Living Secure Amidst Hostility | 1 Peter 3:13-17 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 1/25/2026

Indeed, we are called to come and to

adore him, to worship him. One of the

greatest ways that we worship him is by

bringing our minds and our hearts to him

and finding his grace and truth. Well,

this morning, uh, if you don't have a

sermon outline, there are some guys that

are coming forward to give one to you.

And if you're joining us online, we want

you to know that our sermon outlines are

available on our website. And the way we

teach and preach in the life of our

church, you really need one of these

outlines. It will help you immensely as

we come to this time of our worship.

We've often said this in the life of the

church and it is it is a a great thing

as we've just sung worshiping him and

adoring him. Listen to this. Truth in

the mind brings hope to the heart. Let's

say that together. Truth in the mind

brings hope to the heart. Say it one

more time. Truth in the mind brings hope

to the heart. This is the way God

designed it. God designed it so that as

we come to learn of him, we see that he

is a God who is sovereign over all

things. That he knows the beginning from

the end of everything. And he comes and

he says, "Come and learn of me that you

may grow in faith and in knowledge and

listen to this in joy and in peace." So

this morning as we come to this text in

first Peter, we really really want to

see and to hear what he has for us.

First of all, notice in the review,

notice the review here in the context of

this. We're studying this little letter

of first Peter. For those of you who are

here for the first time, this will help

you. There's a little letter called

First Peter in the back. It's written by

the Apostle Peter, and it's written to

Christians spread throughout the first

century in the Mediterranean world. And

they're living under persecution.

They're living in a hostile environment.

Notice this. Peter's overarching theme

is holy living. Live a holy life amid

these two things: suffering and even

persecution.

Suffering and persecution. He's saying,

"Don't give up living for God, living a

holy life in the midst of suffering and

persecution." This letter answers the

question, "How should we live? How

should we live?" And he's telling us,

"This is how you live." So Sheridan

Hills in 2026 this this letter is

helping us how to live our lives, how we

should think, how should we feel, how

should we obey his plan. Now for review,

chapter 1 all the way to chapter 2:12

was about this. Christians are a chosen

people set apart to God to declare God's

excellencies while we are living as

keywords sojourners or exiles in what

kind of culture? A

>> hostile culture.

Indeed, a fallen world is hostile to the

holiness of God. And so it is against

it. It is posed against it. And we see

that. Look at chapter 2:es 13-2 is what

we finished last week. So this is

another section. We looked at several

sermons from this. Christians are to

live a holy life in regards to let's say

them out loud together. Government,

employment,

marriage, and relating to what?

>> The body of Christ. That's right. So

last week we looked at how do we relate

in submission to government, employment,

marriage. We looked at all of those, but

then into the body of Christ. How should

Christians act? And do you remember with

me last Sunday we looked at that passage

where Peter goes back to the Old

Testament. He goes back to Psalm 34 and

he quotes from Psalm 34 in his letter

reminding us that God is the one who

deserves our obedience. He deserves our

praise. We don't revile when we are

reviled. We live knowing that God is in

charge and that he sees everything and

he is just and we can depend upon his

justice and we do that even within the

context of the body of Christ. Well,

today we start a new section and it's

from chapter 3 and verse 13 and it and

it will go through 411. Chapter 4 and

verse 11 and fill this in. Christians

can respond to suffering in a godly way.

Christians can respond to suffering in a

godly way.

Over the last week,

in fact,

last Sunday, we saw some disturbing

images in our culture.

We saw a beautiful church um in a

beautiful building

in peace

in their worship service. and we saw

that piece of their worship service

hostily interrupted.

Um, I won't comment on all of the

controversy around

um those events in the political

climate, but what we saw was a very

Bible teaching church, a very solid

group of brothers and sisters. Um,

Pastor Ben knows two of the pastors of

that church, went to seminary with two

of the pastors of that church, and they

were hostily

um attacked

um in worship to the point where their

worship service was um brought to a a

halt and uh had to be completely shut

down and interrupted.

This isn't the first time that we have

seen that. Um we live in a large country

um with over 300 million people. Uh we

have a short history um of only 250

years. But nevertheless,

we have seen a little bit of this from

time to time.

But let me remind you, as much as we

felt some of the oppression of that and

the and the disgust of people attacking

those in worship,

um, let me remind you that there are

churches all around the world that

cannot even meet.

They are prohibited from meeting because

if they do, they will go to jail.

There are churches that meet out in the

countryside under the trees, even in the

dead of winter amidst the snow. They

meet where they are able to come

together. Some I've been to worship

services in warehouses in the middle of

the night.

I when I was young was at a warehouse in

um a city in the Czech Republic before

the Iron Curtain came down and there

were 200 college students all day long

that trickled into this building and

they waited all day long so there wasn't

a large group arriving at once and

around 11:00 at night when everybody

finally was there we started singing and

then there was started to be teaching

and we taught and we sang um until about

4:00 in the morning when everybody

started quietly dispersing because they

were not permitted to meet. This morning

the title of the message is living

secure

amidst hostility.

