SPEAKER_02: First Peter two, verse eleven until chapter three, or seven.
SPEAKER_02: Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
SPEAKER_02: Be subject to the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the Emperor as Supreme or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
SPEAKER_02: For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
SPEAKER_02: Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
SPEAKER_02: Honor everyone, love the Brotherhood, fear God, honor the Emperor.
SPEAKER_02: Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.
SPEAKER_02: For this is the gracious thing, when in mindful of God one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
SPEAKER_02: For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure?
SPEAKER_02: But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_02: For to this you have been called, because Jesus because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
SPEAKER_02: He committed he committed no sin, neither as deceit found in his mouth.
SPEAKER_02: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
SPEAKER_02: When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judged justly.
SPEAKER_02: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to the sin and live to righteousness.
SPEAKER_02: By his wounds we have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but had now returned to the shepherd or and overseer of our souls.
SPEAKER_02: Likewives, wives, be subject to your husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
SPEAKER_02: Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewellery, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be hidden, be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
SPEAKER_02: For this is how the holy woman who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands.
SPEAKER_02: As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you are her children.
SPEAKER_02: If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
SPEAKER_02: Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are their hair, our heirs with you of the grace of life, so that you your prayers may not be hindered.
SPEAKER_00: So, folks, being part of the chosen people of God who have this living hope is something wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Majestic, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully.
SPEAKER_00: Earthy.
SPEAKER_00: And when I say earthy, what I mean is that the church is made up of real people who live real lives in real time, in real places, and amongst real cultures in a world that is broken, sinful, and hostile.
SPEAKER_00: And each of our experiences of living as God's people in a broken world, in a sinful world, in a hostile world, will be manifested differently.
SPEAKER_00: They just will be because of the different context that we find ourselves in and the different experiences that we have.
SPEAKER_00: The earthiness of living in this reality as God's people does and will expose the truth of what is happening in our hearts in any given situation, in any moment in the rough and ready of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, in sharing the reality of who they are as God's people, is also fully aware that the pressure coming from the culture to embrace its perspective on life, responses to things, roles, and relationships will be heavy on the Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And it's true for us today.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why Peter urges them, verse 11 of chapter 2, when the rubber hits the road, in the reality of life, what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Abstain from the passions of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And to verse 12, keep your conduct amongst the Gentiles honorable.
SPEAKER_00: When confronted with hostility of the culture, remember that you are sojourners, exiles, you are aliens, you are foreigners, that this is not your culture.
SPEAKER_00: What may be being impressed upon you is not how you are to respond, because you are from another place, because this is not your home.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter is urging them to remember that when the pressure is on, they are not to respond from the passions of the flesh, from the sinful desires that may arise in you at that point of hostility or that point of conflict.
SPEAKER_00: That pressure, whatever it may be, folks, will trigger a battle in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: As the desire to sin and respond wrongly will go to war with your soul, verse 11, that knows that you are part of God's holy people.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: So the reality of living in a broken world, yes, being the people of God, yes, having this living hope.
SPEAKER_00: When the rubber hits the road, the temptation to sin and to live from the passion of the flesh is enormous and it's heavy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, folks, point of clarification passion of the flesh is not just sexual.
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes when we hear that we think sexual things, no.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, in this case, it's wrong self-preservation, it's the desire for revenge, it's envy, it's slander, it's gossip, it's the desire for comfort that comes from disobedience to God.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is saying, Abstain from those things and alternatively, conduct yourselves honourably amongst unbelievers and towards unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: This is how you display the praises of Him who calls you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SPEAKER_00: This is how you live as people who have been formed by the grace and mercy of God and are marked as people of grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Because this honorable conduct of verse 12 is for the intention of mission.
SPEAKER_00: It's not so that people can look at you and go, what a lovely person that person is.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't they wonderful?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's for the intention of mission.
SPEAKER_00: Because verse 12, even if they speak evil of you, they will see your good deeds, your honorable conduct, your inappropriate joy, given the circumstances which will result in them worshipping God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says.
SPEAKER_00: They will see how you respond in the midst of the brokenness of the world, and it will lead people, even though they speak evil about you, to worship God on the day of his visitation.
SPEAKER_00: How you live in the rough and ready of life has missional impact.
SPEAKER_00: And the pressure and the heat that comes from living in a hostile world exposes the heart and reveals who we are, or it will reveal whether or not we believe what we say we believe.
SPEAKER_00: So here I think it's I love the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Peter highlights and makes comments regarding three areas of real life that these people are dealing with, and it's the same for us.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, in society as we live as citizens, number two, in the workplace, and number three, in the context of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And I understand many of you aren't marriaged, but many of you will be married.
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, we're gonna look through this, and verse 13, it begins with a word that is repeated three times subjection.
SPEAKER_00: And in each of these areas, there is a call to subjection, in other words, to submit, to be obedient to.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, subjection to authorities.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, subjection to masters, and in verse 1 of chapter 3, wives to be subject to their husbands.
