1 Peter chapter 3. Peter, starting in verse 8, is
going to set forth his final instructions to the believer,
to us, Our conduct. Remember, he talked about the
believer's conduct in society, his obedience to governments,
to rules and regulations. He said to the king also and
to the governors, he said, submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake. And He told servants to be subject
to your masters, and wives to be in subjection to your husbands.
Husbands, love your wives. And here He says, finally. Finally. And what He's going to do, He's
going to end with this as part of the Epistle, as part of instructions,
with unity among the brethren. Remember, he's writing this to
the church, which is made up of Jews and Gentiles. And there's
probably been no group of people on this earth that did not like
each other any more than the Jews and the Gentiles. And now
here they are in Christ, they're made one, and they're brothers
and sisters. What can enable a Jew and a Gentile
to walk together? Grace. What can enable a Mary
Magdalene, whom the Lord cast out seven devils, and Mary, the
mother of our Lord, what can enable them to walk together?
They were the two first women at the tomb. Grace. Grace. So that's what he's going
to talk about here is unity among the brethren. The New Testament
is full of this kind of instruction. There is to be a oneness, a real
genuine oneness, a real single-mindedness among us. Among all those who
believe the gospel. Not just in this room, But everywhere
the gospel is preached and believed, in Lexington, Danville, Mexico,
there is a oneness that we have with each other in the Lord Jesus
Christ that's not had anywhere else. Nowhere else. Finally, he says, Be ye all of
one mind. There's nothing that promotes
peace in a family like single-mindedness. being of one mind, having compassion
one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Turn
over to John 17. I want to show you this oneness
that's taught in the Word of God. We'll start with John 17. In John 17, look in verse 21. Well, I'm going to read verse
11, then I'll jump down to verse 21. He says, "...and now I am
no more," in verse 11, "...and now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one, as we are, that they may be one, that they may
be united and be one as we are. Now in verse 21, that they all
may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee. This
is his intercessory prayer, and in the intercessory prayer of
our Lord, he's praying for our oneness. I in thee, that they also may
be one in us. that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou hast
given Me, I have given them, that they may be one." Even as
we are one, we are to be as the Father and the Son, we are to
be one, one with each other and one with God in Christ. I in
them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the
world not known thee, but I know thee, and these know that thou
hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. You see this oneness? This is in his intercessory prayer. That prayer in John 17 is like
standing on holy ground. When God said to Moses, take
off your shoes for thou standest on holy ground. And when I read
John 17, I feel the same way. I feel we are standing on holy
ground. We are allowed to hear our high priest. calling upon
God on our behalf. And one of the main themes of
that prayer is that you and I will be one. That we'd be one. The Philippians were to stand
fast, Paul said, in one spirit, striving together for the faith.
Paul tells Euodias, these names are not easy to pronounce, but
he tells Euodias and Synthetae to be of one mind in the Lord.
They were at odds. They were at odds with each other.
Paul says, you tell them to be of one mind in the Lord. We cannot expect the Lord to
bless where there is division. Can't do it. Not among brethren
now. Not among brethren. Listen to
Psalm 133, 1. Behold, give attention to this,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. Isn't that beautiful? There's
nothing more beautiful than a family, when they get together, that
they are in unity. I was talking to my dad this
past week, and he had mentioned a couple of families were not
getting along, and the children couldn't even come over and visit
the parents. The father didn't even want them to come over.
And another situation where brothers and sisters were not getting
along, could not get along. And dad made the comment, he
said, he said, he's thankful that, you know, there's seven
of us and we could all get together. We all enjoy each other's company.
He said, he said, that's, you know, his comment was how, how
good that is. There's nothing I think that
would bless a parent's heart more, and I'm speaking for myself
also, there's nothing that's more of a blessing than when
your children get along, when the family gets along. And that's
what he's saying here. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity. You know, Abraham said
to Lot when the herdsmen, Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen,
they started fighting among each other, fussing, carrying on.
And Abraham said, Lot, we're going to have to divide up. He said, we, I'm going to paraphrase
this, he said, we be brethren. We're brethren, Lob. We're not
going to do this. We're not going to fight. We're not going to fuss
and carry on like this. And because of that, he said,
you go where you want to go, and I'll just go the opposite
direction. But he said, we're brethren. How beautiful it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity. I know that the gospel
divides sheep from the goats, but the gospel does not divide
sheep from sheep. Not the gospel. The gospel doesn't
divide sheep from sheep. It doesn't do that. If there's
a division among the brethren, Satan's in there somewhere. Satan's
in her somewhere. And having compassion or sympathy,
that's what it means, it means to have a fellow feeling, whether
in joy or sorrow, but that you can sit down and have a real
fellow feeling with your brother or sister. Paul said this in Romans 12,
15, Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep. Weep with them that weep. I have
been around a few people over the years where the sorrow was
so deep there was no words, but you could cry with them. There
was no words that you could say. I couldn't find a word that I
know would comfort, but I could weep with them. And I've been
around some I could rejoice with. rejoice in their prosperity,
soul prosperity, or if the Lord blessed them with temporal blessings,
to rejoice in that too. It takes grace to do either one.
