In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of obedience and respect, both in the context of the court and in the relationship between slaves and masters. He refers to Peter's defense before the court and Paul's teachings on conscience in the New Testament. The preacher also highlights the significance of the Holy Spirit speaking expressly in the last days, indicating that we are currently living in the last days before Christ's return. He concludes by emphasizing the expectation of consistency in our actions as believers.

Well, let's continue with chapter two, and going through from verse eighteen to the end of the chapter. Before I begin, can I point out next Tuesday's subject? And we'll be going through from chapter three, verse one, to the end of verse six. And it's all about wives, the subject, not a woman's meeting, mind you. Because I need your husband here with you. And those who haven't got a husband but are looking for one, we need you too, because sooner or later you'll be one of the wives. Talking about wives being subject to their own husbands. Talking about wives winning their husbands who have not paid. Talking about how women should be attired. Yes, lots of things in that little paragraph next week, and we'll take them one by one and phrase by phrase. And you'll find out what a holy woman, a daughter of Abraham, should be like. Have a good read of it now, from verse one to verse six for next week. But we're at this great paragraph, beginning at verse eighteen in the second chapter, and going right through to the end. And if you've been looking through this or reading it over, you will know by now that Peter is doing two things here. First, he's showing us that the Saviour takes sufferings. I think he does this in a very reasonable way, because first of all he lets us see the natural and the social sufferings Christ has in the nation. Yes, the nation at times reviles him, and we'll get into these natural sufferings of Christ. But then Peter goes a little bit further with the sufferings of Christ. He doesn't only deal with his natural sufferings, he deals with his atoning sufferings. And atoning sufferings were not at the hands of men at all. They were at the hands of God. And you know, when we begin to look into this great and mighty subject of Christ's suffering at the hands of God to make atonement, well, we find that the depth is immeasurable here. In fact, the atoning sufferings of Christ are utterly unspeakable. It's something that we cannot truly fathom. None of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters' cloth, nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through. There is found the sheep that were lost. Mrs. Alexander was perfectly right when she wrote that great hymn in Derry Cathedral so long ago, there is a green hill far away. She wrote this wonderful verse, We do not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear, for we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there. Yes, we can never fathom this. It's beyond us. No wonder the hymn writer in one of the hymns prayed, Oh, make me understand it. Help me to take it in what it meant for me the Holy One to bear away our sins. And in the part of this paragraph this evening, Peter lets us see the Saviour and his sufferings. And then in the other part of the paragraph, Peter takes up this great line of doctrine and truth, and lets us see the saints, the believers of this day and hour. He lets us see the saints and their sufferings. And it is always so that when you begin to balance your sufferings against the Saviour's sufferings, your suffering is just light affliction, which is but for a moment. That's what it is. People come down and see a few old windows knocked out. What does it really matter? Blasphemy doesn't even count. That is nothing at all. Not a single thing about that. So this is how this great paragraph is divided this evening. The Saviour and his sufferings. The saints and their sufferings. And he begins this paragraph with an expectation to obedience. He exhorts the servants of God to obedience. We're at verse 18 and we're going to look at this expectation. Peter says, servants. Can I stop at the word for the moment? It's an old Greek word, it's a very old one. And in some of the old translations, the word is slaves. And I honestly think it should be rendered slaves because he's talking to slaves. Remember, in the day and hour when Peter was writing this wonderful letter, some of the saints scattered throughout Pontius and Galatia and Cappadocia. And these are the saints that he's writing to, you remember, in the first chapter and the first verse. So the saints are scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia. Some of the saints were slaves then, because slavery was really being practiced in a big way in many of the nations. And some of the saints were slaves in some of these rich and wealthy homes. And it is to these believers that he's directing his word just now. He's saying, slaves, be subject to your masters with all fear. And I want you to get the word fear into its proper perspective. You remember we finished with verse 17 last week, Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God. And it isn't a word that means that you get into a corner and cover your head to defend yourself in case God strikes you. It isn't that kind of fear. It's an old word that means reverence for God. And when we apply the same word to men or masters, we mean respect for men. Because slaves were being taught that they were to