All right, we're going to be
in 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3, and we're going
to pick up in verse 8. Let's read from 8 to 14. Finally, be
ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous. not rendering evil for evil,
or railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing, knowing that ye are
thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that
will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue
from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him
eschew evil, and do good, and let him seek peace, and ensue
it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his
ears are open unto their prayers. but the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil. And who is he that will harm
you if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye
suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, be not afraid of
their terror, neither be troubled." So, in summary of what Peter's
been teaching us in chapter 2 and now chapter 3 here regarding
our conversation, which is our walk, how we walk and interact
and speak to those around us, whether inside the church or
outside, but in Chapter 2 he was especially looking at our
walk, our faith toward our God, patiently enduring whatever troubles
we might go through for them that are without, such as magistrates
and those who are leaders and in positions of authority and
execute the law in our land. And then, of course, he deals
with husbands and wives and how they're to be toward one another
in chapter three there. And now he says in verse eight,
be all of one mind, which should remind us and put us into our
memory, put us into thinking and remembering that we're children
of the Lord. We've been saved and delivered
from the kingdom of darkness by our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who is our Lord, and we're to trust him and to walk confidently
in Him, knowing that God has delivered us from that sin and
darkness into the kingdom of His Son, through Jesus Christ,
His Son. And he says, we're to remember
that He's predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
so that if God is pleased to do this, and save us by His Son,
Jesus Christ, we should rest right there in him. He said in
Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people and
her beloved, which was not beloved so that his spirit dwelling in
us works a response in us that thou art my God and these are
my brethren and we're thankful for what God has done. And what
I want us to see this morning is that even though in this body
of death, we know ourselves to be weak, we see the sin in our
bodies, but that's not where we draw comfort and hope from.
We draw our comfort and our peace and our rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who did fulfill all things for us. He fulfilled our righteousness
for us so that the works are settled, the works are complete,
there's nothing more for us to do. And so knowing and being
confident that Christ has done all things and there's nothing
more for us to do, we serve Him, knowing that it's not to be righteous,
not to make ourselves righteous, but because He's done all the
work. We are righteous in Him. As it says in Hebrews 2, 9-11,
but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became
him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctified and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is
not ashamed to call them brethren." So, you know, we've had a theme
in our title, likewise ye wives, likewise ye husbands, so I call
this one Likewise, ye brethren. Likewise, ye brethren. And we'll
have three divisions. Love is brethren. And then second,
we'll see and consider our walk towards them without, that are
without the kingdom. And then trusting the result
to the Lord will be our final point. Trusting the result to
the Lord. All right, so love is brethren. Peter summarizes
what he's been saying in verse 8, finally, be all of one mind,
having compassion one of another, love his brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous. So to be of one mind is to be
in the mindset of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Remember
what Christ has accomplished for us. It's accomplished. The
works are done. Turn over to Philippians 2. Philippians
2. And in verse 1, Paul says, If
there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind. We're to remember,
brethren, that we have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. in so much that Christ is our
one hope, and we humbly give him all the glory and the praise
for our salvation, right? And therefore, looking to him
and considering what he's done for us, we ought also to be patient
and generous and long-suffering with our brethren, even when
we're offended by something that they do or that they say. Louvre
records this account between John the disciple and our Lord,
as our Lord was teaching John and training him up to be that
apostle of love, as we know John to be, because he's so tender
towards the fellow children of God. But he wasn't always that
way. He was a pretty harsh guy, and he was quick to call down
the destruction of God upon people so that he earned the name Boanerges,
him and his brother, sons of thunder. But he says to the Lord,
he said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we
forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto
him, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. So brethren, we ought to err
on the side of grace. err on the side of grace. We're
so quick in our day to cut people off, and they don't say things
the way we say them, and they don't word it the way we think
it should be worded, and we're very quick to cut people off. We should be more patient, because
we're trusting that God's not going to destroy us just because
we got our words wrong and misspoke at one time or another. We're
trusting in the grace and the mercy of God toward us, so we
ought to be gracious and kind and patient toward others because,
who knows, the Lord may save them. Not everyone is saved who
is a child of God the first time they hear the truth. They may
get angry, they may walk out, they may storm off, but who knows? The Lord knows. He's able to
call them. So, err on the side of grace
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4. With that
in mind, Paul goes on to say in Philippians 2, 3, and 4, Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. So if it sounds like Paul is
saying put others before yourself, you're hearing it rightly because
that's exactly what Paul is saying. He's saying esteem others better
than you esteem yourself. Give them the benefit of the
doubt. You'd want them to give you the benefit of the doubt.
