Surrender or Else — Warren Wiersbe

Reading the Word of God from 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 11 and concluding with verse 25. 1 Peter 2, verse 11. It sounds like the beginning of a wedding. Dearly Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your behavior honest, having your behavior beautiful among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well.

For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

Servants, and this means household slaves, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the perverse. For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what glory is it if when you are buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God, for even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.

For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop or overseer of your souls. The overall theme of 1 Peter is the grace of God. Chapter 5 and verse 12 Peter tells us this.

The key to this book is hung at the back door. By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, I have written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which ye stand. Now if there's a true grace of God, there's also a false grace of God, and one reason why Peter wrote this letter was to correct this attitude that some of the people had that they could be saved by God's grace and live any way they please.

There are three basic parts to this letter. In chapter 1, the first half of chapter 2 is God's grace in salvation. In the passage we read today, 2 .11 through 3 .12, it's God's grace in submission. You'll notice the emphasis on the word submit.

Verse 13, submit yourselves. Verse 18, household servants be subject to your masters. In chapter 3, verse 1, ye wives be in subjection to your husbands. Verse 5, being in subjection unto their own husbands.

So from 2 .11 to 3 .12, he talks about God's grace in submission, because submission always follows salvation. Then 3 .13 to the end of the letter, he deals with God's grace and suffering. If you'll read this section at your leisure, you'll find over and over again the word suffer.

Verse 14, chapter 3, if ye suffer for righteousness' sake. Verse 18, Christ hath once suffered for sins. Chapter 4, Christ has suffered for us, he that hath suffered in the flesh. Down in verse 13, partakers of Christ's suffering.

Over and over again in these last two chapters, it's suffering. So when you read 1 Peter, you remember the first part of the book, God's grace and salvation. The middle of the book, God's grace and submission.

And submission is the result of salvation, and suffering is the result of submission. The last part of the book, God's grace and suffering. Now the result of this submission ought to be a godly life. This paragraph that I read emphasizes living a godly life.

Verse 12, they speak against you as evildoers, that they may buy your good works. Verse 14, for the punishment of evildoers for the praise of them that do well. Verse 15, so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Verse 20, but if when ye do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. So the whole theme here is doing well. Living what Peter calls a beautiful life. Verse 12, having your behavior beautiful among the Gentiles.

The Greek word there is one of the great words of description of character. It talks about fineness of life. It talks about beauty of life, grace of life, a charm of life. Some people's lives are very angular, they're very abrasive, and every time they run up against you, they peel some bark off of you.

Peter's not talking about that. He's talking about the kind of godly living that is beautiful and comely and fine and graceful, and this of course is the result of submission. Now this raises a question, and I think Peter's answering this question, why in the world should I bother to live a godly life?

That's a good practical question. He's talking here about living in a world that's a difficult world. Even our Lord Jesus, when he came on earth, was crucified for living a godly life. Now why should I live a godly life?

I can compromise if I want to. No problem. I can figure out ways of compromising. I can sneak in and out of the will of God. I can rationalize. So can you. Perhaps some of us are doing it. Why should I seek to live a godly life?

Why have good works? Why have well-doing? Why seek to cultivate a beauty of life? Well, he gives us three very wonderful reasons why we should, and they're so down-to-earth and practical they could only have come from a fisherman like the Apostle Peter.

Verse 11, we live a godly life, a beautiful life, for our own sake. Verse 12, for the sake of the unsaved. And then 13 through 25, for the Lord's sake. Now it's as practical as you can get. In verse 11, he says to us, you should live this kind of a life for your own sake.

Let's begin with you. Let's take care of number one, quote unquote, for your own sake. Then having discussed that in verse 11, he moves on to verse 12 and says, look, you ought to live a godly life for the sake of the unsaved.

He calls them the Gentiles. This doesn't mean that the Jews were better than or different from. The term Gentiles back in that day meant the outside crowd, the unsaved people. Then he gets to the highest reason of all, verse 13, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake.

Then he develops that. So we'll take these three reasons and think about them tonight. Then examine our own lives and see whether or not we're building a beautiful life. Verse 11, we should live a beautiful life for our own sake.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. What he's saying here is this, because of the love of God for us, dearly beloved, because of the work God has for us to do, we're sojourners and pilgrims, and because of the battle that we are in, warring against the soul, if we're going to take care of ourselves, we had better live a godly life.

