Enduring sorrows while suffe..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to church. What a great privilege to have you worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ with us once again, by His grace and His mercy.

Would you please open up your Bible, the Word of God, to the first letter of Peter. The first letter of Peter. Now on this Lord's Day, we continue with our study through this letter. And I hope that by the grace of God and with the help of His Spirit, we might be able to address verses 18 through 23 in chapter 2. Verses 18 through 23 in chapter 2, the first letter of Peter.

As we have been doing since we started this new section, let's read together the whole section that comes from chapter two, verse 11, and that goes all the way through chapter three, verse 12, paying special attention to the instructions, to the directions that the apostle is going to give. In verses 18 through 23, this is the word of God, the all sufficient, infallible, perfect word of our Lord and Savior. Let's read with reverent hearts and paying much attention to each one of his words. Verse 11, chapter two, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your souls. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God. that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

Verse 18. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to these you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continue entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were a strain like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Chapter three. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. And you are her children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, or revile him for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to these you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

For whoever desires to love life and seek good deeds, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Amen. This is In the words of God, my brothers and sisters, as I said, we're going to be addressing the second exhortation that the Apostle Peter is going to be given here, which is an exhortation to the servants that is found in verse 18, the servants to be subject to their masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unjust. That's the second exhortation that the Apostle Peter is given brothers and sisters in this section that we have been reading the times that the Lord has given us the opportunity to address you from this pulpit. And one of the things that I've said now a couple of times is that the section that we're not only reading, but the section that we're studying is a new section in the development of the thinking process of the apostle. The purpose of the letter is to bring encouragement to all of these saints that are going through tribulations and trials and difficulties.

And the way that he did that is starting the letter by explaining the glorious salvation that we have in the person of Jesus Christ. Not only the Apostle has explained that salvation that we have, that we are begotten again according to the abundant mercy of the Father through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only an explanation has the Spirit of God given to us through Peter, but also the Apostle has proved to these Gentiles of Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and the Gentiles of the Church Age, that this salvation that was promised Through the oracles of God in the mouth of the prophets of the Old Testament was a salvation that was ready to be revealed in the last time. It was prophesied for the Gentiles also, that those glorious truths of the Old Testament were also pointing to the grace that belonged to the Gentiles. Praise God for that. The apostle has explained that salvation and has proved that the salvation that we have was promising in this section that we have been reading for the last two or three times that we have been able to address you from here, from this pulpit.

Now, the apostle moves from explanation, from the proving that that was in the Old Testament to the direct application of that glorious salvation. Direct and clear exhortations and instructions the Apostle is given to the saints who have received that letter of behavior, of how they are supposed to behave externally. How that glorious salvation that produced something inside is to manifest externally. And the Apostle, as I have said also a couple of times, is going to address four areas of the life of Christians or social areas if you want of the life of the Christian. The one that we did by the providence of God a couple of weeks ago.

It is the submission that Christians and the obedience that Christians are supposed to give and honor governing authorities. the government, those institutions that have been established by God. That was the first exhortation. The second one, the one that we're addressing this evening, it is this exhortation to servants to obey or to submit to their masters. The third one, it is in the marriage that wives are to be submissive or to submit to their husbands, and the husbands are to treat their wives in an understanding way so that their prayers may not be hindered.

And then the fourth exhortation, finally, when the apostle says in verse 8 of chapter 3, finally, then he addresses another area of the life of the Christian, namely the church. the brothers and sisters of the Church. He calls them to have unity and to love one another and so on and so on. The Apostle is now has not only explained salvation, has not only explained to the Gentiles that this salvation was promised in the Old Testament, but now he's pointing them to particular detailed instructions on how they are supposed to behave in a social context for the government, masters and servants, the marriage and also in the life of the Church. Why would the apostle do that?

