The Saviours Sufferings the Saints Theirs — Willie Mullan

Well, the teacher, chapter 2, and going through from verse 18 to the end of the chapter. Before I begin, can I point out next Tuesday's subject? And we'll be going through from chapter 3, verse 1, to the end of verse 6.

And it's all about wives, the subject, not a woman's meeting, mind you. Because I need your husband here with you. And those who haven't got a husband but are looking for one, we need you too, because sooner or later you'll be one of the wives.

Talking about wives being subject to their own husbands. Talking about wives winning their husbands who have not paid. Talking about how women should be attired. Yes. Lots of things in that little paragraph next week, and we'll take them one by one and phrase by phrase.

And you'll find out what a holy woman, a daughter of Abraham, should be like. Have a good read of it now, from verse 1 to verse 6 for next week. But without this great paragraph, beginning at verse 18 in the second chapter, and going right through to the end.

Christ’s National and Atoning Sufferings

And if you've been looking through this or reading it over, you will know by now that Peter is doing two things here. First, he's showing us the saviour of his sufferings. I think he does this in a very remarkable way, because, first of all, he lets us see the national and the social sufferings Christ has in the nation.

Yes, the nation at times reviles him. And we'll get into these national sufferings of Christ. But then Peter goes a little bit further with the sufferings of Christ. He doesn't only deal with his national sufferings, he deals with his atoning sufferings.

And atoning sufferings were not at the hands of men at all. They were at the hands of God. And you know, when we begin to look into this great and mighty subject of Christ's suffering at the hands of God to make atonement, well, we find that the depth is immeasurable here.

In fact, the atoning sufferings of Christ are utterly unspeakable. It's something that we cannot truly toss them. None of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through.

There is found the sheep that were lost. Mrs. Alexander was perfectly right when she wrote that great hymn in very cathedral so long ago, there is a green hill far away. She wrote this wonderful verse, We do not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear, for we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there.

If we can never soften this, it's beyond us. No wonder the hymn writer in one of the hymns prayed, Oh, make me understand it, help me to take it in what it meant to be the Holy One. Bear away our sin.

And in the part of this paragraph this evening, Peter lets us see the Savior and his suffering. And then in the other part of the paragraph, Peter takes up this great line of doctrine and truth, and lets us see the saints, the believers of this day and hour.

He lets us see the saints and their sufferings. And it is always so that when you begin to balance your sufferings against the Savior's sufferings, your suffering is just light affliction, which is but for a moment.

That's what it is. People come down and see a few old windows knocked out. What does it really matter? That fear doesn't even count. That is nothing at all. Not a single thing about that. So this is how this great paragraph is divided this evening.

The Savior and his sufferings. The saints and their suffering. And he begins this paragraph with an expectation to obedience. He exhorts the presence of God to obedience. We're at verse 18 and we're going to look at this expectation.

Christian Obedience and Respect for Authority

Peter says, presence. Can I stop at the word for the moment? It's an old Greek word. It's a very old one. And in some of the old translations, the word is slaves. And I honestly think it should be rendered slaves because he's talking to slaves.

Remember, in the day and hour when Peter was writing this wonderful letter, some of the saints scattered throughout Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia. And these are the saints that he's writing to, you remember, in the first chapter and the first verse.

So the saints are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia. Some of the saints were slaves then, because slavery was really being practiced in a big way in many of the nations. And some of the saints were slaves in some of these rich and wealthy homes.

And it is to these believers that he's directing his word just now. He's saying, slaves, be subject to your masters with all fear. And I want you to get the word fear into its proper perspective. You remember we finished with verse 17 last week, Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God.

And it isn't a word that means that you get into a corner and cover your head to defend yourself in case God strikes you. It isn't that kind of fear. It's an old word that means reverence for God. And when we apply the same word to men or masters, we mean respect for men.

And those slaves were being taught that they were to be subject to their masters with all respect. And I think, you know, that this is something that Christian church would need to be taught again, to be respectful to their employers.