It takes grace to do either one. And have brotherly love. It means
to be brethren who are loving. That's what he's saying. Be brethren
who are loving brethren. You love one another. You love
being in each other's company. The Lord said this in John 13,
A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another
as I have loved you. That's how you love one another,
sacrificially, as I have loved you. And he said in verse 35,
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples by what
you believe. Doesn't say that at all. if you love one another. That's
how they'll know you're my disciples, if you have a real, genuine love
for one another. And be pitiful. Full of pity,
that's what it means. Full of pity. Tenderhearted.
It's easy to lose the sharp edge of pity when we are so desensitized
in this day and time. War is played out on our television. When we go to war, it's played
out on our television. When the news comes on, and I
mentioned this to you once before, back when I was living in Ashland,
there was a young man killed on a motorcycle. And they mentioned
it on the news. Then they went right on to something
else that was just, it was totally different than this guy dying.
And I said to Vicki, I said, there's a broken heart. I said,
there's a mother, there's a father, possibly children or a wife.
I said, there's a home that's devastated right now. And I said,
it's amazing how we can just so easily say, well, you know,
this guy was killed on there. Let us never become so desensitized
that we don't know what pity is anymore. To be tenderhearted. That's what it means, to be tenderhearted.
And be courteous, humble-minded, have a modest opinion about oneself. Whew, that's hard. Have a modest
opinion about yourself. That is not easy, because nobody
thinks more of me than me. And it takes God's grace for
me to see myself as I ought to see it. I thought that was a
good statement. To have a modest opinion about
yourself. And have a high opinion about
each other. Each other. And have a passionate love for
goodness. Not rendering evil for evil.
That's the old man. That's by old nature. And that's
easy to do, because that's born in us from birth. I mean, from
birth, it's evil for evil. He slapped me, I'm going to slap
you. Or railing for railing, he talked about me, I'm going
to talk about you. But the opposite, he said, contrary-wise,
blessing. Blessing. This is the believer's
life now. This is the believer's life.
Knowing that you are there unto God, that you're going to inherit
a blessing. A believer is not to be a get-even type person. For he or she knows that all
things are of God. Isn't that so? Are not all things
of God? And I know that God will deal
with the matter in a just way in His time. I know that. What he's telling us here, the
believer is different than the world. You're not like the people
you walk beside. No, not anymore. You're not like
the ones you live beside. Not anymore. You're different.
Listen to these. Well, let's turn over to Matthew
chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. This is our
Lord's Sermon on the Mount. In verse 43 through 48, listen,
You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy? You've heard that. But I say
to 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 you 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. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you, what grace have you? Do not even the
publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren
only, What do you more than others? Do not even the publicans. So
be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." That's a whole different concept of what they'd been told. You've heard, you know, love
your neighbor and hate your enemies. Love those who love you and hate
those who hate you. He said, no, if that were so, if that's
the way God operated, nobody here would be saved. Because
at one time we were all enemies in our minds, they said, by wicked
works. Not one of us would be saved.
Not one person in this world would be saved. God loves His enemies. And the
fact you believe the gospel is living proof of it. Living proof
of it. When we consider that God has
not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities, it makes it easier to let offenses go than to let
them go. Let me ask you a question. Where do you hope to be soon? Where do you hope to be soon?
With the Lord. That's where you hope to be soon.
Every believer hopes to be with the Lord. Then why injure a fellow
worm who might end up there too? The very person that I may count
my enemy today may end up really being my brother. He may end
up being my brother. Now if you want to see good days,
here's the formula. If you want to see good days,
here's the formula. 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 or shun evil,
and do good, and let him seek peace, and pursue it. You remember us going through
the book of James? Let me read from it. Well, look over in James
chapter 3. It's just page 2 over here. Look in verse 6. I'm going to
read verse 6 through 13. That's what he says here. He that will love life, he that's
loving life, that's what he's saying, and he sees good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil. He says in verse 6 in James 3,
And the tongue is a fire, a whirl of iniquity. So is the tongue
among our members, that it defiles the whole body, sets on fire
the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. For every
kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things
in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the
tongue, the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full
of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even
the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after
the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not so to be. Does a fountain send forth at
the same time, or at the same place, sweet water, bitter? Can
the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine,
figs, So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man? Any wise men and women in here?
