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You can turn in your Bibles back 
again to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. We'll read the portion that we 
also focused on this morning, that's verses 21 to 25. You'll remember this morning 
we looked at those three who's of Christ. We remarked and we 
gloried in, hopefully, Christ's sinlessness there found in verse 
22, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. 
We noted Christ's non-retaliatory resolve there displayed in verse 
23, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When 
he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him 
who judges righteously. And then we noted, of course, 
his blessed substitutionary curse bearing that the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ finds at its heart the fact that the Lord 
Jesus Christ really and truly did die for us. That is, he died 
in our stead. He died instead of his people, 
those whom he was redeeming. Tonight, we'll look at that same 
portion of scripture, verses 21 to 25, Tonight we're going 
to have a look at the reason for the exhortation that's given. We're going to look at the exhortation 
itself. And then finally, the foundation 
for our obedience to that exhortation and the ground of our ability 
to heed it. But we'll repeat those points 
as we look at this text, but let's now read it again. 1 Peter 
2, 21 to 25. For to this you were called. because Christ also suffered 
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, 
who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who 
when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, 
he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, 
who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that 
we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose 
stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going 
astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer 
of your souls. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you again that we can now read from your scriptures 
and that we can now engage in, participate in this act of worship, 
the preaching of your word. We call again for your help, 
for divine aid, for the preacher and for the hearer. We pray that 
you would give the preacher what he requires in order to expound 
and to open up this passage to instruct well concerning Christ 
Jesus. We pray, Lord God, for the hearers, 
that you would edify and instruct saints. And Lord God, that you 
would save sinners unto the praise of your glorious grace. We pray 
now that this exercise might redound to your glory. Lord God, 
that you would help us to engage honorably and biblically as we 
continue the worship of our triune God. And it's in Christ's name 
that we pray. Amen. What we noted this morning, we 
didn't necessarily focus specifically on the exhortation, but the ground 
forward, if you will, the person and the work of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. We will tonight then focus on the exhortation that 
is given. And I'm not sure if this is the 
right language, but the exhortation is kind of veiled in the portion 
that we read. That is, it doesn't say, therefore, 
do thus and thus necessarily, but rather it opens up with a 
call for them or a reminder that what he had previously written 
in 18 to 20, they were to do. He says, for to this you were 
called. And specifically what they are 
called to is to patiently endure suffering. That's the specific 
exhortation that Peter gives to his primarily Jewish Christian 
audience. He calls them to patiently endure 
suffering. We can see that if we read again 
verses 18 to 21. 18 to 20, servants be submissive 
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, 
but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because 
of conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when 
you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? Now here 
it is, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, 
this is commendable before God. So you see when he says, for 
to this you were called, what is that that he's speaking about? 
Well, he's not speaking about to slavery, in the decree of 
God and in his unfolding providence, they were called to be slaves, 
to be servants. He's not necessarily, though 
this is closer to what he's getting at, he's not referring to the, 
that you should follow his steps, though they are called to follow 
in the steps of Jesus Christ. What specifically he's referring 
to is the end of verse 20, but when you do good and suffer, 
if you take it patiently, This is commendable before God. So 
that is what's in view when Peter then says, or writes, for to 
this you were called, to patient endurance, which is commendable 
before God. That is patient endurance of 
suffering. But we want to look first off 
now at the reason for this exhortation, the reason for this call to patient 
endurance of suffering. And we find this, First in chapter 
1, then in chapter 4. And let's look at those texts 
for a moment. What is the reason for the exhortation? We find it first in chapter 1, 
verses 6 to 9. Notice what Peter writes there. 
