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We're here at 1 Peter chapter 2 and the name of this sermon is Strangers and Pilgrims on this earth. Now go back to 1 Peter chapter 1 and look at verse number 23. So obviously when the Bible was written we need to realize when it was first written there were no chapters and verses those were added later on and obviously the chapters and verses are very helpful but you have to understand that sometimes at the beginning of a chapter it is continuing the thought from the previous chapter and the first word of 1 Peter chapter 2 is wherefore which is obviously connecting chapter 1 and last week what we talked about is the glorified body so at the end of 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse 23 the Bible reads being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and viteth forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass the grass wither and the flower there fall away the word of the lord and earth forever and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you so the context here is talking about being born again at the end of chapter 1 and it makes sense that when you get to 1 Peter chapter 2 you know the second verse a very famous verse about desiring the sincere about the word that he may grow because obviously that links toward babies when they're born they grow via drinking milk when they're first born lesson verse number one wherefore letting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies in all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere help of the word that you may grow thereby and so kind of the context here is because we are saved we should lay aside all malice we should lay aside all guile we should lay aside all hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings and the reality is that an unsaved person is not going to fully comprehend these things that we're talking about if we told them you should live a holy life you're not really going to fully know what that means there might be certain things that they avoid doing but a lot of things you're only really going to know once you draw close to god and you get close to the light and god is going to reveal certain things to you and as saved people we're meant to be peculiar we're meant to be different from the world and then in verse 2 it says as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that he may grow thereby so the bible is looking at us as christians as children of god and it's given us the picture of babes in this world you know babies that are born now how is it that babies express their desire for milk what do they do right at all times a day they just cry out or just cry again you know when babies are just a little bit hungry when young children are just a little bit hungry they just start crying and everything i mean even christabelle you know she's one and a half now sometimes she's crying and she just gets like a very little bit of food and then she's happy and it's just like they express their desire by just crying out you see the bible is indicating that is the way we ought to feel about actually reading the word of god as newborn babes as children of god as saved people we ought to cry out after god's work and so the bible is right there and the thing is the bible talks about how wisdom cries out after us and so it's crying out for us in reality we should be crying out after reading the word of god but many times you know we do not do that now i don't believe that in verse two this is only referring to baby christians we call someone who's a baby christian someone who hasn't grown much you know if you get saved today you can only grow so much in six months in six months you're not gonna you're still a novice as the bible would say even if you're reading the bible every day and going so many but you have to experience things in life and get a little bit older and things like that to really understand everything but i want you to understand i don't think it's only referring to baby christians because here's the thing we still grow by reading god's word i mean isn't that the method that we grow here today is by reading god's word by hearing the preaching of god's word by obeying god's commandments and god's rules so we still need the word of god today to grow because some people have this attitude well you know here's the thing if you're a new christian you should be reading the bible but i've been saved for five years so it's like we've obviously haven't done much reading at all if you feel like you know everything right we should still be desiring the word of god because you know no matter how much we grow no matter how long we're saved our our our ability to grow is still gonna be by the workout and you can kind of break it into two categories kind of the milk and the meat of the work you know in our in our world that we live in there's like a million different types of food but really it's like the milk and the meat and the milk are kind of more basic things and the meat are kind of more deep and complicated things but look there's only two two things two two ideas of consuming is the milk or the meat and that all has to do with the word of god so we should still be reading it no matter how long we've been saved notice we're gonna go to ephesians chapter four ephesians chapter four ephesians four but see the indication there in first peter chapter two the beginning is you need to lay aside all of these things because if you don't you're not going to be able to just cry out after god's word see if you have guile and hypocrisies and enemies it will prevent you from consuming god's word and you know he started off that chapter saying lay aside this and desire the same ceremony and oftentimes the bible talks about this how if you want to serve god you got you got to get rid of the other side because a lot of people have this idea i want to serve god but they don't want to make any changes in their life they don't want to get rid of anything it's like well how are you going to reach forth and consume god's word and serve god and be a good christian if you're hanging on to everything from your past everything that's sinful you can't do it you've got to make a choice in life and so god says lay aside that so you might actually desire god's word amen now in ephesians chapter four it says this verse number 22 that he put up concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts now we put off the old man not at salvation but hopefully you can do it every single day because the old man does not you know disintegrate or just get burned up when you get saved i mean the old man still exists and so when he's saying put off the old man he's saying on a daily basis put off the old man and it says here and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and then you put on the new man which after god is created righteousness and true holiness so it's the same sort of thing you got the old man and the new one so first he says put off the old man put on the new man you can't put on the new man unless you put off the old man that's the way it works it's not a complicated concept i mean we would look at it the same way in our world i mean imagine if you said you know what i want to get in really good shape but i'm still going to eat the exact same food i did before you know i'm not i mean you're going to have to go all in on anything to be successful right you've