Why would the apostle move in that fashion? Why would the apostle move from explaining to proving exegetically or hermeneutically that this salvation was promised and then pointing to particular things that are supposed to be done? initially, brothers and sisters, because that's the natural and organic development of applications in the New Testament. That which happens inside of the person is organically and naturally meant to be manifested externally. Every time that the apostles or the prophets will point to the person of Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have in Him, then what comes, therefore, and as a result of that reality is that our life is transformed and that can be observed, can be seen externally in the life of the individual, the one whose soul has been redeemed by the powerful operations of the grace of Christ.

Doctrinally and theologically, that which we do in our Christian life corresponds to the spiritual reality that is operating and working within our souls. But not only that, brothers and sisters, going more into the context of the letter and speaking not only of the context of the letter, but also the reality of our salvation. Once we are saved, yes, we are taken from one kingdom into another. We are transformed. We're made a new creature.

We are a new people. We are a new person individually. But there is a remainder of sin, as our brother said, lest we forget or we start to grumble and complain about the present situation. We are to remember the things that God has accomplished for us. Why?

Because we are vulnerable to the fact that we can complain and we can fall into sin because of the remainder of sin. Now, think about the context of the letter. The apostle is calling these people to obey some very particular things in their social context, but the teaching that he has given them before this exhortation could have been easily misunderstood by these Gentiles. Think about it. The apostle has said to these Gentiles that they were not to be conformed to the passions of their former ignorance.

Chapter one, verse 13. You are not to be conformed to the passions of your previous life. Those things that were ruling in you in your previous life, you are not supposed to be conformed or to be led to be taken by those things. Even more, the apostle goes in verse 18 and 19, and he says that these Gentiles, the ones that are receiving this letter, that they had been ransomed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ from the, he calls it, futile ways inherited from your forefathers. He's saying you have been taken from ways of life, from ways of conduct, from ways of behavior that were futile, that they were not of profit for you.

You were rescued from that. And later the Apostle will say that they were removed from darkness into life, that they had been taken from one kingdom into another. Even he calls them a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the peculiar people of God. These Gentiles were receiving this information, this doctrine, that the world in which they are living is a wicked world and that they do not belong to that world. Even the apostle is going to call them sojourners and exiles of that world.

It would have been very easy, because of the remaining sin that dwells in the life of the soul, that the person would have said, this system is a wicked system, is an unrighteous system. The ways of men, the systems of men are wicked and unrighteous, and I'm not going to submit to anything that comes from men. I'm not going to submit an obedience to anything that belongs to the schemes of this world. I belong to a different kingdom. I belong to a different king, to a different ruler.

Why would I submit to a system that is wicked? So, the apostle, by the wisdom of the Spirit, lest there may be a thought of disobedience in the mind of these people that are receiving this letter is going to point them to a very precious reality in verses 11 and 12 which is the beginning of the section. He is going to say that as sojourners and exiles they are to make war against the passions of the flesh which are making war within their souls. that they have the power to make war against those passions, and then he's going to point them directly to this external behavior, that they are to keep the conduct, their behavior externally among the Gentiles honorable. For what purpose?

Not that when the Gentiles might see them, they might say, wow, how good they are. and that the reputation may increase among the Gentiles, but rather that glory might be brought to the name of God." Brothers and sisters, the law, the instruction for the Christian is good. We should not be afraid of the instructions that are given to us in the New Testament when the New Testament calls us to do particular things and to obey particular things. Which one of the commandments is this grateful to your soul?

Which one of the commandments or the instructions of God is this tasteful for your heart that we don't want to hear about the law of God? When the law of God is given to New Testament saints, that explains or that speaks of the ability that these New Testament saints have to submit to those instructions and to those commandments, not because they have the ability in and of themselves, but because the glorious Spirit of Christ has worked in them. So when we are going to see the commands or instructions to do a particular thing, we are going to see that as a glorious gospel evangelical instruction that testifies of the workings of Christ in the life of his saints. So the apostle has started those very detailed and clear instructions of obedience, starting with the obedience to the government, that we are to submit to the government, that submitting to every human institution. And then he says that we are going to put to silence those people that are going to come and accuse us of evil doers, that through our good behavior and our submission to the government, the Christian puts to silence the reviling accusations, as Jude will say, of those who are not in Christ.

