For The Lord's Sake: Motives for Obedience

Introduction and Review of 1 Peter 2:11-14

0:06 Now for the second time on this Lord's Day, let us turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2, and I would urge you to follow as I read in your hearing verses 11 through 17. 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 11.

0:58 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or unto governors as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers, and for praise to them that do well. For so is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. As free. And not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

1:36 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

1:45 Now by way of introduction and review, let me say just a word to those who generally come only in the evening service. For a number of months I have been in the morning worship service. Leading the congregation in a verse-by-verse study of the first letter of Peter, that book of the Bible that we commonly call 1 Peter. And we came this morning to verses 13 through 16, that second section of practical pastoral apostolic directives that Peter is giving to these believers in Asia Minor. After reminding them of their...

2:33 After reminding them of their true identity in verse 11 as sojourners and pilgrims, that is, spiritually they are resident aliens in this present world, temporary dwellers in this world. He calls them to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul, and to seek by the grace of God to live in a manner that can be described as honorable before the face of the Gentiles. And the end in view is that though they speak against the people of God as though they were evildoers, what they really see is their pattern of good works. And seeing it may, if God is pleased to visit them in mercy, glorify God by repenting of their sins and embracing the God of these very people against whom they have spoken as evildoers. Then we came this morning to see that beginning in verse 13, Peter begins to get into the specifics of the kind of lifestyle that is indeed one that can be described as an honorable lifestyle in the face of the Gentiles.

3:53 And the first area of his focused emphasis is the matter of submission to constituted authority. In verse...

4:03 Verse 13, be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Verse 18, servants be in subjection to your masters. Chapter 3 and verse 1, in like manner you wives be in subjection to your own husbands. And so Peter focuses upon this whole issue of submission to those instituted theaters of human authority.

4:32 And he says to these believers, if you are to abstain from fleshly lusts and to have a lifestyle seemly or honorable among the Gentiles, this is what it will mean in specifics. It will mean that you have learned what it is to live your life in subjection to those various relationships in which God has constituted authority. Now, this morning as we considered verses 13 and 14, we did so under two very obvious headings. First of all, we looked at the foundational directive, verse 13a.

5:15 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. The duty addressed is that of ranging oneself under constituted authority. And to be subject to every ordinance. The ordinance of man means that we recognize that authority, we submit to it from the heart, and we obey its specific directives where appropriate.

5:45 And then the duty is enforced with these words, for the Lord's sake. Peter knowing that to bring in this perspective would touch these believers where they would really be moved to a life of obedience. Then having looked at the foundational directive, we concluded our study by considering the specific application of this directive. When Peter says, be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, he then makes a specific application, whether to the king as supreme or unto governors as sent by him.

6:25 And he describes not every form of human government, but he describes the highest. And then the lesser forms of that government as it existed there in Asia Minor under Roman rule. And he says that these believers are to be subject to the king, the highest court of human authority, or to those who are sent to administer the rule of the king in their given area in which they dwell, these governors. And then he focuses upon the function of these.

7:01 When Peter says, be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, he then makes a specific application, whether to the king as supreme or unto governors as sent by him. And he says that these believers are to be subject to the king, the highest court of human authority, or to those who are sent to administer the rule of the king in their given area in which they dwell, these governors. And it is to praise or to reward those who do well. Now that's a very brief overview of what we covered in about an hour's exposition this morning.

Two-Directional Motivation for Obedience (1 Peter 2:15)

7:21 Now we come tonight to verses 15 and 16. If verse 13a is the foundational directive, If verse 13a is the foundational directive, and the remaining part that we studied is the specific application of that directive, then verse 15 is the two-directional motivation for compliance with that directive, and verse 16 focuses on the disposition with which we are to obey this directive. So tonight we consider the two-directional motivation for compliance with this directive, Having given the direction in the broadest terms possible be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, then when he applies it specifically to the area of what we would say the civil authority, he now brings in a two-directional motivation. One is Godward, one is manward. One is vertical, one is horizontal. He says to them in verse 15,

8:34 When the people asked Peter, Peter, yes, for the Lord's sake we will seek to be submissive to every ordinance of man, even to the king and to governors sent by, but Peter, at the end of the day, what is it that ought to motivate us in compliance with this directive for the Lord's sake? And Peter says, It is the will of God. And furthermore, it is not only the will of God, it is the will of God in terms of His purpose as to how your obedience will actually impact those around you who in their ignorance speak against you, in verse 12, as evildoers. Now let's pause for a few moments to just open up that two-directional motivation for obedience. First of all, the vertical. It is the will of God.

