Let's take our Bibles now and
turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll be looking at verse 15. And the lesson this morning is
concerning our testimony to men. He says here in verse 15, the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you, and to do this with meekness and fear." Now, the
first sentence of this verse may have some connection to Leviticus
chapter 10 when Aaron's two sons, some of you may recall this,
but Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their priestly censures. They had censures and specific
direction had been given to them as the common priests. And part
of their duty within the interior into the first part of the tabernacle,
there was a golden censer that stood right before the veil.
And part of their duties was to take ashes and incense and
go in before that altar and put those ashes down and pour that
incense over there. And that incense would fill the
tabernacle with an odor And Nadab and Abihu, they took their priestly
censors and they put ashes of a common fire. They didn't go
take the ashes from the altar, but they took the ashes from
the fire where the fat and the things were being prepared that
was good for them to eat and so on. And they took the ashes
from there. In other words, they didn't follow
God's directions in worship. And they took this common fire
mixed with the holy incense and went into the tabernacle to offer
their own concoction on this golden altar of incense. And
as they approached that altar, the fire of God came down and
consumed both of Aaron's sons. Killed them both. And when Moses saw what happened,
he said to Aaron, he said, this is that the Lord spoke, saying,
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. And before
all the people, I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Aaron
didn't have any. He wasn't angry. He wasn't upset.
He understood exactly why his two sons had been killed before
the Lord. And Moses said, this is what
God said, I'll be sanctified in the eyes of them that draw
nigh unto me. And this is what Peter is telling
us. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Men and women are not left to
their own imaginations and their own discretion when it comes
to the worship of God or our daily service to God. We're not
left to our own imaginations to try to come up with something
and put a name on it and call it the worship of God or the
service of God. When God tells a woman to obey
her husband or a husband to love his wife or for a congregation
to not forsake the assembling of themselves together and to
worship Him, it's not a suggestion or recommendation, it's a divine
command. And so it is with all the things
of worship. We're commanded to do these things.
We're commanded to do them. It's not a suggestion. In other
words, God doesn't suggest that you have preaching and have prayer
and have all these things. He commands it. He commands it. And I don't where men and women
get the idea that these things are optional. They're not optional
and they're never spoken of in an optional sense in the Scriptures. We're given plain instruction
on these things. And those who believe are under
His command and they desire to obey Him. They're willingly under
His command. They're willingly under His rule.
They see His rule to be for their good as well as for God's glory. And their desire is to follow
Him. Their desire is to obey Him.
And they want to do such things that are pleasing to God. And
Aaron's sons were a picture of the common priest, which Peter's
already set before us. He said, we're built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He's already told us about these
things in the prior chapters. And as the priesthood of God,
we're to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts always and in everything
that we do in the line of service to him. Now what's he mean, sanctify
the Lord God? How can we sanctify God? We can't
make God holy. We can't make God anything. God
is who he says he is. Isn't that right? So when he
talks about sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, he's talking
about setting God apart in our hearts, understanding who he
is. You hear me talk about that all
the time, that faith has an understanding. Men and women who believe, they
understand why Christ died on the cross. They understand who
he is, why he came, what he did, and where he's at. They understand
these things. They worship God with an understanding. They don't worship God under
a spirit that they know nothing about. They don't worship God
under a gospel that constantly changes. They worship God understanding
who He is. And God is who He declares Himself
to be. He is essentially and infinitely
and perfectly holy. I had a conversation with a dear
friend of mine this week, and we were talking about the love
of God. And he understood a man saying
that God is not completely love. And I think he took the statement
the wrong direction. But God is, He is love, but He's
also just. He's also righteous. And He's
also all of these things, kindness, mercy. grace, all of these things
that describe him. And he is these things, and all
of these things working in harmony in his character. In other words,
God is love. At the same time, he said, I
will by no means clear the guilty. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. But I will by no means clear
the guilty. I'm also just. And all of these
attributes, we call them, are in harmony with one another in
the person of God, and that harmony we call holiness. Now, men and
women like to think on holiness, and the first thing that comes
in your mind is purity. The first thing that comes into
your mind is righteousness. And those things are certainly
included in his holiness. But holiness is the whole character. You know, I found something out.
