Sundays: 9:00 AM Sunday School | 10:30 AM Worship Service

Watch Live

|

Contact

|

App

|

Book: 1 Peter

  • The Prosperity of Suffering As a Citizen

    The Prosperity of Suffering As a Citizen

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches from 1 Peter 3:13-17 how Christians should respond to unjust suffering. Pastor explains several reasons why Christians will suffer in life and reminds believers that they are called to suffer for the gospel’s sake. Pastor also offers four admonitions to observe in the midst of suffering and exhorts believers to keep their consciences clean before God and men.

    Full Transcript:

    Let us pray:

    Lord, Thank You for bringing us here. We know, Lord, it is by Your providence that we sit here and are alive today. The privilege are ears could experience is that of hearing the word of God. I pray, Lord, that you would bring the word of God to convict our hearts, teach us how to live, and move our wills to do so. I pray, Lord, that this passage would become evident on what we are supposed to do. I pray this, in Christ’s name, Amen.

    We will be looking at 1 Peter 3:13-17. We have come to the last section of this epistle of 1 Peter. The first section dealt with salvation. When it comes to suffering, we get a sense of where Peter is going with this. It is important for all Christians to have a real good understanding and grasp of their own salvation in Christ Jesus.

    The second section focused on submission, and the different ways Christians are to submit coupled with the characteristics and attitudes appropriate for proper submission that is pleasing to the Lord. Now, we come to this third major section, the last major section of Peter, which is suffering.

    By way of wisdom, the Apostle Peter has laid the foundation for Christians to be ever prepared for any kind of trial or suffering that may come their way. If these principles are put into practice, then we will be able to overcome, get through, and be a testimony to those around us during times of suffering and persecution. Meaning, all Christians need to grow in these truths and understand the first two sections, so that the last section isn’t too confusing.

    The third major section of 1 Peter has to do with suffering for the cause of righteousness. Of course, we will consider suffering unjustly. Here, the focus is suffering as a citizen, or the prosperity of suffering as a Christian citizen, which is someone living the Christian life in the world when it is difficult.

    Already, you can see how radically different the Christian response is to things as compared to the old sinful way, which we were accustomed to. Before we came to know Christ and His word on matters of salvation and sanctification, we responded in a way completely opposite of what the Scriptures teach us.

    On this Lord’s day, the word of God is instructing us on how to respond to unjust suffering. In the first few verses of our text, we have two conditional sentences: one forms a question and the other is in the form of a concession. How can we know these are conditional sentences? Notice what it says in 1 Peter 3:13-14:

    Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED

    The way we know that they are conditional sentences is by that word if. Thus, both are placed there for our encouragement, especially to be able to carry out the four admonitions that are going to follow.

    Remember, these passages follow on the footsteps of passages that have come before. In our last section of Scripture, Peter was quoting King David from Psalm 34. Even on the very worst of days, he learned that the very thing that turns a bad day into a good day is this: The Lord is with you through the valleys. David learned how to live a blessed life.

    In the last section, there were three things that we saw. First, we saw that he learned to walk on the right path, which means that he must turn away from evil and do good, and he must seek peace and pursue it. He learned that you can’t just turn away from evil, but it must be replaced by a pursuit of that which is good and seeks peace.

    If you are to love life, you must avoid and despise evil, and you will stay away from what you hate. Then, you must pursue peace. 1 Peter 3:11 says:

    HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

    Now, this peace requires an effort. Peace is good for the soul and the wellbeing of God’s people. Mentioned here, that peace is that we are made at peace through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. By His shed blood, we have peace with God. Because we have peace with God, we can have peace with other people.

    Leading to how David learned by living with the right perspective. In 1 Peter 3:12, it says:

    FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL.

    That is divine favor, but also divine disfavor. In other words, the incentive for doing good is the knowledge of the actual presence of God in a person’s life. I know God is with me, I know God is real, I know God tells me the truth, I can trust His promises, I can lean upon what He says, and I can live my life worry-free.

    Then, the incentive for doing good is that very knowledge. We know the Lord sees and hears, and those who live for the Lord are motivated by a real consciousness of God’s character and God’s actions. In other words, God will not make a left turn on us and lose us. God’s character is consistent, regular, and you can bank on it because He is not going to go against His will or word. This is what Christians know and what gives them great stability in this life.

    Thirdly, David lived with the right policy. It says in 1 Peter 3:13:

    Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

    For a believer who loves life, a good day is not one which is catered to, but one in which that believer experiences God’s help, comfort, support, and blessing in the middle of their problems. Not being delivered from their problems, but in the middle of their problems. Not being delivered from their trials, but in the middle of their trials.

    In the beginning and end of trials, God is with us. Trials are usually short lived, and they don’t go on forever. David says in Psalm 34:17:

    The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
    And delivers them out of all their troubles.

    Remember, David was on the run from Saul, and living in a cave in Adullam. Being a king, can you call that a good day? However, it was a good day because David knew the Lord delivered him out of his troubles, and the Lord gave him peace and joy. In that same passage, David praised the Lord for what He had done. Thus, David was very aware that God was involved with his life.

    David learned, which we ought to learn too, that God is near to his children for blessing for good and all the time, not just some of the time. God doesn’t take off and leave you alone but is always there with you. The good life is a life in which God is near to you for blessing where you experience God’s help and support and blessing in the middle of problems and trials.

    Since God is watching over us and hearing our prayers, whatever people do to us will not hurt us in the long run, but they will try to harm us. At some time and in some way, believers will be a target. In fact, we already discovered that there were accusations against believers in 1 Peter 2:12:

    Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

    There was ignorant talk against believers in 1 Peter 2:15:

    For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

    There were evil insults against believers, threats against believers, and malicious talk against believers. All those things were happening to believers. This has always and will always be the case, which is the point of Scripture. Notice in Acts 12:1-3:

    Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

    The key to this passage of Scripture is in Acts 12:11:

    When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

    They were expecting to put Peter to death just as they put James to death simply for being a Christian. In that text, the church was praying, so a bad day turned out to be a good day for Peter. God delivered him, which is what made the day good.

    Back in 1 Peter 3:13, the answer to the rhetorical question is: no one can harm you. However, if you look at the text, our part is to prove zealous for what is good. Someone who is zealous is painstakingly pursuing a goal. They are relentless to get where they are going, which is what a zealous person is. An overzealous person gets into a lot of trouble because they end up running over people.

    Peter is saying here that we ought to be zealous for good works, and painstakingly pursuing good works in our life. Good has already been defined in 1 Peter 2:11-3:12. In this next section, it is going to be fleshed out.

    In 1 Peter 3:14, notice how it starts with a concessionary statement. Meaning, you may not always be going through suffering right now, but it is also not hypothetical. Christians should always be ready for verbal and physical suffering. Here, the focus is that Christians are encouraged to pursue desirable behavior, a positive form of conduct, which pursues peace and righteousness. In other words, upright behavior even if that upright behavior leads to suffering.

    Upright behavior can lead to trouble. In this world, doing what is right can lead to trouble. In our world today, everything is upside down. What is good is bad, and what is bad is good. In some cases, you don’t even know what to think or do anymore.

    As it says in our text, if believers do this, God will reward you and be near to you for favor, help, comfort, and blessing. It is like what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:10-12:

    Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

    This is the same principle that Peter is explaining to us. Another way of saying it is found in Acts 5:41:

    So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

    That’s odd. That is not a normal way of thinking that we’re used to, but it is a Christian way of thinking. Don’t forget, Scripture has already told us that Christians have been called to some type of suffering as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:21:

    For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.

    Remember, there are reasons for suffering such as suffering for doing what is right. It says in 1 Peter 3:17:

    For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

    Also, there is suffering according to the will of God. Often, suffering is in God’s will for us. Then, there is suffering for our testing and being a Christian, which is having our faith tested to see where we are at. Usually, good times don’t do that, but suffering will do that. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:2:

    It is better to go to a house of mourning
    Than to go to a house of feasting,
    Because that is the end of every man,
    And the living takes it to heart.

    You don’t learn anything from a wedding, but at a funeral, you learn that you are heading there, so where are you going to go after? That is sobering. We don’t want to dwell there, but we ought to consider it every day that we are going to die. When we die, we are going to stand before God. It says in Hebrews 9:27:

    And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.

    Also, there is suffering for living a godly life. If you are a Christian who is living a godly life in an ungodly world, you will suffer, and something will come against you. In the face of opposition, that will be a great test as to where we are at as a Christian or whether we are a Christian at all.

    In times of difficulty in the church, we need to cultivate Christian joy, help, and encouragement, especially in this age in which we live. Right now, we have relative peace, freedom, and good level of security in our country that we live. Peter was writing to people who were facing sharp hostility from their employers, neighbors, people at large, and possibly government officials.

    Often, when you read a passage of Scripture like this one in 1 Peter, you sometimes feel disconnected, especially in our country. In this portion of Scripture, we are suffering little persecution for being a believer. However, did you ever imagine that doing good could lead to hostile verbal attacks against us in certain circumstances?

    For example, when a believer puts forth a Christian moral standard to anybody they are talking to in a conversation such as the ideal of marriage being between only a man and a woman. I s that something easily taken by people today? We live in a culture where that is not taken, and you are narrow and not up on the times. Therefore, you are going to receive a push back.

    If you start talking about homosexual and lesbian behavior and that it is wrong because God says it is wrong and sinful, then what will happen there? It could be that you will be called old-fashioned and hateful. What about abortion? Even though our government says that it is legal, abortion is still wrong and sinful. What about promiscuity, living together, but not getting married at all? Then, you mention how promiscuity is sinful because it teaches that a person can do what they want without any moral restraint, responsibility, or judgement, and they will respond by saying that you are not up on the times and that marriage is out.

    Maybe, you’ll say that there is only one way to be made right with God and that’s through believing, repenting of your sin, and believing in Jesus Christ alone. Some religions will say that they don’t really care if you believe in Jesus, but they care if you say it is Jesus alone. To them, there is many paths to God.

    No, that is not true. There is only one savior and one Godman, who came into this world as a perfect man and died on the cross for sinners, who paid for the sin eternally, who defeated Satan, and who rose again. Now, He is seated at the righthand of God and is coming back again. See, no one did that, so we can emphatically and dogmatically say there is only one way to be right with God, which is through Jesus Christ.

    In a pluralistic society, that doesn’t go well. My opinion on how you are to get right with God is just as equal as your opinion, so then nobody knows what is right or what is wrong. You will get pushback and degrading comments from just talking about these things. Then, the Christian finds out that their standard of righteousness is not acceptable in the culture around them and with the people around them.

    Christianity is mildly being tolerated today. However, underground, there is a growing Anti-Christian opposition fueled by political correctness, postmodern pluralism, gay-rights movement, and spiritual wickedness in high places that is fueling all those things and many more. Why? Because you follow Christ and are a Christian.

    Right now in the world, there are Christians who are being denied, losing their jobs, losing their homes, being denied basic human rights, and even losing their lives just because they are followers of Jesus Christ. In other words, Peter wants us to mark this down: the possibility of suffering is the general rule for the Christian.

    Things are changing so incredibly rapidly in the world. One day you wake up and something you never thought would happen, happens. This is the world we live in. Behind it all, Satan wants to usurp the authority of Christ and His plan. He has already lost, but he has a short time to do that. Thus, the discipline of Christian suffering would be that of suffering as a Christian.

    In our text, there are four admonitions. First, in 1 Peter 3:14, don’t be fearful. There are two options as to what this admonition refers. First, it would be not to fear what they fear, which is drawn from Isaiah 8:12:

    You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
    In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
    And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.

    It could also mean to not fear their intimidation. In other words, those who instigate. Don’t let them scare you or disturb you as to what you know to be right in thought and in behavior. During the times of suffering, people can be intimidated. However, it has been established that our fear is to be directed at One person. Isaiah 8:13:

    It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
    And He shall be your fear,
    And He shall be your dread.

    Peter wants us to see that we don’t have to be afraid of the intimidation of people, what they’re going to say about us, what they’re going to say to us, and what they’re going to try to do to undermine us as believers. Don’t be afraid of them. Proverbs 29:25 tells us:

    The fear of man brings a snare,
    But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.

    We do not have to be afraid of men as a believer. Men are just dust. They are given a little bit of power for a short time, but they are all heading to the same place. Proverbs 14:26-27:

    In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
    And his children will have refuge.

    27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
    That one may avoid the snares of death.

    To be one who fears God is, in the technical language of the Old Testament, to be a true worshipper of the one true God. The element of fear, in the usual sense, is not the absence of true worship, but it includes true worship. Worship is to set God in His important place, give Him the honor due His name, and give Him the weight that is due His name.

    The one who is Creator, our supreme dignity, and redeemer of repented, Christ-trusting sinners is the only one we need to fear. The secret in persecution and opposition is to the practical Lordship of Jesus Christ. If we fear God, then we need not fear men. The fear of the Lord conquers every other fear vying for control of us.

    Here, is the prosperity of suffering as a citizen. You don’t have to be afraid because God is with you in your suffering. He knows everything that is going on and everything that is coming against you. Therefore, don’t be afraid.

    Usually, fear cripples you where you can’t do anything else. God says that you don’t have to be crippled, but you need to do the next thing, and the next admonition is to worship Christ. 1 Peter 3:15 says:

    but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence

    Instead of fear, we are to acknowledge the authority of Christ. The only thing that will keep at bay the fear of men is the practice of the Lordship of Christ. In the core of our being, including our feelings, thoughts, and will, Christ is set-apart. He is venerated and adored in our heart as Lord. Thus, worship is the antidote of worry, fear, and depression.

    The phrase, “sanctify Christ as Lord,” is used in a declarative sense. It is acknowledging Christ as holy and according Him His proper place. It is the inner acknowledgment of Christ’s authority in the life of the Christian.

    The Apostle Peter continues to allude to Isaiah 8, and here’s the background: Ahaz, king of Judah, faced a crisis because of an impeding invasion by the Syrian army. The king of Israel and Syria wanted Ahaz to join them in an alliance. Ahaz refused, so Israel and Syria threatened to Invade Judah. In the meantime, Ahaz made an alliance with Assyria, and the prophet, Isaiah, warned him against ungodly alliances and urged him to trust God for deliverance.

    In Isaiah 8:13, he means to set-apart as holy because He is the one who will give us the information and the knowledge we need to be delivered from our enemies. If you don’t set-apart Christ in your heart, then our fear leads us in the wrong direction. Fear always leads us in the wrong direction and to ask advice to unreliable sources; thus, causing us to make wrong decisions.

    In our passage, in Isaiah 8:19, you will see where the council was being sought, and it was being sought in most dubious courses. It says:

    When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

    He is bringing out the absurdity of where people sometimes get their advice for life. Like, “let me go to my horoscope or hand reader,” but the Bible is saying that is the wrong place. You will get the wrong information, wrong advice, and it could ruin the rest of your life. Why don’t you just go to God, who tells you the truth? Wouldn’t that be a logical conclusion?

    When I go to have Chinese food and I get those fortune cookies, someone must have been drinking a lot of rice wine when they came up with those things. People put a lot of stock into that. Well, we need to stay as far away from that kind of whatever you want to call it. It’s not council. It’s council from the devil to keep you in bondage. We must answer the question: should not a people consult their God? Yes! We need to consult our God.

    Christ is to be set-apart, venerated, and adored as Lord in the core of our being, so that He continually occupies a unique place in our heart. This is the approach of a Christian, which is to be a ready witness of the hope we have in Christ. Christ is on the throne of our heart, He occupies our mind, He inflames our emotions, and He moves and conforms us to His will and for His will.

    Fear will keep our minds murky and our mouths shut because we won’t know what to say. When fear is absent, blessing and boldness to speak in behalf of the Lord will be intact. Instead of fear, Christians are to acknowledge the authority of Christ for always being ready to make Christ’s salvation plan and His holiness known to the world.

    In this portion of Scripture, the prosperity of suffering as a Christian is that you are already settled on who is the Lord and to whom you serve. There is no debate about who is Lord or the Master of your life. Because Christ is, then we can do the next thing, which is to be ready to explain.

    In 1 Peter 3:15, he is talking to a real believer, and the hope is in our heart. That hope has been given to us by Christ because Christ is the hope, and so he has settled that for us. Thus, the third admonition is that a Christian is someone who explains the Christian faith to Non-Christians.

    Not only explaining the faith to Non-Christians, but they are also able to explain the Christian life to Non-Christians. Usually, they will see your life first before they hear your words. In the background of this, suffering is a great platform for evangelism.

    The word defense, in the passage, is a legal term used to make a defense before a judge. It means to speak in one’s own defense, and to defend oneself. From the Greek word, we get apologetic. It does not mean you are apologizing for anything, but that you are giving a defense about why you are different. Why is your moral standard, behavior, and life different, especially in the place of trouble and suffering? Why are you responding to this trouble in your life in a way that I cannot?

    At that point, are you able to give a defense? Have you come to a place in your life where you are able to do that? If someone followed you around for a week and observed your manner of life and even read your thoughts, then do you think that you would be able to persuade them that you are a Christian? Peter is saying that all Christians should be able to do that.

    The reason why you may not be doing that right now is because one, Christ is not set-apart in your heart and you are afraid of the consequences that may come if you tell them how to become a Christian. In other words, do you have your own testimony, apologetic, and defense of the hope that is within you?

    If you are a Christian, you should have one. How should that defense look? You had a past life, which was sinful and leading you to hell. Then, you were convicted of your sin because you heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and realized you were under God’s wrath and in great trouble knowing that you couldn’t rescue yourself. Then, you heard that Jesus Christ took your wrath on the Cross, and if you repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone, you can be saved, have eternal life, be forgiven of your sins, and have a cleansed conscious.

    Thus, you explain that to someone, tell them the actual conversion experience, and then your present, new life at conversion and say:

    Therefore, I am living the way that I am living. Christ changed my heart because He is transforming my mind with the word of God. He is given me His thoughts to think instead of my own, the world’s and Satan’s.

    Of course, a great example is Paul before the King Agrippa. In Acts, Paul gives his testimony in Acts 26:1-3:

    Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

    2“In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; 3especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

    In giving his testimony, Paul lays out his past life before conversion. He was a rabbi and he is saying to them:

    You think you hated the Christians? I hated the Christians way more than you. I was on the road to Damascus to put them to death and in prison. That is where I saw this light and I heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus convicted me of my sin. I realized I was not only persecuting the church, but I was persecuting the Messiah. Therefore, I became a Christian that day. In that spot and around noon time, I became a Christian, and everything in my life changed. God gave me a new direction, He delivered me from the domain of darkness and Satan, He transferred me to the kingdom of Light and God, and He bought me out of the slave market of sin. Now, He is giving me a new message.

    Paul’s message is found in Acts 26:18:

    to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

    This is what Paul said to King Agrippa, which was his defense. It was quite simple, not complicated, and he just told him what happened. In other words, a Christian must have something happen to them before they can even have a testimony. Remember, all Christians have a testimony, an apologetic, and a defense. That defense is about the hope that is in you, and that hope that is in you is what all people need. Are you able to tell somebody about the hope? Have you grown that far to be able to tell people what happened to you?

    In our membership class, I ask people to write out their testimony, and most people have never written it out. When they start writing it out, they begin to look at their life and see how the Father was drawing them, even pre-conversion, to Christ. Some of the people and events that were orchestrated providentially by God, called that person to a place where they realize they needed Jesus Christ to save them, that no one else could, and that He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life. Nobody goes to the Father except through Him.

    You must know that, which is why Peter starts out with knowing you’re saved; then, knowing how to submit. Once you know those things, then here is how you learn to suffer when persecuted for doing what is right and proclaiming what is true, which is what you will be persecuted with. We should be able to give a reason for our faith in Christ and following Him as our Lord and Savior.

    Your attitude toward the question in 1 Peter 3:15, ought to be this: with gentleness and reverence so that your approach will always be reverent toward God and respectful towards everyone else who is asking you those things.

    Again, here is the prosperity of suffering as a citizen where you find out that you are God’s spokesmen and ambassador right where you are, which is right at your job, in your family, and in your neighborhood. You are the ambassador and the one who is supposed to tell people, and you can, will, and should.

    Leading to the last admonition, which are all connected. In other words, you can’t have one without the other. Here’s the last one: keep your conscience clear. 1 Peter 3:16 says:

    and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

    Everybody has a conscience, so can that conscience be surgically removed? No, and your conscience has a loud voice. When you do something wrong, according to your moral standard, your conscience screams at you. After you did something wrong, your conscience screams even louder. If you keep disobeying your conscience, then you sear your conscience, and it becomes like calluses on your hands.

    In other words, some people have no conscience, which is true. Their conscience is so seared that they are not moved one way or the other, and they do what they want, which is called a scoffer in the book of Proverbs. They just do what they want. There is no learning, no teaching, no discussion, and no reasoning. Unfortunately, there are some people like that.

    The word conscience means to know. You have heard the statement, “let your conscience be your guide.” Well, that is a big fallacy because your conscience can be influenced by many factors such as environment, family, bad family, education, bad education, and the bad taboos in a culture that you take on as good taboos.

    The conscience is an internal judge that witnesses to us and enables us no width. Either approving our actions or accusing our actions. On the day of judgement, God will use our conscience as part of the judgement process. Hebrews 13:18 says:

    Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.

    Notice two things that are connected in this passage of Scripture: we know that we have a good conscience, but why do we know that we have a good conscience? Our desire is to conduct ourselves honorably in all things, which is why we have a good conscience. We know the difference between right and wrong. We know the difference between God’s way and every other way.

    Meaning, a good conscience gives the spiritual ability to allow one to make moral choices between good and evil, God’s way and every other way. 2 Corinthians 1:12 says it like this:

    For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

    In other words, the conduct and desire to live good and do right have everything to do with whether you maintain a good conscience. In 1 Peter, it says that our job is to keep a good conscience. It is our job to make sure that our conscience is always sensitive to the word of God and the voice of God. We must be always willing to go back to the word of God and get our information from there and nowhere else, so that the word of God may condition our conscience to know what the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God is. 2 Corinthians 4:2:

    but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

    Again, behavior and a good conscience go together. In saying all of that, what are ways that make our conscience sound? First, it is regeneration. You must be saved to have a cleansed conscience. Everybody prior to salvation has a defiled conscience, and they’re conscience has been defiled by sin and has been misinformed by almost everybody.

    If somebody grows up saying that there is no God and there’s no real standard, then that will inform their conscience on how they live. Meaning, they can live with no rules, doing whatever they want, and they will enjoy life and die. However, they forget or reject that someday they must give an account before God. God has records, and Revelation 20 talks about how you lived your life.

    The books will be opened, and the dead will raise from Hades. Those who are alive will be brought together in resurrected bodies. Meaning, they cannot die anymore. God will open the books and judge justly on how a person lived their life. Someone who never trusted Christ will be cast into the lake of fire, which burns forever and forever and where the false prophet and antichrist is.

    In this passage of Scripture, how we have a conditioned conscience is to be born-again. Hebrews 10:22:

    let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

    That is describing salvation, which is through the blood of Christ. What makes our conscience clean is the blood of Jesus Christ, which wipes away our sin and guilt that goes along with sin. The conscience has a lot to do with guilt, and there is false guilt and real guilt.

    When you are a believer, you experience real guilt. However, real guilt doesn’t have to stay long. When you confess your sin, then He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Again, that language of cleansing has to do with our conscience, and that’s how we maintain a good conscience.

    Everyday we wake up, we don’t feel guilty about things because we have been regularly confessing our sin and walking with the Lord, and the Lord has been developing our conscience. We have been cleansed and forgiven, we are at peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ, and we have been restored to a relationship with God.

    Then, there is the Holy Spirit. Once you are a believer, you have the holy spirit of God, which prompts us as to what is proper conduct and thinking. He is making us holy by teaching us God’s standards, God’s word, and God’s law that is producing in us a new disposition in life. This all has to do with developing a sound conscience.

    Thirdly, guard what goes into your mind. You know what they say, “garbage in, garbage out.” If you put garbage in your mind and heart, then you will have garbage in there. You must get the garbage out. One thing that I have learned as a husband is that the trash must go out. If it doesn’t go out, then it doesn’t go out, but it starts stinking. When there is trash in your mind, you must get it out, or it will start stinking. Then, your behavior starts stinking, and everything starts stinking when there is trash. Proverbs 4:23:

    Watch over your heart with all diligence,
    For from it flow the springs of life.

    Watch what you are thinking and what is going into your mind. In this world, we have information overload every day of our life. You better watch how much you let the internet and websites waste your time, and not develop your conscience and mind. Spend time in the word of God, and you will be able to balance out the rest of it.

    The next three go together: listen to expositional preaching, which is what I am doing by going through the word of God. I am giving you the mind of God, and I don’t want to waste your time with a bunch of stories. I want to give you what it says in Scripture. You can follow what I am saying to you and see that it is right there in this text. Thus, we must listen to preaching.

    Believe me, I am for a Christian meditating on what they are listening to. Don’t come and tell me that you are listening to five messages this week. You know what, I guarantee that you cannot tell me anything of those five messages. However, listen to one, meditate on it, learn what it says, and you’ll do what it says.

    We don’t have that ability, with all the information coming at us, to synthesize and break down in our mind to practice it. Listen to one message, get what it is saying, put it into practice in your life, and it will change you. 2 Timothy 2:15:

    Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

    Careful study of the word of God and what it truly says. Study the word of God, so you find out what it says. Lastly, memorize Scripture. In Psalm 119:9-11, it says:

    How can a young man keep his way pure?
    By keeping it according to Your word.

    10With all my heart I have sought You;
    Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

    11Your word I have treasured in my heart,
    That I may not sin against You.

    The meditating and memorizing of Scripture will keep you away from your old ways of sinning. Thus, the conscience is the only safe guide when the word of God is its teacher. The word of God is going to inform the conscience of truth. Then, it is going to change everything in your life. In saying all of that, here are some suggestions to keep our conscience clear:

    Number one, never do anything you are in doubt about. If it is doubtful, don’t. Number two, never do what you know to be wrong. Number three, do everything you know to be right. Number four, search God’s word for His point of view. Number five, seek Godly wisdom. Number six, put everything aright that you have done wrong as far as it is in your power to do so. Number seven, keep short accounts with God and fellow human beings. Number eight, pray for wisdom.

    Again, here is the prosperity of suffering as citizen in this world. You will keep a clear conscience and never having the fear of what other people say about you. In suffering, when people come against you and insult you, you don’t have to be guilty in your heart that what they say is true. You already know what your behavior is, what you are thinking, and what God has done in your life. Thus, you don’t have to fear them. Christ is set-apart in your heart. You don’t have to be afraid of what they say to you.

    Here is the question: why should we keep a good and sound conscience? The life of goodness will show that the slander of other people will be a lie. In 1 Peter 3:16, there is a promise. God will shame those who are hostile to believers, and their shame will be either in the present, in the future, or in both realizing that what they accused the believer of was false. However, God is the one who does the shaming, not us. The bottom line is found in 1 Peter 3:17:

    For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

    Good wills doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong even if its results are suffering. It is always better to do what is right. When you do that, you will have the opportunities that God presents to us for giving an answer of the hope that lies within us.

    We can’t forget: God does test our faith and use the difficult side of His providential care to do that. He does it to bring us closer to Him. He does it so that we will deal with our remaining sin. He does it to make us stronger in the faith. He does it to bring us to depend more regularly and closely on him.

    So then, every trial allows the Holy Spirit to make us more holy in our thoughts and behavior. Therefore, giving us more opportunity to speak without fear, but with boldness about what God has done to us in our life. In summing it all up, don’t be fearful, worship Christ, be ready to explain, and keep your conscience clear. Let’s pray:

    Lord, I Thank You for the word of God. It is so powerful to see what is contained in Scripture for our edification and benefit, so, Lord, we can be the people You want us to be. I pray, Lord, that we put these things into practice, especially, Lord, when our day is so uncertain, and this world is so fragile. I pray, Lord, that we would be the people that can be Your ambassadors, living as aliens on this planet. To bring an example to those who don’t have one and bring the word of God and Gospel to them, who have never heard it. I pray that You would bless us in that way. I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

  • The Appropriate Attitudes and Characteristics of Christian Submission

    The Appropriate Attitudes and Characteristics of Christian Submission

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches further on Christian submission from 1 Peter 3:8-13. Pastor explains how Christian submission ought to be displayed with both believers and unbelievers, especially in response to evil provocation. Such submission can only be accomplished by cultivating a love for God’s glory and by avoiding the error of an intellect-only faith. Pastor also discusses how Christian submission should be displayed in noble desires, holy conversation, love of life, and trust in God. Pastor concludes by exhorting Christians to live righteously in anticipation of God’s future reward.