I think we need that. You know, the pendulum has swung a good bit these last few years. And I think employers need a certain amount of respect from Christians. Because if you are, if they were slaves, they were Christian slaves.

And if you are an employee somewhere, you happen to be a Christian employee. And that makes all the difference. We were distinguishing between Christian policemen and ordinary policemen last week. And if you happen to be a butcher, you happen to be a Christian butcher.

And if you happen to be a carpenter, you happen to be a Christian carpenter. And if you happen to be a postman, you happen to be a Christian postman. And that makes a vast difference, you know. And there should be respect for employers among the Christians.

Yes, you know, when Naaman, who was the captain of the host of Syria, you remember, he was a great man with his master, he was honorable, and he was a mighty man in valor. And he went away and led the great Syrian host against Israel, and overthrew Israel.

God used Naaman the Syrian to overthrow Israel. And he brought a lot of capitals back with him. They were slaves from that moment on, remember. And there was one little girl, she was just a little maid, she was called, and she waited on Naaman's wife.

She became a slave, the little girl slave, in this Syrian household. She'd been brought away by this mighty captain, and she didn't know where her parents were now, but she was a slave in this Syrian household.

And as she waited on Naaman's wife day after day, she took note that Naaman was a leper, that behind the glowing personality and the broad shoulders, and the courage and valor of the man, underneath the royal robes that he wore, there was something in his flesh that defeated him.

He was defeated every day he lived. Actually, he was living a defeated life. And you know this little girl, while she was a slave, you know, she began to pray for him. And one day she came into the room and said to her mistress, Would you God?

And that will tell you that she had a fearful spirit. Would God? My Lord! And if the would God tells you that she's fearful, my Lord tells you that she was respectful. She didn't respect, oh I know she could have called him a lot of names, but she was better off than that.

Nobody knew more about respect for authority than Peter. Let me tell you that. You know, when the Jewish Sanhedrin arrested Peter, and we looked at this last week, and he was brought to stand before that venerable court, this is how he opened his defense.

He said, He rules of the people, and elders of Israel. That's respect for the court. And I think this is something that the Christian needs to be taught again and again. Even though you're a slave, you're taught to be subjective to your masters, with all respect.

And then he puts a bit to this, when he's forcing this exhortation, He said, servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, because in every part of the world you will get employers and masters who are good and gentle.

But you're not only to be subject with all reverence and respect to the good and gentle, but also to the frauds. That again is an old Greek word that Peter is using. It's actually translated in our New Testament by two other English words.

Translated here by the word, forward. It's translated again when it talks about John the Baptist coming as the forerunner to Christ. When the crooked ways will be made straight. And the word crooked is the same word that you say it, the forward.

Because there are crooked employers. Yes, there are indeed. I've seen one or two of them in my lifetime. But never mind whether they're crooked or not, if you're in their employment as a Christian, you're taught to be subject to your masters.

Oh, you might bring up many arguments, but I'm telling you what the book says. And it must go for us, you know. If you make a bargain with your employer to be there at eight in the morning, then I think you should be there at ten minutes to it.

But I don't think you should be stealing your master's time and laughing at us. Because I don't think that's Christian at all. And though he may be a crooked, forward, perverse character, because this word is translated perverse again, when we talk about the perverse nation, it's the same word that's used here.

The man is crooked and perverse and forward. When Peter used the word, untoward generation, save yourself from this untoward generation, it's the same word. And you may have a crooked employer. It doesn't get you away from being a Christian in his employment while you're there.

And though it may mean that others laugh at you, you know, you're to do your work upon the cross. And I'm persuaded, you know, long, long, long time ago, if there was far more of this sort, there'd be far more conviction among crooked employers.

Far more. This is a great word of exhortation, isn't it? It's an exhortation to obedience. And Peter's showing us this. And then he comes to something that's very special. It's what God's called in Enoch the explanation of conscience.