SPEAKER_00: It means willing obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Willing obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Now, willing obedience or the refusal to do so is something that is seen in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus was subject to his parents.
SPEAKER_00: We see that actually we refuse to submit to God's righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And that and in Ephesians 5, we see that the church is to be submission to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: All over the New Testament, there is this talk of what it means to be subject, to be willing, to willingly obey something.
SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the potential issues that I think that we have when seeking to understand the issue of subjection and submission is that we assume it means this complete unadulterated submission and unquestionable obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Now, whether or not submission involves unquestionable obedience, our understanding cannot be determined by the term subjection or submission.
SPEAKER_00: Our understanding has to be determined by the context that that is being used.
SPEAKER_00: That is so important, folks.
SPEAKER_00: By the context where it's being used.
SPEAKER_00: Often we hear that word, boom, and you can feel it.
SPEAKER_00: I always preach on Ephesians 5.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with wives, submit to your husbands.
SPEAKER_00: So when you're doing non-Christian weddings, you're feeling, and even Christian women, you feel it, and you can see all the ladies going, okay then, what are you gonna do here, fella?
SPEAKER_00: And all the husbands are like, Yes, go, go, go, go.
SPEAKER_00: And it blows it all up.
SPEAKER_00: It blows it all up.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because in the in the context, the understanding of it is something that is so beautiful, both in the workplace, both in society, and in the both in the context of our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the first one, verses 13 to 17.
SPEAKER_00: In society, chapter 2, in society, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.
SPEAKER_00: Then it goes on.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is telling them, for the Lord's sake, be subject to every human institution, or every institution that has been ordained by God, and he is using people.
SPEAKER_00: In this case, here it was the emperor of Rome and all the governing bodies, and for us, it will be the government and everything that pours out of that, whether that's the police force or the tax office or or any institution that comes from that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, during his ministry, the Lord Jesus was asked the question, Should we pay taxes to Caesar?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that story?
SPEAKER_00: And what did the Lord Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Give me a coin.
SPEAKER_00: And someone gives him a coin and he holds up this Roman coin, he says, Whose face is on that coin?
SPEAKER_00: And they say, Well, Caesar's.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but give unto God what is God's.
SPEAKER_00: Now in Romans 13, it also tells us, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_00: For because there is no authority except from God.
SPEAKER_00: And those that exist have been instituted by God.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
SPEAKER_00: For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
SPEAKER_00: That was the intention of these authorities.
SPEAKER_00: Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?
SPEAKER_00: Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval.
SPEAKER_00: All of the Bible we're called to subject, be subject to the authorities that God has ordained and put over us.
SPEAKER_00: And here Peter is saying the will of God is that these governing bodies are in place to deal with evil and to praise what is good.
SPEAKER_00: And it is the will for those of us as Christians to live as good citizens, honoring the governing bodies.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in verses 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, we submit and we are to submit as Christians, even in the midst of hostility to the governing authorities, because of and out of our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: And we are to respond to them with good conduct as citizens because that is his will.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15: whatever the issues that arise because of the governing bodies and the ruling entities, whatever they are, we are to do good in the public place.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, by doing this, we will silence ignorant people.
SPEAKER_00: Because the ignorable people will say, Why are they responding like this?
SPEAKER_00: Why are they responding like this?
SPEAKER_00: We live as citizens because we are free people.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: We're able to respond because we are free in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for us, I think for many of us, especially those of us who are from this sort of Western culture, this is less tangible.
SPEAKER_00: But for many around the world, and I also suspect those who are in this room, they understand this a little bit more because that is their reality.
SPEAKER_00: They are oppressed.
SPEAKER_00: They're oppressed by the authorities, and they're not free as citizens, but they are free in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, in the midst of even oppressive regimes and societies, they are free to love and pray for their oppressors.
SPEAKER_00: They are free to love their enemies.
SPEAKER_00: They are free to do good in the midst of the cultural and political landscape that they live in.
SPEAKER_00: So how much more is that for us when we live in contexts where we are not being oppressed in the same way?
SPEAKER_00: We are there to do good.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, we are to submit from our freedom in Christ that comes from who we are as his people in the context of the living hope that we have, not from fear or subserve or a subservient spirit, but as free people in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter is saying.
SPEAKER_00: You are free.
SPEAKER_00: So because you are free, and even in the midst of hostility, you are free to do good as citizens under the authorities that God has ordained.
SPEAKER_00: But this freedom, verse 16, is not freedom to sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that means that we can't justify behaviour because we aren't happy.
SPEAKER_00: We can't justify our behavior because we're not happy with what's happening with the governing bodies or around.
SPEAKER_00: That we have a massive temptation to justify our sin because we don't agree with the governing bodies, temptation to dishonour, temptation to be abusive towards, and temptation to cause anarchy.
SPEAKER_00: And the place where I'm guessing many of your generation without a car is on social media, that we think it's okay for us because we don't agree with the politicians that we can slag them off.
SPEAKER_00: That is sinful, not right, and it doesn't present the living hope that is in Christ to those who are watching in a hostile world.
