A church that departs from the Word of God becomes a monstrosity. They become that fig tree that has the leaves that says, I have fruit, but it doesn't. And so when you go up to it, there's no fruit. What did Jesus do to that tree?
He cursed it. So you say, I'm a church. By definition, ecclesia, we are the place where you come to hear about Jesus Christ to be separated from judgment, the wrath of God, and to be brought into heaven. We are a church. Well, if you're not preaching the Word of God, what are you preaching? This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of First Peter.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Open your Bibles to First Peter chapter two. Let's join Pastor Rick for his continuing study called Guarding Our Witness.
And so he is saying, among the Gentiles have a life as such that glorifies God. So when that moment comes, you're not compromised. How many Christians have blown their witness? They can say whatever truth they want to say, but their witness has been destroyed.
Nobody wants to hear it from them. Coming from them, and we have to work, you say, well, that has happened to me once. I'm not saying that happened to me.
I'm working not to let that happen. But maybe, maybe I'm speaking to someone who you say, I blew my witness. God can restore. If he can put back what locusts have eaten, he can do anything. If he can hang the planets and the stars where they are and not keep them from crashing into each other, he can do anything.
He can restore my broken witness. John Mark was such, within the church, John blew it. He felt he was going to be a hero of the faith, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. And he found out that he couldn't handle it. And so he headed back home. And because of this, it came another time where he wanted to give it another shot. But Paul, and I think wisely at that time, Paul said, no way. We put a lot into him and he, he crumbled.
He's not ready. Well, Barnabas, his cousin, insisted and they got into this big brouhau over John Mark. Well, Barnabas and Mark went their way and Paul and Silas went their way. And the result was Satan thought he got them. All Satan did was create two more ministries. Where there was one ministry of Paul and Barnabas, there were now two ministries of Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Silas.
That backfired. So Paul went off with cousin Barney and he developed and he became a solid Christian. And God pinpointed John Mark to give us the gospel according to Mark, which is an excellent introductory into Christian writing.
You want to sell someone? You want a quick, a quick course on Christianity? Go to the gospel of Mark in 16 chapters.
You get an overview that you'll never forget. And then, of course, later on, Paul, nearing his execution, writes to Timothy and says, bring John with, bring Mark. He is useful to me.
He is useful to me in the ministry, in the gospel, so God can restore. And that's why those stories are preserved. But if you've not crumbled in front of everyone and blown your witness full out, work to keep it. Don't ever take it for granted. Now, this does not mean, well, I have blown my witness in, in workplaces once or twice.
Yeah. I mean, one time, I won't want to take too much time on the story, but I mean, it was almost a fist, fist. If I could have gotten down to the ground level, it would have been a brawl. Yeah, I was ashamed of this to this day, but God moved on.
The other guy was wrong anyway, but let's move on. And there's a lot more to that story that, anyway, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Again, humans struggle here.
All of them struggle. Submit yourselves to every ordinance. What helps is when you respect someone. If you have had leaders in life and I have had good leaders in my life, believers and non-believers alike, I've had good men who I could respect. Even if I didn't like them, I respected them and had no problem. If they gave me a command that I didn't like because I respected them, I had less difficulty carrying it out.
You parents know if your children can respect, you get more out of them and it is a good thing. So let's be careful as believers to submit ourselves to every ordinance. Now, he's talking about Nero.
That's where he's going to go with this. How much with the church? I mean, you get pastors and church leaders that aren't Nero and nobody wants to submit to them. Well, some do, but when the pressure's on, they don't. Why is it this way? This is a real devil.
That's why. Well, Peter and Paul share this view about submitting to every ordinance, Romans chapter 13, the first seven verses. Paul lays that out. He says, look, he doesn't carry a sword for nothing. He carries it so he can execute sentence on the guilty. Don't be the guilty. The alternative is what? The alternative to submit yourselves to every ordinance is what? Rebel? Create an uprising?
Become a community agitator? We are supposed to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, not some militia that, or, you know, revolutionaries going to change everything through the physical sword on at least two occasions. Now hear me out through this, because some of you are maybe saying to yourselves, yeah, well, what about?
Well, we'll get to a couple of the what abouts in a minute. But our Lord, on two occasions, he paid local taxes in front of everybody. In Matthew 17, it was the temple tax.
In Matthew 22, it would be the equivalent to our federal tax. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Give to God what belongs to God. Jeremiah summarizes this attitude when he told the Jewish people, taken into captivity in Babylon, he says, look, you're in Babylon now, bro.
Do what you're supposed to do. Jeremiah 29, 7. Most folks like to go, I know the thoughts I think of you, thoughts of peace. Well, that's a beautiful verse, but you remember it's the captives who didn't want to be captive. Prior to that, he says, seek the peace of the city where I, God, have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to Yahweh for it, for its peace. You will have peace. So the prophet says to the Jews taken captive, who's still trying to think, well, God's going to get us out of here. No, you got a 70-year sentence as a people in Babylon. While you're there, pray for peace of that place. Become a citizen. Assimilate civilly, not spiritually.
