WWUTT 321 That You Might Follow In His Steps?

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Jesus set for us an example, and that when He was reviled, He didn't revile in return. When He suffered,

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He did not threaten, but He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

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And so should we, when we understand the text. You are listening to When We Understand the

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Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God.

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For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're going to be in 1 Peter 2, verses 13 through 25 again today, and I wish

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I had been a little bit more thorough with it when we were first looking at it Wednesday, because then we could have just done

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Wednesday, and then we would have been done with the section. I want to talk about wives and husbands in 1 Peter 3, but we'll spend tomorrow and Wednesday looking at chapter 3, verses 1 through 7.

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Let's come back again to 1 Peter 2. I'm going to read this whole section, verses 13 through 25. We'll come back through and talk about this again.

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Peter says, 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.

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For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

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Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover -up for evil, but living as servants of God.

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Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

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Servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

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For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

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For what credit is it if, 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.

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For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

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He committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

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When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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One of the reasons why I think it would have been better to cover all of this last week was because we were also looking at 1

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Peter 2 verses 11 -12, or verses 11 and 12, which are in context with what we begin talking about here in verse 13.

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So if you're looking at the English Standard Version, then you'll notice that the section is broken up between verses 12 and 13.

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It says, submission to authority. In fact, most Bibles do this. Most English translations will break up the section between verses 12 and 13, showing that Peter is going into something new in verse 13, as talking about submission to authority.

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But that's not really what's happening here. It's very much in context with what we were looking at in verses 11 and 12, which also were in context with what we were looking at in verses 9 and 10.

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So this is one of those ways where having the little subtitle sections kind of do us a disservice here, because it gives us, in our mind, it makes us think that we're starting a new section, but it's very much in context with what we had just looked at.

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So once again, back in verse 9, Peter says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you would not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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So ultimately what Peter is telling us is this, we belong to the kingdom of God. And so our king whom we serve is

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Christ Jesus. We do not belong to this world. In fact, there is no authority in this world that has any greater authority than Christ whom we follow.

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So we are for the Lord's sake to be subject to every human institution.

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First of all, because every human institution has been established by God. We read that last week in Romans chapter 13, verse 1 also.

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But this is also so that we would not lead anybody else astray by our behavior.

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So if we keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable, then those who try to speak against us as evildoers, their accusations won't stick.

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Instead, they see our good deeds and they glorify God. What it is that we're doing is not to draw attention to ourselves.

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It's to give glory to God. That is so important when it comes to any kind of civil work that we do as Christians.

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The gospel must be ever present. It must always be proclaimed. It is great to do nice things for people.

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Yes, we should absolutely help the poor. Yes, we should absolutely defend the unborn and take a principled stance on that.

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Yes, we should absolutely love our fellow man and show them that living in a homosexual lifestyle will lead to destruction.

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It will lead to the wrath of God if they do not repent of that and come to the righteousness of Christ.

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These are different ways where we and our society can take a stand for the truth and lovingly call lost men and women away from their sin and toward the light of Christ so that they might hear the gospel and be called out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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The gospel must always be there. So if we're just feeding the poor, if we're just serving in the community, if we're just taking a stance on this, that or the other, what good does it do if we're not preaching a gospel that saves a person's soul from death?

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Otherwise, we're just making life comfortable for a few people for a little bit of time. But in the end, it's not going to save them.

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A more civil society does not save anybody. It is the gospel that saves.

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And so we're not out to solely change the culture, although we can do that. It is the way that we charitably love one another.

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Paul said to the Galatians, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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In Proverbs chapter 31, it is said that we must speak up for the mute and defend the rights of the destitute.

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So these are wonderful things for us to do as Christians, and we display the love that we have for those who have been made in the image of God.

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But again, the gospel must always be there. Michael Horton wrote a book called

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Christless Christianity, and in that book, he offers the following vignette. What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city?

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The first frames in our imaginative slideshow probably depict mayhem on a massive scale, widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshippers dragged off to city hall.