Dearly beloved, when we live a godly life, we are responding to the love of God. Did you know that the first person who is called beloved in the Bible, in the New Testament, is Jesus Christ? When Jesus came to the Jordan River and was baptized, God the Father spoke from heaven, and God the Father said, this is my beloved son.

Now when I got saved, I was put into Jesus Christ. If I'm in Jesus Christ, whatever God the Father says about him, he says about me. I'm accepted in the beloved. And so God looks down upon you and me tonight, who were born again, saved people, and he says you are dearly beloved.

Now if I am his beloved son, you are his beloved sons and daughters, our response ought to be obedience and submission. We love because he first loved us. If you love me, keep my commandments. The highest motive for obedience is love to God.

Several times in these letters the Apostle Peter uses this little word beloved. 2 .11, dearly beloved, I beseech you. Over in 4 .12, beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that's going to try you.

When he gets to his second letter, we call second Peter, chapter 3, in verse 1, he just falls into this thing over and over again. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you. Down in verse 8, but beloved, be not ignorant.

Verse 14, wherefore, beloved, be diligent. Verse 17, ye therefore, beloved, seeing that you know these things. You see over and over again, Peter's saying, look, you're the recipients of his love. Now, as the recipients of his love, accepted in Jesus Christ, there's only one way to live.

That's to abide in his love and obey his word. I used to wonder at a little statement over in Jude when I began to study my Bible seriously and I got to the little letter of Jude, I thought to myself, what is this all about?

But verse 21 of the little letter of Jude, he says this, keep yourselves in the love of God. And I read that and I said, keep yourselves in the love of God. So I got another translation. It said the same thing, keep yourselves in the love of God.

I said, how's this happen? Doesn't God love everybody? You know, if I'm saved, surely I'm in the love of God. Well, then you fall in love. Then you find out, hey, there is a special, special sphere of relationship in love.

Jude is not saying keep yourself saved. Jude is not saying keep yourself so that you please God. He's including that. What he's saying is so live your life that you're in the love of God so that God can really share his love with you.

I think that Jesus had the same thing to say in his upper room discourse. John chapter 14, verse 21, he says this, he that has my commandments and keeps them, that means obeys them, he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.

He's talking here about a deeper relationship. So we should obey God and live beautiful lives for our own sake to enjoy God's love. Keep yourself in the love of God. Then he tells us in verse 11, not only should we enjoy God's love, but we should fulfill God's purpose.

We are sojourners and pilgrims. We must never forget that. Far too many Christians are living their daily lives as though they belong to this world. Far too many decisions are made with reference to the values of this world.

Peter says, if you want to live a beautiful life, just keep reminding yourself, this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are light up somewhere beyond the blue. The people that Peter was writing to were going through suffering because of their faith.

Their unsaved friends thought they were crazy. They think it's strange, said Peter, that you aren't running with them to the same old places, doing the same old dirty things you used to do. But I'll tell you why you aren't doing that, Peter tells us.

You are sojourners and pilgrims. You are resident aliens. Your passport reads heaven. Now the unsaved world lives for this world and lives on this world. We Christians don't live on this world, though we are a part of this globe.

We've been called from this world. And I want you to know something, a hundred years from now, the approval of this world won't mean a thing. But whether or not we live to please Jesus Christ is going to mean something.

And so we live a beautiful life for our own sake, to enjoy God's love and to fulfill God's purpose as sojourners and pilgrims. We're like Abraham. We pitch our tent, we build our altar, and we dig our well.

And God moves us along. We pitch our tent, we build our altar, we dig our well. That's all. Abraham didn't build a house. Now I'm speaking in spiritual language. I'm not saying it's wrong to own a house.

What I'm saying is he lived as though nothing in this world really counted. Now Lot was just the opposite. Lot had to move into Sodom and live for Sodom and get the approval of Sodom and the wealth of Sodom and all of it burned up.

Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. We should live a beautiful life for our own sake, to enjoy God's love and to fulfill God's purpose and to succeed in God's victory. I don't know about you, but we're fighting a battle.

Fleshly lusts that war against the soul. And some of you say, well, pastor, we're a little older now. These things don't bother us. I would remind you that David was not a college student when he committed adultery.

And Noah was not enrolling in daycare center when he got drunk. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We're involved in a battle. Not only are we sojourners, but we are soldiers. And the word he uses is abstain.

