In the sermon titled 'Honoring God in Our Submission,' Trent Moody explores 1 Peter 2:18-25, emphasizing the Christian call to submission and how it honors God. He discusses the broader context of living as God's chosen people in a secular world, highlighting the importance of submission to various authorities including civil, domestic, and ultimately God's authority. The sermon underscores that submission, even to harsh authorities, is commendable when done with a conscience towards God. Moody draws on the example of Jesus Christ, who submitted to the Father's will without sin, as the ultimate model for Christians. He stresses that suffering for doing good is commendable and aligns believers with Christ's path. The sermon concludes by highlighting Christ's role as both a perfect example and a savior who bore our sins, urging listeners to repent and trust in Him as the shepherd and overseer of their souls.

1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 18. Peter writes, Servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh for this is commendable if because of conscience towards God one endures grief suffering wrongfully for what credit is it if When you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth, who when he was reviled did not revile in return. When he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.

For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." You may be seated. Let us pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, yet again we come before you, Lord, seeking your help, seeking grace, Lord, as we open these ancient words. We pray, oh Father, that you would impart wisdom to us, Lord, that you would give us the very words to speak, that you would give us hearts to hear. And Lord, we pray that you would change us today, that our hearts would be made right with you.

Lord, that we would see Christ exalted to his rightful place, that we would no longer look so highly among ourselves, that Lord that we would see Christ exalted to the right hand of the Father. Lord help us today we pray in Christ's name. Amen. So as we come to our text this morning, I want us to be thinking on honoring God in submission. Honoring God in submission.

So as we pick up this text section under an overarching theme of living as God's chosen people in an ungodly world and as we continue in this more specific theme regarding submission to authority we find that Peter is narrowing his aim in the relationship but before we get to that I want to call to your memory how Peter has been laying out this argument for us as he began all the way back in chapter one. And I listed this there in your notes and I just want to read through this with you and give us an overview of where we have been and where we are getting ready to go. Number one, he begins in chapter one with describing who we are as Christians in this world. We are sojourners and pilgrims. We are the elect of God through the triune work of God.

We have been abundantly blessed because we have been born again to a living hope and we have an inheritance in heaven that is eternal. We possess a salvation that is so glorious that even the angels are amazed. We are called to live holy lives before God because we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ through his word which abides forever. In chapter 2 we are called as a chosen people made acceptable by the chosen cornerstone Jesus Christ. As such we are now a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and his own special people.

We of all people have a reason to proclaim the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, and as sojourners and pilgrims we are called to live honorable lives before a watching world and this includes submission to biblically mandated authority within their assigned jurisdictions. And so this first of which is God's authority, the first of which is God's authority and jurisdiction over all things and over all authorities. That is the first and foremost authority and jurisdiction which is God's. Secondly that Peter mentions is the authority of the civil magistrate which we went over last time which we discussed. And the third which we have come to today in our text is submission to authority in our domestic affairs or domestic relationships.

And so the point of this is that Peter wants to show that though we are Christians who have been set at liberty from our sins, this does not mean that we are set at liberty to sin by rejecting God's ordained authority in this world and in our lives. It is true that we are children of the King of Kings and it is true that we are citizens of heaven but it is also true that God has ordained that we continue to live in this world in an honorable way that brings glory and honor to God And I want to point us back to the exhortation that Peter gave us in verses 11 and 12 that really begin this section that we are in now. So look back with me just for a moment in chapter two, verses 11 and 12, he writes this based on us being what he said in the previous verses that we are now this chosen generation a royal priesthood and God's own special people he says this in verse 11 beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

You see, how we live matters. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as blood-balt sinners, it matters how we live. It brings glory and honor to God or it could bring shame and reproach upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it matters. It is a testimony to the lost world and on the day of visitation they will glorify God because he is holy and righteous and he has called us to be.

So this brings us to our passage today which really begins with this application of verses 11 and 12. So he begins in this section where we're picking up really as an application of that. So we're kind of wondering what could be our application for this passage of scripture? Well this is the application. This is how we live in such a way that by our good works the world will glorify God.