    Full Transcript:

    As we continue to study through 1 Peter, a great epistle in the New Testament, we have been learning about submission, what it means, and how important it is to the Lord that we would be those kinds of people. As we turn there, let’s have a word of prayer:

    Lord, as we approach the word of God, let us do that with deep reverence of heart and humility of mind. Lord, that we would take Your word as serious as You do, and that we would realize that these are not just suggestions, but God’s will. I pray, Lord, that we would take what is written and practice it in our life because these are practical things. These are things that the spirit of God enables and empowers us to do. I pray, Lord, that we would be these kinds of people that is mentioned in these texts. Lord, rebuke us if You need, change our minds in issues and relationships, and help us, Lord, every day, by the power of Your spirit, to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the old ways of the flesh. I pray that You would do that for us for we know that it is Your will. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    As the children of God living in this world, we must learn submission. I have been saying that the word submit implies putting oneself under the authority of another, or to take a subordinate place. Of course, that is something you do willingly. In adding to that definition, it is a voluntary selfishness and a submission based on the death of pride and desire to serve.

    So far, we saw four applications of Christian submission. First, it was to governing authorities. In any form of government a person would find themselves in, they are to submit to those authorities. Remember, all submission has a caveat to it, and the caveat is always this: if someone asking you to sin or go against what God says, then that is where we disobey.

    Second, it is servants to their masters, or workers to their bosses. Then, in the middle of that, we saw an application of the Lord, Jesus Christ, submitting to the Father’s will. Jesus becomes our example in submission where He submitted Himself to suffering and even death on the Cross.

    Third, it is the Christian wife’s responsibility to their unsaved husband and to all husbands. Fourth, which we looked at last time, is the Christian husband’s submission to God on behalf of their wives. So, a husband submits to God in what he should be doing as a husband, and then he does it on behalf of his wife.

    Now, we move from the specifics of Christian duty to the general statements of Christian behavior, which include the attitudes and characteristics for appropriate Christian submission in any place and at any time.

    In our text, the first appropriate attitude will be that a Christian’s submission is to be seen in our submissive conduct, which is seen in two areas: conduct before other believers and conduct before everybody else. So, what kind of conduct and attitude should we have as believers that please God? Remember, these attitudes also lay ground to be able to give an answer to the hope that lies within us, and to share the Gospel with someone by the way we live.

    First, we see that it is our conduct toward believers. 1 Peter 3:8:

    To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit.

    If you notice in that passage, here are some desirable attributes in which he is summing up the subject of submission, which all Christians are to have as their goal for living every single day. The Apostle Peter uses five adjectives to describe the Christian’s attitude in two areas: mind and affections.

    The Scripture will affect how we feel, and these words describe how the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A regular exposure to the word of God transforms the mind and the affections. When God transforms us, He transforms our mind and our affections such as what we love and desire. Some fifty-one years ago, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, warned at a puritan conference not to repeat an error of a movement called Sandemanian, which was named after a man named Robert Sandeman, who was a Scottish theologian whose central error was this:

    True faith can be held without deeply felt affections.

    That was the error, so Jones is warning against that. In other words, Christian faith and theological reflection are not only concerned with the mind since our mind is being transformed by truth, but it is also concerned with faith and right theology, which entails more than knowledge. Faith and reflection on truth must include a love for and a joy in the truth. Yes, with sound truth that gripes the heart and reorients our affections are for the glory of God.

    In this next section of Scripture, we can see how real conversion to Christ reorients ones inner-man. In other words, how we look at life is completely changed as we are exposed more and more to Scripture and how the Spirit of God is moving us to a place where we are exemplifying pleasing attitudes and characteristics in our life because we serve God, especially under His watchful eye.

    In our text, there are five characteristics that should accompany a growing attitude of submission. In 1 Peter 3:8, the first one is that we are to be companionable, which has to do with the mind. It says to be harmonious, and that is to be people of one-mind and unity. It is an inward unity of attitude in spiritual things, which makes any kind of schism unthinkable. There are other passages of Scripture that remind us of this such as Philippians 2:2:

    make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

    In Romans 12:16, it says:

    Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

    The point being that we are to be people who are harmonious and united in thought and our understanding of truth. Strife and divisions are fleshly things, which show a person is living impurely, on a human level, according to human standards, and without the mind of Christ. It says in 1 Corinthians 3:3:

    for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

    You are walking the way you used to walk, but there must be a change. No person can live the Christian life unless his or her personal relationship is at unity with their fellow men and women. In a very real way, the church cannot be truly Christian in their attitudes and actions if there is division within the church. There is a great stress in Scripture not to have division.

    Already, I have said that the function of our will and submission to God’s structure of things is to keep the unity so that the work of God will not be hindered. Don’t forget, unity is enhanced through submission. There is submission to God through His word, through His will, and through His authority.

    However, unity does not mean uniformity. It means cooperation in the midst of diversity. That is what is different about the church. We can have all kinds of people come to the church from all different backgrounds, cultures, and languages, yet still be one. The world is trying to do that, but they cannot do it because there is no Christ, salvation, spirit, or word. No matter what they do, they will never be able to accomplish that.

    We come to the church and suddenly God gives it to us, but we must keep it because we can revert to fleshly ways of doing things, which doesn’t help anybody, nor does it help the church. We don’t have to agree on how everything is to be done, but we are to agree on what and why things are to be done. By the word of God, we get that agreement.

    Second, in 1 Peter 3:8, we are to be sympathetic and compassionate people. Now, he is talking about our affections. First, he goes from the mind of unity to affections, and to be compassionate and sympathetic means to share the feelings of someone else. Also, to be ready to enter at anytime into someone’s feelings of sorrow or joy. You and I bounce back and forth out of those feelings all the time, but sometimes we have sorrow in our life.

    Thus, compassion is coming along somebody in their sorrow and feeling what they feel and understanding what they understand. In Hebrews 10:34, it says:

    For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

    The point in Hebrews is to remember the prisoner as though you were in prison with them. Getting into your mind: if I was in prison, how would I feel, what would I be thinking about, and what would be the heaviness of my heart. Thus, this word means to be able to be affected with the same feelings as someone else. Yet, you are not going through it at the time that they are, but you learn how to feel with them. Then, you can come along side of them and genuinely help them.

    In this word, there is the sense in which the affections are inwardly moved. The inside of your heart is moved to want to do something. Of course, Jesus is our example of deep compassion. In Mark 8, when Jesus called His disciples together, the crowd came around Him, people were listening to His teaching, and three days had gone by where people didn’t really eat, His compassion becomes proactive, which He moves toward solving to satisfy the hunger of the people.

    Thus, compassion always has feelings connected to it. Feelings that are kindled when one sees the desperate need in another person, and experiences within themselves the sense of sorrow or the sense of joy. Mercy kicks in, and then it puts into practice a plan to do something to relieve the need and remove the suffering. Metaphorically, this term compassion means being moved deeply within – a gut wrenching emotion. Jesus says in Matthew 9:36:

    Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

    Compassion can get in and feel what another person is feeling. It is very comforting when somebody comes along you when you are feeling that way, and they are genuinely connecting with you to help you, pray with you, and encourage you. Simply, to be there with you at that moment of possibly being down or in distress, or if you are joyful, they come alongside of you and encourage you in your joy.

    In our day, we are bombarded with so much misinformation and bad news that we have become numb. These video games that some of these kids watch just numb their soul and they numb their feelings. Some of these shootings that are happening are very grievous to think about, and to experience. Behind it, a lot of this goes on before that child gets a gun and starts shooting someone. Before they get to that point, I like to know the stuff that goes behind it, and they become numb.

    Shooting someone as a human being is just like a videogame. Then, they realize what reality is, but it is sad that we have gotten there. See, freedom isn’t free when you overstep the boundaries of freedom and abuse people by allowing kids to have games and information that really is not helpful or healthy for them to have.

    Bottom line, increased growth in Christian maturity is revealed by a heartfelt compassion toward people who have spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.

    Third, we are to be considerate. Again, it’s an affection. In our text, the word used is brotherly. The Greek word is Philadelphia. By looking at that word, we know that he means brotherly love. We are children of the Heavenly Father; therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ. In the 1 Peter 1, he already taught that Christians are to live a life committed to growing in love. 1 Peter 1:22:

    Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart

    The motive and ability to obey that command to love, flows from the new birth. The divine seed being planted in the heart produces divine love. In God’s book, we find life and through it, let us express the love that the Lord has expressed to us in the Cross of Calvary. We ought to be getting about the business of growing-up in love. 1 John 4:20:

    If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

    In other words, we express the love of God to people that can be seen. Of course, God sees how we do that.

    The fourth characteristic is that of being comforting. In the text, it is kind-hearted, which is our affections being influenced by the spirit of God and the word of God. This term kind-hearted is derived from a Greek word that means intestines. We don’t necessarily talk that way, but the point is that it is the deep-seeded emotions that are in your soul. We are to be kind-hearted from the inside out and being sensitive towards the needs of others even when they deserve the contrary.

    We are to have this kind of comforting or tenderheartedness toward someone who doesn’t necessarily deserve it. Being sensitive in this way, we find in Scriptures like Ephesians 4:32:

    Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

    These two things being someone who is comforting and courteous, which lends us more to the mind. We went from the mind, to the affections, to the affections again, and back to the mind. The fifth one is to be humble in spirit or to be courteous.

    This is the attitude of the mind, which is the opposite of being haughty or high-minded. Here is a self-effacing person, who is one that has evaluated and emptied themselves, so they do not brag or push themselves on other people but are courteous with people and very sensitive to that.

    Don’t forget, the Apostle Peter was writing to prepare Christians to live despite difficulties and fiery trials. We are to maintain a Christian demeanor even in the face of those who are against us. Then, he switches from the attitudes we should have towards believers to now the attitudes and characteristics we are to have towards everyone else. 1 Peter 3:9:

    not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

    First, we are not to retaliate with carnal or fleshly response. This first response should not be an unreasonable response. This response is as old as time. It’s the “tit for tat” type of thing. It is the, “you do evil to me, so then I’ll do it right back to you,” or, “you insult me and mine, then I’ll retaliate it for some crafty verbal response.”

    That is the old way. No, we must not respond according to the dictates of the old sinful mind. Again, this goes back to the example Christ had when he did not open His mouth. He committed Himself to the one who judges righteously.

    If we are not to respond this way, then we are to give a blessing. Responding with a blessing means to call down good on someone. In this case, it means to call good even to those who are against you and revile you. Again, Christ is our example.

    The followers of Jesus are called to imitate the Lord Jesus’ example of non-retaliation in response to verbal abuse, and with an awaiting for a blessing. For example, in Matthew 5:43-48 the Lord teaches:

    “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47“If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

    The Lord is moving us to the place of what it means to be a blessing to someone, which is to do the opposite of what you normally would have done in the flesh and according to the old man. Believe me, those things cannot easily be done in the flesh.

    Everyone is living at either one to three levels. Either we’re returning evil for evil, which is the satanic level, or good for good, which is the human level. However, when we return good for evil, that is the divine level. The level we want to live on is the divine level.

    As Christians, we are called to be a blessing, which is what it says in 1 Peter 3:9. We are called to bless because we ourselves have been blessed by God. We don’t want to lose a blessing by not being merciful to others. As Christians, we have already received mercy from God by Christ paying for the huge debt of our sin.

    Because we have received His mercy, we have received the blessing from Him, and because we have received that blessing from Him, we want to now turn around and bless other people by being good to them, supplying their needs, and praying for them.

    Christians are called to be a blessing, to love one another, love our enemies, and then we are called to do something else. We are called to love life. Let me ask you something: do you love life?

    The second appropriate attitudes and characteristics of submission is that Christian submission is to be seen in our noble desire and heard in our sanctified conversation. So, what is our noble desire? 1 Peter 3:10:

    For, “THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.

    Sometimes these passages of Scripture can slip by us, and we don’t necessarily get the sense of what is being said there. We are to love life with knowledge of what we have already received. Life and good days are experienced with the new birth.

    As part of the present living hope of all believers, we have received something from God. In receiving salvation from God through Christ, then we have a different perspective on life. Living in the footsteps of Jesus is worthwhile and better than we ever had before. You want a life here on earth that is worthwhile and is a life you can love with full intelligence and purpose where you can see days that are not empty, but rich of the fruit of the Lord.

    I’m not talking about easy days or sunshine days, but days in which one experiences the blessing of God in the middle of a difficult life, which is what he is saying here. Living life as an alien and sojourner will not be easy. We have already seen that in Scripture, and he will highlight that more in the end of 1 Peter 3.

    However, while we are going through it, God is with us for good and for blessing. In that sense, we are to love life as believers. Do you love your life and the life that God gave you? At this point in our text, Peter brings in Psalm 34 in 1 Peter 3:10-12:

    For,
    “THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.

    11“HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

    12“FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL.”

    This is the text he brings in to support his first statement. I think that all of us want good days. All of us want to love life. Maybe loving the Christian life that God has given us in this world should be part of how we respond in submission to God. We may not be able to change our circumstances or our life, but we can respond to our life and circumstances in a way that pleases God. When we do that, we receive blessings that come from God. Psalm 34:12 it is posed as a question:

    Who is the man who desires life
    And loves length of days that he may see good?

    So, who is the man who does this? Then, we know that this is connected to another passage of Scripture in 2 Samuel. If we go to the head of the context of Psalm 34 and Psalm 34:1, this is what David says:

    A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.

    I will bless the LORD at all times;
    His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

    Abimelech is another title for the king of Achish of Gath. Let me give you some background of these texts. David was a refuge and was on the run from king Saul, who wanted him dead, so David sought political asylum in a place called Gath. However, that was not a good move. Gath is where the Giant Goliath was from. David had already slayed Goliath.

    Now, you don’t kill a countrymen’s champion and try to slip through the cracks without being noticed, so David realized that he made a big mistake by seeking refuge among Israel’s worst enemy. On top of that, he had Goliath’s sword with him. This is not a good day for David.

    In fact, this may be one of the worst days he ever had. He had no home. He was a king without a kingdom since Saul was still the king. He was a soldier without an army. He had no place to go, and so he figured that at Gath they would give him a chance. When he got there, he realized it wouldn’t work. 1 Samuel 21:10-13:

    Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath. 11But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” 12David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. 13So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.

    He is trying to get out of a situation the best way he knows how, and it’s probably the best thing he can do. Remember, it is King David, so don’t ever say that King David never had a bad day. At this point in his mind, can he think that he loved life? This is where he writes Psalm 34. Now, in 1 Samuel 21:14-15:

    Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? 15“Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

    Then, in 1 Samuel 22:1:

    So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him.

    At that point, David writes Psalm 34, and his question is: who is the man that desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Who is that kind of man? He answers his own question in Psalm 34:13:

    Keep your tongue from evil
    And your lips from speaking deceit.

    He just came out of a situation where he was babbling, and who knows what David was saying. He probably said the wrong things, so he comes back and realizes how absurd it was that he acted like that.

    When you desire to love the life that God has given you with a positive and realistic outlook, then you must continue to practice difficult things. In fact, you must practice a difficult operation. In 1 Peter 3:10, notice that he is quoting from Psalm 34, but not posing it as a question; rather, as a statement.

    Do you think that it is difficult to control your tongue? Do people tend to control their tongue? No, they don’t. In 1 Peter 3:10, this is a poetic way of saying: the evil starts in your heart. By thinking about it, it works up to your mouth. Then, it slips out this little opening called your lips, and it gets out to people. Let’s consider for a moment what Psalm 141:3 says:

    Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
    Keep watch over the door of my lips.

    In James 3:6, it says:

    And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

    In James 3:8, it says:

    But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

    Have you ever considered your tongue to be that? The problems that we have usually come from our speech, but it also comes from our heart. James 3:9-10:

    With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

    Again, that is what David is saying. If you want to love life and if you desire to love the life that God has given you, then there must be a control of what you are thinking about and what comes out of your mouth. A heart that is free from any deceitful thing can control the tongue and its speech. We can control the tongue by walking in the spirit, and not walking in the old man’s ways.

    In other words, anything that comes out of our mouth must be evaluated as to whether we should say it or not. You should quickly evaluate what you are going to say, and if it doesn’t have any kind of value to it to edify someone, encourage someone, or rebuke someone in the right way, then don’t do it. It’s to have that kind of control, and he is saying that when you do, you are experiencing the good parts of life. Why do you think that is?

    Wars start right from our heart. Then, wars start by speech, and speech that is sometimes not understood and confusing. When we learn how to control our tongue, we learn how to experience the goodness and blessing of life.

    Third, the Christian submission is to be lived out with a saintly pursuit. Meaning, we are to walk on the right path. Before I look at that, David continues to answer the question of a blessed life, and he says in Psalm 34:14:

    Depart from evil and do good;
    Seek peace and pursue it.

    In our text, you can’t just turn from evil, it must be replaced with a pursuit of that which is good and seeks peace. If you are to love life, you must avoid evil, and you avoid evil because you despise evil. A Christian should not avoid sin just because it is wrong. They should avoid sin because they hate it. They should avoid sin because of what it did to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

    When you learn to hate what God hates, then you stay away from it and don’t do it. In our text, we are told to pursue peace. Peace is not simply freedom from trouble. In our text, it means to hunt for peace to capture it.

    There are several kinds of peace that we can consider. One, it could be peace that is Godward. This peace is that which was already won for us through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through the blood of the cross. This peace is given to us by God. Because we are at peace with God, through Christ, then we can make every effort to maintain peace with other people. Romans 14:19:

    So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

    Then, in 2 Corinthians 13:11:

    Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

    A second way of considering peace is toward man, which is peace in relationships. This peace will not come automatically just because people are Christian. The world is still part of our thinking, the remaining flesh is still there, and the devil will try to disrupt life in any group of believers. That is why this peace requires an effort, which is why it says to pursue it.

    Peace is good for the soul and wellbeing of God’s people. If anybody is going to learn peace, then it must be learned by God’s people. We are to walk on the right path, and that right path is to turn away from evil, and to seek peace and pursue it.

    Then, we are to live with the right perspective. Psalm 34:15:

    The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.

    In other words, it is talking about divine favor. When we live this way, we have divine favor toward us, which means that God is with us for good and blessing. If you don’t live that way and desire to continue to live the way of the flesh, then, 1 Peter 3:12, there is divine disfavor and retribution. Psalm 34:16 says:

    The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
    To cut off the memory of them from the earth.

    The incentive for doing good is the knowledge of the presence of God. In 1 Peter 3:12, the Lord’s eyes see, and His ears hear. Those who live for the Lord are motivated by a real consciousness of God’s character, actions, and presence in their life. In other words, there is no one more blessed than the Lord. There is no one more on the side of a believer than the Lord. Therefore, we are to live with the perspective that God sees, He hears, and He is involved in our life. He is not far away and distant. He is involved in the details of our life.

    Thus, leading us to the last thing, which is to live with the right policy. 1 Peter 3:13 says:

    Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

    If you are living your life for the Lord, loving the life that God has given you, fleeing and turning away from evil, control your tongue, and desire to pursue peace and be at peace with other people, then who can be against you if God is for you? No one. So, a good day for a believer, who loves life, is not one which is catered to, but one in which he or she experiences God’s help, comfort, support, and blessing in the middle of life’s problems and trials.

    How did David end his Psalm when he wrote on the day that his life was filled with trouble? He ended it like this in Psalm 34:16-17:

    The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
    To cut off the memory of them from the earth.

    17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
    And delivers them out of all their troubles.

    On that day, a bad day, David experienced some things that he didn’t know before, and he experienced the very comfort, support, and blessing in the middle of life’s trials. In 1 Samuel 22:1, on that bad day, David is getting all the comfort from his family, those who support him, and his soldiers that fought with him. They are going to come down there and convince him that he needs to go back and become king, which is what happens.

    On a very bad day, he experienced God’s presence, and it caused him to write a very encouraging Psalm where he knows that he is blessed because God is with him. God knows all that is going on in our life, and we are thankful for that. In other words, the good life is a life in which God is near to you for blessing. When you experience God’s help and support, His blessing is in the middle of life’s problems and trials.

    The Christian life is never a deliverance from problems and trials. It is a realization that during those trials and problems, God is with you. If God is with you, then you don’t have to worry about anything. No one can be against you, so this must change our minds, the way we do things, our submission to the very general characteristics that are appropriate to live every day of our lives.

    When we do that, God is pleased with us. We know that Satan will lie to us and tell us we’re miserable. No, the Scripture says God is with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. God works everything for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

    Our minds ought to be thinking that way, and I believe that when we do, we gain encouragement and strength in the time of suffering, trials, and trouble in our life. Let’s pray:

    Lord, Thank You for Your word. Again, Lord, it illuminates the darkness of the world, sometimes the confusion of our hearts, what is right and wrong, and it gives us the needed practical information on how to live in this world in a way that we can carry out the characteristics of submission before You. As we do that, You are near us for blessing and good. Lord, You walk with us, You defend us, You help us, You protect us, You hear our prayers, and You answer us. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for that. I pray, Lord, if there is someone here that realizes that they are not living that way, then that would be something that they change and come before you in repentance of sin. Lord, if someone never experiences that, then maybe they don’t know You as their Lord and Savior, so they need to come and repent of their sin and trust you as their Lord and Savior. Please, Lord, work Your word in our heart, so that it may be affectual and produce the results You intend. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

  • The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — The Husbands’ Submission to God on Behalf of Their Wives

    The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — The Husbands’ Submission to God on Behalf of Their Wives

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches from 1 Peter 3:7 on how husbands are to live with their wives and to submit to God. Pastor explains how husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loves His church and are to make the marriage relationship the highest priority on earth. Pastor Babij further exhorts husbands to treat their wives honorably as fellow heirs in Christ and not to ignore or mistreat their wives. Such actions will damage a husband’s walk with the Lord since God ignores the prayers of unrighteous husbands. Pastor closes by warning husbands that they cannot be right with God if they are not right with their wives.

    Full Transcript:

    We are in 1 Peter 3:7, and we will be looking at this one verse. Of course, this verse is flowing from what has already been said in 1 Peter. We have been looking at and learning about submission. Already, I have said that submission is to put oneself under the authority of another or to take a subordinate place. In addition, it is a voluntary selflessness, which is based on the death of pride and desire to serve.

    Submission is God’s structure for things, and it is found in the word of God. Submission produces unity and fellowship. Unity is enhanced through submission, and submission is enhanced to God through the word of God where people are obeying the word. Also, it is submission to God through His will where we are desiring to know the will of God concerning our life and our relationships. Then, there is submission to God through His authority.

    Last time, we were introduced to a third application of a Christian’s responsible behavior, which is the wife’s responsibility to her unsaved husband. Not only is it to an unsaved husband, but to any woman using those principles to any husband. Thus, the Christian’s wife responsibility is in the way she submits to him before God.

    Now, we are going to be looking at the fourth application of a Christian’s responsible behavior, which is a Christian husband’s submission to God on behalf of his wife. 1 Peter 3:7:

    You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

    Before we look at this, let’s pray:

    Lord, I pray that as we look at this passage of Scripture and as we consider this day, Lord, which is Mother’s Day, that You have raised up mother’s who have taught their children the word of God, and You have raised up, from their teaching, godly seeds. Lord, as they receive that, they may grow up and be married. Then, Lord, should they live out the principles of the word of God. However, Lord, if someone was married and did not know You yet, then, Lord, they didn’t know what to do and they still don’t know what to do until they come to the word of God and desire to know Your will concerning how a husband is to treat his wife, who will be the mother of his children. I pray that we would learn that well, and that we would practice these principles found here in our daily lives. I pray, Lord, because of it, You will receive the glory and that You would keep unity not only in the church, but also in the family. I pray this in Your name. Amen.

    It has been said that husbands must be the thermostat in the home by setting the emotional and spiritual temperature. Often, the wife is the thermometer by letting the husband know what exactly the temperature is, and she is usually good at that. Though, both are needed. One leads, and one helps that person lead to make a strong home. Husbands, you need to know how to set the emotional and spiritual thermostat and then learn to maintain a comfortable atmosphere.

    Thankfully, the Lord has given us men help on how to maintain a comfortable temperature by taking responsibility as a man after God’s own heart, or as, in this passage, a man who desires, as a goal, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Then, the husband is to put every effort into submitting to God, especially to God’s design for marriage in behalf of his wife.

    Sometime ago, there was a woman named Ann Landers, who was called, “The Answer Lady.” She wrote a column every week in the newspaper about different issues, especially marital issues. One day, she wrote a title called, “Answer Lady has No Answers.” She acknowledged after thirty-six years of marriage, she was divorcing. She expressed her astonishment of how it could even have happened to her. They once had a good relationship, and Landers perplexing question in her article was: How did it happen that something so good turned out so bad?

    She said when they were married, they enjoyed each other, they liked each other, they were friends, they were lovers, they were confidantes, and they were excited about each other. However, over the years, their relationship began to deteriorate. Affection turned to apathy. Excitement turned to exasperation. Attraction turned to aversion. Enjoyment turned to enmity.

    It is safe to say that most couples who marry do not marry because they don’t enjoy each other. They marry because they do enjoy each other. They are excited about each other. They don’t get married because they hate each other. All too often, this has changed for many couples. Ann Landers situation is not an isolated incident, and we all know that very well. Sin abounds in marriage. The best place to be sanctified, by the spirit of God, is in a marital relationship.

    However, it doesn’t have to be that way. It is possible for married people to remain sweethearts through the entirety of their lives if (and yes, that’s a big if) husband and wife make and fulfill certain obligations and commitments that have been given to them in the word of God.

    In God’s eyes, marriage is a commitment, and marriage wasn’t man’s invention or something socially convenient for time, but now is outdated. From the beginning of time until now, God has ordained this institution, and it is a good institution. It can be abused, but it also can be rendered good at every phase of life.

    If certain obligations are maintained, the husband can supply the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs of his wife and family. In our passage of Scripture, in the same way refers to the obligations of the wife just as she is to be holy, one who trusts in God, and one who adorns the Gospel in subjection to her own husbands. In a similar yet different way, husbands are given, by God, certain obligations toward his wife.

    The first obligation is that the husband should have a considerate obligation to live with his wife. Why do I say that? In our passage it says:

    You husbands in the same way, live with your wives…

    However, there is a difference. It is not defined in Scripture that a husband is to be submissive to his wife. He is not. He is to be submissive to God, and he is to be submissive to God as far as his responsibility is to his wife.

    In Scripture, it is defined as not a husband’s submission to the wife, but responsibility toward her. Husbands are continually to live with their wives while following in the footsteps of Jesus, and Jesus continues to love his church. Husbands, because you are the head of your wife, you are not to submit to her, but you are to submit to God’s will and to love her as Christ loves the church. This includes intimacy, which goes back to the Old Testament in Genesis.

    In other words, a husband is called to fulfill his marital duties, to love his wife, and to dwell with her. It meant to dwell in a tent. When you dwell in a tent, there are not many places you can go but the tent. Thus, a husband is to dwell in a tent with his wife. Genesis 2:23-24:

    The man said,
    “This is now bone of my bones,
    And flesh of my flesh;
    She shall be called Woman,
    Because she was taken out of Man.”

    24For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

    Ephesians says the “one-flesh” is a great mystery, and the Bible says you become one unit before God. So, to leave your parents means that your relationship to your parents must be radically changed. It means that you must establish an adult relationship with your parents. It means that you must be more concerned about your mate’s ideas, opinions, and practices than those of your parents. It means that you must not be slavishly dependent on your parents for affection, approval, assistance, council, or financial stability.

    It means that you must eliminate any bad attitudes toward your parents or you will be tied emotionally to them regardless of how far you move away from them. It means that you must stop trying to change your mate simply because your parents do not like him or her, or the way he or she is. Bottom line, it means that you make the husband-wife relationship your priority relationship.

    Remember, the priorities of a Christian are God first, then husband and wife. Not kids, but husband and wife. You are not married to your kids, and you will never be married to your kids. When your kids grow up, they leave the home. When the kids grow up and leave and the husband and wife look at each other and say, “who are you,” then it is because you haven’t been developing a relationship with each other. You are married to your wife always, so she is always under God, and that is your responsibility.