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let
him show out of a good conversation, a good life, his works with meekness
and wisdom. Here's what he's saying. Let
me just, I'll just simplify it now. Let him stop the tendency
of his tongue from speaking evil. That's what he's saying. We just
have a tendency to use our tongue. And when he says speaking evil,
he's not talking about just using a bunch of cuss words. He's talking
about running down a brethren, talking down somebody. Don't
use it for that purpose, he says. Let him stop the tendency of
his tongue from speaking evil. And let him eschew evil, that
is, avoid, avoid every appearance of evil like it was a plague.
I wish I'd do that. I wish I had learned to do that.
Avoid it like the plague. You know, Doug come in here and
touch the elbows. He said, Judy's sick. I'm like,
OK. I don't want to shake hands.
And Carl, he wouldn't even get close to me. He said, I don't
want to shake your hands tonight. I'm feeling bad. I'm not really feeling
good. Well, I'm going to, Carl, I'll shun you like a plague.
Is that all right? That's what he's saying here. We should look at evil like a
plague, like a sickness that's hard to get over. It only takes one bad apple to
spoil a whole bunch. When I was growing up on the
farm, we would take the potatoes. Dad planted 600 pounds of potatoes
a year. That's just what he planted.
And he would take those and we plowed them up, put them in the
cellar, and we, me and my brother, would have to go through those
potatoes and take out, if there's one rotten one in there, you
had to get rid of it. You had to wash it, get the other ones
cleaned off. Because that one potato would ruin that whole
batch, all of it. And I don't care how many good
potatoes were in there, they never made one, one of the bad
ones good. I never saw one bad potato get
better from being around all those good ones. Not one. And I'll tell you something about
a bad potato. They stink. A bad potato stinks. And I'll
tell you what, evil companions corrupt good manners. You can't run with the world
and then not corrupt your manners. You can't do it. None of us are
the exception. It can't be done. Seek peace
and pursue it. Seek peace with God and with
one another. Seek the peace that is in Jesus
Christ. Seek to know more of it. Listen, seek to experience
more of that peace that we have in Jesus Christ with Almighty
God. Seek to know it. Make it your
aim to promote peace. Be of a peaceful spirit. Be of
a peaceful mind, calm mind. Oh, what's it worth to be of
a peaceful mind? not agitated, not agitated with
someone all the time, not thinking about getting even, but peace,
a peaceful mind, a peaceful spirit, a calm attitude. It will be spiritual
and physical and physical health to them who do it. It's not only a spiritual health,
it's physical health to have such a mind. And never forget
this, for the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous. He watches over His own continually. Each individual believer is like
the pupil of His eye. He watches over them individually. This speaks of His continual
guardianship. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous." Right now, we can't see God. Can you see
God? I can't see God. But what was
it Hagar said? I believe it was Hagar, "...Thou
God seest me." He sees us right now, right here. And He sees
my heart, He sees your heart. He sees what's outside these
walls. I can't see this. I can't see outside these walls. He sees this whole world at one
time. And He sees all His sheep in
the world at the same time. They're all present before Him.
Every one of them. Every one of them. Nothing is
happening to you right now that He doesn't know about. In fact,
He has ordained what's happening to you, even though you can't
comprehend it. And if He told you, you still
couldn't comprehend it. Not with these little old peanut minds.
God knows our thoughts. He knows our desires. He knows
our heartaches. Therefore pour out your heart
before Him who cares for you. Oh, if we could learn to do that.
It seems like we hold back, hold back, hold back until we break.
If we could just learn to take our burdens to the Lord daily
and leave them there, My problem is I can't leave him there. I
want to take him back with me and try to figure him out." And his ears are opened unto
their prayers. The Lord hears your cry for help.
But here's the meaning. Here's the meaning of it in the
Greek. God's ear is into your prayer. That's what he means. God's ear is into your prayer.
He has absorbed God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,
the sustainer of all things right now, of everything that's going
on in this world. His ear is tuned to your prayer,
as if you were the only one that existed. But the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, those that are hurting you." God's against
and He'll deal with them in due time. He said He'll deal with
them. I tell you what, I would rather
have earth and hell against me than have God against me. If God be for us, who can be
against us? But if God's not for me, it doesn't
matter If all of every human being on this earth was for me,
that's not going to help. Here's a good question in verse
13. And who is he that will harm
you if you be followers of that which is good? If you give yourself
to that which is good and right, You know, as a general rule,
we get what we give out, don't we? You give out trouble, you're
going to get trouble. That's just the way it is. And
he says here that no one is set to harm you if you be a follower
of that which is good. You know, the Scripture says
that the law was not made for the righteous man. The righteous
man doesn't need a law. He doesn't. If you're a righteous man, you
have the love of God shed abroad in your heart, you're going to
do what's right. The general pattern of your life
is going to be after godliness. It'll be after godliness. But
it says the law was made for the lawless and disobedient. But now if you suffer for righteousness
sake, happy are you. In this world, you're going to
suffer persecution. It's not possible. It's not possible to
pass through this world without trouble. But if you suffer for
righteousness, if you suffer for the gospel, the gospel you
believe, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you suffer for
that, he says here, happy are you, and the translation of that
means this, you are spiritually prosperous now. You are being
spiritually prospered. If you're suffering for righteousness'
sake, you're being spiritually prospered. That's what's happening. The greatest blessing that you
and I could ever, ever have in this life, other than knowing
Christ, is to be able to suffer for Christ's sake. Suffer for
the gospel's sake. You know, one time the apostles
were beaten. because of the gospel. And they
went away rejoicing, he said, because they were counted worthy
to suffer, to suffer for Christ's sake. And be not afraid of their
terror, neither be troubled. The Lord's on thy side. What
are you afraid of? What am I afraid of? The Lord's
on my side, our side. A believer has nothing to be
afraid of. If God be for us, as I said, who can be against
us? God's our protector. But he says here, be not afraid
of their terror, neither be troubled. Here it is. Be not affected by
the fear they try to instill in you by their terror. He said,
don't let that affect you. Don't let that make you weak.