I was looking up that word in the Strong's Concordance, and
I guess I've overlooked this. But at the very end of it, one
of the definitions for H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S, holiness, is W-H-O-L-L-I-N-E-S,
wholeness. Wholeness, it's the wholeness
of God. All of His attributes working
in harmony with one another. And we're to sanctify the Lord
God understanding that. Understanding that when we stand
before Him. The believer walks with God.
He serves God and he worships God in regard to his true character. Now let me show you that in the
Scriptures. Turn with me over to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. This is what we're talking about.
This is what this lesson has been about. It's been about husbands
and wives and men and women in general serving God in whatever
capacity God called them to serve Him, whether they're magistrates
or whether they're just workers, or whether they own their own
company, or in any of these aspects, we're to serve God. And we serve
God by sanctifying God in our hearts. We do that first. Now watch this here in 1 John
5, verse 19. John said, we know that we are
of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. How do we know
that? How does a man know that he is
of God and thousands around him are not of God? How does a man
determine that? How does he know that? It's obvious
that it can be known because John said, we know. We know.
We know this. We know that we are of God and
the whole world lieth in wickedness. Because back in verse 13, he
said, we believe on the name of the Son of God. And His name is who He is. It's who He is. Now look down
here at verse 20 of 1 John chapter 5. How do we know that's His name?
Well, listen to this. We know that the Son of God is
come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. and are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Eternal life is to know God.
It's to know God. How do I know I'm of God? I know
God. I know God. If God were not perfectly
holy, He could have compromised certain attributes to save sinners. But He's holy, and therefore
He cannot. He cannot compromise. If God
were not just, Christ would not have to die the death he died
on the cross. But God is just and will spare
not his own son. If God were not righteous, Christ
would not have become a man and live his life in loving servitude
to the law and before the lawgiver. If God were not merciful, he
might have justly destroyed Adam and just started all over. If
God were not love, He might have just given up on the sinner.
He might have just said, well, you sin, you're guilty, you're
dead. Exile him forever. He did the
angels. Did you know that? That's what
it says over in Jude. The angels, which Kept not their
first estate, but sinned against God. They're reserved in chains
of darkness, reserved under everlasting fire, under everlasting judgment.
If God were not loved, he might have just give up on the sinner.
If God were not long-suffering, you and I had been banished a
long time ago. But God is long-suffering, not
willing of any of his elect to perish. but that we all might
be called to repentance. The Son of God came and has given
us an understanding that we might know Him that's true, and that
we're in Him that is true. And that's what eternal life
is. In John 17, verse 3, back in the Gospel of John, chapter
17, verse 3, our Lord said, this is life eternal. that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent." That's eternal life. And those who know God set God
apart in two ways. Now, he tells us to sanctify
the Lord God in our heart, and then to be ready to give an answer
to any man who asketh for the reason of the hope that lieth
in us. And there's two ways. Those who
know God set God apart in two ways, externally and internally. The Lord has set apart externally
by our obedience and our worship and our prayer. He set apart
externally by our preaching and by our testimonies and by the
life we live before me. We sanctify the Lord God in our
hearts externally when we do these things. Internally, Peter tells us here,
is to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Now let me tell you
something. Unless God is sanctified here,
in the heart, where Peter talks about. Unless God is sanctified
here, everything else is a hollow, meaningless form of religion. That's all it is. That's all
it is. The believer sanctifies the Lord
God in his heart as he loves him, believes him, praises him,
worships him, and submits to himself inside. That's where
true submission begins in the heart. In the heart. We bow before God in our hearts. And when a man bows before God
in his heart, he'll bow before God externally. It's utter mockery to talk about
God's glory with my lips if I do not believe and bless God in
my heart. He exposes Israel for those very
things, for praying to be seen of men and giving alms to be
seen of men and letting their face show when they fasted. They let their face get all withdrawn. They wouldn't wash it. I mean,
they wanted everybody to know that they were fasting. You see
what I'm saying? It's an utter mockery to talk
about God's glory with my lips. if I do not believe and bless
God in my heart." He said, everybody that says, Lord, Lord, is not
going to enter into the kingdom of God, isn't he? They are not
going to enter into the kingdom of God. Where the Holy Spirit
abides, where He reveals, convicts, and convinces, there is always
going to be fruit on the vine. Always. Always. And that fruit,
the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And brethren, the inward sanctification
of the believer comes through the preaching of the gospel.