be subject to their masters with all respect. And I think, you know, that this is something that Western church would need to be taught again, to be respectful to their employers. I think we need that. You know, the pendulum has swung a good bit these last few years. And I think employers need a second amount of respect from Christians. Because if you are, if they were slaves, they were Christian slaves. And if you're an employee somewhere, you happen to be a Christian employee. And that makes all the difference. We were distinguishing between Christian policemen and ordinary policemen last week. And if you happen to be a butcher, you happen to be a Christian butcher. And if you happen to be a carpenter, you happen to be a Christian carpenter. And if you happen to be a postman, you happen to be a Christian postman. And that makes a vast difference, you know. And there should be respect for employers among the Christians. You know, when Naaman, who was the captain of the host of Syria, you remember, he was a great man with his master, he was honorable, and he was a mighty man in valor, and he went away and led the great Syrian host against Israel, and overthrew Israel. God used Naaman the Syrian to overthrow Israel. And he brought a lot of capitals back with him. They were slaves from that moment on, remember. And there was one little girl, she was just a little maid she was called, and she waited on Naaman's wife. She became the slave, the little girl slave in this Syrian household. She'd been brought away by this mighty captain, and she didn't know where her parents were now, but she was the slave in this Syrian household. And as she waited on Naaman's wife day after day, she took note that Naaman was a leper. Now, that behind the glowing personality and the broad shoulders, and the courage and valor of the man, underneath the royal robes that he wore, there was something in his flesh that defeated him. He was defeated every day he lived. Actually, he was living a defeated life. And you know this little girl while she was a slave? Well, she began to pray for him. And one day she came into the room and said to her mistress, Would you God, and that will tell you that she had a prayerful spirit, Would God, my Lord, and if the would God told you that she's prayerful, my Lord told you that she was respectful. She didn't respect, oh I know she could have called them a lot of names. But she was better off than that. Because nobody knew more about respect for authority than Peter. Let me tell you that. You know, when the Jewish Sanhedrin arrested Peter, and we looked at this last week, and he was brought to stand before that venerable court, this is how he opened his defense. He said, He rules of the people, and elders of Israel. That's respect for the court. And I think this is something that the Christian needs to be taught again and again. Even though you're a slave, you're taught to be subjective to your masters, with all respect. And then he puts a bit to this when he's forcing this exhortation. He said, servants, be subject to your masters with all fear. Not only to the good and gentle. Because in every part of the world you will get employers and masters who are good and gentle. But you're not only to be subject with all reverence and respect to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. That again is an old Greek word that Peter is using. It's actually translated in our New Testament by two other English words. Translated here by the word froward. It's translated again when it talks about John the Baptist coming as the forerunner to Christ. When the crooked ways will be made straight. And the word crooked is the same word that you say it, the froward. Because there are crooked empires. Yes, there are indeed. I've seen one or two of them in my lifetime. But never mind whether they're crooked or not, if you're in their employment as a Christian, you're taught to be subject to your masters. Oh, you might bring up many arguments, but I'm telling you what the book says. And it must go for us, you know. If you make a bargain with your employer to be there at eight in the morning, then I think you should be there at ten minutes to it. And I don't think you should be stealing your master's time and laughing at us. Because I don't think that's Christian at all. And though he may be a crooked, froward, perverse character, because this word is translated perverse, again, when we talk about the perverse nation, it's the same word that's used here. The man is crooked and perverse and froward. When Peter used the word untoward generation, save yourself from this untoward generation, it's the same word. And you may have a crooked employer. That doesn't get you away from being a Christian in this employment while you're there. And though it may mean that others laugh at you, you know, you're to do your work upon the cross. And I'm persuaded, you know, long, long, long time ago, if there was far more of this sort of Christianity among us, there'd be far more conviction among crooked employers. Far more. This is a great word of exhortation, isn't it? It's an exhortation to obedience, and Peter's showing us this. And then he comes to something that's very special. It's what I've called in Eunuch the explanation of conscience. You see, he says this in verse 18, Please be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the crooked. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endured great suffering wrongfully. You know, that's a tremendous statement. You would know by now that me teaching a class like this for the last thirty years here and there and younger, that I've got many believers coming to me with problems at times. Sometimes I have believers sitting around me, and they're coming from some church, and the church has treated them poorly. And maybe some of the elders there, and maybe the minister there, couldn't be absolutely honest with them. And they're suffering wrongfully. And they're annoyed about it. And they say to me, it's all right, but I'm grieved in my soul. Yes, you're grieved, I know all about that. But I want to say this, you're to endure grief. That's what you're to do. And you're to suffer wrongfully. Mind you, I could tell a tremendous lot of Roman Catholics who walk the streets talking about civil rights, that Peter knew nothing about it. Peter said that we were to endure grief suffering wrongfully, not walking for civil rights. I can tell you that Peter could teach a lot of people a lot of things. And they exalt them to the heavens, and they never listen to him. That makes their religion baloney to me. My dear friends, if you're going to exalt him, you would need to get down and listen to him. And he's teaching here that sometimes Christians have to endure grief suffering wrongfully for conscience sake. If a man for conscience towards God. Do you know this conscience of ours is a tremendous subject? Do you know the conscience in an unsaved man can become so defiled by sin, that it can become a seared conscience? It doesn't work anymore, it's like seared with a hot iron. You know, let me show you an unsaved conscience in the last days, the days in which we're living. Where are we? We're in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now I want you to watch this very carefully, because not only does Peter talk about the conscience, but Paul talks about it. You'll find that all the writers in the New Testament talk a lot about conscience. Now watch how wonderful this is just now, we're in 1 Timothy and we're in chapter 4. Now the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, capital F there, speaks expressly. Of course the Spirit always speaks expressly, but in the latter times. Now that's equal to the phrase the last days. It's another sign of the last days, we're in the last days now. One of these days Christ is coming back again and the world doesn't even know that it is in the last days. Somebody said we're in the Saturday night of this dispensation and we're at 5 minutes to 12. Might be later than you think even. Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. I want you to watch this phrase, giving heed to seducing spirits. I wonder is that going on around us at this moment? I wonder are evil spirits hitting the minds and hearts of many just now? Because I have a feeling that some of the diabolical things that's happening, it's not just happening from a non-saved human heart, it seems to me to be diabolical at times. Ah yes, seducing spirits of us, and our men giving heed to them. Is the devil working out some of these diabolical things? And I think any sane man would answer yes. Yes. But it goes a bit further than that, you know. In the last days some shall give heed to seducing spirits. Watch this phrase, on doctrines of devils. Why wouldn't the devil start teaching for quips at Queer Street, didn't he? The doctrine means the teaching of devils. Why is it happening around us? Has the devil got a coat somewhere tonight, in some hall or house or cave or wherever it may be? Has the devil taken it? And I have a feeling he is. I have a feeling he's got a lot of disciples around. Well, this. Watch it again. Not only giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, but speaking lies in hypocrisy. I wonder if you ever heard any of them speaking lies recently on the TV. Well, you wouldn't need to have much common conscience to know that some of them that talk are liars. Because I wouldn't have any trouble about it at all. None do these remarks of the last days. Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy. Now, here's the phrase I'm asking. Having their conscience feared with a hot iron. That's conscience. That's not conscience towards God. Not working anymore. God doesn't count. And Christ doesn't count. And Christianity doesn't count. Why are these the days we're living in? Are there boys going about with no conscience? You would think so at times. Yes. But we're not interested too much tonight in the unsaved conscience that has become fear. We're thinking about the Christian conscience. And you know, both Paul and John and James and all the writers of the New Testament have still got a lot to say about the Christian conscience. Have a look at 1 John for the moment. 