Conscience Before God

You see, he says this in verse 18, Please be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the crooked. For this is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endured great suffering wrongfully.

You know, that's a tremendous statement. You would know by now that me, teaching a class like this for the last thirty years, here and there and yonder, that I've got many believers coming to me with problems at times.

Sometimes I have believers sitting around me, and they're coming from some church, and the church has treated them poorly. And maybe some of the elders there, and maybe the minister there, couldn't be absolutely honest with them.

And they're suffering wrongfully. They're annoyed about it. And they say to me, it's all right. But I'm grieved in my soul. Yes, you're grieved, I know all about that. But I want to say this, you're to endure grief.

That's what you're to do. And you're to suffer wrongfully. Mind you, I could tell a tremendous lot of Roman Catholics who walk the streets talking about civil rights, that Peter knew nothing about it.

Peter said that we were to endure grief, suffering wrongfully, not walking for civil rights. I can tell you that Peter could teach a lot of people a lot of things. And they exalt him to the heavens, and they never listen to him.

That makes their religion baloney to me. My dear friends, if you're going to exalt him, you would need to get down and listen to him. And he's teaching here that sometimes Christians have to endure grief, suffering wrongfully, for conscience's sake.

If a man for conscience towards God. You know, the conscience of ours, it's a tremendous subject. You know, the conscience in an unsaved man can become so defiled that it can become a healed conscience.

It doesn't work anymore like healed as with a hot iron. You know, living is the, let me show you, an unsaved conscience in the last days, the days in which we're living. Where are we? We're in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 4.

I want you to watch this very carefully because not only does Peter talk about the conscience, but Paul talks about it. You'll find that all the writers in the New Testament talk a lot about conscience.

Now watch how wonderful this is just now. We're in 1 Timothy and we're in chapter 4. Now the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, capital F there, speaks expressly. Of course, the Spirit always speaks expressly.

Not in the latter times. Now that's equal to the phrase, the last days. It's another sign of the last days. We're in the last days now. One of these days Christ is coming back again and the world doesn't even know that it is in the last days.

Somebody said we're in the Saturday night of this dispensation and we're at 5 minutes to 12. It might be later than you think even. Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.

I want you to watch this phrase. Giving heed to seducing spirits. I wonder is that going on around us at this moment? I wonder if in the minds and hearts of men just now. Because I have a feeling that some of the diabolical things that's happening, it's not just happening from a non-saved human heart, it seems to me to be diabolical at times.

...seducing spirits about. Speak to them. Is the devil working on some of these diabolical things? And I think any saved man would answer yes. Which it goes a bit further than that, you know. In the last days some shall give heed to seducing spirits.

Watch this phrase. On doctrines of devils. Why when the devil starts teaching for quips at Queer Street, doesn't it? The doctrine means the teaching of devils. Why is it happening around us? Has the devil got a coat somewhere tonight in some hall or house or cave or wherever it may be?

Has the devil taken it? And I have a feeling he is. I have a feeling he's got a lot of disciples around. The last day. Watch it again. Not only giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, but speaking lies in hypocrisy.

I wonder if you ever heard any of them speaking lies recently on the TV. Though you wouldn't need to have much common gumption to know that some of them that talk are liars. Because I wouldn't have any trouble about it at all.

These are marks of the last days. Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy. Now here's the phrase I'm asking. Having their conscience feared with a hot iron.

That's conscience. That's not conscience towards God. Not working anymore. God doesn't count. And Christ doesn't count. And Christianity doesn't count. Why are these the days we're living in? Are there boys going about with no conscience?

You would think so at times. Yes. But we're not interested too much tonight in the unsaved conscience that has become fear. We're thinking about the Christian conscience. And you know, both Paul and John and James and all the writers of the New Testament have got a lot to say about the Christian conscience.

Have a look at 1 John for the moment. 1 John. And we're at chapter 3. And John's writing to believers here. And in verse 18 he's saying, 1 John chapter 3 verse 18,. My little children... And when he takes an endearing phrase like this he's talking to believers.