    A second thing that comes underneath that is that of a provider. He is to provide a place to live. He is to work to supply the needs. It is clear in Scripture where it says in 1 Timothy 5:8:

    But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

    Most men don’t have a problem working, but for some that is where their commitment to their marriage begins and ends, which is wrong. Work, but don’t get so busy that you don’t develop your relationship. Don’t make work an excuse for scurrying your God-given responsibilities as a man. God’s kind of marriage involves cleaving to one another in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, in pleasure and pain, in joy and sorrow, in good times and bad times, in agreements and in disagreements.

    God’s kind of marriage means that people know that they must face problems. They must discuss them and seek God’s help in them. They must resolve them rather than run from them because there is no way out. They are committed to one another for life, and that is God’s view of marriage. Thus, they must cleave to one another today and tomorrow if they both shall live.

    Sin has complicated marriage, but remember, salvation reorients both the man and the woman as to what marriage is. There is no textbook on how to have a good marriage except one, which is the Bible. The Bible tells you to have a relationship with God first and how to be made right with Him through Jesus Christ. When you are made right with Him through Jesus Christ and God gives you His spirit and a hunger for the word of God, then you are going to do what God wants you to do. He gives you a desire to work your marriage out even though before you wanted to give up or get out. That is not what God intended. God intended for us to be married forever.

    The second obligation that comes underneath that is that the husband should have a cooperative obligation to handle his wife with a mindful sensitivity. In our passage, the word understanding is where we get the root word to know. In other words, the husband is to dwell with his wife in an understanding way by getting to know her with an intelligent recognition of the nature of the marriage relationship.

    A Christian husband is to live with his wife in an understanding way with a mindful sensitivity, which means every gathering and gaining knowledge about his wife. I often say in my pre-marital counseling sessions that it’s going to take men the rest of their marriage to figure her out. You never stop figuring her out, and the reason being that there are different phases of life and marriage.

    The Bible is saying that the Christian husband needs to know his wife. Men, don’t say that you know your wife until you know her. The day you get married and say, “I do,” is not the day you know her. The day when you die, you may be able to claim that you knew your wife, especially if you have been growing in the knowledge and wisdom of the word of God, growing together spiritually, and God has been transforming your mind. Now, you truly pay attention to what you ought.

    A Christian husband needs to know the moods of his wife: what makes her moods change? He needs to know the feelings of his wife: what makes her happy and sad? He needs to know the thoughts of his wife. He cannot get into her head, but he could understand that a woman, as they say, thinks from four different perspectives. A man thinks probably from one perspective.

    The mind of a wife is what she thinks. The emotions are how she feels. The will is what she wants. The spirit is what God wants her to do. At different points in her life, what does she really need? What does she fear in her life? In different times of her life, there may be different kinds of fears the woman may have. What are her hopes? What are her dreams? What does she want to see accomplished in your marriage?

    God has given Christian husbands an important task of which there should be no excuse to claim ignorance. However, I must warn Christian husbands that there are several things that are deadly to the process of living with your wife in an understanding and considerate way.

    First, there is the spirituality killer, which is leaving the Lord out and not putting God first in all things. It is worrying about spinning all the plates and not trusting God with what he has provided for you and given to you. Husbands, you need to purpose in your heart to serve God whole-heartedly. In other words, taking the initiative in spiritual leadership.

    Men, you need to lead spiritually. Your wife is not to pull you by a chain in spiritual matters. She is not to prod you in spiritual matters. You need to take on the lead and follow the Lord. If you do that, she will follow you, but if you don’t, that is a spirituality killer.

    There is an intimacy killer too, which is hurting her with your tongue. Being insensitive and unkind with hurtful words, which are often short, angry, and demanding. It is showing her that you are not attentive, thoughtful, trustworthy, or responsible. Those are things that will not help your marriage.

    Remember, we are to speak words that are edifying, of good report, and that are uplifting in our home. One survey revealed that the average husband and wife had thirty-seven minutes a week together in actual communication. I did some math, which I hope is right, and there are 1,440 minutes in a day, 10,080 minutes in a week, and 525,600 minutes in a year.

    When you divide that up, then in the course of a year, you would have talked to your wife about seven minutes a day. When your wife brings to your attention, men, that you don’t talk to her enough, then consider this: she is most likely right, and the math is on her side. In other words, you and I are in trouble. If you miss a day, it is even worse.

    We must talk to each other, and I don’t mean chit-chat about your day or what the weather was like, but you engage in actual conversation that gets into some spiritual things, in-depth things, and things that are substantive about what is going on in each other’s lives. So, there are intimacy killers. There are also social killers, which is spending and using money incorrectly. In marital counseling, communication and finances are big ones that a councilor must deal with all the time.

    The family and home are meant to be the environment where human beings can find shelter, warmth, protection, and safety in each other. It’s a place where they could have a good conversation, kindness, and support. Husbands, you need to be committed to knowing and understanding your wives. It is your job, by God, to do that. That is how He designed it. If you want to be happy yourself, you want to follow that.

    Also, in our passage of Scripture, we see that husbands need to know that their wife is different. Realize that your wife is different. Despite what the culture is saying about how men and women are both alike, the Bible is stressing that there is a marked difference between a man and a woman. Christian husbands are to acknowledge the proper relation of the sexes in God’s design and act with tenderness, wisdom, and understanding. Now, why is the Christian husband to consider his wife?

    Well, he dwells with someone who is weaker and delicate. There are several understandings to that. First, in her human body, there is physical weakness there. She is different in body structure and function. It points to the inferior and physical strength and frailty of a woman. Some say that it means emotionally weaker, but that is probably not true to a certain extent, or positionally weaker as being subordinate.

    Also, it could mean someone who is to be a priced vessel, or that the woman is a fragile vessel from God’s point of view. Regardless of how somebody would understand weaker vessel, it brings us to the place where the husband needs to care for his wife. She is not weaker mentally, morally, or spiritually. She is weaker in a physical and muscular sense.

    There are exceptions, but man is stronger when it comes to physical accomplishments and endurance. According to Dr. Paul Popenoe, founder of the American Institution of Family Relations in Los Angeles, dedicated years of research in the biological difference between men and women. Here are some of his findings:

    On average, man possess 50% more brute-strength than women. 40% of a mans body weight is muscle. A woman is only 23%. Woman are different and have several, unique, and important functions. Of course, menstruation, pregnancy, and lactation. Also, women’s hormones are often of a different type and more numerous than mans. A woman’s vital capacity or breathing power is significantly lower than a mans due to her smaller lungs. Also, women’s blood contains more water and 20% fewer red blood cells. Since the red cells supply oxygen to the body cells, women tire more easily and more prone to faint.

    Those are some things people have discovered about the woman. The point being there is that the woman is different in her body structure, strength, and endurance. The point in Scripture is that the word vessel, or container, is used to refer to a clay jar or some beautiful, fragile vase, which was not built for strength but to be displayed by someone. These were usually put in high places and places of honor so that they could be protected from damage or harm.

    In other words, the Christian husbands are to treat their wives like a beautiful, fragile vase. If misused or abused, it could reach a breaking point and possibly irreparable damage within the relationship. She is termed weaker not for intellectual or moral weakness, but purely for physical reasons, which the husband must recognize with due consideration for marital happiness.

    He needs to treat his wife as a delicate person, and someone who is to be treated delicately. This leads into the next thing the Bible says to the husband about his obligation, which is to have a careful obligation to treat his wife with honor. In our text, honor means to attach high value, worth, or importance to a person or thing.

    The husband should give honor to his wife because his wife is equally God’s vessel, and God gives honor to her along with you as fellow heirs of the riches of Christ. In other words, treat your wives different to you in one way and equal to you in another way, which is in spiritual privilege and eternal importance. Why should the husband show honor to her?

    First, she is a joint heir with him in the grace of life. That is an interesting statement. The woman has the same, equal spiritual rights as the man. God has given her life as a gift, he has given her marriage as a gift, he has given her children or a heritage as a gift, but also eternal life, through Christ, is a gift. Thus, God’s gift of eternal life belongs to the woman as well as the man and all the benefits that go with that. It says in Galatians 3:28:

    There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

    This is dealing with the benefits of salvation. We are on equal ground when it comes to salvation. Eternal life through Christ is a gift for the man and a gift for the woman, so they both have Christ and are patterns together in the Lord. They are heirs of God’s gracious gift of everlasting life.

    Because of that, they don’t work against each other and they should work with each other. They should work together to establish a Christian home, to raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to be active members and support their local church and ministries together, and to provide a measure of stability in their community. Also, Christians are to be the moral and spiritual pillars of a nation.

    It is the church that keeps the moral and ethical standard of a nation. As soon as the church gives it up, there is no more standard. As soon as the world throws God out, then there is no responsibility to anyone above them or anyone who has authority over them. Thus, the church is to present the message of the Gospel, and to present that there is a moral and ethical code that they can deliver to the world. In fact, there is a passage of Scripture that brings all those things together in Psalm 128:1-4:

    How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.

    2When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, You will be happy and it will be well with you.

    3Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
    Within your house,
    Your children like olive plants
    Around your table.

    4Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed
    Who fears the LORD.

    Blessing means that God is near to you for good as opposed to cursing and that God is against you for evil or for bad. When you see the word bless, it means that God is near, He is in the equation, and that is why the blessings come. God gives you a happy life because He is involved with all the aspects of your life, so there are benefits that come to you because of that.

    Another reason a husband should honor his wife is that if he doesn’t treat his wife correctly, then the Christian husbands fellowship with the Lord is all messed up. The Christian husband should surely not want to damage their relationship in their marriage because it messes up their own spiritual life and their fellowship and walk with the Lord.

    This caveat put at the end of this passage of Scripture that is loaded with information for the man brings me to my last point, which is that the husband should have a commitment to maintain a spiritual atmosphere with her in the home. It is his job to do that, and if he does not do that, then the Bible does say, in our passage, that his prayers will be hindered.

    If a husband’s prayers suffer interruption, it is because of a nonfunctioning marriage. For you, men, it affects your spiritual life. To hinder means that it cuts in on the flow of your spiritual growth in the Lord, and the power you receive from God to live that life. It is severely crippled, and your fellowship with God is severely crippled because of the way you are treating your wife. If you ask me, that’s heavy. In fact, that should cause men to get on their faces and repent and change their ways with their wife.

    When I get to prayer, I want God to listen to me. I want the ear of God all the time in my life. What could cut that off? Not treating your wife right will cut that off, and God is serious about that. A husband who treats his wife in a wrong way will himself be unfit to pray. In fact, one commentator says this:

    Not only will he be unfit to pray, but he will scarcely pray at all. His worship in the congregation will also be equally affected.

    When that happens, he is not so interested in Spiritual things. He doesn’t have the power of God in his life anymore. It doesn’t mean he lost his salvation or relationship with God. His fellowship and walk with God is cut-in on by his bad behavior to his wife. Now, you must ask yourself this question: why is that even in the Bible?

    This one passage of Scripture, men, you can put this on the wall, look at it everyday and ask yourself: am I doing these things? Then, correct where you need to correct, and why? At least, for one motivation, which is that your prayers will not be cut-off by God.

    Because of the husband’s neglect of his wife, God chooses to ignore his prayers. It doesn’t mean that God doesn’t hear, but it means that God chooses to ignore your prayers. Husbands, you have here, in this passage, because of how you treat your wife, it will either bring results of blessings or results where your prayers are cut off. You must consider why your prayers are not answered.

    Husbands, you cannot be right with God and not right with your wife. You are one-flesh. You stay right with God when you are right with your wife because of who she is, what God made her to be, and your responsibility as the head of your home. God is serious about keeping men responsible. Psalm 34:15:

    The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.

    The Apostle Peter is talking about righteous behavior in the home by the husband. If my behavior is not perfect but is a forward movement in holiness and righteousness, then as a husband, I am considering these principles and adjusting what I need to adjust in my life and my home so that my wife is honored like this, treated as a fragile vessel, and a joint heir with me in my salvation and with my relationship to God. If I shoot her in the foot, I am shooting myself in the foot. If I hurt her with words, I am hurting me.

    You cannot be one, do harm to that one, and not be affected yourself. Dissensions prevent the united prayers on which many of God’s blessings depend. She is your equal pattern in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should, so that your prayers will not be cut-in on by God. In our wedding ceremonies, I always say Proverbs 18:22:

    He who finds a wife finds a good thing
    And obtains favor from the LORD.

    Men, the day that you found that good thing, you received favor from the Lord, but every day, that passage of Scripture should mean something to you. It is God’s will that you be this kind of man. The wife is the helper, not the leader. The wife is the subordinate one, not the head. The wife is the delicate and prized vessel, not the protector or leader in the home. The man is, and men, this is a very convicting passage of Scripture.

    The first time I read this in Scripture, I was floored, walking in circles, and saying to myself, “that is pretty heavy.” Let’s be honest with ourselves: sometimes we don’t treat our wives the way we should.

    Considering Mother’s Day and considering women, the word of God uplifts women to their proper place and gives them dignity. The world treats women horribly. They exploit women and misuse women. Today, all the scandals going on in our news is about how men have abused women. That should not be in the church. We are to be the model. It must start in our homes and in our relationships.

    In doing that, we are going to have an opportunity and open door to share the Gospel with that young couple that just got married, and they don’t really know what they are doing yet. The Scriptures are very helpful to come along side of men and say, “this is what God taught me, so let me teach you.” Then, they put it into practice, and the church gets stronger when homes and relationships are stronger.

    I believe the only thing that is holding back the end-coming is that God has left the church here and the church is holding back the mystery of iniquity. Once the church is gone, then that is when all hell breaks loose.

    Men, maybe this is the first time you are hearing this and maybe you have heard it before, but it never really impacted you. I pray that today you would take these things and live them out every day until your wife takes notice. Let’s pray:

    Lord, Thank You. Lord, these passages of Scripture are very convicting. They slice like a razor blade into our souls. Yet, Lord, they also have a healing effect because they are transforming our mind to think in a way that honors God, and in a way that we can do these things in our home and reap the benefits. As a man, I can be someone who knows God listens to me because I am treating my wife correctly, and that I am working on it every day. That my wife is learning to submit to me. I know, Lord, when we treat our wives right and we love them like You love the church, submission is not the hard part. In fact, it comes quite naturally. Lord, do what You need to do today with the word of God, and continue to work on our hearts so that we can become these men, who want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and honor you with our relationship that You have given with our wives. I pray this in Your name. Amen.

  • The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — Learning Submission (Part 3)

    The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — Learning Submission (Part 3)

    In this sermon, pastor Babij examines Peter’s teaching on the example of Jesus in suffering and submission. According to Peter, believers are to learn both from what Jesus did do and what Jesus did not do when suffering unjustly.

    Full Transcript:

    When plans have been dashed and you have no control over anything, what do you do then? How are you supposed to live? Are you supposed to revert to your old sinful ways, habits, and the ways you used to handle things? Or, in that pressure cooker, are you supposed to live for Christ?

    The point is that you are to live for Christ. That becomes a test of your faith, and that test of your faith produces endurance, strength, and what we need to continue in this world. Remember, we’re aliens and strangers. This is not our home. The kingdom of God is our home, and that is where we are heading. Until then, we have a job to do and a way to live, which is to bring people to Christ not only by our sharing of the Gospel, but also by the way we live.

    So far, we have seen that the definition of submit is putting oneself under the authority of another, or to take a subordinate place. The first application of this was governing authorities. The second application of this was masters and slaves, or in the modern-day context, workers and bosses.

    If there is not a growing presence of submission in our hearts and in the community of believers, then usually strife fills that vacuum, which leads to disunity. People will bicker, complain, grumble, and none of those things honor God or are they justified. As believers, we don’t have any rights, and we give up our rights so that we may live for God. Unity is enhanced through submission. James 4:7:

    Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

    Submission to God and the word of God means that we are heeding God’s word. Submission to God through His will means we are giving over to the will of God and learning more of what the will of God is every day. Then, there is submission to God through His authority.

    God is putting certain authority structures in our life that we are to submit to in a proper way. We looked at governing authorities. In the next section of Scripture, we will be looking at husbands and wives. Then, elders and pastors, and young men to elders.

    Even though we don’t have slavery like they had in the Roman empire, what Peter wrote does apply to employers and employees. Employment, in free capitalism and socialism, is difficult to compare to the first century household servants as mentioned in our text. The first principle for Christians to submit as servants is that your employer is due respect. Also, employers are due respect regardless of their disposition. 1 Peter 2:18:

    Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

    One of the amazing things about that text and this section of Scripture is that the passage never says to followers of Christ to organize a revolt, take up weapons, or be disloyal by taking the law into our own hands. This is not the way a Christian undermines the institution of slavery, but rather by putting these principals into practice that the Lord has put in place.

    The Christian is an earthly slave, but at the same time, they are Christ’s freeman. We are to view slavery or servanthood in a different way, which is a platform for evangelism. The main emphasis here is how the Christian is to function within their existing conditions, and within the way the Christian conducts and behaves themselves within those conditions.

    The only reason for submitting to unreasonable or harsh masters or employers is because it pleases the Lord. The motive for the Christian to submit as servants is to always please the Lord with the desire to have the Lord’s approval, but also with the goal to be able to share the Gospel. 1 Peter 2:19:

    For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

    It is the taking abuse and keeping God in mind while we are going through it knowing that God knows everything in your situation, and it is taking abuse to not lose God’s favor by not giving in to the flesh. In doing that, what credit is there in suffering because you sinned. 1 Peter 2:20:

    For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

    Again, God knows everything going on and it finds favor with God when we live that way. It is completely difficult to do, especially if you are not depending on the Holy Spirit and you are depending on yourself. You must depend on God and His truth to be able to live that way.

    The Lord knows and sees the kind of service one offers up, but the one offering up good service should also know that the Lord recognizes and rewards for good service. Ephesians 6:7:

    With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men.

    The purpose for the Christian to submit as saints is our calling found in 1 Peter 2:21:

    For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps

    We have been summoned to suffer. I asked you last week if you ever pondered that when you became a Christian, you didn’t realize that you were not only saved by God for the blessings that come, but also saved for the cost of being a Christian. The cost is that you are going to have some level of suffering in this world, which you will have to respond to in the right way. You are called to suffer because you are a Christian. Last time, we looked at Philippians 1:29-30:

    For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

    The subject of suffering will be more developed in the later chapters of Peter, but I gave you some reasons as to why we do suffer. We suffer for doing what is right. 1 Peter 3:17:

    For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

    Secondly, you suffer according to the will of God. By His will, the Lord brings suffering into our lives for a very specific purpose, which is to mature us. When things are going very good in your life, you don’t grow spiritually. It is only when the trouble comes, and that’s when our faith needs to be tested. We must know that we are truly believers. Through the testing of our faith, we remain following the Lord and get stronger during that time.

    Then, suffering for our testing and being a Christian as it tells us in the word of God 1 Peter 4:14-16:

    If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

    Last time, I asked a few questions: why aren’t you suffering? It could be because you are hiding in the forest and nobody knows you. Maybe you are not living a holy and godly life. The Bible says that if you live a godly life, you are going to be persecuted. Maybe you are not suffering because you are not a believer at all. Self-deception in believing you are something you are not, producing no fruit as a believer is a very serious diagnosis of your spiritual condition. We must answer these questions honestly. In all that, it says in 2 Timothy 3:12:

    Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

    Most of the persecution, in 1 Peter, was by way of insults – word persecution. Then, it led to physical persecution. However, notice, in 1 Peter 5:10, that suffering is short lived, has a goal, and a reward connected to it:

    After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

    Because of suffering, the Lord can make this promise to us since He calls us to eternal glory. We are heading to the kingdom of God, and while we are heading there, the Lord promises us that He is going to perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. He is going to do that, not you. As we do what we’re supposed to do, He takes care of all the rest of the things that we could never do, so that gives us great confidence in God.

    However, brethren, we are not left without an example of suffering in which to emulate. Of course, Jesus is our example for suffering. No one suffered to the extent that He suffered. Now, we are going to look at the purpose and the pattern for the Christian to submit to and follow as saints. Our calling and suffering is to follow Jesus’ example.

    In 1 Peter 2:21, Jesus’ death was vicarious and substitutionary. Galatians 1:4:

    who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

    In our text, the first thing in this section is that Jesus is our great example in His life, the way He lived life, and the way He responded to the suffering that came His way, and we are to do the same. God is not asking us, in Scripture, to do something we cannot do. He is asking us to do what He did. Also, He is asking us to do what He did not do.

    Christ is the model sufferer because Christ did not receive a crown of glory without a crown of thorns. He could have never saved us without the Cross. He had to go that way, and it was God’s will for Him to go that way.

    The term example in our text recalls the thought of an outline or a copy. Christ leaves us a drawing that is to be placed underneath another sheet to be traced over. We are to follow His example, and walk in the steps that He walked in. To follow in the direction that He is going. If you are going to walk in the steps someone walked in, you must follow behind them, and you must put your foot in the step that He took.

    As we do that, we will find that we are going to be able to do what Christ asks of us, which is to follow in the direction He is going and to patiently endure wrong treatment. So, what didn’t Jesus do? 1 Peter 2:22:

    WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH

    This is telling us about the character of Jesus, and how he committed no sin. If sinless, then He must have been suffering for someone else. Jesus suffered as an innocent One, and as somebody who was not guilty since there was no sin in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21:

    He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

    When we talk about Christ being our substitute and dying in our place, we become righteous, live a righteous life, and the righteousness of Christ would be put on our account. This is what the Lord did not do. He did not sin because of who He was and His mission. He was the perfect Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world, so He could not have sinned at all.

    In this whole section of Scripture, Peter is drawing from Isaiah 53. In Isaiah 53, notice the verses that come behind, and the same things said in the Old Testament, Peter says in this epistle. Secondly, what Jesus did not do in 1 Peter 2:22 is also found in Isaiah 53:9:

    His grave was assigned with wicked men,
    Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
    Because He had done no violence,
    Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

    In other words, for the people who don’t believe that Isaiah 53 is talking about Christ, Peter then says that it is talking about Christ. You cannot make that mistake. He is the only one who was able to do these things. Thus, the second thing Jesus did not do was use words to bring insult. There was no deceit found in His mouth whatsoever. Isaiah 53:7:

    He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
    Yet He did not open His mouth;
    Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
    And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
    So He did not open His mouth.

    When it came to repeated abuses, Jesus did not open His mouth at all, and the abuses became worse, viler, and more cutting. Now, think for a moment about us. When it comes to repeated verbal abuse by somebody, the first thing we want to do is lash back. Of course, that little thing that flaps in your mouth, called the tongue, wants to establish itself as a greater authority than the one who is insulting you, and we find it very difficult to restrain our words. James 3:8:

    But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

    “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.” Boy, that’s the biggest lie that ever came out of hell. Words stay with you until you die. It is logged in there, especially things that were insults, things that put you down, and things that came against you that really discouraged you. You don’t forget those things.

    In fact, we must be careful that we don’t dwell on that in our mind. If we do, we will not be able to carry this out. The spirit of God helps us to restrain our words and to choose words that are encouraging. If you go to Proverbs, there are so many verses that talk about words. In the power of your tongue, as said in Proverbs, you can give life or death.

    Words can do that. No nuclear bombs can do what words can do. Words can kill somebody while they are still alive. Words are powerful. In scripture, we have the example to learn to watch our words before anything rolls off your tongue. Think about if you want to receive what you’re going to say to that person no matter how they are harming you or how they are coming against you.

    If we are going to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we must restrain our tongues, and only for the use of edification, building people up, and encouraging people to press-on. When we do, that is when we know the power and strength of God coming into our life. Matthew 27:12-14:

    And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. 13Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.

    In the human being, it is not normal to not say something. Don’t people say, “why didn’t you just say something?” No, as a believer, you must decide when you say something and when you don’t say something. You must decide it before it happens.

    Every day you wake up you must decide how you are going to use your tongue to that boss that is not so kind to you, that customer that always wants to give you a tongue lashing, or to that person, who has a tongue sharper than a razor. What do you do with those people? See, they can get to you and they know how to press people’s buttons, so what do you do? That’s when you need to respond correctly, especially since that person needs the Lord.

    If we respond just like them, we’ll never have a chance. They will say, “you’re just like me.” We don’t want to be just like the way we used to be. As Christians, we want to be different. If we’re going to walk in the footsteps of the Lord, we must follow in His footsteps. Yes, we can restrain our tongue, and that’s the point. God gives us the strength to do that, and we are blessed when we do that.

    Jesus did not bring insult with words. The Lord could have called legions of angels to fight on His behalf, but He did not do that. If He did that, we could not have been saved. The Cross would have never happened. Jesus had to fight the battles for us to save us. The next thing He did not do is in 1 Peter 2:23:

    and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

    This is just a higher level of verbal abuse, but it is also not leading someone to violence. In other words, Jesus didn’t know violence. Jesus did not resort to violent threats at all. He didn’t go to blows with anybody. Jesus was called a demon-possessed man, a glutton, a winebibber, a blasphemer, delusional by His own family, a perverter of the nation, a deceiver of people, yet Jesus never strayed in word and deed, never got upset unjustly, or used anyone for a laugh.

    He suffered verbally, physically, spiritually, yet never threatened retaliation on His tormentors but endured for us. He lived a level of righteousness that we could have never lived, and He did it for us. In other words, Jesus Christ, our great example, did all those things by His life, and we can exemplify that example and walk in His footsteps. Now that we saw what He did not do, what did Jesus do?

    While being abused and while having these things hurled at Him, He was handing himself over to the one who judges righteously. The first thing the Lord did, under this title, is that Jesus is our great substitute in His death, and in this treatment, He did not hand Himself over to His betrayers. He handed Himself over to His Father. In other words, Jesus left judgement to God rather than to act Himself against His enemies.

    He suffered calmly and patiently. He had confidence in His Father’s will. He had confidence in what His Father was doing as far as Jesus having to go to the Cross to die for sinners. He had confidence in that, so He kept patiently and calmly entrusting Himself to the Father. We could say it like this:

    Father, I trust You, I don’t understand everything that is going on, I may not have all the answers to my questions, and I may never have those answers. However, Father, because of who You are, the love You have displayed and demonstrated to me, and because of the promises that are in the word of God, I am entrusting myself to You during this trial and time of suffering.

    In other words, we could never take vengeance. Romans 12:19-21 gives a real situation in which we can practice what Paul was telling the romans in their suffering:

    Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. 20“BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

    Heaping coals on a burning head is not a bad thing, but a good thing. When someone ran out of fuel for cooking or heating their home, they would put a container on their head, run through the village, and people with extra coals would throw it on top of him.

    In other words, when your enemy comes against you, don’t respond like you are going against them. Rather, treat your enemy as said in the passage. To me, when I read that passage, I say to my old days, “that will never happen.” Yet, this is what God has called us to, and I believe there is more power in this to overcoming restrain than anything else.

    Remember, Jesus handed Himself over to the Father. Ironically, if you search out Scripture, Judas handed Jesus over out of greed, the priests handed Jesus over to Pilate out of envy and self-righteousness, Pilate handed Jesus over to the soldiers out of being a coward, and on the Cross, Jesus handed Himself over to God for our vindication. Leading to 1 Peter 2:24:

    and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

    In that text, Jesus handed Himself over to the Father, but He also carried our sins away. In fact, in Isaiah 53:4-5, it says:

    Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
    And our sorrows He carried;
    Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
    Smitten of God, and afflicted.
    5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
    He was crushed for our iniquities;
    The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
    And by His scourging we are healed.

    In that, it is describing the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and there are four things in substitution. In substitutionary atonement, we find forgiveness of God, the cleansing of God of those who have sinned, the adverting of God’s wrath, and ransom. Mark 10:45:

    “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

    His life was a ransom, a price paid to effect release of one who was held in bondage. The ransom was offered to God, the Father, against whom we have sinned, and who alone has the power to afflict the penalty of sin. Then, Jesus saw us caught in the slave market of sin and had pity on our helpless situation by paying the ransom price with His own blood to redeem us out of slavery.

    Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross purchased the release from bondage of those many sinners who believe in Him. In saying that, if we take all of Isaiah 53, we will see that there are two things going on: the suffering servant’s willingness to suffer for sinners. He suffered for others by submitting to the Father willingly. Also, He benefits those who suffer. In other words, His punishment, our peace. His wounds, our healing.

    Also, the sufferer willingly and deliberately took on sin on Himself in His act, and it was the Lord’s intention that He did that. In Isaiah 53:10-11, we see that God himself acts to lay the people’s sin upon the servant and to punish Him as a guilty person:

    Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

    Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will exemplified a unity with the Father and Son within the Trinity: The Father, Son, and Spirit. He cooperated and submitted to His father’s plan for us to have the offer of redemption preached to us. The suffering Servant is sinless, and He suffered not for His own sins, but for the sins of others, which He bore willingly. He became a guilt offering baring their sins so that they may escape punishment.