So give them the benefit of the doubt. Be patient and be kind
and be generous because charity or love covers a multitude of
sins. And it's to count ourselves the
lowest among our brethren. You know, it's impossible to
be offended if you're the worst among all your brethren. If you
know yourself to be the weakest and the most foolish and the
most likely to fall away and the worst of the worst, it's
really hard to be upset and offended with your brethren because they're
putting up with you. So be patient. It's to die to
self and it's to We are, we're to die to ourselves and not look
to what we can be doing to gain more and more for ourselves,
but to lay down this life in service to our Lord and our brethren. And if it seems like that is
too much to ask, Paul says in Philippians 2.5, 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, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." So here we have Almighty God
who sits enthroned in the heavens eternally in the glory of his
Father, having all things in common, being one with the Father
and enjoying all things, not needing anything else, and yet
he himself gave that all up and took upon him the form of a serpent,
taking upon him flesh. And he willingly allowed his
Godhead to be just contained so that he trusted and looked
to the Father for all things. He trusted in the Lord for all
things. And so he did this for us when
we were even yet his enemies and hating him and caring nothing
for him and doing all things for ourselves. During that time,
he still came and laid down his life for us and fulfilled all
righteousness for us. So Peter says, be of that one
mind and then have compassion one of another, love his brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous. We're to remember the compassion
of our Father when he chose us to be his children before the
foundation of the world. We're to remember the love that
God showed to us in sending to us the Son of God to bear our
sins, to die on the cross bearing our sins, to set us free. We're
to remember the pity that Christ has shown to us in providing
all things necessary for life and godliness. and doesn't look
to us for anything. Doesn't look to us to pay anything
at all for this life that we have. Just to trust Him and to
go patiently through this life, whatever He's pleased to send
our way. Remember the courtesy of the Spirit who abides with
us, that even when we ourselves fall into the stink and the filth
of our sin, the Spirit abides with us. Doesn't leave us, but
picks us up washes us in the blood of Christ and stays close
and near to us. That's courtesy. That's the kind
of courtesy we're to show toward one another. So let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant who
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. All right, so that's a word to
remember, especially in walking towards one another. But then,
in our second point, walking towards them that are without. So what we're about to read in
the next verse, it may come as a result of some exchange with
brethren. Certainly, brethren can get annoyed and angry with
one another, especially if you're in the same family. It's probably
a little easier to maybe get annoyed with one another because
you're so familiar with one another and used to each other. And it
can. Peter here seems to be talking
about those that are without. And I'll show you why I see that
in a moment. But whether it's with those that
are within the church or those without, either way, we're to
be, you know, we're to remember the love that God has for us
in Christ Jesus and that we're his. We're his bride, we're his
people, we love him, we love his children, we love our brethren
because he's put his spirit in us and given us that love one
for another. So we're to have this response
in 1 Peter 3, 9, not rendering evil for evil or railing for
railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto
called that ye should inherit a blessing. So what does Peter
mean when he says, knowing that ye are there unto called? Look back in 1 Peter 2, verse
20. 1 Peter 2, 20. We'll look at
a couple verses there. Peter says, what glory is it
if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Verse 21, for even here unto
were Ye are called to this, brethren, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Didn't our Lord say before he
went to the cross in John 15 verses 20 and 21, he said, remember
the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me. You know, that day may not be
very far away when we begin to know that persecution against
us and to know what that, what he's saying, even physically,
if you will. But whether it does or doesn't,
do you believe Christ? And are we to lay down our lives
one for another, as Christ said, or no? Like, it seems so far
in the distant past, but Christ calls us to this, to serve him
and to serve one another. Our Lord doesn't ask us to do
anything that he hasn't done first. He himself did this very
thing. We see that in the scripture,
how he withstood the opposition of sinners against himself and
still remained faithful and did this work for his people because
this is the only way that we can be saved. If Christ didn't
do this for us, we're all damned. We're all going to hell and there's
no hope for us. So Christ did this in the face
of all that opposition that we might know him and have fellowship
with him, being fellow heirs of eternal life with Christ our
Lord and our Savior." So it's, you know, Christ did it. 1 Peter 2.24 says, "...who his
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we
being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
ye were healed." So our Savior, you know, remember, what he did
for us and taking upon him the likeness of the sinful flesh.