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, 
if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness 
of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, 
though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, 
and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not 
seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, 
you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving 
the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." So you see there, 
specifically in verse 6, is the reason for the exhortation. You 
have been grieved by various trials. Those trials we'll elaborate 
on in a moment, but turn with me to chapter four, because we 
didn't read all of this this morning in our introduction to 
the context. But we'll read it now, because 
in here we find, again, the reason for the exhortation. In verse 
12, beginning at verse 12 of chapter four, beloved, do not 
think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try 
you. as though some strange thing 
happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake 
of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you 
may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for 
the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory 
and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, 
but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as 
a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's 
matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, 
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment 
to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, 
what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of 
God? Now, if the righteous one is 
scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? Therefore, let those who suffer 
according to the will of God commit their souls to him in 
doing good as to a faithful creator. In fact, this that portion of 
scripture could have been the text with these with these same 
things, with these same points in mind. The reason for the exhortation 
is, first off, as we saw in verse six, the sufferings in the trials 
that they were already enduring for a little while, that they 
will endure for a little while. So persecutions that had already 
taken place, that were taking place, and now is the promise 
of fiery trials upcoming. The promise that there will be 
a judgment coming that will begin at the house of God. I believe, 
as others believe, what he's speaking there concerning, he's 
speaking to Jewish Christians with regards to the upcoming 
judgment of God by the Roman armies upon Jerusalem and the 
temple. There is a divine judgment coming 
that is a covenantal judgment upon apostate Jerusalem, but 
that will have ramifications for the Christian communities 
as well. And so he's saying that great 
persecution will be coming upon you, even though it has been 
coming upon you, there is more coming. But he says, therefore, 
let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their 
souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful creator. So there 
is this persecution coming that you will endure. It is coming 
and you must endure it. Endure it knowing this, that 
you commit your souls to a faithful creator, that is a faithful possessor, 
one who owns you as your sovereign protector, one who is your caregiver. not a feeble and a fallible caregiver 
that can be intimidated and overthrown, but a sovereign caregiver with 
unrivaled power who will most certainly protect his people. 
So again, the reason for the exhortation is this suffering. 
And we want to note, as we continue with this point, that there is 
a promise of this suffering. We see it here, but in the scriptures, 
in the New Testament, as a whole, we see a promise of suffering. And when I talk about suffering 
in this case, I'm talking peculiarly about the first century persecution 
that came upon the apostles. You see, Jesus gives that promise, 
remember, in John 16. It's a promise in the context 
of giving another promise about the coming Holy Spirit. He says, 
I'm sending you another helper, another comforter, one who will 
guide you into all truth, one who will give you the strength 
to endure. I'm paraphrasing, but one who 
I will not abandon you, but rather I will send you the Holy Spirit, 
who will help you in this lower world. And he gives that wonderful 
statement, which is sort of a, it's a double-edged sword. He 
says, in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good 
cheer, for I have overcome the world. Now, that has a logical 
or a covering extension to us as 21st century Christians, but 
there was a peculiar and a specific and a direct application to that 
particular audience because unlike us here in North America, they 
really did go through hot and heavy and angry persecution. And so there was that promise 
of suffering or that promise of persecution, there's that 
Definitive statement that Jesus gives in this world. You will 
have tribulation There is also a prophetic promise prophetic 
promises of this coming Persecution that this audience of Peter would 
have to endure just to see this in your own Bibles turn with 
me to Matthew 23 Matthew 23 if we ask the question, where does 
Jesus promise? prophetically that his saints 
will endure a Well, one of the places that we see this is in 
Matthew 23. And in this discourse, or in this portion of narrative 
that continues into 24 and into 25, first off, this prophetic 
promise is given. Yes to his disciples, but more 
specifically to the unbelieving religious leaders Jesus is pronouncing 
these seven woes these these words of imprecation divine wrath 
that will be rendered or that will be poured out upon the scribes 
and the Pharisees and in the last one We find this at verse 
31. Therefore, you are witnesses 
against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the 
prophets. Fill up then the measure of your 
father's guilt, serpents, brood of vipers. How can you escape 
the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you 
prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and 
crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues 
and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the 
righteous blood shed on the earth. You see here what Jesus is promising 
prophetically is actually more to the scribes and the Pharisees 
that they will be the recipients of divine wrath because they 
have filled up the measure of their guilt by murdering the 
prophets, by being the sons of those who murdered the prophets, 
and like their fathers, they will kill the prophets that Christ 
sends to them. But there is that promise of 
persecution that the scribes and the Pharisees, these vipers, 
these serpents, they will kill the prophets. They will kill 
and crucify and scourge and persecute from city to city. Now, if you 
turn to Matthew 24, now we have Jesus speaking directly to his 
disciples. So it's no longer he's left the 
multitude. He's pronounced the woes upon 
the scribes and the Pharisees. And he continues, among many 
other prophetic signs, among many other prophetic promises, 
he includes the promise of persecution. Notice at Matthew 24 at verse 
9, right off the bat, then they will deliver you up to tribulation 
and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's 
sake. You see, they asked the question 
to paraphrase, when will the temple in the city be destroyed? 