And then we have the second instructions to obedience, which is the one that we have in front of us. Verse 18, in which the Apostle is going to now call servants to be subject to their masters with all respect. The question that I asked myself when I was just going through the text is, Why would the apostle move from this social context of the government? Why would the apostle move from this general context of obedience to the government in society? And why would he go into a very personal relationship between the servant and the master?

What would have been in the mind of the apostle taking this transition of telling Christians that we are to obey? in a social way, in society context, that we are to be the governing authorities, why would the apostle then decide to move into this relationship of servants and masters? Why did the apostle did not move into husbands and wives or into the church or any other type of relationship that Christians may have in their life? Why would apostle do that. And the answer to that question is actually very important to the explanation of the passage that we have in front of us.

But before answering the reason why the apostle would move from the social context of obedience to governing authorities into the obedience that servants are to have to their masters, one has to answer a question first. And that is, what is that servant and what is a master and what is the relationship between those two, biblically speaking? What does the apostle say when he speaks of servants? And what does the apostle says about masters and the relationship that comes from servants and masters? Brothers and sisters, the word that we have servants in front of us is a word that belongs to a general category of the condition of the person in which a person, the servant, I said the servant, right?

The servant or the bond servant or the slave, has lost the ownership of self and the ownership of self has been transferred onto another person that is a master. And now the master has ownership over that person. So that person, the servant, the bondservant is the property of the master. And that context of the transferring of self, the ownership of self onto someone else, is a concept that the Bible does not only use in the physical and material world, but the Bible uses in the spiritual world. The transferring of the property of self to a new master is the way that Paul will describe our salvation, that we were in bondage to our sins, to our sinful natures, that we were servants or slaves or some translations will say bond servants to our sinful nature.

And when Christ comes by the power of his spirit, he takes us from the bondage to our sinful nature. And then we become slaves or servants or bond servants of righteousness. One bondage was unto death. The other bondage of righteousness is unto life. The Bible speaks of that relationship even to the point that many times when the apostles are writing and starting the letters, they will call themselves either servants or bond servants.

The apostle will say Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, or he will call himself a servant of Jesus Christ, or Jude will call him, say, a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude, the brother of the Lord, a servant of a bondservant or a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or even James will say, James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible speaks that a person can be a servant only of one master. Yet James says that he is a servant, a born servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first time that I read that, I realized the singularity of the Lordship of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as a single master over the life of James. The Bible speaks of that relationship of a person whose life, whose being has been taken. And now another person, a master is the owner. of that. But brothers and sisters, what does the Bible say about the social context of a servant?

What that Scripture says about the social context of servants and masters, and this is very important for us to understand, if we are going to understand the exhortation that Apostle Peter is going to give us, because it goes beyond the social context of a servant or a slave or a bondservant in the Bible, goes beyond the fact that this person has moved or has changed the ownership that he has of self and given it to a master who is now the owner of the servant. And there is a very beautiful teaching in Mark 10 in which the Lord Jesus Christ is going to give to the disciples, to his 12 disciples, a spiritual instruction about the kingdom of God that he is going to use the analogy of the relationship of servants and masters, and by analyzing what the Lord Jesus Christ does there in Mark 10, this is going to give us a little bit of a social perspective of what a servant, or what a bondservant, or what a slave is You might remember when James and John were discussing about the glory of the Lord and they came to the Lord Jesus Christ and they were going to request something to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they say, is there any chance that I can sit at the right hand of your throne in glory and that the other one may sit at the left hand side of your glory, of your throne, of your kingdom? And the Lord Jesus Christ says to them, Would you be able to drink of the cup that I'm going to drink? Would you be able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm going to be baptized?

And they say, yes, we are able to drink of the cup that you're going to drink. And yes, we're going to be able to be baptized with the baptism that you will be baptized. And the Lord agrees that they will indeed take of the cup and they will be baptized with that. But however, the Lord Jesus Christ is something very interesting there. It is not mine to give you to sit to the right or to the left, because this has been prepared for those who have been already appointed for that.