Living secure amidst hostility. Um, I

want us to look and I want us to see

what God's word says about when the

culture turns upon the church because

that was certainly the case in first

Peter in the first century. Notice the

central theme of this message. Living

secure amidst hostility is possible

because true Christians, two things,

one, belong to Christ and are destined

for glory. That's what we're going to

read in just a minute. True Christians

belong to Christ and they're destined

for glory. That's what we've been seeing

already in First Peter. We see multiple

places. If you just go back and read the

first three chapters, this takes you 10

minutes. You can see that because we are

Christs and because he has an eternal

plan, we can remember that even though

we live in a culture, in a world, a

fallen world that is sometimes very

hostile to our faith. Look at this. So

they are called to fill it in suffer

well.

We are called to suffer well. You say,

is there such thing as suffering well?

Oh yes, you can suffer poorly or you can

suffer well. We are called to suffer

well and we are called to have no fear

of persecutors. That's what we're going

to read today. It's possible to have no

fear of persecutors

and to bear, listen to this, to even

bear hopefilled or hopeful witness in a

world that what?

Misunderstands them.

They misunderstand. Satan has blinded

their eyes. So, he's confused them.

In fact, during um starting point this

morning, we talked about the fact that

in the Roman Empire during this time,

there were numerous accusations made

against the first century church. Um, so

the first century church is when Jesus

was with us. He dies on the cross for

our sins. He rises again. He stays. He

teaches for a few more days and then he

ascends to the father and then during

the Pentecost feast. The Holy Spirit

comes upon the church. Thousands of

people begin to be saved. So it goes

from a few hundred to thousands upon

thousands are coming to faith over and

over again and the gospel begins to go

out from Jerusalem. Part of the reason

it goes out from Jerusalem is because

there was a great persecution against

those new believers in Jerusalem. And so

the Romans rose up, the Jewish religious

people rose up and they started

persecuting the church. Well, those

those Christians had to flee for their

lives. So they went to other places,

they went to other regions. Eventually

they went to other cities around the

Mediterranean. So formerly Jewish, now

Jewish believers, and they some were

Greeks that were become believers. And

so they're rising in persecution as the

numbers continue to increase of those

who have discovered Jesus who God is

calling. There's a movement of that. The

Roman Empire begins to notice and the

Roman Empire begins to feel threatened.

The Roman Empire doesn't like this. So

the Roman Empire over the next few

hundred years begins a tremendous

persecution against this group called

the way or those who are little Christs.

Christian means little Christ. And so

that was at first used in a derogatory

sense.

And so as we see this occur, what what

is the heart? What is the what is the

way in which Christians are to respond

to this? Now, some of the accusations

when I say here in a world that

misunderstands them, that really is what

was happening.

Listen to this.

Christians were accused of being

atheists.

You say, "WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING

ABOUT?" NO, THEY BELIEVE in God. We

believe in God. The Bible's all about

God. No, they were accused of being

atheists. Why? Because they didn't

believe in the Roman gods.

They rejected the whole Roman gods that

were based upon Greek gods. They

rejected the gods that were made of

idols, the gods that were called upon

for various things. The the the

Christians said, "No, I I do not worship

those gods." The Christians did not

believe that the emperor

was a god. They rejected Caesar as Lord,

as in God.

The other accusations that were made, do

you know any of the other accusations?

They were accused of being incestuous.

Why were they accused of being

incestuous?

Because there's a lot of our Christian

teaching that talks about loving our

brothers and sisters in Christ. They

misunderstood

They they said that's that's crazy. Even

in the Roman Empire, they they knew that

incest was bad, even though that there

were certain emperors in other

situations that were as a result of

incest incestuous. Um but and I know

parents, you got a little bit of

explaining to do um this afternoon, but

they were accused of being incestuous.

There were many things that were

misunderstood in the scripture. And you

know what? That has not changed

in this day and time.

The hostile world around us that does

not know Christ, that rejects Christ,

that does not want God ruling over their

life, will look at Christian doctrines

very often and say, "Look at this. You

believe this." And they will be wrong.

They misunderstand the nature of God.

They misunderstand the nature of the

cross. They misunderstand the nature of

salvation.

Notice this last statement that is under

that. Peter is teaching Christians to

live faithfully

when obedience to Christ brings friction

rather than favor.

He is he is calling Christians to live

faithfully when obedience to Christ

brings friction rather than favor. You

know, there was a day and time in the

United States, in our culture, when if

somebody was a good, strong Christian,

that was seen as a as a wonderful

um accolade for their life. They they

that that was greatly respected.

Um then it came to a period where it was

kind of neutral. I don't really care.

In our culture, in this day and time, in

certain pockets of our culture, in

certain broad swaths of our culture,

when someone says that they're a

Christian,

that is um that is not seen as something

that's favorable.

uh one of my pastor friends here in

South Florida um a few years ago,

especially when a lot of the LGBTQ

things took off and became very very

forceful and very popularized.

He said there there were people in his

church that were persecuted because they

went to their church.

Um their church was simply known as

being a church that taught the Bible. We

have people in our church who have been

um persecuted, who have been chastised

or who have missed promotions. Um some

who have even been let go

because of their faith in Christ. There

were certain policies that were brought

forth in the in the community um of

their work and they were told you got to

do this and if you don't do this you got

to find another job. and some of them

decided to find another job.

