1 Peter 3, and I just have one
verse that I want to look at in verse 15. The title of my message this
morning, Given a Reason. Given a Reason for Our Hope. Here in verse 15 of 1 Peter 3,
Peter says this, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a
reason of the hope that is in you and do it with meekness and
do it with reverence, with fear. Why does Peter begin here with
the Lord God and sanctifying Him when he is going to talk
to us about hope? He begins with the Lord God.
Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Set Him apart above everybody
and everything. In your estimation of Him, in
all your thoughts of Him, in all your memory of Him, hold
Him in the highest regard. Set Him apart. Sanctify the Lord
God. If a man fears the Lord, he will
never have to live in the terror of man. If a man fears the Lord
God, he will never have to live in the fear of what man can do
to him. Because the Lord God rules man,
He rules the terror of man. We may boldly say, The Lord is
my Helper, and I will not fear what man can do to me. A man
who fears the Lord God, who sets Him apart, who has a high estimation
and regard for the Lord God will never have to fear the torments
of hell. He holds the key of hell and
of death. Sanctify Him. I forewarn you,
the Lord Jesus said, whom you shall fear. Don't fear those
who kill the body and have nothing else they can do, but fear Him. which after he is killed has
power, he has authority to cast him to hell. Yea, sanctify him. Set him apart in your hearts. Fear him. Sanctify God the Father. Sanctify the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. When we pray, how are we taught
to pray? Our Father who art in heaven. What does that mean? That means
He's above all. That means He's over all. He
has to humble Himself to behold the things that's in heaven. Our Father who art in heaven,
holy, hallowed, separate, pure is Thy name. God is light and
Him is no darkness at all. Sanctify the Son of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Set Him apart in your heart. He is holy. He's harmless. He's undefiled. He's separate
from sinners. Nothing like us. And He's made
higher than the heavens. Sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. No man comes
to the Father but by Me. I am the door. I am the door. By Me, if any man enters in,
he shall be saved. If he does not come by Me, he
is nothing but a thief and a robber. The Son of God. Exalt Him. I tell you, the Father has exalted
Him. The Father has sanctified Him, hasn't He? He set Him aside.
The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to
the Son. Why? That all men should honor
the Son. even as they honor the Father.
He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which hath sent
him." There is no other name under heaven given among men.
There is nobody like the Son. Nobody any higher than He is.
No other name, no other way, no other door sanctify Him. Oh, He said there is coming a
time, and He said, I swear to it. I swear on my honor. There is coming a time, there
is coming a day, which unto My name every knee shall bow. And every tongue is going to
swear that I am Lord. I am Lord. Sanctify the Lord
God in your heart. Sanctify God the Holy Spirit
in your heart. God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts. Recognize Him. Exalt Him. Highly esteem Him. Grieve not
the Spirit of God. He that hath not the Spirit of
Christ is none of His. We can't be born again. We can't
believe. We can't repent. We can't come.
We can't know without Him. We've not received the Spirit
of the world, but we've received the Spirit which is of God. Why? That we may know the things
that God has freely given to us. When He has come, He will
guide you into all truth. O sanctify the Spirit, God the
Spirit. Spurgeon used to say it like
this, to the one God of heaven and earth, in the trinity of
His sacred persons. Be glory and honor in this world
and in the world to come. Sanctify the Lord God. In your
heart. In your heart. Not in some silly
ceremonies. Not in man-made traditions. Don't sanctify Him in outward
shows and pretenses. Not with eloquent tongues and
fair speeches. But in your heart. Sanctify Him
in your heart. Christ dwells in the heart. I
will dwell in them. I'll walk in them. I'll be their
God, and they shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord."
Where is He? He's in heaven. Yes, and He's
in the heart. Sanctify Him in our hearts. Fear Him in our hearts. In all your ways, all your circumstances,
acknowledge Him. Acknowledge Him. Sanctify Him. Who is He? Know Him as who He
is. What He's done, what He's going
to do, what He can do, sanctify Him in your heart. You and I are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Our
God is a consuming fire. God is love. Yes, He's love.