Once the Lord gives that answer to the disciples, the disciples will come among them and they will start to argue among themselves. We have John and James that had this discussion of hierarchy of power. They wanted to be high in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, so the other disciples We're not happy about it. So they start to discuss when the Lord Jesus Christ sees the disciples that they are discussing and arguing about the question that James and John had brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, then he's going to give them a teaching, not only a spiritual teaching about hierarchy and about authority, but the Lord is going to use this analogy of masters and servants that will tell us, biblically speaking, the social status of servants and masters according to what the Bible says only. He says, you know that among the Gentiles, there are many rulers who are the first ones.

And these rulers of the Gentiles, they lord it over the Gentiles. That is, they have power over the Gentiles. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying there in Mark 10, verse 42. Then he says that among those rulers of the Gentiles, who have power over the Gentiles, there are great ones. There are great ones and these people exercise authority over the Gentiles.

That among the Gentiles there's rulers and the great ones and they exercise authority over the ones that are guided, that is the Gentiles. But then he says, this will not be among you. This will not be among you. The one who wants to be great will have to be the least. And then the one who wants to be the first will have to be a servant.

If you want to be great in the kingdom of Christ, then you are supposed to be a servant or a bondservant or a slave. If you want to be the first one in my kingdom, then you are supposed to be a servant, a bondservant, a slave. That's why the Son of Man came to this world, not to be served, but to serve others and to lay down his life as a ransom for many. That's the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, brothers and sisters, if in the spiritual kingdom, those who want to be great, those who want to be the first one are to be bond servants or slaves, that means that a bond servant or a slave in the secular world was the least, was the last one, was the lowest of society.

And I didn't know how to press this point on you, but other than Scripture, because there is nothing close to our status in this social world that will place us in a similar condition than the slaves of the first century. The first century was the last one, was the least one. In society, everyone was above them. Everyone was to be everything except a slave, except a bondservant, except a servant in whatever means. They were the least ones.

So, brothers and sisters, when Peter was telling these people, that they were not supposed to be conformed to the passions of the former ignorance. When Pyrrhus was telling to these, the ones that were the least in society, the smallest, the last one in society, when he was telling them that they were sojourners and exiles of this world, that they were the peculiar people of God, that they were the chosen race of God, that they were the special people of God, that once they had not received mercy, but now they have received mercy, that they are sojourners of this world, that they do not belong to this world. The question that would have come to their minds is, but why? Why if we are the precious people of God? Why if we are the chosen race of God?

Why if we are the holy nation of God? Why are we in the state that we are? Why are we the least of society? If we are so precious for this God, why are we there? Why are we to submit to someone who is even wicked or unrighteous?

That question would have come into the mind. So when we ask ourselves, why would Peter address after addressing the governing authorities, address then the servants? It comes, of course, from the context of the letter. But pay attention even more closely to verse 16. In verse 16, before addressing the servants, brothers and sisters.

Paul is going to, or Peter better, He's now giving an instruction to all Christians. Live as people who are free. Now, brothers and sisters, these servants of verse 18, they were not free. They did not have freedom. Themselves were the property.

They were the property of someone else. Their masters, the apostle is saying, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living, and now he says, as servants of God. God, they would have rejoiced in the fact that they were indeed servants, bond servants, slaves of God in righteousness unto life. But when they saw themselves and their immediate reality, the temporal reality, not the spiritual dimension of who they were, but when they saw themselves, they would have seen themselves as people who were not free. And the temptation of the flesh and the temptation of Satan and the temptation of darkness would have been to them to rebel against their masters.

To try to obtain that freedom that Peter had just given us or told us about. Not to obey, not to submit in the way that they were supposed to submit, that whatever would have come into their hearts would have been precisely just to think about find freedom and liberation from all of that. Now, do not get me wrong. The Bible speaks very clearly that freedom for these slaves was an option. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, when the Apostle Paul is speaking about the state in which a Christian comes to, the faith is the state in which he or she is to remain.