So, we live in a world that

misunderstands our faith. In fact, one

of the ways that you see that is when

sometimes um we're called haters

because we disagree with something. It

doesn't mean that we hate

um someone who disagrees with us. It

simply means that we don't believe that.

We we believe that that's that that's

wrong. We should not confuse

disagreement with hate. But that's what

a hostile world does. It turns it. It

seeks to amplify it and it seeks to take

what is good and call it evil and what

is evil and call it good. That's what

Isaiah 5 says.

And so very similarly um sometimes the

accuses accusation is made that you are

phobic that you're phobic about

something in society. Well no I'm not

afraid of it. I simply disagree. I

simply say no there's a there's another

way. Don't don't call me phobic about

it. You can recognize that I disagree.

And so very often the world

misunderstands

or in their misunderstanding

they will seek to bring a hostile

attack. So we are not so very far

different from the people of this

letter. Does that make sense? My point

here is that in the first century the

church was under pressure. Let me tell

you that through all the centuries in

time since then, the church has been

under pressure. And why is that? Because

the church lives as God's people in a

fallen world. And we too are fallen, but

we simply have been redeemed by the

blood of the lamb. And so we see a

different calling. Peter is saying,

"Don't live like the world. Live with

love. Live with grace. Live with care.

Live with the gospel. Um don't revile

when reviled. Don't attack when

attacked. Live with grace in this. So,

how do we live securely amidst

hostility? Let's read the passage and

see it in verse 13. Look what it says at

the top of the page in the box on your

page in front of you. Everybody look at

verse 13. Now, who is there to harm you

if you are zealous for what is good?

We're going to see what that means in

just a second. Verse 14, but even if you

should suffer for righteousness sake,

you will be blessed. Have no fear of

them, nor be troubled, but in your

hearts, honor Christ the Lord as what?

as holy, always being prepared to make a

defense to anyone who asks you for the

reason for the hope that is in you. Yet

do it with gentleness and respect. Verse

16, having a good conscience so that

when you are slandered,

those who revile your good behavior in

Christ may be put to shame. Verse 17,

for it is better to suffer for doing

good if that should be God's will than

for doing evil.

>> So

we can suffer for doing evil or we can

suffer for doing good. God has called us

to notice what Peter says in this. So

the first thing how to live securely

amidst hostility. hostility. Number one,

the normal expectation. So, here's the

normal expectation. Living for Christ

sometimes brings suffering. We need to

see that in verse 13 and in verse 14,

what Peter is saying. When you live for

Christ, you can expect to suffer. In

fact, look at verse 13. What does this

mean? Now, who is there to harm you if

you are zealous for what is good? The

idea is this. Even in a secular society,

most of the time when somebody is really

doing something good, when when somebody

is going and helping put out a fire um

with a house, somebody's going and

rescuing someone, someone is going and

sees someone, a family that suddenly

doesn't have anything. And so they

gather around, they gather the

neighbors, they say, "They need food.

They need some clothing. They've lost

everything. Let's let's help them out."

Most of the time when somebody sees

someone doing something good, they go,

"Oh, that's good." And you can even be

very very much against God, you can be

hostile to the things that are spiritual

and God. But even somebody who's hostile

to God, when they see somebody doing

something kind and good that is helpful,

typically they will say, "Ah, that's a

good thing." So that's part of what he's

saying in verse 13. Look what it says.

Now, who is there to harm you if you are

zealous for what is good? That's that's

the common outside public perception.

But look at verse 14. Now, he clarifies

something a little bit more. But if you

should suffer, and here it is, for

righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

So, he's saying when you're out there

helping in public society with the

accepted good, you know, most likely

they're going to leave you alone. But

when you are standing with God in

righteousness in a hostile world, notice

what he says here. If you should suffer

for righteousness's sake, he's saying,

remember,

God sees that and God will take care of

you. God is going to bless you. So, a

few things to notice here. Number one,

Peter acknowledges that people usually

do not persecute noble behavior. That's

verse 13. But in verse 14, look what

number two says. Then Peter recognizes

sometimes

you will suffer for doing good and not

just doing good, but you could put out

there to the side as well standing with

God. So when the culture begins to

reject God in certain things that it

believes, when you stand with God on

those things that the culture doesn't

like, you can expect that sometimes you

are going to suffer.

And then at the end of uh 14A, what we

call 14A, the first part of that verse,

notice here in verse 13 and number

three, Peter reminds that God sees

and God rewards. Look what it says

there. It says in verse 14, "But even if

you should suffer for righteousness

sake," underline it there, "you will be

blessed."

You see, we saw that last week at the

very end of the message. Last week, we

said that God is a just God. He sees the

righteous. He sees the wicked. And he

his face is toward them. Now, I want you

to al also notice down here. Look at

Matthew 5 10-12. And I think I have this

um on the screen. Maybe I don't. Maybe.

Yes. Yes. There we go. Look at Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. This is on the screen. This

is not on your page. Look what it says.

