Now go with me to 1 Peter 3.
I've texted you the text for tonight. And the title is taken
from verse 10. 1 Peter 3, 10. He that will love life and see
good days. And then he tells us some things
to do and not to do. how to have some good days. I hesitated to use that title,
how to. But scriptures are full of how
to. I'm glad. I looked up, before
I gave it that title, I looked up my pastor's messages. put
in the words, how to, and he had like 15 sermons on how to. So I thought, okay, I'm fine.
This is not a message on how to be saved. Okay? That's the last time I'm going
to say that. You know that. He's not talking
to, he's talking to believers. He's talking to the saints. This
is written to God's people who have been saved. These are instructions
on how to think, walk, talk, act in such a way as becoming
those that have been saved for the glory of God, for the good
of others, for our own good. It's going to tell us how to
have some good days. We're going to have some good days. So how
to spend our days. There are few. We don't have
many left. It's going to tell us how to
spend our days. I need to know. I want to have
some more. If I've got just a few left, I want some of them to
be good, don't you? Okay, verse 8, he begins, Finally,
be ye all of one mind. He'd been talking to citizens,
servants, wives, husbands. Finally, everyone, be of one
mind. Go to Philippians 2. You know
we have to go there. Talk about the mind, the way
of thinking. Philippians 2 talks about the
mind of Christ. Philippians 2, verse 2, it says,
Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded. Think. Same thoughts. Be of one accord. Having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind. Humility. Remember that? Meekness. Our Lord said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly. You'll
find rest. Humble, humility, lowliness of
mind. Let each esteem other better
than himself. Look not every man on his own
things. Don't be selfish, but every man also on the things
of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. took
upon him the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men,
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even unto the death of the cross. He laid down his
life for us. So, he tells us, let this mind
be of one mind. Turn to Acts chapter 2. If we
are members of his body, of Christ's body, vitally joined to Christ
and each other, we must be of one mind, mustn't we? Members acting together. independent, but together, with
one mind, one cause. We have one cause, we have one
purpose, we have one goal, and that's the glory of our God,
to build up one another on this most holy faith. Acts chapter
2 is the story of the early church. The Lord saved 3,000 souls, verse
41. They that gladly received his
word were baptized, all of them. That's what Simon Peter said.
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Christ.
So they did, they were. And verse 42, they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. That is, they were
always hearing, they always gathered together to hear the preaching
of the word, as most of you do. And fellowship, what is fellowship? Fellowship is with the Father,
with His Son. Okay? That's fellowship. That's true
fellowship. It's around the Gospel. And in breaking of bread, that's
taking the Lord's table, and prayer. And fear came upon every
soul, and wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all
that believed were together. You're always together. Like
members of the body. My fingers have never They've
always been together. My toes have always been with
me. They're faithful to me. So, read on. It says, and they
had all things common. We've got a common faith. We've
got a common desire. We've got a common hope. We've
got common problems, common troubles, common temptations. We have all
things common to us. What's mine is yours, what's
yours is mine. We have all things common to us. It's all been given
to us. None of us own anything. It's all been loaned to us. And
they sold possessions of good and parted them as every man
had need, and they continued daily with one accord in the
temple You found 3,000 people jammed into that temple. None
of them want to be left out. Breaking bread. And they went
house to house. And they praised God. They had
favor with all the people. The Lord added to the church.
That's one mile. Read on in our text, 1 Peter
3, 8. Having compassion for one another. Compassion. Oh my, that's a good
word, isn't it? Compassion means have deep feelings
for someone else, especially in their sorrows and troubles.
Deep feelings. The next thing that follows is
love as brethren. We have deep feelings for our
blood kin, don't we? Deep feelings. You see, Isabella,
the Lord gave her that virus last night. Well, I didn't have
any more concern for her than I did for Doug West and Bethel
Baptist down there. I didn't. And someone else's
child had had another one. Deep feelings, deep concern,
deep feelings. We are blood kin, brothers. This
is the family of God, and it's going to be the only family we
have. Someday, right? Compassion. Deep feelings. Deep feelings. We suffer. We
read there in Romans 12, weep with those that weep, and laugh
with those that laugh. Deep feelings. You know, He exhorts
us to these things. Because we're still selfish sinners. Because most of the time we act
like Most of the time, this old man rears his head, and he's
only concerned about himself. Nobody else. He gets his feelings
hurt, he gets mad, he gets upset, he gets put out, and he just
wants to cause nothing but trouble. That's the old man. He's out
for himself. So the Lord keeps telling us
these things. Don't think about yourself. That's
what we tell our children growing up. And so he tells us that have
compassion like little children. We need to be taught, admonished,
don't think of yourself. It's not about you. Love as brethren. Verse 8, love as brethren. A real love will do anything
for the one they love. Right? Love is brethren. Brethren forgive one another
and forget. It's not really forgiveness if
you don't forget. You know that? Some of you had siblings, and
I had two older brothers, and my middle brother was so mean
to me, and I didn't deserve any of it. But honestly, to this day, we
had some knock-down, drag-out fights. And that's ugly. It's
bad. And nothing would make my father
more furious than to hear us fussing or fighting. And often
he punished all of us, not knowing who, you know. I didn't do it.
He did. I didn't do it. Because we both needed it. But
honestly, to this day, I can't think of one single thing that
my brother and I have thought about. Because you're on the
next day, or an hour later, we're playing and it's like it never
happened. We're brothers. Right? He's still my brother. And we don't leave. Brothers
don't leave. They forget. They forget whatever
it is. Doesn't matter what it is. Right?
We have a brother, an elder brother. We have a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He said, I will never leave you.
What have we done to him? And he says he doesn't remember.
He said, I don't remember. I've confessed some things in
my adulthood to my mother that I did as a child. She said, no,
no you didn't. You couldn't have. You were a
good boy. Yeah, right. She loved me. Love covereth. Doesn't it? It really does. It really does. If it doesn't, it's not love.
Love has brethren. That's not advice, that's command. Love his brethren. That was one
of the last things our Lord said before he went to the cross,
didn't he? This is my commandment, that you love one another as
I have loved you. Help me, Lord. Help me. Be pitiful. I like that word. Pitiful. Full of pity. Full of pity. Pity means to bemoan
another's troubles or whatever. I looked it up and it means to
shake the head as in, oh, you've done it. Oh, you hear something
about somebody. Oh, my, it's too bad. Pity. Our Lord is pitiful, isn't He? Look at Isaiah 63. You're going
to like that. Isaiah 63. Brother John came
by and visited me again. I love it when he does. He sharpened. Iron sharpeneth iron. Face answereth
to face. We have a good time, don't we,
John? Isaiah 63. Look at this. Verses 7 through
9. Right after, now you need to read this whole chapter, but
it begins with our Lord in the winepress and in His anger and
His fury. And in verse 7 it begins with,
I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord, the praises of the
Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us. His
people, great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he
had bestowed on them according to his mercies, according to
the multitude of his lovingkindness. He said, surely they're my people,
children that will not lie. So he was their savior. In all
their affliction, he was afflicted. The angel of his presence saved
them in his love and in his pity. He redeemed them, he buried them,
carried them all the days. I used to like that old song,
He Ain't Heavy. He's my brother. I still like
that song. Pity. Not blame. Pity. Not criticism. Pity. Pity. A man should get pity, Job said,
from his friend, shouldn't he? Our Lord does. Why? He knows
our friend. He remembers what we are. We
often forget what our brethren are. What are they? Just like
us. Just like us. Look at the next
word. Be courteous. Courteous. Courteous means to
think on the things of others. It means in honor, preferring
one another. It means let someone else go
first. Thinking of their comfort, their needs first. What a missing
characteristic this is in our generation. In this self-loving
last days, common courtesy is gone. Be considerate to say thank
you. If someone does anything for
you, Say thank you. If someone texts you, text them
back. If someone writes you, someone
calls you, whatever stumped you. Most of you, I text everyone
with the messages. First Monday morning, and some
text me back. It's just common courtesy. Daisy
thanks me for every single text that's in there. Thank you. We do that for our brothers and
sisters. If our husband or wife texted us, would we answer them?
Every time. Every time. Love his brethren.
