First Peter chapter two, a couple
of weeks ago, we had a Bible study from verse 11, and it was
titled, Good Instruction for Believers. Good Instruction for
Believers. And that was the first point
to stress. Peter is talking to believers. He's talking to believers. Those who have, as verse three
said, tasted that the Lord is gracious. Those who have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Those who have tasted grace. Grace, true, God-given grace. Those who have received The gift
of Christ. Those who have received forgiveness
in him, that's who he's talking to. That's who he has all of
this to say to. And he said in verse 9 of chapter 2, I'm talking
to those who are. The chosen generation, he said
you are a chosen generation. I'm talking to God's elect. I'm speaking to God's elect, not those who are trying to earn
their own salvation through good works, because he is about to
give us instruction on how to live. And he said, first, I want
it to be clear that I'm not speaking to those who are trying to earn
a good standing before God through their own good works. I'm speaking
to God's elect. I'm speaking to those that God
chose and God redeemed and God has called. I'm speaking to those
who God started it and God finished it. That's who I'm talking to. And he said in verse 10, I'm
talking to those which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God. which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. I'm talking to those who have
obtained mercy. I'm talking to those who love
mercy. I'm talking to those who plead
mercy, mercy. And is that us? Is that us? We plead mercy. That's what we
plead, mercy. Well, to God's people, He says,
I have some good instruction for you concerning our conduct
in this life. Good instruction for our conduct. There are some things that believers
ought to strive to do. There are some ways that believers
ought to strive to be. There are some opinions, there
are some thoughts, some mindsets that believers ought to strive
to have. And the reason is because it's
becoming of a believer. It's becoming of God's people. Those who desire to be like Christ.
And it's in agreement with God's commandment toward us. So the
first word of instruction that we looked at two weeks ago was
in verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul. He said, let's make a conscious
effort to stop doing things. Let's make a conscious effort
to actively abstain from. Do everything that's in our ability
to hinder Things that bring harm to us spiritually. Things that
harm our spiritual state. Things that harm our spiritual
worship. Things that harm our spiritual
growth. Whatever those things are, he
said, let's abstain from them. Let's do everything in our power
to go to war with things that war against our soul. That's what he said they do.
They war against the soul. Now I'll go ahead and remind
us again that we are not fighting the war of salvation. We are not fighting the war of
salvation. Christ fought that battle and
won. It is finished. That battle's
over. He won the victory. So we don't
strive to abstain from fleshly lust in order to be kept. If you don't do this, you're
going to fall away. If you don't do this, you're going to lose
your salvation. That's not so. That's not so. We don't strive
to abstain from fleshly lust to be kept. We strive to do it
for the good of our spiritual well-being. the good of our spiritual
peace and our spiritual contentment. You cannot put a price on contentment. You cannot put a price on contentment. You can put a price on a lot
of things. Contentment is not one of them. If God gives us
contentment, spiritual peace, spiritual contentment, it's the
greatest blessing we can know here on this earth. Faith. Those things always increase. They always increase. When nothing
is hindering my view of Christ, they always increase. That peace,
that contentment, the faith, the joy, it always increases
when there's nothing hindering my view of Christ. As soon as
something gets in the way, write it down. Watch them fall. Watch
peace go out the window. Watch contentment fall. Watch
joy plummet. So, it's wise instruction. It's good instruction. Let's
abstain with everything that's in our power from these things
that get in the way. Now, the next thing he says is
in verse 12. 1 Peter 2, verse 12. He says, Having your conversation
honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you
as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. I cannot tell
you how much I want to learn this instruction. I can't tell
you, I am as serious as I can be. I would love for the Lord
to apply this to me. I'd love for him to apply this
to my heart. Now give me just a minute, we're gonna turn to
a couple of places and I'm gonna set this up and then we'll see
what he's saying, really understand what he's saying. For visitation,
the last word in the verse, do you see if you have the center
margin in your Bible? Do you see Luke 19, 44? Turn with me over there to Luke
chapter 19. Luke 19 and let's begin reading
in verse one. And this is this is an amazing.
Portion of scripture right here. If you look at the top of your
page, it may say the same thing mine does. Christ weepeth over
Jerusalem. This is one of the moments when
our Lord wept. And it says in verse 41, when
He was come near, He beheld the city and wept over it, saying,
If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace. He said everybody is so
happy and marrying and giving in marriage and going about life
and it's great in Jerusalem. He said if you only knew what
was coming. He said at the end of verse 42,
but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come
upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee
and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall
lay thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee, and
they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." That really
happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD. Our Lord left this earth somewhere
around 33 A.D., and then the apostles started writing the
New Testament, and the last entry of the New Testament was somewhere
around 96 or 98 A.D., which is John on the Isle of Patmos writing
Revelation. So right in the middle of all
that, Jerusalem was besieged, and Jerusalem was slaughtered.
