and Brother Scott Richardson
was there. I can't remember the pastor's
name, but he turned out to be a disappointment. But he got
up in this big, fancy cathedral, and I think it was in Charleston,
West Virginia, best I can remember. And he opened his Bible and he
took out his notes and Scott went, oh, he said he has a manuscript. Well, I have a manuscript because
I don't have a memory. I was sharing with Brother Henry
the first lesson at the preacher school. I jotted it down, put
it in my Bible. But the very first point was
this. These are ten things that every
God-called preacher needs to know before he gets in the pulpit. And the very first one was have
a message. I haven't. Have God's message. I believe I haven't. Preach only
what you know. Well, we'll see about that. I'd like for you to turn with
me this evening to 1 Peter chapter 3. And I'm going to read for you
the first 15 verses. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation of the wise. While they behold your chaste
conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning let it not be
the outward adorning of plaiting of hair and of wearing of gold
and of putting on of apparel, But let it be the hidden man
of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of
God are of great price. For after this
manner, in old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God,
adorned themselves, being in subjection under their own husbands,
even as sailors, obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters
ye are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge,
giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as
being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be
not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one mind. Now we know what that is, that's
the mind of Christ, be 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, knowing that ye are there unto
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 God. Let him ensue evil
and do good. 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 you be followers of that which is
good? And if you suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are you. And be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled." Now here's my text. But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts and be ready always, always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you and do it with meekness and fear. And before I get into my text,
I want to say some things to the church here. I want to give
thanks to God, the God of all grace, for beginning
a good work in me. And then, convincing me that
having done the work, He'll finish it. under the day of Jesus Christ. Oh, how thankful. I've been looking at these things
and listening to these things for years. I've been told to examine myself
and look within and all of these things, and all I've ever been
convinced of myself is that I'm a sinner. I've looked, and all I can find is a sinner. A poor, bankrupt sinner. A guilty sinner. Vile sinner. Practicing sinner. That's all
I can find. Who is as much in need of the
grace of God today as I was 30 years ago. I had a fellow call me from California
the other day, a dear fellow and his wife, and he was bawling
on the phone. And he said, Brother Pruitt,
he said, I just don't have any assurance. And I said, what? You don't believe when Christ
died that He justified all for whom He... Oh, he said, I believe
that. I said, do you mean that all
these for whom Christ died, you're afraid that He's not going to
call? Oh, I know in the Scripture it says He's going to call. I said, do you believe that the
Lord will quit loving His people? Oh, He'll love His people to
the end. I said, that's assurance. I don't know what you're looking
for. But that's assurance. And I tell our folks at home
all the time, assurance is not confidence in your confidence,
it's confidence in Christ. That's assurance. You want assurance? Know Him. You can't know Him
and not have assurance. I hear people talk that way all
the time. And I also want to thank God
for His providence, for laying it upon your pastor's heart to
invite me here. I have such a long and blessed
relationship to the Mahans, I could tell Mahan stories all night
long. But what I'm the most thankful
for, and have never got over the wonder of, is that the sovereign
Lord of glory, in mercy and grace, and by the gracious workings
of His Spirit, through the gospel, gave me hearing
ears. He gave me hearing ears. You
know the disciples. They were raised in an environment
with men who were taught, for lack of a better word, in a seminary,
like a Jewish seminary. And they were brought up, and
this thing wasn't three years and get a degree. They studied
under these men for years and years and years. And they knew
this Bible inside out. If there was a comma, they'd
say, comma goes there, period goes on this. They knew the Scriptures. You stand up and quote a Scripture
like I do sometimes and leave out a word, they'd call you out. They knew them. They knew them
inside out. And once they got to that point, they gave them
the title of Pharisee and they gave them a special dress and
they put it on and had broad phylacteries Probably had etched
on there Gamaliel or whoever the teacher was. And maybe had
the High Council of Israel, might have had their names etched around.
