Alright, let's open our Bibles
this morning to the book of 1 Peter chapter 3. I'm going to preach
tonight. If you want to read tonight's
scripture this afternoon, tonight's message will be taken from 1
John chapter 2. Verse 21 through 29, I'm going
to speak tonight on not ashamed at His coming. Not ashamed at
His coming. 1 John 2, 21. This morning, 1
Peter chapter 3, I want to read my text before I comment on each
verse, the Lord willing. I Peter chapter 3, let's begin
reading with verse 15. And Peter is writing to the elect,
strangers, born again heirs, who are kept by the power of
God. And he says in verse 15, 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 reverence. Having a good conscience that
whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be
ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will
of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than you suffer
for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit, by which Spirit also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime or
at one time were disobedient when once the longsuffering of
God, patience of God, waited in the days of Noah while the
ark was being prepared Wherein few, that is eight souls, were
saved through, not by water, but saved by the ark, were saved
through water, the waters of judgment. The like figure, whereunto
even baptism also now save us. In parenthesis, not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God. And baptism doth also now save
us by the resurrection of Christ, who is gone into heaven and is
on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being
made subject unto Him. All right, let's look at this
very important scripture. Back in verse 15, The Apostle Peter says, sanctify
the Lord God. Sanctify the Lord God. The word
sanctify is holy, make holy. And we know that the Lord God
is essentially holy. We just read a few moments ago,
holy and reverent is His name. We know that our God is infinitely
holy. Nothing can be added to His holiness.
Our God is perfectly holy. When Isaiah saw the Lord high
and lifted up, he said, the seraphims were circling his throne, crying,
holy, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Our God is holy. We don't make God holy. Then
what does this mean? What does this mean? You sanctify
the Lord God. What does this mean? I'll tell
you what it means. It means this. Now listen. It means you acknowledge
in your heart His holiness. You acknowledge His holiness. You regard, regard Him and I
regard Him to be holy. We declare and proclaim that
God is holy. That's what we're talking about
here. You face the fact, deal with it, and submit to it, and
bow to it, and acknowledge it, that God's holy. I want to show
you a scripture. Turn to Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter 10. Here are
the two sons of Aaron. Aaron was the high priest. Avon
was a special man to God, Moses and Avon. When you read about
one, you read about the other, Moses and Avon. But Avon had
two sons in Leviticus 10, verse 1 and 2, Nadab and Abihu. And these sons of Avon took either
of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon,
and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded
them not. They didn't come the prescribed way, through the priest,
through the particular incense, through the particular sacrifice
God had ordained. So there went out fire from the
Lord and devoured them, and they died before God. Then Moses said
unto Abel, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be
sanctified, I will be regarded as holy, I will be acknowledged
recognized as holy by them that come nigh unto me. And before all the people I will
be glorified." And Avon didn't say a word, no objection. Here his sons tried to come before
God with strange fire and a different offering, and God killed them.
And he said, I'll be regarded as holy by them that come to
me." God killed Moses for this very same sin. Look at Numbers chapter 20. That's
right, Numbers chapter 20. God dealt severely with Moses
about this, and I've mentioned this to you several times. But
you remember when the people were without water and God commanded
Moses to strike the rock? He said, I'll stand upon the
rock. And Moses, you strike the rock
and water will come out. And Moses struck the rock and
water came out. That's the type of Christ, picture
of Christ. He's the rock. And Christ is
smitten, smitten of God and afflicted. From him flows blood to justify
and water to sanctify. Make holy. And now, Christ is
not offered again and again and again. He's offered once. By
one offering, He perfected us forever. When we come to Christ,
we come calling upon Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, speak to him, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.