got to make changes if you're going to be successful at anything and in christian life if you want to put on the new man if you want to desire the sincere amount of work you got to put off the old man you got to get rid of the old things in your life that are dragging you down and the truth is this that every single one of us still has things that we need to put off we'll struggle with every single one of us has things that if we're honest with ourselves and i'm including myself there are things we need to make some changes and the truth is that no matter how righteous you get we're still a long ways away right we're still going to hopefully be growing our entire lives don't go back to first peter chapter two first peter see the main the main theme of this chapter is that we're strangers and pilgrims on this earth and we talked about that a little bit last week because you know as i said these chapters and verses were added in later on and so a lot of these thoughts are throughout so we're just going verse by verse and explaining everything but since we are a child of god but we do not have a glorified body we should live like we're strangers and pilgrims now and live for you know heaven as opposed to the things of earth because this body is only going to last for 80 90 years but your glorified body's going to last forever right and so first peter two notice what i said in verse three if so be he have tasted that the lord is gracious now i believe what this is saying is it's so be that you have you know gotten the grace of god right you know we're saved by grace and he's saying basically you know if you are saved you're a newborn babe this is how you grow so if so be you've tasted the lord he's gracious you receive the grace of god because verse four is also referring to salvation here where it says in verse four to whom coming has onto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of god and precious and the bible says that us for us to get saved we come on to the living stone now we understand that jesus christ is the resurrection and the life you know we talked about that i believe on saturday and the bible says to be saved we come onto the living stone okay now go to matthew 11 matthew 11 matthew 11 there's a song we sing the hymn i'm not i'm not sure if it's popular here or not we did the song come on to me come on to me i will give you rest well it comes from matthew chapter 11 and let me show you these verses because what the bible says we need to come onto the living stone and that is linked towards salvation you know it talks about as newborn babes you take something the lord is gracious referring to salvation well notice what it says in matthew 11 verse 28 now obviously the word come is a popular word it's not only in reference to the person getting saved but it is a common way the bible explains us matthew 11 verse 28 come unto me all you that labor in are heavy laden and i will give you rest now i believe this is referring to salvation and the truth is you enter into the rest of god when you get saved and before you're saved you know people that don't understand the gospel but are trying to live a good life they're working and they're laboring and they're just like man i hope i can make it to heaven i hope i can make it to heaven and then once you understand salvation you come unto jesus christ you enter into that rest and he says in verse 29 take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lonely in heart and ye shall find rest onto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is life now here's the thing salvation is very easy right it's just believe in the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved but you know i wouldn't say the christian life is easy so i believe these verses are referencing salvation because the christian life is not easy it's very simple to understand what we need to do but it's not easy to actually do it i mean the bible stopped talking about how we need to fight against sin so here's the thing about this you know what it's not easy the christian life but receiving salvation come down to jesus christ is easy because he already did all the work we just believe on him that's very simple go to john chapter six john six now here's the thing if i told my son you know hey zach come unto me make him right he's asleep right now but you know what what i'm saying is i want you to be here with me but doesn't he still have a choice whether or not he actually comes i mean if you're saying calm hey come to me come to me that implies that it's not automatic for guarantee right so when he said come unto me he's saying i want you to come but there's still a free will choice in that word i mean it's really not that complicated it's like hey you know come here well they don't have to come here because they can choose not to come here right and so when you're saying come understood in that is that there is a free will choice okay now in john 6 verse 44 this is one of the most famous calvinist verses and we're going to smash this and disprove this here tonight but they say well no man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him and i will raise him up in the last day and so what calvinist will say is well you can't come to god unless the father draws you okay now here's the thing i agree with that because that's exactly what the bible says the question is what does that mean okay no one can come to god no one can come to jesus christ unless god the father draws him the bible says and i will raise him up in the last day so you come onto him you receive salvation and you will be raised at the last day and no one can do that unless god draws them okay well go to john chapter 12 john 12 john 12 so look the bible says we cannot get saved a person cannot get saved unless god draws it is definitely referring to salvation no man can come underneath except you know we get drawn by the father you say well that sounds like you know he has to draw us and it's all god's will and it what does it say in john 12 verse 32 and i if i be lifted up from the earth will draw all men onto me this he said signifying what death he should die and so he says if i be lifted up from the earth he's saying if i die on the cross if i die on the tree as the bible says so basically if i die from the sins of the world i will draw all men onto me doesn't it sound like every single person is being drawn but see there's still the choice there he draws us and then we have a choice are we going to come on to him or not he said why does the bible even say that though that you can't come unless you're drawn because if everybody's wrong isn't it kind of a redundant pointless statement no it's not because here's the thing god will draw all people onto him but not forever see that's what the bible is trying to indicate you cannot come to god unless god draws you now he if he if he be lifted up from the earth will draw all men onto him but that didn't say he's going to draw them onto him forever did it see what this is indicating actually this proves this because they believe everybody's forever paid before they're saved what the bible is indicating is no actually he's going to draw everybody but not permanently and see that's the reason why the bible used that terminology so here's the thing we can come on to jesus christ if we're drawn but see a lot of people have this idea well that's until the day you die no matter what you do still