On Suffering Well - [1 Peter 2:18-25]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes, as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. I would invite you to take a

Bible and open it to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2, as we'll be there this morning.

I was in Colorado for a few days this week. In fact, it was a busy week, but I saw something that just struck me as, you know, two things that should not go together.

I don't know, maybe like cheesecake and spam or something, you know, just two things that really don't work.

As I was driving around, I saw a Christian bookstore, and in the same building, right next to it,

Psychic Reader. And I thought, well, in some cases, maybe they're not so different. Look at some of those books that they sell in Christian bookstores.

But I thought, here's a place where you can find the truth, and here's a place where you're only going to get lies. The Psychic Reader also had a little sub thing on their sign that said, walk -ins are welcome.

And I thought to myself, but are they a surprise? See? That would be bad. But I thought, here's a couple things that don't go together, along with spam and cheesecake.

Don't ask me where that came from. My childhood, maybe. Victimhood and Christianity.

Being redeemed by the blood of the lamb, and yet being a victim. Those two things are incongruent in my mind.

They don't really make sense. Oh, sure, you can be the victim of a crime. You can be the victim of some injustice that demands the government intervene.

And that's what our government and our court system are for. But these days, it seems like there's a race to claim victim status, to claim victimhood, to be less, you know, to portray yourself as a victim.

And I think we're going to see this morning that that's not the goal that Peter would set forth by the power of the

Holy Spirit. That when difficulty comes, we shouldn't be thinking about our victim status.

We should be thinking about our salvation status. Let's look at 1

Peter, chapter 2, verses 18 to 25. And I'll start by reading that text.

1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 18 to 25. 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 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.

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.

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 continued 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 straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

First Peter was written to Christians who lived in Asia Minor. In fact, if we looked at the beginning of the letter here, we would see that they are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.

Those are just sections of Asia Minor. And Peter wrote this to encourage

Christians who were going to be persecuted and were even beginning to experience persecution.

And he exhorted the readers in chapter two to lay aside sin and pursue sanctification through the pure milk of the word of God.

These believers, Peter wants to assure them, are precious in God's sights.

They are part of his spiritual house, as it were, in which they form a holy priesthood and offer spiritual sacrifices.

Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this house. And he is rejected by unbelievers, but he is precious to believers.

Believers, Peter says, are to do good, honor everyone, love other Christians, fear

God and honor their rulers. There's so much doctrine in First Peter.

When we think his purpose is to encourage those who are being persecuted, and yet he gives them doctrine.

I think there's a message in that for us. Doctrine is encouragement. Thinking rightly about God and about ourselves is encouraging.

And this morning, I want to encourage you. And I'm going to do that by giving you some doctrine. I have three truths about Jesus that will encourage you to handle persecution well.

Three statements that will help you in times of spiritual opposition by focusing your attention on Jesus Christ.

The first truth, Jesus is your master. Jesus is your master. And I have three sub points here, so try not to get confused.

Jesus is your master, main point. Then there are three sub points here. I want you to suffer as unto the Lord. Look at verse 18.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. Now, the word here, servants, is not doulos.

It's not bond servant, as we usually hear, or even slave. It really is the word for house servants.

These would be people who actually like maids and that kind of thing. They lived inside of the house.

They took care of the master of the house. And in fact, their quarters were really kind of nice.

It was like, you know, you wouldn't be ashamed, for example, for most of us anyway, if we had to clear the kids out of their room and let somebody else stay there.

We wouldn't think, oh, that's a horrible place to put them because our kids live there. And similarly, when the master of the house was entertaining, sometimes he would use those areas, the slaves' quarters, as their entertainment area.

So these were not really put upon slaves in the sense that we tend to think of slavery and slaves.

In fact, they were generally indistinguishable from the broader population. If they're walking out on the street, you wouldn't go, oh, that guy's a slave.

You wouldn't be able to tell because he would be well -dressed, well -spoken, well -educated. In fact, there was actually a law that was proposed in the

Roman Senate to have them wear a certain kind of clothing so that we could go, aha, that person is a slave, a servant.