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Over a half century ago, Donald Gray Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia's 10th Presbyterian Church, gave his

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CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took over a town in America.

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He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed. Pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other.

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There would be no swearing. The kids would answer, yes, sir, no, ma 'am.

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And the churches would be full on Sunday where Christ is not preached.

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That's what it would look like if Satan took over a town so we could make our society the most pristine

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Pleasantville society that we could possibly put together, but if Christ is not preached, then it's all for nothing.

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It would really be all for nothing. And our declaration of love would mean nothing if we are not loving enough to tell a person the truth.

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You are dying in your sins and your transgressions. In fact, Ephesians chapter two describes you as already dead.

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You are dead in your sins. You must turn from your sinfulness to Christ who died for our sins and came back from the grave so that not only would we receive the forgiveness of sins by the shedding of his blood as an atoning sacrifice, absorbing the wrath of God on the cross, but we would also receive his life, his eternal life.

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And we have become fellow citizens in the kingdom of God, heirs, fellow heirs to the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord, as we had read about at the beginning of first Peter chapter one, verse four, that in Christ we have been given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven for you in Colossians chapter three, verse one.

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If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And Paul said to the

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Philippians Philippians chapter three, verse 20, but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

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Our citizenship is in heaven. And Paul says this to a group of people who are proud

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Roman citizens, but they needed to remember that their freedom, their deliverance, their eternal treasure and reward, their their eternal home was not going to be in the

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Roman empire. It was going to be in heaven. Thank God it's not in the Roman empire. Thank God it's not here in the

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United States. You know, it is OK for you to be a proud citizen of whatever country you live in.

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You can be a proud American. You can be a proud Canadian. You can be proud to live in Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, wherever I have listeners, wherever you are listening to this

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Bible teaching from. You can be proud of the country that you live in. That's OK. But use the rights that you have as a citizen of that country to preach the gospel.

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Paul used the rights that he had as a Roman citizen to make sure that the gospel was going to be preached.

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He even used those rights to appeal to Caesar so that he might get a free trip to Rome. Now, granted, it was on a slave trip, but it was a slave ship rather.

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But it was it was a free trip nonetheless to Rome that he would be able to preach the gospel from the capital city of the world.

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Paul used his rights so that the gospel would be proclaimed. And so let us use the freedoms that have been given to us for that very purpose.

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Every human institution has been established by God. So for the

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Lord's sake, we must be subject to those institutions, not trying to stir up uprising or cause a disruption, but using every opportunity that is given to us to proclaim the gospel of Christ.

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That's ultimately what our objective should be, is declaring the gospel.

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Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God, that's first Peter 2, 16.

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Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God. But honor the emperor as though as though Peter is adding on that.

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But remember that we began here as we as we're flowing through the letter, we began by reading you're a chosen race, you're a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation.

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You're a people for his own possession. Ultimately, we belong to Christ. And there are going to be men and women in this world that are going to persecute us for belonging to Christ.

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But what do we have to fear from them? I mean, what was the apostle Paul's reaction whenever somebody would threaten him and say that that, you know, hey, if you don't stop preaching the gospel, we're going to kill you.

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Paul's going fine. I get promoted to live as Christ to die as gain. Go ahead. And so then then you got everybody, you know, the

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Pharisees and others who are persecuting him, getting together, going, oh, well, we can't promote him. So what can we do?

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There was just nothing that you could do to keep the guy down. We're going to throw you in prison. Fine. Give me a hymnal.

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I'll convert your guard. I'll convert all the prisoners. Let's let's do this thing. OK, this is the way that our behavior and our response should be in the world.

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I know that's easier said than done. But you are filled with courage in the face of a violent man when you fill yourself up with the word of God, when we are filled with the hope and the promises of God in this imperishable kingdom that nobody can take away from us, when we know that when this body is dead, that we're going to live in a kingdom that no one can take from us, where there is no more dying, no more tears, no more pain, no more murder, no more evil, none of these things.

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And no one can take that from us because it is secure in Christ Jesus. Then what do we have to fear of any man?

