Injustice: Christian's Unnatural Response

Introduction: Peter's Commission and Pastoral Concerns

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, June 27, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now let us turn in the word of God to 1 Peter, 1 Peter, and as I did last Lord's Day, so again this morning I shall read in your hearing two verses from chapter 2 and then the paragraph that we are presently studying in chapter 3. 1 Peter 2, verses 11 and 12, and then chapter 3, verses 8 through 12. Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your behavior honorable among the Gentiles, that wherein they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your grace and grace be able to do what you do. 1 Peter 2, verses 11 and 12, and then chapter 3, verses 8 through 12. Good works which they behold glorify God in the day of visitation. Chapter 3, verse 8.

1:20 Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded, not rendering evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but contrary-wise blessing. For hereunto were you called, that you should inherit a blessing. For he that would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him turn away from evil and do good.

2:01 Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears unto their supplication. But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil. Let us once again seek God's face and the help of his Spirit as we come to the study of his holy word.

2:25 Let us pray.

2:29 Our Father, you have said that your word would not return unto you void, that as the rain and the snow that come down from heaven and water the earth and do not return until they have accomplished their work. That they have accomplished their purposes in the earth. So, Lord, you have pledged that your word would not go out in any assembly of your people, in any place where it is preached, and return to you without securing the ends for which you sent it forth. And we would in faith plead that promise this morning, that your word will be profitable to each of us, to our good and not to our dismay. Amen. Now, there are many things that will convince any thoughtful reader of the Bible, that the Bible is not a mere human production, but is indeed the very word of the living God. And one such thing is the honesty with which it records the warts of the Bible.

3:51 And one such thing is the honesty with which it records the warts of the Bible. And the moles, that is, the sins, the failures, the follies of some of its most leading figures. For example, it records the tragic and shameful lapse of faith and courage in the life of the Apostle Peter. The Bible tells us that when a servant girl asks him and asserts that he is an associate of Jesus, he not only...

4:21 He denies, but eventually denies with oaths and maledictions. And granted, he goes out later and weeps bitterly, but the Bible does not cover over his lapse of faith and of courage. But the same Bible that records Peter's tragic failure also records his bitter tears and the subsequent restoration to usefulness as the Lord Jesus, in one of his post-resurrection appearances, comes to the lake where Peter and his companions have been fishing, and there the Lord prepares breakfast for them. And in that setting of intimate interaction with the disciples and particularly with Peter, he recommissions his servant Peter and says to him, Feed my lambs! Shepherd my sheep! And feed my sheep! And when we pick up the book of First Peter, in a very real sense, it shows that Peter had to be driven by the year of your judgment, for he had already been driven by the year of your judgment.

5:16 And you may think you are of your judgment. But this is not so. There is a troubled heart and a troubled soul. And Peter, the Apostle Peter, was propelled to a remote place before the season, which was often called the year of judgment.

5:21 That's the time when we asked Jesus to wipe out all doubts and doubts. real sense, what we find in this book is Peter fulfilling that commission given to him by the seashore many years before. Aware that there were groups of Christians in what would then have been the outer reaches of the Roman Empire, Peter writes to these Christians because he knows that they are undergoing opposition and facing tremendous and increasing difficulties, and he desires to shepherd them. He desires to feed them. He desires to counsel and to guide them as an apostle of the Lord Jesus. And as he writes to them, he has two burning, passionate, pastoral concerns. And the first is the concern to strengthen them in their faith, their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the second is the concern to strengthen them in their faith, their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may remain steadfast in the face of opposition and of suffering.

6:20 At the end of this letter, in a very succinct way, he tells them that this was his passionate pastoral concern. Chapter 5 and verse 12. By Silas, our faithful brother as I account him, I have written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast therein.