    Now, I think about how Isaiah put that. He said that the Lord would become a guilt offering. For a minute, I thought about it, and I went back and looked at a few texts and wondered: what is the extent in which Christ died for our sins? If I asked you this: do you think Christ died for your unintentional sins? Do you think Christ died for the sins you didn’t even know you were sinning? Did He die for the sins you forgot?

    That’s what it means when Jesus became a guilt offering. He became guilty as a sinner for us so that we wouldn’t be guilty. When I was first going through the five Levitical offerings and I came across this section of Scripture, it quite intrigued me because I never thought of it like this. Notice what it says about a guilt offering in Leviticus 5:16-19:

    “He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him. 17“Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. 18“He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him. 19“It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”

    If you’re unaware of a sin, you are still guilty, and you will bare the punishment. The word of God is saying that you are still guilty and will be punished for unintentional sins done in ignorance. Christ became our guilt offering. The purpose of Jesus baring our sins is not expressed so much in terms of freedom from the guilt of sin, but freedom from the control of sin resulting in the power of a transformed life. As it says in Corinthians 5:14-15:

    For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

    The point being that He bore our sins to the extent of even our unintentional sins so that we can be saved and live. Next, Jesus took the curse from them and expiated the curse. In 1 Peter 2:24, “on the Cross,” could read, “on the tree,” which is significant because we know that the Bible tells us in Galatians 3:13:

    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”

    He bore our sins in His body on the tree, the cursed instrument in which God pores out His wrath. Isaiah 53:12:

    Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
    And He will divide the booty with the strong;
    Because He poured out Himself to death,
    And was numbered with the transgressors;
    Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
    And interceded for the transgressors.

    Those are some of these passages that back-up what the Lord did by taking the curse of sin for us and paying for that curse completely and fully so that we wouldn’t have to pay for it at all. We didn’t have to hang on the tree because Christ did it for us. He was our substitute and vicariously died in our place.

    In conclusion, another thing the Lord did was that He bore our sins so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness, and that’s what it has been saying the whole time in 1 Peter. If you are a believer, you will die to the authority of sin in your life by being able to say no to it, and you will now live in a right way that pleases God. Sin must be shed before righteousness can be embraced.

    My friends, if it were not for Jesus coming to this earth to serve, submit willfully, and submit willingly to the Fathers will, we would all be without hope because we are sinners with nothing to offer God. Yet, the Lord responded to sinful humanity, who had nothing to offer Him by offering Himself to them as a servant and someone who submitted as a slave to the Father’s will so that we can be saved.

    Leading to the last thing it says about Jesus in our text, which is that Jesus is now our watchful Shepherd in heaven. In fact, what is the results of Christ’s submission to redemptive suffering? It results in our conversion. Brethren, in the last part of 1 Peter 2:24, this is not talking about physical healing. The healers like to claim this passage of Scripture, but what it is saying is that by Christ’s stripes, the wounds sin had afflicted are gone.

    In fact, the picture is appropriate because slaves were usually whipped and scourged, which left bleeding stripes and welts. By this scourging being administered to Christ’s body on that cursed tree, brings healings because Christ saves us from any further suffering and punishment by saving us from eternal death. What were we before conversion? It says in Isaiah 53:6:

    All of us like sheep have gone astray,
    Each of us has turned to his own way;
    But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
    To fall on Him.

    The first part of that passage of Scripture is before conversion. In fact, Peter says it like this in 1 Peter 2:25:

    For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

    Wondering sheep have no direction. As I have said before, sheep are the dumbest animals on earth. If somebody doesn’t lead them, they will fall off the cliff. If someone doesn’t feed them, they will starve to death. If a wolf comes into the den, they have no defense at all. However, that is us. We just have a big old target on us, and no matter where you go, you are going to get hit.

    Wondering sheep have no direction, no one to look after them, and no one to protect them while they are in sin. Our past life was already captured in the first part of 1 Peter. If you forgot what it said there, it says in 1 Peter 1:14:

    As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance

    You lived by your own sinful lusts and passions, and you did that ignorantly. Whatever way your lusts and passions guided you, that is where you went. Then, he also says in 1 Peter 1:18:

    knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers

    If they were sinners, not a believer, they passed that down to you, so one generation passed down their sin to the next generation. How could you escape that? Ultimately, sin separates us from God, which is the point here. We wander because we are separated from God. Jesus offered to pay our debt to God. God’s justice requires that sin be punished. Jesus paid the full debt.

    In 1 Peter 2:25, most linguistics believe that it is not the term return but turn because we were never following Him in the first place. How can we return to someone we were never following in the first place? By the Gospel of Christ, we turn to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. The eternal part of you is now brought under the leadership of Christ, who watches out for our welfare as His children and who assumes leadership of His flock.

    Jesus, who is the great Shepherd and Overseer of our eternal soul, will lead us safely home. In other words, following in the steps of Jesus, leads right into heaven. Conversion brings us to the Shepherd. John says in John 10:14:

    I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me

    When we become believers, we know who our Shepherd is, and He is a good Shepherd. He is a Shepherd who will never steer us wrong, never lie to us, and will always protect us. In fact, 1 Peter 2:25 is the only place that Shepherd and Overseer is put together referring to Christ. Because of His accomplishment on the Cross, he now oversees our life. He is in charge. He is the one protecting us.

    Summoning up the matter of this whole section is to say whatever existing condition we, as Christians, find ourselves as servants. We are to regulate our conduct by Christian standards and are to act in accord with Christian principles all because believers are in a different family with a new father. They live before the Lord’s eyes every moment of every day.

    Children of God are to do the will of God and prove themselves to be slaves of Christ. Slaves that are bought with His blood. Slaves that are dwelt within by His spirit. Slaves that are manifesting their relationship by the way they perform their daily tasks.

    Christians should always be industrious. They should always strive to be honest. They should always strive to control their tongues and actions. They should always strive to be trustworthy. They should always strive to be truthful, reliable, and always helpful. They should always be the first person to encourage to take another step, to breathe another breath of air, and to go another mile.

    All of that is how we evangelize too. We don’t just evangelize by preaching the Gospel, but we evangelize by both. Your life can cancel out the message of the Gospel. You want to adorn the Gospel. You want to make the Gospel look good by the way you live your life and your behavior.

    In saying all of that, there are some principles and applications. First, Jesus Christ alone has atonement for our sins. No one else has done that, and there is no one like Jesus Christ. Secondly, an individual either comes to Christ or rejects Him. There is no middle ground or second chance after this life. If you haven’t, you must come to Christ now. If you have been putting it off or thinking about it, then don’t think about it anymore, just come to Christ. You are not guaranteed tomorrow.

    Next, God’s grace and gift of salvation must result in positive change in the believer’s behavior. Meaning, the believer should make progress in dealing with their anger, hatred, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Those are the things we must work on every day. Then, unity should characterize the relationships and interactions of those who follow Christ because they are practicing submission and following the example of Jesus.

    Lastly, you may have to endure unjust suffering and should do so in the spirit and example of Jesus by always being conscious of the presence of God. Those are some things that are eternal principles that we should be putting into practice and thinking about every day of our life. In looking at this passage of Scripture and all the things contained in it, I pray that we would realize that Christ has been our great example.

    He is the One we are to follow in the things He did not do and the things He did do. Of course, we can’t do the things He did do since He did that for us. However, we can do the things that He did not do, which is to live our lives in a way before the world under persecution and under suffering that honors Him and pleases Him.

    In doing so, God will give us opportunity to share the Gospel. The result is conversion. It was the result for Christ’s suffering, and it will be the result for our suffering, which is to lead others to Christ. Let’s pray:

    Lord, Thank You for Your tremendous grace to us. Lord, Your word is clear, it is to the point, and it is practical where we can put it in place in our life on a regular basis. I pray, Lord, that we would live according to these principles, and give us the strength of Your spirit. When we come to a place that is really testing our faith, that, Lord, we would be able to stand strong and mature during that time. That You would build our endurance during that time. Help us to put these principles into practice. Lord, I pray that we walk away joyful because of the great things that You have done. I pray this, in Christ’s name, Amen.

  • The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — Learning Submission (Part 1)

    The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — Learning Submission (Part 1)

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches on submission from First Peter 2:13-17. He shows that submission is not a choice but a command from God and teaches that resistance to lawful authorities is resistance against God. Pastor lists several attitudes, reasons and benefits for submission. He also lays out principles for biblical resistance against the government. Pastor ends by exhorting Christians to live peaceful lives to glorify God before all men.

    Full Transcript:

    Every single week, we are looking at 1 Peter, and it is our practice to start 1 Peter and go through it until we are finished. After this, I will be going into 2 Peter, which would be logical so that the messages are connected. We are looking at 1 Peter 2:13-17:

    Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 15For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. 16Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. 17Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

    Let’s pray:

    Lord, Thank You for the word of God, for the privilege to be able to have it in our hands, and to have Bibles that we can take with us wherever we go. I pray, Lord, that the Bible would become our constant companion, and that we would desire to know as much of it as we can. I pray, Lord, that we would not only be hearers of the word, but doers of it. I pray, Lord, that we would be conscious of practicing what we are learning. I pray, as we do that, Lord, that we can do what Peter said. Part of our behavior is the reason why we get people’s attention. We are different and not like other people only because of Christ. The spirit of God is transforming us and making us new. Lord, I pray that You would give us opportunities, by the way we live, to be able to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not know You but may come to know You. I pray that You would bless us this morning with an understanding of what it means to learn submission to the different groups that are mentioned in 1 Peter. I pray, Lord, that one group being governing authorities that are over us, and that we would learn to submit properly. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    Once we become believers, we must learn anew how to understand and deal with ourselves; then, how to live with others. We live in this world, which has been twisted and complicated by sin. Already, we have been called citizens of another kingdom. As aliens and strangers on the earth, our mandate is to live in accord with a higher standard.

    Keeping in mind our alien nationalities, temporary residencies, what God has done for us in salvation, who we are in Christ, that we are in a spiritual warfare, and that we are to avoid and keep ourselves free from old impulses that belong to the flesh. The war is between our renewed spirit and fallen nature.

    Keeping in mind that we have a new master, Christ, and a new relationship to sin. We are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Keeping in mind that the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, is making this change in us through the word of God. In our mind, He is transforming us, and in our heart, He is developing deep Biblical convictions.

    In turn, we want to do what is right and live in a pleasing manner before the Lord, Jesus Christ, in all our behavior. Keeping in mind our new, inner commitment to live before God. All holy behavior is accompanied by a Christian duty to live responsibly before unbelievers. 1 Peter 2:12:

    Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

    Last time, we learned that we are to submit to a new course of conduct, so that we, as followers of Christ, can demonstrate an alien lifestyle with the goal of proclaiming the Gospel to win others to Christ to become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. On the day of judgement, they may give glory to God since someone adorned the Gospel with their lifestyle, shared with them verbally the message of Jesus Christ, and they became a born-again believer.

    In continuing to unpack the next section of Peter, we are to learn to properly submit to others. First, we will submit to governing authorities. Then, we will submit to those who are in our household like masters that are over us. Then, there is subjection in family structures such as husbands and wives.

    As God’s children living in this world, we must be learning submission. Submit implies putting oneself under the authority of another, or to take a subordinate place. In 1 Peter 2:13, “submit yourselves,” is a command, so we are to submit to the governing authorities.

    The principle of submission is applied within the context of interaction of believers with non-believers in areas of various social relationships. There are certain behaviors Christians are to maintain. First, inward loyalty, which is a certain behavior that pleases the Lord. Secondly, an outward submission.

    In the first application of a Christian’s responsibilities in their behavior, they are to relate to governing authorities within any form of government that they may find themselves. In applying the principle of submission, the great difference from then as to now is that we have a level of push-back to our government without fear of much serious punishment.

    If you were to pushback against the Roman Empire, in which Peter wrote, it would probably mean imprisonment or death. Today, there are still governments that have that kind of philosophy and mentality where you don’t say much against the government or pushback against the government. If you do, you will suffer the consequences.

    However, we must all be discerning concerning the changing tides of our political landscape in our country, especially since things could change very quickly. In any case, Christian’s ought to be aware of the Biblical principles regarding legitimate human government. In other words, there is a way to behave in whatever country you live in since the Biblical principles apply no matter where you live on the earth or government you live under.

    In learning submission, first it is to governing authorities, and it is a command in Scripture. If we apply the definition of the term submit, it would imply that Christians are to willingly put themselves under the authority of governing bodies, or to arrange one’s life under the authority of another.

    The second part of that definition would assume some freedom on the part of the one submitting and would most likely apply to people that are under a democratic type of government where there is more wiggle room. These Christian’s that were written to in 1 Peter were Christians that had no rights.

    In the United States, we have rights as citizens, and if they had rights, they were limited rights. Even if they were Christians, those rights could have been limited because they were Christians. For us, the secular hierarchy would be the local, the state, and the federal government. We, as Christians, are to submit to the authority of these institutions and the persons representing these institutions.

    We live in a day where there is much disrespect toward all authority. Many people rebel against our own government. Some Christians have taken a wrong attitude toward secular government as to its laws and leaders, and in some ways, rightfully so. Even though we may strongly disagree with some or the things that the local, state, and federal governments do, Christians still need to gain Scriptural understanding on their responsibility toward government.

    Behind this submission, there is a proper motive to governing authorities. There is a command, but there is a motive. In 1 Peter 2:13, the second motive for our act of obedience to submit is for the Lord’s sake. The first motive is found in 1 Peter 2:11-12:

    Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

    Because the lost world is looking on our life, we are to submit to a course of conduct for the lost sake. However, here we are to submit to governing authorities for the Lord’s sake, which is the primary reason believers are to submit. The sovereign Lord has put in the world three institutions, which has been ordained for the good of mankind. What are they?

    First, it is the home. Second, it is that of human government. Thirdly, it is the local church. God established the principles of maintaining law and order in society by means of governing authorities, which are ordained by God. God gave society the right to enforce laws and to use capital punishment when necessary. Meaning, God is sovereign. Daniel 2:21 says:

    It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
    He removes kings and establishes kings;
    He gives wisdom to wise men
    And knowledge to men of understanding.

    God does this in a world that is sinful. If we did not have government, what would happen? If we did not have that thin blue line between us and big government, then there would be anarchy and it would be a terrible place to live. However, God is sovereign over the fears of the world.

    He is sovereign over Satan and sin. He is sovereign over all government and military power. He is sovereign over nature and natural disaster. He is sovereign over sickness and disease. He is sovereign over every human being. With all that sovereignty, we must keep in mind that God’s sovereignty does not excuse human sinfulness or irresponsibility. Therefore, God gives authority on the earth, and that same truth is repeated in Proverbs 8:15-16:

    By me kings reign,
    And rulers decree justice.
    16“By me princes rule, and nobles,
    All who judge rightly.

    If God did not give authority to governments, they would possess none. The most unjust and wicked rulers in the world have no power, but what is given them from above. Remember when Pilate was talking to Jesus, he said that he had the authority to put Him to death, and Jesus says in John 19:11:

    Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

    Thus, God has ordained and given authority to governments for mankind’s benefit. We may not think of it that way, but it is, especially today on April 15th, which is Tax Day. Hopefully, you did your taxes, and the government doesn’t fool around when it comes to taxes. They want your money, and I found out that they get it where you cannot do much about it.

    Some people get very upset about it, and sometimes I do. However, I like driving on nice, paved roads. I do like lights that work at the intersections. I do like the structure that we have, which must be paid for, and we all chip in and pay for it.

    In looking at this subject, there is a third thing, which is the benefit of governing authorities. In 1 Peter 2:14, it benefits us in two specific ways. The first way it benefits us is for the punishment of evildoers. Private citizens and individuals do not have the authority to punish evildoers.

    For those who do evil, God has given the power to government to carry out justice and wrath, and to make laws and enforce them. The Vigilante, The Lone Ranger, and The Rogue Cop mindset, who takes upon himself the responsibility to take vengeance and get justice, makes for a great suspense-filled story for a film or media. Individual human beings have not been given that authority to take any kind of vengeance. In fact, God says, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.”

    Even though governments carry their responsibilities out in an imperfect system, it is still for our benefit and protection. Even the most flawed system is often better than nothing. Even today, people say that if we didn’t take out Saddam, the Middle East would be better off, and if we didn’t take down Gaddafi, the Middle East would be better off. There’s probably some truth to that since these guys knew how to take care of some of the factions in their country, but they were ruthless, and it is what it is. In thinking of that, notice what it says in Romans 13:1-2:

    Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

    Another passage of Scripture, along the same line of Romans, is in Romans 13:4-5:

    for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

    God gave governing authorities the right to enforce laws to prevent chaos, mayhem, and anarchy; at the same time, to maintain peace while promoting the free-flow of human beings, protection of them, and rights of citizens. This is done by use of security forces like policemen, the military, and using our judicial system. The government has been given the authority to even use capital punishment to punish evildoers when necessary. Genesis 9:6:

    Whoever sheds man’s blood,
    By man his blood shall be shed,
    For in the image of God
    He made man.

    If you notice in Romans 13:4, the government has been given the authority by God to even carry out capital punishment if need be to rid evil from a society. For the one ruling, justice is God’s primary demand on human authorities. They must judge fairly, shunning bribes, so that they may be impartial in their judgement. Proverbs 20:8:

    A king who sits on the throne of justice
    Disperses all evil with his eyes. A king who sits on the throne of justice
    Disperses all evil with his eyes.

    Also, in Proverbs 29:2:

    When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,
    But when a wicked man rules, people groan.

    Thus, the first benefit is that the government is given to us to take care of evil, to suppress evil, and to keep evil in its place. Pretty much, we can freely move around without much fear in our country. However, there is a second thing, which is not only the punishment of evildoers, but the praise of those who do right. That is governments responsibility too, and maybe this what the government needs to do more of. When it does do it, then maybe we need to take notice of it more.

    When a citizen has in some way done something good, they should be publicly praised by the government. Whether it is private citizen, a police officer, or a military person, they should be praised by the government for doing something that is good. They often do that, but sometimes it never trickles down to the public or local media about some of the things in the world that are good.

    This public praise for doing good should encourage onlookers to endeavor to do the same. The power of a good character, a good deed, or a good example should not be downplayed. In fact, it should be up played. If the government and media would give equal time to such things, they would encourage more good deeds and produce even better citizens. That’s part of the government, and it is also saying to us that we ought to be the people that are doing the good deeds.

    Secondly, under this command, submission is God’s method and will. In 1 Peter 2:14, this is the way God wants Christians to act no matter what government system they are under. It is the good and wise will of God for us to be the best possible citizens in the society in which we live. The world should be able to look at a believer and see what a good citizen should be.

    However, onlookers are usually ready to point out the blunders, mistakes, and mishaps of Christians. As we are going to find out in 1 Peter, there is a lot of verbal abuse against the Christians that is unjustified. The question is: how are believers going to silence their critics?

    According to our text, they are going to silence the critics by living an exemplary life within society. Christians put down slander and silence ignorant and foolish people by living consistently good lives, and by living an alien lifestyle within the goal to proclaim the Gospel to win others to Christ to become citizens of the Kingdom of God.

    In other words, they are to do that by doing what is right. In 1 Peter 2:15, the Bible is assuming that believers know what is right, and what is the thing to do that honors Him. From the word of God, they know now that by doing that, they can silence people that are against them.

    In our passage of Scripture, the foolish person is the person who places themselves against God, and disregards God, the people, and the things that represent the true and living God. Proverbs 1:22:

    How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?

    Not only in Psalm 14:1, but also in Psalm 53:1:

    The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.

    Often, those are the ones who are coming against believers who are living in society. Christians are not to be rebels, anarchists, or revolutionaries. If there is a lawful way to make change, they should endeavor to make the change lawfully. So then, we are to seek good, the good of our country, and doing nothing or joining in nothing that tends to disturb the peace that God is giving us.

    We ought to be respectful, law-abiding citizens, which have the right attitude towards those in leadership over us. Also, the Christian can never forget that there is no one freer than a Christian. Remember, it was also God’s will for you to be saved, it was God’s will for you to have the spirit of God, and you have been given everything pertaining to life and Godliness.

    A Christian yielded to the spirit of God is a powerful force of divine energy within a society. The word of God has made you free in Christ. Christians, therefore, are to submit to governing authorities willfully and freely.

    If you notice the next things in 1 Peter 2:15, submission, by the believer, is a matter of free choice to resist or to comply, or to cooperate or to not cooperate, with fellow citizens and with ruling authorities. By this passage of Scripture, Peter anticipates that some of his readers would object that the demand of submission to human rulers go against the principle of freedom of the believer in Christ.

    Thus, people were thinking, “I don’t want to obey because I don’t agree with anything they are doing.” There are a multitude of reasons people come up with on why they don’t want to submit. There are many ways to abuse freedom.

    One way could be to say, “I think our taxes are too high and the money is unfairly distributed, so I’m not going to pay them.” I have met and had conversations with Christians who very strongly believed that, so I guess they didn’t read this part of the Bible. This part of the Bible is showing us that it would be against what God is commanding. A good example is in Mark 12:14:

    They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?

    They wanted to know if they should pay or not since they didn’t want to pay. Knowing their hypocrisy, or their evil, He said to them in Mark 12:15:

    “Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.”

    Jesus gave a masterly reply, which amazed His opponents and stopped the delegation in their tracks. Jesus, with a very innocent question addressed to Him, exposes their evil, hypocrisy, and Satan-like craftiness in Mark 12:16:

    They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

    Here comes Jesus’ unexpected response, which the delegation did not even consider. Then, Jesus said to them in Mark 12:17:

    And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.

    Man, they did not expect that. In other words, that coin has the image of Caesar on it, but God’s image is on every human being. Thus, give the emperor his coinage and give him all the obligation due him. Also, you who are created in God’s image, give Him all the obligation due Him.

    Jesus places the two obligations side by side. There is no clash between them, but they harmonize. Paying Roman taxes was not in conflict to a person obligation to God. In the providences of God, the Jews are the emperor’s subjects and are under the legitimacy of Roman governments. Now, this was something that the Jewish delegation did not like at all.

    Their response, in Mark 12:17, was that they were amazed at Him. Meaning, they had no idea how to respond to that. He tipped their philosophy and mindset on its head that they had to agree with it. By the way, is it God’s will that we pay taxes? Romans 13:6-7:

    For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

    We would have to answer that question in the affirmative. In addition, if tax or other reforms are necessary for the public welfare, then Christians should exert whatever influence they have to effect those changes lawfully.

    Back to our text in 1 Peter, we find that we are talking about freedom, a freedom that has been given to believers to make choices. Peter is making sure that we make the right choice. In our text, if a believer uses their freedom incorrectly to disobey those placed over them in areas God says we should submit, then we disobey God’s sovereign authority.

    Yes, we are free from sin. Yes, we are free from the law. Yes, we are free from condemnation. Yes, we are free from death. However, in taking notice of the last part in 1 Peter 2:16, Peter is giving an answer to our freedom. Christians are free from sin, but they are slaves to God. Freedom never means being free to do what you want. You are free to do what the dear Lord requires. 1 Corinthians 7:2:

    For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.

    Christ bought us out of the slave market of sin to be free people, who then should willfully put ourselves at God’s service as servants of Jesus Christ. Whatever the Lord commands, that’s what we should do. He commands His people to have a right perspective on the governing authorities. They are for our good, but we have a responsibility in that system to properly respond in the way that pleases and honors God.

    In that way, we put down the foolish people, the gainsayers, and the one’s that are against us. They look at us and say, “how come you’re not against this or protesting over here?” Then, you can tell them why you are not doing it.

    In saying all of that, the question must come up, which is this: what do you do when the call to subjection goes against Christian duty? In 1 Peter 2:13, you are to submit to every human institution whether it is to a king, a president, prime minister, and those under them who carry out all the necessary things a government ought to.

    What if the government tells us to do something immoral, antibiblical, or if the government tells us not to do what God said we should do? Then, there must be in Scripture limits to our obedience. A good example is found in Acts 4-5 where the Roman authorities were trying to get the Apostle Peter to stop speaking publicly about Christ. Peter and John told the authorities that if it came down to whether they would obey God or man, they would obey God and disobey man. Acts 4:19-20:

    But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; 20for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

    There is a clear indication where they disobeyed those who had some authority whether it was religiously or politically. Meaning, there are limits to our obedience. Of course, that takes wisdom, and those two limits would fall under the extent of our Christian submission.

    We are not called to obey laws that violate morality. For example, if the government tells us that we are commanded to get an abortion, then we can disobey that. Secondly, if they tell us that we cannot meet as a church, hold a Bible in our home, or preach somewhere, then we must disobey them.

    In every case, even in the book of Acts, when an apostle or a believer disobeyed government or the religious part of the government, they were beat, put into prison, or something was done to them to send a message. However, they did no matter what because God was moving, and it is God’s will, so no one was going to hold back the Gospel. God is sovereign over government, and His will is for us to proclaim the Gospel. Finally, Peter said to them that we must obey God rather than man.

    If the civil powers commands something that God forbids or forbids something that God commands, we must disobey. While studying, I came across a good point and this is what the person said:

    In Scripture, the believer’s submission to human authorities is always partial and proximate. Blind obedience is never required. The Christian is always, in principle, ready to rebel and say no in the face of wicked command. For we must obey God rather than man.

    If times come that we must disobey, we must do it respectfully. We must use every legal channel to express our protest. If we resort to anarchy to promote our cause, we are violating the principle of submission to authorities. Violence, vandalism, and other destructive acts are to be avoided by believers at all costs and all times. However, there are Biblical examples of God’s people refusing to obey laws that violate morality and hinder obedience to God.

    Take the midwives of Egypt, who refused to murder the newborn Hebrew boys under the king’s order. They want to obey God rather than man. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image even though the penalty for refusal was to be throne into a furnace of blazing fire. Daniel refused to obey the law of King Darius, who was forbidding anyone to pray to God, and refusal meant to be thrown into the lion’s den.

    As I was reading my chronological daily Bible reading, I came across the story of King Saul when he ordered his body guards to massacre the priests of the Lord, and they refused even though they knew they would be severely punished or put to death. Most likely, they saw it was wrong, evil, and displeasing to the Lord. They knew that there was a higher authority than King Saul. John, the Baptist, spoke out against the immoral lives of King Herod and his stolen wife even though he faced imprisonment and finally beheaded.

    All these situations from Scripture, and one’s I didn’t even mention, say that a Christian must have a very strong understanding of where they stand with God, but also where they stand in relationship to governing authorities.

    Let’s face it, if they tell us we cannot meet, we’re going to meet. Even if it is some tree somewhere, we will meet. If they take your property, we are going to meet. If we have air to breathe, blood running through our veins, and a Bible in our hand, then we’re going to meet somewhere. You don’t have to have a building and grounds to meet. God owns the earth, so we will meet anywhere.

    It may come to that, and in some countries, it is like that for Christians. We have a creampuff existence as Christians. We don’t even know what persecution is, but there definitely is persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ right now that is unimaginable to us. Even looking at what they are going through, you must honestly say to yourself, “If that happened to me, can I go through that? Would I survive? Would I denounce the name of Christ?”

    If you live in America, you are blessed with its freedoms and opportunities. That is not the case with many of our Christian brethren spread throughout the world. Because they are Christian, they are a threat to their own governing authorities. This week, I was reading an article in a magazine, and it said this:

    It has been reported, in a recent publication, that the persecution of Christians in other nations is not solely inflicted at the hands of Islamic radicals, but also authoritarian governments and social tribalism. Their faith seen as an affront to their countries dominant religious group, and a threat to tradition, national values, and government regimes.

    Lastly, when you read 1 Peter 2:17, you may read and bypass it real fast. It is structured in an important way. If you don’t know the priority structure that you are supposed to have as a believer, it is in this passage. When it comes to this subject of subjection and governing authorities, there are attitudes of Christian subjection, and these attitudes are to all the levels and groups of people.

    First, honor all people, or respect all people. Meaning, these are the outsiders and external relationships that we will have with people, who are one the same level with us. In other words, Christians are to respect all human beings because they are created in the image of God. They are to do this regardless of social status, race, gender, creed, skin color, and nationality. We ought to respect all people, which is a Christian mandate.