9:45 Peter, by the guidance of the Spirit, introduces these words, For so, or in this manner, the will of God is accomplished. Now once again, you see, Peter, as a wise servant of God, knows that to mention to a true child of God that something is the will of God is not treated lightly. For the true child of God to give a directive and say, My rationale for this directive is not your convenience, not primarily the well-being of others, but it is the will of your God. That's to touch the deepest springs of His fundamental concern and desires in life.

10:30 You remember, Jesus said in Matthew 7, that not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that is doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. And in 1 John chapter 2, 15 to 17, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

11:00 And the world, passes away, and the lust thereof, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

11:12 The true Christian recognizes that his profession of Christian belief and experience is invalid if the bottom line of his life is not a commitment to do the revealed will of God. Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that is doing the will of my Father who is in heaven. We do not earn heaven by doing the will of God. No, another has earned heaven for us.

11:41 But never is there true faith in Christ without a voluntary and joyful submission to the will of God. And so, when Peter says, for this is the will of God, he is giving that God-centered motivation to these believers. These who have been described, in the opening words of this epistle, as those who are elect sojourners of the dispersion, chapter 1, verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. No one is saved by God's grace. No elect sinner is effectually called, apart from the sanctifying influence of the Spirit and being brought into a place of obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, he had said in verse 17 of that first chapter, if you call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, past the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed with precious blood,

13:07 he assumes that a people redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, who call upon God as Father, are a people who desire to please their Father by knowing and doing His will. And so the first motivation for obedience to this directive is, it is the will of God. And for the child of God, that is a matter of crucialness, a matter of crucial importance, just as it is the great revealer of the state of the unconverted heart. Romans 8, 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the what?

13:46 To the law of God. Neither indeed can it be. If you sit here unconverted, you have enmity to God. And how do you show your enmity?

13:57 Not necessarily by denying His existence, openly blaspheming His name, the real crunch comes when God expresses His will. What is your heart's attitude? The attitude of the carnal mind is a clenched fist. It is enmity against God and shows its enmity by insubordination to the law, to the revealed will of God.

14:24 Whereas the disposition of the true child of God is, if I know that a given course of action is the will of God, the God who in Christ has redeemed me at such a tremendous cost, then my heart's response is, Oh God, no matter how difficult, no matter how much this marks me out as someone who is going against the tide of the climate in any given place, in my experience, Lord, if this is Your will, then by Your grace I shall do it. But then He gives the horizontal dimension of the motivation, and what is that? It is to muzzle the mouths of foolish men. Notice how He puts it.

15:09 He says, For this is the will of God, for thus is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Now Peter does not speak very flatteringly of the unconverted who pick on the people of God and lay unjust, charges against them. He was a little bit softer in verse 12. He says, Having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, that's what they do.

15:47 What do they see? They behold your good works. What may they do if God gives them a day of visitation? They may glorify God in their conversion.

15:58 But here he becomes much more blunt, and he says, These who are speaking against you, and charging you as evildoers, he said, These people are revealing what? Look at the text. That you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

16:20 These who speak against the people of God are described as those who do so in the ignorance of their willful folly. And the motivation the believers are to have to, comply with this directive, be subject or submit yourselves to every ordinance of man is not only that it is the will of God, but that they might put to silence, literally muzzle. This is the word used in 1 Timothy. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.

16:56 It's the picture of these people who speak in their willful ignorance that which is folly. God says that they, need to be muzzled. Like a barking dog needs to be muzzled. They need to be muzzled.

17:12 And what will muzzle them? Not the believers organizing themselves into some power group and seeking to address the evil of the persecution against them. But Peter says, You make it so evident by your undeniable embrace of every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, that your patent submission to the will of God in this will act like a muzzle upon the mouths of those who in their willful ignorance speak that which is foolish. This is the way, Peter says, to shut their mouths.