6:46 He has been unfolding dimensions of God's grace to his people that these suffering and distressed saints might remain steadfast in the face of opposition. But then he has a second passionate pastoral concern, and that is to instruct them in the patterns of life against the backdrop of opposition and persecution, patterns of life that will be so contrary to what men would expect them to do that that very pattern of life will validate the power of the gospel. And we find that note coming through again and again in the epistle. We find it in the very passage read in your hearing, verse 12 of chapter 2. He says, I'm telling you what I'm telling you to this end, that having your behavior, your lifestyle honorable among the Gentiles, that though they speak against you as evildoers, what they actually see will force them to glorify God. Now, how does he pursue this twin concern to establish believers in the face of opposition, to map out the kind of life that will validate the gospel before unbelievers? Well, we have seen in our story,

8:11 our study of these opening chapters that he does so by this constant interplay of the indicatives of grace followed by the imperatives of grace. That is, he tells them who and what they are in Christ. He opens up to them these marvelous statements of what God has conferred upon them because he has been gracious to them in Christ. He is concerned that they understand who and what they are by grace.

8:46 And then he follows those strings of the indicatives of grace with the imperatives of grace and says, now in the light of what you are and what you have, this is what you are to do and this is what you are to be. And we are now coming toward the conclusion of the second part of that second series, of gospel indicatives followed by gospel imperatives. And we know that this is so because verse eight begins with the words finally. And it doesn't mean finally as to the entire epistle, but finally in terms of this series of imperatives beginning in verse 13 of chapter two. Now, as we come to the section before us, we noted last Lord's day, that verse eight, it begins or this section begins in verse eight with a directive concerning the graces that are to be cultivated as the people of God relate primarily to one another. And by stringing together these five adjectives without any verbs, Peter is saying this is what should characterize your life together. Finally, all of you are to be characterized in your life together, by,

The Unnatural Duty Enjoined: Not Rendering Evil for Evil, But Blessing

10:10 by like-mindedness by compassion, better rendered sympathy, loving his brethren, tender heartedness and humble mindedness. I call them the string of five pearls of the graces that ought to mark God's people in their life together. Now, in verse nine, returning to the use of that verbal construction that we call participles, Peter, is giving instruction as to how they are to relate primarily to unbelievers and particularly to unbelievers who are part of those who are opposing them, doing ill to them and speaking evil of them. And here in this section, particularly in verse nine, he focuses upon the believers response to personal injustice. And having done that in verses 10 to 12, he will buttress these exhortations with a quote from Psalm 34 to show that what he is urging them to do and what he says will come to them in the way of doing it. Namely, additional blessing from God is the teaching even of the Old Testament scriptures.

11:34 And he gives this lengthy quote from Psalm 34. Now, having, opened up verse eight last Lord's day, the believers and their relationship one to another, we come this morning to verse nine and I've been titled our study, the Christians on natural response to injustice of word and deed or deed and word, the Christians on natural response to personal injustice of deed. Okay. Okay.

12:09 Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

12:09 Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

12:10 Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

12:10 Okay. Okay. Okay. When Peter writes, not rendering evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but contrary wise blessing, he is setting out a pattern of life that is utterly and totally against nature.

12:28 And therefore I'm calling it the Christians on natural response to personal injustice. And I'll attempt to open up the text under two headings. The, The unnatural duty enjoined, to enjoin something is to urge or impose with authority, and that's what Peter is doing as an apostle. And having considered the unnatural duty enjoined, we'll consider the unnatural duty justified.

12:58 For hereunto were you called that you should inherit a blessing. First of all, then, the unnatural duty enjoined. Moving back to the use, as I've indicated, of those verbal constructions called participles, Peter sets forth this unnatural response to personal injustice, both in the area of unjust deed and unjust word. Now, the context of this is assumed by Peter.

13:32 He does not explicitly enlarge upon the context, but Peter writes, assuming, when he writes, do not render evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, that these people are suffering evil, and are the objects of reviling. That's the context assumed. He assumes that people are doing evil things to the believers there in Asia Minor. Evil things, that is, things that are judged, things that are judged evil by God's word.

14:09 Things that are done to the people of God, that are calculated to harm them, to oppress them, to oppose them unjustly. Now, remember, this is the Peter who recognizes the legitimate place of the human government in punishing evildoers. Chapter 2, in verse 14, he says, be subject to kings, to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers. So he is in no way excusing God's people for bizarre or illegal behavior.