    Second, we move to the internal group, which is to love the brotherhood, who are the insiders and the internal relationships we will have with our Christian family. Us, also being on the same level, where we love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

    Because we have a special family connection to them, we bare the image of Jesus Christ since we have received the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are family, and in fact, we are more family than our family because we are in Christ. To the brotherhood, we are to love them and be loyal to them.

    Then, there is the second internal category in 1 Peter 2:17, which is the fear and reverence of God. Christians are insiders with God because of Christ’s work on the cross. However, God is above us and is a sovereign King. Therefore, He is the only one we are to fear. The fear of God refers to reverence as well as terror because He is sovereign over all. Matthew 10:28:

    Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

    Lastly, honor and respect the king. Now, we move to the outside group again, but this outside group is with people that are above us. In other words, they have authority over us. However, only God should receive our fear. The king should fear the sovereign Lord because it will show that they know that they are responsible to God like in 2 Samuel 23:3:

    The God of Israel said,
    The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
    ‘He who rules over men righteously,
    Who rules in the fear of God

    According to Scripture, once a person is in office, there should always be a display of respect and honor for the person who holds the office because God says so and has ordained ruling authorities. God has granted to us our president in office, and they are ministers of God whether they acknowledge it or not. The watching world takes notice of the way the Christian community extends proper honor to their governmental leaders, so what is the best way to honor our leaders?

    Because we are citizens in this country and we are to promote its welfare, it is to pray for them. That is one of the ways, but not the only one. The dutiful responsibility of the Christian falls under all these: to pray for them that they will be just, to pray for those who rule to fear God, to pray for them that they will punish evildoers, to pray for them that they will praise do-gooders, and to pray that they would be converted to Christ. Let’s not forget what it says in Proverbs 21:1:

    The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

    If we want to move the kings heart, the leaderships heart, the presidents heart, and those who surround him, we ought to be praying to the Lord that He would move the channels of their heart. He turns it whatever way He wishes. I will conclude with 1 Timothy 2:1-3:

    First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

    You see the benefit we have by doing this. Don’t you want to live a tranquil and quiet life? Everybody does; though, in all Godliness and dignity. When we do that, that is something that is acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. That should be the result of us following this command to submit ourselves, for the Lord’s sake, to the governing authorities that are above us.

    No matter where we find ourselves living in the world, we want to learn to navigate the waters, so we give honor to God. Also, to have an influence where we live by being respectful and loyal to the brotherhood, that we would fear and reverence God, and that we would honor and respect those in authority. That is God’s will. Let’s pray:

    Lord, Thank You for the word of God. Thank You, Lord, for the instruction that we find in it. Lord, without the instruction, we wouldn’t really know how to respond to some of these things. Lord, I pray for those who were listening, taking notes, and thinking through these things, that You would place in their heart a desire to want to be one of those people, who carries these things out. Make us discerning, prayerful citizens of this country. I pray, Lord, that we would do it in a way with a goal. Not only to honor You, Lord, but to be able to get the attention of people. We are different so that we may share the Gospel, so they, too, may become citizens of the Kingdom of God. I pray this, in Your name. Amen.

  • The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — The Basis of Subjection

    The Duty of the Christian: Subjection — The Basis of Subjection

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij begins preaching from 1 Peter on how Christians are to demonstrate their alien status as Christ’s people while on the earth: by living righteously and submitting to God’s ordained authorities.

    In part 1, Pastor Babij explains the Christian’s basis for seeking righteousness in this way:

    1) God’s accomplished salvation
    2) The new identity in Christ
    3) The new relationship to sin
    4) The new master
    5) The ministry of the Holy Spirit

    Full Transcript:

    1 Peter 2:11-12:

    Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

    Let’s Pray:

    Lord, as we look at the word of God and as we think through it, give us understanding. Lord, give us an understanding of the word of God so that we may think properly as believers. I pray our proper arranged thoughts would lead us to practice the word of God the way it ought to be. Lord, give us the strength to be able to do that on a regular basis. Until, Lord, we mature from children to adults in our spiritual thought life, and through that, Lord, give us strength to live the Christian life and to be the people that we ought to be. I pray that You would do that today with this passage. In Christ, I pray. Amen.

    The exhortations that Scripture has presented already have been and are designed for believers to be prepared, equipped for life, and to live the Christian life in this world. Last time, in 1 Peter, we received good Scriptural counsel concerning our identity as Christians. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then who you are is important. 1 Peter 2:9:

    But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

    In Scripture, we have been instructed that as disciples of Christ, we are chosen people, who form God’s new people. We are a priesthood of believers. We are holy and different. We are people for God to especially possess. We are light. We are somebody. We have God’s mercy, so we have nothing to fear.

    Christians are no longer people groping in the dark. Christians live in the true light since they are light. Brethren, spiritual light is life to our spiritual existence. In our text, it says that he has called us into his marvelous light, so it is a light that is beyond description. To be Christian means to be taken out of this horrible darkness and life of sin, shame, and evil, and to begin to live a new life. Now you belong to Him, John 8:12

    Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

    Christianity is to belong to God, who is light, and in Him, is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:7:

    but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

    As it says in Ephesians, we are the inheritance of the saints in light. Even in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, it says:

    And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

    This implies that if you are a born-again believer, you are light. Before, you never had light in you, and without Christ, you never could or would have acquired any ever. Ephesians 5:8:

    for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.

    This is the difference between a Christian and a Non-Christian. A Christian is a person who undergoes the most vital change that effects their whole being, the seed of their personality, and their inner-person including their affections, the way they think, and what they will to do in their life.

    Before conversion to Christ, you and I were full of darkness, dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant of God, ignorant of our need of salvation, our eternal destiny, and we hid away from the light lest our evil deeds would be exposed. We led an unfruitful spiritual life leading only to destruction and eternal death.

    After conversion to Christ, we were no longer in darkness. We are no longer ignorant of ourselves, no longer ignorant of the purpose of life, no longer ignorant of our need of salvation, no longer ignorant of our eternal destiny. Our lives were brought into the light, and we saw things as they really were.

    In other words, if you are in the light, you have the key to living on this earth. Simply, you turn to Christ, you seek God the rest of your life, and you give yourself to the service of His plan, which is the key to living in this world. Your motive being God’s glory. If I may say it this way: it is the key to survival in the world.

    Today, men and women feel lost and astray in the world. All you need to do is take a glance at people. Most of them have their heads down, and of course, it is because they are on their social media. If you look at modern art, poetry, novels, or take a five-minute conversation with a sensitive unbeliever, then you will be assured of the fact that they feel lost. They feel like they have no direction, so in an age that has won a high degree in control over the forces of nature than ever before, this seems quite odd, but it is not odd at all.

    In fact, it is part of God’s judgement, which we have brought down on ourselves by trying to feel too much at home in this world. We have set our faces against the idea that one should live on the basis that there is something more than this world to live for. We have set ourselves against that thought.

    According to Scripture, there is something more to live for than this world, and there is a way to live it as well. Meaning, you are to walk in accordance to your calling, and Christians are called to be children of God. Real born-again believers walk in the light, and the light magnifies all the darkness so that we may see what is really going on.

    God wants us to know what happens to us in salvation. He wants us to know who we are, so that we start living according to who we are. Understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life, and so far, that is what Peter has been talking about. It is not what you do as a Christian that determines who you are, but who you are that determines what you do.

    Now, this brings me into the next section of 1 Peter, which deals with the subject of submission. We have gone from the subject of salvation and understanding salvation to the subject of submission. In other words, you can’t understand what submission is and how to submit until you understand salvation, what happened to you, and who you are because you are now a believer.

    Once we grasp what God has done for us in salvation and what God has called us to be, we can delve into what we are to do, to be before the eyes of men, and how we are to look to the world. Before we can properly submit to others, the state, magistrates, masters of the household, and other masters in our lives, and before a husband and wife could submit to the Lord and each other, then we, as God’s children living in this world, must submit to a course of conduct.

    Bringing me to this portion: the duty of the Christian is subjection. From 1 Peter 2:11-3:12, it is going to talk about submission. First, the Christian can never forget that they live in the world as aliens and strangers. I am going a step forward by saying that we live in the world as spiritual homeless people. In Scripture, we are strangers in the world.

    In Peter 2:11, he is saying with great urgency to those who are receiving this letter, who are already believers, that they are temporary residents in this world. God’s chosen should quickly realize that they are visiting strangers in a place that is not their home and never will be their home, so don’t try to make it your home.

    In this passage of Scripture, the strange thing is that these people were at home, but their conversion to Christ turned them into aliens and exiles within their own culture making them spiritually homeless. In many respects, Christians become socially marginalized people.

    The Apostle Peter is not telling believers to escape from society, to retreat to some commune, or to become a monk. Rather, he is saying to be deliberate and to live an alien lifestyle as you participate in the world. Don’t try to leave it but try to live in it the way you ought to live in it. As aliens and strangers, realize that is who you are. As a believer, you will not change that, so live there. Therefore, Christians are strangers in the world.

    Mentioned in 1 Peter 2:11, a second thing is that he uses the word aliens and strangers together. However, the word alien is used of those who are temporary residence, but not permanent settlers in the land. We are those who have a deep attachment and higher allegiance to another sphere, and we have been called to be citizens of another kingdom. Then, our mandate is to live according to a higher standard by keeping in mind our alien nationality and temporary residency.

    Our higher allegiance is that the chosen higher citizenship is heaven, and we are here for only a short period of time to reach a world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20:

    For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

    We are not home, and while we remain here, Christians are awaited to be fitted and transformed into our eternal state. Until that time, we are to live a certain way. True Christians are an alien society living within a society. They are members of the kingdom of God, but aliens on earth.

    What makes us so different is that we are governed by the word of the living God. We are born-again by the word, and we are made spiritually mature by the word of God. We are different because we obey a higher authority. God is our authority and Jesus Christ is our master. We are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. Also, we are given the ministry of reconciliation, and we have been called to be ambassadors of another kingdom here on earth. 1 Peter 1:1:

    Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
    To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen

    We are those kinds of people in this world, so Christians, as aliens to this world, have been called by Christ to bring the word of God, the Gospel, to a world steeped in spiritual darkness in our time and unique post-modern culture. From Scripture, we know that what people need the most is Jesus Christ, and they don’t know they need Him.

    In the church, founded are the followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus has entrusted to us the message of salvation, and that message is: by grace alone and through Christ alone. Therefore, we are not merely chosen for heaven, but chosen for earth.

    While we are on earth, the destination of the elect is to move through this world. While we move through this world, we are to demonstrate a lifestyle of a stranger from another kingdom and as an alien from another place with the goal to proclaim the Gospel and live out our ambassadorship as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

    As God’s people and children, we must submit to a course of conduct, and this is where submission must start. If we don’t start there, then we cannot submit to anyone else. If we don’t understand this, we cannot go to the rest of the passage of Scripture. We must understand this first, and it has to do with our internal being, what we understand about who we are, and the power that God has given us to live the Christian life. This is a course of conduct that can be evaluated, understood, and lived out.

    Again, the duty of the Christian being subjection, so Christians are to live out their alien status with appropriate conduct. There is a certain way God wants us to live. It is what gets other people’s attention and a way that brings glory to God. In understanding that, believers can no longer operate based on sinful desires and passions, which we always operated on before.

    Immediately, we become a Christian and discover that we are in an eternal warfare. There is a struggle going on in us, which never ends. However, there is an assumption made by Peter, in 1 Peter 2:11, that believers in Christ Jesus can carry out what Scripture is urging us to do, which is to abstain from fleshly lusts. So then, Christians are to avoid and keep themselves free from the impulses that belong to the flesh. The craving of the sinful man is called the lusts of the flesh.

    Anything in this world system can become a source of sinful desire. The fleshly body can be the source of sensual desires and lusts. These desires extend to food, drink, sexual gratification, and way beyond to other desires, which reach out for an object to find some pleasure and satisfaction.

    There are two words in Scripture and in the New Testament that can define the word flesh. The first one is somo, which means body or body parts. The next one is the word sarx, which is a term often referred to the fallen and corrupt human nature. To be born in the flesh means to not be inclined towards spiritual things.

    To God, the flesh is spiritually dead, so the flesh is the sinful nature and the old man. Romans 7:5, 7:18:

    For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death…18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

    That passage of Scripture is letting us know that there is a warfare going on, which is going to affect our desires and passions. The warfare will be the will of God for your life versus what the will of God is not for your life. Thus, the spirit is the renewed power for the renewed man. Galatians 5:16:

    But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

    Focus in on the point of Scripture of the desire of the flesh. As Christians, we have a new nature and a remaining old one. In other words, the new nature does not alienate the flesh. Christians struggle against the flesh until they enter glory. Galatians 5:17:

    For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

    In Galatians, he is teaching us that this is the struggle that we have, so there is a warfare between the new man, the spiritual, and the old man, the flesh. However, the war is not a war between our souls and physical bodies. Our physical body is not inherently evil. The flesh is referring to our inner-man that wants to do wrong and the opposite of what God wants us to do.

    Thirdly, believers must implement a continual counter warfare strategy against fleshly lusts. In our text, it says, “to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wages war against the soul.” In other words, we must do something about it, and Peter has already armed us to do something about it with ample amount of information.

    The word of God gives us ample amount of information to be able to setup a counter warfare attack against our remaining fleshly lusts. Therefore, counter warfare is necessary against the inner-rebel. Would you agree that inside of you is an inner-rebel?

    The inner, sinful desires are a continual waging of spiritual battle against the spiritual soul of the believer. It never lets up. Then, the rebel voice needs to be turned down to a faint mutter, and the spirit’s voice, speaking through the written revelation and word of God, becomes stronger.

    In other words, the spirit needs to become consistently stronger, and His voice needs to be louder than ever before. While the spirit is strengthened, the flesh and inner-rebel must be weakened. The physical body and spiritual soul is not at war with each other. The war is between the new spirit and fallen nature. The works of the flesh are those that are motivated by the sinful heart. Galatians 5:19-21:

    Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    It doesn’t take a college degree, a master’s degree, or a doctorate to understand the deeds of the flesh. In fact, it is evident to everybody, and these things are part of what the flesh and world craves. All movies are based on one of these things, and they will not make money if they don’t have this stuff in it. They know it is a money maker since everyone knows that these are the things that human beings are made of.

    In other words, a pagan is a person who has a fallen mind of flesh, which is preoccupied with physical lusts and worldly desires. It is a mind whose thoughts are impure, and who does not retain God in their thoughts and plans. They have no reverences for the God of creation, His revelation, or for Jesus Christ as He is portrayed in Scripture.

    We are battling the remaining powers of our sinful nature, and the former lusts of the flesh is dragged into the new life. The Apostle Paul clearly describes the former matter of life of every person. Ephesians 2:1-3:

    And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

    Until we came to Christ, this is who we were. When we are born-again of the spirit, we now have a desire for holy things, which are things that please and honor God. Daily, we are torn between the two desires, but remember, the more you say no to the old desires, the stronger the voice of the spirit gets on pleasing God and doing what is honoring and good before God.

    When we sin, our desires to commit sin is more pleasurable for the moment than our desire to obey Christ, so we want to obey Christ first and want that desire to be stronger. As we grow and mature in Christ, we can’t hear the rebel voice anymore.

    Remember, sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. As believers, sin is what we do when our hearts are not satisfied with what God says and with God himself. Sin holds out to us some promise, pleasure, or happiness. In fact, the war going on inside of us is a war of desires.

    When temptation comes, what is temptation tempting you to do? It is tempting you to bring your desires to a place where they are inflamed, and you want to do them. Now, a temptation is not sin, but a temptation dangled before you that inflames your desire in the wrong direction will bring you to sin. We are still tempted with the idea that sin will make us happy. As R.C. Sproul said, “Sin will not make us happy, but it will give us pleasure.”

    Yes, short-lived pleasure, which turns into guilt, grief, despair, and depression. Believe me, if you are in a war, then war can wear you down. If we’re not being strengthened in the spirit of God, then the war will wear you out in the wrong direction. We want to win the war, so that we are strong soldiers of Jesus Christ by clearly knowing the evident nature of sin and saying no to it as we are given the power by the Holy Spirit to say no. Then, what is the basis in which the believer does operate?

    Already mentioned in Peter, the believer is to operate based on their new desires and passions, which are guided by truth. The truth about what God has done in salvation, which is why he took so long to get where we are at in this text. Peter wants us to know all about salvation, who God is, what He has done, what He is doing in your life, who you are in Christ, and the truth about your new identity in Christ.

    You are a chosen people, a priesthood of believers, you are holy and different, people for God to especially possess, you are light, you are somebody, and you have God’s mercy. Then, the truth about your new relationship to sin. Romans 6:6:

    knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

    It starts off saying, “knowing this,” which means what you already know. As a believer, sin has no authority over us unless we give it authority or listen and give into our old rebel voice. If you are a believer, you are no longer a slave to sin. Romans 6:11-12:

    Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.

    We already have the authority to say, “I am not going to let you reign in my life anymore, you are no longer my master. Christ is my master, and I’m going to listen to the voice of the spirit by saying no to those old passions and lusts.” Romans 6:13:

    and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

    Don’t keep sinning the old sins that you have been sinning. You don’t have to do that, so why are you doing that? As Christians, we have the authority to say no to those old passions and desires, and they will pop up at moments you don’t expect. You thought you dealt with it before, but then it comes back since Satan is behind the scenes wanting to tempt you away from what God called you to be. Later, in Peter, we will get to that topic.

    Right now, we want to stick to what he is talking about in our passage, so one of the last things here is the truth about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. The spirit of God is cleaning you up. He is making changes in our lives, bringing us into conformity to the will of God, and this conformity happens from the inside out. God wants us to see the fruit of what the spirit of God is doing on the inside.

    As it says in the passage of Romans, the goal of the Christian life is righteousness by presenting our members to do what is right before God. We are being sanctified so that we do what is right. 1 Peter 1:15-16:

    but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

    In our words, actions, righteousness, fear of the Lord, service, good works, and the fruit of desiring others to come into the kingdom of God are all part of what the spirit of God is doing in us. Romans 13:12-14:

    The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

    If you notice, there is the putting off and putting on language. We put on the armor of light to lay aside the deeds of darkness and live properly while in the day. A list of sins is given, which are done, for the most part, under the cover of darkness.

    When you are armed with the Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the light, it will expose the sin so that your desire will be to want to put them aside, and to make no provision for the survival of the flesh. You don’t want to feed the flesh but starve the flesh. If you lay it aside and starve it, it will shrivel up and die.

    Through the truth and word of God, the Holy Spirit is making this change in us in our mind. The word and the Spirit always go together, and they should never be separated. The word of God transforms us, so that we develop deep, biblical understanding and convictions.

    Our consciousness will not allow us to live against those convictions, which comes from a transformed mind since we are listening and desire to live in a pleasing manner before the eyes of the Lord, Jesus Christ, in all our behavior. Then, the goal is the glory of God.

    Now, all of that for this reason: this inner commitment to live before God in all our behavior is accompanied by, in our passage, a duty to live responsibly before unbelievers. Don’t think you and I are not responsible for living the way we ought to in front of other people. You will find out that we are supposed to live in a proper way before other people.

    Next, believers are to maintain a good conduct before the eyes of their Non-Christian neighbors. In 1 Peter 2:12, the word gentile is the word we get ethnos or ethnic from. In other words, let your way of life be excellent among any ethnic group, who have no knowledge of the true and living God, live in spiritual darkness, and are dead in trespasses and sins.

    Don’t forget, some of the Jews and Gentiles who live among them were no longer pagans like they once were; now, they are Christians. They are now the people of God and the livings stones in God’s temple. The Gentiles don’t know God, so they look at you and want to slander your life. They want to find something in your life they can slander you by.

    Now, we’re talking about words and coming against you with words. Like when people go on Facebook and they say things because they don’t want to look at people face to face, so they say it on Facebook. They use Facebook as a medium in a very bad way.

    Christians, you’d ought not to do that. Anything you put on Facebook, you better realize that God is reading it too. If you want to vent your stuff, you better vent it on your knees before God in prayer, so when you write on Facebook, you can present yourself excellently to the Gentiles reading your stuff. It cannot get lower than venting your garbage on Facebook or coming against somebody with words on Facebook when you can’t call them up on the phone and speak to them face to face. That is below the carpet low. As believers, we ought to be different.

    In fact, after one comes to Christ, Peter mentions the difference in lifestyle. This is where the non-believers are maligning them, and they are maligning them because we are no longer part of them. 1 Peter 4:3-4:

    For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you.

    Here, they are saying, “Hey! Common! We once partied together! Now, you’re quoting Scripture to me. You’re a holy roller Bible thumper.” They say that you are brainwashed and no longer fun to hang around. See, they were upset that they were losing people from the community to the Gospel, and that’s where they came against them.

    Since you’ve been a Christian, have you had anyone come against you? Mom, dad, brother, or sister will come against you since you don’t do what they used to do and you’re not as fun as you used to be. The primary form of persecution that we do find in Peter is that believers were experiencing verbal abuse, and they were accused of being wrong. They are insulted in 1 Peter 3:9:

    not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

    They are spoked against and slandered in 1 Peter 3:16:

    and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

    They are mocked in 1 Peter 4:14:

    If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

    Because of that, they experience fiery trials and physical persecution. The Christians had a lot of pressure to adapt to roman values, costumes, and the culture. They were expected to follow roman ethical and moral standards, which were completely different than Scripture. They had pressure to be pro-roman and show loyalty to Rome. Also, they were pressured by the roman cult of emperor worship.

    Rome went through phases of government, and the synod were no longer to keep control in Rome. Thus, they went more to a dictatorship or a roman emperor worship, who is the supreme one, the one to be listened to, and the one to follow. There was even confusion of what good meant.

    For the roman, it meant one’s duty to the state and city rather than a moral, ethical, and practical nature of good works that Christians were doing. Christians were citizens of heaven rather than citizens of Rome. Meaning, Christians were naturally marginalized and rejected.

    Mark this truth on your calendar, Christian followers of Christ: the very goodness of God in your life can be an offense to a world in which goodness is regarded as a handicap. However, excellent behavior and visible good works among the heeded can have a powerful attention-getter.

    In 1 Peter 2:12, what does the day of visitation mean? Does the day of visitation mean…?

    a)     The day of inquisition before earthly magistrates

    b)     The day of judgement – the day against unbelievers, which led them to realize that they were wrong in accusing believers unjustly. A day on which God will vindicate the good behavior of Christians and drive the hostile accusers to see that they were wrong in the first place.

    c)     The day of conversion, which was stimulated by the excellent behavior and visible good deeds of the believers.

    The one I would pick is the third one. The good behavior of the Christian maybe the attention-getter that leaves the unbelieving world to the Gospel in which they become Christians. Now, this sounds a lot like what Jesus was teaching in the Gospel of Matthew 5:16:

    Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

    However, I want you to notice something else in our passage of Scripture of 1 Peter 2:12, especially since it’s important not to miss it. In this section, “as they observe them,” means that the unbelievers watched over a period in which the observer reflected on the behavior of those who followed Christ.

    This prolonged observation may have given an attractive alternative to the pagan way of life that was absent of such excellent behavior. As mentioned, believers are referred to as light, and we walk and live in marvelous light. If we are no longer darkness, are light, and walk as children of light, then the light that we have is His marvelous light. The light is not only to be heard in the preaching of the Gospel, but also in the living of the Gospel.

    If we read the rest of the passage from Matthew 5, Jesus also said in Matthew 5:14-15:

    You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

    Thus, believers are not merely chosen for heaven, but chosen for earth. As said, the destination of the elect, while they are here on the earth, is to move through while demonstrating an alien lifestyle with the goal to proclaim the Gospel to win others to Christ to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

    If you are under persecution, are you going to be able to freely preach the Gospel? No, you are going to get shut down in a second. However, if you can live the Gospel, then the people that are maligning you and slandering you can see something way different. When someone maligns someone and slanders them, what’s the fleshly reaction? You want to slap them, right? You want to do something to them to get back at them, which is the vengeance part of the sinful nature. However, what if you don’t?

    When they come against you, what if you do the opposite of what they are expecting? If you do this repeatedly and they have this prolonged observation, then they will see that Christians respond completely different than what they’re used to.

    Then, they go back home and think about if they can respond to the persecution the way Christians do. Probably, they would conclude that they cannot. Thus, we are to demonstrate an alien lifestyle with the goal to proclaim the Gospel to win others to Christ, so that they will become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

    Now, the possibility of conversion to Christ, by unbelievers due to the good conduct of Christians, result in them glorifying God on the day of judgement. They glorify God on the day of judgement because they are now part of the people of God. Before, they were not part of the people of God. However, the conduct of the Christian got their attention.

    This verse does lend expression to the concept of missions as being present where you are and living the way you ought to as a believer, which is undergirded by the verbal proclamation of the Gospel. The Gospel must come in since you cannot win anybody just by your behavior.

    Somewhere down the line, if you get their attention, the verbal proclamation of the Gospel must come. In saying that, our passage makes sense in 1 Peter 3:15:

    but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

    They are looking at their life and saying to them, “Hey man, why are you so different?” Now, you have a chance to give them an answer, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the hope that is in you. Tagged on the end of that verse are the terms gentleness and reverence.

    In other words, keep your conduct excellent even when preaching the Gospel. You know that Gospel conversations can get heavy and tense. If they get to that place, back off, and pray that God will give you an opportunity to maintain your behavior in the preaching of the Gospel with gentleness and reverence.

    That is the conduct we must submit to, so we can obtain the result. If we are going to be fighting, doing the same thing the world does, and doing the same thing we used to as believers, then we’re not going to get anyone’s attention.

    Bottom line, the conversion of the unbeliever seems to be the object of their exemplary conduct, which is the end results. We are going to submit to live this way, so that we can get others attention. When they ask you why your family is different, why you get up on Sunday to go to church, and why your kids listen when you’re in Shoprite, you will give them the answer of the hope that lies within you, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Believe me, I know for a fact, in your family, it will come up. On your job, it is going to come up. In your relationships with people, it will come up. Therefore, you have the chance to give the Gospel. Are you living so that other unbelievers see your good works and want to know more? Why do you live the way you do?

    We should live this way so that we can tell others about our great God and Savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ, who has brought us into this marvelous light and has done great things. In doing that, you will have Gospel opportunities you never had before. If you act just like everybody else and respond the way you used to, then those opportunities will not come very soon. Let’s take this, use it in our lives, and do it deliberately.

  • The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 3

    The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 3

    In this sermon, Pastor Babij teaches from 1 Peter 2:9-10 on the various positional standings Christians have before God and the callings that Christians are to practice and enjoy as a result.

    Full Transcript:

    As we continue to look at 1 Peter, we will be focusing our attention on 1 Peter 2:9-10. Along the way, I have been saying that we belong to each other because we belong to Christ, in which we have believed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. New life has been injected into the church by the living Christ. We were begotten by the enduring word of God, and by the word of God we grow spiritually. Therefore, Christians are living stones being built into a spiritual house, which is still being built while the Lord builds His church.

    In the church, Christians meet, and the church constitutes a place where God dwells. In Scripture, that is referred to as a temple where God’s presence is, where God communicates with His people through the eternal, enduring word of God, and where God receives, from His people, gifts, sacrifices, worship, and prayers on a regular basis. Together, Christians are living stones in the same building, and we are royal priests serving in the same temple and worshiping the same God. Finally, Christians belong within the same community. 1 Peter 2:4-10:

    And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 7This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” 8and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

    Let’s pray:

    Lord, as we look at the word of God, we would again, Lord, get the sense of what it teaches us today so that we can put it into practice. Lord, don’t allow us to become people who gain a lot of knowledge without practice. Lord, let us meditate on the word of God so it gets into our soul, so that we can digest it there. In digesting the truth, let it become a part in how we live our life. Lord, that is what You want, and I pray that You would do that, and help us to grasp and understand it for our lives today. In Christ, I pray, Amen.

    Those who do not believe, have examined the same stone, which is Jesus Christ, and have determined that there is no value to the stone. Both believers and unbelievers examine the stone but come to different conclusions and outcomes. Christ is the only way of salvation, and He cannot be avoided or ignored. To the person who rejects Christ for whatever reason, will remain in a state of ruin and destruction.

    As said in the last part of 1 Peter 2:8, “and to this doom they were also appointed,” which is a heavy statement that states the consequences of rejecting Christ. God punishes those who reject Christ, and the Jews, who have rejected God’s cornerstone, will have no mercy. Anyone who doesn’t receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will have no mercy. Therefore, they stumble because they will not listen or obey God’s word, so God’s mercy is only to be had when one believes whole-heartedly in Jesus Christ.