But this was not a lowly position. Nevertheless, Peter instructs these believers to be submissive to their masters with all phobo in the

Greek, or fear, terror. And here it's just translated respect.

A little weightier, though, when you look at the Greek. And it's the same word if you just flip back over to chapter 1, verse 17.

Same word and same idea in 117. And if you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile.

Fear. It's not about fear of other human beings or fear of circumstances.

But a desire, right? If you think about it, if you call on him as father who judges impartially, you want to fear him.

The same idea in chapter 2, we're to walk in fear of our masters, not because of them, but because we want to respect the position they hold because it's given by God.

Now that word, masters, is interesting as well because it's the same word from which we draw our word despot.

Your boss, your master, as it were, could be an absolute despot, a tyrant.

The masters in the Roman Empire had virtually unlimited power over their slaves.

They were able to treat them like property, not people. And that's why when it says later on, hey, if you get beaten, if you physically suffer, what credit is it?

You know, et cetera, et cetera. Because they could actually do that under the law. And many were cruel.

Many of these masters were cruel. They could beat their servants for anything and sometimes they did.

Even so, sinning against their master would be sinning against the Lord. Why? Because God commands us to submit to those he has placed over us.

He has ordained that person in our life. Now let me ask you this, let's just put it in a modern context.

When we're at work, do people know that you're a Christian? And if they do, and you violate the rules of the workplace, if you slack off, if you leave early, if you steal material, steal pencils, steal paper, whatever, who does that reflect on?

Reflects on you, certainly. But ultimately, if people know you're a Christian and you do the same kind of things that they do, if you cheat, if you work around the edges and everything else, if you talk badly about the boss, that reflects on Christ.

That reflects on the one you name, that reflects on the one you say you love. This command to respect the master is not commissioned or conditioned on the fact that the boss is a nice guy.

Look at verse 18, second part of it. Not only to the good and gentle, in other words, you have a really super nice boss, but also to the unjust.

That word is the same word from which we get our word for curvature of the spine, scoliosis.

Means crooked, means unjust, unfair. Even if your boss is a crook, a tyrant, unreasonable, you are to submit to him.

Now, you know, there's obviously, there's going to be somebody sitting here thinking, well, what if my boss tells me to do something, he's a crook, he's unjust, he's not right, he's got curvature of the conscience, let's say.

What if he commands me to do something that's wrong, something that violates the law of God, something that violates the law of man?

Well, obviously, you can't do that. And you have to bear the consequences of that. But you are to submit, to array yourself under, to obey your boss.

Second sub -point, suffer with the Lord in mind, verse 19. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

And Peter broadens his aim here a little bit. He's not just talking about slaves and masters. That word one, it doesn't just apply to slaves, but it applies to any believer, any

Christian. If you're a Christian, suffering unjustly is commendable in the sight of God, if one is mindful of God while suffering.

In other words, if you're able to see your tormentor as more than a mere enemy, as more than a mere oppressor, and even as one who needs salvation, right?

It's one thing to say, I don't like my boss, I don't like what he's doing and everything else. It's another thing to say that he or she is lost.

He or she needs Christ. He or she needs to hear the gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you can do that, if you can separate it, if you can disambiguate the person from what they're doing to you, right?

And think about their need more than what the consequences of their actions are. This is a good thing, because you're thinking like God thinks.

Third sub -point, you also want to suffer to please the Lord. Look at verse 20. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, and we can't even recognize, we can't even identify with that.

We don't live in a world where you go to work and you get beaten. Most of us don't.

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 and good thing in the sight of God.

In other words, if your behavior merits punishment and you get punishment, what do you want?

That's what you deserve. But if you're doing good and you get wrongfully punished, and you endure, you're thinking rightly.

This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. What motivates you when you are treated unjustly?

What motivates you when you suffer unjustly? Is it revenge? You know, like I like to say, revenge is mine, sayeth the

Steve. Or, you know, another favorite saying of mine, it's not godly at all.

Don't get mad, get even. Right? These are not the way we should be thinking. That's sinful thinking.