This is Jesus. And this is Jesus

preaching really his first sermon called

the sermon on the mount. And so it was

recorded um it's Matthew chapter 5 6 7

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

goes into 8. But notice this at the very

beginning of the sermon on the mount. Um

notice what Jesus says. Look at verse

10. Blessed are those who are persecuted

for what?

Isn't that exactly what we just read in

first Peter? So Peter is keying off the

teaching of Christ that he heard from

Jesus. Peter would have been there

listening to this sermon, the sermon on

the mount. In fact, the sermon on the

mount was probably preached many times

to different crowds. Um that's part of

the reason um that they were able to

record it and write it down. But those

were the teachings of Jesus. That's the

way it went. A teacher would travel

around and teach. So, one of the main

messages that Jesus would teach is this

sermon on the mount. Look what he says.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for

righteousness sake. And look what it

says after that. For theirs is the

kingdom of heaven. You see, you will be

blessed. Does this not echo what Peter

is writing? And then look at verse 11.

Blessed are you when others revile you

and persecute you and utter all kinds of

evil against you falsely

on my account. So for the name of Jesus

when you suffer he says you're going to

be blessed. Look at verse 12. This is

amazing. Read it out loud. Rejoice and

be glad for your reward in he is great

in heaven for so they persecuted the

prophets who were before you. So Jesus

is even saying lift up your eyes to the

economy of God. Lift up your eyes to the

ways of God. Lift up your eyes to that

scale. They may mock you in the

classroom. They may mock you at the

restaurant. They may mock you there in

the dorm room. um in your college. But

listen, the Lord knows and the Lord is

the one that ultimately says and look at

this, your reward where

>> in heaven.

Your reward in heaven

is great. So a lot of times the

Christian is always being called to

don't look at the here and now, but be

looking at the hereafter.

many of the blessings. Now, this is a

real cause of problems for many people

because they're sitting there coming to

Christianity saying, "Well, I want all

the blessings now. I want the healing

now. I want the I want the financial

help now. I want the right relationships

now."

And what we learn in scripture is the

life of faith in a fallen and hostile

world. Some of those blessings are going

to come now. But some of those blessings

aren't going to come till we are safely

home in heaven. And that is for

eternity. Not 70, 80, or 95 years if

you're fortunate.

This is the picture of eternity. This is

the picture of Christ. He's always

lifting up our eyes to the eternal. So

young person, don't just be planning

your life for the next 10, 20, 30, 40,

50 years. start looking at your life as

getting ready for heaven. That's a much

safer way for you to plan your life is

to say what counts for eternity, not

just this mere little kingdom. Safely

turn over the page there and let's see

the second major thing here. So the

first one was the normal expectation and

that's suffering. The second one is this

command, the central command in all of

this. And we see it in verse 14. In the

middle part of verse 14, look what he

says in 14. But even if you should

suffer for righteousness sake, you will

be blessed. That's the first part.

Here's the second part.

Have no fear of them,

>> nor be what?

>> Nor be troubled. Verse 15. But in your

hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. Um

this is the picture. Honor Christ the

Lord as holy. So number one this is very

very cool that Peter what Peter does

here again he goes back to the Old

Testament. We're going to see that here.

Look at first Peter look at number one.

Peter once again echoes back to the Old

Testament to God's word for the Jewish

people and he quotes and he references

Isaiah 8:es 12-13.

So many of his readers would have known

this verse. Many of his readers would

have seen this and they're starting to

see God's word applied from their Old

Testament scriptures into their New

Testament life. Look what it says here

in verse 12. Do not call conspiracy all

that this people calls conspiracy. And

do not fear what they fear, nor be in

dread. Isa Isaiah is saying, stop with

all the fear stuff.

Look at verse 13. But the Lord of hosts,

him shall you honor as holy. Let him be

your fear. Let him be your dread.

Now, this is this this is the picture

that you're not to fear man. Instead,

fear God. Instead, fear the one who made

all things. And that is that is not a

bad thing to fear. That is a wonderful

thing to fear because if you rightly

fear the Lord, you will rightly be

blessed by him. It's people who don't

fear God that get in trouble with God.

But the people who rightly fear him as

holy and just

find him, listen to this, to be gracious

and kind.

And so this is what Peter is calling us

to do. To remember, you don't need to

fear man. You need to fear God.

So we fear God, not your opponents. That

is the big picture here. Fear God, not

your opponents. Notice this line that is

underneath number one. Ancient Israel

feared conspiracies and threat. We too

can do that if we're not careful. We can

run around afraid of all the things that

the culture is going to do. In fact, you

know, right now we have a relatively

conservative view of the Constitution, a

relatively conservative view of freedom

of religion. We have a relatively

conservative view of those things.

Allowing uh religion to flourish. Um we

have that at a national level. We have

that at a state level. We have that in

the state of Florida um with quite a bit

of protection and quite a bit of

freedom. But let me just remind you that

there will be more elections

and we may wind up with political

leaders and we might wind up with even

local leaders that are very hostile to

what we believe and we'll say you're

actually evil for believing the truths

of the Bible and you shouldn't believe

those. And not only that, you shouldn't

believe those, you can't believe those.