He became flesh and dwelt among us and he fulfilled all righteousness
because we can't and we need to be righteous. We need to have
the very righteousness of God to stand before God who is holy
and righteous. So he did that work. He fulfilled
all righteousness. Accept your righteousness exceeds
that of the Pharisees and the scribes you shall in no wise
see God and stand before him. But he did it. so that and that
right he made us righteous he became sin that we should be
made righteous so that we can stand now before God our father
we are the righteousness that God requires our righteousness
exceeds that righteousness of the scribes and pharisees because
of what Christ has done he's done that perfectly and completely
and so brethren trust him he's done all things for us. He's done all things well, and
he means us good. It's for our good what he's done,
and we're the happy recipients of what he's done and what he's
accomplished for us, and we ought not to forget that. And so in
looking to him and trusting him, we serve him. Hebrews 12, 1 through
4, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be weary and faint in your minds, ye've not resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. You know, that striving against
sin from within and even sin from those without who oppose
us. We've not been called to that
yet. So just trust him and wait upon
him. Alright, so the blessing that
Peter's talking about is that we're to commit it to the Lord,
not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, and in
so doing, being patient and quiet and bearing whatever it is that
the Lord does it, in so doing, we will be a blessing to others. Right? It's not, it's to their
benefit when we patiently endure it. rather than calling out upon
God to destroy them and to avenge our blood. It's to their benefit. We don't know who it is that
may be opposing us at that time. Christ said in Matthew 5, 44,
let me explain what I mean. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute
you. That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust. And Christ said it, and he did
it for us, and we see how his spirit worked it in our brethren.
If you remember Stephen in Acts 7.60, who kneeling down when
he was being stoned, they were thrown stones at him to kill
him, It says that he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. And they were in the process
of killing him at that time, all because he spoke the truth.
He just declared the truth of Christ to them. And they stoned
him, and rather than calling down God to avenge them and to
destroy them, he said, Lord, don't lay this sin to their charge. Forgive them of this sin. And
when he said that, he fell asleep. And the man who was presiding
over his death, the man who was so righteous that they could
trust their coats, which probably had money in it, and that's why
he had to be a righteous and a good man, because there was
silver and coins in there, and their livelihood, is Paul. And
he hears that. Lay not this sin to their charge. And I'm sure He remembered those
words after the Lord saved him and he confessed himself to be
a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious against the church
of God. But God was merciful to him. And that's why we're patient
and we wait upon the Lord because you don't know. It may be a child
of God that the Lord will use the patience that he's given
you in the face of that trial to bless that one and to call
them out of darkness and show them you're wrong. You're wrong
about this one. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who you're persecuting now. He may save them and may deliver
them. And Paul himself even wrote in
Romans 12, 14, bless them which persecute you, bless and curse
not. So the apostles knew this. They
were convinced of it. And they were the ones being
killed and persecuted and destroyed. I mean, John's own brother, James,
was killed in their sight and in their presence. You know,
when you're speaking to those who judge themselves to be unworthy
of eternal life, we're to be patient. And so Peter says in
3 verse 10, what he's saying, he's not talking to the believers
to say, don't you be bad because God will be against you. What
he's saying is, The reason why we're patient is in verse 10,
for he, because we want those who are persecuting us to understand
this. Like, don't persecute us. You're fighting against God.