1 John, and we're at chapter 3. And John's writing to believers here, and in verse 18 he's saying, 1 John, chapter 3, verse 18, My little children, and when he takes an endearing phrase like this, he's talking to believers, My little children, let us not love in words, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth. For nearby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us, and you see the word heart there. Now, in some translations that you will find, even in some of the newer ones, the word heart there is rendered conscience. If our conscience condemns us, God is greater than our conscience and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our conscience condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments. You see, your conduct is just seen in the keeping of his commandments. And of course your conduct regulates your conscience, and your conscience regulates your confidence in coming into God. And if a Christian is going to prioritise his conscience, all need to be around. You know old W.P. Nicholson, who was a great character, and he told me this once, he told me this himself, he and I were friends, although he was an old warrior when I was just a boy, you know. And when he came for the last great champagne to this country, it was decided one day in one of the big hotels that he and I would take it together. And I never felt able to sort of agree to this, although I did agree to it. Then he suddenly died. But when I was a young fellow he told me this, he said, well he, you know when I got saved I was working in Neal's coal office in Denver. Used to work as a clerk in the coal office. And in those days he said I fell in love with the nicest girl in the world. I'm sure she would be the nicest girl in the world. And he said, you know, I was in the office and every day I wrote her a letter, a long letter, and put all the praises into it that I could imagine. And there he said I just put one of the box envelopes and one of the boxes, and put it on and sent it off to Mary every day. He said, you know I didn't have a bit of a conscience about this at all. And then one evening I began to see that I had stolen so many stamps. And when I got down to pray, the only thing I could see before me were stamps. His conscience was working now. He can't be stealing a box of stamps and be right, you know. That's a pity. He can't steal his time and be right, either. And there's no use in you trying to pray when your conscience is not right. And until your conscience is right with God, your conduct is right, your conscience will get right, you'll have no confidence in coming in to pray. You're only wasting your time. It's a tremendous thing, this conscience, you know. It's got to do with antithesis. And it's the effectual servant-killer of a righteous man that avails much. Yes, it's tremendous. Not Paul talking about conscience. You've seen Peter, you've seen John. Let me do one from Paul. And it's Romans. And it's chapter nine. Paul's letter to the Romans. And it's chapter nine. In verse one, in Paul's death, I say the truth in conscience. I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for his kinsmen, according to the flesh, in the next verse. You know, he was making a big statement here, and it seems as if he was blowing it on and on for a moment or two. Says, I say the truth in conscience. And then he wanted to back this up strongly. He says, I lie not. And then he wanted to back it stronger than that. My conscience also bearing me witness. And then he wanted to back it stronger. The Holy Ghost was also witness. You know, Paul had this great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for two weeks. I wonder if I asked all the preachers around here to stand up, every one of you who's got continual heaviness and great sorrow. I want you to do it for your conscience to look on this call. There wouldn't be too many on the feet. I assure you of that. We have a whole lot of talk to go on. Yes. Only could your conscience bear you witness to me that you have continual sorrow and great heaviness. Some of the preachers would know nothing about it. It's conscience. It goes for intercepted and it goes for control. If you haven't dropped a burden, you should go and ask God about it. One in which name used to cry for hours, with the tears running through his fingers. The old section of the church said to an American once, put your head in your hands, man, and if you can sit there and cry for the next five hours for Saul, you'll make shame. Presbyterian minister, you bastards take notes. We get so silly about denomination at times. Ah, you can be slung in doctrine and down the street at the same time. That'll be possible. Conscience is the mighty thing. I'll tell you this, that why John knew a lot about conscience and Paul knew a lot about conscience, I can tell you this, that Peter knew more about conscience than the two of them put together. Ah, he was only an old fisherman from Galilee. Watch Peter talking here till you see now exactly what I mean. When we come to 1 Peter chapter 3, we're going to have a great paragraph when we get into chapter 3 and verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being good to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. That will be a big night. Which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of glory while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure, and don't forget it's just the figure, went on to even baptism, that also now saved us, not the putting away of the self of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. You know, that's one of the things about believer's baptism that all the Christians in Britain can't argue about at all. I would like to know how a baby would have a good conscience toward God. When it's been baptised I would like you to tell it to the one telling it. But you couldn't make a stammer out of it, that's your problem. Don't they tell you that the figure of baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God, and it is impossible for the baby to have it? And that would silence that forevermore. And I wouldn't be hanging my hat on that one peg, mind you. Not for a moment. You see, for a believer in the Church, the commands of Christ are important, and believer's baptism is a command for believers. And when you obey the answer of a