14:46 He's assuming that people are doing evil to them. And furthermore, he's assuming that someone is speaking abusively about them. This word, reviling, means to speak in an abusive way. It means to speak, to insult someone.

15:07 It's the kind of treatment Jesus himself received. For we read in chapter 2, in verse 23, who Jesus, when he was reviled, there's our word, reviled not again. Now, as these believers gather together in one another's homes, perhaps as they get together and talk after their stated gatherings on the Lord's Day and other days during the week, and they begin to compare notes in one's mind, and one says, well, this is what my neighbors are doing to me. This is what's happening to me in my place of employment.

15:43 I'm being treated absolutely unfairly and unjustly. Standards are being set for me that are not expected of anyone else. They're pressing me. They're pushing me to the limit.

15:53 They're trying to break me. They're trying to get me to blow my cool. They're trying to bring me to the place where perhaps I'll just throw down the gauntlet and say enough is enough. What am I to do?

16:05 And others may say, well, let me tell you what I'm experiencing in my neighborhood, in my place of business, in my school, at my university, whatever it is. And they begin to describe the kind of verbal abuse they're receiving, snide remarks made against them in the classroom, perhaps denigrating remarks made about them as they go to the supermarket. And they're wondering what do we do when we are being treated in an evil way, and when people are speaking about us in an abusive way? Well, the apostle lays before them what their duty is.

16:45 Having looked briefly at the context of this duty assumed, now the content of this duty explained. And note how Peter does it. He explains it both negatively and then positively. Negatively, he says, not rendering evil for evil.

17:05 The word rendering can literally be translated not paying back, not requiting evil for evil. That's the response that is as natural to the human heart as breathing is to a healthy, living human being. To return tit for tat. And it is so native to us that all we need to do, is turn on the switch that takes us back to our youngest days that we can remember and we will all affirm that rendering evil for evil is as natural as breathing. When one of your siblings stuck out his or her tongue at you that far, you stuck out yours that far plus a little bit more for good luck. Didn't you? And when someone in the neighborhood was trying to be nasty and stuck the tongue out, you stuck out yours back.

18:13 You guys remember in the playground, the guy that came over and pushed you on his shoulder, and you stood there and pushed him on his shoulder with just a little more pressure, a little extra for good luck. Evil for evil plus a little to make sure that you were giving full measure. And right on through, this is the tendency of the human heart. Evil for evil.

18:39 Evil for evil. Always full measure plus a little for good luck. Until in marriages, it becomes the husband saying an unkind word to the wife and the wife shooting back an equal amount plus a little bit to make sure that she's not fallen short of giving evil for evil. Though I need to prove further from your own consciousness, the observation of your own experience, and of the experience of those around you, when Peter writes, not evil for evil.

19:19 He was not somehow casting dark and negative shadows upon noble human nature and assuming something that isn't true. It is as natural as breathing to unblessed human nature. And furthermore, even when God has wrought his mighty supernatural work, even when God has wrought his mighty supernatural work, even when God has wrought his mighty supernatural work, even when God has wrought his mighty supernatural work, even when God has wrought his mighty supernatural work, as he had done in the lives of these people to whom Peter writes, he's writing to them, to those who have been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He's writing to a people who have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that lives and abides forever, and yet to such people, he needs to say, not rendering evil for evil. That has to do with deed. But notice how then, the second negative addresses words. Words spoken against us, not rendering in the force of the participle that verbal construction carries over, not rendering evil for evil, and not rendering reviling for reviling.

20:34 That is, when verbal abuse is heaped upon us in terms of harsh and abusive speech, insulting words, we are not to pay back in kind. When someone uses his words, braiding them like a whip with which to beat the ear and the spirit of another, that person who claims to be a Christian is not to begin to braid his own words to make a whip with which to strike back. When someone fashions a person, fashions a club of his words to beat another, a response is a natural one. You strike me with your words, I'll strike you with mine. And yet the word of God says, not reviling for reviling. Not reviling for reviling, as one old Puritan stated it, he who seeks to wash away the railing of another with his own railing is attempting to wash off dirt with dirt.