    No longer are we unbelievers, so we gather as believers and as part of one of the stones in Christ’s temple. Because we have met Christ, we are different. We have believed in Christ and are now expected in the Beloved, so with our new life in Christ, we have a new identity. Therefore, who are you?

    Possibly, you can answer the question by saying, “I am an American, a husband, a wife, or a teacher.” Many other things can be included in that answer, but I doubt that you included, “I am a saint.” We don’t usually say that because either we weren’t taught that we were saints, or we think that it would be prideful to identify ourselves as saints. Maybe because saints also sin, so we don’t like to equate those two things together. Also, we think of ourselves more as saved-sinners than as saints.

    Being a saint, who is alive and free in Christ, doesn’t mean spiritual maturity or sinlessness, but it does provide to us the basis for hope and future growth. We must see ourselves how God sees us and how God made us. Matter of fact, if we go anywhere in Scripture, we will find out that believers, in Christ, are saints. Of course, being a saint means to be set-apart and sanctified unto God. To be holy is another way of translating the term saint.

    Being a Christian is not just a matter of getting something, but a matter of being someone. A Christian is not simply a person forgiven and goes to heaven, but a spiritually born child of God – a divine masterpiece of God, a child of light, and a citizen of heaven. Being born again transformed you into someone who didn’t exist before. When you become a Christian, you are transformed into someone who did not exist before.

    Today, society is in a terrible identity crisis as well as a role-confusion crisis. For the most part, people in general tend to be in conflict about who they are and what their role is in life. In 1970, according to Erik Erickson:

    If you answered in the affirmative the following questions, then you are experiencing an identity crisis: Are you unsure of your role in life? Do you feel like you don’t know the real you?

    Researcher, James Marcia, in 1980, expanded upon Erickson’s initial theory and he concluded:

    The balance between feelings of identity and role confusion lies in making a commitment to an identity.

    James Marcia came up with the method to measure identity, and this method looks at four different areas of functioning: occupational role, beliefs, values, and sexuality. Under that, he came up with four different identity statues. First, identity achievement, which occurs when an individual has gone through an exploration of different identities and made a commitment to one. Second, a moratorium, which is a status of a person who is actively involved in exploring different identities but has not made a commitment to one of those identities.

    Then there is the foreclosure status, which is when a person has made a commitment without attempting to identify any exploration of an identity. Marcia’s last one is identity diffusion, which occurs when there is neither an identity crisis nor a commitment to an identity crisis. I hope you are getting confused, which is exactly what happens when you deal with psychology.

    Now, researchers have found that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier. Those with a status of identity diffusion tend to feel out of place in the world since they don’t pursue a sense of identity. It is suggested: those who remain in the state of an identity diffusion, without meaningful self-definition, may be perceived as in need of counseling.

    Apart from all this psychological mumbo-jumbo, let’s allow the word of God council us as to who we are and what we should do, which is where we find our real identity. In fact, we do have a real identity, and today, people are in identity crisis. Today, they don’t know who they are, what their supposed to do, or even what gender they are. The world has so confused them, and Satan is right behind it all to keep that confusion going. If he can confuse people as to that, then he can confuse the whole society and country, and there it goes all down the tubes.

    Apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the word of God, it doesn’t seem like the world makes sense. God wants us to know who we are, so that we can start living accordingly. Being a child of God, who is alive and free in Christ, should determine what we do. Then, we are working out our salvation, not working for our salvation. Therefore, understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life.

    It is not what you do as a Christian that determines who you are, but who you are that determines what you do. Before you can know what to do, you must know who you are, which leads to our fourth point: together, Christians belong to the same community with a specific spiritual status, or spiritual identity. The status is telling who we are before God.

    In the next passages, we are given four characteristics of who Christians are in their new position in Christ. Once you know who you are, then you ought to behave in accord with your new character. Before you can behave properly, you must know who you are, so who are you before God and what do believers have as God’s people?

    In breaking down 1 Peter 2:9, you are an elect people, and who you are is contrasted to who you were as a pagan. We’re chosen by God for three things. First, for privilege. Through Christ, there is offered a new intimate fellowship with God. Christians are God’s special and elect people. When we are in that new people group, God is willing to make a road way in the wilderness and a river in the dessert if He needs. If His people need that, He will do so because we are His people. Similarly, this language is used in Isaiah 43:20-21:

    The beasts of the field will glorify Me,
    The jackals and the ostriches,
    Because I have given waters in the wilderness
    And rivers in the desert,
    To give drink to My chosen people.

    21“The people whom I formed for Myself
    Will declare My praise.

    I call Christians Heavenalonians, which is a word I am coining. One commentator said, “We are heaven dwellers,” which is in line with Philippians 3:20:

    For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

    Also, we are chosen for obedience. 1 Peter 1:2:

    according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

    His people listen to His word and desire to obey it, so we are willing listeners to the word of God. Then, we’re chosen for service, not to sit by as spectators. We are the servants of the most-high God, and we will be used for the purposes of God, and we desire to be used for God’s purpose. As Christians, we are a chosen race.

    Secondly, we are a priesthood of believers. A priest is someone who serves God, has the right access to God, and offers spiritual sacrifices to God. Remember, this was restricted to the one tribe, the Levites, and now it extends to all members of the church, who are the priesthood of believers. It is an echo of what God said to the people in Exodus 19:6:

    and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

    We are not a ritual priesthood, but a royal priesthood. Now, that is very strange language. Jesus was the only royal priest, and in the Old Testament, He is referred to as Melchizedek, who was a picture or type of Christ. Melchizedek is a very interesting character in Scripture. Hebrews 5:10:

    being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

    This passage is referring to Jesus Christ. If you know anything about Biblical chronology, then you will conclude that Melchizedek was in the order of high priesthood way before the ironic priesthood ever came on the scene. Hebrews 7:1-3:

    For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

    This doesn’t sound like somebody who is normal in terms of the human realm. Melchizedek was a type of what Jesus Christ would be, and the eternal priest-king would be Jesus Christ. Melchizedek’s priesthood is superior to every biblical and reasonable way the Old Testament referred to the Levitical priesthood. It was only a type of the ultimate superior priesthood our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christ is the anti-type, which supersedes it just as the living reality supersedes a statue or a photograph.

    The point being: it is not Jesus who represents or resembles Melchizedek, but Melchizedek who represents the Lord, Jesus. All types point to the reality, and in this case, it is Jesus. Christ is greater than the Levitical priesthood because He is not from the line of Aaron, who died. Jesus is related to the priesthood of Melchizedek, which has an eternal aspect. Meaning, Jesus is a priest of God eternally.

    When the Bible calls us a royal priesthood, it is calling us something that is only unique to Jesus Christ. In other words, you must be connected to Jesus Christ to claim this characteristic of a believer. When we are connected to Jesus Christ, there is an eternal aspect to our priesthood because of Christ’s connection, which is an eternal priesthood, not an earthly one.

    Jesus Christ, who perfectly qualified as a High Priest from an eternal order, can and will provide salvation to all who ask, which makes His ministry different from all those who have gone before Him. His ministry is eternally effective, so our royalty and priest-likeness are derived from our salvation to Jesus Christ alone.

    In Israel, one could be royalty or priesthood, but they could not be both. As a believer, we are both royalty and priesthood. We are kingly priests, and we occupy so high a position that no man or person can be higher in this life. A royal priesthood means we are not part of a dying priesthood, but an eternal one, which also belongs to a kingly order that does not pass away. As Christians, this is who we are, and this is how God sees us and how He made us.

    Third, we are a holy nation. Christians are set apart from this world to be God’s special people, which is separated from the unholy and dedicated to God. We are God’s different people because we are dedicated to God’s will and service. Then, we must live as children of God and citizens of heaven, which demands a lifestyle of holiness.

    For a child of God, holiness is to take on a noticeable difference in how we live by imitating the nature of God, which becomes visible when God’s people are being abused, mistreated, misunderstood, or marginalized by others. It becomes apparent that we are living a different life since the Christians response to opposition is to be a person of good works with attitudes of blessing. 1 Peter 2:12:

    Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

    You have nothing to do with the sinful practices of your neighbors or of your society. You live lives of goodness among those who mistreat and misrepresent you. In all your social relationships, you maintain a desired conduct of holiness. As believers, we are a people who are of a holy nation. We are different than the other people around us.

    Fourth, we are people for God’s own possession. We are a people who belong to God as objects of God’s special care, and specifically, a people for God to possess. Malachi 3:17:

    “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

    God is going to treat His people in a way in which they are His own special possession. If God owns us, has put His seal upon us by His holy spirit, and has sealed us until the day of redemption, then no one can mess with us, not even the demons can mess with us without the permission of God.

    However, the value of the thing lies in the fact that someone significant possesses it. For example, I have a painting in my living room of Vincent van Gogh. He was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, who is the most famous and influential figure in Western Art. He has notable works such as The Starry Night, which I possess, Café Terrace at Night, and The Potato Eaters. What makes these paintings famous is the one who made it and possessed it, which was Vincent van Gogh himself. Unfortunately, Vincent van Gogh suffered from epilepsy and mental depression most of his life, and he ended up committing suicide at age thirty-seven.

    Also, a baseball bat that is owned by either you or I don’t mean much unless it’s owned by Mickey Mantle, who was an outfielder for the New York Yankees and famous for his five hundred and thirty-six homeruns and batting average of two hundred and ninety-eight. His bats became famous, and they are behind glass. It is just a piece of wood, but because he possessed it, it made that possession special.

    Of course, there is also the quill pen John Hancock used to pen and sign the Declaration of Independence. The quill is so important because John Hancock possessed it and signed his name to it, and he became famous for that. Therefore, these things are of value because they are possessed by a great person.

    The Christian may be a very ordinary person but acquires a new value because he belongs to God. God has put His stamp upon that person. Believers belong to God and are objects of His love, care, and constant vigilance because they are His. In our text, it may point out the full salvation of believers and the process to bring them to God and His intended end.

    Remember, we have been talking about the whole realm of salvation, and God’s intended end for us is for Him to be our God and for us to be His people, which is all over the Bible. In the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in Revelation, you find out the result is God dwells with His people with no obstacles, nothing blocking our worship with Him, with no more sin natures, and with glorified bodies. We are His people and we dwell with Him forever and ever. Jesus paid the ransom and He paid the ransom for His own. They are His and nobody could take them from Him.

    Together, we are His people. In 1 Peter 2:9, our responsibility as believers is to proclaim the excellencies of God. Christians bring the exclusive message of the Gospel to the world. Along with that, an ever-growing characteristic of a transformed life. They are different, they seem different, they talk different, they do different things, they hold this book in high regard, which is called the Bible, and they have a high standard of God.

    Christians bring to the world the standard of Jesus Christ, which is clearly different from the persons of the world. Thus, the Christian is a kind of conscience to any society in which he or she exists. The world and its system doesn’t like when their conscience is pricked by truth. Therefore, we are an alien society living within a society.

    We are members of the kingdom of God, but aliens on the earth, and we are different because we are governed by the word of the living God. We are different because we obey a higher authority, who is God. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are given the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, as aliens in this world, we have been called by Christ to bring the word of God, the Gospel, to a world that is steeped in spiritual darkness.

    Our culture and generation need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The one and only institution, who has been mandated by God to bring the message to the world, is the church. As the temple of God, we are to bring this message to the world. In the church, the followers of Jesus Christ are found. Jesus has entrusted to His followers His message of salvation by grace alone and through Christ alone. Therefore, we are not merely chosen for heaven, but for earth.

    The destination of the elect, while they’re on the earth, is to move through this world, demonstrating an alien lifestyle, with the goal to proclaim the Gospel, and live out our ambassadorship as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are representing God from heaven on earth, so we better make sure that as ambassadors we represent the message of the king correctly.

    Secondly, believers have a privileged position, but also have been people who have been called from darkness. In 1 Peter 2:9, it states the inward call of the Gospel, where God, the Holy Spirit, calls His people to Himself effectually by working a miracle in their hearts. He brings them from spiritual death to life, and from spiritual darkness to spiritual light. The Holy Spirit transforms the heart, the mind, and the will.

    When the general call of the Gospel goes out, there is that inward call that you cannot refuse, which is that irresistible grace. For the text is saying, you are called out, and as a result, you are being called out into God’s marvelous light. Darkness is ungodliness, opposition to God, estrangement from God, and includes all the dreadful evils, which are involved in an evil state of heart and mind.

    The power of sin, the tyranny of error, and the slavery of corruption is everywhere we look in this world. People without Christ are caught in a black void where there is a loss of sense of spiritual realty and perspective, which is why they have no identity. They are living in sheer darkness.

    Not many years ago, the blackest substance known on earth was discovered. It’s called VBx2, which is better known as Vantablack. Vantablack is a color that can absorb 98.65 to 99.965 percent of light in the visible spectrum of both infrared and ultraviolet light. When light enters Vantablack, the light gets trapped in nanotubes where it bounces around and turns into heat.

    If you were to paint a car with Vantablack and drive it into the powerful rays of the sun, it would cook you like a french-fry. If you were to wake up in a room painted with Vantablack and with no light source available, you would wake up in a mind-melting void. It would be like you are standing in nothingness. Vantablack reflects so little light, and anything covered with it effectually vanishes, especially since it produces no shadows, no contours, or any gleams. Meaning, you would never gain your night vision. You would experience endless blackness.

    If the senses are deprived of light for too long, one would begin to hallucinate and become extremely anxious as if they are standing on the edge of an extremely deep and dark hole. Eventually, there will be a loss of maintaining equilibrium due to a lack of visual ques. Finally, there will be a loss of a sense of time, perspective, and reality. Ultimately, a person locked in a room painted with this color will go insane.

    Hopefully, I painted a dark picture for you and for this reason: spiritual darkness will be even worse. 2 Peter 2:4-6:

    For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.

    2 Peter 2:9:

    then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment

    The Bible describes that when a person is cast into hell, they are going to be cast into utter spiritual darkness, which is what it means to be separated from God. If you are separated from God, there is absolutely no light. Brethren, I said all of that to give you a sense of the precious and value of physical light; more so, spiritual light. In our passage, our spiritual existence depends on this.

    In our passage, there is the superlative adjective marvelous. This word is so grand, great, and penetrating that you cannot add anything to that word. God called us out of this pit of darkness where we did not know God into light where we see things as they are. We see what God wants and who He is. To be Christian means to be taken out of this horrible darkness, out of this life of sin, shame, and evil, and to begin to live a new life. To have a new start means that now you belong to Him. John 8:12:

    Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.

    Christianity is to belong to God, who is light. 1 John 1:5:

    This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

    When you come to Christ, He illuminates everything and exposes everything by the light. Thus, a Christian has their sin exposed when they are living for Christ Jesus. The light doesn’t allow you to hide anything, and it brings it right to the surface. It is a realm of light, glory, holiness, purity, and peace everlasting. Ephesians 1:18:

    I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints

    If you are a born-again believer, you are also light. You never had light in you before, and without Jesus Christ, you never could or would have acquired any light. Ephesians 5:8:

    for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light

    Darkness is where everyone lives without Christ, and it doesn’t matter what religion they are from. If they are in these religions that claim enlightenment, they are in darkness. The only way that you can be delivered from any of the darkness that we have been so used to is when you come to Christ. When you come to Christ, everything is different. Since you have come to believe in Christ, you are Light in the Lord, which is the difference between a Christian and a Non-Christian.

    A Christian is a person who undergoes the most vital change, which effects their being, the seed of their personality, and their inner person including the affections, mind, and will. Before conversion of Christ, we were full of darkness, dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant of God, ignorant of your need of salvation, and ignorant of eternal destiny. According to John 3:19, we liked it:

    This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil

    Also, we hid away from the light lest our evil deeds would be exposed. We led a spiritually unfruitful life leading only to destruction and eternal death. However, we didn’t know it was leading there, and all of us used to live that way by following the passion, desires, and inclination of our sinful nature.

    By our very nature, we were subject to God’s anger just as everyone else. However, after conversion and coming to Christ, we are no longer in darkness, dead in trespasses and sin, ignorant of God, ignorant of ourselves, ignorant of the purpose of life, ignorant of our need for salvation, ignorant of our eternal destiny, and no longer do we fear death to the extent that we did before.

    Our lives were brought into the light and we saw things like they really were and like we never saw them before. When you read the word of God, don’t you get the sense that this is amazing! As said in Ephesians 5:8, we walk as children of light. In Ephesians, it is saying not that you shall be light, hope to be light, you may become light, but that you are light. You are something that you were not before.

    In fact, there is a philosophy called the Law of Identity, which simply states whatever is, is. For example, A is A, iron is iron, and stone is stone. The premise of this principle lies in the fact that if any knowledge is possible at all, the character of things must remain fixed. Meaning, if A is A, iron is iron, and stone is stone, then the Christian is light, which is the fact of Scripture.

    Secondly, believers have a privileged position and they have been called from being nobody to being somebody. 1 Peter 2:10 quotes from Hosea 1:6-10:

    Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. 7“But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.” 8When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”

    10Yet the number of the sons of Israel
    Will be like the sand of the sea,
    Which cannot be measured or numbered;
    And in the place
    Where it is said to them,
    “You are not My people,”
    It will be said to them,
    “You are the sons of the living God.”

    Back then, that is what the Scripture promised, and that’s who we are. Not only are we called out of spiritual darkness to God’s marvelous light, but believers, who used to be nobody, are now somebody.

    Thirdly, believers have been called out of no mercy to mercy. In 1 Peter 2:10, it contrasts the long state of unbelief and darkness and a single event of conversion, which ended unbelief and darkness to belief and light because of God’s mercy. Another way of defining mercy would be that of having compassion. Hosea 2:23:

    “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’

    All people either receive justice or mercy. If they receive Christ, they receive mercy; if not, they receive justice. Ephesians 2:4:

    But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us

    If justice means people will get quite accurately what they deserve from God, then a God, who is rich in mercy, is pleasant to our ears. God is not going to give us something that we deserve. Mercy means God will not give you what you deserve, and everyone deserves God’s justice and wrath.

    The Greek term for mercy recalls several synonyms, which is clemency, compassion, and pity. Therefore, mercy indicates an emotion aroused by someone in need, or an attempt to relieve the person and remove his trouble, so God saw us in our need and moved with mercy towards us and saved us. Titus 3:5:

    He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

    In Ephesians 2:4, it tells us something more about mercy, which is that God is rich in mercy. Meaning, He has a lot of it, it never runs out, and it’s available to anyone who comes and asks Christ to save them. God is right there to give you mercy. Therefore, today, you either stand under God’s justice or you stand in God’s mercy.

    Brethren, all of this has been describing who you are as a believer. All of this has been describing your identity, so, brethren, I pray that your identity crisis has been cured by the council of Scripture today. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then this is who you are as Scripture has described.

    You are chosen people, who form God’s new people. You are Heavenalonians. You are priesthood believers. You are a people holy and different. You are a people for God to especially possess. You are light. You are somebody. You have God’s mercy.

    Brethren, if you have that, you are different, and it changes what you do. God wants us to know who we are, so that we can start living accordingly. Understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life. It is not what you do as a Christian that determines who you are, but who you are first that determines what you do. Let’s pray:

    Lord, I Thank You for the word of God and what is contained therein. I pray, Lord, that You would impress it upon our heart to the point that we not only truly grasp it and understand it, but that it digests there. In the spiritual digestion process, that it would get to transform our very being and practice. Lord, so that we would not only be a hearer of the word of God, but a doer based on who we are in Christ. I pray that as we understand that, then, Lord, Satan can fling every lie against us that he can, and it will roll off us. When he comes against us with all his lies, slander, and manipulation, we know that is not who we are. Lord, he breaks us down, but we must go right back to Scripture, and say, “No, you are lying to me. This is what the word of God says and who I am before God, so thank you and goodbye.” I pray, Lord, that You would use the word to make us strong in the faith. I pray, in Your name, Amen.

  • The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 2

    The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 2

    Continuing his preaching from First Peter 2:1-8, Pastor Babij explains how Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian’s faith and of the entire plan of salvation. Pastor also discusses how many stumble on the rock of Jesus because of disobedience to God’s written Word. Pastor Babij concludes by exhorting Christians to see themselves as God sees them: as saints and living stones in God’s holy temple.

    Full Transcript:

    We’re in a section of 1 Peter that is now discussing more in detail the practice of holiness. How we are to think about it, how it is to be lived out in society, and what God expects of us. Therefore, we’re looking at the destiny of the Christian, which is understanding salvation and then learning how to practice our salvation in our daily lives. Let’s pray:

    Lord, as we put our eyes upon the text of Scripture, I pray, Lord, that is where our eyes and mind would be. As we now consider, in our own lives, what it means to grasp the practice of holiness, and how our lives have drastically changed when we came to Christ. In the beginning, we didn’t know all of that, and some of those things are spiritual changes. I pray, Lord, that You would give us a sense of those changes in our lives, so that we can live and behave the way we ought to, knowing that we are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus, we are a new creation, and all things are becoming new. I pray, Lord, that this would be a realty in our life, and that we understand the word of God for ourselves. Then, put our place in the equation of Scripture, so that we can understand it considering what the Spirit of God is teaching us. Thank You, Lord, for this day and your word. In Christ, I pray, amen.

    1 Peter 2:4-10:

    And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 7This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” 8and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

    In this section, it is preparing believers and equipping them to live in this world, and to even live in the suffering and hostilities that the world will throw at you. In 1 Peter, you should have been grasping the following:

    Since the Lord begot you, you are children that must be holy. Since He is our judge and has ransomed you with so great a price, His children are to live before Him in reverential fear. Since you are born again with the incorruptible seed of the word of God, our relationship with one another should be that of sacrificial love, especially since we are children of one Father and now have an eternal thing going inside of us. Since you have been begotten by means of the eternal word of God, you should long for the milk of the word of God as your true and proper nourishment for every day.

    In our passage, we find that the Christian is now meeting together in the church as a gathered people and that it constitutes a temple. A temple is where God dwells, and where the temple of God is, God communicates with His people through the eternal, enduring word of God. When God receives gifts, sacrifices, worship, and prayers from His people, it happens in this new church and community, in which God is bringing us together. Together, Christians are living stones in the same building, and we are royal priests serving the same temple, worshiping the same God, in the same family, and belonging to the same community.

    The imagery is coming from the Old Testament, which is a picture or a metaphor of God building the church into a temple. The church being built as a new temple of living stones upon the cornerstone, Christ. When we are looking at the practice of holiness, Christians are living stones assembled into a spiritual house. They are to approach God in a certain way. Hebrews 4:16:

    Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

    Because of Jesus Christ, we can go right to God, and the only burnt offering that atones eternally for sin is made by Christ. True worshippers no longer bring their lambs to the alter to receive forgiveness of sins. Instead, they bring a sacrifice involved with praising God for His grace, they declare one’s attention to love God, and they keep His commandments.

    Now that animal sacrifice is obsolete, praise and good works constitute the proper sacrifices expected of a Christian. Meaning, we approach Christ as a living stone. That stone, in 1 Peter 2:4, is choice and precious in the sight of the Father, which should also be in our sight. Christ is not a dead idle, nor is He a lifeless monument. Christ is the living, resurrected, life giving One. Therefore, Jesus is the one who gives life to all those who come to Him believing in His death and resurrection.

    However, not all who encounter Jesus or hear the message of Jesus come to the same conclusion. Some examine Jesus and deem Him useless like the apostate, religious leadership of Israel. John 1:11:

    He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

    Now, we approach the living stone, Jesus Christ, and assemble in the church to worship Him. In the church, all believers are priests. In 1 Peter 2:5, the picture is drawn from God building His church into a temple, and the purpose of a temple was for the work of a priest.

    Again, the Bible is telling us that all believers are priests. Once they become born again, they become priests, who have access to God. Even more so than any of the Old Testament priests had, and only the high priest could enter the holiest place in the temple one time of the year. Hebrews 10:19:

    Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus

    When Jesus died in our place, His flesh being like the veil was rent for us so that we may have complete access to God. Therefore, we are a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. As said in 1 Peter 2:5, priests are to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Meaning, those sacrifices are clear: we are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God.

    While we are doing that, we are making sure that we are not conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our mind, so we know the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Then, we are to worship God by our words, which is praising and thanking Him for what He has done in our lives. That praise and thanks goes on continually in our lives. Also, our works and service of doing good, in which we are serving God.

    In 1 Peter 2:6, we are coming together as Christians to share God’s understanding of Christ, which can mean two things: Christ is either an honored cornerstone or an obstacle to stumble over. Because of the word of God, Christians come to an understanding of Christ. For us, Christ is an honored cornerstone to those who believe. Therefore, Christians believe that Jesus is of supreme value and the cornerstone, who binds all the walls firmly together in the spiritual temple.

    Without Jesus Christ, everything crumbles, so Christians give honor to the cornerstone. In other words, the honor of Christ is recognizable to you. At one time in your life, Christ was not choice, precious, or of high value. However, now that you have come to know Him, He is of an extreme level of high value, and He is choice in the sense that there is no one else that can take His place. To us who believe, Jesus is precious as being costly. In our text, Peter quotes from Isaiah; though, he says something in a little different way, but in the same way. Isaiah 28:16:

    Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

    There are many disappoints that we will face in this life. In fact, you have probably gone through some already, and you will probably go through more. However, I will guarantee that believing in Christ will not be one of them. By believing in Christ, you will never be disappointed in Him. Though you may sense disappointment, it is only because you don’t know the word. Once the word of God clears things up, there is no ground at all for us to be disappointed.

    While Peter uses the term disappointed, Isaiah uses disturbed. Isaiah is using it in the sense of the stone being such an important part of the building, and if it was disturbed, it would all come crumbling down. Because it is never going to be disturbed, it is fixed, firm, and forever. In other words, there will be no adverse influence towards believers.

    On the other hand, Peter uses the word disappointment. Meaning, there will be no shame, disgrace, disappointment, embarrassment, rejection, or dishonor, and this is before God. Because of what Christ accomplished on your behalf, your salvation produces for you nothing but joy and stability, which is something no one could take away.

    This relationship with Christ is one of no disappointments whatsoever. God’s design for salvation will only bring joy to you, but it will bring judgement to others. There is no in between, and it’s either one or the other. Either we have joy, or we are still under God’s justice. God is a just God, and He will have His justice fulfilled.

    The word Zion has a rich history in Scripture, which means the temple area as the dwelling place of God. In fact, in Isaiah, this is where God lays the foundation of the glorified, heavenly city. Many theological ideas are attached to this word Zion, but the dominant idea of Zion is a dwelling place. A place where God is in the midst of His people and is joined to a larger theme that is picked up in the New Testament. When the word of God talks about Immanuel, it means God in our midst. Bottom line, when we are talking about Zion, God is with His people, which is the temple and the temple is the church. In that gathered assembly, it is where God dwells, and we dwell with Him.

    As we dwell with Him, we learn more about Him, and as we learn more about Him, our understanding of Christ becomes that of a choice and a precious cornerstone in a building that could never be destroyed. This is for those who believe, and this is a gift to you. If you think of that, then you can only come to this conclusion: God desires for His people joy and peace.

    Christ does not go away because someone doesn’t believe in Him. You cannot avoid Christ, ignore Christ, reinterpret Christ, or go around Christ. Christ is an unavoidable obstacle to every human being. If anyone tries to follow any other path to heaven, then Jesus Christ will instead be a large immovable stone lying in their path. Again, either Christ is going to be a choice, precious cornerstone, or Christ is going to be an obstruction or hinderance to you.

    In 1 Peter 2:7, Peter doubles up his point. He is saying that this cornerstone anchors the building, and from it, all lines and measurements radiate. The cornerstone is the keystone of the building. If this cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ, is rejected, then there is nothing left but ruin and destruction.

    In 1 Peter 2:8, it is a stone of a stumbling, which indicates an obstacle where a person can strike his foot and cause injury. This word is used to refer to the various purposes a stone may have in any building project; however, here it is one of tripping over. Then, it says a rock of offense, and this phrase suggests a trap set to trip up someone.

    Instead of being a clear way of salvation to the Jews and unbelieving, Christ becomes a scandal. In Greek, the word offense is skandalon. In other words, He becomes a snare, and cause of ruin, occasion of falling over Him instead of coming to Him and believing in Him. Specifically, this is directed at the Jews, but also for all unbelievers.

    If we put all these terms together, it expresses in the strongest way the seriousness of ignoring, forgetting, and rejecting Christ. In the end, if someone does that, God abandons such people to the error of their own ways and the emptiness of their systems of belief, which is a system of unbelief. Therefore, that is the seriousness of Christ, and He will either be one of producing joy and salvation, or one of producing stumbling, rejection, ruin, and judgement.