How do we do that? And that's what he's telling us here. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh this is a tough saying we are pilgrims in this world in an honorable way we are to live before the world and it is important. So number one I want us to look at the call to submission in verse 18 which I just read and we don't need to scoff at this idea or this word of submission so this world hates this word. They hate the idea of submission and many of us even in our own hearts we can find ourselves kind of cringing at this idea of submission to earthly authority.

We must be careful of that because this is what we are called to do. In this sphere here specifically he is speaking and I want you to get the idea here he started out with this very large scope of submission to to the governing and civil authorities and then he narrows this scope down to servants and masters and next time when I preach we will find that he narrows it even more as he's getting closer and closer to home and he speaks about wives and their relationships with their husbands and husbands in relationship to their wives So you can see this scope narrowing down and this is how we live honorable lives in the world before the lost world. So that on the day of visitation they will glorify God. That's the point of this is that we would live in such a way so this idea of submission literally and easily just means to place yourself under another in an orderly fashion it's not a complicated word but it's not a word that we enjoy hearing We don't like to be placed under the authority of others. We want to be the authority.

But even if you are the authority, you are under authority because all men are under authority. God is the ultimate authority of all things. And so submission is not a bad word, although it is, as I said, in the eyes of the world. It's even scoffed and hated, but let us remember that our Lord Jesus in Philippians chapter 2 we read made himself the Lord Jesus, made himself of no reputation. Taking the form of a bond servant and coming in likeness as men and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Why did he do this? Because he was submitting to his father and to the triune plan of salvation for his people. Jesus Christ submitted and was in submission to the Father. This is the great King of Kings. This is the master of the universe.

This is the creator of all things. Humbled himself and became obedient to his father and to the triune plan. Do not ever think yourself too important to take the form of a bond servant. Are you more important than Christ? Christ humbled himself and submitted.

We are called to do the same thing. So now let us take a look at what Peter is saying here. He's specifically speaking to servants. So how do we grasp this context here? It's totally different than anything in our American mindset that we have.

We do not understand this. This is foreign. This is what we look at and think, that is just terrible. They don't really talk about it as being terrible, they just talk about it as a matter of fact. Servants, be submissive to your masters and do it with all fear.

Okay that's what he's telling these servants to do. Remember a displaced people most likely now in poverty, most likely now having to offer themselves as servants to someone else, most likely unbelievers. And Peter says, rebel and run away. No, he says, servants be submissive to your masters. Why?

Because through their submissiveness, through their holy living, through their obedience to their Lord, they were going to give reason for the lost on the day of visitation to glorify God. That's why it's important that we learn to submit ourselves to a rightful authority. That's why it's so important because it is something that will bring God glory. That is our chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That is why we do it.

Now let us take a look just like next time he will be addressing wives and then husbands and then he will turn again to to everyone speaking about this idea of submission. So now in order to understand what Peter was getting at let's focus for a moment on the servant-master relationship here. First, again as Americans this is foreign. We don't understand. It's hard to understand something that is so removed from our cultural context and from our minds, But this relationship was one that is not foreign in the world today.

There are places in the world where this type of relationship is still functioning. And let us be reminded that the scripture is not only written for Americans. It's written for all people through all times and all cultural context. So this servant was one that is described as a servant who lives in the house or the same house as another, spoken of all who are under the authority of one and the same householder. So imagine this man who is the master of his house, he has servants living in his house whom he provides for, that's who he's talking to.

It's not a slave per se, but it's a servant. It could have been a freed man. It could have been a slave that was freed but has now come to live in this home as a freed man, but he's a servant of the master and he is to live in submission and obedience to that master. It's designating a household servant as one holding a closer relationship to the family than a slave would. So we see this relationship throughout the New Testament in a couple different places.

We see it in the Old as well but specifically in the New in Acts chapter 10 verse 7 and it says, and when the angel which spoke unto Cornelius was departed he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. So we have this household servant idea. Romans 14, 4, Paul writes, Who are you to judge another servant to his own master? He stands or falls. We see this in the Gospel of Luke also 16, 13, no servant can serve two masters either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon." This is a common idea in this culture. It wasn't foreign like it is to us. So keep that in mind as we're going through this. So what is this master? Who is he and What does he look like?