God is good. Yes, He's good. God is mercy. Yes, He's mercy. And God is a
consuming fire. Sanctify, set Him apart, exalt
Him, highly esteem Him in your heart. Now, that's strange that
Peter wants to talk here about hope, and he begins with the
Lord God, knowing Him, recognizing Him, esteeming Him. Why does
He do that? Well, He does it for this reason.
This Lord God is the author of hope. You don't have any, and
I don't have any, if He don't give it to us. David said this, Why does He say, Hope thou in
God? Because He's the author of it. You don't have any, except
that which is of Him. He begins with Him because He's
not only the author of hope, but He's the giver of hope. If it's a good hope, where did
we get it? He gave it to us. He gave it
to us. Here you and I are, and we're
going along in this world. and facing death, and we are
in a pitiful condition. We are in a perishing state.
Unless God, the Lord, intervenes and gives us hope, we will perish. This is not something you can
muster up. This is not something you can
buy or earn. This is something that must be
given to us by the Lord Himself. And here's how he tells the Thessalonian
church. He said unto our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and to God even our Father who hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting comfort and good hope. He's given us a good hope
through grace. He's the author of this hope
Peter was talking about. He's the giver of this hope Peter
was talking about. And I tell you, He's the upholder
of this hope. If He just gives us hope and
says, I'm going to leave it in the power of your will, I'm going
to leave it in your strength to maintain it and uphold it,
you know it wouldn't be long until we lose hope and we'll
despair. But He that gives this hope,
He upholds this hope within us every minute. Listen to what
the Apostle tells the Romans. He said, the God of hope. fill
you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound
in hope." How? Through the power of the Holy
Spirit. That's the way we abound in hope.
That's the way we maintain it. This is why this hope is often
referred to in the Scriptures under such terms as a sure and
steadfast hope. If the Lord ever gives you this
hope, dear soul, He'll uphold it until the day that your hope
is realized. He's never given this hope to
a single individual and then finally despair and not realize
their hope at last. Listen to Psalms 119 and 49.
Lord, David said, Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which
thou hast You have caused me to hope. You have caused me to
hope. He's the cause of your having
a good hope. And He's the cause of it being
maintained as you live your life in this world. And He'll be the
cause of you realizing that hope. You have caused me to hope. If somebody asked you this morning
to give a reason of your hope, How would you answer them? How
would you begin? This hope has to be explained. You just can't say, well, my
hope? Oh, yeah, I've got a good hope.
Well, explain it to me. Oh, it's like this, you know.
Oh, it's so wonderful. I feel so good. No, I haven't
got to do with it. Peter said, give a reason. That
means explain it. And if someone come up to you
and said, give me a reason, explain to me where you got your hope. And you say, my hope is the hope
of a hypocrite. I have a false hope, a self-righteous
hope. Well, tell me, explain your hope.
Where would you begin? Would you begin with me? Would
you begin with what you're doing? Would you say, well, I'll tell
you this much. I read my Bible. Boy, that's a good thing, ain't
it? Brother Larry just told us that. That's wonderful. I tell
you, I pray. I really pray. And I go to church.
And I keep a close record of everything I make. And I can
show you on my checkbook where I have given ten percent, and
sometimes more, of everything I've ever made. And you ask my
neighbors. I'm a moral person. And I've
tried to be moral. And I've been careful not to
fall off into any immorality. But where is your hope? Where
is it beginning? With me? Peter began with the
Lord God, didn't he? The triune God. You know what
hope I just described is the hope of the Pharisee? If you ask him, that's what he
would tell you. Man, I'm here in the temple now.
And look how I'm dressed. Everybody knows I'm a Christian.