And so that is a summary of what is being said here by Paul in Romans 13 and Peter here in 1 Peter chapter 2. Now, there are limits to this submission to obey laws. If we were commanded to violate moral laws, we would not.
We'd have to say no. This will bring persecution, physical persecution. This is the story with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You bow down when you hear the beat, because it's a good beat.
And when you hear it, boom, boom, boom, you do it. And they did not. And they were cast into the fire. Then there's Daniel 6.
We're never going to get him committing a crime unless we make it a crime for him to exercise his faith in public. They did that to Daniel. And of course, he was cast into the lion's den before them.
And then they were cast in and consumed. And then there's Acts chapter 4, where the apostles were commanded not to preach in the name of Christ. And Peter and the apostles said, listen, you figure it out whether it's right or wrong.
As for us, we're going to do what God told us to do. John Bunyan, he refused to be silenced by the state church when they told him, you cannot preach the gospel. He preached it anyway. Then he did 12 years in Bedford jail because of it.
He did time again a second time, not as long. So Peter says this in the midst of persecution. You submit to the laws. Don't become entangled in the society, in the affairs of this world, 2 Timothy 2. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. You get the feeling these apostles will not let up on us not being part of this world. They just will not stop it with telling us this is not all there is to you. There's more to you than being here.
They don't let up. And if they had, the church would have been gobbled up and there'd be no more Christianity. So as citizens we use civil laws, but we do not allow ourselves to be engulfed by them becoming activists for causes other than Christ. That doesn't mean we cannot work within the laws to be activists for Christ. As Jeremiah told the Jews, get spiritual where you are.
Do something before Yahweh on behalf of the place you find yourself. How awful it would be if the apostles became political activists. Where in church history did the church leaders become political activists when Constantine made peace with the religions of the world, especially Christianity, and he embraced Christianity and gave us what we now know as the Roman Catholic Church, not Christianity. That does not mean that there are not Christians within Roman Catholicism, but overall you pray to Mary you're disqualified. I'm sorry. There's no two ways about it. I'm not going to tailor my speech because you disagree with the scripture.
If you pray to those who are not, to the one who is not God, you're sinning. It's cut and it's dry and now I move on. Well, I've got one more point to make about that. Balaam. Balaam was a prophet, the Bible tells us. And yet he allowed himself to be seduced and he got political. And then we get to the book of Joshua in chapter 13 and we find out they killed Balaam.
He should have stayed a prophet, but he became entangled. He says, whether to kings as supreme. Well, the country's laws must be obeyed for the good of all.
You know, society becomes, you know, anarchy will rule. Do we believe that social ills are to be dealt with spiritually? Or do we think they're just a physical problem? Matthew 15, 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. It's a spiritual issue. Sin is spiritual and it shows up in the physical. It is not content to just be physical. It shows us spiritual.
It shows up physically. So, in other words, it's going to harm someone. It's going to damn souls if it can. In verse 14 now of Peter, he says to, or to governors, be nice if they kept verses 13 and 14 together, but they did not. As to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. Again, law is law. It has to be administered by someone and he is talking about local leaders at this point. Again, sinners have issues with authority.
May it not be us. It's not easy. It's not easy when you don't like something. In fact, if you don't like something enough, it clouds your judgment because you get emotional. Well, what happens if you carry emotional, emotions too far? We have a word for it. This is one word. It's called hysteria. It's when the emotions are now running the ship into the rocks.
And so, it is good to just take it to the Lord. Prayer, prayer is a stabilizer. It has a stabilizing effect. It helps us settle down and get back into the Spirit and outside of our emotions. And you can't get away from our emotions. They do good. You need them.
At least I feel you do. Titus, that was corny, but corny is safe. Titus chapter 2. Paul says to tell Pastor Titus to inform the people that they're not to pilfer, showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things.
As we put on garments, we are to put on the doctrine of God. And so here we are considering this book of persecuted Christians, 1 Peter, which is really a letter. Richard Wambran, some of you know him. He is the author of Tortured for Christ. He spent 14 years in a Romanian prison and was tortured. And he was tortured in many ways. And he was subject to witnessing others being tortured also. He saw some renounce the faith. He saw others stay true to the end.
Richard writes this. He says, Western Christians can help us by praying for the persecutors, that they may be saved. Such a prayer may seem naive. We prayed for the communists and they tortured us the next day, even worse than before the prayer. But the prayer of the Lord in Jerusalem was also naive, quotes there. They crucified him after his prayer.
But only a few days later, they beat their breast and 5,000 were converted in one day. You see, his observations, his view of scripture and what we go through has been enhanced by the misery he went through. You know, when he would go speak in a church, he'd walk up, he wouldn't be wearing shoes, because they beat his feet to the bone and it was painful for him years later for the rest of his life to wear shoes. And so when we come across a solid Christian like that, we pay attention. We say, here is someone doing it, actually carrying out the superlatives of scripture. And we say, I have no argument against it. I cannot now say, yeah, well that's easy for you to say. I have to say, well if he did it, what am I supposed to do with the lesser things I'm faced with?
I can't even get up on time for church. I'm not rebuking anybody if that's you. So please don't come to me and say sorry, I don't know about that. And don't come up to me and tell me you were sleeping in the sanctuary, please. That's why I don't look at it. It was one of a thousand reasons why I don't try not to look at anybody.