21:52 Someone has got to be willing to break the cycle of evil for evil and reviling for reviling by absorbing in Christian grace and in Christian silence, and as we shall see in something far more profound, in Christian silence, in Christian blessing. Now, do you see why I entitled the text, The Christian's Unnatural Response to Injustice? What Peter is calling upon us to do is entirely contrary to all of our natural instincts. It is counter-cultural.

22:35 You want to be called a wimp or a wuss? Let someone run over you with deeds and words and that's what you'll be called. Whereas the truth is, it takes far more moral courage to obey this injunction than to strike back with deeds and with words. What made that heathen King marvel was the silence of Jesus before the pummeling, both physically and verbally, as he stood trial there before Pilate.

23:13 Now, if that were all the text said, that'd be enough to send us to our knees saying, Lord, we are wrong. and verbally, as he stood trial there before Pilate. Now, if that were all the text said, that'd be enough to send us to our knees saying, Lord, we are wrong. Lord, there's no way I'm going to do that unless you give me grace upon grace.

23:26 But you see, God doesn't stop there. For there's not only the negative, not rendering evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but look at the text, we come to the positive. But, and here Peter uses a strong, emphatic adverb of contrast, but in total contradistinction to this, as a completely opposite response, it is not enough for the negation, not rendering evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but contrary-wise, blessing. And here he uses a present participle, continually blessing.

24:09 Wherever there is evil done, wherever reviling is heaped upon you, you as God's people must be found engaged in the activity of blessing, of blessing. Now what does this mean? Well, to bless has a wide range of meaning in the New Testament. It means, in some instances, to speak well of another.

24:32 That's what we do when we bless God. This letter began, verse 3 of chapter 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. Peter's about to speak well of God. And of his great salvation.

24:46 We bless when we speak well of another. We bless when we confer good upon another. When God blesses us. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

25:00 He has conferred something upon us. To bless can mean to speak well of another. It can mean to confer good upon another. It can mean to wish or pronounce good upon another.

25:13 When the priest would bless the people. When the Lord blessed the little children. To pronounce, to pray for good upon another. And in this context, it most likely means to do at least two things.

25:31 First, to pray for God's blessing upon those who do evil to us. And who revile us. Not rendering evil for evil. Or reviling for reviling.

25:46 But contrary-wise, blessing. Praying for God's gracious blessing to rest upon them. And it may actually mean, or mean actually doing good where that is possible and appropriate. And why do I say that?

26:05 Well, for the simple reason that it's very evident that when Peter wrote these words, there was ringing in his own mind and heart the words, that he had heard his Savior speak. And I want us to look at two passages in which this theme was very clearly set forth by Peter's Lord. Matthew chapter 5. Perhaps some of you have already been thinking of it.

26:28 Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43.

26:35 You have heard that it was said, you shall love your enemy, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for them. That you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his son to rise on the evil and good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

26:58 For if you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute or greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same?

27:12 You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is. Perfect. In the heart of this passage that has relevance for the passage in 1 Peter, love your enemies, pray for them that persecute you. Whether they persecute you by doing evil to you or by speaking evil of you, pray for them.

27:37 And then in Luke chapter 6, there are even stronger echoes of this passage in the 1 Peter passage.

27:51 Luke chapter 6. In verse 32. If you love them that love you, what thank have you? For even sinners love those that love them.

28:00 And if you do good to them that do good to you, what thank have you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend of them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? Even sinners lend to sinners and receive again as much.

28:16 But love your enemies and do them good and lend never despairing. And your reward, the Lord shall be great and you shall be sons of the Most High. For he is kind toward the unthankful and the evil. Peter heard his Lord speak these words.

