going through the eye of a needle. But with God, all things are possible. Salvation is a work of God, friends, and I wonder this morning, has this work of God taken place in your life? I'm not asking you if you've turned over a new leaf. I'm not asking you if you've gone through some kind of self-health efforts. I'm asking you if the grace of God has reached down and taken you out of the miry clay and set your feet upon a rock. Real salvation is a work of God, friends. It is not something that is done by the will of the flesh, as John tells us in John chapter one. It is done only by a miracle of regeneration, new birth. Has it taken place in your life? Can you say with the Apostle Paul, I am a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away, old things have become new. Friend, it's only possible through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, his resurrection. Friends, if it's never happened to you, even now as you're seated there in your seat listening to this sermon, You can call on the name of the Lord. You can cry out to Christ for mercy. Lord, I'm a sinner. I've broken your law, but I turn from my sins and I turn in full confidence in what you did on the cross. Friend, you can be gloriously saved even as you're listening to this message right now. What a glorious thought that would be. And friend, if you have questions, Come see me. I mean, it doesn't matter what I'm doing after the service. Come get my attention. I will stop whatever I'm doing. Because nothing is more important than you doing business with God. Now friends, these truths about suffering, all of these things that we've seen in 1 Peter, it really sets the stage for this passage that we're considering this morning. If you go back there, And we discussed last week that Peter here in this text, he's addressing household slaves. And we might hope in our 21st century American way of thinking that Peter would simply say, hey, you're free in Christ. Throw off the chains of human bondage. Don't worry about pleasing your masters. Just speak blessing into your life and miraculously you will become a free man. But that's not what Peter does. Instead, we learn here that household slaves were to expect suffering, and he doesn't tell them to release themselves from that. The message that we come away with in this text is this, that we can anticipate heavenly rewards as we submit to unjust leadership in the workplace. We're bringing it over to our contemporary context. I know that none of you are slaves, at least I hope not. If you are, come see me. There might be a legal issue going on, there. But even though we're not experiencing the first century reality of slavery in a Roman context, nonetheless, there are structures of authority. And we bring it over, I think, most appropriately in our context today to the workplace. So this is the message that Peter is driving across. In that statement that I made, we can anticipate heavenly rewards as we submit to unjust leadership in the workplace. There's three aspects to this. First of all, there's submission. Secondly, there's unjust leadership in the workplace. And third, there's heavenly rewards. And so last week we began looking at the first of those three words and that's the word submission. We asked this question, who is called to submit? And the answer came back in verse 18, those that Peter addresses here as servants or household slaves. We spent some time last week dealing with the historical circumstances surrounding slavery in the ancient Roman Empire. We mentioned that slaves in that context were generally better off than the slaves we think of in American history, at least in a general sense. There were some that still were suffering under pretty horrific conditions. In fact, in the Roman Empire, slaves earned wages and could eventually procure their freedom if they were able to acquire a sufficient amount of funds. In fact, they could even own other slaves, if you can imagine such a thing. Many in this ancient context were slaves by choice rather than by compulsion. At the same time, we have to remember that slaves were still slaves. Their rights were severely limited. They were still considered the property of their masters, somewhat analogous to what you think of in American history with the Dred Scott case. A slave's experience largely depended on the attitude of his master. And there could be a very positive experience that a slave could have under a kind master, but under a cruel master, things could be extremely trying. Nevertheless, despite the fact that slavery by its nature is unjust, Peter called his enslaved readers to submit to their earthly masters. Christianity is not about causing a societal revolution. We are in the business of reformation, not revolution. So with this background in mind, we want to answer three other questions about this idea of submission. So the next question we want to consider is this. What does it mean to submit? What does it mean to submit? Now notice in verse 18, the instructions that are given here. Servants, be subject to your masters. The Greek verb that is translated be subject appears just a few verses earlier. So let me draw your attention there. Notice verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. That verb that is translated submit is the same one that is translated be subject in verse 18. This same word appears a few verses later if you go over to chapter 3 in verse 1. Peter writes, likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. Again, same word that is translated submit in verse 13 and that is translated be subject in verse 18 of chapter two. Notice how Peter illustrates that idea. Verse five of chapter three, for after this manner also in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands. even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord." In all of these texts, to submit or to be subject involves placing oneself under the authority of another. And 1 Peter 3 makes it clear that being subject entails obedience. Sarah's subjection to her husband Abraham caused her to obey him and gasp to call him Lord. We'll get there eventually in 1 Peter. Now again, we have to take ourselves back to the cultural context here. We have to remember that in the Roman Empire, slaves were not always these low-skilled workers