Scripture reading this morning is from 1 Peter,
chapter 2, beginning at verse 13.
1 Peter, chapter 2, beginning at verse 13.
We will be reading down through verse 20.
Beginning at verse 13, then, Submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king as supreme,
or unto governors, or as unto them that
are sent by him for the punishment of
evildoers, and for the praise of them that
do well.
For so is the will of God that
with well-doing you may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men, as free and
not using your liberty for a cloak of
maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God,
honor the king.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all
fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward.
For this is thankworthy if a man for
conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if, when you
are buffeted or punished for your faults, you
shall take it patiently?
But if, when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God."
The Apostle Peter is writing to a group
of believers who are enduring intense persecution because
of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
These, born as he had been into the
nation Israel according to the flesh, were undergoing
persecution, first of all, from religious leaders.
For the established religion in Israel counted Jesus
Christ a blasphemous imposter, and they called themselves
the Sons of Moses and the Servants of
Moses, counted all who deemed Jesus Christ the
Son of God as heretics from the Mosaic
faith.
The persecution also came from the political leaders,
for the group of believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ held to the truth that Christ
was coming to this earth a second time
to rule as King of Kings and Lord
of Lords, and to subject all political powers
to his own authority.
The political rulers deemed the believers guilty of
treason.
So, no matter where the believers turned, they
found persecution, and Peter is writing to strengthen
and encourage the believers in their persecution.
That which Peter writes is not theoretical with
him, for Peter had felt the persecution from
both the political and the religious powers of
his day.
You have but to turn back to the
Acts, for instance in chapter 4, and find
that Peter had been brought into prison because
of the accusations leveled against him by the
Sanhedrin.
There in chapter 4, they were commanded, verse
18, not to speak at all nor to
teach in the name of Jesus, but Peter
and John answered and said unto him, whether
it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God
judge ye, for ye cannot but speak the
things which we have seen and heard.
So when they had further threatened them, they
let them go, finding nothing how they might
punish them because of the people, for all
men glorified God for that which was done.
This persecution was persecution at the hands of
the Sanhedrin, the established religious leaders of Peter's
day, and there Peter underwent the threats of
the leaders as they sought to stifle his
testimony for Jesus Christ.
When we come into chapter 5, we find
that the persecution has gone beyond the religious
realm and has moved into the political realm,
for Peter is imprisoned in his because of
his testimony for faith in Christ.
This imprisonment was evidently an imprisonment by the
Roman authorities, or otherwise Peter would not have
found himself in the common prison.
There we find in verse 40 that they
called the apostles and had beaten them.
They commended that they should not speak in
the name of Jesus and let them go,
and they departed from the presence of the
council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for his name.
The apostle Peter knew what it was to
endure persecution, and in his persecutions he had
suffered physically the scourging and the beating of
those in authority over him, so that when
Peter writes to those persecuted believers in his
first epistle, he is writing out of his
own experiences, not out of theoretical or philosophical
speculation, but he writes out of that which
he had experienced.
As we come into chapter 2 and verse
13, the portion that will occupy our attention
this morning, Peter is dealing with a very
practical problem in facing this experience of suffering
or of persecution.
It was a problem of the relation of
the persecuted one to the persecutors, or specifically,
Peter is dealing with the problem of lawlessness.
For there were those among the body of
believers who felt that since they were being
persecuted by the Roman authority, they had the
right to rebel against civil authority, and that
the persecution by the Romans gave the believers
the right to become lawless, to rebel against
the authority of Rome.
And that, in Peter's mind, raises the question
of the relationship of the persecuted to the
persecutor.
It raises the question of the relationship of
the believer to the civil authorities under which
he lives, and if ever there were a
case where man would seem to be justified
in rebellion against authority, it would have been
the case of Peter in the fourth and
fifth chapters of the book of Acts, where
he was unjustly thrown into prison because of
his faith in Christ, was beaten in his
imprisonment.
That would seem to be justifiable rebellion.
If there were a justifiable cause for rebellion,
it would seem to be the experience of
these to whom Peter is writing.
For they have had to leave their home,
their homeland, their employment, the society in which
they had lived and moved because of their
faith in Christ to escape political and civil
persecution.
And so Peter, because of the temptation that
faced them, deals with this question of the
relationship of the believer to the civil authorities
under which he lives.
This is not a new thing.
It is a theme on which we have
had cause to comment frequently in these last
months, but a theme that, again, is brought
to us as Peter commands us, "...submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's
sake, whether it be to the king as
supreme, or unto governors as unto them that
are sent by him for the punishment of
evildoers, and for the praise of them that
do well.
For so is the will of God, that
with well-doing ye may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men."
Peter, in these verses, gives several reasons why
the believer is required by the word of
God to submit to civil authority.