28:36 Peter knew that it was his responsibility to live this unnatural life of refusing to render evil for evil and railing for railing, but contrary wise just the opposite to pronounce evil for evil, Announce and confer where possible blessing upon the very ones who perpetrate the evil and who also engage in the abusive speech. And now Peter says, this is what you God's people, scattered abroad in those Roman provinces, receiving the unjust treatment at the hands of the enemies of Christ and of His gospel. This is what you are not to do, no evil for evil, no railing for railing, but just the opposite. The constant conferral of blessing, doing as Stephen did, as the stones were pummeling down upon him and taking away his life. What does he say? Holy Father, vindicate your righteous anger against apostates and consume them in your wrath.

29:48 He says, Father, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, lay not this sin to their charge. He was blessing those who were doing evil to him, those who were going beyond mere words. They had stones raining down upon him, snuffing away his noble, godly life. We would say, snuffing it out prematurely.

30:19 But words of blessing upon his lips. Lay not this sin to their charge. He was echoing his master, who hanging upon the cross, says, Father, forgive them. He speaks words of blessing.

30:35 He wishes upon the very ones who put him to death the blessing of divine forgiveness. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This, then, is the unnatural duty enjoined upon all of the people of God, there in Asia Minor in Peter's day, and upon all of the people of God in every place and in every age. God calls us to this unnatural activity, the negative not rendering evil for evil, nor reviling for reviling, but the positive, blessing, continually blessing.

The Unnatural Duty Justified: Consistent with Your Calling

31:19 Now then, having looked at this unnatural duty enjoined, note with me in the second place this unnatural duty justified. Look at our text. Peter adds these words. For.

31:35 You want to know why I have given this directive? Do you want to know the rationale behind it? It's as though Peter can anticipate their question. Peter, why is it that you call us to something so utterly unnatural, so contrary to all of our native instincts?

31:53 Peter says, bear with me. And I'll tell you, for, hereunto were you called, in order that you should inherit a blessing.

32:06 This unnatural duty is justified on two grounds. First of all, such a duty is consistent, Peter says, with your calling into a state of grace. And secondly, such a duty is the divinely ordained means that you might receive the addition of God. And secondly, such a duty is the divinely ordained means that you might receive the additional rewards of grace.

32:28 And that's what Peter is telling them. First of all, he tells them that such a duty is consistent with their calling into a state of grace. He says, for or because to this very thing you were called. Now, Peter never tires of reminding these Christians that one of their distinguishing characteristics is they are the called ones.

32:53 Calling being more than God's summons, an invitation to the blessings of grace in the gospel. Calling is God's summons attended with His omnipotent power by which sinners are actually brought out of darkness into marvelous light. And this is the fourth time he reminds them that they are a called people. In chapter 1 in verse 15, Like as He who called you is holy, and then again in chapter 2 in verse 9, the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, and then speaking to those slaves, verse 21, for hereunto were you called, and now in an almost exactly similar parallel structure, he says again, for hereunto were you called. If you ask me, Peter says, why must I, why must I live in this utterly unnatural way? Peter says, it is the very end for which God laid hold of you in grace and in power, brought you out of darkness into marvelous light, brought you out of union with death and sin in the devil, into union with Christ and the blessings of grace and of salvation.

34:22 You must not, he said, render evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing for anything short of that is a negation of the very end to which God called you. In calling you into the blessings of His grace and salvation in Christ, he called you to this very unnatural lifestyle. That's what he's called you to. Well, you say, in what sense?

34:51 Well, let me suggest. Because in being called into the blessings of the, in the gospel, we are called into a life of fellowship with and joyful submission to the Lord Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1.9, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

35:11 And in that fellowship of love and obedience to Christ, what has Christ said? Christ has told us, and we've looked at the passage in Matthew 5 and in Luke 6, that we are to love our enemies. We are to pray. We are to pray for them.

35:27 We are to do good to them. This is that into which we are called. We are not called into a life that can be lived in the power and under the dynamics of mere Adamic stuff. But we are called to a life of obedience to Christ in the strength and power of Christ.

35:49 Further, we are called to a life lived in the imitation of Christ. That's what he reminded these slaves, of in verse 21, Hereunto were you called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who when He was reviled, reviled not again.