SPEAKER_00: We're just like them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Steve, you might say, but what if we are called to do something that is contrary to God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said we are to honor everyone, honor the emperor, honor everyone, love the brotherhood which is each other, but we fear God.
SPEAKER_00: The will of God is for the governing bodies to do the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: If we are commanded or instructed to live in ways that fall outside the will of God, this does not give us license to sin, we must obey God.
SPEAKER_00: This is an issue of context regarding submission that is driven by the authority of God and his will.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: If we're called to do stuff that is outside of the will of God, we we are fearful of him or respond to him.
SPEAKER_00: Now we see that all over the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We say that in Exodus 2, where the Hebrew midwives are told by Pharaoh to kill all the babies, but they don't, they lie, and people are like, oh my word, there's they lied.
SPEAKER_00: Is that a good thing?
SPEAKER_00: Of course it was a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: Why was it a good thing?
SPEAKER_00: Because God says we should not murder.
SPEAKER_00: And even though the governing body at the time that was ordained by God, he did not use his authority for the good of those under his care.
SPEAKER_00: He used his authority and was using it for his own means and because of his own insecurity, those Hebrew midwives feared God and they obeyed God.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't freedom to sin, it was freedom to walk in the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where civil disobedience is right.
SPEAKER_00: That's where it's right in the midst of the hostile.
SPEAKER_00: We see that with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_00: And Daniel in the book of Daniel, we're going to be read that later on.
SPEAKER_00: Someone's going to read that later on, apparently.
SPEAKER_00: We keep hearing that.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, as Christian people in a hostile world, and some of us really feel the hostility of the governing bodies that are over us.
SPEAKER_00: We're not happy with this, we're not happy with that.
SPEAKER_00: In the UK at the moment, people are striking left, right, and centre.
SPEAKER_00: Striking's fine, it's not sinful, it's not wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's within the law of the land in our context.
SPEAKER_00: Teachers are striking, doctors are striking, everyone's striking because they're not happy.
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
SPEAKER_00: These are things that have been put in place in order for the people to be heard.
SPEAKER_00: In my context at home, I'm sure it's similar in this context, but we are to do that as people who have a living hope in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We are to conduct ourselves honorably amongst the Gentiles, and we are not to sin.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So let us do good in our society, honor those in leadership well, and live as free people.
SPEAKER_00: Let us as Christians be marked for what we stand for, not for what we stand against.
SPEAKER_00: You see that?
SPEAKER_00: Let us be marked for what we stand for, not what we stand against.
SPEAKER_00: Significantly different, folks.
SPEAKER_00: And in your context, you'll understand what that means.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the next one.
SPEAKER_00: In the workplace.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 18 to 25, let me read the servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to do good and gentle to the good and the gentle, but also to the unjust.
SPEAKER_00: For this is a gracious thing.
SPEAKER_00: When mindful of God, who endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
SPEAKER_00: For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
SPEAKER_00: But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_00: For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
SPEAKER_00: He committed no sin, neither was the seat found in his mouth.
SPEAKER_00: When he was reviled, he did not revile and return.
SPEAKER_00: When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued un entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
SPEAKER_00: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: By his wounds you've been healed.
SPEAKER_00: For you are straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me deal with one issue here.
SPEAKER_00: It's really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: It talks about servants be subjects.
SPEAKER_00: Some of your Bibles might say slaves.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in the Bible is slavery condoned.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: You will get people who will use that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you read in the Old Testament, slavery is condoned.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in the context of how we understand slavery, and this happened in the happened in the last few hundred years.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in the Bible is slavery condoned, but slavery was present.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here Peter is addressing those who were domestic servants, domestic slaves, those who served as doctors, accountants, those who did skilled jobs that often meant that they were more skilled than their masters in lots of places.
SPEAKER_00: So for us, we need to see that we are called also to be submissive to our masters, to our employers, to our line managers, both to those who are gentle, which means kind, those who are good bosses, and also those who are unjust, those who are harsh and those who are unreasonable.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us have had good bosses.
SPEAKER_00: Agreed?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some of us, some of us, maybe it was a little bit tensive.
SPEAKER_00: That wasn't a hard.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, honor them both.
SPEAKER_00: Honor them both.
SPEAKER_00: And honor them even if you are being mistreated.
SPEAKER_00: Now what's interesting, he says, you are able to do this by being mindful of God and looking to the example of Jesus in how he was mistreated.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 21 to 25.
SPEAKER_00: We're able to do if the Lord Jesus was able not to revile as he was reviled.
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord Jesus was able to keep his mouth quiet as he was accused.
SPEAKER_00: If the Lord Jesus, when he suffered, he did not threaten.
SPEAKER_00: We also, as those who follow him, are able to do the same.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, we will face trials in the workplace with those who have authority.
SPEAKER_00: Over us.
SPEAKER_00: But we cannot allow the passions of the flesh to rise up and cause us to sin.
