THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Administration
Message Three— Living a Christian Life under the Government of God
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:17; 2:21-24; 4:17-19; 5:6
I. The Epistles of 1 and 2 Peter are on the universal government of God—1 Pet. 1:1-4; 4:17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
A. The subject of 1 Peter is the Christian life under the government of God, showing us the government of God especially in His dealings with His chosen people—1:2. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
B. The subject of 2 Peter is the divine provision and the divine government, showing us that as God is governing us, He supplies us with whatever we need—1:1-4; 3:13. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
C. God governs by judging; the judgment of God is for the carrying out of His government—1 Pet. 1:17; 4:17: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. Because 1 and 2 Peter are concerned with the government of God, in these Epistles the judgment of God and of the Lord is referred to repeatedly as one of the essential items—1 Pet. 2:23; 4:5-6, 17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. Through various kinds of judgments, the Lord God will clear up the entire universe and purify it so that He may have a new heaven and a new earth for a new universe filled with His righteousness for His delight—v. 13. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
D. The judgment in 1 Peter 1:17, which is carried out by the Father, is not the future judgment but is the present, daily judgment of God’s governmental dealings with His children: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. The Father has regenerated us to produce a holy family—a holy Father with holy children—vv. 3, 15, 17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. As holy children, we should walk in a holy manner of life (vv. 15-16); otherwise, in His government God the Father will become the Judge and will deal with our unholiness—4:15-17; Heb. 12:9-10. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
E. The disciplinary judgment in the government of God begins from the house of God—1 Pet. 4:17: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. God judges everything that does not match His government; therefore, in this age we, the children of God, are under the daily judgment of God—1:17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. God uses fiery ordeals to deal with the believers in the judgment of His governmental administration, which begins from His own house—4:12, 17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
3. The purpose of this judgment is that we would live according to God in spirit—v. 6. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
II. The preciousness of Peter’s writings is that he combines the Christian life and God’s government, revealing that the Christian life and the government of God go together as a pair—1 Pet 1:17; 2:21, 24; 3:15; 4:17; 5:5-8: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
A. The Triune God has passed through a long process in Christ and has become the life─giving Spirit to indwell us; this is for our Christian life—John 1:14; 14:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
B. At the same time, the Triune God is still the Creator of the universe and its Ruler—1 Pet. 4:19. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
C. Although we have been born of God to have a spiritual life and to be a new creation, we are still in the old creation—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5-6; 2 Cor. 5:17: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. For this reason, we need God’s governmental dealings—1 Pet. 1:17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. In order for the Christian life to grow, we need the discipline of God’s government—2:2; 4:17; 2 Pet. 1:5-7. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
III. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a human life that was absolutely under the government of God, and He committed everything related to Him to God’s government—John 6:38; 1 Pet. 2:21-23: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
A. The Lord kept committing all His insults and injuries to Him who judges righteously in His government, the righteous God, to whom He submitted Himself; He put His trust in this righteous One, recognizing His government—v. 23. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
B. When God counseled Christ as a man, Christ’s inward parts were one with God and instructed Him through His contact with God—Psa. 16:7; Isa. 50:4. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
IV. Jacob’s history is a picture of the discipline of the Holy Spirit—Gen. 47:9; 48:15-16a; Heb. 12:9-11: (2014 ST, msg. 2)
A. The discipline of the Holy Spirit refers to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our outward environment, to His arranging of all people, things, and happenings, through which we are being disciplined—Rom. 8:28: (2014 ST, msg. 2)
1. Under God’s sovereignty, through his sufferings in his circumstances and through God’s direct dealing, Jacob was transformed and matured so that he became Israel—35:10. (2014 ST, msg. 2)
2. As our natural life is dealt with through the discipline of the Holy Spirit, Christ is constituted into us—Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17a. (2014 ST, msg. 2)
B. Genesis 32:22-32 relates a vital and crucial experience in the life of Jacob—his being broken: (2014 ST, msg. 2)
1. The Lord “touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle”; the touching of the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle, the strongest muscle in the body, signifies the touching of Jacob’s natural life, his natural strength—vv. 25, 32. (2014 ST, msg. 2)
2. After Jacob was broken by God, outwardly he was the same as before, but inwardly his natural life had been dealt with; it was not the outward living that was touched by the Lord but the inward, natural strength that was broken by Him—33:1-4; 32:25, 32. (2014 ST, msg. 2)
3. Jacob’s experience shows us that God has to break our natural life, that He has to touch our natural life in a drastic way—Gen. 32:22-32. (2014 ST, msg. 2)
V. As believers in Christ and children of God, we should live a Christian life under the government of God—John 3:15; 1:12-13; 1 Pet. 4:13-19; 5:6-8: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
A. The Epistles of Peter reveal the Christ who enables us to take God’s governmental dealings administered through sufferings—1 Pet. 1:6-8; 2:3-4, 19, 21-25; 3:18, 22; 4:1, 15-16; 5:8-9. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
B. We should pass the time of our sojourning in holy fear, that is, in a healthy, serious caution that leads us to be holy in all our manner of life—1:15, 17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
C. We should be humbled under the mighty hand of God, which carries out the government of God—5:6: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. In verse 6 the mighty hand of God refers to God’s administrating hand seen especially in His judgment—1:17; 4:17. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. To be humbled under God’s mighty hand is to be made humble by God; however, we must cooperate with God’s operation and be willing to be made humble, lowly, under His mighty hand—5:6. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
D. We should commit our souls to the faithful Creator—4:19: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. God can preserve our soul, and His loving and faithful care accompanies His justice in His governmental administration. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. While God judges us in His government, He cares for us faithfully in His love; as we are suffering His disciplinary judgment, we should commit our souls to the faithful care of our Creator—Matt. 10:28; 11:28-29. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
E. In the death of Christ we have died to sins so that in the resurrection of Christ we might live to righteousness under God’s government—1 Pet. 2:24: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
1. God’s government is established upon righteousness (Psa. 89:14a); as God’s people living under His government, we must live a righteous life. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
2. The expression live to righteousness is related to the fulfilling of God’s governmental requirements—1 Pet. 2:24: (2007 WT, msg. 1)
a. We were saved so that we might live rightly under the government of God, that is, in a way that matches the righteous requirements of His government. (2007 WT, msg. 1)
b. In Christ’s death we have been separated from sins, and in His resurrection we have been enlivened so that in our Christian life we might live spontaneously to righteousness under the government of God—Rom. 6:8, 10-11, 18; Eph. 2:6; John 14:19; 2 Tim. 2:11. (2007 WT, msg. 1)