Lord, let thy blood be propitiation. We don't have to sacrifice Christ
again. Well, the people were without
water the second time, and God said to Moses, verse 8, numbers
20, take your rod, gather the assemblage together, take thou
and your brother, and speak to the rod. Just speak to it. Well, verse 10, Moses and Aaron
gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said
to them, and Moses was angry and upset with the people murmuring,
and he said to the congregation, he said, here now, you rebels,
must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up
his hand, and with his rock, he smote the rock twice, with
his rock. And the water came out, and the
congregation drank, and the beast also. And the Lord spake unto
Moses' neighbor, and, behold, you didn't believe me, to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel." You didn't sanctify
me. You didn't regard me as holy.
My word is holy. My person is holy. You ruined
the type. You ruined the picture. You took
it on yourself to come your way. And Moses? Therefore you're not
going to bring this congregation to the land I've given them,
took Moses up on a mountain and killed him. God will be sanctified. And that's
what he's talking about over here in 1 Peter 3. You and I regard God to be holy. God is holy. And his love is
holy love, and his grace is holy grace. And if he saves a person,
he does it according to his holiness. He does it in a way that he may
be just and justify. We don't go around that. We sanctify
the Lord. And this is done in two ways.
Now listen to me. It's done in two ways. Regarding
God to be holy. It's done in two ways. Acknowledging
God to be holy. One, it's done externally. The
Lord is sanctified when we gather together and worship Him. You
came this morning and you'll come another Sunday and another
Sunday and another Sunday. You've come together because
it's the day to worship the Lord. The people of God are gathering
together. You acknowledge at least openly and externally that
God is holy, that God is to be worshipped, that God is to be
praised. We just sang hymns of praise. We just read the word
of praise. We're outwardly, externally acknowledging
God to be holy, that He's worthy of worship, that He's worthy
of our time. That He's worthy of our praise,
that He's worthy of our thanksgiving. A moment ago I led you in prayer
and you bowed your head. You're acknowledging that God
is holy. Isn't that right? Externally. Acknowledging God
is holy. You have open respect for His
Word. You're sitting there quietly
now while we're reading and preaching from the Word. At least outwardly
you're acknowledging that God's God. That God's holy. God is holy. We're honoring His
Word. We're honoring His Son. We're
honoring His Gospel. We're saying God is holy. And
it does matter. I want to read you a scripture. I've never read this to you before.
I'm going to read it this morning. Exodus. I don't recall speaking
from it before. Exodus 19, verse 10. Exodus 19,
verse 10. I've had people say, well, it doesn't matter what kind of
music you use, just sing. It doesn't matter about the order
of the service, just get together. It doesn't matter how we dress.
I was shocked in California, the way some of the people dressed
when they came to the worship services. The way they undressed,
let's put it that way. And this sloppiness, and it just didn't look like ladies
and gentlemen. And that's not regarding God
to be holy. When you're coming together to
worship God. I want you to listen to this
verse here in Exodus chapter 19. Chapter 19 verse, beginning
with verse Now, and the Lord said unto Moses, I come unto
thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak
with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the
people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Now you go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow,
and let them wash their clothes. Here you got a whole desert full
of folks that cross in a desert and they're eating manna and
quail and working hard and keeping things together. And the Lord
said, now, get those people together and tell them to wash their clothes,
clean up, put on their best. Why? And be ready, verse 11,
be ready today and tomorrow. Take all day today and all day
tomorrow getting ready. And you be ready against the
third day, for the third day the Lord will come down in the
sight of the people. I'm going to visit them. I'm
going to visit them. This is special. God's coming. Where two or three have met Him
in my name, I'll be in the midst. I'm not saying people should
dress formally and act formally, I'm just saying decently and
respectfully. It's the Lord's house. This ain't no lodge meeting.
It's the Lord's house. That's right. I'm not saying
ties are required or anything like it. Not so. Not formal.