First of all, in verse 13, he is
to submit for the Lord's sake, for the
Lord's sake.
And the first reason that Peter presents why
the believer is to be in subjection to
civil authority is because civil authorities are the
Lord's appointee.
It is the Lord who has sent kings
as kings, governors as governors, local authorities as
local authorities.
It is a part of God's design, and
the believer needs to recognize God's plan in
the administration of his kingdom.
We find that civil government, as an institution,
began back in the ninth chapter of the
book of Genesis.
After the flood, God instituted a new plan
for the supervision of man.
God instituted human government and gave authority to
human government.
That authority came not by human arrangement, but
came by divine appointment.
To civil authority was given the responsibility of
administering law and order, of maintaining rights, of
rewarding those that do good, and punishing those
who do evil.
It was a responsibility by divine arrangement of
the human government to maintain law and order,
to curb lawlessness and violence, and to control
violent and lawless men so that those who
were lawful could live in righteousness, and could
live a righteous, godly life without interference or
without danger.
Now, this was a new institution, for before
the flood, God had operated through the law
of conscience, and from the time of the
fall of Adam to the time of the
flood, God had controlled man by the voice
of God within man, that is, the voice
of conscience.
The apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 2 and
verse 15, refers to conscience as the law
of God that was written in every part.
But men could not control themselves.
You see, conscience operated individually within the man,
and my conscience did not operate for you
nor yours for me.
Conscience operated from within the individual to control
the individual.
But because man was a sinner, he could
not control himself.
He recognized no authority outside of himself.
The law of conscience was within him, but
while conscience could convict of that which was
wrong, it could not give the enablement to
do that which was right, nor to curb
that which was wrong.
And as we read human history from Genesis
3 down to Genesis 9, we find that
while conscience testified to the fact that man
was a sinner and was lawless and a
rebel against man and against God, conscience could
not curb that lawlessness, and society deteriorated and
degenerated so that, in Genesis chapter 6 and
verse 5, God testified that every thought of
his heart was only evil continuous.
Every thought of his heart was only evil
continuous.
Now, while conscience convicted, conscience did not restrain,
and God had to step in in a
divine judgment, and wipe sinners off the face
of the earth.
And God began a new society with Noah
and his wife, his sons and their wives,
and God instituted a new control over the
sinfulness of man.
God instituted human government, and human government was
designed to put a control upon the sinner.
It was designed to curb the sinner in
his sinfulness, the rebel in his rebellion, the
lawless one in his lawlessness.
The human government had the responsibility of punishing
the evildoer, and according to Genesis 9 and
verse 6, the authority to punish included the
death penalty.
The government had the responsibility to provide the
atmosphere in which righteousness could flourish, in which
godliness could be practiced.
Therefore, human government was to do two things.
It was to curb lawlessness and provide the
atmosphere in which righteousness could flourish.
Now, we find Peter tells us in verse
13 that we are to submit because of
the Lord's faith.
I believe Peter means by that we are
to submit to every ordinance because this is
the Lord's arrangement, and that when one submits
to government he does so because he recognizes
that government is a divine institution, and that
men in submitting to government are submitting to
the authority of God.
Now, Peter does not decide what kind of
government we are to have so that we
may submit to it.
The word of God does not recognize one
kind of government or approve one kind as
over against another.
The word of God approves any government, any
form of government which does what government is
designed to do, curb lawlessness and provide the
atmosphere in which righteousness may flourish.
And when a government serves that fundamental objective
of government, it is a government that fulfills
the divine appointment, and any form of government
which fails to perform that which God intended
in a government is failing in its primary
function for which it was instituted of God.
These are facts that Peter had in mind
when he told them that they were to
submit, even in persecution, because of the Lord's
faith.
The second reason that Peter gives is in
verse 14.
We have already anticipated this in what we
had to say.
We are to submit to every ordinance of
man and to king or governors or local
authorities because of the ministry entrusted to the
rulers and the governors.
Peter says they are sent by God for
the punishment of evil doers and for the
praise of them that do well.
Will you notice that this is Paul's concept
of government?
He writes in Romans chapter 13 and verse
4, says that the powers that be are
the ministers of God to thee for good.
If thou do that which is evil, be
afraid for he beareth not the sword in
vain, for he is the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil.
Twice in Romans 13, Paul calls the governors
ministers of God.
They are not ministers of the gospel, they
are not teachers, but they do have the
responsibility of the ministry of curbing sin, lawlessness,
and of providing the atmosphere in which righteousness
may flourish.
This was a divine ministry, and those who
were appointed were called ministers of God.
Peter and Paul have the same concept of
the ministry entrusted to those who were rulers
in authority over them.