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Why would anything stop us from boldly proclaiming the gospel of Christ when that truth is so evident to us in our hearts and in our minds?

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So let's keep going here. First Peter, chapter two. Now, verse 18, servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

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And that's a pretty controversial verse, especially when your translation might even say slaves be subject to your masters.

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And we tend to think of slavery in an American Civil War kind of mindset. OK, the

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Civil War that was fought 1861 to 1865 between the North and the South over the right to own slaves.

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And you think about slavery in the context of United States, those who would be beaten by their masters, by unjust masters.

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There were some just masters. There were some unjust masters. It was an it was an unjust system entirely.

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The slavery that was evident or present in the United States from its very inception.

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And yet Peter would be saying here that we would be subject even to a brutal master, for this is a gracious thing.

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Peter goes on to say, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

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He gives further explanation for this. OK, he doesn't just leave it as a statement to have everybody go, what are you serious?

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I have to sit here and get beat by my unjust master. He explains, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

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But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

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So not only is this statement being made in terms of the relationship between a servant and a master, but this is also given in the same context of how we are supposed to be subject to every human institution.

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Subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake, so there are going to be just societies and there are going to be unjust societies.

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And yet in no way does the Bible motivate us toward some kind of an uprising against the culture or the society that is not ever communicated in the scriptures.

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Rather, we need to be subject even to wicked rulers because God has appointed those rulers for a reason.

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And we are subject first and foremost to God, knowing that he is sovereign and everything is still happening according to his plan.

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And so we must trust in the Lord even when a wicked ruler should rise up, knowing that God is still on his throne and he is still in control.

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So we must be subject even to wicked rulers, just as servants would be subject to wicked masters.

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Verse 21, for to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.

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He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. That can be said about Christ and it cannot be said about us.

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Verse 23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

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We are going to live under unjust judges and rulers and masters on this earth.

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It is God who judges justly. It is him. It is to him that we are to be submissive.

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He was submissive to the will of God, to the glory of God, the father, as is talked about in Philippians 2, 11.

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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So don't live in a sinful, violent, uprising way to try to, you know, disrupt civil society in some way, thinking that that is how the gospel progresses.

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Because when we take matters into our own hands, we're actually showing that we're not trusting

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God. We need to trust him and and imitate Christ, do the things that Jesus did.

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When he was reviled, he didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to God.

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, no longer living in sinful ways, but living in the righteousness of Christ.

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By his wounds, you have been healed. That's Peter quoting from Isaiah. For you were straying like sheep, also

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Isaiah, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

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How does Psalm 23 begin? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

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There's not even anything from this world we want because we know that the world cannot satisfy.

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There's nothing from any government or culture or society on this earth that we can want more than what has been promised us in the eternal, righteous kingdom of God.

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That is everything that we could ever want or hope for or imagine. So let us continue our hope in Christ, not an expectation or a hope for things in this world which are perishing and wasting away and are going to melt with fire on the day of judgment.

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Let me keep reading. Okay, Psalm 23 is just so great. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

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He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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We've seen that talked about here. We are dead to sin and alive to the righteousness of Christ.

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He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake, again, to the glory of God.

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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff.

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They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

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My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the

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Lord forever. God, as we wrap up this study here, being reminded again of the promises of God, being reminded of the instructions that are given to us to be subject for the

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Lord's sake to every human institution, not that we should advance ourselves or promote ourselves, but that we would declare the gospel, the freedoms that have been given to us, that we've been afforded by the respective governments under which we live.

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We have those rights and those freedoms to be able to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let us not waste that opportunity, but make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.

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Thank you for this wonderful reminder also in the Psalms that we have nothing more than we could want than what is given to us in Christ.

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Every good, great, perfect, precious thing that has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

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It's in these things that we rejoice and we celebrate and worship you daily, constantly reminded of our hopeful expectation in this perfect, imperishable kingdom that is that is already been given to us.

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And we are just waiting for the day that the Lord calls us home. We pray and ask for a continued steadfastness in the faith that is given to us in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, WWUTT .com and click on the

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Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.