I'm just saying clean up. And act like you're coming before
the Lord. Isn't that what that said? Two
days. You work on this two days. Because
I'm coming down among you and you sanctify me. It's special. If it ever ceases to be special,
if I ever lose my butterflies and my concern, I'm going to
sit somewhere else and let somebody else sit here. If I ever lose
my awe and fear and reverence at the very thought of God Almighty
meeting with us, I'm going, Bob, to cut grass is what I'm going
to do. Let somebody else do the preaching. Wouldn't you? I would. We sanctify God externally. But
now that's not all of it. What's this now? Listen to verse
15 again. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. You see, in your heart, all outward
forms. If it's acceptable, if it's recognized,
if God's in it, it starts within. The outward form means nothing. The outward form is useless unless
you sanctify Him in your heart. You know, I do this, I do this,
Mike, because my heart says, do it. See what
I'm saying? My heart says do. I sanctify
God in my heart. I believe Him, and love Him,
and worship Him, and fear Him, and praise Him in the heart. And that motivates the outward
man. Sanctify Him in your heart. That's where it starts. Turn
to, here's a verse over in Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15,
verse 7 and 8. Matthew 15, verse 7 and 8. He's
speaking to these Jews, these religious people. He said in
verse 7, you hypocrites, well did Esaias the prophet prophesy
of you, saying, these people draw nigh unto me with their
mouths. That's not enough. They honor
me with their lips. That's not enough. With their
bodies, with their presence, that's not enough. Their hearts are far from me.
So in vain they worship for me, teaching for doctrines and commandments
of men. Yes, there is a sanctifying of
the Lord externally. It does matter what I do. It does matter how we do it.
It does matter. But it matters most of all why
we do it. Isn't that right? Of course it's
in here. Sanctify the Lord God. He's ultimately
and infinitely and essentially and eternally holy. And there's
no way I can add anything to His complete holiness. But I'll tell you, for my good
and for His glory, I can sanctify Him in my heart. and for the
influence I have upon others." Alright, look at the next line,
and be ready, be ready, be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asks you a reason of the hope that's in you. Why do you believe that God loves
you? Why do you believe that you have the love and favor of
God upon you? That's the question. He read
to give an answer to that question. Why do you believe that your
sins are all forgiven and remembered no more? Why do you believe that?
Why do you believe that your name is written in the book of
life among the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? Why do you believe that when
you die you'll be raised from the dead and live eternally in
glory with God? Why do you believe that? Well,
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a
reason why you believe that. We're ready, aren't we? And our
answer is the same. We'll all answer the same thing
because we're saved the same way. We're ready. I'm ready. Are you ready? We're
ready. I say, first of all, God's grace
and God's mercy is commended toward a people in Christ. God
decreed it and planned it and determined it and purposed it
from all eternity in a blessed covenant of grace. David talked
about that when he was dying, didn't he, Ron? The covenant.
God's going to be merciful. He's plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy. That's the reason that I believe
I or any son of Adam has any hope, because God is merciful,
not because of anything in me or of me or from me, but God. Secondly, God's Son, Jesus Christ
my Lord, came to this earth, born of a woman, made under the
law, in the flesh, And by his perfect life and perfect obedience,
as the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, worked out a perfect
righteousness, perfect for me, for all who believe. And God
is well pleased. He looked at him and me and him
and said, this is my son, whom I'm well pleased, delighted,
And not only that, but he went as my substitute to the cross
of Calvary, buried my sins in his body on the tree, and paid
the debt, every cent I owe, all of it. Satisfied God's justice,
honored God's law. He was buried. As my scapegoat arose as my justifier
and ascended to the right hand of the Father as my mediator.
And there, listen, He ever lives to make intercession for me.
In Him, my surety. I have the wisdom of God, the
righteousness of God, the redemption of God, and someday the resurrection
of life. That's my hope. That's my hope. But you didn't say anything about
your experience. I've had lots of... I hope to
have some more. You didn't say anything about
your feeling it never entered in. I was chosen and loved and
redeemed before I had any feeling by His grace. But you didn't
say anything about the day that you accepted Jesus. I accepted
Him because He accepted me. My hope is built on nothing,
nothing less or more than Jesus' blood and His righteousness.