Believers walk in Christ by faith. By faith. Paul said, if you have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.
That's how you received Him, didn't you? You received Him,
in Him dwelleth all the fullness, the wholeness of God, the holiness
of God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bottle. We're complete in Him. It's ridiculous
to talk about holiness, my holiness, if I don't have that holiness
in Christ. That's where holiness is. He tells us to be rooted and
built up in Christ, established in the faith that we've been
taught and abound therein with thanksgiving. That's why we're
thankful. Do you know back at the very
beginning when God chose His elect, it says in Ephesians chapter
1, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. Isn't that what that
says? And without blame. and all my sins taken away. I have a holiness, a wholeness
before God. I am made whole in Christ. Everything that God demands from
the perfection of His character, I have in Christ, that I might
be holy and without blame. And then listen to this. Lots
of writers want to disconnect this third word from the verse.
But if you do, you disconnect yourself from your standing before
God. He said, in love. In love. Nobody in here loves God like
they ought to, do they? Even those of you who know God,
you do love God, but you don't love Him like you ought to. And
you know that. You're aware of that. But in
Christ, I have perfect love for the Father. You see that? That's what He said. He chose
us in Him that we might be holy without blame before Him in love. Christ, it says, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're complete in Him.
Christ is the wisdom of God. That's how we know God. We know
God in Christ. He is the wisdom of God. And
no man knoweth the Son save the Father, and no man knoweth the
Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. And anything you know outside
of Christ is not worth knowing. I'm talking spiritually now.
Anything you know outside of Christ is just not worth knowing.
When God equipped Paul for the apostleship and his evangelical
ministry, he did not send him to seminary. It might surprise
you to know that none of God's ministers in the early church
went to seminary. None of the early church pastors
went to seminary. After the church was established,
none of his members went to seminary. And by Paul's own words in Galatians
1, verse 16, he said, He called me by His grace, now listen to
this, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among
the heathen. That's what's required to preach
the gospel to men. It's to have the Son of God revealed
in your heart by the Holy Spirit. A man may go to seminary. And
he might learn grammar and he might learn discipline. He might
learn how to write and later on write books. But the only
way he'll ever learn to preach is if God reveals His Son in
him. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. And then what? He said, and be
ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you, and to do that in meekness
and fear. Now, let me tell you something.
This is not talking about answering every foolish question that deceived
men are going to ask you. We're not commanded to answer
every foolish question that men ask us. Paul wrote to Timothy. This is a pastoral epistle. This
epistle has to do with pastors and under shepherds and leaders
of God's flocks. And he writes to young Timothy
and he said, follow righteousness, faith and charity, peace with
them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Now watch this.
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid. Just ignore them. Somebody ask you a silly question. I mean a silly question. A man
that you can discern by the way they ask if they really want
to know something or if they're just trying to start an argument.
And when a man does that, just avoid him. Just act like he didn't
ask you anything at all. Because he said, knowing this,
that they gender strifes. And then he tells him this. He
said, there were some that were proud, knowing nothing, who dote
on questions and strife of words, disputing with men of corrupt
minds. And that's, when a man has a
corrupt mind or deceived mind, he'll bite on these things. And
he'll argue and debate about these things. The believer won't.
Believers are told to just avoid it. Just avoid it. But what Peter
is talking about here is people who sincerely want to know something
about your hope before God. People disturbed by the Holy
Spirit of God, and they They begin to seek God, and they're
looking for information. There was a time, Winston, when
you just had thoughts. You just had thoughts. There
come a time when the Holy Spirit interrupted and intervened, and
you were hungry for information. You didn't want to play anymore.
You were looking for truth. You were looking for that which
is true. He's talking about people who
sincerely want to know. Well, what might some of these
questions be? What might a person ask you,
one of these questions that Peter's talking about here? Well, one
might ask you to tell them why you believe your sins are pardoned. Why do you believe that? I know
you know you've done some things, that you're guilty of these things.