SPEAKER_00: But rather being mindful of who Jesus is and what he has done for us and who we now are, we should submit, serve well, and display good deeds in those contexts, contexts.
SPEAKER_00: Now in verse 20, Peter, I think, is dealing with one of the temptations that we face in work.
SPEAKER_00: One of those.
SPEAKER_00: For what credit is it?
SPEAKER_00: If when you sin or are beaten for it, you endure.
SPEAKER_00: But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, that is the gracious thing in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are to show grace even if we are being treated harsh for being good.
SPEAKER_00: Now, can I just clarify?
SPEAKER_00: If you're being beaten in work, you need to report that.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: But if you're being treated harshly for being good, respond like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you're being treated harshly for being good, respond like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but what if I'm being abused, Steve?
SPEAKER_00: What if I am being beaten?
SPEAKER_00: What if I am being treated terribly?
SPEAKER_00: Now, folks, what's interesting, if that is the case, you are to use the means that will be in place to deal with such behavior.
SPEAKER_00: So use those means.
SPEAKER_00: But use those means in a way that is Christ-like.
SPEAKER_00: Don't gossip, don't dishonor, don't move, don't move towards those who you can rally around to bring another image bearer of God down in the midst of their sin.
SPEAKER_00: No, actually move in those ways towards the person who is treating you harshly with love and forgiveness because that's what Christ does.
SPEAKER_00: It's the biggest temptation I think we have.
SPEAKER_00: I can just I go.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear what he said to me?
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear how he spoke to me?
SPEAKER_00: I had enough.
SPEAKER_00: I have had enough.
SPEAKER_00: I'm making a complaint.
SPEAKER_00: I want to make a complaint about him.
SPEAKER_00: My boss is a I can justify because he should not treat me like that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not being Christ-like, is it, folks?
SPEAKER_00: It's not being Christ-like.
SPEAKER_00: We need to move towards even in the midst of complaining and grievances with love and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: And again, if you're instructed to do something that is outside of God's will, i.e., fix the accounts, change results if you're a teacher, break the law.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, all of those things are true.
SPEAKER_00: If you're an accountant, you've probably been asked to do that at some point.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a teacher, that may have happened.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a police officer, you've probably broken the law at some point.
SPEAKER_00: Bully others, you fear God and you obey Him.
SPEAKER_00: The war in our souls between godliness and the passions of the flesh has the potential to be at explosion point in the workplace.
SPEAKER_00: So remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, marriage.
SPEAKER_00: I know many of you aren't married, but I think this is really important.
SPEAKER_00: Like with our relationship with society and the workplace, our responses and the call from God to submit flows from who we are as people.
SPEAKER_00: In society, it flows from being free people and servants of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In the workplace, we ought to be mindful of God and also look to the example of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the same here in the context of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: But marriage has an added factor because marriage is a picture of the gospel to the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's an added factor.
SPEAKER_00: We are to understand marriage in light of Jesus' relationship with the church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not married, please don't switch off.
SPEAKER_00: Please listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm being serious.
SPEAKER_00: Because you may be married one day, and I've cancelled hundreds of people.
SPEAKER_00: Sean and I.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage cancel, that's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of people.
SPEAKER_00: And often people don't think rightly regarding these things before they enter into marriage.
SPEAKER_00: They spend thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours planning a wedding day and not one second planning a marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Think now.
SPEAKER_00: It's an added factor, and we ought to understand marriage in light of Jesus' relationship with the church.
SPEAKER_00: See, people ought to make sense of the gospel when they look at marriages.
SPEAKER_00: And we ought to make sense of marriage when we look to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So marriage is not only a place where authority can be abused and oppression felt.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is also the place by which the praises and the glory of God should be clearly seen between a husband and a wife.
SPEAKER_00: Because Ephesians 5 says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.
SPEAKER_00: So there should be something in that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: The other people look in and say there's something about what is happening there that makes much of God.
SPEAKER_00: That makes much of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But sadly, at times this is not the case.
SPEAKER_00: And for many, and maybe even some in this room, we are married to those who don't know Jesus, which gives added complication and challenge.
SPEAKER_00: But all that is said here to wives is both for those who are married to non-believers and those who are married to believers.
SPEAKER_00: So in the first instance, it is important for us to see that being a godly wife, whether your husband is a believer or not, flows from being a godly woman.
SPEAKER_00: A godly woman.
SPEAKER_00: It flows from who you are as being part of his people.
SPEAKER_00: It is the root of godly womanhood that makes submission within marriage the strong and beautiful thing it is.
SPEAKER_00: So, ladies, please hear.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers, listen in.
SPEAKER_00: The roots of godly womanhood.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter's talking here.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is this a godly woman hopes in God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 A godly woman does not put her hope in her husband or getting a husband, neither does she put her hope in her appearance, her intelligence, her career, or even her children.
SPEAKER_00: She puts her hope in the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: For this is how the holy women who hoped in God.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 31, verse 25 says, Their strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because she hopes in God.
SPEAKER_00: That's where her hope is.