His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the overwhelming
flood, when all around everything my soul gives way. He then is
all my hope and strength." Listen, listen to me now. He said, you
be ready to give that answer, but you give it with meekness
and reverence. You see that? Acts 9 verse 15,
you give that answer with meekness. Humility, because as Barney used
to say, Bud, Bud, you are what you are by the grace of God. You come down off your high horse,
Mr. Mahan, because everything you have and are is by the grace
of God. You're nothing in yourself. And
when any man begins to think he's something when he's nothing,
he's deceived, he's in trouble. Don't ever let that pride of
whatever get a hold of you, because you and I give that answer with
meekness. Give that answer with reverence.
David did. David. We're just babes in swaddling
clothes compared to him, but he sat before the Lord and he
said, Lord, who am I? Who am I? And what is my people
that you should show such mercy to us? You give that answer when
that person, whoever it is, asks you, come on now, tell me, what's
the reason for your hope? Give it with meekness. I am what
I am by the grace of God. Give it with reverence. Who am
I? And give it courteously and respectfully. I know some sovereign gracers,
and I love them. I love them for the truth's sake,
but they're smart alecks. And there's no room for a smart
aleck preaching the gospel. You give that answer courteously
and respectfully, that person may be a true seeker. Isn't that
right, Ken? He could be, couldn't he? That
person asking you when you're trying to be clever and smart
and all this, he could be one of God's sheep. So give him that
answer kindly and courteously and respectfully. You may be
entertaining an angel in a way. Could be. Let's don't run him
off. He just wants to know. He just
wants to know, and I understand why he wants to know. Here's a fellow running around
in rags saying he's the richest person on earth. I'd like to
know how you come off with that. Here's a fellow in a body that's
rotting and dying and decaying. He said, I'll never live, I'll
never die. I'd like to know why you believe
that. Here's a fellow that's the weakest of all men who says
he's perfectly righteous. You're what? Perfectly righteous
in God's sight. I have no sin. I'd sure like
to know how you figure that. He's asking. And he's got a right
to because it's a mystery. So give it courteously, kindly. Having, verse 16, a good conscience,
a good conscience, in other words, straight, straight within, that
whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, that they may be
ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
You can be sure of this. If we do love our Lord Jesus
Christ with a true heart, with a sincere heart, And Peter said
that, Lord, you know I love you. You know I do. And we do worship
God and believe this gospel with a pure conscience. Not that our
conscience isn't aware of our sins, but our conscience is sincere. That word is sincere. A pure
heart and a pure conscience is a sincere conscience. We make mistakes with our heads,
but our hearts are sincere. And God looks on the heart. And
if we are with that true message and that true heart and sincere
conscience, if we're still slandered and still despised and still
reviled and still hated, listen, He said, God will vindicate you.
God someday will vindicate you. Yeah, He will. Look at verse
16 again. Now listen, if you have a good
conscience, A pure conscience, a true heart towards God. And
they speak evil of you. They call you an evildoer. One
day, they're going to be ashamed. God's going to vindicate you.
God's going to deal with your enemies. You don't have to deal
with them. They accuse your good conversation falsely. They accuse
your good conversation falsely. They speak falsely and evil of
you. God's going to deal with them. Let me show you that in
Matthew 18. It doesn't matter who it is,
family or otherwise, God's going to deal with them. In Matthew
18, let me show you this, they're going to be ashamed someday.
Oh, someday. Payday someday. Payday someday. In Matthew 18, verse 6, "...whoso
shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, That's
not talking about infants, that's talking about children who believe
in Christ. Children of God. Adults who believe
in Christ. They're His little ones. It'd
be better for Him that a millstone were hanged about His neck and
He was drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe unto the world
because of offenses, for it must needs be, the offenses have got
to come. They've got to come. But woe
to that man by whom the offense cometh. Give your answer. Stand with
the gospel. Don't move. Do it with meekness
and reverence. Do it with a good conscience,
because God will vindicate you. Isn't that precious? God will
vindicate you someday. For it's better, let me move
on quickly, it's better, one thing we know, It's better if
the will of God be so, and everything's ordained by the will of God.