I mean, it was There was literally not one stone left standing in
the temple. This great abomination of the
temple. But our Lord wept for Jerusalem
because He said, you have no idea of the visitation that's
about to come to you. The trial, that's what the word
means. There and in our text, when you
look up the word, it means trial. He said, the day of your trial
is coming. And what a trial it's gonna be.
And he wept over them because they had no idea what a great
trial was about to come to them. Now, if you'll go with me back
to 1 Peter 2. Peter said, concerning the day
of trial. That's what the whole verse is
about. Concerning the day of trial. In verse 12, he said,
having your conversation honest, have an honest conversation. It is important for our conversation
to be honest. It is very important. Turn with
me over to Romans chapter 12. I believe it's important for
all believers to be reminded of that. We need to have an honest
conversation. Romans 12. Verse 17 says. Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Now think about that for just
a second. Recompense to no man, evil for evil. When evil comes
to you, he said, don't return it to the man. Don't return it
to the man. He said, if he literally clenches
his fist and slugs you in the cheek, give him the other one.
That's what he said. And why would we do that? That's exactly what he did for
us. All we did was evil toward Him. Evil toward Him. He did
not recompense evil for evil. An eye for an eye is what we
were owed. But that's not what He gave to
us. And He said recompense to no man evil for evil. He said in verse 17, Provide
things honest in the sight of all men. All men, not just believers. All men. Be honest and upfront
and in agreement with the scripture before all men. Turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. He said in 2 Corinthians 8 verse
21, Providing for honest things,
not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of
men. You know, the Lord, we know the
Lord sees us, knows us, we can't hide anything from Him. He says,
don't try to hide anything from men either. Honest. Honest. That is so important. But Peter
is saying so much more than that in our verse this morning. So
much more than that. Go with me back to the text. First Peter 2. He said in verse 12, having your
conversation honest. That word means It translates
beautiful. That's what the word means. Have
beautiful conversation. It means beautiful to look at. It means attractive. Have attractive
conversation. Beautiful conversation among
the Gentiles, unbelievers. Have a beautiful conversation
among the believers, not just an honest conversation, a beautiful
conversation. I pray the Lord would please
give me this. Please give me this. He went
on to say that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they
literally call good evil and evil good. Whatever the scripture says,
they call that evil. Whatever it says. They call bowing
to the word of God evil. That's evil. So he said in verse
12, have your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas
they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works And
good works is the same translation as honest. It's the same word. When this was originally written,
it was the same word two times. And the translators translated
it one time honest and one time good works. They both mean beautiful
conversation. Beautiful conversation. Whereas
they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your beautiful conversation,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of your trial. So do we understand what he's
saying right there? He said, strive to always have beautiful
conversation in front of unbelievers. So that no matter what they think
of you, when they see how you handle your trial, they have
to say, he or she really does trust God. They have to say that. He or she truly does look to
Christ. They truly do look to Christ. Now, let me give you an illustration
of some beautiful conversation. A very dear woman quite a few
years ago, a very, very dear believing woman, precious believer. I know her very well. I love
her very much. I love her so much. But she lost
her daughter quite a few years ago. She lost her daughter in
a car on purpose. And most people refer to them
as car accidents, but there are no accidents with God. None. So she lost her daughter who
was in her late 20s, and she was a believer. All right, this
believing woman lost her believing daughter. A few years earlier,
she lost her husband to cancer, and he was a believer. The Lord
has been very good to this family. Very kind. But she lost her husband
and now she lost her daughter. A friend of the family, who again,
I know. A friend of the family, a woman
who is not a believer. She wanted to come over and console
this believer. Right after this happened, she
wanted to come over and help her. As soon as she got to her
house, She wanted it to create drama. That's all she wanted to do.
She wanted to work it up. Let's get it worked up. Let's
get this out. You need to start crying this
out. Let's get it going. And she was doing everything
she could to get this woman to lash out. And in the process, the woman
told her, I am grieving. Plenty of tears have been shed.
But the thing about it is, is she did not grieve in sorrow
as those who have no hope. That's the difference. There
is sorrow there. She loves, not loved. She will see both of them again.
She loves her husband and she loves her daughter. And there
was sorrow there, but not as those who have no hope. Well,
this believing woman in her solemn sorrow, that was not good enough
for this unbelieving woman. And she was being ridiculous. She kept saying, she was raising
her voice at her, just getting fired up at her, saying, how
can you be so calm right now? And this believing woman explained
to her, it's because my God is sovereign. It's because my God
is in control. It's because my God orders all
things. And my God purposed for this
to happen. And it's because I have the comfort
of knowing that she put her trust in the Lord. And this was his
will. And I bow to it. I bow to it. This other woman said, if you
don't get this out, you're going to explode. you're going to explode. You're going to have to get this
off your chest, you're going to explode. She said, here's
the problem, you can't grieve here, there are too many people
at your house. She said, I want you to come to my house, and
when you get there, I want you to run through my house, and
I want you to pull your hair out, and I want you to scream
at the top of your lungs. The believing woman said, thank
you, but that will not be necessary. That's just not necessary. She
said, what's wrong with you? Why won't you get it out? The
believing woman said, there's nothing to get out. I'm not angry. I'm not angry. Don't get me wrong.