SPEAKER_00: We were all nodding and saying yes before when we're talking about the mercy of God and Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The nodding should happen as well.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where godly womanhood comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Hope in Christ, not in anything else, just in.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in the midst of difficulty and trouble, what it says here, her focus and attention is on the sovereign power of God.
SPEAKER_00: She knows who God is, she lives in light of his word, and Peter is talking to women who have unshakable biblical roots.
SPEAKER_00: So godly women hope in God.
SPEAKER_00: And my prayer for you guys, and I don't know you, but you're all here, and I'm assuming you either are Christians or in some way interested.
SPEAKER_00: You want to flourish as a daughter in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Put all your eggs in the basket of hoping in Him, not in anything else.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter's saying here.
SPEAKER_00: The roots of a godly woman is fearlessness.
SPEAKER_00: This hope in God produces fearlessness.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: This for this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn us by submitting.
SPEAKER_00: And you are children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
SPEAKER_00: This hope in God produces this fearlessness.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 says the holy women hoped in God.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 6, he gives Sarah, Abraham's wife, as an example, and then refers to all other Christian women as her daughters.
SPEAKER_00: You are her children if you do good and do not fear anything.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies, this fearlessness grows from a hope in God.
SPEAKER_00: Because if your hope is in things that are that are finite and are fading, if it's there, you're not going to be fearless for God.
SPEAKER_00: But if your hope is in God who says, I'm keeping you in the midst of what is to come, and that is an inheritance, your hope will be in him, and whatever comes your way, you will enter into it fearlessly.
SPEAKER_00: Fearlessly, that's right, fearlessly.
SPEAKER_00: You just will.
SPEAKER_00: Godly women who have their hope in God fight anxiety that rises in their hearts and they wage war on fear with the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now hear me, I'm not saying you don't get anxious.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying, those who have their hope in God are not overwhelmed by their anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: See, anxiety is is taking an uncertain future and bringing it into the reality of the present.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_00: Even in the I don't know what's going to happen when I walk out this door, and you bring it in and you allow this, but actually, what we know is that God graciously and lovingly has said that you have a hope that's anchored in the past, a short future, and is active in the present.
SPEAKER_00: So your hope in God will lead to a fearlessness in the midst even of anxiety that rises in your heart that wage fear with the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: And godly women entrust their souls to a faithful father.
SPEAKER_00: They have hope in him and they triumph over the evil.
SPEAKER_00: They do what is right and they are obedient to him.
SPEAKER_00: So godly women, the fruit of godly women is they hope in God.
SPEAKER_00: They are fearless.
SPEAKER_00: And the endorment of the hidden person is their priority.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he says.
SPEAKER_00: This is how the holy women who hoped in God adorn themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's referring back to verses 3 and 4.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your adorning be external.
SPEAKER_00: The braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry and other clothing you wear.
SPEAKER_00: But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very, very precious.
SPEAKER_00: Don't focus your main attention and efforts on how you look on the outside, Peter is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Focus your main attention and efforts on how you look on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: Focus on the beauty that is inside that comes from having hope in God.
SPEAKER_00: Be more concerned with that inner beauty.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, when a woman puts her hope in God and not her husband and not in her looks, and when she overcomes fear through the promises of God, this will have an effect on her heart.
SPEAKER_00: It will give her inner tranquility.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious to God.
SPEAKER_00: Now hear me.
SPEAKER_00: Those words, gentle and quiet spirits, are not negative.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying all women are quiet and gentle.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm not saying anything, that's what Peter's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the hope is if you love Jesus, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Lord Jesus was meek.
SPEAKER_00: And meekness is bridled strength.
SPEAKER_00: Meekness is bridled strength.
SPEAKER_00: So a quiet and gentle spirit, which is precious to God, is a spirit and an endorment of the inner self that puts all the eggs in the hope of God, that gives them a sense of fearlessness that enables them to walk in a maturity that only God can give.
SPEAKER_00: Gentle and quiet, which is precious to God.
SPEAKER_00: It's got nothing to do with should women be quiet and all this sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's talking about what's going on in the heart, in the midst of the hostility of the world, and in the midst of the hostile issues that some women in this context and maybe in this church are dealing with in the context of their marriages.
SPEAKER_00: When the rubber hits the road, is it the passion of the flesh?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it or living in a way that is honourable amongst the Gentiles?
SPEAKER_00: And some of you may marry non-Christians.
SPEAKER_00: I hope if you're a Christian, you don't, because that's not helpful for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you may be married to Christians, non-Christians now.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you may marry and then some one of them walk away.
SPEAKER_00: What does this look like?
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of when the rubber hits the road.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter goes on.
SPEAKER_00: This flows verse 6 from Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: Now this is a reference to Genesis 18, verse 12, where I think it's the Lord Jesus and two angels came and spoke to Abraham and said, You're gonna have a kid, he's an old man, she's in a tent.
SPEAKER_00: She's like hearing this, laughing her head off, going, as if that's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: This fella can't even get out of a bed, never mind.