I pray. I pay tithes of all that I possess. I'm not an extortioner. I'm a
moral person. But you know something? That's
not worth this explanation. That's not a reason for a good
hope that's within you. So Peter begins here with a source
of this hope. Who is it from? Who's the author
of it? Who gives it? The Lord God. He gives it and He maintains
it. That leads us to this aspect
of hope, and it's this. Who does the Lord God give this
hope to? Who does He give this hope to?
I was thinking about this all last week, and I had this thought
on my mind all last week, and I can't get away from this thief
that was on the cross. I was thinking of this hope,
and it kept coming back to this thief. Remember the two thieves
that were on the cross? And the one thief that turned to the Lord Jesus
said, remember me? Remember that thief that turned
to the Lord Jesus and said, remember me when you come in your kingdom.
I thought if you wanted to find anybody in the Scripture that
you were sure, without a shadow of a doubt, had a good hope when
he died, it would be this man. If you asked me to choose, For
sure who had the best hope, the Apostle Paul or that thief that
died on the cross. You know what I tell you. I'm
sure the Apostle Paul had a good hope. I'm sure he's in heaven.
But you know from the scriptural record, this thief had the best
hope of anybody in all the scriptures. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
said to him this day, you shall be with me in paradise. You know why the sun still comes
up this morning? You know why you went out last
night and seen the sky full of stars? You know why the earth
has not fled away? You know why we're still preserved?
Because that promise didn't fail. If that thief hadn't have gone
to heaven before the day's over to be with the Lord Jesus Christ,
there'd be no God. There'd be no heaven. There'd
be no glory to go to. If he's not in glory this morning,
nobody's there. If He is not in glory, there
is no glory. Because the Lord Jesus said,
I am giving you a hope. Before this day is over, you
shall be with Me in glory. You shall be. So he had a good hope, did he
not? Here was a man that had a good hope. Well, who was this
man? Who was he? Well, he not only
was a criminal, But listen, he was a self-confessed, self-condemned
criminal. He looked over at the other thief
that was mocking the Lord Jesus, and here's what he said, Don't
you fear God? Seeing you and me are in the
same condemnation? What does God have to do with
me being condemned? Well, that priest said, He's
condemned us. Man has caught up with us. Man has judged us. They've convicted us and we're
condemned because we've committed crimes against humanity. But
he said more than that, God's judged us. God's tried us. God has condemned us because
of our crimes against heaven. And listen to what He said. This
is amazing. And we indeed justly. He said, when you're going to
hell, buddy, God's going to punish you and me for all eternity.
And justly? We're getting our due reward
for our deeds. Here was a man who was self-confessed
to being a criminal, self-confessed to being deserving of what he
was about to get, eternal punishment. And you know something? He had
a good hope. He died in a good hope. I was thinking about this fellow
and wonder what he suffered the rest of his day. Can you imagine
what he must have suffered before this day was over? The Lord said,
before this day is over, you're going to be with me. But I tell
you, he had a tough time. From the time the Lord told him
that until he died, he got his legs broke and was hanging there
on a tree. And you've just about nothing. I can't prove this,
but I imagine this because we know what's in man. I've seen
this happen. You've seen it happen, too. You've
heard this happen. Some rascal will kill somebody. And they'll
find him guilty and sentence him to death. And the relatives
of that victim, they said, I'm going to watch him die. I want
to see that scoundrel die. I want to see him breathe his
last breath. And they sat outside the window and watched him inject
the poison into that man's veins. And they sat there with a smirk
on their face while he died. I ain't got nothing against that.
That's fine. But can you see him doing this around the cross?
Can you see this poor thief? And here he hangs in his dying
hours. And there's that dad. down there,
that he's defrauded. He got these two little kids,
and there he's standing looking up at that thief, and he said,
you sorry outfit. Here's my children. You defrauded
me out of my life saving. Must have been bad because they
wouldn't have crucified him for stealing a candy bar down at
the grocery store. It had to be bad. And here this
man stands looking up at him and says, you scoundrel, I hope
you hang there for a week. My kids don't even have sufficient
food. Can't buy them clothes to wear. You defrauded me. You
stole everything I had. I don't have any property left.