Peter here echoes Jesus. Turn for a moment to Luke chapter 6.

Luke chapter 6. We think of all the times that Peter failed.

You know, we think he was the one who stuck his foot in his mouth. He was the one who acted rashly. He was the one who acted probably like most of us would if we were in the kind of situations that he was.

But it's interesting how he remembers. He remembered what

Jesus taught. And he then goes on to teach others. Right? This is discipleship. This is what you do.

Luke chapter 6 verses 32 to 35. If, and this is

Jesus speaking, if you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Same kind of language.

For even sinners love those who love them. Right? If you're treated rightly, you like the people who treat you rightly.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? There's no credit for that.

For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But verse 35, love your enemies and do good and lend and expect nothing in return.

And your reward will be great. When? Now? No. From your father in heaven and you will be sons of the most high.

For he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. We want to reflect the nature of God.

Back to 1 Peter chapter 2. Again, if you sinned and are punished, well, you deserve that.

Kids understand this. As children, if we do the wrong thing, we expect to be corrected.

But if we did not sin and we get punished, then what? Do we think I'm going to love my enemy?

Do we think I'm going to do good to that person? We ought to.

I mean, just imagine it this way. If God responded to us the way we are tempted to respond to others, what if he responded angrily every time he was sinned against?

We wouldn't like it very much. It's easy to respond with our emotions to injustice.

It's easy to think how we've been offended, how we've been wronged, how the other person has offended us.

It's more difficult to think that this is the will of God for me right now.

That's a really hard thing to think about, isn't it? Especially when we're surrounded by a society in which the prevailing thought is,

I want justice now. I mean, you turn on the TV, you see all these lawyers promising you justice for all the horrible things that have happened to you, whether it's a traffic accident or some drug or knee replacement or whatever.

How should we respond as believers to suffering? We have to lean on Christ to trust him to provide the strength we need.

We ought to think about our circumstances and think, OK, I don't like what's happening to me right now, and that's

OK. Why is it OK? Because these are the circumstances God has ordained. I know that Romans 8 .28

is still true. God works all things together for good, even things that I don't like. They work for my good and his glory.

In fact, in 1 Peter 1, Peter, again, when he's trying to encourage these people with doctrine, in verse three, he says,

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

So he caused me to be born again and he's granted me heaven. Can't be taken away from me.

And listen, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.

In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, the short period of time, this lifetime, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

It's not our best life now. Things are going to be difficult in time. But we need to accept the will of God for our lives, whether we like the circumstances or not, we need to keep in our minds that God's in control.

He's orchestrating everything. And he is shaping and molding us through all these trials.

Now, what about the suffering of others? We see someone else being oppressed and suffering. Well, we should encourage them and we have to intervene on their behalf.

That's fine. We want to relieve the suffering of other people.

That's good. But our first truth about Jesus, Jesus is your master.

We need to reflect on that when we're in times of difficulty and persecution. Our second truth is

Jesus is your example. Jesus is your example. Look at verse 21 to this.

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

Does it glorify the Lord when you suffer with the right attitude? Yes, it's your calling.

You've been called to this. The word of God, Peter says so. Many today call themselves

Christ followers, but they remind me of the disciples in John chapter six. Jesus starts teaching the different, the difficult doctrines, starts telling them how high the bar is to follow him, explains what it really means to be a

Christ follower. And what do they do? They leave. They depart. This is a hard saying.

Who can bear it? And they don't bear it. So they leave. But if Jesus suffered for you and you are a

Christian, which means that he did suffer for you, how can you expect to escape suffering?

Didn't Jesus himself tell us that we would suffer? Peter heard it in the upper room discourse.

A couple of passages in John. John chapter 13 verses 15 to 16.

Listen, Jesus speaking. He says, for I have given you an example. He's talking about the foot washing.

This is not suffering per se, but he says that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly,

I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Listen, you're not greater than me. Why would you expect to be treated better than me?

And listen, he underscores that and expands on it. John chapter 15. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. Now here comes the expansion.

If they persecuted me and they did and they will, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, in other words, if they believed me, they will keep yours also, or they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Listen, they can't get to Jesus anymore, but they can get to you. And they will.