36:11 When He suffered, He threatened not. And every one of us, not just these slaves, is called to the imitation of Christ. He that says He abides in Him ought Himself so to walk even as He walked. And so this is consistent with our calling.

36:26 We are called, not only into the fellowship of Christ and the life of obedience to Christ, but to a life in the imitation of Christ. And we are called to a life regulated by the words and example of the apostles of Christ. Jesus said, Make disciples, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And it's the universal testimony of the apostles.

36:51 Look at two other passages. Romans 12 and verse 17. Romans 12 and verse 17. Romans 12 and verse 17.

37:01 Render to no man evil for evil. There we are. Same language as Peter's. Render to no man.

37:11 Oh, but you say, Pastor, if you only knew this situation. Surely if anything ever warranted my venting my spleen. Render to no man. At any time.

37:23 In any set of circumstances. Render to no man evil. For evil. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 15.

37:35 Perhaps the Roman epistle would have the greatest influence as it would be distributed from that center of the Roman Empire here in the first of his epistles to the infant church of the Thessalonians. Paul underscores the same truth that as this epistle is circulated among all the churches there would be the knowledge that this is the will of God administered through the apostolic directive. 1 Thessalonians 5.15 See that none render unto anyone evil for evil, but always follow after that which is good.

38:16 See that none, none render unto anyone. There's no place to wriggle. There's no place to slip out. See that none render, either evil or evil to anyone.

38:34 And what the apostles enjoined upon others, Paul could say by the grace of God they exemplified in their own experience in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 12 where the apostle Paul is speaking of the apostolic experience. He says in verse 11, Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. And we toil working with our own hands. Now notice, being reviled, we bless.

39:11 When words come cascading down upon us like arrows, like acid, like poison, when we are reviled, what do we give back? We give back blessing. We give back blessing.

39:28 And you say, Pastor, how in God's name can anyone live like that? Well, my friend, that's where the gospel comes in. That's where the gospel comes in. It is by the transforming power of the gospel that touches not only our standing in heaven but the deepest springs of our hearts that we will be enabled to say with the apostle that being reviled, we not merely bite our lower lip and don't blow our cork and revile back again, but the very mouth that would naturally frame the counter-reviling becomes the mouth which speaks blessing.

40:17 That's the supernatural life into which we are called in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus.

40:25 You believers, ask me, Peter, why I tell you no reviling for reviling, no rendering evil for evil, to this you have been called. This is the life to which you were called. In being called into the blessings of God's grace in Christ. And then he says, not only is such a duty consistent with your calling into a state of grace, but such a duty as the divinely ordained means to receive the additional rewards of grace.

The Unnatural Duty Justified: Means to Inherit Blessing

40:59 Again, look at the text. For hereunto were you called in order that you should inherit a blessing. You are called. You are called to this lifestyle in order that you might inherit a blessing.

41:17 As you are brought by grace to the place where you bless in the very circumstance in which you are being cursed, in the very setting in which evil is done to you and you are the objects of reviling, you do not return evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but you bless. Not only is that consistent, with that to which you are called, but in being called to that, you are put in the way where God will confer even more of the blessings of His grace. You were called in order that you should inherit a blessing. And that's why Peter goes on to quote from Psalm 34. Because Psalm 34 describes the kind of life that receives additional blessings of God's grace. For he that would love life and see good days. Would you have the additional inheritance of grace?

42:21 Notice that you should inherit a blessing. Not earn a blessing. Inherit a blessing. He that would love life and see good days.

42:29 Would you know the blessing of life that is truly worth loving? Would you know good days in terms of God's definition of good days? In the midst of all this, in the midst of your persecution and opposition, would you love life and see good days? Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile.

42:51 Let him turn away from evil and do good. You see? Turn away from evil. No reviling for reviling.

42:59 No evil for evil, but contrary wise blessing. Turn away from evil. Do good. There's the same pattern.