If a person is circumcised and that person comes to be a Christian or is saved, then that person is to remain circumcised. Impossible to change, but that person is to be circumcised in the law. If a person is not circumcised, uncircumcised, then that person is not supposed to be circumcised. But when the apostle then addresses to the slaves or to the servants or to the bondservants in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, he says that if you are a slave or a bondservant or a servant and you become a Christian, you are not supposed to mind those. things, but if it's possible, he says, try to find freedom from that state.

If possible, try to find freedom from your master. Why they are not supposed to mind their state? Because they have now become bond servants or slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ, that even if they have to remain as servants of men, they have a greater and higher king who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what is supposed to give them peace and rest upon their souls. So the Bible does give servants, at least in this present context here, the context of 1 Peter, it gave them the possibility for them to become free if that was the condition, but brothers and sisters, Many of them would not have the possibility of release from that condition of not being free, of being bond servants or slaves.

So that people, when they heard from the mouth, from the writings of the Apostle by the Holy Spirit, is speaking about freedom and this glorious condition of this kingdom that we do not belong to. And when they saw themselves in their immediate reality and all the afflictions that they were going through, Doubt and temptations would have come into their heart. So then the Apostle is going to address the circumstances of these servants. So he starts saying, servants. be subject to your masters now brothers and sisters you see that in verse 18 16 you have the word servants of god and then in verse 18 you have another again the word servants but in english as i said this is a category this is a concept of this type of people who are the property of the master the mastery has ownership over this type of people and the word servant that is using verse 16 is speaking of this general condition But when the apostle is going to give instructions in verse 18, he is going to even address a more particular type of servants, a more particular and detailed type of servant.

These are household servants. These were not just servants or bondservants or slaves in a general sense, but these were slaves and bondservants that were living in the household with the master. This is very important, please. I know that all of these realities are so far from you because you have the freedom of going to one place to another. But this is the Word of God, beloved brethren.

And this is speaking not of historical realities. This is speaking of principles to the soul that transcend history for the soul of all Christians. The servants, the bond servants that the apostle is addressing in verse 18 are household servants. These are servants that were living with the masters. Remember when Cornelius in chapter 10.

He just received this vision from an angel of the Lord that Peter was going to come. He received that vision. Then he's instructed to send people to go and get Peter. What he does immediately is to get two of his servants and a soldier to go and look for Peter. Those two servants were servants that were living in his household.

This is very important, brothers and sisters. because servants that were living with the master in the house would have had access to the goodness of the master and also to those things that were really bad. Just think about the people that you live with. They know things of you that those who are outside of your house do not know. living in the house would have given these servants or these bond servants or these slaves access to information of the character of the master that all other type of servants would have had.

For that reason, the exhortation that the apostle is going to be given here is not so much focused on the submission of the obedience that they're supposed to the master, but rather the exhortation that the apostle is going to be given is about the treatment that these type of servants will receive from their masters. This is, again, exegetically speaking, and what I'm trying to say with the limitations of my words is very important. Why is this very important? Because in the New Testament, we find five, four or five exhortations that are given directly to servants to submit to their masters. Peter is the only one that is going to give an exhortation not to the immediate obedience, but to the result of it.

Again, because I explained this to my wife in the morning, and I think the limitations of my words did not allow me to explain this correctly. So I know that this may be confusing. Peter is a difference than Paul. Paul instructs servants to obey and to submit to their master. But Peter is going is going to go beyond the obedience that the person is supposed to have to their master.

And he's going to focus on the outcome, the potential outcome that the obedience to the master may have. Let me just show you a couple of verses and then you will understand what I mean. Go to Ephesians chapter six. And here we will have an exhortation of the apostle Paul to servants in their submission to their masters. Go to Ephesians chapter six.

And here is a parallel in topic passage that tells us or gives us information about this admission of bondservants to masters. This is Paul speaking of the same topic. Verse five, it says, bond servants in the general category, not the same type of bond servants that Peter is addressing. Bond servants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service, service with a good will, Ask to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bond-servant or is free." Brothers and sisters, Paul is focusing on the service, on the obedience that the person, that the servant is meant to have or offer to the Master.