When will the temple be destroyed? And Jesus answers them by giving 
many signs through to the end of Matthew 24, when the temple 
will be destroyed. And one of those signs is that 
the scribes and the Pharisees, or the enemies of the gospel 
generally, will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, 
and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. Now, 
we're going to get there in a moment, but just humanly speaking, isn't 
that a wonderful promise from your master who will soon depart 
you? If we were to make our own religion, 
if we were to start our own religion like many do, We wouldn't really include anything 
like that. Or if we were in some sort of a religion, we would, 
humanly speaking, want the religious leaders to say, all will be well 
with you. In fact, that was one of the pronouncements of the 
prophets against the false prophets in the old covenant, that they 
would be prophesying peace, peace, and wellness in the covenant 
nation when they were apostate wretches. You see, we would want 
in our religion, if we were unredeemed sinners, we would want We would 
want blessings, we would want a hedonistic world of happiness. But you see, Christ pronounces 
or promises to them that they will deliver you up to tribulation 
and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake. But as we continue, you'll see 
that that would be a blessed badge of any saint in God's created 
universe. So it's promise. There is the 
promise of this suffering or persecution. There is the reality 
of this persecution. You see, we noted this morning 
that every prophetic promise in the scriptures is fulfilled 
in time and in history. And we see that within the pages 
of the scriptures with these particular promises. I mean, 
you only have to turn to the book of Acts and see the record 
of these things coming true that Jesus promised in Matthew 23 
and in Matthew 24. But turn with me to the book of Hebrews for 
a moment as we see the reality now of the persecution. So it 
is promised, and it does come to fruition in the life and in 
the history of the first century Christians, Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and this 
is where we see that it is a joyful thing for the Christian to endure 
suffering for the sake of their Savior, his or her savior. But recall, this is verse 32 
of Hebrews 10. But recall the former days in 
which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle 
with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both 
by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions 
of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me 
in my chains, and now notice, and joyfully accepted the plundering 
of your goods. As a general rule, we don't joyfully 
receive, we don't joyfully accept the plundering of our goods. 
But notice what the reason for, notice why they joyfully accepted 
the plundering of their goods in this context, knowing that 
you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in 
heaven. So you see, the saints could, 
the disciples could, with full Christian minds in Matthew 24, 
though they were Christians, but they could appreciate that 
promise that they will kill you and they will persecute you from 
city to city. Why? Because they knew that they 
had a better and enduring possession for themselves in heaven. So 
we have the promise of persecution, we have the reality of persecution. 
And just to understand this a little bit more, or to see this also, 
turn to 1 Thessalonians for a moment. 1 Thessalonians. Remember, as 
it's been often said from this pulpit, the two primary enemies, 
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you follow the book 
of Acts, you see this. As we read the epistles to churches, 
maybe more so in Gentile or Asia Minor nations and in cities, 
we see the Greeks. So we have the Jews and the Greeks, 
or we could say the Jews and the Roman Empire persecuting 
the Christians. But in 1 Thessalonians 2, we 
have a record here of the enduring persecution that the Christians 
engaged in. Verse 14, for you, brethren, 
became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in 
Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same 
things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans 
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have 
persecuted us. And they do not please God and 
are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that 
they may be saved. So as always to fill up the measure 
of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. 
So we have that reality of persecution and This persecution that we're 
discussing would have been very grievous to them and something 
that we probably don't know anything about. If you think about the 
fact that Peter is talking to Jewish Christians whose persecution 
is coming from their own countrymen, but most likely also for many 
of them from their own families. Their own families are excluding 
them, pouring out upon them socioeconomic exclusion from society, religious 
exclusion from society. They're not allowed to gather 
in the temple. And not only that, but as we 
read the Book of Acts, beatings and stonings unto death. This 
is by their own countrymen, according to the flesh, formerly under 
the antiquities of the old covenant, their own religious kinfolk. 
And they're bringing persecution and they're bringing beatings 
and scourgings and exclusions upon their own family members. And so this persecution would 
have cut straight to the heart of these Christians that Peter 
is writing to. And so he no doubt says, be comforted 
well by the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the promises of 
the gospel. So we have persecution promised, 
we have persecution realized, or the reality of persecution. 
And then just briefly before we move on, the reason for the 
persecution. What is the reason for the persecution? If we ask 
another question, why were these Christians persecuted? I think 
we find a good foundational answer in the book of 1 Corinthians. 