good conscience toward God, but you know you're not only to have the answer of a good conscience in the Church, you're to have the answer of a good conscience in your work. Ah yes, that's what he was at over the page, wasn't it? He was at the close. He said, the subject, whether the master's good or crooked, for this is saintly, is a man for conscience toward God in due grief, suffering wrongfully. And then he goes on to back it up like this, for what glory is this, he says, is when you be buffeted for your faults, he shall take it patiently. You know, somebody can drag you in the wrong and comes around and buffets you for your faults, and you just take it patiently. But no glory in that, that's just exactly what you should do. There's no use of arguing when you're in the wrong. But he goes a bit further with this, he says, but if, when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Well, what a lesson to learn for all of us. My, the Christian workman seems to be a peculiar person in the business, isn't he? So much of every goal is to be peculiar people. But, when you do well, and suffer for it, and you just stand like a lamb and say nothing, let me tell you this bit, it's acceptable with God. It's not acceptable all the time with my own mission. Because I was just brought up like that in my early days. I could just start a row about anything as quick as lightning. And it's very difficult for me to take it at times. From we fellows that I could screw up and throw away. We twitch from one talking. You feel like blotting them out, and then you remember these scriptures, and you have to act like a softie. Yes. I want you to get that, because he's explaining conscience here. It's the explanation of conscience. But then he comes further with the subject. He comes to the example of tolerance. My, I tell you, we're at the spot when we come here. He says in verse 21, Well even here on to when you're called. You were called to this sort of thing, you know. When God called you to trust in Christ, you were not only called to trust in Christ, but to suffer for his name sake, you know. Don't let's forget that bit. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that he should follow in his steps. You know, that's a tremendous thing. The Lord Jesus left us an example. And it was an example of tolerance, you know. Oh, when he goes to the next verse very quickly, he said, Who did no sin? Neither was guile found in his mouth. He's trying to say quickly, you know, he had no faults. If you're buffeted for your faults, you take it well okay. He said, I want to tell you, Christ had no faults. He did no sin. He had no faults. Neither an act or words. No guile found in his mouth. Neither in thought, nor word, nor deed. And you know, he left us an example, and I'll come back to it. It's not only an example of tolerance, but Christ's whole life on earth was an example. There's an example that proposes to us about temptation. The devil comes to tempt you, what do you do? Fight? Well, that's all. Friend, you quote scripture. That's what the devil did, and that's what the Lord did to the devil. Just as quick as lightning over to Deuteronomy. And three times out of that whole book, he got three phrases that chased the devil. And I'll tell you this, there's a whole lot of old things here tonight. And if I got them on their feet to quote these verses, I'm telling chapter and verse, you couldn't find them. Because you don't know the words. It's the trouble, now just admit it. If you had to quote the three phrases out of Deuteronomy, what chapters? Not too many in this meeting would know. You know the whole lot of pictures here. I can tell you chapter and verse for each one of them. That doesn't make you anybody. If you tell you this, but the Lord knew where to go, man! How to silence the devil! Knew where to go, everybody says. And I'll tell you young people, if you learn to do it, you can fix the devil. And I'll tell you this, if you can fix the devil, you don't need to be afraid of any of his emissaries, or any of his agents. There are only we fellows after him. How often I just picked out the right phrase, the right moment. I'm an expert at this sort of bullying. I walked into a room one day where a man was dying. And I was just about to get down on my knees, when in through the door came another pastor, one of these extreme healing characters. He says, where did you get that bottle of medicine? The man was dying, I don't think you should talk to him like this. What did the doctor say? Just grabbed it, pulled the cork out, took it to the sink, down the sink, on the rock. I got fed up with him. And I said, do you not agree with him seeing the doctor? No. He said, then you don't agree with Christ. Christ said, they that are sick of need of a physician. You never saw how I stuck in your life. Oh, it would test you. If it wasn't for the grace of God, you would throw him down the stairs. They don't know how much the grace of God fazes them at times. You get fed up with it. Learn to bull the word of God. The Lord left us an example how to do it. He didn't only leave us an example of tolerance, and how to work in temptation. He left us an example of long-suffering. Now, nobody suffered like he did. They plucked a man's face, plucked the hairs from his teeth, and stuck them into his face. And they could have just thought one thought and plucked it them out. But he never moved. Like a lamb before Jesus. Long-suffering and gentleness. What an example of gentleness. I believe in my heart, of course, that