SPEAKER_00: Sort me out with a baby.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Literally, that's what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: And she laughs.
SPEAKER_00: But what's really interesting, even in the midst of that, she refers to him as Lord, which was a phrase of respect, even though he was an old man.
SPEAKER_00: We still see that happening.
SPEAKER_00: So actually, submission and subjection in the context of marriage flows from the root of what it is to be godly.
SPEAKER_00: You're able to understand what the Lord has for you in the context of complementarity.
SPEAKER_00: Complementarity.
SPEAKER_00: And what that looks like flows from a hope in God.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a unique kind of submission.
SPEAKER_00: It is a hope in God that leads to fearlessness in the face of whatever the future may bring, that leads to inner beauty of meekness that finally expresses itself in the unique kind of submission to a husband.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so sad, folks, that as a culture and even in the church, the God-given roles of headship and submission given to husbands and wives are misunderstood, they're abused, and they're passed over.
SPEAKER_00: But when you see it being lived out, the mutuality of servanthood from both husband and wife is wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: It is a blessing to be a part of, and it is a blessing to be around.
SPEAKER_00: A blessing to be around.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me answer the question that I'm sure everyone's asking.
SPEAKER_00: What is submission?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me deal with what submash submission is not.
SPEAKER_00: Submission is not lack of equality.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, you are heirs with your husband of the grace of life.
SPEAKER_00: You are heirs with him.
SPEAKER_00: You are a brother and a sister of him.
SPEAKER_00: You are both co-heirs with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You are equal.
SPEAKER_00: You are made in God's image with dignity, value, and worth.
SPEAKER_00: But what we've got to see is that equality does not mean sameness.
SPEAKER_00: This is the thing that we've got to deal with in our culture in lots of different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Equality does not mean sameness.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Sean and I are not the same.
SPEAKER_00: Thank the Lord that we're not.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: We're not the same, we're different in so many different ways.
SPEAKER_00: But that's what makes it work.
SPEAKER_00: For starters, we can have kids.
SPEAKER_00: But in so many other ways, that's what makes it worse.
SPEAKER_00: Equality does not mean sameness.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: So, number one, submission is not a lack of equality.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, true submission is understanding the real essence of our equality.
SPEAKER_00: It's not always agreeing and having no intellectual thought.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Verse one, we see that Peter makes comment to someone who is married to an unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: That's who he's talking to.
SPEAKER_00: They have different ideas on ultimates of reality.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: If you're married to somebody who's not a believer, you have different ideas of what is to come.
SPEAKER_00: How to make sense of life.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to be tension.
SPEAKER_00: When you have kids, it's going to be tension on how you bring your kids up.
SPEAKER_00: When the rubber hits the road, and you, as the dad, if you're not a believer, wants to take the kid to a party.
SPEAKER_00: It wants to take to football on a Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: But Mum wants to go to church.
SPEAKER_00: It's tension.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be difficult.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter's dealing with somebody that's married to an unbeliever.
SPEAKER_00: They have different ideas on the ultimates of reality, but she is still called to submit with the assumption that she will not submit to his view regarding the most important things.
SPEAKER_00: It can't then mean agreeing all the time.
SPEAKER_00: So admit submission is not agreeing and having no intellectual thought, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, have you got that?
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_00: Sean writes, I've got six GCSEs.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know what GCSEs, they're the lowest form of qualification that you can get.
SPEAKER_00: I put them after my name because I'm proud of it.
SPEAKER_00: Sean's got a postgraduate degree.
SPEAKER_00: I got three, I've got six GCSEs and I scraped through to get them.
SPEAKER_00: On paper.
SPEAKER_00: It's got nothing to do with that.
SPEAKER_00: Submission is not a submission to every man.
SPEAKER_00: Very 1, be subject to your own husband, not to every man.
SPEAKER_00: It is a unique calling to submission in the context of that particular relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's context.
SPEAKER_00: It's context.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, it does not mean passivity, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: You are called to step in to give your husband the benefit of your insight, wisdom, and perspective.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you do it really well.
SPEAKER_00: But you are also called to give him the freedom to lead you as he believes the Lord is leading you.
SPEAKER_00: And you are this one to win in with your conduct in the midst of that.
SPEAKER_00: Sean and I have said we've we've cancelled many, many people.
SPEAKER_00: And in nine times out of ten, the wives are desperate for their husbands to lead them in a godly way.
SPEAKER_00: Desperate.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what God ordains, and that's what God wants, and that's what God says is best for both a man and a woman in the context of flourishing of their marriage.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean that you are to be passive, you are to step in.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the man not having the final word, it's about the complementary nature of insight and wisdom and perspective.
SPEAKER_00: Shaw has so much wisdom and insight.
SPEAKER_00: You had their interview before.
SPEAKER_00: We could have all gone home after that.
SPEAKER_00: After the weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00: Mic dropping truth.
SPEAKER_00: Number five, it does not mean putting the will of your husband before the will of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Submission comes from hoping God and His promises.
SPEAKER_00: You do not follow your husband into sin.