When you're coming against us, you're fighting against the Lord.
And it says, for he that will love life and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak
no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue
it. And you might think, well, why
should they care? They're not in the kingdom of God. Why should
they care how they treat those that are within the kingdom of
God? Verse 12, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the
Lord is against them that do evil. So trust that it may be
a brother or a sister that the Lord will save and deliver from
their persecuting ways. But if they're not, if they're
not the Lord's, know that the Lord's going to be the one that
deals with them. He'll deal with them rightly. Paul said, Dearly
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath,
for it's written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the
Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. And that leads
us to our third point, trust the Lord to work it out. Trust
the result to Him that He's going to do what is right, according
to what He determines is right. So we don't know whether that's
the gentleness that the Lord gives us in that hour, that patience
and that grace, what it may do for those that are opposing us.
But remember, Titus 3, 3 through 6, we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior. So our Lord has shown us much
patience. And every elect child of God
is saved because of the long-suffering and the patience of our God toward
us. Because it's not by our works
of righteousness that God is kind and gracious to us. It's
because He's kind and gracious to us, even though we're undeserving
of it and don't deserve His mercy. But turn over to 2 Peter 3, verse
9. We see the Lord's patience toward
us in 2 Peter 3 verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any of us should perish. You could
put that right in there, any of us should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, And the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation in godliness? Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. So that day, brethren, shall
not come until the Lord has delivered the last one of his people out
of darkness and bondage into his kingdom. And the way we hasten
that day is let us be patient and proclaim this gospel and
live it, you know, show it that, yeah, we're trusting the Lord.
because the Lord may use that testimony to shape one of his
children and to deliver them out of the stupor and the death
that they're in, washing them in the blood of Christ, giving
them life by the spirit of Christ, and making them to see that Christ
is salvation, that he is light and life and holiness and the
righteousness that we need to stand before our God. So Peter
closes our text. And he asks in verse 13, And
who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which
is good? If God be for us, who can be against us? Trust the
Lord is doing all this. He's working all things out perfectly.
Verse 14, But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are
ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Why? 2 Peter 2.9 For the Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve
the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished." So the Lord's
going to do the separating. He'll do the work. All right,
now I'll close with Jude. It only has one chapter, and
if you look in Jude, verses 21 through 25 there at the very
end, he encourages us, admonishing
us, to keep yourselves in the love of God, right? Be of that
one mind like Christ. Remember the mind of Christ.
Remember what Christ did, how he was a servant and he loved
us to the end. Keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. And if some have compassion,
making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh,
now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. I pray the Lord will teach
us this in our hearts, because in the flesh we'll never get
it, but trust in Christ and see what he's done for us. He works
it in His children perfectly. All right, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank You, Father, for Your mercy provided in Your Son,
Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that Your Spirit
be upon us and in us, Lord. Teach us how to walk rightly
toward our brethren and toward them that are without. Lord,
keep us in the mind of Christ. Keep us in the love of God, in
his mind and what he's done for us through his son, Jesus Christ.
Lord, we pray that you would have mercy upon your people,
that you would call them out of darkness into the glorious
kingdom of your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for those who are
suffering and sick and not doing well. We pray for Phil Wachey,
that you would heal him. Lord, he's been sick for a while,
and that you would make him whole again, restore him to strength
and health, that he would give you all the thanks and the praise
and the glory for it. Lord, we pray for Leah, that
you would heal her and the illness that she is suffering from this
day. Lord, watch over us, protect us, keep us. We pray in Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior, in his name we pray. Amen.