17:57 Now once again, we're confronted with an emphasis that will come up again and again in this epistle. It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, It says, Written to Christians who were suffering unjust opposition, who were going to suffer even more, as he says in chapter four, there was a fiery trial that was to come yet upon them. And the emphasis of Peter again and again is that the people of God in the midst of unjust treatment are to so conduct themselves that their response to that treatment will shut the mouths of their detractors detractors will glorify the power and the efficacy of the gospel. He goes on in this very section in which the great theme is submission, and he speaks of servants who are having to serve under unjust masters. He speaks in chapter 3 of wives who must be submissive to husbands who don't obey the word. He goes on later on to say, let none of you suffer as an evildoer. If you suffer for righteousness' sake, the Spirit of God and of glory rest upon you.

19:14 It's a recurring theme in Peter's epistle, and here Peter touches these chords that cannot help but resonate in the heart of every true Christian. I am called upon, no matter how many times I am called upon, to be a servant of God. I am called upon to be a servant of God. I am called upon to be a servant of God. I am called upon to be a servant of God.

19:29 No matter how lawless the society around me may be, no matter how much a false political philosophy seeks to produce a generation that is anarchist in its very spirit and disposition, when from the heart I embrace the revealed will of God and am determined to be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, supreme authority, lesser authorities, and I am determined by the grace of God to do this, convinced it is the will of God, and it is the way of God to muzzle the mouths of those who in their ignorance manifest the folly of their unregenerate hearts, God will own that commitment of His people. But now that brings us then in verse 16 to the disposition in which we are to obey this directive. The disposition. In which we are to obey this directive.

The Disposition for Obedience: As Free (1 Peter 2:16a)

20:34 Again, look at the text with me. As free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. Now the connection of verse 16 with the rest of the paragraph is not an easy one to establish from the standpoint of the syntax and the structure in the original. However, I am satisfied in my own mind.

21:01 And take my posture with those far more competent in the original languages than I, that verse 16 should be understood as flowing directly out of verses 13 and 14, and regard verse 15 as a kind of parenthesis. Notice how it reads. Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king is supreme or unto governors is sent by him for vengeance on evildoers. And for praise to them that do well, as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

21:43 Be subject to every ordinance of man, but do it as free, yet not using your freedom as a veil, a cloak, a cover for wickedness, but fulfill this obligation as servants of God. And I'm convinced that with these words, Peter is underscoring the disposition in which we are to obey this directive. And notice there are three things that comprise that disposition. First, it is a disposition befitting free men and women.

22:21 It is a disposition befitting free men and women. Now, some would hear the exposition this morning and again tonight and say, what miserable bondage. To make conscience in a meticulous way, to be submissive to every single ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. What bondage?

22:44 Why, Pastor Martin, you said this morning, this broad statement applies to every single framework of constituted authority. It means if you're on that soccer team, you're captain and you're coach. If you're on the debate team, you're captain and you're coach. In the corporate...

23:01 In the corporate structure, wherever you are in the pecking order, respecting those above you and submitting to them, except in instances where they demand that which would mean you violate not your judgment, your inclination, your own perspective, or you clearly violate the law of God. That's the only exception. You say, what bondage? I'd have to show respect to the speed laws.

23:28 I couldn't treat them with impunity. I'd have to stop at a red light at three in the morning if there's not another soul in town.

23:39 I've got to respect the crossing officer. I've got to be honest to the penny in my tax returns. What miserable bondage. No, Peter says, you do this as utterly free.

23:55 As free. As free. Now, what in the world did he mean as free? Well, he's underscoring the great.

24:04 The biblical truth of Christian liberty. That in union with Jesus Christ, we have come into the most blessed freedom of all freedoms. We are free from the curse of a condemning law. We are free from the galling demands of the law.

24:24 Not free from the law, but from its galling demands. Why? Because we're made free from the dominion of sin.

24:33 We're made free from the curse of the law. Free from the galling demands of the law. We're made free from the devil himself. We're made free from the dominion of sin.