Now, Paul says that these ministers of God,
or the rulers, have a responsibility for maintaining
order in the state, and if believers promote
disorder because they must acknowledge God instead of
acknowledging the king or the ruler, they expect
the rulers to administer punishment.
Paul nor Peter do not question the right
of Rome to punish.
They counsel believers as to how they will
endure the punishment, and Peter will go on
to say in verse 19 and 20 that
this is thankworthy if a man for conscience
toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully.
What glory is it if when ye be
buffeted for your fault ye take it patiently?
If when ye do well and suffer for
it and ye take it patiently, this is
acceptable to God.
We find in the second reason, then, that
believers are to submit is because of the
responsibilities resting upon these appointees to punish evildoers
and to reward them that do well.
The third reason that they are to submit
is given in verse 15.
They are to submit for testimony's sake.
So is the will of God that with
well-doing ye may put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men.
The foolish men, in verse 15, refers to
rulers who step out of the rightful bounds
of the authority entrusted to them, and move
into the sphere that belongs to God Himself.
There are certain bounds as to what government
was appointed to do, and from the scripture
we would gain that the bounds on government
are restricted to the punishment of evildoers, and
the rewarding of those that do good, the
providing of an atmosphere in which righteousness may
flourish.
Those were the divine bounds of government, and
when government gets outside of those bounds, it
has overstepped its authority.
The foolish men of verse 15 would be
those men who feel that they have a
right to do what the men in Acts
4 and Acts 5 were doing to Peter
and John and the apostles, stepping into the
sphere that belongs to the authority of God
and legislating in that sphere.
The apostles preached because they were under divine
authority, not because civil authorities gave approval.
Civil authority overextended itself when it went into
the realm of the preaching of the gospel,
and when they forbid the gospel to be
proclaimed, they became foolish men.
And yet, when foolish men exercise an illegitimate
authority and cause believers to suffer in the
exercise of that authority, believers are to so
submit even though that authority is wrongly used
in a wrong sphere, they are so to
submit to authority that those who wrongly use
their authority may have a testimony of the
faith of the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
So, that submission to authority came because they
were suffering in the will of God, and
that through that submission to suffering and submission
to every ordinance of the Lord's faith, they
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men.
Now, Peter deals with another problem.
Does not this submission to civil authority curb
the liberty that belongs to me as a
child of God?
Does it not put me under law, take
me out of the operation of the sphere
of grace, and put me under law?
Not at all, for Peter says in verse
16, as free, yet not using your liberty
as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God.
Peter asserts our freedom, but our freedom under
grace is not a freedom to be lawless.
It is not a freedom to ignore the
God-given rights of civil authorities when they
operate in their own realm.
We are under a higher authority.
Now, to submit to the highest authority, the
authority of Christ, does not mean we are
free from the appointed authorities which Christ has
instituted.
For instance, the believer in the church must
recognize that God constitutes authority in the church
and the elders, and the individual believer in
the assembly is to submit to the authority
of elders, because that is a divine arrangement.
He has no right to say, I have
been saved, therefore I am free from any
authority over me whatsoever.
In the same way, the believer is free
to submit to the authority of Christ, but
that does not mean he despises the civil
authorities that Christ uses in the administration of
dealing with lawlessness in our land today.
We are free, but to refuse to submit
to any constituted authority, whether in faith or
in the church, would be using our liberty
as a cloak of maliciousness.
The cloak of maliciousness in this context would
be despising the appointed authority, despising constituted authority.
And Peter said that, even though you suffer
wrongfully, you recognize the right of the state
to maintain law and order, and if they
feel that your presence in the state is
disruptive to the state and persecute you, they
are doing what they are ordained of God
to do, preserving law and order.
You submit, and you do not become a
rebel because rebellion against them would mitigate your
testimony, verse 15.
To prevent them from doing their work, verse
14, would be a rebellion against Christ.
We are the servants of God, and to
submit to the authority of God will never
permit us to despise any constituted authority that
God has arranged, and every area of divine
appointment necessitates submission, because we are the servants
of God.
Now, Peter, who has been dealing with the
negative side, tells us in verse 17 how
we are to respond to those in positions
of authority over us.
While he is dealing with the question of
submission to authority in faith, this would also
be applicable to any area.
It would give us guidelines for submission to
the authority in church, and also submission to
the constituted authority in the home.
First of all, he says, honor all men.
The all would refer to all who are
in authority on a local, state, and national
level in the political realm, and the local
level in the church realm.
It would have to do with the constituted
authority of the parent or the husband in
the realm of the home.
Give them honor.
This has to do with recognition of the
authority that belongs to the person, not as
a person, but recognition of the office to
which that person has been appointed by the
authority of God, to reverence and respect the
official capacity that the individual has.
In verse 17, he also tells us we
are to love the brotherhood.
The brotherhood moves out of the political realm
into the realm of the family of God.