The Old Testament says that. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And the New Testament says he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. So if it's the will of God for
you to bear reproach for Christ's sake, For it's better, if the
will of God be so, you suffer for well-doing. It's better to
suffer for righteousness than to suffer for evil." That's a whole lot better. The
hymn writer put it this way. Listen to this. That soul that would to Jesus
press must learn this, firm and sure. that tribulation, more
or less, they must and shall endure. From troubles they're
non-exempt. It's God's own wise decree. Satan,
the weakest saint, will tempt, nor are the strongest free. The
world opposes us without our own unbelief within. We fear, we faint, we grieve,
we doubt, we feel the presence of sin. But though we're feeble,
He is strong. And His promise is the truth.
And we shall all conquerors be ere long, and more than conquerors
too. That's a promise. That's what
He said. I'll vindicate you. It's a whole lot better to suffer
for good than suffer for evil. All right, verse 18. Now, you
can read this verse with two things in mind. You can read
it with this in mind, Christ the Redeemer, or you can read
it with this in mind, Christ the example, both are true. In
this case, I believe the reference is Christ the example. He's talking
about suffering, isn't he, Ken, talking about suffering, and
he says Christ suffered. God had only one son without
sin. He doesn't have any son without
suffering. That's what he said. Lartan Reed, verse 18, For Christ
also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. He suffered. We ought to count
it a joy that we are permitted to share in the sufferings of
our Lord. That's right, either in redemption
or in reality, by experience. I think first and foremost, I
look at this as Christ my Redeemer. That's first and foremost. God
is holy and we're sinned. Christ suffered the just for
the unjust. He brought us to God. He didn't
invite us to God. He brought us to God, to bring
us to God, just and justified. Alright, watch this now. Our
Lord, verse 18, was put to death in the body, in the flesh. Our
Lord was put to death in the flesh. But He was quickened,
He was raised by His eternal Spirit. Now when we die, we have
nothing more that we can do. Turn to Romans 8. Romans chapter
8. When we die, we have nothing
more that we can do. We're just dead. We can't raise
ourselves. We can't give ourselves life.
We can't come out of the tomb. We're dead. Romans 8, verse 10. But if Christ be in you, your
body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is life because
of righteousness. That's right. Because of him. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body
by His Spirit that dwells in you." Now, stay with me. Our Lord Jesus Christ was put
to death in the flesh, but He was raised from the dead by His
eternal Spirit, by that same Spirit. By that same spirit,
inspiring, calling, teaching Noah, Christ preached to those
people who were in prison. Look at verse 19. That same spirit
by which he was quickened, by which also he went and preached
to the spirits that are now in prison, which sometime were disobedient
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah
while the ark was a preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved. Back yonder in the days of Noah,
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Noah knew God. Noah preached
the gospel. He was a preacher of righteousness.
The gospel was preached to them, but it didn't profit them not
being mixed with faith. By whose spirit did he preach?
By the spirit of Christ. By whose spirit did he proclaim
God's grace and mercy? by the Spirit of Christ. And
that's what this is saying. Our Lord Jesus Christ was put
to death in the flesh, in the body. But He's the eternal Spirit. He is life. And by that Spirit,
He was raised from the dead. And by that same Spirit that
raised Him from the dead, and that Spirit that dwells in you,
that Spirit of God, by that same Spirit by which He was raised
from the dead, He preached to people in the days of Noah. Those
people have been dead hundreds and hundreds of years. He didn't
go preach to them down there where they are now. He preached
to them where they were living by the Spirit of God. Same Spirit
of God that dwells in you. The same Spirit of God by which
we'll be raised. The same Spirit of God that brought
forth our Lord from the grave is the Spirit by which He preached
to the people in the days of Noah. It's the same Spirit by
which He preaches today. I'm preaching to you. It's not
my words, these are His words. The Spirit of God inspired the
Word. The Spirit of God gives life.