They were Pharisees and they demanded respect. They demanded
it. And these disciples were brought
up in that mess, just like I was in that Nazarene church. I brought
up in that. I didn't know any better. I thought the preacher
was Reverend whatever his name was. I didn't know. He was just
a man. We were taught to respect him. He commanded respect. And these disciples, the Lord
just wasn't giving them the respect that they thought he ought to
get. And the Lord got tired of it and He turned around and He
said, let me tell you something. These men are blind leaders of
the blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
they're both going to fall into the ditch. You know what He said
next? Blessed are your ears. They hear. Their ears don't hear, but yours
does. Blessed are your eyes. I could
see what you were preaching tonight. I could hear it. what He was
preaching tonight. I could enter into it. I could
rejoice in it. It moved my heart. Oh, my soul. Do you ever just think about
what a wonder it is that you can hear? What a wonder that you can understand. Eye
hath not seen, or ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God revealed them to you by Spirit. For Spirit
searches all things, even the deep things of God. Oh, it's hard to embrace these
things and hear my food and these things speak. What a privilege, even to a dog
like me that gets to come to the boss from the master's table. It's okay to be a dog if you're
the master's dog. He gets to eat too. Let me give you just a word or
two about my text. 1 Peter 3 is an exhortation to
submission, obedience, brotherly love, godliness,
devotion, and perseverance. And all of these things, in the
light of great opposition, in the light of great persecution,
and grave contradiction. And all of this in a weak, frail,
earthen vessel. And what weak creatures we are.
All listen to this. Paul said, For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, I signed into my heart. He commanded
it. And the light came. And that light showed me the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But, do you ever read
that next verse? But, we have this treasure. Oh, what a treasure. in a clay
pot. And we had it that way on purpose,
that the excellency of the power might be of God, not me. So what is a man in this condition
to do? What does a wife who's willing
to obey her husband, even if he is an unbeliever, what's she
to do? How can a husband who's willing
to honor his wife as the weaker vessel and provide for her and
love her and minister to her of the things of God, how's he
going to do this? How can a poor, weak sinner who's willing to
love his brethren and be pitiful and courteous and love them,
and be long-suffering. How's He going to do that in
this weak flesh? Here's the answer, 1 Peter 3.15.
Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Now you can't make God holy.
God's already holy. That's not what that word means. I believe, if I'm right, it means
set apart. You set Him apart in your mind
and your heart as He's revealed in the Holy Scripture. Don't
you start mixing in your special recipe of religion and the revelation
of God. It won't mix, I can tell you
right now. You're just wasting your time.
You sanctify Him as God has revealed Him. Listen to this. This is Romans
3.24. He said, Being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God sent forth. Where did He go then? Donnie
told you just a while ago. All the way through the Old Testament.
Sent Him forth, didn't He? He told those disciples, he said,
old fools and slow hearts. He said, let's go back to Genesis.
I don't know how long it took him, but he walked down that
road. And beginning at the books of Moses and all the way through
the prophets and the Psalms, he expanded unto them those things
concerning them. then open to their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And that's what Peter's
saying here. You can't accomplish these things
except you sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. If you can
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, you can be a good wife.
You can be a good husband. You can love your brother. Our service is unto the Lord. Wives serve the Lord by obeying
their husbands. Husbands love and honor their
wives as Christ loved the church. Same principle. We serve our
Lord in the workplace as we do what we're told and honest in
our dealings with our employers. And all these things we do as
God enables us to sanctify Him in our hearts. But here in particular,
I believe he's talking here in verse 15 about sanctifying the
Lord God in our hearts as to our saving knowledge of Him. What God has revealed to us about
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This saving
knowledge. God our Savior. God condescending
from glory. as a man. I can't even comprehend
that conversation. God Almighty laying in a manger. I can't comprehend that. I just
know it's so. God the mediator. Eternal mediator. One mediator between God, me,
and the man Christ Jesus. Paul said, In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead. You want to know God? Learn Christ. That's the only look at God you're
ever going to get. Right there. In the Son. People
talk about knowing the Spirit. You don't know the Spirit apart
from Christ. This is God come into the flesh. God in Christ reconciling, accomplishing
the redemptive will. I cannot do my own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. What will? His redemptive will. And of all which He has given
me, I lose nothing. That's how Isaiah said, you'll
know a false prophet. He said, they pray unto a God
who can save. We live in a day of frivolous,
flippant attitudes toward God, toward worship, and toward the
preaching of the Gospel. No reverence to our Lord whose
name is holy and reverent. His Word read on the same plane
as the newspaper. Just the same way. Just open
it up and read it. Throw it down. His warnings and promises set
aside an indifference as though he commanded no respect. His counsels and purpose ignored
as though he only existed in men's minds. Would you dare speak for God? I'm not afraid to speak, but
that's a whole other deal. To speak for God. Isn't that
what Scripture says this is? Would you dare speak for God?