Be courteous. Common courtesy. Consider it. Oh, think of how our Lord, how
courteous He was. He never thought of His own needs.
Never. Always thinking of the needs
of others. Always. Verse 9 says, Not rendering evil
for evil. It's hard to believe that a child
of God could ever act evil, isn't it? Ever do or say anything that's
evil. But the sad fact, the sad fact,
is there's an old man in us that's evil. Our Lord said this to His disciples
one day. You remember He was talking about
what all the Father will do for His children. He said, if ye
then being evil, know how to give good gifts on your church.
How much more sure you haven't found? He's talking about the
old man. There's an old man in us that's
evil. He thinks of himself, like we
said, he's capable, that old man is capable of doing and saying
and inflicting evil. And this is why we are continually
admonished and exhorted and encouraged, you need to put that fellow down,
he's going to hurt somebody. It's evil. And we do. But if we do, if God's people
do, the Lord will deal with us. He will deal with us in kind. And he will convict us. He'll
make us sorry and weep bitter tears. And hopefully, if we've
hurt somebody, ask their forgiveness. Look at the next step. Railing.
Don't render railing for railing. And from here on, he's going
to talk a lot about the tongue. Anyone needs it. Everyone needs
it. Railing, it means to speak ugly. It means to argue. It means to
fuss. It means to fight. It means to
quarrel. It's something to lash out at, back and forth. It's
evil in it. It's evil. It's evil. Look at James chapter 3, just
back a few pages. You know how much James talks
about the tongue, don't you? There's more hurt and more evil
done with the tongue than anything else. It is Satan's tool, it
is his delights, it is what separates, and there's nothing he loves
more than division. And there's nothing that will
cause it more quickly than time. A whisperer separates. That's what it said. You remember
the quotes in the bulletin? One of our ladies said, I want
to blow those up and put them on the refrigerator. Those quotes
about the mouth. One of them was it. This tongue
is only three and a half inches long. Some longer than others. But it can kill a man six feet
tall. It's a dangerous weapon. It needs
to be used sparingly and wisely. James chapter 3, verses 3 and
5, look at this. Behold, we put bits in a horse's
mouth that they may obey us. A bit is a little thing. It's
a control of a big animal. It could kill us. We turn it
about their whole body, verse 4. Ships driven with the great,
fierce winds, we turn them about with a little rudder, a very
small helm, wherever the governor listed. Even so, the tongue is
a little thing, but it boasteth great things. But what a great
matter, a little fire kindling. The tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity. So is the tongue, is among our
members. It defileth the whole body, sets
on fire the course of nature. Gets things started. It's hard
to stop. And set on fire of hell, Satan,
every kind of beast, verse 7, of birds and serpents and things
in the sea is tame, and hath been tame of mankind with the
tongue no man can tame. It's an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison. Bless we God the Father, and
there will curse men. He said it shouldn't be. It just
shouldn't be. Don't render railing or railing,
he said. Go back to our text. I was going
to turn to Proverbs. How many scriptures could we
turn to in a proverb? I am going to turn a little bit.
We do need to see that. Because he talks about we need
to be a blessing and not... Proverbs 10, let me just read
some of these for you. I can look them up for you. The
mouth of a righteous man is a well of life. That's Christ. And grace poured from His lips. When they said, No man spake
like this man, they not only meant in power and authority
and the spell behind Him, they meant the way in which He said
it, in great mercy and compassion and love and pity. Oh, no man
spake and grace poured from His lips. Even His enemies wondered
at the gracious words that came from His mouth. Now, it says
in Proverbs 10, 13, In the lips of him that hath understanding,
wisdom is found. Verse 19 says, In the multitude
of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips
is wise. The tongue of the just has choice
silver. Listen to this, Proverbs 16,
24. It says, Pleasant words are as
honeycomb, sweet to the soul, health to the bone. Bad words,
evil words can cut you to the heart. They may never get over. An ungodly man diggeth up evil,
and his lips is a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife.