The book of 1 Corinthians. If you turn there to chapter 
1, we see a good foundational answer as to why Christians are 
persecuted. And we'll start reading at verse 
21. 1 Corinthians 121, for since in the wisdom of God, the world 
through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness 
of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request 
a sign. and Greeks seek after wisdom, 
but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, 
and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called both 
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom 
of God. Because the foolishness of God 
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 
You see, what branches out from this, what flows from this necessarily, 
is a hatred for the religion of Christianity. Because you 
see, to the Jews, this religion, first off, this Christ is a stumbling 
block, and this religion is madness and folly. Remember that Spurgeon 
quote, the Jews could not endure a crucified Messiah. Were all 
of their washings, and were all of their ceremonies, and all 
of their multitudinous Old Testament religious articles to be cast 
off, and nothing to remain but a bloody savior. And Spurgeon 
answers, yes, of course. That's what Paul is getting at 
in the scriptures. So to propagate a religion that 
puts an end to everything that we were about, to the Jews, that 
was blasphemy of blasphemies. They did not yet understand the 
scriptures that the Christ must come and inaugurate the new covenant 
reality. But they saw Christianity, of 
course, as an affront to their system and as a blasphemous new 
religion that sought to put an end to their religious comforts 
and their traditions. And so, no doubt, the fact that 
it was an offense to the Jews served as a means for them to 
persecute these Christians, this sect of the Nazarenes. And then, 
of course, to the Greeks, to the Greeks, it's foolishness. 
And while we may have the simple and somewhat harmless arguments 
and debates that no doubt took place in places like the School 
of Tyrannus and elsewhere in the Greek world. We have the 
fact that propagating a Jesus who is the only answer to man's 
problem and doing away with the pagan deities of Asia Minor, 
for example, that was a great offense and that was a cause 
to stir up the crowds and to wanting to put to death the apostles 
who preach this Jesus. Remember Acts 19, the people 
are in a fury over a three-breasted female deity that fell from the 
heavens. Because preaching this Jesus is going to put an end 
to our Diana worship. It's going to put an end to our 
economy, because we can no longer manufacture idols from stone 
and wood. And so Christianity comes, and 
it is an enemy to the Jews. It is an enemy to the Greeks. 
But it isn't an enemy in the sense that it is the only righteous 
answer to man's wicked problem. The Jews rejected and persecuted 
a religion that was their hope and their consolation and their 
answer. And the Greeks rejected and persecuted a religion that 
was their only hope of salvation from the madness of their paganism. 
Now moving on then to the exhortation itself. So the reason for the 
exhortation, as we move back to 1 Peter, The reason for the 
exhortation is the persecution that Jews and Greeks were bringing 
upon these Jewish Christians. These Christians now to the exhortation 
itself. Notice again what it is. Peter writes at the end of verse 
20, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, 
this is commendable before God for to this you were called. 
So they were to, uh, they were to, endure patiently the persecutions 
that came upon them. And in fact, we can use that 
language of Peter at the end of chapter four as the exhortation, 
because that ends the section. Therefore, let those who suffer 
according to the will of God commit their souls to him in 
doing good. But the exhortation itself is 
to patiently endure suffering. And in the text, that's seen 
in two things. First, negatively, when they 
are reviled, they are not to revile in return. So how does 
this patient enduring of suffering look? What does it look like? 
Well, it first looks like negatively to not revile when you're reviled 
and to not threaten when you're suffered. Again, look at the 
text. Speaking of Jesus, who when he was reviled, did not 
revile in return. When he suffered, he did not 
threaten. So you see, negatively, when 
we are the recipients of insulting and abusive speech, When we are 
the recipients of any sort of persecution that comes in the 
physical realm, spittings and beatings and those sorts of things, 
we are not to be the ungodly wretches who fly off the handle 
and retaliate like for like, turn for turn. But rather, like 
the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to commit ourselves to him who 
judges righteously. But again, negatively, when we 
are reviled, we are not to revile in return. And like so many places 
in the scriptures, Peter writes that because he knows the human 
heart. And you see, Peter can speak 
from experience. We noted his denial of the Savior 
this morning. But on this point, at the point 
of when he was reviled, he did not revile in return, thinking 
of the fact that Jesus was reviled by Peter. And Jesus did not, 
in return, revile Peter, but rather welcomed him to broiled 
fish and honeycomb and gave him that wonderful, loving threefold 
restoration. On Peter's point, Peter was reviled 
by someone near the crucifixion, wasn't he? Do you remember what 
he did? He lopped off the ear of Malchus, that servant man. He was reviled in the sense that 
these were coming to attack the Savior and take him away to trial 
and to crucifixion. And what's Peter's response? 