24:45 So that we are free to know what God requires of us. And to respond in loving compliance with his will. Why? We're no longer under the vicious tyranny of an uncleansed, condemning conscience that is constantly reminding us that God has accomplished.

25:06 What a miserable bondage. We're no longer in bondage to our sins. We're no longer the slaves of all of our sinful passions and impulses. In union with Christ, we died with him.

25:21 We were buried with him. We've been raised to newness of life. Sin no longer exercises lordship over us. There was a time when every lust that squeaked and barked and cried for attention and for submission.

25:37 We were its willing slaves. But we are now Christ's free men. Whom the Son makes free is free indeed. We're free from the curse of the law.

25:46 We're free from the galling pressure of the law. The thing that Paul mentions in Romans 7. Where the law even works wrath and stirs up man's enmity. He can say, oh how love I thy law.

26:02 Your law is within my heart. No longer an external standard demanding. And stirring up within me my native inbred enmity to God and to his will. So Peter says, this is the disposition with which you're to obey.

26:20 As free. A disposition befitting free men. But then notice the second thing he says. It's a disposition befitting a sincere application of our freedom.

The Disposition for Obedience: Not Using Freedom for Wickedness (1 Peter 2:16b)

26:35 Look at the text. As free. And not using or having your freedom for a cloak, for a veil, for a cover of wickedness. Now why did Peter add that?

26:53 Well, the human heart has never changed. No sooner was God's free grace in Christ announced in the apostolic preaching. But that you had the spirit of antinomianism emerging. Even.

27:09 Among professing Christians. The book of James may well be the first letter written in the New Testament time-wise.

27:20 And what does James go after? He goes after antinomianism. People who say they have faith and live like the devil. People who say they know Christ.

27:31 And yet they don't reflect Christ in their lifestyle. And the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter. Had to go after this matter of people. Becoming giddy with the heavy wine of a false notion of freedom.

27:47 They regard their freedom from the condemning power of the law. As a theater in which they can now treat God's law with indifference. Oh, I'm free from the condemning power of the law. Why then should I be concerned about obedience to God's law?

28:06 Paul addressed it in a totally different sphere of concern in Galatians 5.13. He said, He speaks of them having their freedom, but not abusing their freedom. Notice how he puts it in Galatians 5 and verse 13.

28:22 For you, brethren, were called for freedom only. Do not use your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be slaves, be servants one to another. Yes, you're free. So free from the condemning conscience.

28:41 Free from the curse. Free from the curse of the law. Free from bondage to sin. Free from the galling pressure of the law.

28:48 You're now free to do what? Not live like the devil, but free to serve others. Free to have a mind and a heart taken up with something more than serving yourself and serving the devil. And so Peter gives the same emphasis.

The Disposition for Obedience: As Bondservants of God (1 Peter 2:16c)

29:04 He said, this is the disposition in which you're to obey this directive. As free men, yes. But this disposition befitting free men is also secondly a disposition befitting a sincere appreciation and application of that freedom. But then thirdly, it is a disposition of joyful servitude to God.

29:28 Notice how the text closes.

29:32 As free and not using your freedom for a covering, for a veil of wickedness, evil doing. But as bond servants, literally as slaves of God. Thetou douloi. Of God, slaves.

29:55 Now you say, what a bunch of double talk. Free, yet slaves. Now think how this would have come on the ears of a people living in a society in which slavery was rife. In which a free person, delighted to identify himself as a free man.

30:13 Contrasting himself with the lot of a slave in the Roman system. And Peter says, as free. And yet he says, slaves of God. You see, our freedom in Christ from the curse of the law and from the bondage to sin and the devil has placed us in a new and blessed kind of slavery.

30:39 Now the minute we use the word slavery, we think immediately of negative connotations. And it's hard for us to even let our ears receive with any measure of delight the concept of slaves of God. But put aside all thoughts of abuse and tyranny and capture what lies at the heart of the use of the standard word for a bond slave when it's used by the Spirit of God through Peter to underscore the nature of our disposition with which we are to obey this law. This directive.