This is the focus of the Pauline instruction, that they are supposed to obey, that they are supposed to do their service, not like unto men, but that they are supposed to do it unto God. If you go to Colossians 3, you will find a similar thing. Colossians 3, verse 22. Go to Colossians 3, chapter 3, verse 22. a parallel passage, directly parallel to Ephesians, then the apostle basically re-quoting himself.

He is going to give a clear instruction to the type of obedience that the bond servant is supposed to have. Verse 22, it says, bond servants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleases, but with good sincerity of heart. fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. And he continues in a similar manner as he has done it in the book of Ephesians.

Paul is giving an exhortation to the type of obedience that the servant is supposed before the master. But Peter does not focus on that alone. If you go back to the passage, then you can review 1 Timothy chapter 6 and also Titus chapter 2. All of them, in all of them, Paul addresses only the obedience that the servant is supposed to have to the master. Peter is going to go beyond that.

Peter is going to go beyond that. He is going to address, of course, the obedience that the servant is supposed to have. He says, servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. If you wanted to compare the Pauline instruction with the instruction of Peter, that will be the parallel and that will be the conclusion. Peter is saying to the servants that they are supposed to submit to the masters with all respect.

That word that is used there, respect, is the same word of fear that the apostle Peter has used in chapter 1 verse 14 through 16, speaking of the reverential fear that we are to have as Christians to God. So Peter is telling to the servants to obey the masters with all respect. And that's it. But then he's going to move a step forward or he's going to go beyond the nature of the obedience of the servant that he's going to speak about the potential outcome that they may receive because of that service to their masters. He starts by giving us the two type of potential masters that a servant can have.

He says, submit yourself or be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. So that means, brothers and sisters, that the servant can have two different types of masters, the unjust and the good and the gentle. Why is this important? This is, ecstatically speaking, this is very important, brothers and sisters, because the apostle is going to take an instruction given to the servants and then apply a principle that goes for all Christians. And now, because in your life there's no way that I could connect you with the reality of slavery or of bond servants and servants of the first century, because there's no way that I can take your mind or your heart and make you see those things, then It's my duty to show you the biblical principle from the words of God, because this is the principle that transcends and is given to the church, even if in contemporary society there is not a social figure such as a figure institutional or form of slavery.

He is going to give us a principle to the souls of brothers and sisters, the apostle is going to address In simple and plain words, from the limitations of my mind, the persecution of those who are subject to obedience to these masters when they do right things. Persecution, the persecution that may arise from the submission or from the subjection that servants may have to masters. Now, think about how the apostle is putting it here. He says, servants be subject to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. And then he's going to say something.

For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly. He has said that there is a master who is good and gentle and there is a master who is unjust. And he says, for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

He gives us the explanation in verse 20. For what credit is it? If when you sin and are beaten for it, because they were slaves, and if they did something wrong, then punishment was over them. So if they sin against their master, they were beaten for it. So the apostle says, what thing is it?

What credit is it? If when you sin and you're beaten for it, if you endure, But then he gives the contrast of that. He says, but if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. So he says, if you sin and your master beats you for that, punishes you for that, there is nothing in that because you deserve it. But if you do good, If you obey your master and then you suffer sorrow unjustly, then this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

The apostle is not addressing only submission to the masters. He's addressing the potential outcome that may arise or come because of the character of the master under which the servant was submitted. If the master was good and gentle, like a Christian master, like we see in First Timothy, chapter six, then probably the retribution of the reward that this servant would have received would have been good. So he was living in the household. He would have seen the master not only being kind and nice, but probably worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ together, even as a master and as a servant.

But if this was not a Christian or was an unjust master, he would have done potentially things in a good way, but he would have still received punishments and been beaten by these masters. So the Lord is going to or the apostle is going to use that situation to give us the glorious teaching to which I really want you to pay attention to. Because here he's speaking, continuing of his speaking of persecution. Remember, this is not only, I can't prove to you, not only from the context of the passes, but from the context of the letter. This letter has been written with the purpose of encouraging Christians who are under persecution.