in the fields that we like to think of, given our American context. In fact, many of the vocations that slaves held would be considered white-collar jobs in our context today. There were slaves that were teachers, doctors, managers, In fact, it was quite possible that in many cases a slave might be more skilled or more talented than his master was. We have to remind ourselves of what we saw back in chapter 2 and verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man. Why? For the Lord's sake. Submission rendered to an authority figure is not based on the inherent worthiness of the authority figure. Rather, we submit for the Lord's sake. We acknowledge that a household slave, he may have been more talented than his master. He may be a more skilled man than his master. Certainly, he might be a nobler man than his master. But the submission is not dependent on the worthiness of the master. It is dependent on the worthiness of the Lord. This is a lesson that I learned vividly when I was in Christian college, where we had pretty high standards of conduct, especially compared to the ethos with Christian institutions now. But what was really frustrating for a lot of students was not always the rules, but it was who enforced the rules. Now, you can imagine one scenario where, yeah, okay, you've got these faculty and staff members that are a few decades older than the college students, and they're the ones enforcing the rules. But it wasn't always that way. In fact, most of the day-to-day enforcement of the rules came from people that were called floor leaders. These were people that were either our age, or in some cases, they may have been younger. You're telling me I've got to listen to this guy? These people would come around on the hall every night, to make sure that we were in bed at 11 o'clock. If we weren't, we would get demerits. These same individuals, on Saturdays, would go in the shower and make sure that it was squeaky clean. If it wasn't, we would get demerits. And all these different types of offenses. It was these other students that were responsible to enforce the rules. But that college, they decided, of course, you can't have full-time faculty going into dormitories and doing this sort of thing. So they decided that this was going to be the authority structure. And this was necessary in order to maintain an atmosphere where there are manners, where there's righteousness, where there's some semblance of order. And we had to submit. But again, the submission is not that, well, you know, this guy's so much better than me because he's a floor leader. In fact, many of them were pretty crummy guys, to be honest with you. But you know what? God put them in that position of leadership. And it was not my responsibility to flout their authority, it was my responsibility to submit in order that there could be a sense of order on campus. And friends, this is the idea here. We're not always thinking about the worthiness of the authority figure. It is entirely possible that your workplace, you might be wiser than your boss. You might be more talented, more skilled. There might be certain areas where you know a lot more than he does. But friends, there's a reason that you're the employee and that he's the boss. Because this is the structure that God has set up. It's a providential control. It's really a blessing that there is some semblance of order. It's not just chaos. You don't just go into your workplace and do whatever you want at any given time. No, there has to be a sense of order. And to maintain that order, we must submit, regardless of who the person in authority might be. Now, that's what it means to submit. I want us to consider another question here. that is raised in our passage, and that's this. What is the proper attitude of submission? What is the proper attitude of submission? You see it in verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear. Now, there's a lot of terminology in this passage that we just don't like to hear as 21st century Americans. Be subject. Boy, that's not a command we like to hear. And then, with all fear, that's the attitude of submission. Now, there's a debate among the commentators here. Who is it that the servants are called to fear? Now, of course, in the immediate context, Peter speaks of masters. And so naturally, many commentators, perhaps most, believe that the servants are called to fear their masters. Now, the term fear, it doesn't always refer to being afraid in the sense of being afraid of a spider or being afraid of heights or something like that. Sometimes it can have more of the idea of reverence or respect. And so many of the translations you'll see, they render this word as reverence or respect. But I am actually inclined to agree with other commentators who believe that the fear here is not directed toward the master, but it is actually directed toward God. Now why do I believe that? Well, first of all, I believe that based on the way that this word is used throughout 1 Peter. If you go back to verse 17 in chapter 1, chapter 1, verse 17, notice what Peter says here. And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. And the fear there is connected with the Father's evaluation of our works at the judgment seat of Christ. It seems to me that this is the same type of fear that's in view when you look at how Peter uses this in chapter 3. If you go over there, chapter 3 verse 2. The same context that we looked at a moment ago, Peter is addressing wives here. He says, while they, talking about particularly the unsaved husbands, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Look down at verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you through a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Now what's very significant in 1 Peter is that you find this contrast between the response that we're to give to God versus the response that we're to give to human authority figures. You see it in verse 17. Chapter 2, excuse me. Chapter 2, verse 17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Now Peter could have said fear God, fear the king, but he doesn't do that. There's a sense in which that would be true. But he says here, fear God, honor the king. There's an appropriate respect that we should have for the king. But there's a difference between our response to God and our response to the king. Now other passages in verse Peter actually warn us of the dangers of being afraid of people. If you go over to chapter 3, look at that verse again in verse 6 that we mentioned. A moment ago, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, notice, and are not afraid with any amazement. There is a respect rendered to the husband, but notice it does not rise to the level of this kind of trembling fear. Verse 13, later in the chapter, who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, notice, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. In the context of 1 Peter, I would suggest to you that Peter reserves fear for God himself. Now there's one other reason that I believe God is in view here and that's because of a very similar passage that we find in Colossians. Let me draw your attention there. Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three. Colossians 3 verse 22, servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, notice the last phrase, fearing God. And you notice that there's a very similar command that Peter gives in 1 Peter 2. All of this suggests to me that Peter is intending for the fear that he speaks of to be given specifically to God. Now, a slave in Peter's day would have had plenty of reason to be afraid of his master. And in fact, in 1 Peter 2, if you go back there, notice what is mentioned in verse 20. Paul says, or Peter rather, says, for what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults? Corporal punishment was administered to slaves in many cases in the ancient world. I don't know about you, I wouldn't look forward to that. There would be plenty of reason to be afraid of the master, but it's interesting that Peter does not draw attention to the master, he draws attention to God, the ultimate master. there's a far greater concern than simply lashes on the back. Whatever harm a slave owner could inflict would be momentary and temporary. But you see, Peter is drawing back to what he says earlier in the book, where he draws our attention to that ultimate evaluation of our works at the judgment seat of Christ. Now praise the Lord if we belong to Christ, there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1. That is a blessed reality. We will never be condemned for our sins. We will never be thrown into the lake of fire. We don't need to fear that. But I would suggest to you we do need to fear there being some sense of shame at the judgment seat of Christ because of our works in this life. And that is precisely what Peter is drawing his attention to here. We conduct ourselves in such a way in this world so that we can receive praise on that day. When God can look at our works and there can be a favorable commendation of the things that we've done in this life. That's why we submit. So often, we think in terms of, this guy is coming over from corporate today, so we've got to be on our best behavior. You know what Paul calls that? He calls that eye service. You're just doing it because somebody's watching you. You know, it's very eerie being in this office back here when there's nobody here. I discovered this over the last several weeks. Normally, my kids are running back and forth. It's very eerie, and for all you know, I could be spending all my days playing Angry Birds in there. Now, I'm not. That's not because there's somebody breathing down my neck. There's nobody in there. But I do it because I know that the Lord is watching. I have to give an account for how I handle His word. And yeah, I've had enough education at this point, too much, frankly. I've had enough education that I could look at something for five minutes and then come up here and not completely make a fool of myself. You know, that wouldn't honor the Lord. You say, well, don't you think you should back up a little bit? No. This is what you're paying me for. I mean, shouldn't you want me to be giving the very best that I can give you each Sunday? It's all for the Lord. And friend, it's, you know, you say, well, you're a pastor. Well, it's not just me being a pastor. It's all holy ground in the eyes of God. regardless of whether you're a janitor at the bank like our brother here, or if you're in a field somewhere, it's all for the glory of God. He sees. And we ought to do it not because somebody's breathing down our neck, but we ought to do it because of Him, the One who sees all things. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good, we're told in Proverbs. That's why we do it. That's the attitude with which we submit. Now, there's one final question that we must ask in this verse, and that's this. Who are the proper objects of submission? Who are the proper objects of submission? Notice verse 18. Servants be subject to your masters. They're called masters, slave owners. Again, Peter here validates the slave master authority structure as something that is a calling from God, even if it was one that was often fraught with injustice. Now, he doesn't just speak of masters in a generic sense. He speaks of two different types of masters in this verse. Notice in verse 18, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, So there's the good and gentle. The word good here means that this master is morally upright. This word, it occurs all throughout 1 Peter, especially in contexts where Peter speaks of well-doing. In some cases in the New Testament, this word has the sense of kind, which you see in Acts 9, verse 36. Then you have this word gentle and that word means just about what you would expect, someone who's meek, gentle. 