31:16 Basically, Peter's emphasizing these two aspects of slavery. In slavery, one man has property in another. And the will of the master is the only concern of the slave. Now transfer that to their relationship to God in Jesus Christ.

31:35 He is saying, here's the disposition in which you're to carry out this directive. Be in submission to every ordinance of man. For the Lord. For the Lord's sake.

31:48 The disposition with which you're to carry out this directive is one who recognizes God has property in you. And in what sense are you his property? Well, obviously by creation. But that's not the emphasis when we are called the slaves of God in the New Testament.

32:08 It is by purchase of blood. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 20, Paul says, You have been bought. You have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body which is his.

32:24 You've been bought with a price. In chapter 7 and verse 23 of 1 Corinthians, he says, You have been bought with a price. Be not the slaves of men. Why?

32:35 Because someone already purchased you off the slave block to make you his slave. One whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. One whose commandments. Are not grievous.

32:48 One whose heart is so filled with love for those whom he purchased. That he sent his only begotten son to die in their room instead. Such a master can never be conceived of as cruel, unreasonable, narrow-hearted, tight-fisted. You see, that's the basic problem with every unconverted man, woman, or boy or girl in this place.

33:14 You've got twisted, devilish thoughts of God. That's why. That's why you won't stack arms. Give yourself up through Christ to serve him.

33:23 You really think that to serve God will put you in bondage. You are pursuing your soul called liberty, which is nothing but tightening your chains about your soul.

33:39 Peter can say, as you comply with this directive, this is to be your disposition. Joyful servitude to God. But someone says, Pastor, I thought. Our identity in the new covenant is that of sons.

33:55 Well, it's not just of sons. Bless God, it is that of sons. Romans chapter 8. We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.

34:03 But the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba. That is in the most intimate Aramaic term. Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God.

34:17 And we have all the liberty of sonship. The Bible. Doesn't encapsulate the whole of our relationship to God in Christ under sonship. We are also called bond slaves of God and of Christ.

34:33 We're not one or the other. We're both at the same time. It's just viewing the relationship from a different perspective. And Peter could have said in this passage, as free, not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as sons of God.

34:49 And that would have emphasized that a son. Would want to please his father, but the spirit of God did not lead him to say sons of God. He said slaves of God. Now, don't you be wiser than God and say, well, the concept of slavery is beneath my understanding of the full freedom of the Christian life.

35:07 Then get your understanding lined up with the Bible. Don't bend the Bible to your perverse understanding. Every true child of God is it much at home with God's designation of him as his slave, as he is. The designation of him as.

35:23 His son, he's comfortable with both.

35:28 This is the God who purchased me. This is the God whose commandments are not grievous. The God who has revealed himself in Christ, who said my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And so Peter says, because you are God's slave, you can comply with this directive as a free man.

35:50 Free from the dominion of sin. Free from slavery. Free from the devil. You are free indeed.

Daniel: An Illustration of Free Bondservitude (Daniel 6)

35:58 And you see, that's why the true child of God can sort out these naughty problems that we might debate for hours in theoretical settings. But when we have the consciousness that my ultimate allegiance is only to my master, the God who bought me with the blood of his own son, then whenever the governor or the king, the king makes a requirement that goes contrary to the clear requirements of my master, I don't need to sit around and think and worry and seek counsel for a week before I know what to do. I want you to turn to the passage that I referred to. We couldn't look at it this morning.

36:42 We didn't have time, but we do tonight. Daniel chapter 6. I was thrilled afresh with the story of Daniel that I've known from a little boy. But in rereading it in preparation for this, it came with fresh power to my own heart.

36:59 You want to see what it means to comply with the directive, obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, to do it as free, yet not using your freedom for a cover-up of wickedness, but as a slave of God. One picture's worth. Thousands of a preacher's words. Daniel chapter 6.

37:21 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom, that is, of Persia, a hundred and twenty satraps. What in the world is a satrap? Well, a satrap was someone who was appointed to exercise rule and government over several provinces. So he had people under him, and he had someone over him to whom he was answerable.