We're commanded here to be obedient to our masters if we are servants. It was the word is where we get the idea of despot. It is a master in respect to his slaves. He wields unlimited authority and he's not always kind and gentle as we gather from the context of this passage. What's the extent of this submission?

He says be submissive with all fear. Fear of who? Not fear of the master. Fear of God. We are to be submissive to our masters in the fear of God.

Everything that a believer does should be done with this in mind that we are living before God. What we do is not in the dark. What we do is not in a corner. God sees all that we do and as we live before God we should keep this in mind That we live in that we be submissive with all fear Because the Bible tells us whether we eat or whether we drink or whatever we do that we do all to the glory of God. So here in just a few minutes we're going to eat, we're going to drink.

Do it to the glory of God. It matters. It matters. Everything we do matters before God. We do everything with an eye to the will of God and to the glory of God.

Now listen, this is not only to good masters, but it's also as he mentions to harsh masters. So Peter acknowledges that there's good masters. There are some people who are more generally inclined towards gentleness, even lost people. And that's what he's speaking about here but it's really just as a blip there are good ones he mentions this here he says in verse 18 servants be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. So he has this idea that that we are to be obedient not only to the good but also to the harsh and I believe that The way Peter is writing this section that he's implying that the authorities that we will have to deal with are not always in fact Christians and I think we found that to be true in our present context and in fact rarely are they Christian.

Peter was writing when the government was Roman. He was writing when the masters were Gentiles and the husbands, as we will see next time, not always believers. This is Peter's point of writing, how Christians are to live honorable lives among the Gentiles, which means unbelievers. How shall we live? We see this topic in other books of the New Testament where there are Christian masters.

Paul mentions this in Philemon and also in the book of Ephesians, acknowledging that masters is not the supreme authority but really they also are under authority but he doesn't deal with masters here. He's dealing with them in such a way that would lead us to believe that he's dealing with unbelieving masters. He's dealing with Gentile masters and you can look those up you know the books in Philemon and Ephesians. However we need to understand that in our relationships and what we face we're going to find ourselves under authority of those who may be harsh. But then Peter sticks this encouragement right in here and listen to what he says, for this is commendable if because of conscience towards God one endures grief suffering wrongfully.

So look at this right in the middle of this difficult command of submission, which kind of goes against our nature, he gives this idea here of a reason for submission, as if Peter were saying, I know that some of you are suffering harsh treatment from your masters, but remember, if you endure this harsh treatment with patience God is pleased with that. Isn't that our goal? That we live to please our Heavenly Father. This truth really softens and encourages the heart of the true believer. Knowing that God one sees what is what I'm experiencing.

He knows what you're experiencing. He knows if you have a harsh employer. He knows if you have a harsh relationship and he's going to get down even when that's difficult in the home or in the government that we see in the civil sphere. He knows that. Secondly, he knows that God cares for how I'm treated and how you're treated.

God's not blind to that. And thirdly, that grace with God is found when we endure the harsh treatment with patience and endurance rather than with anger and discontentment and complaining and pride. It is so difficult when you're faced with a person who is treating you unkindly to respond not in kind To respond with patience to respond with gentleness to respond with kindness So easy to get mad Especially if you feel like you have lived in a good way, that you've done something good and you're being treated harshly. It's easy to get angry with that. We feel self-righteous.

We feel like, I've done what's right. How can they complain? How can they treat me this way? I was just doing good. But God says that we are to endure even that with patience.

Not with anger, not with speaking back. And we'll see Christ's perfect example of this in just a moment. Have you ever said to yourself, I deserve better than this? You may not have said it. Have you felt it?

Have you thought it? I deserve better than this. Let's be honest. Do we deserve better? We actually deserve worse.

I had a friend one time who always was teaching his children things like this and whenever he heard them complaining about a circumstance, he would tell them, the only thing you deserve is death and hell. All else is grace. Can you imagine if we live with that mindset? That we would live with such a mindset that we understand all that we are experiencing right now is grace. We are not experiencing what we truly deserve.