1 Timothy 3 verse 3, it's translated patient. Titus chapter 3 and verse 2, Paul here in his letter to Titus, he connects this quality with avoiding quarreling and with speaking evil of no one. James chapter three verse 17 connects this idea with being, the idea of being gentle, with being pure, with being peaceable, open to reason, full of mercies and good fruits, impartial, sincere, all of those things connected with this idea of being gentle. Now here again, we are confronted with something that is counter-cultural in our time. There were good men throughout history who owned slaves. Let me say that again. Yeah, you get this out there so I can be canceled, that's fine. There were good men throughout history who owned slaves. You know that the most famous sermon in American history, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, was preached by Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was a slave owner. He was a good man. And of course, the same is true with many of our founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Our Constitution and Declaration of Independence came down to us from men who owned slaves. Now, it is incredibly naive to simply throw caution to the wind and say, well, anybody that owns slaves, we're going to tear his statue down. How immature and how ridiculous. Well, those guys were racist. I wonder what people are going to say about us 100 years from now if the Lord tears his coming. Think about how we have, in the state of Illinois, multiple places where women can go and babies can be slaughtered. We go on our daily lives like that's not happening. What are people going to say about us 100 years from now? I think we could afford to extend some mercy to men of the past that didn't live in the same kind of cultural context that we live in currently. I don't deny the evils of slavery in American history, but we also have to evaluate men based on their times. I heard this said by a guy once who was an expert in American history. He pointed out the fact that The greatest predictor to know, if you were born in the United States of America, the greatest predictor on your opinion of slavery would be when you were born. If you were born in colonial America, or if you were born even in pre-Civil War America, it's far more likely that you would be in favor of slavery, whereas if you're born in this culture, it's just accepted that you're against it. But what room is there for pride? It's all based exclusively on when you're born, essentially. We can't look down our noses at people from the past who didn't do things the same way we do. Peter acknowledges the same reality, doesn't he? When he says that there are masters who are good and gentle. But he also acknowledges something that is more disturbing in verse 18. Not only to the good and gentle, notice, but also to the froward. Greek word here, scolios. Maybe you've heard of scoliosis. It's a condition where a person's spine has a sideways curve. And the Greek word here, similar idea. It refers to that which is curved or that which is crooked. Many times that's a literal sense. Luke 3, 5, the crooked shall be made straight. But more often, the Greek word is used for people who are morally crooked or corrupt. Now that's the ultimate submission, is it not? It's radical enough to think of submitting yourself to any human being who regards you as his slave. But it's quite another thing to submit to that human being when he's a corrupt man, when he's morally bankrupt. That's what Peter is saying here. Well, Brother Nick, you don't have any idea what it's like at my workplace. No, I don't. But I'd question whether it was anything like being a slave in the ancient Roman Empire. Does your boss beat employees who don't show up to work on time? I doubt it. Now, I do wanna be clear. I'm not talking about being a doormat. We do have the honor and the privilege of living in a country where we get certain legal rights. There may be a situation if somebody's doing something that's illegal, where it's your privilege as an American citizen to resort to the proper legal channels to address that situation. Certainly, ladies, I would admonish you, in this day and age, you shouldn't tolerate any hint of sexual abuse in the workplace. Take advantage of the legal channels that are available, and address those matters. The kinds of day-to-day frustrations that we deal with in the workplace. I think, you're a pastor, you don't know what it's like. No, I've been in other workplaces before. This is not the first job I've had. I don't even like calling it a job. This is far better than a job, right? But I know what it's like, even in Christian work environments. In some cases, those were worse than the secular environments, if you can believe that. I know what it's like. I know, yeah, aren't you glad we do have the privilege in this country that if you don't like your workplace, just tell your boss you're resigning, right? Praise the Lord. But you know what? You can do that, I can't guarantee you that the pastures are gonna be greener somewhere else. Because people are falling. There are people that are corrupt in any workplace that you go to. I would caution us, friends, there's going to be problems no matter where you go. But what Peter calls on us to do here is to be prepared to submit to those that are in authority over us. Even when those people are crooked, even when they're morally corrupt, because again, it's not about that person, it's about the Lord. We do all of this because we fear Him. Heavenly Father, we thank You for these precious moments again that we've spent in Your Word. And we pray that You would burden each of our hearts, Lord, about these matters. For those that are still in the workplace, Lord, we pray that You would give them a wonderful Christian testimony. Give them stamina to deal with issues in their workplace that are not always desirable. I pray that they could demonstrate a sweet spirit to their co-workers and especially to those over them that would reflect well on the gospel of Christ. Father, for those here that are without Christ, again, I want to implore you that you open their hearts Lord, I just think of unbelievers hearing a sermon like this. It is just so countercultural to the moment that we're living in. Lord, it is the spirit of God that enables us to live this way. Help them to see that they can't just determine in and of themselves that they're going to live a righteous life. Lord, most of all, we need the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it is only through that that we can then demonstrate righteousness in our daily conduct. So Lord, we pray that you'd open hearts of those that are without Christ. We thank you for the joy we've had of being here today. I pray that each of us would be edified and that Christ would be magnified through all that we've done. And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Pastor. OK, let's have our final hymn today. Number 362, there is power in the blood. Let's stand and sing that together.