Would you beseech men as though God did beseech you? Would you
do that? Then sanctify Him in your hearts. Sanctify Him in your hearts and
be ready to give a reason for the hope that's in you. Be ready
when He calls. I think that makes sense. Be
ready always, and maybe He'll call. Maybe He won't. But if He does, you be ready.
You be ready. Sanctification of God in the
heart is how we live, isn't it? That's how we walk. We walk with
the mind of Christ. We live with the mind of Christ.
Paul said he started looking at himself, the sinner, depraved,
couldn't do anything, weak, frail, a rebel. Even the things that
he wanted to do and knew he needed to do, he said, I don't do them.
And the things that I despise, that's what I do. Oh, he said,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, with the mind, I serve
the law of God. The mind of Christ. That's how
we live. That's how we walk. And be ready. Ready to do what? Be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's in you. And I tell you, if you sanctify
Him in your heart, you're going to do it this way, in meekness
and fear. Can you do that? You can if you
can sanctify God in your hearts. Okay? A godly hope, a real and
saving hope, has a reason. Doesn't it? It has a reason. It has a foundation. It has a
basis. The Holy Ghost moved the writers of Scripture to use words
like for. Oh, Paul said, I'm ready as much
as in me is, I'm ready to go preach this gospel to them at
Rome because the gospel, he said, is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For, as reason, therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. Huh? He moved the apostles to use
words like therefore. There is therefore. Now. No condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit with the mind of Christ. Therefore. Therefore. Here's a wherefore. Jesus Christ
has a perfect and unchangeable priesthood. He's a priest after
the order of Melchizedek. He's an eternal priest. He's
an effectual priest. He's an accepted priest. His
priesthood is now at the right hand of God. Now listen to this. Wherefore. He is able to save
to the uttermost all who come under God's name. What about this word, according?
Brother Mahan wrote a message one time. Six times in the book
of Ephesians it says according. Bless us with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ according as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, justified us freely by the grace
according to the majesty and wonder of His grace, according
to the working of His mighty power, according to Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will, Hope has a reason. Hope without reason is just an
idle wish. I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope
it don't rain. Well, that's gone after it's
rained. Hope has a reason. Has a reason. And if you have a hope, he said,
be ready to give the reason. Somebody's going to ask you. Men who preach and give no scriptural
reason for it believe that man can find the reason in himself. Reason ain't in you. Reason's
in your God. There's none that understand
it and none that seek it after God. Now let me ask you something. Is this not what we're gathered
here for this evening? To give a reason. for the hope
that's in us. He's one beggar telling another
beggar what we've got to bring him. Giving reason. Giving as best we can in his
weak vessels, reasons for the hope that's in us. Alright, Christian, what is it
that you've come to know that gives you hope? A really lasting
hope for the salvation of your soul. What do you know? What has God revealed to you that makes you think He's going
to save your soul and one day you're going to stand with Him,
stand in His presence? God said, in my flesh I'll see
God. Where's that come from? Where's
the basis of that? What's your hope of that? Let
me give you quickly and as briefly as I can, I want to give you
five things. First of all, as a fallen son
of Adam, you know you're falling, don't you? You know you're failing your
father Adam. We're to pray the sentence. Condemned of God, walking
the course of this world, walking every day of our lives according
to the Prince and the power of the air, influenced on every
hand by satanic religion, condemned of our own conscience,
children of wrath even as others. Now what makes you think that
the God of all glory would even consider to save your soul? You've done nothing since you've
come forth from the womb but speak lies and leak out rebellion
to God. What makes you think the God
of glory has any intention of ever saving your soul? Think about it. We've been told
salvation is on the shelf. If we need it, we just go get
it. A fellow told me the other day, he said, I got saved. Oh,
I just want to go outside and throw up. That makes me sick. In Romans chapter 5, verse 12,
he said, From verse 12 to the end of the
chapter, he said, Death by that one man passed upon all men.
