Please turn in your Bibles this evening to I Peter chapter 2 as we continue our study through the Word of God. Now keep in mind that Peter is writing to persecuted Christians in the churches located in Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. And the focus of this letter is to encourage them in the faith, not to give up but to have a steadfast endurance as they are going through these tough times and to live a life that is pleasing to God, to have godly behavior in spite of what they were facing!
So far in our study of this letter we have looked at THE SALVATION OF THE BELIEVER that covers I Peter 1:1-2:12. This section can be broken down into our SALVATION in I Peter 1:1-12 and our SANCTIFICATION in I Peter 1:13-2:12. As we move on in chapter 2 this evening we will move into the second division of this letter that deals with THE SUBMISSION OF THE BELIEVER and that is found in I Peter 2:13-3:12. So with that as our background, let’s begin reading in I Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSE 1
Peter opens up this chapter with the word “therefore” which points us back to the previous point he made regarding the Word of God. In I Peter 1:23-25 we are told, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”
Peter is telling us since we are born again by the power of God’s Spirit working through the Word of God we need to put away, eliminate these things from our lives that will only cause division between believers and it will keep us out of God’s Word. Yes, we once practiced these things but now we are a new creation in Christ and we need to discard them from our lives, don’t put back on these soiled garments. Very wise words.
Peter lists five areas of sin that need to be dealt with and thus, he makes his readers aware of these things so they could deal with them.
A. MALICE: This speaks of a person who desires to harm someone else.
B. DECEIT: This is a word that speaks of dishonesty and it literally refers to baiting a hook. You see, you deceive the fish into taking the bait and you do the same with people!
C. HYPOCRISY: This spoke of an actor who wore a mask and it came to mean someone who is not genuine. Here Peter is speaking of spiritual insincerity, not living what you say you believe.
D. ENVY: This is speaking of an attitude of resentment because of what someone else has.
E. EVIL SPEAKING: The idea here is to defame the character of another person.
What I want you to notice is the word “all” could be placed in front of each one of these sins. Do you know what that word means in the Greek? It means ALL! Now we may not like that but if you are going to be able to receive from God through His Word, don’t let these roadblocks prevent God from speaking to you, remove them from your life!
VERSES 2-3
First you cast out those sins and then you take in the pure, uncontaminated, unadulterated Word of God so that you can grow, mature in the faith. Let’s see if you can answer this question. “When does a newborn baby want to eat?” A baby wants to eat whenever, wherever it wants. It has this inborn passion to eat and nothing will stop a newborn from getting the food that it wants! May we have that hunger for God’s Word.
You see, if you tasted that the Lord is good, that He is gracious, then you are going to want to know Him more and more, you will feed upon the Word of God! It is as Grudem tells us, “To drink the milk of the Word is to ‘taste’ again and again what He is like, for in the hearing of the Lord’s words believers experience the joy of personal fellowship with the Lord Himself.” It is as Jeremiah tells us, “Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16. May we have that passion to know God!
VERSES 4-5
This is important. Peter is saying that we don’t come to the Lord one time and that is it but it is a personal and continual relationship we have with Him. For the Jew this kind of intimate relationship with God was a foreign concept because they couldn’t approach God in their sins. In fact, it was the priests who offered the sacrifices before God and only the High priest could go into the presence of God and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement! But Peter says that we are priests not by birth but by the new birth in Christ and thus, we have access to God any time of the day or night and we can point people to God. It is as Paul said in Ephesians 2:18, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” You see, through Christ we can boldly come into the throne room of God and lay our requests at His feet, His door is always open to us through Jesus!
Notice now what the Lord is doing – He is building a spiritual temple not with stones or brick, but living stones, you and me! We are told in I Kings 6:7 as Solomon’s temple was being built, “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” Thus, as you are going through this life and you feel like you are getting hammered, you feel like there goes another chip off the old block, understand what the Lord is doing! He is working on you down here in the quarry of life hammering and chipping away so that when you get to heaven there will be no sound of a hammer or chisel, you will fit in perfectly!
VERSES 6-8
Have you noticed how often Peter quotes out of the Old Testament in this letter – he knew the Word of God and applied those Scriptures appropriately! In I Peter 3:15 Peter admonishes us to, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” We need to be men and women of the Word and as Paul said, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15. We are to not only know the Word of God but we are to rightly divide it and apply it to our lives!
Now keep in mind that Peter is saying that believers are living stones being built into a spiritual house, but there is a problem. You just don’t lay stones out, you need the cornerstone or in a sense the plumb line which will keep the building in line. Jesus is not only the plumb line for this building but the support, the stone in which the rest of the structure rests upon for strength and stability, you and me, the living stones rest upon Jesus and he keeps us in line!