We are experiencing the grace of Almighty God on a sinful people, on hearts that are still sinful, we're still battling with the flesh and God pours out his grace over and over and over again. Have you thought about how graceful it is that all we have to do is touch a button on the wall and we are comfortable. That we drove here in a car that had the same thing. Some of them even have heated seats on these cold days. I'll never forget I was preaching one time and I mentioned something about heated seats and it was a new thing at that point in time and and the way it really puts I didn't realize anybody the congregation had a minute really it really convicted somebody that they have heated seats it's not a sin it's not a sin but you know next Peter clarifies what is commendable before God.

He makes it clear, not just the one who suffers, but why and how they suffer. Not just that you suffer is commendable. You may be suffering right now and it may be your own fault. I've had little children come to me before in my home who just really felt like they were not experiencing justice. And so be glad that you're not truly receiving justice.

You're experiencing mercy. So it's not just that we suffer, but it's why and how we suffer that is the key. Because there are two reasons at least that Peter gives here in this text. Number one is suffering for disobedience. This is not commendable.

God is not well pleased when you suffer for your disobedience. He's not pleased with the with the person who murders somebody and now is in prison on death row. That doesn't please God. What pleases God, we'll see in just a moment. You see, it is just and right to suffer for your faults.

Matthew Henry describes it like this. He says, deserved sufferings must be endured with patience. If you are buffeted for your faults, you must take it patiently. Suffering in this world, sufferings in this world are not always pledges of our future happiness. If children or servants be rude and undutiful and suffer for it, this will neither be acceptable with God nor procure the praises of men.

Patiently enduring deserved suffering is the least we can do when you suffer for your faults But we see also suffering for doing good. And here is where Peter is really beginning to take us on this next course. Suffering for doing good. Look at what he says. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God for to this you are called this is one of the most difficult things to endure It is rare to meet a person who suffers for doing well.

It is even more rare to meet a person who suffers for doing well and that much more rare for them to take it patiently and not get angry and complain about their doing good and suffering for it. It's so easy to share our complaints, especially when we think that we are doing right because we have done good. John Gill notes this, but if when you do well, either in their master's service or rather in the business of religion and the things of God as when what they do is according to the will of God and from love to Him and in faith and in the name and strength of Christ and to the glory of God without all which there is really no well-doing at all and suffer for it, reproach and persecution by word or blows in person or in property, you take it patiently without grieving and repining or answering again and making any returns. This is acceptable with God, is agreeable to his will and grateful in his sight. What he is well pleased with is reckoned grace with him and though it is his own grace and of his own bestowing he will reward it with glory.

So how does this apply to us specifically regarding this servant-master relationship and then I want to get on to something much more important. If this is the context of this passage then how do we apply this to our context now? What we have seen in Peter's context is not what we see in ours. Is there application for us? I believe there is.

This is the principle here that we can and should learn from. So even though there is not a one-to-one comparison in what we're reading to our present context now, remember that the Bible, again, was not just written for Americans. It was written for all time and for all people. And here's the thing, the biggest part of learning submission is really not the relationship that you have with the person you are dealing with, but rather your relationship with God. And like all things else, it is an issue of your heart.

Do you buck against submission? Do you buck against your authority? That's the question. Because that is an issue of your relationship with God. Not necessarily your relationship with the person.

And that is key. How do you think of yourself? For instance, are there areas of service that you are too good for? Are there jobs that are beneath you? And often what do you think of God?

Is he in control of your circumstances? Does he care about your circumstances? Do you deserve better? Do you? Based on what?

And so when our heart is right with God and we're at total peace with God in all of our circumstances, then we can even suffer for doing the will of God and take it patiently knowing that God has ordained this circumstance and that God cares and he will bring it about for his glory. 1st Peter says in verse 21 in chapter 2, for to this you are called. This is your calling brethren. Should we probably say this to somebody before like when we're witnessing on the street, let me just let you know something, you're called to this. You know Jesus often did that when the crowds began to come when he was creating food and feeding the people and healing the sick.

Crowds would gather and then he would lay out some of the most difficult teachings and sayings ever and everybody would scatter and Jesus said to the disciples, are you going to? So we need to be real with people. To this he says you were called. And that leads us to this second point, the ultimate example of submission. And this is really where our ears should perk up and our hearts should be ready and open that we hear what the Word of God says to this where you called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps.