    Also, in 1 Peter 2:8, they stumble since they are disobedient to the word. In other words, stumbling at the word is the penalty for not believing the word. Inevitably, the consequences of rejecting Christ are believing a lie such as, “there is many ways to get to God besides Christ,” or, “there is no hell because God is a God of love.” Also, the lie of, “I’ve been a good person,” or, “nobody really knows the right way.” Satan is a liar and he will lie to you to say that you’re too young to believe and have plenty of time, and when you get old he convinces you that your too old to believe. If those lies don’t work on you, he will come up with one just for you.

    In Scripture, spiritually dead people are characterized by unbelief and rebellion. There is an active rebellion and a passive rebellion. It doesn’t matter what kind of rebellion it is, especially since it is still rebellion to reject Christ. In fact, the high ruling body of Israel did not recognize that God was at work in Jesus in a new way by inaugurating God’s sovereign reign in the lives of those who would respond in faith and repentance.

    They assumed that they had figured out Jesus, which is what happens when you are reading the gospel. You have a bunch of people who think they have a handle on Jesus. As a result, they got Jesus wrong. They assumed they figured Him out. However, the source of their conclusion was fleshly, worldly, and demonic.

    Because of the greatest wickedness that exists among humanity, they got Jesus wrong, which is the sin of unbelief. This is the sad commentary, which is repeated often today. People hear the message on how God provides deliverance through Christ Jesus, and they dismiss it and set it aside as if it doesn’t really matter or apply to them. Certainly, what they are doing is expressing unbelief. They are expressing their deadness to spiritual things or to understand anything about God.

    Grant Osborne said, “No one should dare assume to be able to reject Christ repeatedly with impunity. There are consequences and they are eternal.” Peter wants us to understand this in Scripture: there are not many ways, but only one way. In the gospel of Mark, the same subject was addressed by Jesus, and Jesus pressed upon the Jewish leadership their ignorance of Scripture. Jesus speaks to the leaders and teachers of theology in Israel. Mark 12:10:

    Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone

    He is saying the same thing to them as He is saying to us. The problem has been that they have not been reading the Scripture, and they have not been listening to God’s spokesmen, which were the prophets in the Old Testament. This is the same problem today.

    Because I have read the Scriptures, I am able to tell you these things; though, I don’t know all the Scriptures. Because people have not read the Scriptures, it is the reason why they conclude what they do. Historically, this Psalm was composed to express the joy of the people after the Babylonian captivity. Either on laying the cornerstone on the new temple, or on the dedication of the completed temple or structure. Psalm 118:22:

    The stone which the builders rejected
    Has become the chief corner stone.

    However, in Scripture, the builders rejected, which means to reject after scrutiny and full examination. Once you examine it, you conclude that this stone is useless and unfit for this building. People hear about Christ through their life, and they conclude completely in another direction what the Bible says about Him. The point you must make with people: do you believe what the bible says about Jesus? It’s not what you think it says, not what you hear somebody say about Him, but what the Bible says about Him.

    Jesus Christ is a God who is full of loving passion. He wants to extend His mercy to people, but He is also a God of justice and judgement. If that mercy is shunned, rejected, or laid aside, then there is no other place for a person to settle, which puts them under God’s wrath.

    Jesus himself is the rejected stone, and now becomes in God’s good purpose the chief cornerstone of the building, which is the new temple and Christian church. The chief cornerstone binds together again the two sides of the building. Architecturally, He becomes the most important stone in the structure, which governs every angle in the formation of the building. All the godly who see this strange way of God’s working can only bow their heads in awe and reverence at God’s plan.

    Those who do not believe have examined the stone of Christ, and they have determined that there is no value in Him. Both believers and unbelievers examine the stone but come to different conclusions. Therefore, Christ is the only way of salvation and He cannot be avoided, so the person who rejects Him for whatever reason remains in a state of ruin and destruction, which cannot be changed whatsoever unless the person comes to Christ and believes.

    In my evaluation, some people might say that 1 Peter 2:8 is teaching double predestination, which means that God predestines people to heaven and hell. However, I don’t believe that the Bible teaches double predestination. Here, it is stating the consequences of rejecting Christ, who is God’s appointed stone, and God punishes those who reject Christ. Those Jews, who have rejected God’s chief cornerstone, will have no mercy in the end, and anyone who does not receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will have no mercy.

    God’s mercy is not giving you what you deserve. If God withholds His mercy, He gives you what you deserve. We are sinners, so without Christ, we deserve God’s judgement. God must judge me based on our sin, which separates us from Him. Therefore, God’s justice comes down on all those who have not believed.

    Anyone who does not receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will have no mercy. The Living Bible translated 1 Peter 2:8 as such:

    He is the Stone that some will stumble over, and the Rock that will make them fall.” They will stumble because they will not listen to God’s Word nor obey it, and so this punishment must follow—that they will fall

    God’s mercy is only to be had when one believes whole heartedly in Jesus Christ, but Peter goes on to say, “that is not you.” You believed, so let’s move from this heavy message to knowing who you are supposed to be.

    In saying that, if you have believed in Christ today, you are accepted in the beloved, and you have a new life that brings a new identity. You are not the person you used to be, so who are you then? If I were to come up to you and ask, “who are you?” You would reply with, “I’m an American, a Christian, a Sunday school teacher, an elder, a deacon, a husband, a wife, a teacher, a computer programmer, an IT person, a pilot, retired, an office manager, an officer of the law, a truck driver, a scientist, a medical doctor, a nurse, a child and elder caretaker, a counselor, a home manager, a nanny, a mechanic, a construction worker, a secretary, a beautician, a barber, an engineer, a landlord, or a photographer.”

    This is probably what you would say, and there are many other things that could be included in that answer. However, I doubt that very much in that answer to that question, you would have said, “I am a saint.” You would not have said that, and why is that?

    Some have never been taught differently from the word of God. Others think that it would be prideful to identify themselves as saints. Perhaps because we are saints who sin and think of ourselves more as saved sinners than saints. Being a saint, who is alive and free in Christ, does not mean spiritual maturity or sinlessness. However, it provides the basis for hope and future growth as a believer.

    According to Scripture, a believer in Christ is a saint, and Peter is going to tell us who we are. Stop looking at yourself the way you think you are and start looking at yourself the way you truly are. In other words, God now sees you in Christ, which changes everything about us.

    Today, we have a lot of problems with self-identify and self-esteem. Because they don’t know what to do with who they are, people run to all kinds of places. When you come to the word of God, you will find out who you were to who you are. When you see yourself like that, everything changes, and your whole mindset changes. Therefore, as stated in 1 Peter 2:9, you are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, and people for God’s own possession.

    We are to understand ourselves in this way so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him, who has called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. Have you been looking at yourself like that? I don’t think you have. However, we need to because this is how God sees us. When we do, how we see ourselves will change our behavior and the way we live, especially since it changes the way we think of ourselves based on how God sees us. Let’s pray:

    Lord, I appreciate the word of God. Lord, I feel like I shouldn’t end there, but the Lord’s table is before us. I pray, Lord, as we think of the Lord’s table, we would consider the very important things You tell us in the word of God concerning You. That is something that You want us to be partaking of on a regular basis because it’s the core of the gospel. The bread representing Your body. That You came into this world as a Man, You lived a sinless life, and You became the perfect lamb of God like no other man. Lord, You died in the place of sinners. Then, You shed Your blood to wash away that sin that separates us from Your very presence. So, Lord, as we come to this time, it would be a time that we really reflect on those things. I pray, in Christ name, Amen.

  • The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 1

    The Destiny of the Christian: The Practice of Holiness – Part 1

    Preaching from First Peter 2:1-8 and other verses, Pastor Babij teaches that Christians together are a new, spiritual temple and priests offering sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise to God. Pastor Babij, therefore, exhorts Christians to present themselves as a living sacrifice, bringing everything in life to Jesus Christ in worship.

    Full Transcript:

    In 1 Peter 2, we are continuing through this great epistle. We are learning many things about salvation. Let us pray:

    Lord, as we come before You, we want to come with humble hearts and teachable spirits. We want You, Lord, to break us down and build us up. We want You to take out of our life the things that ought not to be there, and replace them with righteous behavior, right thinking, and things that are worthy of praise and that honor You. I pray, Lord, that You would make us strong in our salvation, so that Satan cannot come along with his lies and cause us to doubt and fear. I pray, Lord Jesus, that You would enable us every day to receive the ingrafted Word of God, and that it would build us to be soldiers of Jesus Christ. Knowing, Lord, that we are in a spiritual battle. We don’t have a privilege of taking off our armor, but, Lord, help us to learn how to put it on and keep it. Lord, make us the people that honor You, speak for You, and if need be, to die for You. I pray this, in Christ’s name, Amen.

    We ended with the passage 1 Peter 1:25:

    BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”
    And this is the word which was preached to you.

    By way of review, we saw that we are living a new principal of life, and that new principal of life started when the seed of the Word of God was planted in our heart. 1 Peter 1:23:

    for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

    The instrument of the implanting of the seed is the Word of God, and the Word of God is enduring, living, and everlasting. Whatever gets planted in our heart cannot perish and is permanent. As noted last time, the temporal was contrasted with the eternal. Also noted, the impermeant nature of the human being. 1 Peter 1:24:

    For,
    “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,
    AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.
    THE GRASS WITHERS,
    AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,

    Meaning, it is limited, short, uncertain, and full of trouble from the time of our birth through our life. Thus, the natural man will fade, wilt, and dry up. It’s always the case that man will perish and pass away. Man is not eternal in this world, but his soul will go to an eternal place. The glory of the natural man will pass away way. In this sense, glory is referring to all the mans achievements and greatness, and all these glories will be like the grass that withers and the flower that falls off. Therefore, this is always the conclusion of our temporal life.

    In contrast with the new life we are given in Christ, we know that the Word of God endures forever, which is the Word that we heard preached. It is the Word that brought us the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that same Word, being preached today, is the same Word that Peter was talking about. That same Word is the very Word that brings new life, and that new life lasts forever. Therefore, we must stop centering our attention on this life, which will so quickly end, and focus our attention on serving God and the new life that is given us, which starts now into eternity.

    Already, we saw all these principles that the Christian is to exhort. The Christian is exhorted to have a fixed hope in the future, a holy life, fear God, love one another, and crave the Word of God. To do this, we strip off the sinful desires that stifle spiritual growth. 1 Peter 2:1-3:

    Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

    Secondly, we set our heart on the uncontaminated and unadulterated Word of God, which continues our spiritual growth. We cannot get saved or continue to grow without the Word of God. In the process of being a believer, if you are not involved with the Word of God, you will not grow. In fact, you must look for your sin when that happens, especially since sin will stifle and quench your desire for spiritual things.

    This craving metaphor is not just for new or infant Christians, but it is always a craving for all Christians, and who are at all levels of spiritual growth. The desire for the Word should increase as you learn more of the Word, not decrease. If it is not there at all, then you must question if you are saved at all. If this new life has been planted in you, it will create that desire.

    In a new believer, the first thing you notice is that they get right to the Word of God. If you have no desire for that and your desire is for other places, then you really must question where you are or what sin is stifling and quenching your desire. Therefore, Christians are to exemplify this intense yearning for the uncontaminated, unadulterated, and pure spiritual milk of the eternal Word of God.

    Furthermore, it starts at salvation and will continue forever, not end. When we are released from this life into the presence of God, our desire for God will increase incredibly. The purpose of this nourishment, the pure milk of the Word, is for the believer to grow into the full experience of their salvation. Literally, the Word of God will grow you. Therefore, the Christian should take no spiritual nourishment aside from the Word of God. We don’t have to settle for anything less, especially spiritual junk food that is out there and all over the place.

    Leading to seeking the satisfier of our soul. It is not just the Word of God, but it is the One who is giving us the Word of God. So far, we have learned several things that brings us to the place where we want more of the Word of God. When we know the goodness, mercy, and kindness of God, we want more of God, not less of Him. To know God’s will, the Word of God is the criterion and measuring stick for knowing what is good, well pleasing, and advancing in spiritual maturity. There is no other source that is perfectly safe and reliable to produce real spiritual growth and godliness than the unadulterated Word of God.

    In our study of 1 Peter, we should be grasping so far this: since He who begotten us is holy, His children are required to be holy, which the Word of God produces by the Spirit of God. Secondly, since He is our judge and has ransomed us at such a great price, we must conduct ourselves in reverential fear before God. Since we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, we are brethren and our relationship to each other must be one of sacrificial love since we are children of one father in one family.

    Now, we are in one community, or one temple, where we are to work and worship God. Since we have been begotten by means of the eternal Word of God, we should long for the milk of the Word as our true and proper nourishment, which leads us to 1 Peter 2:4-8. In this passage, there is an important message for this living church and those who belong to the true church, which is described in the term togetherness. Because we belong to Christ, we are now connected and belong to each other.

    New life has been injected into the church by the living Christ. We are begotten by the eternal Word of God, and by the Word, we grow spiritually. Therefore, Christians are living stones being built into a spiritual house. Christians meet in the church, which constitutes a temple. The church is a temple, and we are all filled with the permanent indwelling of the Spirit of God. When we meet, that is the church, which is synonymous to a temple. However, what happens in the temple in the Old Testament and what should happen in the temple in the New Testament?

    First, it is where there is the presence of God. Wherever there was a temple, that’s where the presence of God was, where the priest ministered, and where the people came. Secondly, it is where God communicates with His people through the eternal, enduring Word of God. When the Word of God is open, God is communicating to us something that we all need to know and learn, especially for our continued spiritual growth. Also, it is where God receives gifts, sacrifices, worship, and prayer from His people. This was done in the Old Testament and is done today, but in a different way.

    Here, we’re talking about practical holiness, which is how we practice our relationship as a new believer in this new community called the church. The church is equal to a temple where God dwells. Together, Christians are living stones. In the same building, we are royal priests serving in the same temple, worshiping the same God, and belonging to the same community. Therefore, we’re talking about practical holiness and the connection between the verses of 1 Peter 2:1-3.

    In our text, the sematic thought is between having children that are alive, living, and begotten by the Word of God to now coming into a family, which of course constitutes a building – a place to meet with each other. Having children and building a house go together. The imagery is coming from the Old Testament, which is a metaphor of God building the church into a temple. The church is being built as the new temple of living stones upon the cornerstone, which is Christ.

    Talking in terms of a building, a building must be built right to be strong. In a stone building, a key stone is a cornerstone, which keeps everything in its place, all measurements, and strength to the building. When considering the practice of holiness, there are three things to ponder concerning a Christian’s new place in God’s temple.

    Together, Christians are living stones assembled into a spiritual house. In the Old Testament, when people approached God, they had to approach Him in a certain way. They couldn’t just willy-nilly approach God, which could have resulted in a person’s death. 1 Peter 2:4:

    And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God

    In 1 Peter 2:4, “and coming to Him,” is a very significant phrase. Now that we are living stones, we can approach God, and our approach to God is important. Frequently, this phrased is used in the Old Testament for drawing near to God. Either to hear Him speak, or to come into His presence in the temple to offer sacrifice. Usually, it is a sacrifice for sin. Leviticus 9:7:

    Moses then said to Aaron, “Come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then make the offering for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as the LORD has commanded.”

    Drawing near to God was dangerous. If people were not approaching God in the right manner and with the correct sacrifice, it was even deadly. In fact, the ironic priesthood were the only ones who could approach God in behalf of the people. The people brought their sacrifices to the priest; then, the priest went before God. The priest was the mediator between God and the people. The people could not go into the presence of God or they would die immediately.

    When a person wanted to approach God, the first step was to bring a burnt offering to the Lord. They gave it to the priest and the priest would offer it properly before the Lord, so preparation was done both by the people and then by the priest. The purpose of the burnt offering is that it was an offering that really changed God’s attitude towards the people. Leviticus 1:10:

    But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male without defect.

    The person was to bring it to the tabernacle, kill it, dismember it, and then watch it go up in smoke before his eyes. Apart from the skin, the priest burnt everything. When the worshipper came, they were convinced that something very significant was achieved through these acts, and they knew that their relationship with God was profoundly affected by bringing an offering before God in the proper way.

    Second, the burnt offering was to be brought in a way that was accepted by the Lord. Leviticus 1:3:

    If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.

    This offering was brought in the right way so that it was accepted by God, not rejected or put to death by Him. Thirdly, the burnt offering was pleasing to the Lord. Leviticus 1:9:

    Its entrails, however, and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD.

    In other words, it was an offering that was pleasing to God. Meaning, the person bringing it was pleasing to God. In their heart, they wanted to be pleasing to God, so that is why they were to be obedient. Lastly, the most important thing was to make atonement. By shedding the blood of the animal, a person’s sins could be covered. The day of atonement is that one time of the year where the high priest was able to come into the presence of God. The high priest couldn’t come into the presence of the holy of holies, expect for one time a year.

    Of course, the burnt offering is what makes fellowship with a sinful man and a Holy God possible. In other words, you cannot come before God without an offering. Even today, you cannot come before God without an offering. However, the offering we come with before God is Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate and last offering. Hebrews 4:16:

    Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

    Because of Jesus Christ, we are able now to come into the very presence of God and into His throne room. Our priest, Jesus Christ, has made that new and living way for us. The only burnt offering that has atoned for sin forever has been made by Christ. True worshippers no longer bring their lambs to the alter to receive forgiveness of sins. Instead, they bring a sacrifice involved with praising God for His grace and declaring one’s attention to love God and keep His commandments.

    Now that the animal sacrifices have been obsolete, praise and good works constitute a proper sacrifice accepted before God from a Christian who is now part of this new and living community. Together, Christians are living stones that assemble in a spiritual house. In 1 Peter 2:4, this living stone is Christ himself. From the Father’s perspective, this living stone is a stone that is choice and precious. Stones are dead and lifeless objects, so to say Jesus is the living stone links Him back to the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 32:18:

    You neglected the Rock who begot you,
    And forgot the God who gave you birth.

    The stone imagery points to Jesus as being the strong and living stone. Christ is not a dead idol, a lifeless monument, or a dead principle, but the living, resurrected, and life giving One. Now, Christ is that living stone, and that living stone to the Father is very profitable. Jesus is the one who gives life to those who come to Him, believing in His death and resurrection. However, not all who encounter Jesus come with the same conclusion.

    In fact, in 1 Peter 2:4, it states that the living stone has been rejected by men. The glorious message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice on our behalf so that we can come into the presence of God is not always a welcomed message to people. Some examine Jesus and deem Him useless; for instance, like apostate Israel. John 1:11:

    He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

    Here, he is talking about the Jews. However, others examine Him, hear the message of Jesus Christ, and they find Him very profitable. Whatever the world or some religious systems thinks of Christ, God the Father sees the suffering Christ as the living stone. He is seen as costly, precious, and extremely useful in His plan of redeeming humanity. Christ is God’s chosen and honored servant. John 1:12:

    But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name

    Now, we can approach the living stone, Jesus Christ, and assemble in the church to worship God. The church being the temple of God and where God dwells amongst His people. Concerning the practice of the holiness and new place we have in God’s temple; all believers are priests. 1 Peter 2:5:

    you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    In looking at that passage, when I became a believer, it was an odd concept to think that I was a priest. However, the point is: we are priests that come before God with something. We come with a worshipful heart and with a sacrifice that has already been made on our behalf. The picture being drawn is that of God building the church into a temple. As living stones, being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood.

    The purpose of the temple was for the work of the priests, but here, the Bible is telling us that all believers are priests. If you are a believer, you are a priest. As a priest, you have access to God, and you must come before no one to have access to God. Even more so than the Old Testament priests. Only the high priest could enter the holiest place in the temple, and only one day a year.

    The Word of God tells us that we are a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Hebrews 10:19:

    Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus

    True believers, in Jesus Christ, are exhorted to go directly into God’s presence with confidence. Meaning, we have freedom of speech when we enter the presence of God. In the presence of God, we have courage to express ourselves and to bring before God our petitions, prayers, and very presence. That is a vast difference compared to the way people approached God in the Old Testament. We are the New Covenant people and we approach God as well, but without all the priestly duties that must be performed.

    New Covenant people’s approach to God is confident and joyous while Old Covenant people were cautious and fearful. New Covenant people are to draw near always. Old Covenant people were frequently exhorted to keep their distance only approaching God regulating by the law. All followers of Christ are urged to come at any moment of peace or trials before God while only the high priest could enter the holiest of all in one day of the year. Therefore, followers of Christ are entering the holy of holies, in which under the Old Covenant the people were forbidden to enter.

    We enter, not ignorantly, but mindful of the cost it took God to give believers this awesome privilege. To enter mindful of His blood that was shed and the way He opened. He opened a way where we are all excepted in the beloved. We become mindful of the work that He has done and continues to do, and we are helped. We can come before the throne of Grace knowing God’s presence is there, especially since we are living stones in His temple, where He is the cornerstone.

    When we come before Him, the aspects of redemption may stir us to a full adoration, time of confession, and thanksgiving all equaling worship that is pleasing to the Father. Hebrews 10:20:

    by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.

    We’re given the information that this is a life-giving way, and a new way, especially since no one could directly enter God’s presence under the law of Moses. The term “new” indicates to be freshly slaughtered. Fresh means not only taken in a sense that it was unknown before, but also as one that retains its freshness and cannot grow old. Although His sacrifice for our sins was a once and for all sacrifice over two-thousand years ago, it never grows old. It is always fresh and current for all who come to receive it, and for all who come to confess their sin. 1 John 1:7:

    but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

    Meaning, the power of the Blood of Christ is fresh for all believers to make them clean so that they can approach God on a regular basis in a new and living way. It is living because the way provides life for believers and continual access to God. Also, it means that all other ways to God are dead ways. There is no other living way than coming through Christ.

    In the latter part of Hebrews 10:20, the veil was the place in the temple where the high priest can only go once. On the other side of the veil, it was the mercy seat where he came in once a year. In this passage, the veil is the flesh of Christ, so the veil had to be torn in two before this old, Jewish culture could be done away with and the physical temple closed. Therefore, everything ended when Jesus inaugurated for us through the veil, which is his flesh, this new and living way. God was pleased to crush him. Isaiah 53:10:

    But the LORD was pleased
    To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
    If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
    He will see His offspring,
    He will prolong His days,
    And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

    As the priest was in the holy place, what he was doing there is in Hebrews 9:2:

    For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place.

    The priest ministered in that area all the time. Where the curtain was in the back, it had to be removed so a person could have access without having to go through a priest to the mercy seat, which is where someone’s sin would be completely forgiven and washed away by the onetime sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:3:

    Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies

    On that day, when Jesus Christ was on the cross, we notice that this is the language used in a passage of Scripture, especially in other Gospels. Mark 15:37-39:

    And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last. 38And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

    This is the background of what Peter is bringing up in these passages of Scripture. The Lord had to remove a whole religious system and priesthood so that we may have a complete, total, and free access to God. In doing that, priests are those who bring sacrifices and offerings to God. It is not changing with us, but what changes is what we bring, how we bring it, and how often it is brought.

    In 1 Peter 2:5, we are to come to offer up spiritual sacrifices, not literally animal sacrifices, and we are to do it through Jesus Christ. There is no way we could bring our sacrifices to God unless we come through Jesus Christ. You cannot bypass Jesus Christ. Jesus must be dealt with and responded to. Therefore, Christ is the instrument by which we can approach a holy God to worship, to serve, and to live in His presence.

    In this house, is a temple or sanctuary in which God dwells and receives spiritual sacrifices from us as His priest in His temple. The corporate community, with their transformed lives, are to offer up acceptable sacrifices to God. As a holy priesthood, what are Christians to do and bring to God?

    We are to offer to God acceptable sacrifices. Christ has opened a way right into the Holy of holies where only a handful of Old Testament priests where ever allowed to come. Now, we stand before the mercy seat because we have been accepted in the Beloved. The more we know God, from Scripture, and as we taste His goodness and kindness, we want more and more. Then, we have a greater desire to worship Him, but to worship Him properly, not flippantly or haphazardly. Also, to know we are doing so, which is what Peter is getting at in our text. Romans 12:1-2:

    Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

    Meaning, acceptable worship is to bring ourselves. In this passage, mercies of God are the compassion of God and the pity He had on us when He saw us as unholy, unrighteous, and rebellious. Because of His mercy towards us, the motivation is to offer myself as a living sacrifice.

    As a priest coming into His temple and as we fellowship corporately with His people, we are to offer our body, not as a dead sacrifice to be slaughtered, but as a living sacrifice. As we give our life to God because of the mercy He had towards us, His mercy motivates us to say everyday to the Lord, “Lord, I am giving myself up to you as a sacrifice so I can live my life the way you want me to, and I want my life to be acceptable since I know this is my reasonable service of worship.”

    When God saves us, He wants all of us, not part of us, so we are conscious that we are giving ourselves to God as a holy, separated, and different person, who is now living. We must give ourselves, which is part of our worship as a priest before God. This is a conscious thing we do, especially since we are very selfish and don’t want to give everything to God. We want to keep little compartments for ourselves. Until we do that, we really cannot worship God, especially since we’re not loving Him, we’re loving other things, things we like to do, and ourselves.

    Somehow, we think giving it all to the Lord will be stifling to our life, which is not true at all. We learn to have life when we give it all to the Lord. All our service, thinking, doing, and planning is to be giving to the Lord, “Whatever you want, Lord, I want to do it, but I want to do it serving you, not sitting by the sidelines.”

    Secondly, in Hebrews 13, the same language is being used that Peter is using in his text, which explains more what it means for us as priests to come before God with acceptable worship. Hebrews 13:15:

    Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

    In offering up acceptable worship to God, the second thing we do is give our words. How we speak tells you and God what is going on in your heart. The words that come out of your mouth are not a mistake. However, these words are directed to God and these are words that offer up a continual sacrifice of praise to God about the great things God has done for us and given us, in Christ Jesus, of which we would have never deserved in a million or trillion years. Therefore, it loosens up our lips so that our mouth begins to bare fruit of giving thanks to the Lord.

    Again, you don’t see any grumbling or complaining here, or anything negative here such as, “Oh, Lord, you don’t really understand my situation or what I am going through.” In fact, the Lord has gone to the limits of suffering way farther than we could ever go, and He understands our deep suffering.

    Everyday, we get up and learn how to praise God. We thank Him for our health, for our food, for a place to sleep, for our salvation, for the people in our life, for the body we are a part of, for Christ himself, and for His word. We can read it and hear what He has to say. In other words, it starts cleaning up what comes out of our mouth.

    As we grow in Christ likeness and holiness, most of what comes out of our mouth is praise and thankfulness to God, and we shut off the bitter words that come out. You cannot have bitter and fresh water coming out of the same fountain. Therefore, our worship is our words, which comes from our heart. As a believer, our heart is full of affection for God since we have something new and living going on inside of us. We know what God has done and who He is, so we don’t have to wonder about His plans. We want to live for Him and give ourselves to Him.

    Though, this doesn’t mean you leave everything and go off to Bible college. Right where you are and in your sphere of life, you serve God. Therefore, what comes out of your mouth is not bitterness, cursing, grumbling, complaining, but praise and fruit of thankfulness. Being so thankful that you cannot help yourself, which is worship. God knows your heart, and He knows if you’re doing that every day.

    You can come to church, put on a good face, fake it, and then as you get back in the car, you spill it in the parking lot. Didn’t you learn anything? Do you think we can get away with those things? As calling ourselves believers and not have repercussions. Look at your words. Your words are to be words of praise and thanksgiving. When they are not, look for your sin and what is going on in your heart that is not right. This is what a priest does, who is a believer and has new life in his heart. Then, in a third passage of Scripture, Hebrews 13:16:

    And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

    This language is all tied together from 1 Peter. Our works and service are how we worship God. As a believer, you don’t sit on the sideline, but are involved in the game. Therefore, we should not neglect doing good. Any time you have a chance to do good, we ought to do it. Two things he mentions there: doing good and sharing. Giving of what we have and sharing it with others who possibly don’t have.

    While we are here on this earth, God is concerned with our relationship with one another in doing the ordained works that God has given us to do. God notices all of these. God is pleased, He sees the works we do, He knows what’s coming out of your mouth, and He knows if you’re giving yourself over to live for Him or not. However, He wants you to know that you do that. You don’t do it perfectly, but you do it and should do it consciously. Worship is not something that you are not conscious of what is going on. Worship is being very conscious of Who you are worshiping and how you are worshiping. Philippians 4:18-19:

    But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

    Basically, Paul is saying, “when I am well fed, I am not going to let my wealth change my attitude towards God and forget God. If my stomach is growling, I am not going to reject God because He hasn’t supplied something I think He should supply.” Paul is content with whatever God has for him in that point in his life. The Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain.