I mean, we have people all over the

world that the truths of the Bible are

not allowed to be taught. In fact, in

Canada right now, there are numerous

places in scripture that if you read

them in public, you can be jailed. You

can go to jail if you read Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and Romans chapter 2 in Canada

Romans 2 · chapter mention

publicly.

I mean the I mean this is Canada very

much like us. Um and our Canadian

friends are the ones who are telling us

you you're not going to believe what

we're going through here. Um I I have

friends that are in ministry in Canada

and they're saying it's it's very

strange where we live and how we do

this. And so I just I'm just saying to

you we could become very fearful of

those things. And this is what Peter is

saying not to do. You don't run in all

the conspiracies of fear. You don't run

in those things. Um instead, you fear

God, not your opponents. Does that make

sense? Look at the next thing that we

see here. Now, I I do want you to

remember Isaiah 8:12 through13. Look at

Isaiah 8:12–13

this. I'm going to read it again. Um

look what it says there because that's

the next point here that's really

beautiful. Um he's quoting from the Old

Testament and he says,"Do not call

conspiracy all that this people calls

conspiracy and do not fear what they

fear nor be in dread." And then look at

verse 13. Read it out loud together.

Read verse 13. But the Lord of hosts,

him you shall honor as holy. Let him be

your fear. Let him be your dread. So the

emphasis there in the way that that's

constructed in both Hebrew and Greek is

him. It's saying don't you you need to

recognize that he is the issue not them.

Now what is so cool what Peter does here

notice number two notice that Peter

applies this directly to Christ. He is

applying the Isaiah passage 750 years

written 750 years before Jesus was born.

He is applying it directly to the person

of Jesus. And so this is what you look

what he says. But in your hearts honor

Christ the Lord as holy. That's what he

writes in first Peter. And it sounds

very much like what is written in Isaiah

8. He says him you shall honor as holy.

Peter writes but in your hearts honor

Christ the Lord as holy. Same same

structure same emphasis. And so this is

what you call if you're studying the

Bible listen to this. This is what you

call high christologology. It's a very

high view of Christ. Christologology is

the study of Christ. And so when we look

at this as Christians, when we study the

Bible and we develop our understanding

of what the Bible says, we have

different areas of theology that we pay

attention pay attention to. And one of

those is who is Christ? What is his

nature? What is his purpose? Where does

he come from? Where does he go? What

does he do in all of this? Who is

Christ? who who and the early church

really dealt with that in the councils

that were early on. Um and so here we

see the apostle Peter nailing it. He got

it wrong when when he did not have the

Holy Spirit. There were so many things

that he said that Peter was correcting

him. At one point the Lord looked at

Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan."

I mean, Peter just was the openmouth

insert foot disciple. But we see that

change when Peter stands up on Pentecost

filled with the Holy Spirit and begins

preaching the gospel. And Peter becomes

a very powerful voice getting it right

the vast majority of the time whenever

we see that there were some things that

they had to work through between Paul

and and some of the others um later in

Jerusalem. But we see Peter just nails

it on this. He is applying Isaiah 8 to

the life of the Lord Jesus. You see what

Isaiah said about Yahweh, Peter applies

to Jesus. And this is what we need to

do. We need to sanctify Christ as Lord

in our hearts. We need to sanctify him

as holy. Notice number three. Notice

that the fear is not eliminated, but it

is redirected.

It's redirected. It's not that you

shouldn't fear at all, but the idea is

you fear the right thing. And we see

that in Proverbs 29, Luke 12, 1 Peter 1.

Those are great passages for you to go

look up. You see, we are called to not

fear man, but we are called to fear God.

And when we have the fear of God,

there's no need to fear man because we

recognize that he knows exactly what

he's doing. You see, pressure that's

hostile pressure on your life will

reveal what you fear or what you respect

or what you value the most. And so when

pressure comes, when persecution comes,

you're going to find out what you fear.

Are you afraid of those who are

persecuting you? Or are you saying,

"Nope, I fear the Lord, and because I

fear the Lord, I don't need to fear

them. The Lord knows what he's doing. I

can rest in him. And that brings a

totally different way to live. That's a

secure way to live. Notice Roman numeral

number three. We see not only the

central command, but now we see the

missional calling. This is the missional

calling that we see in what Peter's

writes. It's a hopefilled, gentle, clear

witness.

He's calling you to witness for Christ.

He's calling you in the midst of the

hostility, in the midst of the the

struggle, in the midst of the injury to

you. He's calling you to proclaim Christ

because that brings about an attention

by the world that they say, "Why is he

saying this? Why is he like this? How

does he have this confidence?" Look what

it says in verse 15. And it says always

being prepared to make a defense to

anyone who asks you for the reason for a

reason for circle it the hope the hope

that is in you yet do it with gentleness

and respect. Now here's the idea of what

Peter's getting at for us. Number one,

Christian hope should be evident.

Evident enough to provoke questions.

Christian hope should be evident enough

to provoke questions. Hope is not merely

internal. It can be seen when under

pressure. It can be seen when under

pressure. I have shared with you before

that one of the businesses that Marcy

and I ran when we lived in Africa was a

tourism business that would take um

guests to various ancient Roman ruins

across North Africa. And one of the

places that we would take people to is

the Colosseum, the arena actually um in

Carthage, Tunisia. And it was in that

arena, and I've shared pictures of this

before. Um the ruins of the arena are

still there. It's a large oval arena.