We are to respect the office of the
king or the ruler or the president.
We are to love the brotherhood.
Now, this is another form of submission, for
the one who loves submits to the object
of his affection.
The first was submission because of the honorable
office of the individual, but the second, when
he says love the brotherhood, is the submission
of love, not the submission to the authority
of the office.
The third area of submission is to God
Himself, where he commands fear God.
Fear has to do with reverence, the respect
that belongs to God because of the glory
of his person and his character.
This does not have to do with a
trembling trepidation.
This has to do with respect for the
sovereign authority that belongs to God.
We love the brethren because we are in
subjection to God.
We obey authorities in faith because we are
in subjection to the authority of God.
Honor the king, and this is repeated the
second time.
This idea is repeated the second time in
the verse because this was the immediate problem
that these believers were facing, the problem of
submission to the state who is an instrument
in the persecution of these believers.
Now, the principles that Peter stated were not
principles that were applicable only to his day.
They are timeless principles.
They go back into the very beginnings of
the word of God.
They are based upon a recognition of the
use that God intended to make of government
to curb lawlessness, to provide the atmosphere in
which righteousness may flourish.
The believer finds himself today in exactly the
same position that Peter's readers found themselves in,
for the state is no friend of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet, because we are in submission to
the authority of Christ, we are commanded to
be in subjection to the authority of government,
to recognize that it has a right to
rule.
Many of us are concerned because our government
seems to be abandoning that which was the
primary function of government.
The curbing of lawlessness, the providing of an
atmosphere in which the gospel may be proclaimed,
the truths of Christ taught, in which righteousness
and godliness may flourish and be practiced in
accordance with the word of God.
We trust that the emphasis of these last
days made by our politicians is more than
a passing emphasis when they build a platform
upon law and order.
It's almost inconceivable because of the present tenor
that any politician would come out today and
not be for law and order.
Yet, we realize that government was appointed by
God to do that very thing, and is
it not strange that a nation that prides
itself on being a Christian nation, a nation
that was founded on godliness and upon the
word of God, finds it necessary to call
its government back to that which was the
primary function of government the maintenance of law
and order, and to provide the atmosphere in
which the gospel may be preached, and the
children of God may live as the saints
of God in this political relationship.
But when Peter emphasizes the truths of submission
to government, submission in church, submission in home,
his whole concept is based upon one prerequisite,
and that is the submission of the individual
to the authority of Jesus Christ.
There can be no submission of an individual
apart from personal faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Government has a responsibility to subject all its
citizens, whether they are Christians or not, and
the more non-Christians there are, the stronger
the authority of faith has to be.
The more believers there are who submit voluntarily
to the authority of God and the authority
of faith, the less authoritarianism there must be.
The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ
that brings man into subjection to the authority
of Christ is the only final answer to
the problem of lawlessness in any nation.
We can multiply police forces, multiply FBI, multiply
law enforcement agencies, but lawlessness continues, and a
nation will not be a lawful nation until
individuals through the gospel of Jesus Christ are
brought into submission to the authority of Christ.
And thus we suggest that the ministry of
the gospel, the proclamation of the truths of
the gospel by believers, is the crime and
the desperate need of our nation today.
Not more police, not higher salaries for law
enforcement agencies, not better training, but the preaching
of the gospel.
For men who are rebels by nature will
find ways of circumventing any law enforcement agency
until their hearts are, first of all, brought
into subjection to the gospel of Christ and
the authority of Jesus Christ.
If you're concerned about conditions in our nation
today, it should lead you to take this
book and go to men and women and
young people and tell them that Christ died
for them in order that individual by individual,
men might be brought into submission and subjection
to the authority of Christ.
For thus and only thus will our nation
become a law-abiding nation again.
Maybe I talked to some here this morning
who themselves have never submitted to the authority
of Christ, never personally acknowledged him as Savior,
never trusted him for salvation.
You have the same problem that our nation
has, the problem of lawlessness, rebellion against God.
The only solution to that problem is trusting
Christ for your salvation.
God offers you a Savior who has promised
to save you if you will take his
gift.
He offers it to you right now, and
as his minister I ask you the question,
will you accept Jesus Christ as your own
personal Savior?
We pray our Father in the Spirit of
God who gives us instruction concerning the everyday
affairs of life, may let us see the
responsibility we have in the affairs of state.
We might be in submission as the Word
of God commands us to be in submission.
We might have a good testimony before man,
and if we're called upon because of the
ungodliness of state to suffer for our faith,
may we be found faithful to thee in
these trying days.
We pray that we might be faithful in
proclaiming the Word, that we might bring men
to the Lord Jesus Christ, that lawlessness might
be averted in our land.
Will thou dismiss us with the riches of
thy grace and mercy and peace upon us?
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.