Judgment came under condemnation by that one man. By his disobedience,
we were made sinners. Sin abounded. God gave a law
and sin abounded under that law. Sin reigned. That death that
was passed upon us and that sin that entered into us and into
our nature. Sin reigned over everything you'd
ever thought, ever prayed, ever stepped. Reigned. Our mind's enmity against God. A man never comes to God for
mercy. He always comes to religion for
an experience, for a refuge, for a hiding place. He never
comes to God for mercy, but he comes to religion for acceptance.
A fellow told me one time he had a little altar where he'd
come forward. They'd have an altar call, come
call you down front. People kneel down there and pray.
They called it an altar. The elders of the church would
come and pray with them. And then if you got the experience
you was hunting for, they called that praying through. And the
fellow got up to give his altar call, and he said, now, this
altar down here has no efficacy whatsoever. It's just a place
where men meet God. You find a place where men meet
God. And you've got more efficacy
than you know what to do with. And that efficacy is in Christ.
You can't meet Him anywhere else. You can't approach Him. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. There's no other way. Man gets religion, and then in
his religious zeal, he encompasses sea and land to make one more
prophet just like him. And then when he's made him,
he's twofold more of a child of hell than he is. You see where
I'm coming? How does this sinner, what makes this sinner, this
rebel, think that the sovereign, holy God of glory might be interested
in saving his soul? I've been there. I've asked that
question. Oh, I've wrestled with that deep
in my soul. What makes you think God is going
to save you? Oh, because the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ purposed to save a people in His Son for
the glory of His name. I'm telling you, if it wasn't
for that, you could kiss this world goodbye. That's the only
reason this world still exists. God would have burnt this place
up. It would have been a burn over cinder in the garden except
God's purpose to save a people in Christ. And it's according as He chose
them in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should
be holy and without blame. And listen to this, in my Savior,
seated at His right hand, in love. I ain't talking about a
little love. I'm talking about perfect love.
In my Savior. In my Savior. I'm in union with
Him. That's my hope. I ain't got any hope apart from
that. God's not going to leave this
whole race to perish in chains of darkness as He did the angels. He didn't take on Him the nature
of angel. God doesn't intend to save angels.
He's not going to save the first angel. Every one of them was
bound in chains of darkness, and they're still there today,
and they're going to be there throughout all eternity. What's so different about the
sinner now than the angels? The grace of God. That's all. I begin to see a little hope. God's not going to condemn everybody.
He's going to save somebody. And it's not based on Him. It's based
on the grace of God. Maybe this old rebel might have
a hope. Huh? All right. How then, if mankind
all together are fallen in Adam and become depraved sinners and
enemies of God, can God save these people without compromising
His character? How can He do it? He can't love
me like I am. And I can't love Him like I am.
Something has to take place. And walking down the aisle ain't
it. Signing the pledge card ain't it? Joining the church ain't
it? God will not violate His glorious
character to save anyone, now listen to me, not even His Son. He spared, you quoted it a while
ago, wrong day, He spared not His own Son. Now I'm going to
tell you something, if God was going to spare somebody, it would
have been His Son. He inspired me. So how can this vile rebel,
who's guilty of the whole law, have
any hope of reconciliation to God? Well, I quoted to you a
few minutes ago, God had him a seat. Being justified freely
by His grace, through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth to be a propitiation for our sins through faith in
His blood, for the remission of sins. And He did that in the
Old Testament. That's what their faith was on.
And He did it in the New Testament, declared the same thing. Why
did He do that? That God might be just and the
justifier of all that believe on Christ. How can a man with a fallen nature... What's that all about, preacher?