And it was an arena where games would be

played. It was an arena where there

would be um all kinds of dramatic sport

events and there would be dramatic

reenactments of battles. There would be

all kinds of Roman um sport and Roman

enactments there. Well, during the

second, third, and fourth centuries, the

persecution of Christians is what was

the pregame show.

It was, "Oh, they got some Christians

that they're going to take care of today

and before the big gladiators come out

and before the other entertainment, the

main show." So, the Christians were part

of the pre-show. And they would bring in

leopards and lions and bears from other

exotic places. They would bring in all

kinds of other things. There were

heinous ways in which they would torture

Christians during a few hundred years

during that time. Well, there was um two

women named Perpeta Perpeta and

Felicitya.

Those two women, one of them, Perpetua,

had just had a baby and her father who

was an unbeliever kept saying to her,

"Perpeta,

would you just would you just recant and

say that you believe in the gods? If you

say you believe in the gods, they will

let you go. And her father had the baby,

would take the baby out of the prison

cell and run the baby around to women in

the town who had had a baby and could

nurse the baby. And he would come back

and he even held the baby to her one

time and said, "Your baby needs you.

Would you please re recant from this?"

And she said, "Father, you're asking me

to disavow my belief in Jesus, the

savior of my soul. I cannot do that."

And it was Perpetua who and Felicia who

were indeed um martyed on the sands of

that arena floor along with many others

eventually. And it was interesting that

there was a young lawyer in the crowd

that day.

He was up in the stands amidst the

thousands of spectators and he was

sitting there and hearing about this and

he would he would hear about all of the

people who were being put to death as

Christians and he said this is very

interesting. Their blood flows out of

their body and into the sands of the

arenas across the Roman Empire.

And yet there's more and more and more

Christians.

They're growing. they're not

diminishing. The more we persecute them,

the more Christians pop up. And he

started to say, "Why?

Why would they do this? Why wouldn't

they just recant?

Why do they believe this? What is it

that they believe?"

Because he said this, "Their blood is

seed."

Their blood is seed. the more we

sacrifice, the the more we the more we

shed their blood, the more they

multiply. And so that's what this

passage is talking about. Look at what

it says there underneath Roman numeral

number three, the scripture. It says,

"Always being ready to make a defense to

anyone who asks you for a reason for the

hope that is in you, yet do it with

gentleness

and respect."

So our faith can provoke questions

that sometimes people will ask. So this

verse basically is saying number two,

fill this in when someone asks why or

how do you have hope? Maybe it's amidst

your cancer. Maybe it's against amidst

persecution. Maybe it's against, you

know, things falling apart in your life

and your family member looks at your

life and they go, "How how do you have

hope? How are you even joyful in the

midst of this trouble?" Here's what it

is. Be ready. That's what he says.

Always be prepared to make a defense. Be

ready. And he also says, "Be gentle. do

it with gentleness

and be humble. That is respectful.

It's not be angry. We don't need an

angry witness for Christ.

What we're called to be is humble and

respectful.

And so when we respond

with humility and love and grace, we see

something happen that begins to God uses

God uses this testimony um for following

him. Notice the very last line here.

What we see from all this is this. The

manner in which we respond

matters as much as the message.

The manner matters as much as the

message because that is what they see as

the grace and the peace in our lives for

what is true.

Roman num rum number four. As we look at

verse 16, look what this says. The moral

safeguard. What is the moral safeguard?

Here it is. A clear conscience. A clear

conscience before God. And that's what

Peter calls us to have. Having a good

conscience. That's a conscience that's

clear. having a good conscience so that

when you are slandered those who revile

your good behavior in Christ, you see

this is your Christian behavior

may be what? Put to shame. Now that may

be that they are put to shame in this

life or it may be that they are put to

shame in the next life. We don't know.

But we see here that

you're to behave in such a way that they

can't they can't accuse because of the

manner in which you respond. So number

one, what we see in this is first of all

the fact that Christians will be

slandered. It's it's not if but it is

when.

So Christians will be slandered. Look at

the passage again. having a good

conscience. So that circle the next word

when

you are slandered.

If you're a Christian, you can expect to

be slandered for righteousness.

When you are slandered, those who revile

your good behavior in Christ may be put

to shame. Number two, the goal is not

vindication,

but faithfulness. God is calling us to

be faithful. He's not calling us to go

um be vindicated for our belief. You

see, fill it in there. God knows how to

manage your reputation. He knows how to

take care of your reputation.

And a clear conscience before God is

greater than public approval. You It

doesn't matter what everybody else

thinks. It matters what God thinks. And

so when we're faithful to him, that's

what these passages are calling us to do

and to be. So the moral safeguard is a

clear conscience before God. Um because

if you're at peace with the Lord, my

friends, it doesn't matter whether

you're at peace with everybody else when

it comes to standing with him for what

is right. Um and I love this. This

anticipates the divine reversal that God

knows how to take care of things. Look

at Romans 12 19. It says, "Beloved,

never avenge yourselves, but leave it to

the wrath of God. For it is wr written,"

and again, Romans is quoting from the

Old Testament, "Vengeance is mine. I

will repay, says the Lord."