The problem is that the Jewish religious leaders rejected Jesus and the reason they rejected Him is because they rejected the Word of God and now are disobedient to God. How many today are moving away from the Word of God and by doing so are being disobedient to God. We need to learn the lesson that God says what He means and means what He says and we need to obey if we love Him. Now because they rejected the Rock, Jesus, instead of being their salvation He has become a Rock of offense to them and that is true of all who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is as Jesus said in Matthew 21:44, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” But, if you believe in Him, in Jesus, you will never be put to shame and in the Greek it is written in a double negative which means it can never happen, you are His and no one can take that away!
Let’s look at what the Scriptures say of Jesus being the Rock. He is the Chief Cornerstone in Psalm 118:22-24. He is the Stumbling Stone of Isaiah 8:14. He is the Foundation Stone of Isaiah 28:16. He is the Supernatural Stone of Daniel 2:34, 45. And He is the Rock that gave Israel water in the wilderness according to I Corinthians 10:4. It is as we are told in Deuteronomy 32:31, “For their rock is not like our Rock . . .” There is no Rock like our Jesus!
VERSES 9-10
This is why I believe Peter is writing primarily to Gentile Christians, they were not God’s people but now they are in Christ! You see, these things that Peter is speaking of belonged to the children of Israel, but now they belong to all who receive Jesus, both Jew and Gentile! Now here is the thing, with all these privileges that God has given to us, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, having obtained the mercy of God, we are now to go out and proclaim what God has done in our lives, praise Him and let others see what God has done in us and through us so others may enter in!
It is as Paul said in I Timothy 1:12-17, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” We can all say that and should praise the Lord for taking us out of the kingdom of darkness and placing us into the kingdom of light through Jesus Christ!
VERSES 11-12
Here you can see the heart of Peter as he pleads with them to abstain from fleshly lusts, the things the world uses to lure you away from God. You see, those things should not have a hold on us because we are not of this world, we are just passing through on our way home because our citizenship is in heaven. But there is a battle and the word “abstain” is literally saying we are to “hold oneself constantly back from” these things that are going to bring us down. Yes, there is a tug if we take our eyes off of Jesus and let the lusts of the flesh tempt us!
Remember the story of Lot who lived in Sodom and in II Peter 2:4-9 we are told, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot , who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) — then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” Don’t put yourself in a situation where you will be tempted because the battle is on and you need to be wise!
Now, what happens when we succumb to the lusts of the flesh is we give the enemies of God an opportunity to mock God and the faith we claim to have. You see, people will read our lives more than they read the Bible and thus, they can learn a lot about our faith, about our God by the way we live our lives! That, of course can be positive or negative depending on how we are living! It is as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Don’t give the enemies of God fuel for their fire of disbelief but live in a way that will cause them to desire Christ!
Now we are moving into the second division of this letter that covers I Peter 2:13-3:12 and the focus of this section is, THE SUBMISSION OF THE BELIEVER.
VERSES 13-17
People are always wondering what God’s will is for their life, it is one of those questions people often ask. Here is something that comes from the heart of God, His will for your life, that you submit yourself to the government, you are a good citizen! You see, we are to obey the law! Now I know that is hard for some of you to swallow as you look at our nation and the immorality that is going on in our government, as you see how our tax dollars are spent on ungodly things, evil things. And we tend to think that it is much worse today than it was in Peter’s day and thus, we have the right to rebel, to protest, to have sit-ins, to cause chaos so we can get this country back on track! I disagree.
The Roman Empire was not a democracy and it was no friend to Christians. Immorality ran from the top of the government officials down to the common people. And yet, Peter tells us we are to obey the laws of the land. Jesus tells us we are to pay taxes, (Matthew 22:17-21). Paul in Titus 3:1-2 tells us, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.”
And in Romans 13:1-7 we are told, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
As you know, I am not one for protesting, carrying signs, having sit-ins, causing trouble because I don’t believe that is what God has called us to do. We are to obey the law as long as the law doesn’t make us do something that goes against what God says, like making women have an abortion. Folks, I believe that over 99% of the time this is not the issue in our country, thus, obey the law.
Remember in Acts chapter 4 Peter and John are placed in prison by the Jewish religious leaders for sharing their faith, by telling people about Jesus, for healing a man who was lame by the power of Jesus. These religious leaders gathered around Peter and John questioning them by what power they were doing these things, who gave it to them and how do you think they responded? Today we would call our lawyer, call the newspapers, let people know the injustice that is being done but not Peter and John. They used this as an opportunity to share their faith, to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ in spite of what was happening to them! That is a great lesson to learn, don’t let the opportunity pass you by, no matter how much you have been wronged!
Now when the government forbids us to speak of Jesus, then we like Peter can say,
“ . . . ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” Acts 5:29. But again, that rarely happens today and our focus is not making this a Christian nation but to bring people to Jesus and by that this nation will once again be great, it will be a Christian nation. You see, you can’t legislate Christianity but you can turn this nation back to God one heart at a time!
Yes, we are free in Christ but Peter wants us not to use our freedom to justify our behavior or as an excuse for sin. We need to use our liberty in Christ by showing love towards people!