My little children, let us not love in words, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. For nearby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us...

And you see the word heart there. Now in some translations that you will find, even in some of the newer ones, the word heart there is rendered conscience. If our conscience condemns us, God is greater than our conscience and knoweth all things.

Beloved, if our conscience condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments. You see, your conduct is just seen in the keeping of his commandments.

And of course your conduct regulates your conscience. And your conscience regulates your confidence in coming into God. And if a Christian is going to prioritize his conscience, all need to be around.

You know old W .P. Nicholson, who was a great character, and he told me this once, he told me this himself. He and I were friends, although he was an old warrior when I was just a boy, you know. And when he came for the last great champagne to this country, it was decided one day in one of the big hotels that he and I would take it together.

And I never felt able to sort of agree to this, although I did agree to it. Then he suddenly died. But when I was a young fellow, he told me this. He said, well, you know, when I got saved, I was working in Neal's coal office in Denver.

I used to work as a clerk in the coal office. And in those days, he said, I fell in love with the nicest girl in the world. I'm sure she would be the nicest girl in the world. Then he said, you know, I was in the office, and every day I wrote her a letter, a long letter, and put all the praises into it that I could imagine.

And there he said, I just took one of the boss' envelopes, and one of the boss' stamps, and put it on, and sent it off to Mary every day. He said, you know, I didn't have a bit of a conscience about this at all.

And then one evening, I began to see that I had stolen so many stamps. And when I got down to pray, the only thing I could see before me were stamps. His conscience was working now. He can't steal the boss' stamps and be right, you know.

That's a pity. He can't steal his time and be right, either. And there's no use in you trying to pray when your conscience is not right. And until your conscience is right with God, your conduct is right, your conscience will get right, you'll have no confidence in coming in to pray.

You're only wasting your time. It's a tremendous thing, this conscience, you know. It's got to do with intercessors. And it's the effectual servant-pillar of a righteous man that avails much. Yes, it's tremendous.

Not Paul talking about conscience. You've seen Peter, you've seen John. Let me do one from Paul. And it's Romans, and it's chapter nine. Paul's letter to the Romans, and it's chapter nine, and verse one.

And Paul says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For his kinsmen, according to the flesh, in the next verse.

You know, he was making a big statement here, and it seemed as if he was blowing his own horn for a moment or two. He says, I say the truth in Christ. And then he wanted to back this up strongly. He says, I lie not.

And then he wanted to back it stronger than that. My conscience also bearing me witness. And then he wanted to back it stronger. The Holy Ghost was also witness. You know, Paul had this great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart.

For two weeks. I wonder if I asked all the preachers around here to stand up, every one of you who's got continual heaviness and great sorrow. What would you do if your conscience wasn't as cold? There wouldn't be too many on the street.

I'll show you that. You're a whole lot of talk, you know. Yes. Only could your conscience bear you witness to me. That you have continual sorrow and great heaviness. Some of the preachers would know nothing about it.

It's conscience now. The dogs were intercepted and it goes for control. If you haven't dropped a burden, you should go and ask God about it. One in the train used to cry for hours, with the tears running through his fingers.

The old section of the church said to an American once, put your head in your hands, man, and if you can sit there and cry for the next five hours for Saul, you'll make change. Presbyterian minister, you've got to speak much.

We get so silly about denomination at times. I reckon they sound indoctrinated and down the street at the same time. That only possible. You've got a conscience, it's a mighty thing. I'll tell you this, that while John knew a lot about conscience, and Paul knew a lot about conscience, I can tell you this, that Peter knew more about conscience than the two of them put together.

He was only an old fisherman from Galilee. Watch Peter talking here till you see now exactly what I mean. When we come to 1 Peter chapter 3, we're going to have a great paragraph when we get into chapter 3 and verse 18.