have a chance and the worst serial killer in the world god's still no no they've actually already been rejected and you know we're going to be talking about that in this new series we're starting starting how to spot a psychopath starting this week and we'll talk about some of these things and explain what bible says and explain how people can be so evil in this world right and here's the thing when you look at people that are like this people that are psychopaths they're not crazy they're just evil there's a difference i mean people get possessed and can can do some crazy things if they're possessed and not know what they're doing but people that are psychopaths they always say well they're not crazy they know exactly what they're doing but they don't have a conscience you say what is taking place there well here's the thing jesus died for all of their sins every single one of them and guess what since he was lifted up from the earth guess what you know he was drawn by god the father she was drawn by god the father but that doesn't mean it's going to last forever and we can come unto god as long as he's still drawing us but you know some people in this life reach a point where god is no longer drawing them and it is too late now of course this is not a high percentage of the population but it's definitely out there and there's definitely even the world understands there's people that are psychopaths that are just right and they'll say well they don't have a conscience they have no hope right and see they don't get everything perfectly right because obviously they're not looking through the lens of the bible but they're they're in general right about the things that they're saying they're not 100 perfect on which we'll talk about in this series but see the indication here is you know god the father will draw us and we can come to him but it doesn't mean he's going to draw us forever so when the bible says no man can come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him he's basically saying hey you know what you can't come to me if you're a reprobate if you've been rejected that's right and so that's what the bible teaches and so for Calvinists to use john 6 verse 44 when you try to show them john 12 verse 32 they always try to go to the greek it's like why don't we go to greek for john 6 verse 44 because it's very clear he uses the exact terminology draw and so that clearly disproves what they're saying they try to use that to say well see you can't come unless you're drawn yeah but if he's lifted up from the earth you will draw all men on it but it didn't say practice so that's what the bible is indicating there so go back to first peter chapter two first peter two and so when you got saved god was drawing you to him that's what the bible teaches of course god wants people to be saved right obviously it's a loving god he doesn't want to send people to hell but when people don't believe that is where they end up going and you know he drew us and so the truth is that and you know sometimes when people get saved for some people the way they get saved they just know that god had an impact to really try to draw them and he tries to help people you know i don't know if i have that sort of story somebody just gave me the gospel in college but i know a lot of people that have stories where you know a lot of events took place in their life and it just kind of led them to the point where they were willing to accept the gospel or maybe they wouldn't have been and god was drawing them god was drawing them but see that is also at the point when god is really drawing you really you know fiercely trying to give you chances that's also the point where people can choose to make a rejection too because they're basically making a willing choice at that point i mean if they're getting pulled they'll either let themselves get pulled or they'll fight against it okay now i'm not saying that if you gave the gospel to someone today and they didn't get saved that they're a record that's not what i'm saying okay because i believe people hear the gospel over and over and over again and you know i don't think there's a high percent of people that are reprobates and that was just something where they willing to be a choice over and over again but the truth is that when you hear the word of god preached a lot and actually what the bible says then you're you're gonna end up making one of those choices where you can believe or you're rejected after a certain amount of time goes by like in a church like ours if somebody was in this church and they were born in this church and they were 25 years old at that point they've already made a choice if they believe it or not now in churches that are like non-denomination where they don't really teach much you can probably be their friend but in a church like ours you know we're preaching the truth and teaching the truth so people are either going to believe it or they're not going to believe it right first peter two verse five first peter two verse five he also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ and so the bible says in verse five how how we are lively stones because you know we have a lively hope we're going to get the glorified body and it says we're built up a spiritual house and i believe that's actually referring to our bodies and you know actually i believe when the bible you know i know we sing the song you know you know having a mansion but i actually think in heaven the bible is actually referring to our body okay and the bible says that we are a spiritual house which also means that we should be living a godly life and new i mean our bodies are the temple of the holy ghost of opposites and so in the old testament god actually had a physical building where his presence would evolve in the new testament it's our bodies and that's why we're involved with the holy ghost and then we're not in the old testament because this is the spiritual house right here and you're saved that's the spiritual house and we're going to get the glorified body of opposites and it says we're a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ you know the bible says it pertains increase unto god and his father and it says in first peter two verse six wherefore also is contained in the scripture behold i lay in Zion the chief cornerstone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded and so the bible saying that if we believe on him if we put our faith in him we're not going to be confounded we're not going to be ashamed we're not going to be you know rejected basically saying you know what we have a home in heaven if we believe on him it's a guarantee that it's going to happen we're not going to be confounded verse seven on to you therefore which believe he is precious but on that which be disobedient the stones and builders disallow the same is made the head of the corner so in verse seven it's drawing a distinction between those that believe and those that are disobedient now you see why is it that it says those that believe in those that are disobedient because obviously to be saved he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life and the wrath of god abideth him well i mean i'm not necessarily 100 for sure i'll show you the verse here in a second but i think kind of the idea of why he uses the terminology for salvation of obeying the gospel is because of the fact if someone does not believe on jesus christ the only thing they have is disobedience they have no good works i mean when people go to hell it's not like doing good works end up removing some of the bad words it's like they're 100 disobedient so you'll find certain verses in the bible like in i think it's in romans too or kind of draws the distinction between the saved and the lost and for the saved it just talks about good things for the unsaved just bad things well that doesn't mean that if you're saved you're going to do good and if you're unsaved you're going to do bad because that would that would go against a lot of structure but in terms of judgment which is the context there in romans too what it's saying is this us that are saved all we have are good things right i mean when we go to the believer's judgment right the judgment seat of christ we're not going to have any sins that we committed brought up it's not like you know hey when you're nine years old you pulled out that chair from underneath that girl i i did that when i was like nine or ten years old in fifth grade i still remember that i was so afraid she'd tell the teacher my parents would find out but look that's not going to be brought up before me at the judgment seat of christ because my sins are as far as the east is from the west the only things that are going to be remembered are the good things the good things that i did the things that actually last and abide through that fire and that's what's going to be remembered anything bad i've done in the past or in the future not going to be brought up well here's the thing if somebody goes before a courtroom and they're on trial for murder they're on trial for murder it doesn't matter if they helped out in a soup kitchen it doesn't matter if they did volunteer hours or something did you commit the murder or not and when people go before the great white throne judgment it's like did you lie okay there you get punished for that did you steal okay you get punished for that also so it's only the bad that's brought up for them right and so it says in verse seven if you believe he's precious and those that believe on jesus christ you know we love jesus christ right you know the things of god i mean that that is how we should be living our lives but those that are not saved they're just only disobedient but turn to first peter four and let me just give you a cross reference here to show you the bible does use this terminology we talked about last week because it's the end of first peter one about obeying the gospel first peter four verse 17 now look here's the thing the bible uses this terminology and i'm explaining you know why i believe it talks about that when you're out sowing though i i don't think it's a good idea to say well now you gotta obey the gospel because that's confusing right we want to make it as simple as possible i don't think it's actually wrong terminology because we do see it in the bible but you know what i wouldn't i wouldn't say that that's the best way to explain it when you're going sober and so it says in first peter four verse 17 for the time has come for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of god and so in a saying begin at the house of god is referring to people that are saved judgment starts at the house of god and what that means is in this life we're going to be judged when we do bad and if it first begin at us what shall be the end of them that will gain off the gospel of god now here's the thing if god judges us in this life of course he's going to judge people that don't believe it wouldn't make any sense for us to be judged and then those that don't believe they don't get judged right so i mean it makes absolutely no sense for people to say they don't believe in hell then it's like well you might as well not even get saved then because if you're saying you get judged in this life and if you're not saying you get judged in the afterlife if there is no great white throne judgment then what's the purpose but what it said at the end was those that obey not the gospel of god so why is that well when somebody hears the gospel they can either believe on it or not they can either accept it or not they can either obey it or not and the bible says that when you believe you must make a decision so you are making uh you're making a decision whether you believe it or not it's not worse because it's by faith but you do have to make a decision it's not just boom god chooses to save you or not i mean you have to make a decision okay so that's the terminology given go back to first peter two and it says in verse eight first peter two verse eight and the stone of stumbling in a rock offense rock of offense even to them would stumble at the word of being disobedient so when it says being disobedient i think that's linking to not obeying the gospel weren't you also they were appointed now this terminology in first peter two verse eight is very similar to another place i want you to notice where it says a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and then it talks about at the end learns who also they were appointed now one thing to realize and we're going to see it after we go to this one scripture in a second is that first peter once again was written to gentile leaders and so the thing and it talks about that a lot here in first peter chapter two actually because it talks about how you know before you know you weren't drafted in but now you are and go to go to romans nine i'll explain this here in a second go to romans nine and we're going to see this similar word and then i'll go back to first peter to explain it and i believe it was saying weren't you also they were appointed what it's referring to as we're going to romans nine is the fact that the jews rejected jesus christ i mean they rejected for hundreds and hundreds of years and then when jesus came as the parable says that they last of all will reference my son and then they didn't they killed the son they killed all the ones that were sent onto them and then last of all they killed the son and the gentiles on the other hand many of them chose to believe and so basically the jews were rejected as a people and so you know the gentiles are drafted in as the bible says and so that terminology is the same as what we see in romans nine it says in verse 30 what shall we say that the gentiles which fall not after righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is the faith but israel which fall after the law of righteousness have not attained the law of righteousness and so those that are trying to attain by righteousness don't actually get the righteousness of jesus those that are not trying to attain righteousness by righteousness get righteousness you know we choose to believe and we get imputed with the righteousness of god once again that doesn't mean you're perfect it means spiritually you're sinless so no matter what you do verse 32 wherefore because they saw it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law where they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written being what i lay in sina a stumbling stone in a rock of defense and whosoever believeth on shall not be ashamed so you believe on him you're not going to be confounded you're not going to be ashamed but here's the thing it was already you know known by god the jews were going to reject and had already been determined you know you're going to end up telling the messiah you're going to kill