I am sad. I'm sad. But I bow to my Lord. I trust Him. That is beautiful conversation. That is so attractive. That is
so becoming of a believer. One of these days, I would love
for the Lord to put that conversation in my heart. Wouldn't you love
the day of your visitation? It will come. Great trial is
coming. Our Lord cannot lie and He said,
in the world you shall have tribulation. Get ready. Be of good cheer. Be of good comfort. I've overcome
the world. Just look past it. Trust me. And I pray the Lord
would honestly put that in my heart, that beautiful, beautiful
conversation whenever my trial comes, whatever the day of my
visitation is. Knowing that story, I've heard
that story many times. Knowing that story, that causes
me to believe she really does trust God. I believe she does. I believe she truly believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe she's cast her all
on Christ. And that makes me glorify God. It makes me want to glorify God. Just seeing what he did in her,
for her, how he allowed her to handle that situation. I cannot
imagine being put in that situation. And seeing what he did for her,
that just makes me want to glorify God. Because he'll do it for
every single one of his people. He will. He'll do it for every
one of his people. Peter is telling us this is the
way a believer ought to conduct himself. in front of the world. This is the conversation that
is becoming of a believer. This is the conversation that
adorns and beautifies a believer. Over in, well, just look at it
with me quickly. Go to 2 Samuel 16. 2nd Samuel 16 verse 5 says, When King David
came to Behurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family
of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei. son of Ghira. He came forth and cursed still
as he came and he cast stones at David and all the servants
of King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on
his right hand and on his left. So here David's walking and this
man Shimei is cursing him and throwing stones at him. And thus
said Shimei when he cursed, come out, come out thou bloody man
and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee
all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast
reigned, and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of
Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in
thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Then said Abishah
the son of Zeriah unto the king. Now this was one of the king's
main soldiers. Why would this dead dog curse my Lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take his head off. Please let me go cut his head
off. And the king said, What have
I to do with you, you son of Zariah? So let him curse, because
the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Let me repeat that. The Lord hath said unto him,
Curse David. Let me repeat that. The Lord
said unto him, Curse David. Is that not amazing? The Lord
said to him, I want you to go curse David and throw stones
at him. And he said, who shall then say,
wherefore hast thou? What are you doing? Why are you
doing this? And David said to Abishah and to all his servants,
behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone and let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will
look on mine affliction and that the Lord will requite me good. for his cursing this day. Don't ruin the blessing. That's
what he said. Don't ruin the blessing. Let's
just wait. Let's wait on the Lord. One of
these days I would love for the Lord to teach me to have some
beautiful conversation. I really would. I mean that.
I'm going to give you one more illustration. And here's the
illustration. Complaining is never beautiful. I'm speaking to Gabe Stoniker. Complaining is never beautiful. It's not beautiful to God. It's
not beautiful to his people. It's not beautiful. And I have something that's just
very fond to me. But whenever I married into Hannah's
family, And I first started getting to know Henry more than just
who he was, especially when he moved to Rocky Mount. It didn't
take me long at all to realize that this is how our conversations
went almost every time. He'd ask me, well, how's work
going? Oh, well, he'd say, but it's good, right? Well, I've just got some things
going on right now that I mean, oh, I just, but it's good, right? Well, yeah, but there, you see,
I'm under a lot of, right now I got, but it's good, right?
Until I'd finally say, yeah, it's good. Good! Did you hear
that, Doris? He said it's good. I asked him
how work is going, he said good. It didn't take long at all for
me to realize. Why don't we just get to the
good part? How's work going? Going great. Good. That's so good. That's so good. He did that on purpose. He's
a sharp man. He did that to teach me something
that I needed to learn. Complaining is never attractive.
And I want to believe I don't know that it has now since, but
at least while I was with him all the time in that span of
time, I want to believe it rubbed off. I started to get it. And
it's contagious. It's very, very contagious. And
I pray the Lord might let it rub off. Lord, let it rub off. on us, your people, because of
everything you've done for us. Just just we don't have much
time, but take three seconds and just think of everything
he's done for us. Because of everything you've done for us,
all the good you've sent us, but it's good, right? Oh, but
it's good, right? Let it rub off. Let it rub off. Let's close with this verse.
Go with me to Philippians 4. Philippians 4 verse 8 says, Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, Whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever
things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good
report. If there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things. Dwell on them in
the heart, maybe out of the heart the mouth will speak. Think on
these things. And verse nine says, those things
which you've both learned and received and heard and seen in
me, do and the God of peace shall be with you.