For Christ also once suffered for sins, a just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being good to death and the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

That will be a big night. Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein he knew that his eight souls were saved by water.

The like figure, and don't forget it's just the figure, whereunto even baptism, that also now save us, not the putting away of the self of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. You know, it's one of the things about believer's baptism that all the Christian can't argue about at all.

I would like to know how a baby would have a good conscience toward God. Would it be baptized? I would like you to tell us what I'm telling you. Because you couldn't make a stammer out of it, that's your trouble.

Let me tell you that the figure of baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God, and it is impossible for a baby to have it. And that would silence that forevermore. And I wouldn't be hanging my hat on that one peg, mind you.

Not for a moment. You see, for a believer in the Church, the commands of Christ are important, and believers have to listen to the commands of the believers. And when you obey the answer of a good conscience toward God...

But you know you're not only to have the answer of a good conscience in the Church, you're to have the answer of a good conscience in your work. Ah yes, that's what he was at over the page, wasn't it?

He was at the close. He said,. And then he began to pick it up like this. For what glory is this, he says, is when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently. You know, somebody can drag you in the wrong and comes around and buffets you for your faults, and you just take it patiently.

But no glory in that, that's just exactly what you should do. There's no use of arguing when you're in the wrong. But he goes a bit further with this, he says,. But if we do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently.

This is acceptable with God. Well, what a lesson to learn for all of us. Why the Christian workman is to be a peculiar person in the business, isn't he? So much of where we go is to be peculiar people.

Isn't it? When you do well and suffer for it, and you just stand like a lamb and say nothing, let me tell you this bit. It's acceptable with God. It's not acceptable all the time with my own business.

So God must have brought up like that in my early days. I could just start to roar about anything as quick as lightning. And it's very difficult for me to take it at times. From we fellows that I could screw up and throw away.

And we'd twitch from one talking. You feel like blotting them out, and then you remember these scriptures, and you have to act like a softie. Yes. I want you to get that, because he's explaining conscience here.

It's the explanation of conscience. But then he comes further with the subject. He comes to the example of tolerance. My, I tell you we're at the spot when we come here. He says in verse 21,. But even here on to when you're called.

You were called to this sort of thing, you know. When God called you to trust in Christ, you were not only called to trust in Christ, but to suffer for his name's sake, you know. Don't let's forget that bit.

Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that he should follow in his steps. You know, that's a tremendous thing. The Lord Jesus left us an example. And it was an example of tolerance, you know.

Oh, then he goes to the next verse very quickly. He said, Who did no sin? Neither was God found in his mouth. He's trying to say quickly, you know, he had no faults. If you have buffeted for your faults, you take it, well, okay.

He said, Lord, to tell you, Christ had no faults. He did no sin. He had no faults. Neither an X or words. No God was found in his mouth. Neither in thought, nor word, nor deed. And you know, he raised such an example.

And I'll come back to it. It's not only an example of tolerance, but Christ's whole life on earth was an example. There's an example left from Christ to us about temptation. The devil comes to tempt you.

What do you do? Fight? Well, that's all. Friend, you quote scripture. That's what the Lord did to the devil. Just as quick as lightning over to Deuteronomy. And three times out of that whole book, he got three phrases that chased the devil.

And I'll tell you this, there's a whole lot of old saints here tonight. And if I've got them on their feet to quote these verses, I'm telling you chapter and verse, you couldn't find them. Because you don't know the words.

It's the trouble. Now just admit it. If you had to quote the three phrases out of Deuteronomy, what chapters? Not too many in this meeting would know, you know, there's a whole lot of pictures here. I can tell you chapter and verse for each one of them.

That doesn't make you anybody. It just tells you this, that the Lord knew right to go, man. The devil knew where to go every time. And I'll tell you young people, if you learn to do it, you can fix the devil.

And I'll tell you this, if you can fix the devil, you don't need to be afraid of any of his emissaries or any of his agents. There are only we fellows after him. How often I just picked out the right thing, the right moment.