37:46 And it's hard to find a modern counterpart, so even such modern translations like the NIV still render it a satrap. So there were a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them, three presidents, of whom Daniel was one. So you have the king himself, Darius, then you've got his three superior magistrates, Daniel is one of them, and then you have a hundred and twenty satraps under him. You see the structure of human government?

38:19 Funneling down to where it touches the people where they live. Now we read that, verse 3, this Daniel, I'm sorry, and Daniel was one, and these satraps might give account unto them, and that the king should have no damage. In other words, here was an administration of the king's will and rule out in the provinces, and he wisely had these people out there to make sure that his rule was administered. Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him.

38:57 And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. The king wanted to appoint him. Apparently, next to him, he would be the highest in the kingdom. Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom.

39:13 Jealousy. The green-eyed monster. Daniel is not out politicking, he's not brown-nosing anybody, he's not greasing anyone's palm, he's just being a man of God. And God is honoring him.

39:28 And when he gets promoted, and when it becomes known that Darius has even higher ambitions for him, the green-eyed monster takes over in these that were his peers in authority, and some who are under him. And so it says that they sought to find occasion as touching the kingdom. Let's see where he's not really administering the king's rule. Let's see where he is violating Peter's injunction to be in subjection to those that have authority over him, as well.

39:59 Let's find an area where Daniel is shaving the rough edges and rounding off right angles. And it says, They could find no occasion or fault. Why? For as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

40:23 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him, concerning the law of his God. The law of the king, impeccable in administering it. We can't find anything to get it there. We'll have to find something with respect to the law of his God.

40:45 What did they know? They knew he lived under two authorities. There was no question he lived under the authority of the king. And they said, We know that.

40:54 Let's see now, as one who professes that, if we can find some inconsistency. They could find nada. Not a bit. But they also know he lived under the law of his God.

41:04 So let's see, if we can find something in that area that will set him against the law of the king. So what do they do? Well, they assembled together, went to the king and said to him, King Darius, live forever. What a bunch of mushy baloney.

41:24 What they meant is, King Darius, let Daniel die the sooner the better. Oh, king, live forever. They went through the motions of respect. Hypocritically.

41:34 All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps and the counselors and the governors have consulted together to establish a royal statute. We love you so much. And we want you esteemed so much. What a bunch of hypocrisy.

41:49 If they loved him and esteemed him, they'd have rejoiced that Daniel was impeccable in administering the king's rule.

41:56 You talk about the ignorance of foolish men. See it? One picture's worth a thousand words. Here it's all opened up for us.

42:05 And so they come and they put out all of this verbal padding. And so they tell him, live forever. All the presidents gather. We want to establish a royal statute.

42:16 Make a strong interdict that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for 30 days, save of you, oh king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, oh king, establish the interdict and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians that alters not. And because apparently Darius is flattered, he falls prey to their trap. Wherefore, King Darius, sign the writing in the interdict.

42:44 Now look at verse 10. It's an amazing verse. And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he knew about the law of the Medes and Persians. Once that was signed, that's it.

42:55 No appeals court. It's done. Finut. It's over with.

42:58 They said it. It's sealed. It's done. So Daniel knew the writing was signed.

43:03 What'd he do? Look at this. He went into his house. Now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem.

43:10 Kneeled down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. In other words, Daniel did nothing different.

43:19 He gets this information that a tremendous crisis is impending that's touching him. It's like Daniel says, what's the big deal? I've got no word that God has changed his word that I'm to seek him, that I'm to pray to him, that I'm to serve and pray only. To the Lord God of my fathers, I don't care if there are 1,500 Darius's that make 3,000 rules.

43:47 I know who my master is. I know whose servant I am. So he didn't scurry about. He wasn't nervous.

43:55 He wasn't upset. He didn't need to take any Pepto-Bismol. He didn't even set aside a special time of prayer and fasting. What did he do?

44:04 He just said he went on doing what he always did. Why? Because he was doing what he did as God said. And the master hadn't changed his orders.