VERSES 18-20
Notice that Peter says we are to be submissive to our masters or boss not only when they treat us kindly, when they are good to us. We are to be submissive to them even when they treat us harsh, unfairly, when they are mean towards us! “But I don’t like that!” That is not the issue, God tells us we are to submit to those in authority over us, and here Peter in speaking of slaves to their masters, in our day it is speaking of our boss at work and as we do it is commendable before God. You see, by your actions, your love it may open the door for you to share your faith and see your boss come to know the Lord! That is what it is about, living what you believe and share your faith and then you can speak forth what God has done in your life, but first live it, for that will speak volumes to others. Isn’t that a better way to deal with it than winning the fight but losing the war, the war for his soul? Of course it is! Yes, I know, the flesh is ready to fight but the Spirit is calling you to submit and see what God will do through your obedience to Him!
Now for those of us who are still struggling with this idea of treating our evil boss in love, Peter is going to give to us an example that should put to silence any doubt you may still have of how we are to live, how we are to treat our boss even when he is hard on us, harsh to us. That example is Jesus, of course.
VERSES 21-25
Here’s the thing. Jesus was without sin and yet they persecuted Him, they came against Him and He took it all for us. He could have wiped them out, He could have had His angels come and wipe them out, but He didn’t do that. Thus, He is our example and as we suffer for righteousness, not suffering for being obnoxious or being a pest or whatever, but suffering for the Lord we bring glory to Him! For Jesus, He looked to the Father, committed Himself to what the Father called Him to do and we should follow His example!
The word that Peter uses for “example” is the Greek word, HUPOGRAMMOS, (hoop-ogpram-mos’) and it speaks of a piece of paper placed over something you want to trace so that the original can be duplicated. Thus, we are to place our lives over Jesus that we may pattern our life after Him! Paul, in Philippians 2:5-11 tells us to follow the example of Jesus and the Lord will lift us up. He says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” But the flesh loves to justify our behavior, don’t let it. Submit to God and you won’t have a problem submitting to anyone else no matter what they do to you!
Now, the result of the work that Jesus did for us is that He brought healing to our lives and I don’t believe Peter is speaking of physical healing here, but spiritual healing for it is written in the past tense, “. . . by whose stripes you were healed.” I Peter 2:24. That does not mean we can’t receive physical healing in Christ, but that is not what this verse is saying as Peter quotes out of Isaiah 53:5.
Sheep are not very bright animals and they have no natural defense system to protect themselves by. You have never heard of killer sheep have you? Of course not. And sheep without a shepherd wander aimlessly and get themselves in all kinds of trouble. Now you know why the Lord likens us to sheep! Peter’s point is that before we were saved, outside of Christ we were wandering aimlessly, there was not direction to our life. But then the Great Shepherd came and brought us into His sheepfold and He is watching over our souls. This was accomplished by His atoning work on the cross of Calvary. Peter put it his way in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” The Amplified Bible puts it this way, “For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit.” That is what our Lord has done for us and all we must do is receive that free gift!
Regarding the work that Christ has done for us, Leon Morris makes these remarks. He said:
Redemption is substitutionary, for it means that Christ paid the price that we could not pay, paid it in our stead, and we go free. Justification interprets our salvation judicially, and as the New Testament sees it Christ took our legal liability, took it in our stead. Reconciliation means the making of people to be at one by the taking away of the cause of hostility. In this case the cause is sin, and Christ removed that cause for us. We could not deal with sin. He could and did, and did it in such a way that it is reckoned to us. Propitiation points us to the removal of the divine wrath, and Christ has done this by bearing the wrath for us. It was our sin which drew it down; it was He who bore it. . . . Was there a price to be paid? He paid it. Was there a victory to be won? He won it. Was there a penalty to be borne? He bore it. Was there a judgment to be faced? He faced it.
- Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament, p. 405
Leon Morris goes on to say regarding the significance of Christ’s substitution:
To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if He did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me.
- Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament, p. 410
But folks, He did Redeem us, He did Justify us, He did Reconcile us for He is our propitiation for our sins. Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The Amplified Bible puts it this way, “For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].” And The Living Bible puts it like this, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!” That is very humbling when you realize what the Lord did for you and me!
As I close this evening, let me leave you with this to think about. Submission is looked down upon today and yet, if Jesus did not submit to the Father, where would we be today? Still lost in our trespasses and sins with no way out! But He did submit to the will of the Father and completed the work He was sent to do. Thus, may we follow His example as a servant, submitting our lives to the Father and to those in authority over us, humbling ourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift us up and by our actions, a soul might be saved! Folks, when you think about it, that is what is important, so important that God sent His Son to pay in full the penalty for our sins on the cross of Calvary. Thus, may we die to self so that our life may shine brightly for Jesus and draw others to Him! It is like Jesus said in Luke 15:10, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” May we have that perspective as we live out our faith!