Jesus suffered unjustly. Do you want to know why you suffer? Because you are called to do so, and because you are not greater than your master.

You are his servants. You are Jesus' servants, regardless of where you work, whatever you do.

If you're called according to Christ, then you belong to him, and you will not get treated better than he did.

Here's the reason that Peter covered earlier, talking about being tested by fire, and all these things, your faith, the genuineness of your faith.

Verse 7, So that the tested genuineness of faith, talking about these trials, more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

God will receive the glory for getting you through these trials. Jesus Christ will be glorified.

Now you see the Lord's faithfulness to you now in trials, and what does that do for you?

It increases your confidence in him. It increases your confidence that you actually belong to him.

You think, if I can get through this by the grace of God, by the power of the

Holy Spirit, then I do belong to him. It encourages our faith. We do follow in the master's footsteps, but we don't suffer anything like what he did.

He suffered more than any man ever did. One writer puts it this way, just talking about how we follow in his footsteps.

He says, As a child traces letters on a page, so the Christian traces the path of Christ.

You know, if you think about, and I get to watch my grandkids do this, if you think about how little kids try to trace things, and then, you know, you remove the trace paper, and you look at it, you go,

I guess I see the resemblance, and that's about what our life looks like compared to the life of Jesus, right?

We don't exactly follow his footsteps, but the general direction is similar. It's familiar.

We understand it. First truth about Jesus was Jesus is your master. Second one, he is your example.

He suffered. We will suffer. Third one,

Jesus is your savior. Jesus is your savior. Now, if you're supposed to honor

Jesus in how you handle persecution and suffering, and you're supposed to follow his example, and you fall a little bit short, maybe that applies to some of you.

Some of you don't respond well to trials or persecution. I have good news for you.

Where you have failed, he never did. And Jesus Christ alone is your righteousness.

Jesus Christ alone is your righteousness. He was sinless. Look at verse 22.

He committed no sin. This is Peter paraphrasing Isaiah 53 verse 9.

Jesus knew no sin. He committed no sin. And if you recall the testimony of the thief on the cross in Luke 23, one of the criminals, verse 39 to 41, one of the criminals who were hanged, railed at him.

They're all three on the cross there. And one of them says, are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear

God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.

And listen, but this man talking about Jesus has done nothing wrong. There are a number of illustrations about Jesus sinlessness that we can give.

But suffice it to say that since the fall, since the fall of Adam, there has never been a human being of whom it could be said, he did not sin.

In fact, what does the Bible say? All fall short of the glory of God, all sin and fall short of the glory of God, except for Jesus.

Our best days are still littered with sin. You know, even when we think we're doing really well, we're walking by the spirit's power.

If we look back and we thought and we could really examine critically everything that we do, we'd realize that we didn't have the proper motivation, that we weren't thinking about the glory of God.

We weren't doing all that we could to honor him and to love him. So our best days would still be minefields of sin.

We fail to do and to think as we're commanded to do. And then we think and do about what we're commanded not to do.

Right. But Jesus was sinless and therefore deserved no punishment.

And we can never say that he was not only sinless. He was without deceit.

Verse 22, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Still referencing Peter is

Isaiah 53. And not only did he not sin in deed or thought, but he never sinned with his mouth.

And I think this is one of the great challenges for any of us. And we know that by virtue of what the

Bible says about our mouths and about controlling them and about controlling the tongue. And if you think about it, could there be a better witness for the sinlessness of Christ, for the fact that he had perfect control over his mouth than his half -brother, the brother or James, his half -brother.

James 3, 2, he says this, for we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

I have to believe that he had Jesus in mind. If you could never stumble in anything you say.

Now, keep in mind during the course of Jesus' life, I would have expected, just based on my own life, that if I were going to start a movement,

I would want my family to be part of that. But his family was not. His brothers were not part of this, right?

In fact, they were obstacles. They were stumbling stones to him. But after his death, burial and resurrection, they come to faith.