SPEAKER_00: You don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't give up your submission, even if your husband doesn't recognize or is not loving you as Christ loves the church.
SPEAKER_00: So what's interesting, you don't follow into sin, but if he is not following Jesus, you still ought to be submissive to him in some way.
SPEAKER_00: That's the call of what it is to be a married woman.
SPEAKER_00: So when a husband does not appreciate how sweetly his wife keeps looking for ways to make things work, God does see, and God does appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00: You are always precious to him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You're always precious to him.
SPEAKER_00: And in every marriage, there will be moments, ladies, where you are seeking to love your husband, but you don't agree with what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: But you're seeking to love him.
SPEAKER_00: God sees and God knows.
SPEAKER_00: And even in the moments where you do not feel precious to your husband, you're always precious to him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will be a far better husband than any of your husbands will ever be.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And hope that your husband follows him because that will make him a great husband.
SPEAKER_00: Seven, submission does not mean you act out of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Submission is free.
SPEAKER_00: It is not coerced.
SPEAKER_00: It's free.
SPEAKER_00: So what is submission?
SPEAKER_00: A divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts.
SPEAKER_00: It's the disposition to follow her husband's leading.
SPEAKER_00: It's an attitude that says this, and Tim Keller wrote this.
SPEAKER_00: I delight for you to take an initiative in our family.
SPEAKER_00: No, in fact, Kathy Keller wrote this, his wife.
SPEAKER_00: I delight for you to take the initiative in our family.
SPEAKER_00: I am glad when you take responsibility for the things and lead with love.
SPEAKER_00: I don't flourish in the relationship when you are passive, and I have to make sure the family works.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's way, folks, and this is good for you.
SPEAKER_00: So when you submit, you're respectfully submitting to a God-given position and not perfection.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, your husbands are gonna make mistakes because we do.
SPEAKER_00: And since the command to submit comes from God, your submission is ultimately to him.
SPEAKER_00: To him.
SPEAKER_00: Likewise.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Your role, your looking to care for your wife, flows from a submission of putting your hope and your trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands, submit to God's intention for the role of husband.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a husband, and if those of you one day who will be, the role that God has given you or may give you is to love your wife as Christ loved the church.
SPEAKER_00: You are to love and lead her in ways that pointed to Jesus and enable her to flourish as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, and most importantly, as a sister in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Sean and I have been married for 23 years.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that we're still married when one of us die.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: But when we enter into the new creation, the relationship that me and her will have forever will be brother and sister in Christ, not husband and wife.
SPEAKER_00: So my primary responsibility is to see her flourish as a sister in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So my primary responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: And that's creating an atmosphere and a platform for your wife to flourish that is informed by the knowledge of God's will.
SPEAKER_00: That's what your job is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus created the atmosphere and platform so that we, the church, the bride of Christ, could flourish.
SPEAKER_00: And what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He died for her.
SPEAKER_00: So it's dying to self.
SPEAKER_00: Now, three things that he talks about here that helps us.
SPEAKER_00: When the rubber hits the world, we are to do that in an understanding way.
SPEAKER_00: An understanding way, which means focus on living in accordance with God's will, which includes understanding the needs of your wife.
SPEAKER_00: Know your wife.
SPEAKER_00: And those who aren't married, pray that God will open your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Open your eyes to the needs of your future wife because she may be in this room.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But open your eyes to see the blessings and the wonder that is found in someone else before yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You with me?
SPEAKER_00: So in an understanding way, the other one, ladies, weaker vessel.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me unpack this very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: As you read through the Bible, weaker vessel is also used in the context of men.
SPEAKER_00: Talks about that Romans, you see that we're vessels for this and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And the comparative form suggests that women are weaker than men.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_00: There is something that means that women are weaker than men.
SPEAKER_00: Right, but in one sense, are women weaker.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing else in the New Testament suggests that women are intellectually inferior.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Nor is it clear that women are weaker emotionally.
SPEAKER_00: For in many ways, the vulnerability of women and sharing their emotions and their feelings demonstrates a real strength.
SPEAKER_00: Nor did Peter suggest that women are weaker morally or spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: See, that view would suggest that men are actually better Christians than women, which is not right.
SPEAKER_00: It's not taught anywhere in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The most obvious meaning, therefore, is that women are weaker than men in terms of sheer physical strength.
SPEAKER_00: Physical strength.
SPEAKER_00: And this fits with the context because physicality makes it easy to intimidate and oppress.
SPEAKER_00: Sean and I are very different.
SPEAKER_00: I am much bigger than her.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have to spell out to you what that could mean.
SPEAKER_00: I have to love, I have to protect.
SPEAKER_00: I have to be careful.
SPEAKER_00: I have to to to to to use my physical strength one of protection, not oppression.
SPEAKER_00: Love your wives and understand them where I know that she's a weaker vessel.
SPEAKER_00: I used to be a police officer for six years.
SPEAKER_00: The amount of domestic violence things that I had to deal with was horrendous.