And in the government type, he says, so that you might put to silence by your good deeds those who speak against you as evil doers. This is persecution in the social level. And now he's going to address the servants who are being persecuted by the righteous deed by their masters. Think about that. one of those servants, the least in society, the last in society.

They felt the worst in society. And not only that, they were living with a master and that master could have been an unjust master. And not only that, but he would have beaten them because of the things that they did. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they would have been beaten. What hope was for those servants.

This is the healing oil of the Word of God. The curing, the healing power of the Word of God is now going to be given by the mouth of the Apostle Peter, not only to them, but to those who are experiencing persecution. Because the Apostle is going to say three glorious things of that. And please pay attention to me. Bear with my words, beloved brothers and sisters.

He says in verse 19, For this is a gracious thing. Now pay attention to that word. when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. the ones that were enduring sorrow, well, suffering unjustly, this says, when mindful of God, when the mind of the person, it is focused entirely on the person of God, the just Judge, when the mind of the saint is utterly consumed and taken by the person who has saved him or saved her, when the mind of the person dwells entirely on the person of God, just as the prophet Isaiah says, that if we rest our mind in you, we have peace in our mind. that we can trust in Him.

When the mind of the person is set upon God, when the mind is full of God, if you want, then is when that person is able to endure suffering, even if it's unjust suffering. Brothers and sisters, there is no other way that a person can endure that which is not fair, that which is unjust, that which is completely against justice. But they have to, because that's the social or providential condition in which they are. There is no other way in which the Christian can afford and can go through all that tribulation and difficulty. If not, their mind is set completely upon God, if they are mindful of God, of who he is and what he has done.

And not only that, but what he says in the beginning of verse 19, for this is a gracious thing. In the end of verse 20, he repeats that. He says, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. What the apostle is saying, beloved brethren. is that when a person, in this case a servant, endures suffering, endures sorrow while suffering unjustly, that is that they did the right thing, but the master came and beaten them and punished them when they are suffering that sorrow, but they have done the righteous thing that they were supposed to do.

And when their mind is consumed by God that enables them to Go through that, that this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. I don't know if it's difficult for you to swallow that, but this is the Word of God. It says in other versions that it is approved that you find favor in the sight of God. When mindful of God, you endure suffering for the righteous deeds that you have done. If you have committed sin, then the punishment that you deserve is fair and is just.

But if in the life that you have providentially, if you have to endure suffering and this is unjust, If you set your mind upon God and then you endure that suffering, then that suffering becomes a gracious thing in the mind of God. And why? Why? Because that's the glorious example that was given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, verse 21, it says, For to these you have been called.

For to this you have been called, not to be servants of masters, not to be submissive to masters. Yes, we are supposed to do all of those things, but what to which or to the purpose for which we have been called is because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow In his steps, brothers and sisters, the Apostle Peter is not calling these servants only to obey their masters. He is calling them to endure suffering when suffering is afflicted upon them because of the injustice of their masters. That by enduring the tribulations and the difficulties, this is a gracious and a good thing before the eyes of God. Why?

What empowers them to set their mind entirely in the person of God. But beyond that, not only in a theistic concept of God, but following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been called with that purpose. What is the purpose? To endure.

to persist, to continue, even in the midst of difficulties and tribulations, to continue. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for his people and then he endured and he gave us an example that is to be followed. The steps of the Lord are supposed to be followed and the steps that are to be followed are given us in five different items that go from verse 22 to verse 23. It can be summarized, brothers and sisters, the example of Jesus Christ given to the church of enduring in the midst of unjust punishment or the example of Christ to persist and to continue in the midst of suffering that is inflicted upon us by unrighteous people The Apostle is going to give us five elements of this example of Christ that are, of course, attached to the holiness and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, you and I, we make lots of mistakes and we sin many times.