Our Lord gave the best definition of that I've ever heard. He said,
this is condemnation. That light came into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. Who loves darkness being alienated
from the life of God through the ignorance that's in Him,
have any hope of ever rising above His nature to do what Christ
did was impossible for a man to do. Oh, I used to hear men say, Believe! Believe! But with the command comes the
power to obey it. And so then you find out, faith is the gift of God. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
2.13, Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit, the belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our
gospel." Isn't that so? How are you going to rise above
that nature? God purposed for you to do it.
And then He gave you the power to do it. And then He gave you
the means to do it. And He gave you the will to do
it. Peter said, listen to this, I've read 1 Peter 1, 23 a thousand
times, but you need to read what he says just before it. He said,
You have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, and see then
that you love one another with a pure heart perfectly, being
born again. What hope does this poor sinner,
depraved sinner who can't do anything, have of rising above
his nature to do what's impossible for him to do? Here's my hope. The Holy Spirit of God is purposed
from all eternity to come and enlighten and give a new birth
and give knowledge and understanding to all for whom Christ died.
Huh? I don't have any hope past that. You're not going to learn this
by wisdom. You're not going to study this like science and get
a degree. This is revealed to the heart
and to the soul. All right? Fourthly, now let's
say, preacher, I buy into this thing of God's eternal purpose
and grace in Christ and this particular redemption of Christ
and the effects of calling of the Spirit. How can a poor ignorant
sinner have any hope of being one of God's elect? How would
I ever know if I'm one for whom Christ died? You ever ask yourself
that question? I want to know. I don't want
to think about it and be wrong in the end. I want to know. How
can a man know if he's elect of God? Christ gave the best
answer to that I ever heard in John 6, 37. He said, All that
the Father hath given me will come to me. If you can come to Christ, you're
elect. Huh? He goes on and explains
it even farther on there. They'll all be taught of God
and every man that's taught of God is going to come to me. All
the means are in place. All the providence has been arranged.
All the power is in the Savior's hand. The Holy Spirit has been
sent. If you can come to Christ, you
did so because He called you by His grace. And you know. Paul said, I know your election.
They didn't, but he did. He said, I know your election.
My gospel came not unto you in word only. It came in power. It came in much assurance. And
you've become followers of me. I think I know what he's talking
about when he says that. Who's going to follow me? Everybody,
God gives that new birth, learns that gospel, and He calls us
to submit. And all of a sudden, I was preaching
one night in our church. I'll tell you this real quick.
And I had a fellow there, and he'd been coming because of his
mom. real close-knit family. Back then, they were just watching
CDs and things. When they had a visiting preacher,
he'd come with his mama to hear them. So he'd get a free meal,
and 45 minutes, his duties was done, his mama was happy, and
he'd go home. And when I came down there, I was preaching to
her three times a week, and that was a bit much, you know. He
would sit there, and he just didn't know what to do, you know.
He'd never have heard anything, and all of a sudden, God got
a hold of him. And he sat up, I'll never forget,
he sat up in the pew and got that look on his face like, what'd
you say? And man, he sat there and he
listened, never did lean back in the pew again. Next time we
met, I looked over at him and his knuckles was white. He had
a hold of that pew and his knuckles was white and he was hanging
on every word. About two or three weeks went by and
he come over with big tears. He said, I want you to baptize
me. I see what you're saying. Oh, preacher, if I just knew God's
redemptive will toward me, I think I could rest. This is the will
of Him that sent me. Everyone that believeth on me
shall have eternal life, and I'll raise him up until the last
day. All right, quickly, and I'll
close. The Bible says, He that endureth
unto the end, the same shall be saved. It says, We are the household
of Christ if we hold fast to confidence and rejoicing of the
hope firm unto the end. The Holy Spirit tells us, If
any man draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. As a vessel of clay, a poor,
weak, sinful man, what hope do I have of perseverance, considering
the presence of satanic religion in this world, considering the
weakness of this flesh, Considering the power of our
enemies, what hope does this sinner have of being able to
resist that kind of opposition and persecution and endure unto
the end? Oh, Satan takes men captive at his
will. He hung Job out to dry and he
sifted Peter like wheat. What hope can I have of being
victorious with so many a failure? You are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
day. I don't know if any of that meant
anything to you, but it's my hope. And that's the reason for
it. It's all in Him. All in Him. Thank you.