43:05 Let him seek peace and persecute it. Track it down. Be the one who will manifest the aggressiveness of grace in your heart. Why?

43:15 Why should I be concerned with this? The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous in favor, in constant tender fatherly care. His ears are open to their supplication. Would you know the additional blessings of God's grace?

43:30 The inheritance of blessing. The blessing of knowing that God's eyes are upon you for good. His ears are open to your cry. Then Peter says, this is the way you live.

The Impossibility and Supernatural Nature of This Duty

43:43 There's a second incentive that if you love life and you love the blessing of God upon your life, then by the grace of God you will say, Lord, I will take seriously this directive and in the strength and in the power of your grace this is the way I am determined to live. Now I've sought to open up the text under those two headings. This understanding of the natural duty enjoined, the unnatural duty justified. Now I think I can hear perhaps from more than one or two a very fundamental objection.

44:25 Pastor, not only is this unnatural, it is hard, if not well nigh, impossible.

44:36 And if that's where you've come to, blessed be God because dear Christian, until we are convinced that the life we are called upon to live as Christians is just as impossible in our native strength as it is impossible to earn our acceptance before God in the court of heaven, we are not in the posture of heart that is necessary to live the Christian life. What did Jesus say in John 15? Without me, you can do 50% of what I call upon you to do. The other 50% you're going to need me.

45:15 So when you're reading your Bible, you divvy them up and say, okay, this is one I can do, Lord. Thank you. That was not so bad. Now this one, Lord, I need your help.

45:24 Now you tell me, what did Jesus say in John 15, 5? Without me, severed from me, cut off from living union from me, expressed in the life of abiding in me, trusting me, praying to me, laying hold of my grace, without me, you can do what? Nothing. Paul says, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells 30% good,

45:52 40% neutral. No. I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells what? No good thing.

46:01 And brethren, it's when we come to a text like this that God brings us up short with the fresh realization that the life that He calls us to live as Christians is a supernatural life. And the same apostles, who said, in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing, he boasts in the grace of God to him. In Philippians 4, 13, he says, I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. That's not a boast in Paul.

46:36 It's a boast in Christ. And in the grace of God toward him in Christ. You see, if God only set before us a standard that by sheer grace, a dint of willpower, we could somehow at least in some degree attain it, then where would we be brought to the place where we acknowledge that His salvation in all of its dimensions is all of His own grace? When we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, Paul is careful to add, for it is God who is at work in you to will and to work for His good pleasure.

47:18 At the deepest, deepest level of our hearts, God can so work that we actually desire to bless those that do evil to us and that abuse us with their tongues. That it's not a matter of saying, man, if I could do it and get away with it, I'd put their lights out and I'd turn the air blue with reviling for reviling. But I know I can't do that and be a Christian. That's not the Christian life.

47:49 Did our Lord Jesus, have anything other than a disposition that was reflected in His words when He said to the very ones who put Him up on a cross, Father, forgive them? Was Jesus playing games while inwardly seething with a vindictive spirit or with His words, but the echo and the framing of the deepest disposition of His soul? You know the answer, don't you?

48:17 That same Christ lives that by the Spirit He may live in you and me and give to us a disposition that actually desires to bless and curse not.

48:33 And so Peter's not at all ashamed to write to these humble believers fully cognizant of all that they are by nature and all that their remaining sin would incline them both to do that they shouldn't and not to do that they should. And when he writes this high and noble statement he is not making demands upon their frail, poor, pathetically unfit humanity, but he's making demands upon the grace of God towards them and in them. And I don't know how to state it more plainly. And that's why no true Christian is ever upset at the preaching of duty that's preached biblically. He wants to know his duty and when he knows it, it drives him out of himself. But to his Christ in whom he is strengthened to do that which is well-pleasing unto God. That's why the great benedictions point us in that direction.

The Choice: Life Apart from Grace vs. Life in Christ

49:37 Now that God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, what is his prayer in that benediction? That he would work in them that which was well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom the glory of the Lord is forever and ever. And now there are others of you that perhaps as you face such a thing you say, look, pastor, there is no way I could do that and furthermore, I have no desire to live that way. I'm not going to let anybody walk over me.