44:15 You see, in this whole issue, at the end of the day, 99 out of 100 decisions are relatively simple. If we're fulfilling the directive in the spirit of free men and women who are not using our freedom as a cloak for wickedness, but as those who are conscious of being the bond slaves of God, we'll be modern Daniels. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

44:42 Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

44:43 We may not have tremendous places of influence such as Daniel had, but in the sphere in which God has put us and where we are seeking to work out what it means to be in subjection, to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, we, like Daniel, if we hear of some directive that comes from the king, or from governors sent by him that clearly contravenes the law of our true master,

45:22 life will go on exactly the same for us and, like Daniel, we'll be prepared to embrace the consequences.

45:31 If it means the den of lions, big deal. All the lions can do is chew me up to heaven sooner than I'd hoped to get there.

45:39 What's the big deal? You see, being a Christian, being a true child of God and a servant of God, brings an element of dignified nobility into a man or woman, boy or girl, who's free to be what God made him or her to be, his willing, joyful servant.

46:01 You see, anything less than that and you have marred the nobility of what you are as a creature made in God's image. You were never made to serve sin and the devil and your fellow men in this slavish way. You were made to serve the God who made you in His image. Who gives you breath before whom you'll stand in the last day.

46:24 This is the disposition with which we are in the power of the Spirit of God to live out this directive to subject ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. As free, disposition befitting free men, but a disposition that is befitting a sincere application of our freedom and not using our freedom as a covering for wickedness. In this context, what would the wickedness be? It would be excusing ourselves from being subject to every ordinance of man.

47:04 Remember, this is not a generic call to holiness. It's a call in this specific context. It is a wickedness that would find us not carrying through on this directive to be in subjection to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. And then it will be a disposition of joyful servitude to God as God's slaves.

The Universal Reality of Slavery and the Call to Christ

47:32 And as I was meditating upon that last part of the text, I was struck again with the truth that there would not be in this building tonight one free man, not one free woman. Every one of you here is somebody's slave. Nobody's free.

47:51 You see, those that are free in Christ are free from the condemning power of the law, free from the galling, pressing pressure of the law, free from bondage to sin, free from the devil. But in that freedom, they've become the joyful, willing, bond slaves of God in Christ. And if you're not in that category, you're a slave. Read Romans 6, where Paul assumes that every Roman, every Roman Christian before he was converted was the bond slave of sin.

48:24 Thanks be to God that whereas you were the bond servants of sin, you have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine unto which you were delivered and being made free from sin and become bond servants to God and to righteousness. Everyone in this room's a slave.

48:45 Some have a master who's gracious,

48:48 a master who will at last receive them into his presence, fully conformed to the image of his Son. Some of you, your master will drag you down to hell.

49:01 And I believe the devil himself will mock every one of those who have clung to their chains in the delusive idea that this is freedom.

49:15 What a horrible thing. The Bible speaks of those in chains of darkness, those fallen spirits, those angels who joined in the original revolt, in heaven and thought. Freedom was to be had somewhere outside the boundaries of the will of God. And they are in everlasting chains of darkness, bound forever in the folly of their so-called liberty.

49:46 Whosoever commits sin, Jesus said, is the slave of sin. But whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You ask yourself, what does it really mean to be a Christian? Well, one answer according to our text is to cease being the slave of sin and the devil and become the slave of God and of Christ.

50:10 It was a hymn years ago when I moved in other circles. I couldn't find it. I tried to track it down this afternoon, but I remember some of the words.

50:21 The opening words are these, Make me thy captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up, my sword, and I shall conquer thee. Think of it. Make me thy captive, Lord, then I shall be free.

50:40 Isn't that what Peter said? As free?

50:44 On slaves of God. Make me thy captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword. What sword?

50:53 The sword of hacking and hewing against God and His will and His word. Force me to render up my sword and I shall conquer thee. Conquer over what? Conquer over the dominion of sin in union with Christ.

51:10 Conquer over an accusing conscience that will crack you down to your grave, meet you in the day of judgment, and torment you forever in hell.

51:21 You want to be conqueror? Give up your sword. Force me to render up my sword and I shall conquer thee. How did these people to whom Peter was writing, how did they become?

How to Become God's Free Bondslave: The Gospel

51:35 The free bond slaves of God. Well, go back to chapter 1. And I close on this note. How did they become this?