the christ and do what's going to take place and so basically you know god kind of worked it out they were appointed to that it's not that they were forced to do that they chose to do that but you know god obviously knew that would happen and the result of that is projection and you're going to pay for all your sins and health okay go to first peter two and then it says in verses nine and ten but ye are chosen generation or royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth the praise of them who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light which in time passed from not a people but are now the people of god which had not attained mercy but now obtain mercy so we saw similar wording to romans 9 and then verses 9 and 10 are talking about how as the gentiles they were not a people before but are now the people of god and it talked about in verse 9 being a holy nation and see that is the key god wants his people to be holy to be peculiar now we get saved by believing on him but if we want god to actually use us in our lives and use our church we need to be a peculiar people we need to be a holy nation we need to obey god's most we need to remember that hey the jews were rejected because by and large they didn't believe but they were also wicked it wasn't just merely that a bunch did not believe i mean they were wicked they started worshiping idols they committed all this wickedness and everything like that and so they were rejected and so god wants his people to be a peculiar people to be different than the world and sadly when we look at the world today in many cases christians are no different than the world i mean the unbelievers are dwelling in darkness safe people are dwelling in darkness i mean they're safe and on their way to heaven but they're living their lives like you know they don't really believe because you know you should make changes in your life if you believe it doesn't mean it's going to happen but being saved you should make that decision okay especially when jesus died and paid for our sins and you realize that you should be willing to make changes in your life and make some sacrifices when you made the ultimate sacrifice verse 11 dearly beloved i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul and so what the bible says is that we should realize that we're strangers and pilgrims meaning this world is not our home but our home is up in heaven and the bible says to abstain from fleshly lusts and it says they war against the soul and see when we do wrong in our life it's not like you just immediately pick up the pieces and it didn't affect you at all it's actually making it hard for you to do what's right i mean if you're committing a lot of sins it makes it hard to want to go slowly it makes it hard to want to it makes it hard to go to church makes it hard to to do what's right and see these fleshly lusts they war against the soul and when we choose to do what's wrong it makes it very difficult for us to actually serve god see there's this battle that is taking place every day and you know what the truth is you know just as all the apostles said we're going to lose this battle many times but you know if we just choose to just you know give in to all these fleshly lusts what's going to end up happening we're going to just fade out of the things of god we must be willing to fight this battle until it may be done there's really only two options you choose not to fight and you just get into the flesh or you choose to fight meaning sometimes you're going to mess up and adjust and fall seven times and rise back again because if we choose not to war say brother second i don't have any battles well then you're never going to do anything for god because if you're going to do something for god the bible says it's a war it's a battle well we got to make that conscious decision i don't feel like reading the bible but you know what i'm going to fight against the flesh and i'm going to do what's right and that's the decision we need to make every single day in our areas of our life where we just choose not to do what our flesh wants but do what god wants us to do it says verse 12 having your kind of a conversation honest among the gentiles that where they speak against you as evildoers they may buy your good works which they shall behold glorify god in the day of visitation and see the bible says that there are going to be people that are going to speak against us and the truth is that as a safe person with our beliefs realize that there are going to be people that speak against you as evildoers even if you're not doing anything evil right i mean if you stand against the lgbt you're going to say you're you're equal in today's world i mean if you don't go along with the program that they're telling you to do it's like how dare you you're the reason why this is happening right and the bible says though that we can overcome that by our good works just do what's right and not worry about it and realize yeah people are going to criticize us they were going to mock us i mean even a lot of baptist church people criticize us and it's just like you know what just live your life by doing good works and not worrying about it and the bible says that we can overcome these things by doing what is right okay now go to Romans 12. There's an interesting link that we'll see because it talks about basically overcoming by doing good works and then it talks about obeying government in first peter chapter two but it does the exact same thing in Romans 12 and Romans 13 it's the same terminology and notice what it says here in Romans 12 verse 17 recommends to no man Romans 12 verse 17 recommends to no man equal for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it be possible as much as lie within you live peaceably with all men and so i hope this first because the bible says if it's possible as much as lie within you as much as inside as it as is inside of you try to live peaceably anyway the indication is well we cannot 100% live peaceably with everyone even if we try right we should try to get along with people we should try i mean if you have co-workers you have other people acquaintances that are you know not saved or family members that aren't saved we should still try to get along with them it's not like you want to just start fights but the truth is this it's not always possible to live peacefully with everybody you say why because if you have the beliefs that we do a lot of people get mad at that a lot of people hate that now i'm not saying that we should be rooted just you know shove our beliefs down everybody's throat but but you know you can be just going about your business not doing anything wrong and people criticize you and they bring the war to you and you're not even doing anything it's like man i'm not trying to argue with you about the bible why are you why are you bringing it up and it's just like people will start battles with you about the bible and religion and stuff like that and then when you try to defend yourself they act like they've been the ones that were attacked it's like what in the world it's like you started it right and so this is a common thing that all of us have dealt with but you know we just need to always be reminded that we should still try to live peacefully with people if we can't even if we didn't do anything even if we didn't do anything wrong verse 19 dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather get placed on the raft for it was written vengeance is mine i will repay say it lord the indication is this that if somebody does you wrong it's really up to god whether or not he's going to avenge you or not and so if somebody moxie who criticizes you you know it's it's it's hard to look at it this way but the reality is that if somebody does you wrong it's really up to god and god might decide to avenge you he might not and there's a lot of people out there that would do terrible things because they don't like what we believe i mean i know people in the us who have had people you know get them fired from jobs because they were anti-lgbt and then they had you know people i mean you had the lgbt that were calling to try to get them fired and everything like that i have a good friend of mine in the us he had to get a different job because of the fact you know um you know it said something and then all of a sudden it's just like how dare you say that you can't work for us and everything now i always try to tell people be very smart on social media you know now if you own your own business and you kind of do whatever you want but you know it's a very dangerous thing if you work in a company to just freely just say what you really think about everything it's like it's best just i think usually not to fight that battle just work hard go to work and we fight that battle by going so winning we fight that battle by you know supporting our church but you know sometimes it's not worth that battle you know even if you're right it's sometimes just not worth that battle but it says verse 20 therefore that enemy hunger feed him be thirsty and drink for in so doing now shall he pulls a fire on his head be not overcome evil but overcome evil with good you see the bible says it is possible sometimes to overcome even with good so if somebody does not like you at work if you're just friendly to them and just they're rude to you and you're just friendly back at them it's kind of like what is going on right they're not going to understand it but you know sometimes it actually wins them over to your side i'm not saying they leave everything to do but they really respect you because you're able to control yourself and you don't fight fire with fire you're just friendly to them and here's the thing even if it doesn't win them over it kind of makes them look like a fool if they're rude to you and you're nice to them i mean even if people are against you before they think man you know it's like they're going to start joining your side because they're realizing wow you know you're being friendly you're being nice and that person's being rude to you but it talks about overcoming evil with good now here's the thing then it talks about romans 13 and the only reason one great of romans 13 is it does the exact same thing in first peter 2 it talks about overcoming evil with good and then it talks about the government which we'll see in a second so romans 13 verse 1 it says let every soul be subject to the higher powers there is no power but of god the powers that be are the meaning of god whosoever therefore resisted the power resisted the ordinance of god and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation for what was your not a terror good lord spits the evil well thou did not be afraid of the power do that which is good and now shall have praise to the saint for he is the minister of god of thee for good but if thou do that receive will be afraid for a bearer not the sword in vain for he is the minister of god a revenger to execute wrath upon him to do it evil so the bible talks about that in general the rules that are given are generally good rules and that's usually true in just about any country most laws are actually helpful laws if you're doing what's right the bible says that god has appointed governments it says in verse 5 wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience so in our own conscience we should try to do what's right because we should try to respect authority even if we don't agree with what the authority decides look you know if you have a boss then you know what sometimes they tell you to do things and you might not agree with them but here's the thing sometimes you might be able to get away with something but then it hits your conscience because you know that's not right even though you got away with it you know that your boss told you to do something right it says for for this cause paid tribute also for they are god's ministers attending continually upon this very thing and that's in reference to paying tribute is paying taxes therefore all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor now why do i think it transitions from overcoming evil with good to talking about respecting and obeying the government well i would say because one of the big fights that we will have in our lives is if the government makes impressive rules and tries to force you to follow right now some governments in the past have really just forced very oppressive rules against christians right there are a lot of communist nations today or muslim nations that you could not actually serve god because they would not let you serve god okay we're not in this situation you know praise the lord for that but at the same time sometimes government will come up with something and they expect every single person to follow it and if you choose not to follow it then what ends up happening is you're the bad guy and see here's the thing when you don't always follow everything that the government says and 99 of people are that might be something where what they criticize you as you're the problem you're the bad person you're the evil one now here's the thing there are some things because in general i think we should try to obey the government and for conscience sake we should feel bad if we don't but the time where we would disobey is if they're asking us to do wrong or to sin or something that is you know very harmful to us you know physically or whatever there are some rare exceptions where you would disobey and in those exceptions where you disobey people look at you as like a bad guy like you're such an evil person you're the reason why there's these problems and so here's the thing people are going to criticize you for the stances you take sometimes especially if you would go against what the government would say you say well what do you do in that situation well look if if you're in the situation where you believe something is right you need to stand up for what's right and how do you overcome this by just doing good and people might speak against you it might say you're evil or you're the problem what do you do overcome even with good one application is is with the government we're basically try to obey authority as much as it's possible okay first peter chapter two and look i'm not going to sit here and say that i'm perfect that will make all the laws of the government because sometimes look i you know in the u.s i drove and yes you know what i've got the student tickets i don't think it was right i don't think i should have been speeding but you know what it's the decision i made right or sometimes you know you're only allowed to walk at a certain place and it's just like you know you get in trouble for jaywalking in certain cities or get a fine or whatever and it's like here i'm kind of like i just kind of look across the street are there cars coming