And now you profess that your sins are gone. How come? How
come? Why do you think your sins are
pardoned? Why do you think they're gone
before God? Maybe God still has them on his boots. Huh? Why do you believe that your
sins have been pardoned? What would you tell him? Well,
I just believe. No, believer don't talk like
that anymore. You know, a man might just believe
he packed up a picnic lunch and he's going on a picnic. He might
just say, well, I just believe it ain't going to rain. He might
get out there and get drenched. Believing something doesn't necessarily
mean it's so. You have to have a reason. You have to have a basis. And
we're told in the scripture of many that believe their lives,
all their life long that they were saved. only to realize in
the end, Christ said, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. Believers believe that their
sins were pardoned because Christ, their substitute and Redeemer,
bore their sins in His own body on the tree. They believe that. Why do they
believe that? Because that's the testimony
of God. That's the testimony of God. They believe their sins
are pardoned because Christ, being come a high priest of good
things to come, by his own blood entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for them. That's why
they believe. They believe God's testimony
concerning their sins and God's pardon of that sin. And here's
another question. One might ask, well, why do you
believe your name's written in heaven? I can see by your testimony and
the word of God that he talks about election. He talks about
a people. He talks about these things in
the scriptures. He talks about the Lamb's book of life written
before the foundation of the world. I see those things in
the word of God. What I want to understand, why
do you think your name's written there? Why do you think your name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Would you have an answer? We believe our names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life because He called us to faith in Christ. Paul tells us over in II Thessalonians
2.13, God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. That's election, right? Now listen
to this, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's the means. Now listen
to this, we're unto He called you by our gospel. They've been
called to faith in Christ. That's the only way you can know
your election of God. Paul told that same church at
Thessalonica in his first letter to them. He says down about verse
5 of chapter 1, he said, knowing therefore, brethren, your election
of God, because my gospel came not unto you in word only, but
it came unto you in power and in the Holy Ghost. And then in
John 6.37, he said, all that the Father giveth me is going
to come to me. How do we come to Christ? By
faith. By faith, we believe him. And then John 10, 26, he told
the Jews, he said, you believe not because you're not of my
sheep. That's how the non-elect are revealed. They won't believe
on him. They won't believe on him. You
believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice. And then he tells us over in
Acts 13, verse 48, here's a whole church full of people. And Paul
comes in and preaches to them and the Jews got mad because
the majority of that congregation was leaning toward them and leaning
toward that message. And that message was making them
happy and satisfied and they loved it. And they were just
overwhelmed by what he said. And the Jews despised him the
more for it. And then you know what it said?
Paul read that scripture and showed them in the scriptures
where salvation's being sent unto the Gentiles, and the Gentiles
were God's elect also. And they said when they heard
this, they was glad. And as many, now listen, as were
ordained to eternal life believed. And then one might ask this,
why do you believe that you're not under the condemnation of
God? The Scripture said we're quickened
together with Him, with Christ. When were we quickened together
with Him? Before the foundation of the world. In that holy covenant
union, God hid our lie in Christ. appointed for me a federal head
and representative, made provision for my salvation in His Son,
and then in His Son came and accomplished that salvation,
and then raised His Son from the dead and seated Him at His
right hand to guarantee my salvation. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And why do you believe you shall
be received into glory with all the Father's affection and approval,
because Christ is my righteousness. There's no way, I'm telling you
this, and you know this in your own conscience, there's no way
that God can look on you and look on your service in that
day, standing back over your life and look at all these things
that you've done, your prayers and all these things, and look
at you and say, well done, Thou good and faithful servant." There's
no way. But he can in Christ. Because
in Christ, you have no sin. You're unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. In Christ. I have a perfect righteousness. So, he said, sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts. Be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asks of you a reason for the hope that's
in you. And then he says this, and I'll
close, with meekness and with fear. Turn with me to 2 Timothy
chapter 2. We're to answer a sincere question
concerning our hope, not with a proud look or some high, lofty
attitude, but in meekness and fear. Now watch this, 2 Timothy
2, verse 24. The servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God,
peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth. and that they might recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
at his will." That's why we're in meekness and in fear. Believers know their weakness,
they know their God, and they know their enemy. Paul said,
we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. Now remember who you
are, who you represent, and who brought you to this place. And
give your answer from the heart and give it with meekness and
fear, having sanctified the Lord God in your heart. That's the
lesson. That's the lesson. That's what
Peter's writing to the churches. All right. Thank you.