Don't let that make you back down. Don't you let their terror,
don't you let them instill fear in you. by their terror. The Scripture says, "...the fear
of man bringeth a snare." Paul Mahan wrote an article one time
on the fear of man, and he said this, he said, if I can remember
it, "...he that fears man will fear everything. He that fears
God will fear nothing." If you fear God, if you have
a proper fear of God, you aren't going to fear anyone else. But if you fear man, you'll fear
everything else. Everything else. But do this, and I'm going to
close. Verse 15. Besanctify the Lord God, or saying
this, besanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. Set apart
Christ in your heart as Lord and Master. Whatever's going on, Jesus Christ
is Lord and Master of. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
preeminence, the power, and authority over all things. And He says,
you set that apart in your heart. Don't you lose sight of that.
No matter what comes, no matter what terror comes. And they were
under some heavy persecution at this time. And be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's
in you with meekness and fear. Be ready to give an honest answer.
Why you believe what you believe. The gospel you believe. Don't
back down like Peter did when he denied the Lord three times.
He had the opportunity to stand up. But I tell you what, I'd
have done the same thing as Peter. If the Lord would leave me alone,
like He left Peter, He let Peter be Peter. And if He let John
be John, I'll do the same thing. But be ready to give an answer
from the Scriptures. Not off the top of your head.
Be well-versed in the Scriptures. That's why we need to saturate
ourselves in the Scriptures. We give an answer from the Scriptures
concerning the reason of your hope, your hope of forgiveness.
What's your hope of forgiveness? Christ. God has forgiven us for
what? Christ's sake. Christ's sake. God punished Christ in my stead. And God forgives me of my sins
for Christ's sake. What's your hope of eternal life?
Christ. Christ who is our life. When
He shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him. What's our hope of acceptance?
Christ. We just keep taking them back
to Christ. Christ and His person, Christ
and His work is our hope. Christ and His priesthood, prophet,
king, it all goes back to Jesus Christ. But answer that from
the Scriptures. Give them Scripture. And be ready
to give that testimony always without hesitation. I don't care. Listen, I say I don't care, but
if we're standing in front of a firing squad, we should, without
hesitation, give the reason of our hope. Because, brethren,
we have a hope, and we have a good hope through grace. But do it
now. Do it with meekness and fear. Do it with kindness, remembering
that you were just like them at one time. Children of wrath
by nature, even as others. Having a good conscience that
whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, it doesn't matter
what... Listen. It doesn't matter... And I thought
about this today when I was putting these notes together. It doesn't
matter what they say about me, It only matters what is true.
You can say what you want about me. It only matters what's true. And that I have a good conscience
in those things that are true. A clear conscience. A clear conscience. He says that
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation
in Christ, your good life, in Christ. They have to admit, no
matter what they say about you, they have to admit they're wrong.
They're wrong. And even though they speak evil
of you, He said they're going to be ashamed of it. Someday they will.
Someday they'll be ashamed of it. Because you're His. You're His. You know, back in
this time, Nero was, as I read to you here not too long ago,
he was burning them in his garden just for fun. But you know, the
people at that time started really feeling so sorry for them, and
feeling so much pity for them, because they knew that what was
going on, they didn't deserve it. They knew their lifestyle.
They knew their life. They knew that what's happening
to these Christians, people of the way, they don't deserve that. They're good people, good law-abiding
citizens. Well, Peter says finally, this
is their final instruction on a believer's conduct, a believer's
attitude and conduct. And in all this, in all this,
in all of our journey home, sanctify, set apart the Lord God in your
hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord and Master. It's all under His
control. All under His control. And the
things you and I suffer, it's just part of the journey home.
It's part of the journey home, and it's all been appointed of
God. And we'd be thankful. All right.