A whisper separates various friends. Set a watch over our lips, O
Lord. Go back to our text. He says, Don't render evil for
evil. Verse 9. Don't render evil for
evil. We just read that in Romans 12,
didn't we? Evil for evil, don't return evil
for evil, but good. Railing for railing, but contrary
wise, blessing, knowing that you are there unto called, but
you should inherit a blessing. We're called, the Lord has blessed
us that we might be a blessing and inherit a blessing. We are
blessed of the Lord, aren't we? So blessed to hear what we hear.
So we're blessed to be a blessing. We're called to be a blessing.
He says in verse 9, not rendering evil for evil,
railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing. Blessing, not cursing. Thankful, not complaining. Sweet
words, not bitter words. Romans 3 is a description of
unbelievers, the unregenerate. Their mouths are full of, their
lips are like poisonous ash under their lips. They're not thankful. Cursing, mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. That's talking about unbelievers.
God blessed us with his salvation to make us blessed, not cursed. We need to bless our God, not
curse. We need to be thankful, not complaining.
There's a scripture, Psalm 144, I preached a whole message on
it. No complaining in our streets.
Let there be no complaining in our streets. What do we have
to complain about? Nothing. Like Jacob said, we're
not worthy of the least of all the mercies you've shown us and
all the truth that you've shown us. So we're called to bless,
not curse. We've been blessed to bless and
inherit blessings. Remember what our Lord said in
the math on the Sermon on the Mount had every single verse
bless bless bless bless Be a blessing Ask the Lord. Oh Lord Make me
a blessing Make me a blessing in these few days. All right,
here it is verse 10 For he that will love life and see good days. I And he continues, let him refrain
his tongue from evil and his lips, that they speak no guile,
that they stew evil and do good, seek peace, and so on. He that
will love life and see good days. Now, when he's talking about
loving life, what life is he talking about? This life? No. This is one of those scriptures
that you need to take other scriptures and throw it at it. It won't
stand. Let me read it to you. In John
12, these are the words of our Lord about this life. I'll read you a few. John 12,
verse 25, our Lord said, He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto eternal life. Do you know what that means? Alright, listen to this, Luke
14, we just looked at this not too long ago, Luke 14, our Lord
said this in verse 26, If any man come to me, and hate not
his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea, his own
life also, he cannot be my son. Do you know what he's talking
about? What life is he talking about? He that will love life.
Eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Right? This is not the life that
we're to set our affection on, to love. The eternal life. Life with Christ. This is taken
from Psalm 34. This is taken from David, a man
after God's own heart. Psalm 34, he said the same thing. He said, let me teach you the
fear of the Lord. He that will love life. And he
went on to Say these things, see good days. David said this
in Psalm 27, wasn't it? He said, One thing have I desired,
this is my whole heart's desire, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. He said, Thy loving kindness
is better than life. He said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God all my life. This is life. This is the good
life. What we're doing right now is
the good life. Why? Because man born of woman
is a few days and full of trouble. Out there, this life we live
is full of sin and sorrow and bitterness. There's a little,
just enough good and happiness and joy to keep us from, you
know, killing ourselves, I guess. But the Lord sends all these
troubles and sorrows and all that to wean us from this. To tell us, the children of Israel
were wandering in the wilderness and they all were Sorrowful and
troubled, wandering through the woods. They all wanted to settle
down, didn't they? Why did the Lord do that? Why
did He send them the roundabout way? Why did He make them go
through all those troubles? To show them that this is not
your dwelling place. I have a promised land from where
my people dwell. This is not your life. You're
dead. And what's the rest of it? And
your life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is our life. Now, you love life. You love
Christ. You want to see some good days?