You scoundrel. If you hang there a week, I'll
be here every day tormenting you. You're getting just what
you deserve. You cuss. Can you see that happening? Well, I see that happening. And
what does this poor man do now? Oh, he says, you're right. Oh,
God help me, you're right. Oh, I'm a miserable wretch. Oh,
my conscience is smiling before it. Oh, I've done you wrong. I've sinned against heaven. I've
sinned against you. And there he hangs, suffering.
And he's so humble over it now. Before he could do it and sleep
well. But boy, now he's bothered by it. But you know something? When his suffering ended, he
went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what I'm saying. When the Lord gives a man a good
hope, he'll spend the rest of his life hating himself. Look what I've done against God.
Look what I've done against man. Oh, wretched man that I am. You
say, Bruce, is that an evidence you don't have a good hope? No,
that's evidence you do. And a self-righteous hope, the
hope of a hypocrite, that death will sweep away, that's built
upon the sand, he looks at himself and he says, Oh, I'm not a bad
person like everybody else is. Oh, look at me. Oh, I've done
some bad things, but my goodness, I'm not a bad person. And I'll
tell you this much. I sure don't think it would be
right in God to put me in hell. My sins, I've done some bad things.
Everybody's done some bad things. But for God to punish me forever?
No. Ain't no way. Ain't no way. Well, I'll tell you this. How
are you going to explain your hope then? In the light of this
self-confessed, self-condemned criminal that had a good hope,
how are you? Where are you going to explain
your hope? How are you going to identify it in the Bible?
Some of you here this morning, you've got a good hope. Bless
your hearts. The Lord gave it to you. I come to you and I ask you,
have you always had a good hope? You'll say, no, Bruce, I haven't. I tell you, I was without God.
I was without Christ. And I was without hope. I was
a perishing sinner. Where did you get your hope?
You know what you're going to tell me? The Lord God gave it
to me. Out of His grace and mercy and
goodness He gave it to me. And I say, what's your estimation
of Him? Oh, you say He's holy. He's holy. He's holy. I say watch
your estimation of yourself. You know what you say? Sin, sin,
sin. Give an answer of this hope within
you with meekness, with humility, with fear. Why? Because of Him
who has gave you, of all people, a good hope. But can you describe
it? Can you explain it? You better
be able to, haven't we? We better be able to do it always.
And it doesn't come down to having to go off to a seminar and become
some professor to learn how to explain this to. Peter was writing
to slaves. I just read that the other day,
Larry. They said between 60 and 80 percent of people that lived
in the world in the Apostles' days were slaves. And probably
about that percent in the church. Don't you think? And yet he writes
to these slaves and said, explain your hope. Be ready to explain
your hope. And it comes down to experimental.
You know just what I'm talking about this morning, don't you?
I'm not over any of your heads. God is holy. He's high. And you and I are nothing but
sinners. My soul, we're barned in sin. The wicked go astray
as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Who in the world are those
people? We don't find them anymore, do
we? Here they are! There they are! The wicked! They go astray when? As soon
as they be born speaking lies. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. There is not a just man upon
this earth that doeth good and sinneth not. And if you've got
a good hope, you know that. You agree with that. You can
explain that. A good hope. Be ready always. I tell you, and be honest with
you, in and of ourselves, every one of us here this morning,
every last one of us, in and of ourselves, are in the same
position that this thief was in. Do you know what? Our souls may be required of
us before this day is over. And we're criminals against heaven,
are we not? We're in the same place He is.
And I tell you, if we're going to get hope, we're going to get
it as sinners, as condemned, perishing sinners. And we're
going to go to the Lord, and we're going to own up to that.