Now, that relieves you of having to

straighten somebody out.

I mean, that this passage right here can

help you stay out of a lawsuit.

this passage right here can say, you

know, um if if if you can, you just say,

"Well, the Lord is going to take care of

them." Um and I would encourage you not

to do that in a in preparatory WAY LIKE,

"YEAH, GOD'S GOING TO GET HIM, AND I

CAN'T WAIT."

That's part of last Sunday's sermon.

Don't don't have the attitude of I

cannot wait to see the look on your face

when he

that's not the attitude that we're

called to have.

We had an OBGYn

who lived in Afghanistan

for 25 years.

She went from village to village taking

care of women.

She delivered thousands of babies

over those 25 years.

and

she and her driver were going to a

village one day and

a

group of bandits of Taliban came and

stopped her car, pulled the driver out

of the car, shot him in the head, rolled

him over in the ditch,

and um

she was in the back seat with the

Taliban. They needed to go to another

town. They took her as far as the other

town. They were trying to figure out who

she was and what they would do with her

and eventually they pulled her out of

the car, shot her in the head and left

her beside the road,

killed her.

And I remember that Marcy and I were

actually living in North Africa when

that happened.

And we were we were heartbroken.

And we just thought, and I remember that

day sitting there thinking,

those guys who did that, whoever they

were,

they have no idea what they just did.

This woman of God

when she could have been wealthy in the

United States is living in the most

hostile of circumstances, helping people

who no one else is there to help them.

doing it in the name of Jesus,

sharing the good news of Jesus Christ

with these people

and these vile men

just came

and got her car for a few hours

and snuffed out her life.

And I just started thinking, they have

no idea what's going to happen to them.

They have no idea of Romans 12:9

Romans 12:9

that the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine.

I will repay."

And do you know by the grace of the Holy

Spirit that day? You know what the Lord

said to me

in the midst of my hurt and anger,

the Lord said, "Pray for those men.

Pray that they will come to Jesus

because what they have coming is so

horrible.

Pray that they will realize what they've

done. Pray that they will come to see

the Savior for all he is. And do you

know that there are examples there are

examples all across the world where

those who were Saul

persecuting the church became Paul's

redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

I have a friend named Adel in eastern

Algeria

and he was a terrorist. He was a

persecutor of the infidels. That would

be us. you're an infidel in their mind,

the Americans, he was on his way to

Afghanistan to fight. This was over 20

years ago. And the Lord, I won't go into

the details of the story, but the Lord

came and got a hold of Adal's life.

Today, Adal is a powerful voice, a

powerful voice for the sake of the

gospel in North Africa.

You see friends,

God knows and sees what to do.

He is in charge of this. He has divine

reversal and he either can bring

vengeance or listen to this, he can

bring salvation.

So we need to remember that he is in

charge. And this is Roman numeral number

four or excuse me, number five, the

governing principle. It is better to

suffer for doing good and you could put

out there to the side than doing evil

because you will suffer for doing evil.

But it will be better to suffer for

doing good. So young people look at this

with your life. It's better for you to

suffer for living for Christ than for

you to suffer for living against Christ.

Look what the title Look what the

scripture says. The text says, "For it

is better to suffer for doing good, if

that should be God's will

than for doing evil." So sometimes it is

God's will. The the governing principle

is this. Number one, notice that God is

sovereign over your situation and your

suffering.

It it very much look at this. It should

if that should be God's will. God knows

he's in charge. Sometimes suffering is

his will.

And there's people in this room right

now as you're writing those words,

you're going, "Do I believe that? I

don't believe that. That's not my view

of God. I was raised in a Christian

tradition that said all suffering is

from Satan, and this is not possible

that a good God of mercy, grace, and

love for his children would cause them

to suffer." And I would say to you,

you've not read the Bible carefully.

This is part of our faith. This is part

of what we have to come to learn to deal

with and to trust God with that he is

good. He knows what he's doing. And

sometimes we suffer under his hand. And

sometimes it seems unbearable.

Sometimes it seems so impossible

that there could be any good, that there

could be any value in this. But what we

come to see as children of God is that

he is a sovereign God and he can take

what was meant for evil and use it for

good.

>> This is the God of the Bible.

This is the God of scripture.

And it's a hard truth, but it's a good

truth.

You see, you can fight it, but it's

better to accept it.

If you want to fight it, you can fight

it, but it's just far better to accept

it. You see, there's there's a governing

principle here. Look at number two. Not

all suffering is equal.

There's what we could call deserved

suffering and there's undeserved

suffering. will deserve suffering is the

discipline or the consequence that

comes. So that's when we do the wrong

thing and then we suffer the

consequences for it. And God can even

use that. He can use the broken arm or

he can use the broken you know you did

the wrong thing and this is what comes.

He can use you know you commit fraud and

you go to jail. Okay. So now I'm being

disciplined in this. I did the wrong

thing and now I'm sitting in jail. And

then what's going to come of that? Well,

if you're if you're God's, some good

things can come out of that. If you're

not God's, you just experience all the

pain. Oh, how about this? Undeserved

suffering. This is when you didn't do

fraud. This is when you didn't do the

wrong thing, but then you suffer. What

we learn is is that God is discipling

you.