51:45 Peter describes how they did. Verse 12 of chapter 1. He says, These things have been announced to you through them that preach the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven. You've had the gospel preached to you.

52:03 And when the gospel was preached to you, verse 22, seeing you've purified your souls in your obedience to the truth, verse 23, having been begotten again, they became what they were as God's free and yet God's bond slaves. How? When the gospel came, proclaiming liberty from an accusing conscience through the blood of Christ. Liberty from the dominion of sin through union with Christ for everyone who by faith embraces the Lord.

52:35 And when the gospel was preached to you, you were purified. You were purified. You were purified. You were purified.

52:35 This is Christ crucified, buried and risen. Experiences in His own heart. A death to the dominion of sin. A resurrection to newness of life.

52:46 The whole teaching of Romans chapter 6 and Colossians, the latter part of chapter 2 and on into chapter 3. This is how they became God's free, yet God's slaves. And that's the way, my friend, you will enter in to the same freedom. You must take the gospel seriously You must not wait for some additional life beyond the gospel.

53:10 God will not give it. His final word is in the gospel that He has sent His Son to die for bound, condemned, miserably crippled creatures. Fallen sons and daughters of Adam. And in Christ there is liberty.

53:28 As you commit yourself to Christ, trust only in what He did for sinners. That horrible bondage, that bondage to an accusing conscience will give way to a conscience purged, the Bible speaks, from dead works that you might serve. The living and the true God. How can you serve God with a galling conscience?

53:50 You can't. The thought of God terrifies you. It doesn't thrill you. It fills you with no wonder.

53:57 It terrifies you. Why? The barrier is your accusing conscience. How can you ever be the joyful bond slave of God?

54:05 Until the bondage to that accusing conscience is dealt with. And the only place it can be dealt with is in the cross of Christ and in the blood of Christ.

54:16 And how can you serve God when you're chained to your sins? You can't, for no man can serve two masters. Either he loves the one and hates the other, holds to the one and despises the other, Jesus said. And it's only when you embrace Christ crucified and in union with Him, His death to sin becomes your death to sins to me.

54:36 His resurrection to life becomes your resurrection to newness of life in union with Him. Oh, my friend, I plead with you. Believe the gospel. Run to Christ.

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

54:49 Join this band of free bond slaves of the living God. By the grace of God, my dear brothers and sisters, let us determine that in an age that is marked among many of its cardinal sins for its spirit of crass, rebellion against authority, its indifference and insensitivity to canons of structure, may we as the people of God be true light and true salt, doing what the Scriptures command us in this passage, being subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Whether the king is supreme or governor sent by him for vengeance on evildoers, in praise to them that do well, for so is the will of God, that by well-doing you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, not using your freedom for a cloak of wicked, but as bondservants of God. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank You for all the richness of the privileges that are ours in Christ. How we thank You for loving us enough to send Your, Your Son into this world.

56:18 We thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your willingness to become incarnate in Mary's womb. We marvel that You would submit Yourself to every stage of prenatal development, that You would be brought forth in an ordinary birth, nursed at Mary's breast. Humble Yourself to learn the alphabet, to learn to frame words and sentences, to learn to tie Your shoes. And, O Lord Jesus, that You would be willing to submit Yourself to the very law that You gave until the curse of that law broke upon You there at Golgotha and rung from Your heart the plaintive cry, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? We thank You, Lord Jesus, that You were willing to come into the theater of our bondage and slavery that we might be set free. And we would address You, O our God and Father, and confess that we do love You as our Master. And we do desire as those who've been set free to be Your willing bondslaves with a level of commitment that we have never known before.

57:44 Help us especially especially as we think of the application of this relationship to this clear directive given to us by the Spirit through the pen of Peter that we as Your people will be marked as those who do make conscience in this area of being willfully, joyfully, submissive to every ordinance of man for Your name's sake. Have mercy upon those who sit here tonight, still the slaves of sin and of the devil and of an accusing conscience. O Lord Jesus, would You not be pleased to come forth riding in power and in grace to capture such and make them Your own? May they give up their sword and then become conquerors in You. Hear our prayer and seal Your Word as we plead these mercies through our Lord Jesus. Amen.