    Through Jesus Christ, we offer these spiritual sacrifices, and what God desires most of all is the love of our hearts and the service of our lives. To be clear, we are not giving offerings for sin. The Old Testament offering for sin such as the burnt offering has been fulfilled and completed in Christ Jesus, our High Priest forever, from the Melchizedekian priesthood. Therefore, through Christ our mediator, we have acceptance and access to God. Through His word, we gain a greater and clearer knowledge of God, which means a more conscious understanding of how to worship.

    Again, Peter is bringing out these things to let us know that this is who we are in our new life. Let’s pray:

    Lord, we Thank You again, for the awesome Word of God. Lord, it is convicting, and it does tear us down, but it also is life giving and it builds us up. Lord, I Thank You for what we find in the Word of God. Lord, in it, we see that You have done something that no one else could do. You have made a way for us into the Holiest place as priests coming into your presence to offer You worship that is acceptable in your sight. Only through Christ could this ever be. I pray, Lord, as we consider that, we would examine ourselves to see and to evaluate whether our worship is worship that is lining up with Scripture and comes out of our growth from understanding the Word of God. I pray, as we see that, Lord, as we are honest with ourselves, Lord, let our worship be worship that is real and comes from the depth of our heart due to our great affection for You, so that it is based on all that You have done for us and the great mercy You had offered to us, and by not allowing the wrath of God to fall on us. You have pity on us and rescued us by the sacrifice of Your son. Thank You for that. I pray that You would make us this kind of people for Your sake, the building up of Your church, and the advancement of the Gospel. I pray, in Your name, Amen.

  • The Destiny of the Christian: The Holiness of Salvation, Part 5

    The Destiny of the Christian: The Holiness of Salvation, Part 5

    Pastor Babij preaches from 1 Peter 1:23-2:3 that Christians must live as new creations who crave the Word of God. Pastor details some of the marks of the Christian’s new nature and concludes by exhorting Christians to repent and return to the Word of God if such craving has been lost.

    Full Transcript:

    1 Peter 1:22-2:3:

    Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,

    “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 25BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”

    And this is the word which was preached to you.

    1Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

    Let’s pray:

    Lord, as we come to Your eternal word, that will never pass away, I pray, Lord, that we would come to love it and crave for it every day. That it would be the spiritual food for our soul. Without it, we would feel like we are starving. Like not having air to breath, we would feel like we are suffocating. Lord, I pray, as we look at the Word of God, we would see what it says. Again, Lord, bring us to understand it. Then, to also apply it to our lives. So, Lord, the Spirit of God can use the Word of God to sanctify us and grow us in respect to salvation. I pray that we would always be clear on the matter of salvation. That it would never be a cloudy thing in our mind, but that it would always be something crystal clear. Not only so that we understand ourselves, but that we would be able to explain to others. Bless us, Lord, as we look at this portion of Scripture. In Christ, I pray, Amen.

    Currently, we are in the latter part of 1 Peter 1. This first section of Scripture is preparing and equipping us for what lies ahead, and for the hostilities that we will be facing in our life, as aliens living in this world, which include hostilities that will come from our own heart, from the world’s systems, from other people, and from our spiritual enemy, the devil and his minions that are against us.

    So far, we have been looking at these exhortations, which are all in the realm of salvation. We have observed, first, that we are exhorted to have a fixed hope by soberly preparing our minds for action, and to fix our hope on the revelation of the Lord, Jesus Christ purposely for prayer and resisting the enemy. Secondly, we are exhorted to live a holy life. We are warned not to do or be what we used to be, in our new spiritual natures, so we are to be holy, especially since it is written in 1 Peter 1:16:

    because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

    Thirdly, we are exhorted to fear God, the Father. 1 Peter 1:17:

    If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;

    As believers, we are to address the Father as an impartial judge. To His children, He is without respect of persons, judging each one according to their deeds after conversion. We should have the reverential fear of an obedient child to a loving Father, and to do it in a way where we don’t take God lightly, but we take God very seriously, not indifferently to what He is teaching us. Therefore, we should have a high level of respect, care, and humility towards God. That reverence rests upon two things: the knowledge that we have of God’s holy character from the Word of God, and the knowledge we have been given of God’s plan of redemption.

    To have a fixed, future hope, to live a life of holiness, and to fear God has been preparing us to understand our vertical relationship with our God, and our vertical relationship with God spills over into our horizontal relationship with others. It even spills over into our relationship with ourselves, and since we’ve become believers, we are understanding ourselves better.

    In the previously discussed exhortation, Christians are exhorted to love one another. If we were able to love people, in this way mentioned in 1 Peter 1:22, we would have no need to be exhorted to love one another. For the most part, the love we thought we had for others was driven by selfishness, superstitions, sensuality, social disorders, and personal accesses, which was always flowing out of an evil and sinful heart. Therefore, this portion of Scripture is describing for us what it looks like living as new people of God.

    As children of God, we now have a new life in Christ, and there are new patterns that we notice and new principals that we must learn; then, live accordingly. We have seen that there are new patterns of life, which are characterized by ongoing inward purity. Also, in 1 Peter 1:22, we have seen a life that is committed to growing in love, which takes work. The motive and ability to obey this command to love, flows from the new birth. In other words, the divine seed of God, in the Gospel, implanted in our heart will produce in us this divine love, holiness, reverence, and future hope as a believer that knows this life is short, but that the Christian life is heading somewhere.

    David Helm writes, in his understanding of 1 Peter, “In God’s book, we have found life. Through it then, let us express love. Peter wants Christians everywhere to be people known for living lives that demonstrate God’s love. Time is short. All flesh is like grass. Get about the business of growing-up in love.” We are to grow up in this characteristic of the Christian life, so how is it that anyone can grow in this kind of love, holiness, reverence, and future, fixed hope on the revelation of Jesus Christ?

    This is not normal, human, or worldly thinking. Therefore, it must come from somewhere, and this is how you know you have new life in Christ. This pattern bleeds into certain principals, so we have a new principal of life. In 1 Peter 1:23, we get a sense that a new life in Christ is characterized by the eternal intentioned with the temporal. In other words, we are still here, but we are growing with an eternal, supernatural mindset that is coming to us from God through His word.

    Thus, we get this tension going on since we wrestle against the spirit, the flow of the world, and things we used to know. Now, we know they are not right anymore, so there is tension that happens as we live this new principle of life, which is from being born again, not of seed which is perishable rather imperishable. Meaning, the origin of our new life is of a divine seed from God, and has, inside of it, an enduring life that cannot perish.

    When this nonperishable seed drops into a heart prepared to receive it, it can only produce life. Presently, life that will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the strength and endurance to live for God, and in the future, a life that will never end, which is the promise we have as a believer. 1 John 5:13:

    These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

    Believers know this truth. However, they may know it theoretically, and not quickly receive it practically. Peter is talking about practically understanding the idea of being different than before, and that you have an eternal life going on inside of you. Therefore, this word seed, in 1 Peter 1:23, focuses more on the process of sowing than on the seed as such: the contrast being drawn is between the human seed, which produces mortal life, and the divine seed, which produces eternal life.

    What proceeds from human seed, in reproduction, is perishable and corruptible, and what proceeds from the divine seed, in reproduction, is that it is imperishable and incorruptible. Hence, this is the first thing to understand about this new life that we have, which comes from a divine seed that has been planted in our heart by God. From that, there is the instrument of the new birth, which is the eternal Word of God.

    In 1 Peter, the Christian life has a process. The Word of God, that is the divine seed, enters your heart, which is the Gospel message centered in on Jesus Christ on the cross. That seed regenerates you, so you become born again. Then, you repent and believe the Gospel, and it imparts to your eternal life. From that point, it overcomes that which is corruptible and perishing in your life by replacing it with what is incorruptible and remaining forever.

    As believers, we come to realize this eternal seed has been planted, and the instrument was the Word of God. Meaning, you cannot get saved apart from the Word of God. The Word of God is the very instrument God uses. It will not happen any old way, nor through dreams or visions. It will happen through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. By the hearing of the Word comes faith, and that faith brings a person to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, new life happens in your heart, and God is now transforming and sanctifying you.

    In our text, we see that there is the temporal that is contrasted with the eternal. 1 Peter 1:24 indicates the impermanent nature of the natural man. Meaning, life is limited. Job 14:5:

    Since his days are determined,
    The number of his months is with You;
    And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

    Job understood that life was limited. Also, that life is short. When you read Psalm 89-90, what is being communicated, and what Moses is really talking about, is that there were a lot of funerals in the wilderness. Everyday there may have been two, three, or more funerals in the wilderness. Because they disobeyed God, that generation was dying as they were heading to the promise land. Psalm 89:47-48:

    Remember what my span of life is;
    For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!

    48    What man can live and not see death?
    Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

    As a pastor, I have been to a lot of funerals and I have done a lot of funerals, and until this very day, I do not like doing them. Matter of fact, I have a hatred for them. Every time I walk into a funeral home, whether the person is saved or not, I realize this: death is an enemy and it doesn’t even belong here. The Bible teaches us how death got here, but it is an enemy. Until the Lord completely conquers death, it will remain an enemy. Remember, Jesus conquered Satan and death, but we’re still waiting for all the consummation of the plan of salvation to come to an end. That is why our hope is fixed on when it is all done through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Psalm 90:5-6:

    You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
    In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.

    6    In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
    Toward evening it fades and withers away.

    James 4:14:

    Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

    James gives us the sense that life is limited, short, uncertain, and full of trouble. Job 14:1-2:

    “Man, who is born of woman,
    Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

    2“Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

    That is a good view of life. We will not live for a long time; in fact, one-hundred-years from now, none of us will be here, which is a sobering thought. Peter wants us to grasp that the natural man will fade. We are going to wilt and dry up. In the Greek language, they call this nomadic arrest verb, which means, in 1 Peter, this is what always happens. For instance, we don’t know anyone that is three-hundred-years old. In the Old Testament, we find people like that, but they finally died. If God decided to sweep some people up to glory, like Enoch, then He decided to do that, but the natural man will die. Because man is created in the image of God, man does have a certain glory to them.

    In 1 Peter 1:24, “like the flowers of grass,” is the glory of the natural man. Meaning, all that is good about us, all that is fair, attractive about humanity, the beauty, strength, wealth, honor, art, education, achievements human beings accomplish, and the greatness of humanity. We all have certain people that we consider people we would like to be like. Therefore, consider a flower, how beautiful the flower is, yet we know a flower will finally fade off and die.

    Receiving flowers is a nice gesture. Some like to receive them and others not so much. Whatever the preference is, there are some things that are obvious about flowers. First, all too soon, the beauty of the flower will begin to fade, droop, and fall away. When someone receives a dozen roses, they’re picturesque, beautiful, and bright. Then you water them, get a little miracle growth to make sure they last, and you keep them alive and beautiful for as long as you can. Inevitably, they will fade, droop, and dry. Then, you either keep them in book or throw them out.

    Subsequently, how long can a human being remain vibrant or attractive? A side note, the beauty industry is a multitrillion dollar industry, which is a recession-less product. It doesn’t matter what the economy is, they will be selling those products, especially since people want to stay young, vibrant, and healthy as possible. Though there is nothing wrong with that, the eternal part is about the relationship with God, and all the other stuff will drop off. Proverbs 31:30:

    Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
    But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

    In saying this, man always passes away. We don’t like to think about that, but, Scripturally, we ought to think about the day we are going to die. In a healthy and good way, this will affect the way we live and our relationship with the Lord. This new life was not passed down to us from our parents, and the life we have received from our earthly parents will fade, wither, and pass away.

    When we believed and received this message of the Gospel that came to us from Christ, from our Father, who is in heaven, it implanted new life in us that will last forever. Its seed is from God, who is eternal in His nature. Therefore, the flesh always withers and falls away, but the Word of God is always incorruptible and endures forever.

    In 1 Peter 1:25, we note the imperishable nature of the Word of God, so you can see the contrast, in Scripture, between what passes away and what does not pass away. Therefore, we ought not to spend so much time on what passes away, but what doesn’t pass away. In this passage of Scripture, this is Peter’s point, and he is quoting from Isaiah.

    From Isaiah 40-66, the message is about hope and renewal. While that message was being preached, the people were enduring captivity. They were enduring trouble in this life, and Isaiah 40:6-8 emphasizes on the transitory nature of human life in contrast to the eternal life that awaits us. By bringing this passage to the attention of the people, Peter intends his readers to see the whole context of Isaiah 40. Peter’s readers are like Israel in Isaiah’s day. The people were discouraged and on the verge of catastrophe, so this quote is intended to be a word of comfort to them, as well as to us. Isaiah 40:1-9:

    “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.

    2“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
    And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
    That her iniquity has been removed,
    That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.”

    3A voice is calling,
    “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

    4“Let every valley be lifted up,
    And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

    5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together;
    For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

    6A voice says, “Call out.”
    Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”
    All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

    7The grass withers, the flower fades,
    When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

    8The grass withers, the flower fades,
    But the word of our God stands forever.

    9Get yourself up on a high mountain,
    O Zion, bearer of good news,
    Lift up your voice mightily,
    O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
    Lift it up, do not fear.
    Say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”

    In Isaiah, we have the future look of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was telling the people that someday something will happen, which is going to come from God and it will be good news that will be proclaimed and bring eternal life to those who receive it. This good news comes with Jesus Christ and His message that carries the divine seed, which is living, enduring, and forever.

    If you notice, in Isaiah 40:3, this passage of Scripture is talking about John the Baptist. Therefore, he is talking about a second exodus. However, this exodus is not a deliverance from the wilderness, but will come with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is going to bring promised salvation, so John the Baptist levels the ground for the Messiah since the religious part of Israel is not preaching the good news. They have given up the good news, so John the Baptist clears the way and preaches of a gospel of repentance to a deaden, shallow, and religious group of people, who were indifferent about spiritual matters and effected by all kinds of subtle forms of hypocrisy. The current spiritual condition of the time, in which John the Baptizer ministered, are twofold: religious formality and comfortable hypocrisy.

    John had come on the scene and cleared out all the obstacles for the coming of the Lord Jesus and His message, the Gospel message of the kingdom. John the Baptist preached repentance of sin, paving the way by pointing sinners to the Messiah. Then, Jesus comes behind John and preaches the same message of repentance. Mark 1:14-15:

    Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

    Repentance becomes a vital part of preaching the Gospel of Christ, and repentance is that conscious recognition that you are a sinner and that you are turning to a savior who can forgive your sin, cancel it, make you right with God, reconcile you, who was once an enemy, to Himself, and give you eternal life.

    In the equation of the prophet, Isaiah, was this understanding that someday there was going to be eternal life that came through the message of God to the people. The Word of God carries the divine seed with the message of hope and eternal life.

    The Word of God Isaiah prophesized about to bring people comfort is the message that we have today, in 1 Peter 1:25. It is the same eternal Word of God that plants the eternal seed of God in someone’s heart, which produces the holiness, fear of God, love for the brethren and God, and the future look of all coming together in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have the same Word of God today, and to be able to have that is quite amazing and thrilling. Therefore, your new life will last forever, not like your mortal life that will die.

    Not always do we comprehend this concept or live with it in our mind. We need to stop centering our attention on this life, which will all end too quickly. Instead, focus our strength and attention in serving God in the new life that will last forever. Even during trials, temptations, testing’s, whatever the world can throw at us, and whatever this human body can throw at us, we can handle these things since we realize our life is fading, decaying, and going to pass away. However, there is something that will never pass away, and that is the new life in us, which God has given us.

    So far, in our study of 1 Peter, we should be grasping the idea of He who begot us is holy, so we, as His children, must be holy. Since He is our judge and has ransomed us at a great price, we, His children, must conduct ourselves in reverential fear. Since we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, our relationships with our brethren must be one of sacrificial love and children of one father. Since we have been begotten by means of the eternal Word of God, we should long for the milk of the Word as the true and proper source of nourishment.

    Peter brings us to realize that the things we have such as fixed-hope, to live a holy life, to fear God, and to love one another leads us to the last exhortation in this section of salvation. Henceforth, Christians are exhorted to crave the Word of God, which is the source of life, growth, and understanding we get in 1 Peter 2:1-3. This exhortation comes with two things: a negative command and a positive command.

    First, the negative command is to strip off the sinful desires that stifle spiritual growth. If you notice, you will find out, in 1 Peter 2:1, that it is our responsibility to strip off the sinful desires that stifle spiritual growth. Also, the sins listed there are relational and community sins. They stifle our growth with each other since it hinders our growing relationship with each other, community, and unity.

    In 1 Peter 2:1, all malice can be translated as evil, wickedness, trouble, and even a desire to put your hand around somebody’s neck. Malice leads to hatred. Also, all deceit, deception, guile, or a person who wants to mislead or trick others, with a desire to take advantage or control of them. Psalms 34:13:

    Keep your tongue from evil
    And your lips from speaking deceit.

    You should not play with, entertain, or feed sin, so all your sins need to go into the garbage. If you don’t, then what it does is hinders your own spiritual growth, unity, and balance within the community. Thirdly, there is the sin of hypocrisy, which is false everything, insincerity, and the ability to want to fool somebody to think you are something that you are not.

    On a side note, I understood hypocrisy when something happened to me one day. When I was in bible college, I met a young man and we became friends. We were in class together, we worked out together, he was very kind, and he endeared himself to me. Along the way, he needed a car to get around. This was back in 1982, and my father was not a believer yet, so I told him, “my father has an extra car and has been asking me if I know anyone who needs one, and he can sell it to you for a good price.

    My father gave my friend the price, and my friend was willing to pay for the car. He gave him a small deposit and planned to pay monthly. Being that I was vouching for his character, my father was okay with the agreement. My father transferred over the car, my friend got in, drove off into the sunset, and I never saw him again.

    Masking inward evil by an outward show of righteousness is hypocrisy. Of course, I felt like I was right in the middle. I was trying to witness to my dad, and now I am vouching for this guy’s Christian character and he drives away. When I go to school the next week, I get called to the office, being asked if I know Steve, and they informed me that he had warrants for his arrest in the state of New Jersey. He gave away no indication, but I may have been a little naïve too. I tried to recoup that with my dad, and it was tough.

    About three or four years later, my father gets an apology phone call from Steve. He wanted to pay for the rest of the car, but my father said the apology was enough. That was the last I heard of him, but I understood that day what hypocrisy was, how it looks, and how it can really fool you to think that you’re looking at something genuine and it’s not.

    God is saying, in Scripture, to not have this characteristic in your life. Don’t have this sin in your life, and don’t nurture this sin, especially since it is one that stifles your growth. Next, there is envy, which wants what others have. In other words, it is jealous, spite, and the opposite of thankfulness. People are envious of what other people have and what God has given them instead of being thankful that people may have more than you, and because God allowed it to be so. Covetousness and envy are stifles of growth and destroy the unity of the body.

    Peter is not mentioning all the sins we should be avoiding. Specifically, these sins are the ones that will stifle your love for the brethren, your spiritual growth, and relationship with God if you don’t put it off. Lastly, Peter says to put off all slander. Meaning, the ability, with your words, to speak evil against someone, gossip, defame, run them down with words, or speak against someone to harm that person’s reputation.

    There is power in words. A person doesn’t have to be there for you to run them down. Most of the time, they are not. You are just trying to gain some advantage or make yourself look better because you run somebody down. Those kinds of sins cannot be in the congregation of God’s people. Therefore, if you don’t throw all these sins on the garbage pile, you will stifle your growth.

    As far as loving the brethren, you need to put off all relational and community destroying vices. All these sins aim at harming other people while Biblical love and holiness seek the good and advancement of others. Until these filthy rags of sin are put off, there is no spiritual growth or very little spiritual growth, and you will remain stuck in the refuge of your discarded sin and in the dumpster. As a Christian, you don’t want to remain in the dumpster, but you want to get out and make sure you are taking care of these sins. All these five, general sins are desire, growth-stifling quenchers. All show spiritual immaturity, not spiritual maturity.

    Paul is talking to the Corinthian church, and he is saying to a group of believers, with stifled spiritual growth, who fail to strip off certain sins, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3:

    And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

    The problem here is jealousy and strife. They’re not stripping it from their life, so it is hindering not only their spiritual growth, but Paul being able to feed them with more meat of the Word of God. Because of our position in Christ, this new-self that we have puts on new clothing. You get a sense, in this passage, that the new sense is alive, but not instantly mature. It must continue to grow in Christ-likeness.

    Some have described it as a baby that has everything complete in this new small package, but now needs to be nourished and fed to grow healthy and mature. When a baby stops eating, it’s a situation that is going to be very detrimental. Raising this question: what are the marks of the genuine new-self within the believer?

    First, a nature that loves God. You should love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strength. Also, a nature that longs for holiness, and it’s reaching out to keep being set apart by God. It is a nature that senses the resistance between the new-self and the flesh. In our minds, we were once dominated by sinful ideas, thinking, and desires, but now the Word of God is pushing those things out. Romans 8:5:

    For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

    We are setting our minds to something other than what we are used to. In addition, we have a nature with a growing sensitivity to sin, which is the sense we get in 1 Peter. Before, we didn’t even know we were sinning. Now, we’re very aware that we are sinning, and we catch ourselves sometimes before they even take place. We’re catching our words before they even come out of our mouth. All our default sins are set aside.

    Also, we have a new nature that avoids everything condemned in Gods word. What God says becomes important to us. Joshua 1:8:

    This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

    As believers, we want to do things according to what the word of God says. Through His word, we hear from God, but sometimes believers will fail to do these things. Nonetheless, it will still be the regular direction of their life to want these things to be so in their character and transformation. The Word is always the criteria and measuring stick to know what is good, pleasing, and advancing in maturity.

    Lastly, we have a new nature with an appetite for spiritual things. In 1 Peter 2:2, the positive command is to set your heart on the uncontaminated milk of the Word that will continue your spiritual growth, which is what we are exhorted to do. This last exhortation is in the realm of understanding salvation. In 1 Peter 2:2, the term word means rational, reasonable, belonging to the real nature of something, and belonging to the sphere of the spiritual. It is spiritual in the sense that the word is reasonable or the logical way for Christians to become what God wishes them to become spiritually.

    In our verse, a key word is long, which is the understanding of longing, craving, or greatly desiring something. When you greatly desire something, you go get it because its an intense desire directed toward an object. In the verse, the object is pure milk. It is pointing to the relentless cry of an infant since it craves for its mother’s milk eight to fifteen times a day. When a baby cries because he or she is hungry, it demands a rapid reply. Otherwise, you have a sleepless night, things will not go well, and arguments happen. It’s an intensity that must be satisfied only by pure milk, not something like Doritos.

    In the Old Testament, there was the concept of longing for the Word of God, so its not a new concept for God’s people. Psalms 119:20:

    My soul is crushed with longing
    After Your ordinances at all times.

    Another way of describing the Word of God is Psalms 119:40:

    Behold, I long for Your precepts;
    Revive me through Your righteousness.

    Also, Psalms 119:131:

    I opened my mouth wide and panted,
    For I longed for Your commandments.

    Ordinances, precepts, and commandments are three different words to describe the Word of God. As a result, you have a longing for the Word. Meaning, there is nothing else to long for like the Word. Other passages communicate the longing of God’s word such as Job 23:12:

    I have not departed from the command of His lips;
    I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

    Jeremiah 15:16:

    Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

    The longing for the Word of God is the craving metaphor. Though, it is not just for new, infant Christians. It is the craving that we should always have all the time. It is for all Christians always, who are at all levels of the spiritual growth. As we move closer to heaven, our craving should get more intense, and we should understand that we need the Word of God and the transformation of the Word of God in our mind more than anything else. Everyday our view of the Word of God goes higher and higher because you find God’s speaking to us through His word. It is the King giving a message to His recipients, who are those in His kingdom.

    Christians are to exemplify this in their intense yearning for the uncontaminated, unadulterated, pure, and spiritual milk of the eternal Word of God. All churches should give opportunities for Christians to interact with and learn the deep truths of the Word of God such as in Sunday School, weekly expositional preaching and teaching, youth ministry, men and women ministry, and home groups, and being part of everything that can give you more understanding of the Word of God, which we should be there all the time. We have a book ministry and a lending library to give you the ability to take something and learn more about it that will benefit and advance your spiritual growth.

    The purpose of this nourishment, the pure milk of the Word, is for the believer to grow into the full experience of their salvation. Literally, the Word of God will grow you. Therefore, the Christian should take no spiritual nourishment but the Word of God. Christians should never settle for so called, “spiritual junk food.”

    In 1 Peter 2:3, the metaphor of taste is still in our passage. So far, you should have gotten a correct view of God, which should have put a good taste in your heart concerning the kindness of God. When something tastes good, your taste buds want more. When you taste the kindness of God and understand the kindness directed toward you, you will want more of His kindness, goodness, and mercy. Therefore, Scripture is saying that the Christian has gotten a taste for this kindness from the Word of God.

    The kindness was acted upon you, by the Word of God, to bring eternal life, so now you need to crave the Word of God, especially since it gives us a better understanding of the character of God, which is His goodness, mercy, and kindness. When our spiritual taste buds are energized, we are going to want more and more of the Word of God., and we will know that it is the pure Word of God. If it’s not, you will know it is junk food. Psalm 34:8:

    O taste and see that the LORD is good;
    How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

    If you want to keep experiencing the kindness of the Lord, stay in the Word, keep craving the Word of God, and don’t try to sidetrack. We must seek the wholesome, saving Word, which is the manna for our soul. If you stop craving the pure milk of the Word of God, something is wrong in your heart. If you stop craving it forever, it could mean that you are not a believer. If you have an eternal, divine seed in your heart that is producing these things, then they will be in your life at different levels. Assuming you are a believer, but you are kind of dry, cold, and not too interested, how do you know if your desire for the Word of God has been quenched?

    First, you stop going back to the source of your new life, which is the Word of God. Secondly, you become careless and negligent in putting off your sins. In our passage, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are things that cause you to get careless of putting them off and examining yourself. When sin is not dealt with, there is no desire for the Word. Also, you stop admitting you still need the Word.

    No matter where we are in our spiritual journey, our craving should be like a newborn babe for the pure milk of the Word, not philosophy or signs. When your desire has been quenched, you stop pursuing spiritual growth. Then, you stop remembering who God is and who you are. 1 Peter 2:4-5:

    And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

    If somehow you are not craving the Word anymore, those are some of the things you look for. If you’re not ever craving it again, look for your spiritual condition, especially since you need the Gospel and the seed of the Word of God in your heart.

    Therefore, Christians are exhorted to crave for the Word by stripping off the sinful desires that stifle spiritual growth, and by setting your heart on the uncontaminated Word of God for continued spiritual growth. This will bring you into the other exhortations mentioned so far such as a fixed hope on Christ, holy life, fear of God, love one for another, and a craving for the Word of God. They all go together, and they are not a separate package, but one package.

    Clearly, Peter wants us to understand our salvation, and he wants us to understand more than anything that we are saved. This living principal of the divine seed is working in our life, which we can see. Sometimes we’re wrestling with it, and there is the tension between the mortal life and new, eternal life. Ultimately, our desire is to pursue God’s word. There is no other source that is perfectly safe and reliable to produce real spiritual growth and godliness than the unadulterated Word of God. You cannot substitute it with anything else. Let’s pray:

    Lord Jesus, I do Thank You for this section of Scripture. Not only is it a section that is fleshing out theology, but it is also giving us a clear understanding of how that theology looks practically. Lord, for that, I know that I have been thankful since we can look at our own life and evaluate it. Lord, if there is anything in this passage that has come to us and brought to our attention our own walk with You, then I pray, Lord, if sins need to be put off or taking care of, that we would not waste time. If any garbage that is in our heart that is still there, which we are holding onto, then I pray, Lord, we cast it away from us and strip it off and put on the new garment of righteousness. I pray, Lord, that You would always make us aware of our craving for truth. Our desire to know more than we do know about who You are, what Your plan is, and what You are doing, so we can be not just learners, but teachers of the Word of God. That we may explain it to other people, and that the Word of God would be shown in our life by our changed life. Thank You, Lord, for this passage of Scripture. I know it is going to be beneficial for us, from this day forward. I pray, in Christ’s name, Amen.