So he's leading us into this talking about suffering for doing good and bearing it patiently and then he speaks right to what Christ has done for us. You think that you've suffered for righteousness sake, think of Christ the only one who truly has suffered for righteousness. He is the righteous one. He is the one who suffered. He gives us an example that we should follow in his steps.

If anyone has ever suffered unjustly, it is Christ. He committed no sin, none of us can say that. No deceit was found in his mouth, none of us can say that. No one has ever suffered like Christ and what I mean is not in his physical pain per se but rather in the true sense of the physical, spiritual, and in the perfect sinlessness of his suffering for the sake of others. None of us can say that.

So what do we learn from Christ? Peter says he left us an example that we should follow. Christ was submissive. Luke 2, 51. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them, speaking about his parents.

And his mother kept all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. So children there's a lesson for you in this today. How do you follow the example of Christ the Lord of The universe submitted himself to his parents. Do you think Christ could have said, Dad, you're wrong. Mom, you're getting this one wrong.

He sure could have, But he didn't. He submitted himself to his parents because he wanted to bring glory and honor to God. He humbled himself. John 13 says, So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and I say and you say well for so I am.

If then if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you most assuredly I say to you a servant is not greater than his master nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him if you know these things blessed are you if you do them." That's an example. Again Philippians 2, I've read this already but I'll read it again. Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. Taking the form of a bond-servant and coming in likeness as men and being found in appearance as man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Hebrews 4 and 15 and 16 says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us Therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need." That's what Christ did for us. So as we are following his example and we are coming to that point where we cannot do it, we can come boldly to the throne of grace. We have a high priest who knows. We have a high priest who sympathizes where you are. He knows what you are experiencing.

He knows the challenges that you have. He knows the difficulties. He knows the suffering. He knows the harsh treatment. And therefore because of what he did and entered into the veil into the Holy of Holies you now can come boldly to the throne of grace of grace to find help in your time of need go to Christ he is our help he is our example consider how Christ suffered what was his response Who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.

Who when he was reviled did not revile and return and when he suffered he did not threaten. You know a great point was brought out in men's meeting on Monday and that's why you should be there on Mondays if you can men. He said this, if you will notice that each of these has to do with the sins of the mouth. He says, nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, did not revile in return, and when he suffered, he did not threaten.

We will find that a big part of our problem is the sin of the mouth, especially when we're dealing with submission. We will complain, we will argue, we will give reasons why we shouldn't, we will get angry, we will do all sorts of things that spew out of the mouth, but really, as I said earlier, it's not really an issue with your relationship, it's your issue of your heart. Because from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. But not with Christ. He was of the purest heart.

He is the purest heart ever. The words that came out of his mouth were grace. The words that came out of his mouth were grace. The words that came out of his mouth were pure. And when he came to this, when those were reviling him and spitting upon him and plucking the beard out of his face, he did not revile and return.

When they mocked him, he was silent as a lamb going to the slaughter. He was pure in heart and that's why he was a perfect Savior to bear the sins of many. How is this possible? How can we suffer for doing well and not sin with our mouth? Notice what it says about Christ, but committed him to him.

He committed himself to him who judges righteously. That's how Christ did it. He committed himself to him who judges righteously. Notice that it also says that over in chapter 4, it was read this morning in our reading together, I believe it was 419, when he says, therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God, commit their souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful Creator. Christ came with a purpose.

He knew his purpose was to submit to the Father's plan and he did that perfectly. He did that with pure submission. He did that with a pure heart so that he could be a pure savior and a pure sacrifice on the cross for your sins because you're not pure, but he is pure. And he has died for our sins and that's where he goes next. And he says this in verse 24, in verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died to sin might live for righteousness.

I want you to understand next and finally that Christ is more than an example. He's not just an example of a perfect man being submissive and silent under suffering. He is that, but He's not only that. He is the King of kings and he is the Lord of lords. He is the God of all creation.

He is the Savior of souls. He is your Savior if you will repent and trust in Him today and you do not harden your heart. Christ is that example for us but he is much more than that who bore our who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Christ's suffering was not merely our example but it was an example of his salvific work upon the cross. He showed us what he was going to do.