So James, as he's reflecting over the course of Jesus' life, when he saw him almost daily before Jesus started his ministry, he had to think back and go, you know what,

I never saw him stumble in what he said. He had perfect self -control. He was able to bridle his whole body.

I think these words here in James 3, they feel like a testimony of the perfect control of Jesus' tongue.

And the Lord's own words, bear hearing as well in Mark 7 verse 15.

There is nothing outside, he's talking about what you eat, whether it can defile you or not. There's nothing outside a man that by going into him can defile him.

But the things that come out of a person are what defile him, what he says. Nothing ever defiled

Jesus. He was spotless, sinless, and undefiled, a model of self -control.

He produced nothing but the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And this is an area that's so difficult, our mouths, our language.

And I hear all kinds of excuses about why Christians say what they say. You know, it's their ethnic background that stops them from controlling their tongue.

It's what somebody else said that stops them from controlling their tongue. I mean,

I'm sure that if I asked for, you know, reasons, there'd probably be another 15 or 20. But aren't you thankful that you have a substitute, a savior who was perfect in this and in every other way?

No deceit in his mouth. Also, he did not retaliate. Verse 23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

Peter was an eyewitness to at least some of what he was subjected to, right?

I think about reviling in return, getting revenge. I think, you know, I was just doing some traveling.

There's a lot of traffic in Denver. This one guy came out of nowhere and just kind of like, all of a sudden,

I mean, within inches of my car, you know, it was just like right in front of me because he had to get in front of me. And I just thought,

I want revenge. I didn't, but I wanted to. He did not threaten.

Verse 23, when he suffered, he did not threaten. Now let's just look at, let's turn for a moment to Mark chapter 14.

Mark chapter 14. Talk about Jesus, how he did not retaliate, how he did not threaten.

Even though he was reviled, he suffered, he was mocked. He did none of those things.

Mark 14 verses 53 to 65. And they led

Jesus to the high priest. This is after he's arrested. And all the chief priests and the elders and scribes came together.

And Peter followed him at a distance. Peter's right there. Right into the courtyard of the high priest.

And was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death.

But they found none, nobody to come and testify about his evil doing. Because there was none.

For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not even agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him saying, we heard him say,

I will destroy this temple that is made with hands. And in three days, I will build another not made with hands.

Well, that's not what he said. Yet even about their testimony, yet even about this, their testimony did not agree.

And the high priest stood up in their midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make?

What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer.

Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said,

I am. And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with clouds of with the clouds of heaven.

And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy.

What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face.

And to strike him, saying to him, prophesy. And the guards received him with blows.

They beat him. No sin. And yet punished.

Peter was also present when Jesus was arrested. In fact, Peter acted rashly, if you recall, taking out his sword, cutting off the right ear.

So Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me?

In other words, I'm going to obey the father. He said in another passage that his kingdom was not of this world.

This wasn't about a force of arms. This wasn't about having his way.

This was about submitting to the father's will. Jesus had the power at any point to stop the whole sham.

But he did not because he was determined to finish the work the father had given him. He did trust the father.

There were things he did not do, but he did trust the father. Look at verse 23, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Didn't complain about his circumstances. If you think about what he did, he knew that Judas was going to betray him, right?

He told the disciples that he knew he was going to be crucified, told them he was going to be crucified.

So what did he do? Did he try to escape that? No, he did the father's will from the birth to the cross.

He never did anything that did not please the father. He trusted the father entirely.

He also suffered for our sins. Look at verse 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.

Peter says that Jesus took our sins upon himself. Whose sins?

Our sins. Peter was writing believers. So the sins of everyone who would ever believe.

Why? Because our sins had to be paid for in order that we might receive the righteousness of Christ.

We need that righteousness. We need our sins removed. Yes. But we need them removed so that we can receive the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Peter used the metaphor of a tree. And that's exactly what we would see from Deuteronomy 21, 22.

And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and that's what he was accused of. And he is put to death.

And you hang him on a tree. Cursed. That's the curse. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

That's Galatians. Jesus committed no crime. But all of our cosmic treason, our high crimes, were placed upon him as he hung on the cross.