Some folks don't like that word. Some folks say now as Christians, we should be tolerant and we should just have a sort of a balance in our life, just enough sin to please the world and just enough holiness.

He says, no, that's not the way we do it. We abstain. Now he doesn't name things here. He didn't give us a list of things from which to abstain. He says, those things that cultivate fleshly lusts, stay away from them.

Just abstain. Jesus said, if your right hand makes you to sin, cut it off. Don't wrap your knuckles, just cut it off. Now he's talking spiritually, of course. He's saying when something in my life makes it easy for me to sin, get rid of it.

And so I should live a beautiful life and you should live a beautiful life for our own sake, that we might be victorious soldiers, that we might be sojourners and pilgrims, that we might enjoy the love of God.

A Godly Witness to the Unsaved

But he moves in verse 12 to another reason. He says, not only does my conduct affect my own soul, but my conduct affects other people. Having your behavior beautiful among the unsaved, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Now what's the day of visitation? There are those who say the day of visitation means when God comes in judgment. But I don't think the unsaved people are going to glorify God in the day of judgment. Now they are going to have to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Every knee is going to bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. I think this day of visitation is what Jesus talked about when he wept over the city of Jerusalem. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you together, but you knew not the time of your visitation.

What is this visitation? You know what I think Peter's saying here? He's saying, Christians, you've got neighbors who lie about you. You've got men and women at work who lie about you. There are people who are undercutting your reputation.

They are speaking evil of you. Your first tendency is to fight back. You say, all right, I can fight fire with fire. He said, don't do that. Just keep on living a good life. Keep on doing good works. Keep on living a beautiful, godly life.

Because one of these days, God's going to visit those people and they're going to get saved. And they're going to get saved because of your witness. And then they're going to come and glorify God because of the life that you live.

Now I've experienced that. You've experienced it, I'm sure. There are people we have prayed for and witnessed to and they've criticized us. They've laughed at us. They have done things against us. It would have been so easy for us to say, hang it on your nose.

But you kept on praying, kept on loving, kept on living a godly life. And one day those people got saved. God used your witness and they came and said, you know what? We want to thank you. For the life that you live, we want to thank you for your consistency, for your prayers.

We don't know how you ever put up with us, but we want to thank you for it. That's what Peter's talking about. We should live a godly life, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the lost. You see, the lost world's watching us.

Oh, you see, nobody watches me. Don't kid yourself. Don't kid yourself. They're watching us. They know what we're doing. They're listening to us. They know what we're saying. They're watching for inconsistencies.

They want to use you, they want to use me as a weapon to fight against somebody else who witnesses to them. The unsaved world watches believers and they have every right to watch us. After all, we're witnesses.

After all, we're lights. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. That's what verse 12 says, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may because of your good works in the day of visitation glorify God.

We have every right for them to watch us. We're the salt of the earth. We have every right. We're a city set on a hill. In fact, one of the best ways to win people to Christ is let them watch us. Let them listen to what we say.

If there are things I've done, then we shouldn't do them. I recall when I first became a Christian, back when I was a teenager, and we had some very dear friends. They are still dear friends, although I haven't seen them for years, but I know they pray for me regularly.

They prayed for me when I was saved. If it hadn't been for their faithful prayers, I don't know what would have happened. But after I became a Christian, they tried to guide me in the Christian life. I had certain things in my life that I didn't think were too wrong, but they were concerned about the direction I was going in.

So they prayed about it, and God dealt with me, and we got rid of those things. And they said to me, you know, one thing you've got to remember, it may not hurt you, but it might hurt somebody else. And I said, oh, but that's a kind of a narrow way to live.

I mean, do I have to determine my life by what it will do to some unsaved person? They said, yes, because the winning of a lost soul to Christ means much more than the pleasure of our own lives. That's true.

I'm glad I learned that early. I haven't always practiced it, God knows, but I'm glad I learned it early. We should live a beautiful life, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the lost. Now, sometimes the lost honestly accused the Christians.

I remember Abraham went down to Egypt, and he lied, and he got spanked for it. And Pharaoh said, what kind of a person are you? Same thing happened to Isaac. Same thing happened to Jacob. David, after David had sinned, the prophet said to him, because of your sin, you have made God's name distinct among the heathen.