He comes and he unsheathes his sword and lops off in here. And 
he was rebuked by the Savior for that. The Savior heals Malchus 
and all is well. But you see, Peter could speak 
because he knew the angry heart of sinful man. What he was supposed 
to do was he was supposed to, like his Savior, take what was 
the scriptures being fulfilled. Remember, Christ had said to 
him on an earlier occasion, I must go to Jerusalem, be delivered 
by wicked hands, and be crucified. And Peter says, Lord, let it 
never be. And Jesus responds and says, 
get thee behind me, Satan. You see, Peter was instructed 
at that point that this must take place. I must fulfill all 
righteousness. I must fulfill as it is written 
in the scriptures concerning me, that I must go to Jerusalem 
and die for guilty sinners. But Peter, after that event, 
nevertheless, reviled when he was reviled. So Peter had learned 
his lesson. He had engaged in that angry 
heart. So he knew the human heart and 
we should know our own hearts. What is the first thing that 
we want to do? And very often, what is the first 
thing that we do when we're reviled? We revile in return. Whoever 
it is, whether it's a child, whether it's a spouse, whether 
it's a driver on the highway, Whoever it is, when we are the 
recipients, when someone crosses our path or steps on our toes 
in a wrong way, our first response usually is not enduring it patiently 
and committing ourselves to God. But it's to fly off the lip, 
or it's to engage in some measure of vengeance. And we're not just talking about 
unredeemed individuals, non-Christians, those pagans out there. You see, 
when they're reviled, they revile in return. Their universe is 
all about reviling and reviling and reviling. No, in the redeemed 
community, in the churches, in Christian families, when we're 
reviled, we revile in return. And it's a horrible, horrible 
thing. And you see, what Peter is trying 
to do here, Peter, well, what he is doing, and what he's spending 
time just displaying Jesus for is to show us that if Jesus If you know the if God the Son 
who was the recipient of the praises of angels before his 
incarnation if this Jesus who was a the one who fixed galaxies 
in their place and who currently upholds their orbits by his mighty 
power. If this Jesus, who has unrivaled 
mastery over the universe, can condescend from his place of 
glory to this lower ignominy, dwell among wicked men, be rejected 
by his people, be spit upon, beaten, lashed, scourged, be 
nailed with Roman nails to a to a horrific implement of execution 
and be rejected at the cross by his own people. If Jesus can 
do that for us and never at any point revile in return and never 
at any point threaten, then we can be nice to our wives. We 
can be nice to our children. We cannot fly off the lip when 
the smallest thing happens to us. We can be nice. Can't we? Jesus suffered for 
us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. 
Now, for the recipients of this particular letter, it was a little 
worse than, so and so called me a name and you should have 
seen what I did to him. It's a little worse than people 
calling us names and people stepping on our toes in what goes on here 
in North America. They had to endure. the rejection and the mockery 
and even the physical trials of their enemies who were once 
their friends, of their enemies who were once their loving family 
members. And Peter is saying, you in light 
of this or in light of Christ who came into this world and 
when he was reviled, did not revile in return. And let's remember 
this, that Jesus was sinless. I think that's why he brings 
up this point here, Verse 22 who committed no sin nor was 
deceit found in his mouth you see Not only not only do we have 
I mean we who are we to say that we have a right to revile? When 
we are guilty wretched and vile When when we are sinners saved 
by grace when we have still have remaining corruption who are 
we that? to say that we somehow have a right to revisit wickedness 
with our own vindication, our own vengeance. When Jesus Christ, 
the maker of worlds, the upholder of heaven and earth, the one 
who is perfect in deity, perfect in humanity, who never committed 
sin, who never had guile of tongue, who could have called upon 12 
legions of angels to escape him from the trial that he was about 
to go through. did not revile when he was reviled, 
did not threaten when he suffered. We have absolutely no right. 
If this sinless Jesus can go through what he went through, 
then we can, in the very least, seek to follow his steps. So negatively, we are not to 
revile when we are reviled, and we are not to threaten when we 
suffer. Now, a qualification is always 
good. A qualification is always good in this case. This, of course, 
doesn't mean if we're, if some sort of perpetrator seeks to 
enter our house and do physical violence against us, we have 
every right to put them down. If someone breaks into your house 
and, you know, wants to do physical violence to you and or your family, 
this isn't a text that, you know, we can go, oh, sorry, yeah, I'm 
not allowed to, you know, Return like for like and turn for turn 
by all means if somebody enters your house and seeks to physically 
threaten you Do what you can to put them down even unto death 
We are sanctioned by the Bible to engage in legitimate self-defense 
For the protection of our lives and our families lives those 
who have been created in the image of God positively though 
So negatively, we are not to revile when we're reviled. We 
are not to threaten when we suffer. Positively, we are to commit 
ourselves to God. That's what the text says, who 
when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, 
he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. So positively, we are to commit 
ourselves to God. Maybe more specifically, we are 
to leave wrath to him. That's what Paul writes elsewhere 
in the book of Romans. We are not to exercise our own 
personal vengeance, but rather we are to leave wrath to God. And in the context, that has 
to do with leaving God to work by way of the civil magistrate 
to render punishment against evildoers. But you see what these 
Christians were supposed to do is they were to commit themselves 
like their savior to him who judges righteously. I think you 
know what's in view here. The words of our Savior from 
the cross, into thy hands I commit my spirit. That's what's in view 
here by the Apostle Peter. Again, in view is the crucifixion. 