I'm getting, Lord, just what I deserve. Would You remember
me when You come into Your Kingdom? I'm a wretched, hell-deserving
sinner. You owe me nothing. You owe me nothing. But I'm a
hopeless man. Would you give me hope? Give
me hope. We're in that boat, aren't we?
We're in that boat. We're in that boat. In the light of that right quickly,
let's look at this aspect then of mercy, of hope. This aspect
of hope. Consider this. Psalms 130 and
verse 7. Listen to this. This fits right
in. All of these things Just build one upon another. The Lord
God, esteem Him in your heart. Sanctify Him in your heart. He's
God. You and I are sinners. He gives
us hope. But that brings us to this thing. You say, well, Bruce, it's got
to be that way then. It's what it's got to be. Listen
to Psalm 137. Let Israel hope. There it is. In the Lord. Why? Because He's the Arthur of hope.
He's the giver of it, the sustainer of it. Hope in the Lord. Listen
to this. Two things. One, for with the
Lord there is mercy. Hope. He delights in those who
hope in His mercy. The world tells us, boy, if you're
not good enough now, you're not going to have a hope. And here
the Scripture comes and says, this is a good hope. Poor sinner.
Hope and mercy. Hope and mercy. We don't hear this phrase mentioned
hardly any in our day, but here's the way the Apostle Paul said
it. He said, I was before a blasphemer,
a persecutor, an injurious, but I obtained mercy. Hope and mercy. What does mercy
have to do with our hope? Everything, don't it? If He don't
show me mercy now, and I don't obtain mercy in that day, I can't
hope. I can't hope. I tell you, if
the trials of this life doesn't sweep my hope away, the pains
of hell will do it. The pains of death will do it.
But where's our hope? Mercy. Now, if somebody came
to you this morning and said, give me an answer. Explain to
me about your hope. Here's one of the things you'll
finally get around to. Mercy. I've obtained mercy. And I'm
looking for mercy. But he didn't stop there. David
said this. Not only with the Lord is mercy,
but with Him is plenteous, plenteous redemption. What's the ground
for our hope? Christ the Redeemer. That's what
you've been saying. You keep trying to get me over
there before I was ready to go. What's the ground for our hope?
Perception, Christ, Christ, Christ. He wouldn't give me a chance
to get over there. It took me a while, didn't it? The ground
is our hope. It's in one person. Christ our
Redeemer. Brother Larry read it to us this
morning, didn't he? 1 Peter 1, verse 18. Listen to
this. Knowing. We know this. We know
this. And we can tell people this if
they ask. You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without spot and blemish." We were under the curse of God's
law. It cursed us. Cursed is everybody that continues
not in all things which is written in the book of the law. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of that law. We sinned, and with
a thief we say the wages of sin is death. But Christ has died
and redeemed us from death. Sin is so horrible that God must
punish it. And God has punished it in His
blessed Son. He was smitten of God and afflicted. That's our hope. He is our hope. Look here in 1 Peter. If you're
still there in 1 Peter, look in chapter 1 right quickly. And
I'm almost finished. Look in 1 Peter chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3, chapter 1, verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. Which according
to His abundant mercy, have begotten us again unto a living hope,
how? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Why does he say our hope is based,
it's grounded, in a resurrected Christ? That tells us that God
accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. The just for the unjust. in order to bring us to God. God accepted his sin burn. God
accepted his blood poured out. He says, I'm satisfied. He takes
that bloody sword, and he says, I'll never raise it against my
people again. And he shaked it back in his
sheep. It's satisfied. And the evidence of it, Jesus
Christ lives at the right hand of the Father. And he said, because
I live, you shall live also. That's the ground of our hope
in this one glorious person, what he's done as our representative,
as our substitute. Hopeful and Christian was talking
with old Ignorance in Pilgrim's Progress about this hope. And
they asked him, what's the ground of your hope? He had a silly
answer, but I tell you what, if you start asking people today,
I bet they'll tell you the same thing. They said, Ignorance,
what's your hope? And he said, well, I think about
heaven, and I want to go there. And faithful and Christians said,
I imagine devils do too. I imagine they do, don't you? What's
the ground of our hope? One ground. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Taking our place. Satisfying
the law. Satisfying justice. Satisfying
God on our behalf. I tell you, if you're here this
morning and you're without God, you're without Christ, you're
without hope, come to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him with
all your heart. Put all your confidence, all
your hope in the Son of God. And I tell you, you may live
the rest of your days loathing yourself for what you are. But when you leave this life,
You've got this promise. I'll return again and receive
you unto myself. That where I am, there you may
be also. And where did Peter say this
hope was? Well, when you talk about hope, we talk about the
object of it. What's the object of it? He tells
us there in verse 4 in Inheritance. incorruptible, undefiled, 1 Peter
1 verse 4, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven. What's the
object of our hope? Heaven and all that heaven possesses. What's the object of our hope?