if there are no cars coming you just kind of run to the other side and you're trapped right but in general we should try to obey government as much as possible unless they're asking us to do what's wrong and so the reason why i make that transition is because in first peter two verse 12 they talk about he talks about people speaking against you as evil doers and by your good works you know basically you can overcome that well in first peter two verse 13 it says submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or on the governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of equal doers and for the praise of them that do well and so it's something that's really just like romans 12 to 13 in a transition about basically overcoming by doing good works now one reason why we probably need to be reminded of this is because very few governments in human history have actually been good and godly governments i mean very few ones and so when a government does a lot of things that are wrong to you it's hard to want to obey them right because they've oppressed you in so many different ways anyone here today i'm very thankful that we're able to read the bible and be for church and go solely but imagine if you head to one of these communist countries where you cannot own a bible or you cannot be for church wouldn't it be hard then to obey the other rules that they have when they're oppressing you and doing wrong to you so it kind of makes sense the bible kind of reminds us because they probably were living in a time many of them got arrested for preaching the word of god wouldn't it be hard to obey when they're oppressing you like that but to the best of our ability we should try to obey on things that are not sinful when they're not asking us to do wrong even if we don't always agree with the rules now i don't do this perfectly i'm not claiming to but i am saying that we should try our best and so says verse 15 for so is the will of god that with well doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men so basically don't give foolish people an opportunity or ability to criticize them basically put them to silence because they criticize you as being oh you know so you're so rebellious and then you're obeying you know always walking across the street the right place never speeding doing and then it's just kind of like it's put some of the silence and what are they going to say right verse 16 as free and not using your liberty for cloak and deliciousness but as a service of god honor all men love the brotherhood fear god honor the king servants be subject to your master with all fear not only the good general but also to the pro and the bible says that you know we are supposed to be subject to our masters with all fear even to the ones that are even to the leaders that are bad leaders and so look even even if in in you know politics or whatever a ruler let's say a mayor or something was a reprobate now you're still better off just trying to obey their laws because you know what it's it's it's going to do potentially harm if you choose to disobey them and try to fight against the government and you know here's the thing even if the person is evil they still got a position that you need to honor in five steps and god allowed them to be in that position of authority it doesn't mean they're a good person of course there are many reprobates in politics probably in every country but they still have the power they still have the influence and what you have to fear that position because of the fact they could do you harm if you don't obey okay one of the big things in the u.s is like people that want to fight against taxes they don't want to pay taxes because they say well our taxes are going for evil things well there's no doubt that taxes in the u.s go to a lot of people think because the u.s is helping babies get aborted all over the world they're helping start all these wars and everything at the same time the Bible just told us to pay the taxes because they are in the position of power and some people try to fight against it because they say well it's unconstitutional to have to pay taxes they're actually technically correct about that you actually look in deep detail it's just like they they actually cannot legally force you to pay taxes but they're still going to arrest you even though they can't legally do it so whether or not it's legal by the constitution or not they're still going to arrest you and throw you in jail so you might as well just obey anyway okay first Peter 2 verse 19 for this is thank worthy if a man for conscience for god and your grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer before you take it patiently this is acceptable with god for even here to where you call because christ also suffered for us leave it us an example that he should follow his steps it's kind of like how the box says all the will of god he shall suffer persecution who did no sin neither was guile found in his mountain in verse 22 we see the definition of sin because it's basically guy there's no sin there's no guy who when he was reviled reviled not again you know you think of jesus christ and the cross and the two thieves that were beside him were mocking him both battle factors and jesus did not go toe to toe with them or fight fire with fire and what ended up happening is one of them ended up getting saved and so sometimes people that are our enemies or people that might mock us or laugh at us it doesn't mean that they're reprobates most likely they're not a reprobate i mean if you have family members that might criticize you for the things that you believe most likely they're not a reprobate of course there are reprobates and bad people out there but most people aren't and so they still are reachable and just because they're mocking you doesn't mean that you should go back and mock them just let god avenge you if he sees fit then it says in in verse 23 when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to image of the righteously who his own self bear our sins in his own body of the tree that we make dead ascension living on his living unrighteousness by whose stripes he revealed stripes would indicate the blood because obviously the blood is significant divided he never stayed by his blood verse 25 for ye were a sheep going astray but are now returned under the shepherd and bishop of your souls now a couple things i want to mention in this verse it says ye were a sheep going astray which is indicating when somebody was unsaved so the bible says that before you're saved you're like a sheep going astray that's interesting because generally we think of the sheep and the ghost saved and the unsaved the bible says before you were saved you were a sheep going astray well well it's not the only time though because the bible talks about the lost sheep of the house of israel so the word sheep is not always referring to a saved person many times it is but the animal is used just because it's an animal it just kind of follows whatever right and so the bible here is talking about when someone gets saved you were a sheep going astray but are now returned under the shepherd and bishop of your souls now there's two words here i want to mention here shepherd and bishop now when it comes to someone being what we would call a pastor there's really kind of three main terms for it pastor bishop and elder and the reason why there's three different terms is