So when Christ suffered, he did not threaten, but from the cross, 
he says, well, he says first, do not count this sin against 
them. Isn't that an amazing thing? He prays for forgiveness for 
his enemies. but then speaks those words into 
thy hands, I commit my spirit. Stephen follows just like his 
master at his stoning. He prays for his persecutors 
and then he commits his spirit unto the exalted Christ. So positively we are to commit 
ourselves to him who judges righteously. You see, because God knows what 
to do. God knows better than we do. 
Well, we want to exercise our own personal vengeance. Not only 
is that act wrong, but how we would go about it would be most 
necessarily wrong as well. God knows what to do, how to 
do it. And in his providential timing, 
he will deal with those who cross us. You see, Peter says that 
in chapter four. He says that this judgment will 
come, begin at the house of God. If it begins with us first, what 
will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 
You see, the answer is that it will be horrible for them. God 
does render justice. He renders justice in time and 
in history, or he renders justice at the eschaton, at the end of 
the ages, when he will cast his enemies into the lake of fire 
reserved for the devil and his angels. You see, when it seems 
like people are getting away with things in this lower world, 
Be comforted and be assured that there will be a day. One man 
has said, justice delayed is not justice denied. What that 
means is justice may not be rendered upon an enemy of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. You see, we just read this morning 
about these Nigerian Muslims who boarded a bus and shot six 
people after asking them if they were Christians. You see, God, 
we should pray that they would receive justice in this lower 
world because it might be right for God to do so. He may have 
something for them before Christ comes again in glory, whatever 
that may be. But rest assured, and those Christians 
in Nigeria can rest assured, and a Christian family can rest 
assured that there will be a day where justice will be rendered, 
where that divine gavel will hit. the figurative bench, and 
the declaration will be made, and they will get their comeuppance, 
and there will be no rest for them. So, we have negatively 
revile. Do not revile when you're reviled. 
Do not suffer or threaten when you suffer. Positively, we are 
to commit ourselves to God, more specifically to leave wrath to 
Him, and we ought to make a note here as well that Persecution, 
that suffering, is inevitable for the Christian. We've already 
noted that there's that definitive statement in this world, you 
will have tribulation. We also need to note, though, 
that it isn't just the case that suffering and persecution is 
inevitable for the Christian. We've made this point before. 
It isn't that the Christian's resignation to the fact that, 
okay, I'm a Christian, so it's inevitable that I'm going to 
suffer, woe is me. But rather we are to take it 
joyfully, that's what the Bible says. We are to suffer with great 
joy. And I find it hard and I find 
myself unworthy, speaking as a man, to say this to any Christian 
in Nigeria. Persecution's inevitable, you 
need to receive it with joy. Living in North America, I'm 
just not equipped and I'm not worthy to go to Nigeria and preach 
that sermon. But you see, the Bible does most 
certainly disclose that engaging in hot persecution, the saints, 
or being the recipients of hot and angry persecution in that, 
saints are to rejoice. A text that shows us this is 
in Acts 5. We're moving towards a close, 
but notice in Acts 5, we have this wonderful account of patient 
endurance of suffering. In fact, this demonstrates everything 
that we've talked about tonight. In Acts chapter 5, beginning 
at verse 40, what has happened is the apostles were imprisoned, 
the apostles are freed, they come before the Jewish religious 
leaders. And the Jewish religious leaders 
ask Gamaliel what should be done to them. And then we see in verse 
40, and they agreed with him, that is the Jewish leaders agreed 
with Gamaliel's advice. And when they had called for 
the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should 
not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed 
from the presence of the council rejoicing. that they were counted 
worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple 
and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching 
Jesus as the Christ. You see, we don't know anything 
about that. We can pray that in the time 
we are ever to endure persecution like this, to be beaten for the 
Savior, that we would leave there rejoicing. And that we would 
still gather wherever opportunity has us, wherever providence finds 
us, to preach about the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice what's 
going on here. We have the apostles not reviling 
in return. They suffered for doing good, 
which is commendable to God. They didn't answer turn for turn. They didn't grab the rod or whatever 
out of the hands of their religious leaders and start hammering back 
at them. They took the beating, left, and rejoice that they were 
counted worthy to suffer for his name. You see, it would have 
been a whole lot worse. Our carnal minds think, oh, I 
just want to get back at that religious leader. I want to grab 
that rod, and I just want to visit back upon him what he did 
for me. How dare he? But you see, if they were to 
do that, then to use an overused statement, the terrorists win, 
don't they? The scribes and the Pharisees 
win because then they would imprison them for insurrectionism, and 
they wouldn't be used by God out in the world to go to many 
nations, to many cities, to preach the riches and the excellencies 
of Christ. Yes, God can do his work in prisons, but as far as 
their task and their apostleship, they had much more to do for 
kingdom and for the glory of the gospel, and so it served 
to actually listen to the words of Christ, or to actually follow 
in Christ's steps, to not revile, to not threaten, but rather to 
commit themselves to him who judges righteously. And lastly 
and quickly, as we move through this, and as we move towards 
a close, the foundation for our obedience to the exhortation 
and the ground of our ability to heed it. What does that mean? 