I see somebody nodding out, get even, I start nodding out back. Okay. Verse 16 is free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Some Christians, some Bibles, evidently this didn't get printed in every Bible. Using your liberty as a cloak. Well I'm free in Christ, brother, I can do this.
I can hate you, because I'm free in Christ. It's not legalistic to tell Christians to obey Jesus Christ. But this is what many are doing. They're so legalistic over there. But because we tell you what Jesus said, we're legalistic, right? Well, Isaiah 30 verse 10. Who say to seers, this type, do not see, and to the prophets, do not prophesy, to us write things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Now nobody was actually saying that, but Isaiah, you know, those prophets were sarcastic, man, when they had to be.
And he was saying this is what you go around doing. Don't tell us the truth, tell us lies. We really like lies. And you would think that some Christians thought that was one of the Ten Commandments. You shall enjoy a lie. It's damning to trample God's word.
It's not just okay I did it, but that's alright. It's not. A church that departs from the word of God becomes a monstrosity. They become that fig tree that has the leaves that says I have fruit, but it doesn't. And so when you go up to it, there's no fruit. What did Jesus do to that tree?
He cursed it. So you say I'm a church. By definition, ecclesia, we are the place where you come to hear about Jesus Christ to be separated from judgment, the wrath of God, and to be brought into heaven. We are a church. Well, if you're not preaching the word of God, what are you preaching? The word of man. That makes you a monster. An apostate. And it's not sinful to say that.
It's very easy to fix. Preach God's word. It's their choice. I mean, lately I've been hearing a lot about this Bethel church out in Redding, California. What a bunch of kooks in the pew and demons in the pulpits.
What is going on? Well, you know, you've got people that support that kind of stuff, you've got people that benefit from that. Why? Is it God's word gets boring? You've read it enough times it no longer thrills you?
It's just not doing enough for you? Is that why people become apostates? I find it better to just talk to God straight out when you struggle with things that you cannot resolve.
Go right to Him. And even if He doesn't talk back to you, He knows full well you are talking to Him and that matters everything. Because the apostate has stopped talking to God. Verse 17, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. He's not writing this from heaven where he's now around a bunch of righteous people.
He's still on earth around all people. And he's telling them, look, I got to do what you're going to do. I'm not letting you off the hook. Short, crisp sentences, he charges them to honor all men, love the brotherhood. Why would anybody have to be told to love Christians?
Aren't we the best people ever? It's up to you. It is up to the individual Christian and that's what he's been saying. Don't give them a reason to blaspheme the God.
Take God, take their ammunition from them, their false ammunition. Regardless of color or what class a person is or what they believe, we are to be honorable people. It doesn't take much to be polite.
Although, I know a few people that think it would kill them to be polite. Love the brotherhood. We are to be more invested in other believers than non-believers. Galatians 6 10, and this is not the only two places. There are others in the New Testament.
Therefore, we have opportunity. Let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. I don't know why some people get turned off by that as Christians. We are supposed to have heightened participation with the body of Christ. Honor the king, which is Nero at this time. Persecuting Christians, of course.
He's going to get a lot worse. He's going to end up killing Paul and Peter. And then, the Christians did not say, well, remember before he killed Peter, before Peter was killed, he wrote this letter and he said to honor the king, let's get rid of the letter. Because that king killed Peter and we are not going to let ourselves line up with what that apostle said. No, that wasn't the case.
They continued with these teachings in spite of the persecutions. Daniel, again, despite the king's attempt to murder his three friends, that would be Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 3, he always addressed Nebuchadnezzar with a befitting term as king or lord. Now, I struggled here in preparing this. I could not, I would take a miracle. I mean, on the proportion of the sky opening up and God sticking his hand on me gently and letting me, but could you call Nancy Pelosi the honorable Mrs. Pelosi? Daniel would.
I would too. I'd go wash my mouth out with Listerine afterwards, but this is what we're called to. Because what happens when you start seeing these people that are getting away with lies? What wells up hatred?
And that's not us. We start hating these people. You can say, oh, I don't hate, I don't hate the sinner, I just hate them. No, you hate them. You know you do.
Or at least you're conscious of being drawn to hate them. And we must guard against these things. Even when Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon, you know, the one whose knees smote against the other, when the handwriting was on the wall. Even to him, Daniel was respectful and gave him the proper title. Although he said, keep your trinkets, I'm not interested.
What should be done for this man? I don't want you to stop. You're going to die tonight. Anyway, the last king was Darius.
Of course, he became friends with Daniel. So what we have here is honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. If you're looking for less, you're in the wrong faith. If you're looking to be encouraged to hate your enemies, you're not in Christianity. God didn't say this is going to be really easy. Love those who persecute you. Pray for them. He says this is a bloody religion.
It's bloody to the body and it's bloody to the flesh. Spiritually and physically, it's going to take a lot of work, but we're up to it because the body is a temple that houses the Holy Spirit and your life is not your own. You belong to God. You are his. He loves you and he works with you. Believe it.
Believe it. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1 Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the Scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.
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