More harm is done by a good person doing bad than by a bad person doing bad. And you and I have got to be very careful because unsafe people are listening to us and watching us. They know if we pay our bills.

They know whether or not we take care of our property. They know what kind of work we do in the office. They know. And they use it as an excuse not to trust the Lord. Think of how embarrassed we would be standing before the judgment seat of Christ to discover that instead of being witnesses, we've been excuses for unsaved people.

Submission to Authorities for the Lord's Sake

Live a beautiful life for the sake of the unsaved, but the great reason, and here we wrap it up, verses 13 through 25, for the Lord's sake, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.

Now, Peter says that these ordinances are ordinances of man. Paul in Romans 13 says they're ordinances of God, and both are true. He's talking here about serving the Lord. Why should we do what we do?

To serve the Lord. And yet there are Christians who look for ways to sneak around the law. I confess to you that all of us have been tempted at one time or another to sneak around the law, and he says you don't do it.

In verses 13 through 17, he talks about the will of God. Now, what's the will of God? That I submit myself to every ordinance. You say, but pastor, suppose the ordinance is contrary to the Bible. Well, Peter answers that back in the book of Acts.

He says we ought to obey God rather than man. If the city of Chicago passed an ordinance against my preaching the word of God, I'd preach the word of God, because they have no right to pass that kind of an ordinance.

He's talking here about the will of God. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king. Now, we don't have kings today. We have a president. Governors, we have those.

People who are sent to punish evildoers for the praise of them that do well. Sometimes you think that's backwards, don't you? Sometimes in the city of Chicago, you wonder if they aren't praising those who are evildoers and criticizing those who do well, but they're supposed to do it the other way around.

Why? For this is the will of God. What's the will of God? With well-doing, you may muzzle the ignorance of foolish men. Somebody came to Socrates one day and said, did you hear what so and so is saying about you?

Yeah. What are you going to do? I am so going to live that nobody will believe it. That's what Peter is saying. Friend of mine, if you start running around putting out every fire that somebody starts, you better get a lot of fire extinguishers and you better find somebody to subsidize you while you're doing it.

Peter says, it's the will of God that you live a godly life and that silences the mouth of the accusers. By the way, there are some people who, if they were praising me, I would be afraid. I'm glad they're accusing me.

The Approval of God in Suffering

Then he talks in verses 16 through 20 about the approval of God. 18 through 20 about the approval of God. Servants be subject to your masters with all fear. There were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire and these were educated people.

They were prisoners of war who were captured in other countries. They could take shorthand. They could read four or five languages. They were brilliant people, many of them. Here they were, slaves in some household, and they got to be saved.

They were Christians. Peter writes to these slaves. He says, look, I know you're slaves. He says, don't rebel. Don't make a bunch of posters. Don't go burn the bank down. You household slaves, you be subject to your own masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to those who are hard to get along with.

Now, maybe you're not a slave. You may feel like one. You say, there's somebody in my office who's so hard to get along with. Somebody in my apartment, it's just impossible to live with. Maybe somebody in your family who's impossible to live with.

He says, you be subject. Now why? Verse 19, this is thank worthy. You know what that word is in the original language? Grace. You have the same thing down in verse 20. This is acceptable. It's the word grace.

Let's read it that way. For this is grace. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, it doesn't take any grace to suffer rightfully. If I open my big mouth and I say the wrong thing and I get into trouble, I can't say, oh Lord, I'm suffering for your sake.

I'm suffering because of my stupidity. Some Christians never learn the difference between the offense of the cross and being an offensive Christian. What glory is it if when you're buffeted for your fault, you shall take it patiently?

Anybody can do that. But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is grace. You see, what he's saying is, not only is it the will of God for us to live a beautiful life for the Lord's sake, but it is the approval of God.

God says, I'm going to give you grace. We sang, oh to grace, how great a debtor. Verses 21 through 25, he brings it to the pinnacle. He's been saying to me in verse 11, I should live a beautiful life for my sake.

I'm the object of God's love. I'm a pilgrim and a sojourner. I'm a warrior fighting against the flesh. In verse 12, I should live a beautiful life for the sake of the unsaved. They're watching and listening, and God will visit them someday, and our good works will help to win them.

And then in 13 through 25, he's saying we should live a beautiful life for the Lord's sake. It's the will of God. It's the grace of God. And 21 through 25, it's the example of God. Our Lord Jesus gives us the example of how to suffer reproach when we're doing what's right.