Being just like the Son of God. Now are we the sons of God. It
does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see him as he is,
every man that hath this hope in him." Oh, what a hope! What
a hope! You're sitting here this morning,
dear child of God, and you're not hopeless because He's given
you a new hope, a good hope, a lively hope. A hope of what? Being like His Son. Oh, you're
blessed. My soul, you're blessed. May
God help us to realize how we're blessed. When this world passes
away, we'll be with Him and we'll be like Him. That's the object
of our hope. Peter said, give a reason for
this hope. Look at this. That is in you. That is in you. And what is that? Well, that's the grace of it
ain't it? That's the grace of hope. That's what God gave you
in your heart. You live the hope. How does that
affect you? How does that affect your heart?
How does that affect your thoughts, your emotions? You can't have
a hope like this without being stirred. Oh, I'm telling you
what's true. Have a hope being like Jesus Christ. And it not
affect you inside? Oh my goodness, don't it make
you rejoice from time to time? And I think Peter would tell
us here in the third chapter. Look back over to the third chapter.
Look at this. How does this affect you inside? Look in verse 8. 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Here are
some of the effects that this hope has within us. Brethren,
finally brethren, be all of one mind, having compassion one of
another. Love as brethren. Be pitiful. Be tenderhearted. Be courteous. I tell you, this hope, it gets
in your heart and it sheds abroad the love and the mercy and the
goodness of God in your heart. And it'll change your whole attitude
towards other people. Here, I was going to hell. I
deserved to perish, but now I have hope. You know, it just makes
you love people and makes you pity those who don't have it
and appreciate those who do. Look in verse 9, not rendering
evil for evil. Not getting even, not getting
the last word, or railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing. You don't have to avenge yourself.
Bruce, what do you want me to do when somebody comes up and
cusses me and persecutes me? Well, remember this. You've got
a good hold. You've got a good hold. What
does it matter what they say? It isn't going to change your
hold. Verse 10, For he that will love life and see good days,
let him reframe his lips from evil. his tongue from evil, his
lips that speak no guile, eschew evil, do good, seek peace and
pursue it, the eyes of the Lord over their righteousness, ears
open to their prayer, 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? But, and if you
suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are you. Happy are you. And be not afraid of their terrors.
and don't be troubled. Why? It don't matter what you
suffer. It's just going to be a short
time. What does it matter if they break the thief's legs?
In a short time, he's going to glory. What if they remind him
what a miserable wretch he is? He knows it. But in just a few
hours, he's going to put off with that old miserable man,
and he's going to rise to be in the company of angels. Spirits
of just men made perfect, and of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why does it matter? Why does it matter what He suffered?
Why does it matter what people say? Why does it matter if He
loses everything if He has Christ? It affects us, doesn't it? Boy,
a good hope will affect you. It affects the way you live your
life, the way you think. Every man that has this hope
in him purifies himself, even as Christ is pure. a good hope,
a good hope. And you may not take as long
to tell it as I have this morning. But I tell you this, you can
explain it. You can explain it. God bless His Word. Let's pray.