SPEAKER_00: It was incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Because men can physically oppress women.
SPEAKER_00: Sadly, it happens in Christian homes as well.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands, you are to love your wife and create an atmosphere and platform in your home where your wife feels safe.
SPEAKER_00: Emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere in the Bible does it ask us to enforce submission or use physical presence to lead.
SPEAKER_00: No, you are to love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, after Jesus, you are to be the safest person, and your marriage is to be the safest place for your wife.
SPEAKER_00: And let me extend that, fellas, all of you.
SPEAKER_00: The church should be the safest place for any female to come into.
SPEAKER_00: On any level.
SPEAKER_00: On any level, whether you're married, whether you're not, whether God calls you to be single or whether he doesn't, all of you men can use what God has given you for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_00: This should be the safest place for any female.
SPEAKER_00: Any female.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was the most welcoming man the world has ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: Let us be like him.
SPEAKER_00: You are to work hard at knowing what God is asking you as a husband, and you are to work hard at understanding who God has created your wife to be and what he has asked her to do in relation to you.
SPEAKER_00: She is a co-heir of the grace of life with you.
SPEAKER_00: You are both children of God.
SPEAKER_00: You better take care of your sister in Christ because she is the daughter of God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: What a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you this: you might be thinking where's this going?
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about hope in a hostile world.
SPEAKER_00: I am telling you now.
SPEAKER_00: When people look in and see health that flows from the gospel, when a man and woman display the gospel in their marriage, that brings hope in the hostile world.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in the police, someone came to me, a friend of mine, who I've known for many years.
SPEAKER_00: I love her dearly, Tracy.
SPEAKER_00: Tracy's um gay.
SPEAKER_00: She won an award for LGBT stuff in the in the police.
SPEAKER_00: She stood on a football pitch once with all pins.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I can't believe me and you are friends.
SPEAKER_00: You're a Christian, you love the Bible, and I'm like card-carrying LGBT.
SPEAKER_00: I can't believe that we are friends.
SPEAKER_00: What a witness that was, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Because I love Tracy to bits.
SPEAKER_00: But she said to me once, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I've noticed about you, Steve.
SPEAKER_00: When you talk about Sean, you use her name.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone else calls about you know the woman here who must be obeyed, the wife at home, you know, the dragon, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_01: Voluntary.
SPEAKER_00: But you use a name.
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: I use a name because that's a name.
SPEAKER_00: But in but in the world that we live in, that is because if we don't, gentlemen, our prayers will be hindered.
SPEAKER_00: Husbands who ignore such a command will find that their prayers are hindered.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that God will refuse to answer your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: God does not bless with his favour those who are in positions of authority and abuse those who are under their care by mistreating them.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you may be wondering why God is not answering your prayers, why he's not moving his hand.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because you're not caring for his daughter.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, this is so important for so many reasons, but in this context, it's important because people see the fruit of healthy Christian marriage and it provokes questions.
SPEAKER_00: See, we are called to be obedient to God and to live as his people in the earthy, rough, and ready of the day, according to his word.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, we will display the hope and the assurance we have in Jesus to this lost, hostile culture.
SPEAKER_00: Now I appreciate that some of us will have to go away.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us are gonna have to work through the implications of all of this, and for some of us, we need to go and confess and repent of sin to God and to each other.
SPEAKER_00: So I want us to leave with this in our ears and our minds and in our hearts, and for this truth to be the lens by which we examine and walk in.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24 of chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: He himself bore our sin in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds.
SPEAKER_00: You have been healed, folks.
SPEAKER_00: You may be a jerk in work.
SPEAKER_00: You may be an absolute divvy, that's a scouse word.
SPEAKER_01: Do you like that?
SPEAKER_00: Divi.
SPEAKER_00: You might be.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to confess your sin.
SPEAKER_00: But what's wonderful, he's bored your sin on the body of the tree.
SPEAKER_00: You've been healed.
SPEAKER_00: You might be somebody that's kicking off all the time about the government.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: The Prime Minister is this, but you need to repent of that.
SPEAKER_00: He or she is an image bearer of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not right.
SPEAKER_00: And you might be messing up big time in your relationship, your marriage, your engagement, whatever that might be, it's maybe a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has dealt with all that on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: And those of us who have living hope in him can come back and confess our sin, and he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We have a loving Savior, Jesus, who was not only our great example on how to be obedient to God the Father in a hostile world, but who took our sin and shame and became sin for us.
SPEAKER_00: We were strained sheep, and he called us home.
SPEAKER_00: He forgives us, saves us, and leads us, and promises to oversee our souls till we are take hold of that inheritance of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And as we go, let us be gracious to ourselves in light of the grace and mercy of God.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you who are married, let us be gracious if we have to chat to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Because the relationship that needs the grace the most is too often the one in which grace is least expressed.
SPEAKER_00: So be honest, be real, be gracious.
SPEAKER_00: We're living in a hostile world, but the wonder of the gospel is that it is active and real in the rough and ready of the details of all of our lives.