He also suffered for our sins that we might die to our old selves. Look at verse 24, second part of it.

That we might die to sin. Our sins were placed on him on the tree that we might die to sin.

We emphasize the gospel quite a bit and rightly so. That is the good news because we can't and do not contribute to it.

Nevertheless, there is a purpose in the gospel. There's a purpose for Jesus dying for our sins.

And it's beyond just merely being forgiven. We are set free from the penalty of sin.

And we are also set free from the power of sin. Jesus said, whom the son sets free is free in deed.

Paul writes in Romans chapter 6 that you were slaves of sin, but now you are slaves of righteousness.

Might die to sin. Might put it off. Might be done with it. He also suffered for our sins that we would live righteously.

Look at verse 24, third section. Look at it again. And live to righteousness.

We put off sin. We put on righteousness. We're right in Ephesians 4 territory. Put off sin, put on righteousness.

From the moment we are regenerated, from the moment of salvation, the process of sanctification being remade, reshaped into the image of Christ begins.

Putting off sin, putting on righteousness. A self -professing Christian with many years of professing, maybe even some ministry, and that person has no spiritual growth, is virtually indistinguishable from an unbeliever.

What would we say about that person? That person is either self -deluded, or they could be in a season of sin which beclouds their mind, their judgments.

But such things should not be the pattern of Scripture. And as Peter describes it in 1

Peter is plain. Born again, nurtured by the Word, the pure milk of the Word, and growth results.

It's inevitable. Why? Because the Holy Spirit does not fail. He starts a good work, and He continues it.

Jesus also died for our sins, because, verse 24 again, by his wounds you have been healed.

Now some mistake this as a physical healing, and, you know, do all sorts of claiming and whatnot.

But this has to do with spiritual healing. In other words, because of our sin we are spiritual wrecks.

We're spiritually dead. We are wretches, children of wrath. But Jesus brings healing to our souls.

We are no longer children of wrath, the spiritual corpses found in a morgue.

We are children of God. We've been adopted into His family. We're His beloved children because we are in Christ, because Christ died for our sins.

Christ also died for our sins so that we would be saved. Verses 25, or look at verse 25.

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

This is so great. We say, we ask, what did you bring to your salvation when we baptize somebody? The answer is nothing but sin.

And here Peter says, straying. That's what I brought to my salvation, straying. I was wandering off.

I didn't want anything to do with God. What do sheep do when they stray from the flock?

They just lay down somewhere. They realize they're lost and they just lay down. We're not even that smart. I mean, you know, the comparison of us to sheep is kind of an insult to sheep as unbelievers.

It really is. It's an insult because unbelieving people don't just lay down there and wait for God to rescue them.

They just, you know, devolve into sin and more depravity. And before we were saved, we wandered into as much depravity as God allowed us to wander into.

And then he went and sought us. He retrieved us. We didn't come running to Christ until the

Holy Spirit granted us the legs to do it as it were. We return to the shepherd, the overseer of our souls.

Why? Because of the sovereign working of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father draws.

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and regenerates. And Jesus himself draws them. Again, the imagery from Isaiah is just overwhelming.

And in verse 25, listen to Isaiah 53, 6. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. We do what is right in our own eyes. And the

Lord has laid on him, on Jesus Christ, the iniquity of us all. Jesus is the good shepherd.

He's the overseer of our souls. All who belong to him are his sheep, his flock.

They're precious in his sight. He died for them. So when you face persecution, are you a victim?

Are you suffering? You might be suffering, but you're not a victim.

How can you suffer? Well, by remembering these things, it's almost like I want you to preach the gospel to yourself because I do.

Jesus is your master. You belong to him. Jesus is your example. Follow him. Jesus is your savior.

Rest in him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the

Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his perfect life, his death, his resurrection.

We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that in time you caused us to heed it, to hear it, to love it, to treasure it.

Father, now let us apply it every single day in every circumstance of life to think rightly about our circumstances, to not view ourselves as the world would view us, but to view ourselves as you view us, beloved children, those for whom

Christ died and suffered and bled on that tree.

We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.