If we ask the question, why are we to, patiently endure suffering. If we ask the question, why are 
we to be obedient to this exhortation to patiently endure suffering? Or if we ask the question, how 
are we going to have the ability to do this? Well, we see this 
in our text. If we move back there in 1 Peter, 
we see first off that Christ's suffering for us is the foundation 
for our obedience and the ground of our ability to heed the exhortation. Notice verse 21, for to this 
you were called because Christ also suffered for us. Because 
Christ suffered for us, therefore we are called to in like manner 
suffer for him. And when I say like manner, I 
don't mean that we are to be crucified and that we are to 
engage in everything that Christ did. That was a one time thing. 
But we are to be the recipients of reviling and the recipients 
of suffering for the sake of the gospel, for the cause of 
God in truth, just as Christ was. For to this you are called, 
because Christ also suffered for us. And don't we feel, as 
Christians, we don't have an economy of salvation where we 
work for our salvation, or where we have some sort of we owe God, 
so we must pay in order to receive divine blessing. But with that 
said, don't we have a measure of whatever you want to call 
it where we feel that we are to do for Christ because he did 
so much for us? We think about what we talked 
about this morning when we were talking about those seven revilings, 
the seventh of which was Christ was reviled by us. And we remarked 
that we can rehearse our sins The one that stands out, the 
one that really stands out is that Christ died for our reviling 
of him. Christ died for guilty wretches 
who said, let him be crucified. Christ died for guilty wretches 
who said, give us Barabbas and let Christ's blood be upon us 
and our children. Christ died for such as who reviled 
in that manner. There's a, there's a, I think 
it's a, there's a modern hymn. I think it's a modern hymn, maybe 
Jonathan can tell me later. How Great the Father's Love for 
Us, I believe is the name of the hymn. And there's a, there's 
a, one of the stanzas goes something like, Behold a man upon the cross, 
my sin upon his shoulders. And then it says, Ashamed I hear 
my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. You see, we, in 
our pride, and in our 2,000 years detached, can look back at those 
who reviled before the cross of Christ, those who said, let 
him be crucified, and say, oh, if I was there, I wouldn't do 
that. If I was an unbeliever, I just would have thought, this 
is horrible. How can you do this to such a man? What horrible 
wretches they were back there who said, let him be crucified. 
I promise you that every single one of us outside of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, if we were there, we'd be raising our fist, mocking 
this Jesus, and saying, let his blood be upon us and our children. But you see, we come to the gospel. We come to salvation. We come 
to the Bible's promises of salvation by Jesus Christ. And we can now 
as Christians find ourselves in this place. Christ also suffered 
for us. So what are we going to do? Oh, 
well, when I'm reviled, I'm going to revile in return because don't 
they know who I am? They have to get theirs. When 
I, when I, when I suffer, I, I'm going to threaten and my 
threatening is not going to, it's, it's going to be just wait 
till you see. I've heard people, I've heard 
people rejoice in, in their vengeance, man, you should have seen what 
I did. You see this person did this to me and oh boy, they didn't 
know what they had coming. What? That's horrible. That's 
horrible. You think yourself better than 
Jesus or somehow more, worthy of your own personal vengeance 
than the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when he was reviled, did not 
revile in return. When he suffered, he did not 
threaten. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. 