He is training you. He is bringing you

along. He's teaching you to hold loosely

to the things of the world and to look

toward heaven and to trust in him.

So we we we see this this picture of

it's so much better to suffer for doing

good than for doing evil. Look at number

three with me.

This points us to Christ's example. This

points us to Christ's example which we

will see in verse 18 next week. So this

is a precursor to coming for next week.

In verse 18 we see that Christ suffered

for us once and for all righteously and

redemptively and we can learn to walk in

his steps.

That's the picture that is there. And we

saw it also in 1 Peter 2:21 that there

1 Peter 2:21

is an example that goes before us in our

suffering.

So when you are persecuted,

when you are suffering hardship, whether

it's undeserved or what we we would call

deserved, when we are experiencing these

things, what we can know is is that

Christ endured all things

yet without sin. So he remained holy in

this. He endured all things providing

for us an example to look to so that we

can be at peace. So that we can notice

the the title of the message. So that we

can live securely

amidst the hostility of the world. That

is that's the title that is here.

So application, how do we apply this?

How do we think about this? This is

worth your time this afternoon, maybe at

lunch. This is worth your time um by

yourself. This is worth your time maybe

this evening before you go to bed.

Notice number one. Have you come to the

place of honoring Christ as holy in your

heart? The Isaiah 8 passage and the

first Peter passage. Do you honor Christ

as holy? Do you honor him? This is like

saying, "Is he lord of your life?

Is he Lord over you? Or are you Lord

over you?

Notice number two. Who does your

behavior indicate you fear more? God or

people?

Who do you what when you live your life,

who do you I mean, are you seeking to

please your boss? And so when he tells

you to do something that's really wrong,

really evil, whatever, you're not

supposed to do that. Are are you seeking

to please him? Are are you worried about

your financial things? So, you're

compromising and other things and so

you're kind of afraid of the world and

people and what if we don't make it are

or are you honoring God?

What does your behavior indicate? Number

three,

are you willing to suffer well for the

name of Christ?

For some of us, we're so afraid of being

persecuted.

We're so afraid that somebody would do

something against us. We say, "Well, I

just don't know what I would do." I

mean, that would just be the end of that

that would be the worst thing of all is

if that what if they took away my house

or what if they took away this? What if

they took away my job? What if they came

and they did this and they did that? You

know, well, first of all, we're not

really facing very much of that. Most of

us in this room, but some in this room

have faced that.

Are you willing to suffer? Well,

look at the eternal picture. That's what

Peter's calling us to do.

Are we willing to suffer for his

purposes? How about number four?

How can you be ready to explain your

hope if and when you are asked?

How can you be ready? That's a good

thing for you to think about.

I'm going to say to you that God wants

you to be ready and being close to him

and being in his word and being

submitted to him is how you are ready to

suffer. Well, and you can be ready

to answer when people say, "How are you

doing this?" You see, it's when

it's when the cancer report comes out

and the rest of the family is around you

and they're all upset and they're

looking at you while you lay there in

the bed and you go, "Hey, you know what?

It's okay." And they're going, "What are

you talking about? The guy just said you

had stage four."

And you're sitting there going, "It's

okay."

and they're weeping and you're saying,

"The Lord knows. He's in charge. He

hasn't left his throne.

He's saved me by his grace. And every

day that I live is for him. I don't want

this cancer. I don't want to go through

this. But I know that the Lord is in

charge."

I do know this. For true believers,

the Holy Spirit

gives grace in the moment.

You may look at that and you go, "I'm

not sure what would happen if I lost my

child. I'm not sure what would happen if

this." Well, you know what? Don't worry

about that which hasn't happened yet.

Stay plugged into growing with the Lord.

Worship him in your days. Worship him

every week, every day of your life.

Honor and obey him. And you know what?

At the right time, he will be with you.

Yay. Though I walk through the valley of

the shadow of death, what does it say? I

will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort

me. You prepare a table before me in the

presence of my

>> enemies.

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness will follow me all the

days of my life and I will dwell in the

house of the Lord

>> forever. Amen.

>> You may stand.

Oh father,

oh father, would you allow this word?

Would you allow this word to change us?

Transform us.

Lord, would you drive out fear?

Fear of suffering, fear of people,

fear of the future, fear of

circumstances.

Lord, I pray that this word

would rule and reign over our hearts.

That this truth that we've heard today

would come and affect the way we live

our lives. that we would be a willing

and ready witness in the darkest of

hours. That we would see that you may be

at work

in a lawyer's life out in the crowd

watching the blood flow into the sand

wondering why would they do this?

Lord, you may be at work in a family

member's heart as they watch us suffer.

Oh Lord, would we remember that you're

the God who sees

and that you're the God who rewards.

So Lord, for the burdens of our heart,

whether they be a from a hostile world

or simply from the results of the fall,

Lord, our sick or weward children,

Lord, our regrets from the past,

Lord, whatever it may be,

may we entrust

these concerns to you and live with hope

for all that you've given us. In the

wonderful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.