Jesus Christ was earth's greatest gentleman. And Sunday morning I'll preach on that. Oh, how gentle he was with women. When a woman was taken in adultery, and I'll only waste time if I take the story, how gentle he was. When he gives him a woman at the well, and she's living with another man, which is a tribe already, how gentle he was. How gentle he was with Martha, when she lost her temper. How gentle he was with Mary Magdalene, in the dark of resurrection morning. How gentle he was with his virgin mother, when he spoke to her tenderly from the cross. Oh, yes, he was a gentleman. Examples of tolerance, how to work in temptation, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and meekness. Oh, I could go on, you know, you'd have no bother looking for a subject there. But Peter's just thinking about tolerance, isn't he? He says, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. And that word, reviled, is a terrible word. It means squandered. It means evil speaking against. It's translated maybe fifty times, by the word blasphemy. They blasphemed his name. They spread evil of him. They spurned him. But he reviled not again. What a wonderful person our Savior was. What a wonderful example. As I asked him, this old verse has saved me from trouble. I get letters continually from the devil. And I got one once, and it called me for everything unto the Son, and said things about me I can't even forget. And they were untrue, it was slander. But the man who wrote it was big enough to put his name on it. Bless him. I can tell you when I got it, I was in bed. Mrs. Moan's a bit of a character, and she came up early. She's always knocking around early. Dr. Paul, we have no secrets as you're writing to me. You'll know that she sees it before I do. And, she came up the stairs and just put this under my nose, and she said, if you're not awake, that will wake you up alright. And it sure did, I'm sure. I knew the man, you know. And I was out of bed and too thick, and I didn't pick the pajamas up, I just put the trousers on the top of them. And I'm getting into the coat, and I got stuck in it with excitements and bad temper. And I was talking to myself, and I was using the Lord's name. I said, Lord, when I get down the street and get the hold of him, I'll screw the head of his head. Because I'm all wrong, I'm just a human, and I go wrong at times. And then the Lord spoke to me. The Lord said to me, when I was revived, I revived not again. When I suffer, I threatened not. I just committed my cross. You talk about taking the steam off, don't you? I got down very humble at the bedside, and I said, I'm sorry. I'm not acting like a Christian at all, I'm acting like a fool. He said that he was a fool, he was right with God, and went down the stairs, and she looked at me, and she said, you're doing nothing but a buzz now. Turn around. Throw it in the fire. She's wise enough to say, and I'll tell you on these occasions, went about the breakfast, and I'm at the breakfast when the bell rings, and I walk up the hall, and the fellow's at the door that wrote it. I had you, but ten minutes ago, I took the head of your body, that's what I've done with you. And he was in a worse state than I was. Because now the Lord's dealt with him, and he said, I should never have done it. I should never have done it. It was the devil that was in it. Come on in and get your breakfast with me. I can't do it. If we give them a nag, they should be getting sick. Yes. Oh, how we must learn this. How we must learn this. In these days, when we're reviled, revile not again. When we suffer, we're just threatened of. I'll tell you what the Lord did. Watch it. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not. But committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. And there's a number of the word committed in your Bible. If you look at the reference itself, committed his cause. He just committed his cause to God. You know, this is the most wonderful thing in the world. When people are slandering you, and speaking evil of you. There may be bluffs, even in your name. How wonderful to get down on your knees and commit your case to God. Great thing. Oh, the Christians have got to learn this shit somehow. We're all so slow at learning. We want to fight. We want to kick it out of somebody. But Christ didn't do it, I can tell you, in your following him. Oh, what an exhibition of tolerance here, an example of tolerance. And then Peter went just a little bit further with this. You know, he begins at verse 21 with this whole thing, for even here on to where he called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. That is not the full stop. It's only a semi-colon there. Who did not know sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. And that is not the full stop. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. And that's not the full stop either. Who, his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree. You know, that's an exhibition of the competence of Christ. He was so competent. But let's take it bit by bit here till you see what he's getting at. He's moving, you know, from the sufferings of Christ at the hands of men. Ah, the nation reviled him and slandered him, blasphemed his name. But Peter is saying, who, his own self, isn't that a great big face? You know, I'm always thrilled with these emphatic pronouns. The Lord himself. When Paul says, the Lord himself shall be sent, you can say, the Lord shall be sent. That's good English. But when you say, the Lord himself, that's emphatic. It's the emphatic pronoun. You know what Peter's being at? He's being emphatical. The Lord himself did this. The Lord himself. But what's it personally? Who, his own self. What is he then? There are things that are dogmatic, absolutely dogmatic about this. There are things. I've often asked believers this. How many of your sins did he bear? And the word bear, you know, means that he bore them away. And I'll show you that in a moment. It isn't only bearing them like a strong man would bear a witch. Oh, no dear, no. It's bearing them away out of sight so that they could be found no more forever. How many of your sins did he bear away? I'll tell you this, if he left one, you're damned. You're damned. Damned forever. He'll not come back to do it over, you know. It's either done or not done. Thank God that when he bore my sins, he bore them away. My sins, all the bliss of this glorious point. My sin, not in part, but the whole, was nailed to the cross and I'd bear them no more. But God, you know, he bore them away. You know, the sin offering in the Old Testament, you know, the sin offering, the bodies of those beasts whose blood was brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin were burned without the can. You know, the body was taken right outside the camp, right the way outside the camp altogether. And the camp of Hezekiah was a big place, bigger than Delphi. And it was taken right outside the camp, out to the wilderness, and sent into a place of hell-pits. And it was therefore installed that the sins could be found no more there. You know, he bore them away. Let's be emphatic about it. He, his own self, nobody else. He, his own self, is him, it is. Blessed be for him. Friend, let's be dogmatic about it. He bore our sins, every one of us. Hallelujah to God. Ah, Peter was not only emphatical here and dogmatical here. I want you to see this. He was explanational here. It's an explanation he's given. Who is also bear our sins. Now watch this. In his own body. He's explaining the thing, you know. My, this was a mighty thing, wasn't it? All we like sheep have gone astray. He's going to quote that in a moment, sir. And God laid on him the iniquity of it all. Ah, you'll never understand it properly, and there's no use in me trying to expand it, but I can't do it. I get to see the naked form of my Lord upon the tree. And to know that Jehovah knew all my sins. How terrible. And all yours too. And to know that God took that great black cloud of my sins and he laid them on Christ and I go free. Ah, but there's more to it than that. God judged them, in fact. God struck them. God smote them. Sufferings on the cross I will never explain, you know. None of the ransomed ever knew. This is explanationary up to a point. You see, Peter was being emphatical, his own self, in his own self. He was being dogmatical, bear our sins. He was being explanational in his own body. He was being geographical on the tree. That's what has happened. It doesn't happen in the mosque, you know. Ah, blathers. Happens on the tree. Won't you forget that? That's why they were born the way. On the tree, on the tree. You have to keep it there. Geographical. Count on that. Great old preacher he was. Emphatical. Dogmatical. Explanational. Geographical. What more do you want? Yes. It's tremendous, wasn't Peter the great preacher? Let's get just a little bit more into this, because I think we need to do this. You see, there is not only an exhortation to obedience shown in this paragraph, and an explanation of conscience shown, and the example of tolerance shown, and the exhibition of Christ's competence shown, but you have the expectation of perfection. Now, let's keep this bit in. See verse 24 again. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. You know, if we believers take to stand that our sins were judged at Calvary, and that we are dead in the judicial sense to sins, then you know God expects us to live righteously. No use of coming out with a loud profession, you know, about being saved, and wonderfully delivered, and translated, and justified, and all the rest of it, and then live like the devil. I don't think you'll see it at all. I think you know that God expects us to live righteously, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. You know, when we become the sheep of his pasture, he leads us in the paths of righteousness. Don't you put that? From... He wants us to wear in the buckle all the time, the fresh place of fashion. But I think, you know, the greatest thing to see is here in John 16. Let's have a look at that now for a moment. John 16. Jesus Christ was speaking to his own people. He's saying in verse 5, But now I go my way to him that sends me. Oh, he knew exactly where he was going, all right. And none of you asketh me whither goest thou. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. He was eating them, and they were sorrowful. Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness. And he explains this a little bit further. Of sin, because they believed not in me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father, eating them all. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is done. The work of the Holy Ghost towards the world today is to convince the world of sin, and it is the sin of unbelief. And you know the Holy Ghost has come to live in us, poor fellows. The Holy Ghost is in every believer in this meeting. Now you have a bit of trouble convincing the worldlings around you about the sin of unbelief, if you are a sort of half-unbeliever yourself. Because you know some of the believers don't believe the promises of God. When something happens, you know, they get into a sort of a muddle. You would think they didn't have any promises and they didn't have any God at all. Well the Holy Ghost will have a bit of trouble using you to convince all the people of unbelief. And you see, if we are not living righteously, it's good old bother convincing the world that Christ is righteous. I'll tell you, you know, when a drunkard like me got saved and started to work at seven o'clock every morning, I was to punch the clock, you know. I know about punching the clock. I never punched it once under ten minutes to seven. Not because I have any great love of getting up and going to work. But Christ said that. And you can go to my employer or look at the clock at any time you like and you'll find that I'm never a little late for my work from what I say. You know, some begin to think, you know, just, oh I don't, some of them said I went mad, I'm not worried about that. I don't say you're mad, you know I'm very happy, I wasn't very before and here he is, look he's mad. But you know when the madness continues for years, they begin to change their notion. They say this fellow's got something. This fellow has not got something, this fellow has got someone. Someone that he fears. And you know when you begin to act righteously. Oh you know I don't want to take the fame of the beating. But you know I did things wrong in my early days and I broke in here and there and all the rest of it. And I can remember a night when we broke into the co-operative and stole the safe. Couldn't get it open, so just took the safe home with us. And we hadn't got all the equipment that the modern cooks have, we had to take it home on the truck borrowed belonging to the co-operative. Wheeled it down the main street in the middle of the night with a bag over it. I suppose the police thought we were out gathering sticks. I didn't see them at all. But we fiddled about with getting the safe open for a day or two. And then at last it was open. And I got a hundred pounds out of it. And when I got saved, I worked and saved. And you know how long you would have to work and save to get a hundred pounds, don't you? Well, I happened to get it, you know. And I took it in for the manager of the co-op and laid it on the table. I said, you know, I stole that over here once from a guy. He didn't seem so happy about it now, but I'm giving it back to you. You know, I can see this thing lying here broken, broken, broken, broken. And I'm trying. But I'm not taking it. It's not mine. I'm not taking it. I said, I can't go into all this again. It's so long ago. I can't go into it. And I don't want it. Well, I said, I'm just leaving it there. I'm not taking it. I don't want it anymore. I don't want to touch it again. You should have sent it to a mission where you'd be content. All right, if you send it to the mission, that'll do me. And he sent it to the mission. Sent it to the Acre mission. Friend, I did everything I ever owed anybody. And lots of boys couldn't even remember it. I can go back to the town any day you like and have a mission, you know, and pack your place. Because a lot of old folks around there know that when I got saved, I got raped. That's what the Lord expects you to. There's an expectation, you know, of consistency demanded of you. What's this last one? You know, I like this bit. This is tremendous. 13th year. Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes ye are healed. And the word stripes there is the word sufferings. You know, some people try to teach that you get healed spiritually through the sufferings of Christ at the hands of men. Well, I'll tell you where he suffered most at the hands of men. In Gabbatha. Where they baked him over the scoping bowl. Where they ripped his back in trellis with a lash. Where they knit the crown of thorns and perched it on his head. Tell me, did you get spiritual healing in Gabbatha? The man came from the sea and that was Gabbatha. And it happens to be two different places. He isn't talking about physical suffering. He's talking about atoning sufferings. Whereby sinners get spiritually healed. But when he's got that over he said, for ye were as sheep going astray. But are now returned unto the shepherd, capital S. I'm bishop of your soul. All the excellence by veterans here. To his holy name. You know his name is excellent. Go home tonight and find all the double titles of Christ. Shepherd and Bishop. He's the Apostle and High Priest. He's the Alpha and the Omega. You'll find the rest of them, there's a whole crowd of them. And you'll find his name is excellent. Don't forget that mighty portion for next week. We're singing together number 91 please. Just singing about his name tonight. Take the name of Jesus with you. Child of sorrow and of all it will joy and comfort give you. Take it then where'er you go. Precious name. Oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh how sweet. Number 91 please. The name of Jesus with you. Child of sorrow and of all it will joy and comfort give you. Take it then where'er you go. Dear Lord, part us in life here and with thy blessing for thy holy name's sake. Amen. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name. Jesus sorrow and of all it will joy and comfort Take it then where'er you go. of heaven. of heaven. The name of Jesus with you. The name of Jesus with you. The name of with you. The name of Jesus the name of Jesus the name of anything.