It was the substitutionary atonement that he worked for us. It was so much more. It was our salvation, our glorious salvation that we learned in chapter one. Without Christ bearing our sins in his own body, we bear our own sins. Without his sinless body to bear them, it must be our sinful bodies that bear them.

He is our substitutionary atonement. He, the sinless one, bore the sins of the sinful in his own body on the tree. Who himself, he says, bore our sins. This is the great work of Christ and Christ alone. This is the great exchange.

He bore our sins. None other could do it. None other was worthy. None other would satisfy the wrath of God. Think of it.

If you bear your sins you will experience the wrath of God for all eternity. Your payment unpayable, your punishment unending, your sorrow unceasing, and your pain indescribable, your hope of escape non-existing. However, If Christ is your Savior, He Himself bore your sins in His body on the tree. He is the sin bearer. He is the Son of God.

He is the debt payer, your debt payer. He is the righteous one. He is He who died and yet lives forevermore. He is the way and the truth and the life. He is your only hope.

Repent and trust in Jesus Christ today. He is your only hope in life and in death. Trust Him and live for Him. The only part that we had in our salvation, we supplied all of it, the sin. Jesus did everything else.

We supplied the sin and it was an abundance, But the grace of God and the power of God and the perfection of our Savior supplied all that we needed to be saved from the wrath of God. If you would but believe and turn from your sins, you would experience what Peter is talking about. You would understand and you could truly say with us that this, who himself bore my sin on his own body on the tree, can you say that today? If you cannot say that Jesus Christ bore my sin in his own body on the tree. You need to repent and trust in Christ.

Repent and trust in the Lord Jesus. He is the sin bearer. He is the Savior of the world. Trust in him and live. Trust and live.

My dear brother read Isaiah 53. That was my passage I was wanting to read. It's a beautiful passage. I'm thankful he read it. If it's worth reading once, it's worth reading twice.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53 and listen to these glorious words, really the most clearest pre-gospel if you will. The clearest picture of the gospel in the Old Testament we have in Isaiah 53 and I'm gonna back up into verse 52 because it is that good. Isaiah 52 and verse 13, behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high just as many were astonished at you so his visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle many nations kings shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard of they shall consider. And in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 1 who has believed our report to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness that when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it sheers as silent so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth." Peter loves Isaiah and yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Listen, he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied.

That's atonement. By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquity. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. This is our God. And all those who are in Christ will find these next words true for them.

For all those who are in Christ, you will find these words true for you, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and to the overseer of your soul. Do you realize that if you are in Christ that Jesus Christ the King of Kings is the shepherd of your soul? That is one of the most tender relationships. The sheep do nothing for the shepherd.

The shepherd cares for the sheep. The shepherd tends to the sheep. The shepherd feeds the sheep. The shepherd watches for the sheep. The shepherd guards the sheep.

The shepherd, Jesus Christ, is the shepherd of your soul. And he's the overseer of it. And he has made elders in a church to be like that in a lesser form. He is the Great Shepherd and we are the under shepherds and that is our job as well is to watch out for your soul the best humanly possible but he's a great shepherd. He is watching your soul and he is working in your heart and he wanted you here today if you're here this morning he wanted you to hear this that he is the shepherd and overseer of your soul if you would but repent and trust in him he would become the shepherd and overseer of your soul he wants you to be in the fold listen this was no hypothetical atonement no this was actual and real and applied atonement.

Jesus bore our sins. 2nd Corinthians verse 521 says this, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God should die for me? Our hearts should burst with praise for this glorious Savior and at this thought. Oh Lord may I be made to see what thou my God has done for me that I would suffer without repine for him who exchanged his place for mine.

Let us pray. Gracious Father, we are amazed at your grace. We are amazed at your demonstration of love, that you, my God, would die for me. Oh God, I pray that no one leaves here today without knowing the truth of this and experiencing the truth of salvation to know you as their shepherd and overseer of their soul. Oh God would you make it so.

Lord save people today. Do it for your glory oh God. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Thanks for watching!