The Spirit of God gives understanding. The Spirit of God quickens. And
that same Spirit is the one by which He preached to those who
were in prison. And look at verse 20, the latter
part now. It says, while the ark was preparing,
wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. Eight
souls were saved through water. The water was above them, the
water was below them, the water was raining all around them,
and they were saved, secure, protected, dry in the ark. They came right through it. Right
through all of the wrath and judgment, through all of the
judgment that killed everybody else, destroyed everything. But
these people were safe in the ark. And they were delivered
in that ark through the water. And when the water receded, and
the judgment stopped, and the ark door was opened, they walked
out on dry land. They were brought through all
that in the ark. That ark is Christ's. Now watch the next
verse. The like figure when to baptism
doth also now save us, or is a picture of our salvation. Not
the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Now listen, we're in Christ. God put us in Christ
before the world began. God gave us to Christ. He came
down here. We're in Christ like those eight
souls were in the ark. And the judgment of heaven fell.
And the test and trials from beneath, from hell, engulfed
him. And all around him, all without
him, our Lord, we were in Him. And the darts were hurled, the
wrath of God fell, the temptation of Satan came, and we were safe,
protected, dry, delivered in Him. He went into the grave,
and we went with Him. He came into this judgment made
of a woman. We were in Him. When He was tempted
by the law, we were in Him. When the judgment, all judgment
fell upon Him, we were in Him. When He died and went to the
grave, we were in Him. And when He was raised, all the
judgment's over. All the sin's gone. We walked
out. And that's what we're saying
here in this water. Going down beneath the water, believers
saying, I'm in Christ. When He died, I died. When He
was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. And the
judgment's over. There's therefore now no judgment
to them who are in Christ. You see that? There's nothing confusing about
that. Our Lord Jesus Christ died in the flesh. And He was buried. But His Spirit, His Spirit of
life, He is the eternal Spirit. That Spirit brought Him forth
from the grave. And that's no new Spirit. That's
the Spirit that preached through Noah to the people then. That's the Spirit that preaches
now. That's the Holy Spirit. That's
the Spirit of life. And He preached to them while
that ark was being prepared. And then when that ark was finished,
those people went in. God's elect, God's people, believers
went in. And there they were in that ark,
shielded, protected, kept. And when the judgment was all
over, it never touched them. The ark opened up and let them
out. And God said, put a rainbow in the sky. He said, no more.
No more water. No more. And Christ came. I'm in Him. You're in Him by
faith. And all the wrath of God fell
on him. My ark, my deliverer. And he went to the grave. He
did everything. He took all the judgment all
around, above, underneath, hell, heaven, man, everything. It fell
on him. It fell on him. And he came out
of that grave by the resurrection of Christ. Enter into your inheritance. Rejoice in the Lord. I told my
class, lift up your head. Lift up your heart. Sing. Rejoice Christ has set us free. Old Noah never looked for any
more floods. He had God's rainbow. I'm not
looking for any more wrath. I've got God's rainbow. God's
promise. It's a many colored rainbow too. I love it. Isn't
it beautiful? It's always around my head. God's rainbow. He's not going to send a flood
on me. The flood fell on Christ. And verse 22 said, He'd gone
to heaven. He's the right hand of God. And
everything, angels, authorities, powers, principalities, heaven,
earth, and hell, and everywhere else, are subject to Him. They're
under His feet. And they're under yours too.
And they will be revealed that way someday, every one of them. That's what baptism is saying.
It's talking about the ark submerged in the water. And eight souls
were saved through water. Not by water, through water.
By Christ, by the ark. And you and I are saved not by
water, through judgment. By Christ, we're in Christ.