50:14 Someone does evil to me, it's evil for evil, it's tit for tat, you bump my shoulder, I'll bump yours.

50:23 It's the only way to live.

50:25 My friend, if you choose to live that way, you'll die that way. And dying that way, you'll go to judgment that way. And going to judgment that way, Christ will never own you as his. For he never allows that spirit to be the reigning principle in anyone that he calls into the fellowship of his grace and his saving mercy.

50:48 And perhaps it's facing a text like this that will convince some of you that though in many areas there are not glaring inconsistencies in your life when compared to the average Christian, but when you face a text like this and say that I am under solemn obligation for the rest of my days so to live that I can never knowingly, deliberately justify indulging a spirit that says evil for evil, railing for railing, but contrary wise, I must confer blessing and that from the heart. No way that I want a life like that. Perhaps this will be the very thing that God will use to show you how much you need his grace in the gospel. Because the Lord Jesus can not only in the virtue of his blood cleanse and forgive you of all the fruits of your vindictive get-even, tit-for-tat spirit and all the nasty words you've said to brother or sister, to mom and dad, if not outwardly, inwardly. When you feel you were wronged and maybe you were wronged and everything in you seethed with a desire to get even. My dear friend, young or old, that's the native heart apart from the grace of God. And God's grace is able so to work in you that as you are called into the fellowship of Christ, you would know the power and transforming grace of Christ.

52:15 Old Bishop Leighton wrote, and his words are profoundly true, a Christian acts and speaks not according to what others are towards him, but according to what he is through the grace of God and the spirit is in him. A true Christian acts and speaks not according to what others are toward him, but according to what he is through the grace and the spirit of God in him.

The Impact of a Supernatural Lifestyle

52:50 Now, can you imagine what a company of people up there in those Roman provinces would be as light and salt if by the grace of God they are living together in the spirit of God in the light of verse 8. When anyone looks upon them, he sees a company of people adorned with those five pearls of like-mindedness, sympathetic,

53:20 loving as brothers, tender-hearted, humble-minded. And then when they see them unjustly opposed, evil things done to them, vicious things said about them, and they say, they see these very people with that wonderful necklace of Christian graces marking their relationship to one another. And they see them not responding according to nature, but when evil is done to them and evil is spoken about them, not only do they refrain from tit-for-tat retaliation, but they see them speaking words and doing deeds that reflect their desire that God's love for them is true. God's grace and blessing be conferred upon their enemies.

54:12 The gospel has bite. The gospel has teeth. The gospel causes people as Peter assumes in verse 15 of this chapter. Sooner or later they've got to ask, what in the world makes you act this way?

54:28 You see, the whole matter of mobilizing God's people into a witnessing force is far more than can be done in a weekend seminar on personal testimony and personal evangelism. It means the depth of the working of God's grace to make us a people whose whole demeanor with one another and in reaction to a hostile world has no explanation but the grace and the power of a risen Christ. May God make us such a people with ever-increasing measures of His grace. We can get through this passage and say, oh well, there we go, we sweated through it, now let's get on to more important things where we can say by the grace of God I'll give myself no rest and I'll give God no rest in prayer until these things mark me and mark me in my relationship to my brethren and mark me in my relationship to those who do evil to me or speak ill of me. This is my commitment because to this I have been called and in the way of a life consistent with my calling is the way of inheriting additional blessings of God's grace and kindness in Christ. Let's pray.

Prayer for Grace and Commitment

55:57 Our Father, how we thank You again for Your Holy Word. We acknowledge before You that left to ourselves a passage like this would be discounted as unattainable, impossible to comply with, but we believe that Your grace is able to make us abound in this very disposition which the Apostle enjoins upon Your people. We pray that You will write it upon our hearts and give us grace to live it out in the days to come. Forgive us where we have acted in ways contrary to this clear passage.

56:41 Wash us in the blood of Your dear Son and be with us even through the remainder of this day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.