Consider who Jesus is. Consider where he came from, 
to where he came, what he did. And if you ever revile in return, 
and if you ever threaten when suffered, shame on you. Shame 
on me. Christ suffered for us. That 
is the foundation for our obedience and the ground of our ability 
to heed it. Christ's example set. Secondly, under this point 
number three, Christ's example set is the foundation for our 
obedience to the exhortation. Because Christ also suffered 
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. 
And then thirdly and finally, a foundation for and a ground 
of is our present and abiding status. That is our present and 
abiding status as found sheep safe in the fold. Look at what 
the text says. Look at what the text says at 
verse 25, for you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned 
to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. So as found sheep 
safe in the fold, we are now to be obedient to the exhortation. And that serves as that reality. You see, what comes with Christ's 
suffering for us and what comes with us being now found sheep 
is a change. That change comes with the fact 
that we're regenerated. We're born again. We're effectually 
called by the power of God from the darkness and the madness 
and the wickedness of our sin. to a place where we're now in 
Christ Jesus with renewed hearts, with new hearts that beat no 
longer for being slaves to that master, the devil, but rather 
to our God and to our Christ, serving him in righteousness 
and in holiness, being regenerated and being now sanctified. We 
are those found sheep safe in the fold. who seek to, like our 
Savior, exercise our conduct as such that is marked by not 
reviling, not threatening, but committing ourselves to him who 
judges righteously. So we are, brethren, though it 
may not be that first century apostolic persecution, we are 
to expect persecution and suffering in this lower world. Expect it. When it comes, pray to have that 
apostolic rejoicing. and do not revile in return, 
and do not threaten in the face of suffering. We are to receive 
it with joy. We are to seek after non-retaliatory 
resolve. When it wells up in you, when 
it wells up in you to respond to people who revile, and it 
might not be specifically insultive or abusive speech, whatever it 
is, somebody sins against you. You need to cut it off at the 
pass when it wells up in you to respond in a sinful manner, 
to respond in kind. There is no sanctified silent 
treatment. There is no Christian silent 
treatment. Very often in homes, in churches, 
in workplaces, wherever you find yourselves, what's one of our 
responses? Well, I'm just not gonna talk 
to them. I'm just gonna give them the silent treatment. There's 
no Christian version of that. When we're reviled, we do not 
revile in return. We commit ourselves to him who 
judges righteously. We are to leave things to the 
Lord. You see, there is peace in that. 
There is peace in that. Very often, not only do we like 
to revile, not only is that the initial response, but you see, 
we want to deal with it. We want to deal with our problem. 
We don't want to leave it to the Lord. We want to seek after, 
you know, a full-orb resolution of every single problem so that 
my mind is satisfied. Leave it to the Lord. Commit 
yourself to him who judges righteously. Jesus didn't render any sort 
of long-winded defense of his innocence. Stephen, the same, 
following his master's steps. Jesus didn't come down from the 
cross. He didn't call down 12 legions of angels. He didn't 
call down the fires of hell to rain down upon his enemies, but 
rather committed himself to him who judges righteously. And finally, 
meditate upon the foundation for all of this. You see, a good 
remedy for our wicked hearts, for that remaining corruption 
that resides in our regenerate, excuse me, hearts, as Christians, 
the best remedy is to meditate upon the foundation for all of 
this, that is Christ's suffering, Christ's example and our present 
and abiding status as sheep found and brought back to the fold. 
The best remedy is not to stew over, to well up with anger, 
to well up with insert bad word here, but rather it is to meditate 
upon Jesus Christ, salvation by our blessed Savior, all of 
the glorious things that come with salvation by our great God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for this passage of scripture which speaks to 
so much. We thank you for what it discloses concerning the Lord 
Jesus. We thank you for what it shows 
us, how we ought to conduct ourselves as Christians in an ungodly world 
and within the context of the church community. And we just 
pray that you'd help us in this, that we would be prayerful in 
order to be able to do what Peter exhorts saints to do here. We 
pray that you would help us daily to meditate upon all those blessed 
things that we know concerning our God, our Christ, and salvation, 
and that we would see this as a foundation for our obedience 
and as the ground of our ability to engage in godliness. We just 
pray that you go with us now, help us, Lord God, in this upcoming 
week to do as we ought according to your word and for your glory. 
We pray that you would bring us that ministry of the Holy 
Spirit daily in order to do this, that we would be able by spirit 
and word to bring you glory and bring love to your people. We 
pray in Christ's precious name. Amen. Why don't you stand with 
me? We're going to turn to hymn 87 
and sing the first stanza as a doxology at the end of the 
service. That's hymn 87, stanza one of holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God 
in three Persons, blessed Trinity.