because these represent different facets of that position an elder would basically be speaking of your experience right elder obviously experience because you think of people that are elders in society that are older so when you call someone an elder it means you have experience which is also why someone just graduated from bible college is 22 years old not married he has no experience right elder is one of the terms a bishop is really referring to being an overseer in the bible and then there's words the word pastor and pastor and shepherd are synonymous not just the same position but different facets of it it's actually synonymous those words shepherd and pastor one of these things i want to pretty much start on this when you think of a pastor or a shepherd you know you're basically taking care of the sheep it's really the term that says that you actually care about the church members and you're trying to take care of them and so honestly that was that's the terminology we use because i think that's really the most important to most of us that'd be the most important to me than my pastor just actually cares about me right and that's the terminology but jesus christ because it says a shepherd a bishop of your souls let's obviously refer to jesus christ so it refers to jesus as a pastor basically or a shepherd or a bishop and some people use that to try to say well see you don't have to be married to be a pastor because jesus was a pastor and he wasn't married he didn't have any children so who are you to say that i didn't be married to have children to be a pastor okay well go to ephesians chapter five ephesians five ephesians five and we'll close up here but let me just say first off i think that's just a dumb argument because jesus is kind of an exceptional i mean it's like he was sinless none of us are he spent the night fasting or praying and fasting i've never done that i've never met anyone who was literally you know well sometimes in church they'll have like a group of things so they're able to keep but i've never met anyone individually just prayed for eight hours without falling asleep right so just because jesus did something jesus resurrected himself from the dead doesn't mean that i have to do that okay but here's the thing you know i think it's not really true though that of course jesus was not physically married to a woman and he didn't physically have any children but actually you know in a way he was married in a way he did have children i want to explain that to you and personally i just think it's kind of a dumb question you don't even necessarily meet the answer because it's like well now that people will try to say well call the apostle right what about him he wasn't a pastor just because he got churches started it's similar to what i'm doing you know churches are started but we're still underneath in authority it's like if i've never called the apostle a pastor now he had authority he was an apostle which was a position for them which is not now but he was not a pastor because if i was very clear of the pastor or bishop or an elder you need to be married to the children but that's what it says in Ephesians 5 verse 22 Ephesians 5 verse 22 why submit yourself on your own husbands as under the lord for the husband is the head of the wife even as christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body and so the husband is the head of the wife and christ is the head of the church perhaps you've heard of the bride of christ right i mean you've heard of the bride of christ or you know you know heaven can be made up of people that are believers that's the terminology given so look i don't believe jesus was physically married to a woman but the bible does use the terminology the bride of christ if you want to get in a battle on this topic then it says therefore as the church is subject of christ so let the wives be their own husbands and everything husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself a court that he might sanctify and cleanse and wash from water by the word that he might be presented to himself a glorious church without having a spot and wrinkle or any such thing that should be holy without leadership so have men that love their wives their own bodies he that loved his wife loved himself so jesus in a way was married because we talk about the bride of christ we also were all begotten because of the resurrection of jesus christ and so honestly we're all the children of jesus christ i mean if we're safe we're the children of god so in a way jesus was married with children if they want to get into that battle but i think it's kind of a foolish argument because there's verses that are very clear in first timothy chapter three that you need to be married and have multiple children and if you want to try to use jesus as an exception because i've literally heard people this is their main defense and not even just here in the philippines with baptist churches you know i heard somebody preach this online where he said you know he was trying to defend himself this this guy who's a guy who's a pastor in canada he just had his second child born but he's been a pastor for like four years and he wasn't ordained and the owner i mentioned this guy because he's criticized people before because they talk about so much so he says he's new i would i talk about so much wow you really seem to love so but this guy in a sermon and he ended up he took this sermon down like an hour and a half after he reached it or something like that and somebody told me it was on and i listened to it and then it was like taken down but his defense of himself you know basically not having multiple children he said this well he's like do i think qualified to be a pastor no but i don't think anyone has ever been qualified not even jesus christ because he said on these characteristics he's like i'm not perfect but nobody's perfect at all these things it's like that's very foolish because you know in first timothy chapter three there are things that are required like being a man being married to a woman having multiple children and yes there are a lot of things that are kind of gray area are you following them or not and of course i believe the person who's being ordained and definitely the person who is ordaining them should look at those things and see if they qualify the bottom line is this you're not going to be perfect but the bible still says you can be blameless and see blameless is not perfect it's not the same thing but you can still be blameless meaning that you know when people look at you say hey that's a godly person they're trying to do what's right they're not perfect maybe i've seen them make mistakes or whatever before but you can still be blameless and so it's a foolish argument to sit here and say well nobody's ever been qualified you know if you're married with children and then you're doing a good job following the characteristics there and someone remains you correctly and you are qualified according to what the bible says so anyways the main the main topic of this chapter is that we're strangers and pilgrims on this earth this is not our home and of course we need to work hard we need to do certain things here but the reality is that we're going to be in heaven one day we're going to get that glorified body and we as christians should be a peculiar people we should live with the attitude this is not your heavenly father thank you