Act like Christ. That's what he's saying. Talk
like Christ. Talk about Christ. Talk to Christ. Talk to one another. This is
life. We'll see some good days. There's
no good out there in this world. That's what our Lord said. He's
not talking about loving this world. He said, if any man loved
this world, the things of the world, the love of the Father,
not even. He said, all that's in the world. He said, all that's
in the world is the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and
the pride of life. Now he that will love the life
of God, eternal life, wants to live with Christ forever in God's
people, and do this right here, here's what you need to do. I
have a few more good things. Now look at it. He said, here
it is again. Refrain your tongue. Refrain your tongue. For me,
we've got an old saying, bite your tongue. Bite your tongue. I did. Not too long ago, we were
on vacation with Gabe and Hannah and the girls, and I bit my tongue
so hard, it was bad. And you know what? It made it
hard to talk. And I thought, hmm, this is good. This is good for me. It made
it hard to eat. It made it hard to eat. I had
to just shut up. What do you think, Paul? So everybody liked me for about
two days. Seriously. Seriously. Isn't this, don't you hate? yourself
when you... It's bad enough to have these
thoughts. It's bad enough, but it's worse to vent them. It's
worse. It causes others... Our thoughts
give us all sorts of grief and sorrow, but when they come out
this mouth, it gives others sorrow. He said, a root of bitterness
springing up will trouble you and many are defiled. If you
vent it, everybody else is hurt by it. Bite your tongue. He was a man of few words. And
he one time said, take every big tall Texan, he was 6'5 or
whatever, 250, 275 pounds, slow talking. And he said, take every
opportunity to shut up. I'll never forget that. I hope
I'll remember that. Every opportunity. One man said,
the only thing better than silence is sweet words. Otherwise, it
didn't need to be said. Silence is better. He says, and
your lips, they speak no guile. Truth. Speak truth. Truth. Everything our Lord said was
true. You could believe him, you could trust him. So let me
just read in closing my father's comments on these. I had the
best pastor ever. I sat under the best preacher
in our modern society, honestly. Let me just read his comments,
okay, and I'll quit. Let me read these verses and
comment on it. It says in verse 11, eschew evil. You know what
our Lord said about Job? He said, there's no man like
him on earth. He fears God and he eschews evil. He avoids it. He tries not to. He avoids it. And do good. He said, none that
doeth good. Do good. People are zealous of
good work. Let him seek peace and ensue
it, pursue it. Don't just take it, but make
it. Be a peacemaker. The eyes of
the Lord are over the righteous. His ears are open unto their
prayers. I want to thank God. To face the Lord is against them
that do evil. Who is he that will harm you if you be followers
of that which is good? Now listen to my pastor. He said,
these words are taken from Psalm 34. It's referring to a man who
desires to live a true spiritual life, who desires communion with
God, who wants the blessings of Christ in him, and wishes
and wants to be like Jesus Christ. That's life. Let him refrain
his tongue from lies, slander, gossip, harsh words, criticism,
and boasting. Let him turn away from evil and
seek righteousness. Avoid the company and conversation
of evil men and women, and seek the company of believers. Avoid
the appearance of evil and do good. Let him not only desire
peace with God Himself and His fellow men, but let him pursue
it with a strong resolve. He said, too many sit back and
talk of their willingness to love, but don't do anything about
it. Don't be just a friend of peace
and goodwill. Be a promoter and a pursuer of
it. The eyes of the Lord are upon
us. He knows our thoughts. He knows our motives. He knows
our attitudes. His ears are open to hear those
who seek peace and righteousness. We may deceive others and even
ourselves, but not our Lord. It's not nearly so much action
as it is attitude and spirit which brings the Lord's wrath. His face is against those who
have a bitter spirit and a self-righteous spirit, a proud spirit and an
unforgiving spirit. He's against them. Let us remember
1 Samuel 16, 7 where the Lord looks on the heart. This is perhaps
the greatest error of religious people today, the place of greatest
danger for the true believers, forgetting that God sees and
knows and watches and hears everything we do and say. That's what caused David so much
grief in Psalm 51, which said, Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in your sight, like I didn't even
care you were watching or listening. I spoke these words like you
weren't listening. Then he goes on to talk about
who is he that will harm you if you are followers of that
which is good. Our pastor said, what harm can possibly come to
you for walking with God, fulfilling the will and the commandments
of our God, and seeking to imitate the Spirit in the mind of Christ?
In the next verse, if you suffer for righteousness sake, in case
you do suffer for the truth, and what you believe, and the
humble spirit of Christ, doing the right thing, returning good
for evil, you consider yourself blessed. Blessed, if you do. And don't be afraid. The blessings
of the Lord are upon his own. His special blessings are upon
them when they suffer for righteousness sake. Good comments, sir. Can't be improved upon. That's
why I read them. All right, stand with me.