Following Christ's Example in Unjust Suffering

It always amazes me when a Christian comes and says, Pastor, I've got a problem. What's your problem? Oh, I work in this office. I work harder than anybody else. I keep better papers. I am more accurate.

I'm trying to serve God in my office, and I've had nothing but trouble. And my reply sometimes is, and what did you expect? I had a friend who got fired because he worked too hard. He was working here in the city of Chicago.

He was a ministerial student, and he was going through college, and he was working in this warehouse. And the boss came to him one day. The foreman came and said, look, you're showing up the rest of the guys.

Now, we start our work, and then when nobody's watching, we kind of sneak off. He said, I can't do that. I'm a Christian. He was fired. I don't think he suffered for it. What do we do? Well, he tells us what we do.

Even here unto where you call. Call to what? Call to suffer. Later on, Peter's going to say, don't think it's strange when God allows the furnace to get turned on. That's not strange. Expect it. There's a brand of theology going around today that says if you live a godly life, you'll never have any problems.

My Bible says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus are going to suffer persecution. He tells us here that this is the way you were saved. You were saved, and I was saved because of a person who was willing to suffer unjustly.

Look at it. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. You school teachers ought to learn what that word example is. It was an educational term back in Peter's day.

It's the word for a copy book. Back in Peter's day when the kids went to school, they were taught how to write, and they copied it from the top of their book. I've seen over here in the historical society, over here in the historical society, I have seen the old copy books they used to have.

There would be an alphabet across the top, and you'd write it in there. That's what this word is. I had an awful time learning how to write. I began to print in seventh grade, and I haven't written since.

My printing is not much better than my writing, but at least I can read it. But we had to learn how to write by copying, and they give us a whole long list of A's, and so we copied. That's what Jesus did.

Jesus said, now when you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're seeing what you ought to copy. Notice how I dealt with my enemies. Notice how I dealt with people who opposed me, and do what I did.

He left us a copy book that we should follow his steps, who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his mouth. We're told here who the person of our salvation is, the Lord Jesus Christ, a sinless person, a suffering person.

He's the only one who could save us. Now suppose he had not suffered unjustly. He couldn't save us. Peter seems to be saying here, don't follow the example of the world. Follow the example of Jesus Christ.

He is the person of our salvation. He tells us in verse 23 how he did this, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. Now you and I don't threaten outwardly. We don't say, boy, I'll get you.

Maybe we do, but deep inside sometimes we say, I'll pay you back. In fact, there are some people who will spend the rest of their adult lives paying back their parents. Mother or dad or somebody did something they shouldn't do, and so they spend the rest of their adult lives paying them back.

Never hurt their parents, they only hurt themselves. Jesus did not revile. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. I didn't realize until the other day that that word committed means he kept committing himself, not just once.

We have the idea that in the garden, our Lord once and for all said, Lord, here I am. He did, but at every step of the way, he kept committing himself to God. When they slapped him in the face, he committed himself to God.

When they pulled out his beard, he committed himself to God. When they mocked him with a robe and with a scepter of a reed, he committed himself to God. How was he able to pray, Father, forgive them? He committed himself to God.

You see, you and I think that because we walked an aisle or did something, it's once and for all settled. Oh, no. While they're lying about us, we commit ourselves to God. While they are abusing and accusing us, we're committing ourselves to God.

Christ's Sacrifice and the Shepherd of Our Souls

The person of our salvation, Jesus Christ, the price of our salvation, verse 24, who his own self bore our sins in his own body. You know, if nothing else should inspire us to live a godly life, it's right there.

He was willing to take my sins in his own body on the cross. Where? On the tree. That's the place of our salvation. Not the Jordan River. Your baptism didn't save you. Not Mount Sinai. The law didn't save you.

The tree. What's the purpose of our salvation? That we, being dead to sin, should live under righteousness. That's what he's been talking about. Well-doing. Living a beautiful life. Doing well. Doing patiently what God calls us to do.

By whose stripes ye were healed. Peter seems to suggest here that people before they're saved are sick. Spiritually sick. Morally sick. And because of Christ's death on the cross, they were healed. For ye were a sheep going astray.

But now. Now. You got to take your concordance someday and trace the but-nows in the Bible. Very interesting. He's saying in times past, here's the way you live. But now you have returned unto the shepherd and the overseer of your souls.