If you would please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, and our text this morning is verses 18 through 25. 1 Peter 2, verses 18 through 25. First Peter chapter 2, verses 18 through 25 is our text this morning. The word of the Lord. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear. not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. The word. of the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, once again we approach thy throne of grace asking that you would be so pleased to bless our time together this morning. Father, we fully acknowledge that without your blessings upon our time together this morning, nothing worthwhile would unfold. And so we pray that you would be pleased to see your good and perfect and acceptable will accomplished here this morning. May the worship offer to you this morning be pleasing, be acceptable. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would take your word that you have prepared for us this morning and that you would be so pleased to administer it to each and every one of us. You are he who searches the hearts and minds of your people. You know our fears, our challenges, our doubts, You are intimately acquainted with the sins that so easily entangle us. You know exactly how we need to be administered to. And so we pray that you would be so kind to take your word this morning, that which you have prepared for us to receive and to administer it to us as you see fit. Lord Jesus, we pray that if there's anyone here this morning or anyone listening to this message who has not yet embraced you as their Lord and Savior, they have not yet placed their faith, their trust in you. Lord, we pray that you would mediate on their behalf, looking to the Father, asking him to draw them unto himself through saving faith in you. enabling them to understand that you accomplished all that is necessary for them to be reconciled to God, for them to be forgiven of their sin. And so we pray that you would be so kind to do just that. Lord, I pray that you'd be so pleased with thy servant's work on your behalf, that you would be pleased to bless it for your glory and our good. Help me to speak authoritatively, accurately, clearly, boldly. Grant thy servant singleness of mind, clarity of speech. If I should speak anything amiss, if I should say anything wrong, doctrinally wrong or unclear, I pray your forgiveness in advance. In your holy name we pray, amen. Last week, we started our time together highlighting some of the ways that we as Christians are different from the world. And so let's review for the sake of being reminded. Reviewing or being reminded of truth is a good thing. I mean, we learned from the Apostle Peter that reviewing or being reminded of the truth is actually beneficial. When we made our way through 2 Peter, we learned that the purpose of his second letter was to remind the church of the things that she had already been taught. In 2 Peter 3 1-2, we read these words of the Apostle Peter. Beloved, I now write to you the second epistle, in both which I stir up your minds by way of reminder. that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. And so reviewing truth, being reminded of those things that we've already been taught, that we already know is beneficial. We see that from Holy Scripture. And so reviewing the truth is a good thing. Recalling the truth is profitable because by doing it, we strengthen our ability to refute error. Reviewing the truth is beneficial because by doing so, the odds of us being deceived by false teaching is greatly diminished. The more we learn and review the truth, the greater the diminishment of the odds of us being deceived. And so what are some of the ways in which we as God's people are different from the unbelieving world? Unlike the unbeliever, we acknowledge God and show gratitude to Him. We find David doing this in Psalm 63 verses one through five. There we find David declaring, oh God, you are my God. Early in the morning, I will seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips. shall praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips." And so David acknowledged the presence of the Lord God Almighty. He acknowledged that God is there and that He is not silent. He didn't go about his life, about his daily duties, as if God doesn't exist. Then there's Psalm 75, one, where we read, we give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks for your wondrous works, declare that your name is near. So not only did David acknowledge God's existence, his presence in his life, but he also gave thanks to him. Unlike the unbeliever, we love God and desire to know Him better more and more. Psalm 116, verses one through two, we read David's words. I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications, because He has inclined His ear to me. Therefore, I will call upon Him as long as I live. Do you know what we're being told here in Psalm 116, one through two? The idea, the principle being taught here is that answered prayer, answered prayer should cause us to grow in our love for the Lord. Because he hears us and he answers our prayers. Psalm 18, one through three. I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and my horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies. The Lord's providential care for us. protecting us, watching over us, saving us from our sins, is a reason to fall in love and to grow in love with the Lord. Where do we find the Apostle Paul saying in Philippians 3 verses 7 through 11? There we find him saying these words, but what things were gained to me These I have counted loss for Christ, yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may obtain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul abandoned all confidence in himself to be reconciled to God and to place all his confidence in what Christ has done for him in regards to salvation. When he weighed his self-righteousness, his human credentials, against that of Christ, he concluded that a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowing Jesus, is far more valuable than those things that he had been trusting in for the salvation of his soul. And from that moment forward, all that Paul desired was to know Jesus, his Lord, was to know him more and more, better and better. Unlike the unbeliever, we love the brethren. We love other Christians. We love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We love the church. Without hesitation, we declare along with David in Psalm 133, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Because we have loved one for another. As Christians, we look forward to the gathering of the saints because we reunite with our brothers and sisters in Christ that we have possibly not seen throughout the week. We have love one for another. Jesus says, by this, the world will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. And so we're different than the world in that way, in that we love the church. We love other Christians. Unlike