And because of our sin, there's some punishment, or there's some retribution, or there's some certain things that come as the consequence. of our errors that come as the natural consequence of our sins, even if it's to someone that we are submitted to in obedience or someone that we are under or an authority that we are under. We make mistakes and those mistakes deserve a certain way of punishment or retribution. But the example that the Apostle is going to give us is the holy and yet faithful example of the Lord Jesus Christ that says that He committed no sin, that He was just, that He was righteous. He submitted to all the unrighteous authorities.

He submitted to all the sinful authorities of the time, yet He committed no sin. Yet in his mouth deceit was not found. No lies were found in the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. When people reviled him and accused him of particular things, he did not revile them in return. His mouth was closed like the sheep that is taken to the slaughter.

He accepted the providence and the decree of God under the circumstances that he was placed into by the glorious decree of God. He did not sin. He was righteous and perfect. He did not lie. There was not deceit in his mouth.

He did not revile against those who reviled him. And when he suffered, He did not threatened in return. He had the might and the power to call upon these people, thousands and thousands of angels who will revenge what they were doing against him. Yet he was silent. He was entirely silent, enduring the suffering, the unjust suffering that was afflicted upon him.

How did he do it? He did it. by continuing entrusting himself to him who judges justly. His mind, he was mindful of God to the point that he said, not my will, but your will be done because you are the just Judge, the one that is going to secure justice upon all of these things, and because he was enduring, not because of the joy that was there by removing himself from the suffering, but the joy that was placed ahead of completing the work that the Father had sent him to complete, by completing that work, by going through the suffering, the unjust suffering of the suffering servant. He would have obtained not only the ultimate joy for himself as the second person of the Trinity of accomplishing the work that the Father had given him before the foundation of the world of setting for himself a people that will be united to him in the glory that is to come, but also for the sake of the church that he loved.

because the endurance of the Savior is the example that is given to the church for endurance, brothers and sisters. Imagine what the Bible calls us to do, not in the category of servants to masters, but the nature of endurance is that if even the affliction that is being afflicted upon us, it is unjust, then the eyes and the mind of the Christian can be turned in confidence entirely to the person of God, as He has given us the example of the person of Jesus Christ. And that empowers us, brothers and sisters, not only to endure in a passive way, the affliction that we receive or that we may receive, but rather righteously enduring because he calls us to do good in the same way that he calls us to submit to the governing authorities and to do good. And the good deeds will be the means by which the mouth of the ones that speak evil against us will be the means by which this will be stopped. Then righteous deeds for the servants is the way that they will endure for the glory of God.

Brothers and sisters, may He give us grace to all of these things, because as our brothers say, lest we forget. the things that God has done for us, lest we forget what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, that once tribulations and difficulties come, that once persecution comes, that we may place our mind in our immediateness, in our efforts, in order to try in our own means and strength to overcome the difficulties, and that we may remove ourselves and our mind from God Himself. Biblically speaking, the only way that the Christian can endure unjust affliction, it is by following the example of Christ, not in a legalistic way, by apprehending by faith, by entrusting ourselves to God, just as the Lord Jesus Christ did, entrusting ourselves utterly and completely to the one who judges justly. The one that is to come is going to give to the ones that deserve according to their works and according to their deeds. The one that is going to come and is going to judge the living and the dead.

The one that is going to come and make a separation between those who are in Christ and those who are not in Christ. The one that is going to come and is going to be the justifier of the ungodly by the glorious message of the gospel. The one that is going to come and that is going to give some eternal life because of their union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to others is going to give eternal condemnation because of the rejection of the gospel and their sins, and is going to be proclaimed as the just and the justifier that no unrighteous thing will be found in him because he is righteousness indeed, brothers and sisters. Pain, just think about this. The pain and the tribulations and the emotions that we may go through.

can be managed, spiritually speaking, by placing our mind and our heart entirely in God and the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, that our mind may meditate day and night in the words of God, and the ego may give fruit in due season, that our heart may be directed to the ways of God and not to the ways of men, that we may rejoice in the glorious workings of the operations of Christ's work, and that we may see Him and may desire from the depths of our soul to walk after Him." This is the healing, the curing oil that the Word of God is given to these slaves that were going through that tribulation and that difficulty. May He give us grace to apply the same. Amen.