I'm an expert at this sort of bullying. I walked into a room one day where a man was dying. And I was just about to get down the money, when in through the door came another pastor, one of these extreme healing characters.

He says, where did you get that bottle of medicine? The man was dying, I don't think you should talk to him like this. What the doctor said, just grabbed it, pulled the cork out, took it to the sink, down the sink, on the rock.

I got fed up with him. And I said, do you not agree with him seeing the doctor? No. He said, then you don't agree with Christ. Christ said, they that are sick of need of a physician. You never saw how it stuck in your life.

Oh, it would test you. If it wasn't for the grace of God, you would throw them down the stairs. They don't know how much the grace of God saves them at times. You get fed up with it. Learn to believe the word of God.

The Lord left us an example how to do it. He didn't only leave us an example of tolerance, and how to work in temptation. He left us an example of long suffering. Now, nobody suffered like he did. He plucked a man's face, and plucked the hairs from his teeth, and stuck them into his face.

And he could have just thought one thought and plucked them out. But he never moved. Like a lamb before the Caesar. Long suffering and gentleness. What an example of gentleness. I believe in my heart, of course, that Jesus Christ was earth's greatest gentleman.

Christ’s Example of Gentleness and Endurance

On Sunday morning, I'll preach on that. Oh, how gentle he was with women. When a woman was taken in adultery, and I'll only waste time if I take the story. How gentle he was. And he came to the woman at the well, and she's living with another man, and he's at five already.

How gentle he was. How gentle he was with Martha, when she lost her temper. Gentle he was with Mary Magdalene in the dark of resurrection morning. How gentle he was with his virgin mother, when he spoke to her tenderly from the cross.

Oh, yes, he was a gentleman. Examples of tolerance, how to work in temptation, and long suffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and meekness. Oh, I could go on, you know, you'd have no bother looking for a subject there.

But Peter's just thinking about David on Sunday. He says, who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. And when reviled's a terrible word, it means slandered.

It means evil speaking against. It's translated maybe fifty times, by the word blasphemy. They blasphemed his name. They spoke evil of him. Astounded him. But he reviled not again. What a wonderful person our Saviour was.

What a wonderful example. As I asked, and this old verse has saved me from trouble. I get letters continually from the devil. And I got one once, and it called me for everything unto the Son, and said things about me I can't even forget.

And they were untrue, it was slander. But the man who wrote it was big enough to put his name on it. Bless him. I can tell you when I got it, I was in bed. Mrs. Maugham's a bit of a character, and she came up early.

She's always knocking around early. Dr. Paul. We have no secrets, as you reckon. For me, you'll know that she's seasoned before I do. And she came up the stairs, and just put this under my nose, and she said, if you're not awake, that will waken you up, all right.

And it sure did. I knew the man, you know. And I was out of bed and too thick, and I didn't take the pajamas off, I just put the trousers on the top of them. And I'm getting into the coat, and I got stuck in it with excitements and bad temper.

And I was talking to myself, and I was using the Lord's name. And I said, Lord, when I get down the street and get the hold of him, I'll screw the head of his head. Because I'm all wrong. I'm just a human, and I go wrong at times.

And then the Lord spoke to me. The Lord said to me, when I was revived, I revived not again. When I suffered, I threatened not. I just committed my cross to God. You talk about taking the steam off, don't you?

I got down very humble at the bedside, and I said, I'm sorry. I'm not acting like a Christian at all. I'm acting like a fool. He said to me, the truth was right with God, and went down the stairs, and he looked at me, and he said, you do nothing about it now.

I said, no. So I opened the fire. See, the wife must have said, I'll tell you on these occasions. Went about the breakfast, and I'm up for breakfast when the bell rings, and I walked up the hall, and the fellow's at the door that wrote it.

I had you, but ten minutes ago, I took the head of your body. That's what I've done with you. And he was in a worse state than I was, because now the Lord's dealt with him, and he said, I should never have done it.