the believer, we love the Holy Scripture, the Bible. We know this to be true because upon upon realizing our newfound faith in Jesus Christ, what was the one thing that we just couldn't put down? We couldn't put down the Bible. Remember when we first became Christians? When we first realized that Jesus died for our sins and that he is our Lord and Savior? All that we could do is, think about is picking up the Bible and reading it and being amazed at what we are being told through the scriptures. And so we know this by experience. We don't need anyone to tell us that. And then, I mean, after all, It is the primary means of God's grace, ordinary means of grace that He uses to enable us to grow in the knowledge of Him. Spending time in the Word is spending time with our beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Growing in our knowledge of the Bible is growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Growing in our love for God's Word is growing in our love for Him. Unlike the unbeliever, we belong to the family of God. Unlike what many believe today, there are only two families in the world. There are only two fathers, ultimately. There's the family of God, and there's the family of Satan. There's God the father, and there's Satan, who is the father of his children. Scripture is crystal clear on this. There are only two families in the world, the family of Satan and the family of God. One is either a believer in Jesus Christ, one has either been adopted and brought into the family of God by grace through faith we are saved and we've been qualified and brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, or they are the devil's children. There's only two families. There's no middle ground. Unlike the unbelieving world, we declare the praises of God. We don't seek to glorify ourselves because we understand that our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him, not ourselves. Unlike the unbeliever, we acknowledge the family the family government, the church government, and the civil government, for what they are, the only three God-ordained institutions. Remember, there are only three institutions that God has given to us, the family government, the church government, and the civil government. Those are the only three institutions that God has given to us. And so we acknowledge these. And as we noted last week, we do acknowledge these. This brings us to today's passage. Here in 1 Peter 2, 18 through 25. As I believe we will see from today's passage, in addition to those things that we just reviewed, things that separate us, God's people, from the unbelieving world, we are also called to be found living honorable as servants. Living honorable as servants. Let's look to our text and then we'll look to the Lord once again. in prayer, beginning in verse 18. Peter writes to the church, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, once again, we pray that you would be with us this morning, and that our time together would be pleasing to you, would be beneficial to the Church. May we all be encouraged, may we all be edified, may we all grow in our knowledge and our love for you. In your name we pray, amen. Again, verses 18 through 20, Peter writes, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your fault, you take it patiently, but When you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. The term servant here in our passage is actually, in the original language, slave. Slave, when considering the context of our passage, how it's used here, means house servant. And so Peter is addressing house servants. those who are serving in the house, in someone's home. So what we have here in today's passage, the apostle Peter is addressing those numbered among the church, his intended audience, who were house servants. Peter is telling these dear brothers and sisters in Christ to be found living honorably as servants, because it is not only commendable, but as we will see, it is also God's good and perfect and acceptable will for his beloved people. If they were to be found living honorably as servants, Peter tells them that they need to be submissive to their masters. to their lords. That is, that they would need to follow through with the wishes or the commands of their masters. They need to be obedient. They need to follow through. If they were to be found living and honorable as servants, they would need to be respectfully submissive to their masters, following through with their directives. And Peter says that this is commendable in God's will for them as servants, or we could say as house servants or as slaves. living honorably as servants, by humbly submitting themselves to their masters, doing what they are asked to do, and obviously, obviously sinful requests here are not in focus. Peter's not encouraging them to do sinful things that they're being requested to do. Peter says that masters, good and evil, gentle or harsh or in the original Greek harsh we get from the original Greek crooked crooked masters deceiving masters are to be respectfully obeyed by their house servants and Peter says this is living honorably as servants this is commendable before God now one may be thinking wait a minute hold the boat put the brakes on for a minute Pastor Wayne, are you saying that even harsh or crooked masters are to be respectfully obeyed every wish? Scripture tells us, yes. So long as they are not requiring their house servants to disobey God, they are to be respectfully obeyed, Peter says. Scripture says that is commendable before God. That is what we are being told here in our passage. And the same principle today applies with, the same principle here applies in regards to the employer-employee relationship. Some of our employers are good and gentle, we've experienced. Some of our employers are harsh, they can be crooked as people. But so long as they are not requesting, they are not asking their employees to do something sinful, the employee, the Christian employee, is to respectfully obey what they're being asked to do. This is what Peter's saying, and he's saying it is commendable before God. Again, look at the text. He says, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh." Or we can say crooked. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. And so what Peter is saying here is that patiently suffering for righteousness sake, enduring grief for doing that which is good, Peter is saying this is what is commendable before God. Knowing that it is God's will for his people to patiently suffer for doing good, endure grief for righteousness sake, and then actually practicing suffering wrongfully, that is commendable before God, that is actually living honorably as servants. This brings us to verses 21 through 25. Here we find Peter driving home the point that it is God's will for his people to patiently suffer for doing good or for righteousness sake, thus suffering wrongfully by directing the church's attention to Christ's example of living honorably as a servant of the Lord God Almighty. Notice what Peter says here in verses 21 through 25. He writes, for to this you were called. You were called to this, brothers and sisters. You were called to this. Why? Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. He also suffered for doing that which is good and right. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life. and yet he suffered for it. He spoke truth, and yet he suffered for it. He committed no sin, nor deceit was found in his mouth, Peter says, who, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Why? That we, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Why? For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." Christ's example is that which we should be following. Jesus lived a life of obedience to God, perfect obedience. He did not retaliate when he was insulted. He did not threaten revenge when suffering wrongfully. And he did not take matters into his own hands. As sometimes we find ourselves doing. But rather he committed himself to God's care. He left the situation in God's hands, knowing that God will deal with those, knowing that God will deal with those mistreating him, believing the Lord God Almighty, when he said, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And so rather than taking revenge, rather than retaliating for being insulted, he lived a life of obedience and he committed the difficult situation to his heavenly father. He says, father, I know you know exactly what's happening here. I know you know exactly how to handle this. I'm not gonna take matters into my own hands. I'm gonna leave the situation to you. You will deal with them appropriately. I'm placing my trust in you, my well-being in you. You will take care of me. You will see me through this. That's living honorably as a servant of Jesus Christ. The beloved Jesus Christ, our beloved Lord and Savior, set an example for us to follow And then he bore our sins in his body on the tree, thus delivering us from sin's mastery. That's what Peter's talking about. He delivered us from sin's mastery. Why? So that we too might live for righteousness as he did for us. You see, when Jesus Christ came and he lived the life we couldn't live, and then he died the death we couldn't die, paid the penalty we couldn't pay, he didn't do all that simply just so that we can be forgiven of our sins. He did it also so that we can live a righteous life here and now, so that our life today can be redeemed, so that we too might live for righteousness as He did. And how do we live for righteousness? By following or embracing the example He so graciously set. for us, all who believe by following his example that we see here in our text. We have been set free from the old harsh or crooked master, sin's mastery. We've been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and delivered into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Christ. And we've been healed. In what way have we been healed? We've been healed because as Peter says here, we've returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. We've been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. We're in true communion, true fellowship with our heavenly father. We've been reconciled to God and therefore find ourselves serving Jesus Christ as shepherd and overseer of our soul, our good and gentle master. He is good and gentle, amen. He is our good and gentle master. And so Peter understood that it is God's will for his people to suffer for doing good. It's not that God wants us to suffer, but if we're going to suffer, he wants us to suffer for doing that which is good, as our Lord did. He understood that if God's people were going to suffer, they should patiently suffer for righteousness sake. He understood that that is commendable before God, that that is what is pleasing to God, is when his people, his beloved sons and daughters in Jesus Christ, when they do suffer, they are suffering for doing that which is good, for following Christ's example. And Peter also understood that as house servants, some of God's people would have harsh and crooked masters, and therefore would experience suffering wrongfully. And so he writes to these dear brothers and sisters in Christ, instructing them on how to be found living honorably as servants, explaining to them that patiently suffering wrongfully, committing themselves to God who judges righteously as Jesus Christ did, that is commendable before God. That is commendable before God. Seeking retaliation, taking matters into our own hands when our employers do us wrong, that is not God's will for us. That is not God's will. And so beloved, the unfortunate reality is that we live in a fallen world. We live in a fallen world. And because of that, there will be occasions when we will find ourselves working with good and gentle employers. We will find ourselves fellowshipping with good and gentle people. And we will also find ourselves working for or fellowshipping with people who are harsh and crooked. We live in the fallen world, that's just reality. And so when we find ourselves suffering wrongfully, we need not take matters into our own hands, retaliating when insulted, threatening revenge when, threatening revenge, but rather following Jesus' example by looking to our good and gentle Heavenly Father, entrusting the situation to Him, looking to Him to settle the matter. He knows what's best. He knows exactly how to handle it in such a way that brings Him glory and works for our best interest. We do this. We do this, brothers and sisters. We follow the example of Jesus. and as his servants, he is our master, we are his servants, we are his slaves, as his servants, we will be found living honorably as servants. We will be found doing God's good and perfect and acceptable will. Servants, Be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable. If because of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully, for what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, if you don't become unhinged, and take matters into your own hands, if you take it patiently, entrusting yourselves to God, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, why, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. By whose stripes you were healed, for you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your good and perfect and acceptable will. We thank you for the clarity of your word. Father, may we be found all the days of our lives until Jesus returns or until you call us to home. May we be found living honorably as servants of Jesus Christ. And once again, we pray that if there's anyone here this morning or anyone listening to this message who has not yet begun to believe in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray, Heavenly Father, that you'd be so pleased to grant them saving faith in Jesus, drawing them unto yourself through faith in your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. in whose name we live and move and have our being. Amen.