The Word - God Said - “Christ, My Ever-present Help In Times of Trouble.” - 1 Peter 3:8-22

So let's read. Let's pray and then we'll read.

Father, I want to thank you so much for this

wonderful letter. I pray that, Lord, that as

we open up your word and we finish this chapter

of 1 Peter 3, that we'd really grasp the importance

and understanding of why we suffer. and the reality

of the sacred, that we would really grasp the

importance of the payment you paid and our future

in you. Lord, we do praise you and thank you

for your faithfulness and goodness. In Jesus'

name, amen. Finally, all of you have unity of

mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart,

and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil

or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary,

bless. For to this you were called and that you

may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to

love life and see good days, let him keep his

tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.

Let him turn away from evil and do good and let

him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of

the Lord are on the righteous. And his eyes are

open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord

is against those who do evil. Now, who is there

to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

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 is holy. Always being prepared 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, having a good conscience, so that

when you are slandered, those who revile your

good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if

that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous

for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to

God, being put to death in the flesh, but made

alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed

to the spirits in prison, because they formerly

did not obey when God's patience waited in the

days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.

in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought

safely through the water. Baptism, which corresponds

to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt

from the body, but as an appeal to God for a

good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the

right hand of God, with angels, authorities,

and powers having been subjected to him. So a

couple of things I want us to really make sure

that we're paying attention to as we're dealing

with this. And I did this sermon in three particular

principles. As you guys have noticed over the

last several years, we've been doing an expository,

exegetical synopsis of the letters. The reason

why I'm doing that is because in order for us

to really start grabbing and digging in deep,

we need to understand why, hermeneutically, why

the letter was written, the context by which

it was written, and the context by which Peter

is talking in order to ensure that the context

by which he wrote the letter is consistent. So

we know that specifically this group of people

have been scattered, dispersed. They're living

in caves and throughout the region. So he gets

to this point after he talks to husbands and

wives, he gets to this point and he starts to

deal with the reality of how we as believers

should behave individually, not only specifically

on how I live with my family and live around

those who are in my community, but also in how

we live together as believers. So principle number

one. Having the same mind as Christ and being

people like -minded, we must live as he lived.

Having the same mind of Christ, since we have

the mind of Christ, we must be like -minded in

the mind of Christ so that we live according

to how he lived, obediently. That has been a

theme for a while now. Real true biblical obedience.

You cannot say you're a believer and not obey.

The reality of the fruit of the Spirit is seen

in our obedience to Christ. 1 Corinthians 2,

16. For who has understood the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of

Christ. You do have the mind of Christ, which

means, as it's stated by Peter in 1 Peter 3,

8 -12, finally, all of you. Who is all of you?

He's talking to everyone in the church. All of

you, specifically the brothers and sisters of

that day. You have unity of mind. You be of one

mind. Be like -minded. How? The mind that we

have is Christ's mind. And Christ's mind is about

his truth. And so we should be. thinking and

living and obeying and believing as he did. And

that's really what like -mindedness means. Am

I unified in my mind with you? Are we committed

and unified in our minds with Christ? He also

commands us to have sympathy. The word sympathy

is sympathy. There is no other word for sympathy.

We can use compassionate, but it's kind of weird

to say that you must be like -minded, compassionate,

brotherly love, compassionate. Because brotherly,

tenderhearted literally means compassionate.

So the word sympathy means to have a deep feeling

of sorrow, a concern for someone else. And that

should be reflected in how we love each other

like brothers. Very similar to Jonathan David.

They weren't brothers, but they loved each other

like brothers. King David and Jonathan were very

close. And they stuck closer than a brother.

So that's the idea of loving each other like

brothers and sisters. We are family after all.

Tenderhearted, compassionate. Are we being compassionate,

concerned for others in a way that we want to

meet the need? And a humble mind. Now what's

interesting about this humble mind, it just means

to be friendly. Sounds really nice when you read

it. Finally, all of you, be like -minded. Show

sympathy. Love like brothers. Compassionate and

friendly. I like that. It's very practical. And

then he says, do not repay evil. The word evil

here is wickedness. Do not repay wickedness for

wickedness. Or reviling. The word reviling here

means insult or slander. Do not insult or slander

for insulting and slandering. So if someone insults

you and slanders you, do not insult or slander

back. That's kind of hard when you watch stuff

on TV. Just saying. But we got to be careful.

But on the contrary, but instead bless. Now what's

interesting about this word bless is to praise.

It's one thing to, do you think I'm going to

bless somebody by giving them something? It's

another to bless somebody with words. And that's

really what's implied here. So if we're not repaying

wickedness for wickedness, then we're not. slandering

and insulting with slander and insults, then

what is the opposite of that? Praise. And that's

really what this word blessed literally means.

Praise. And kids, parents know this. When their

kid does something good, what do you do? Insult

them. No. You praise them. You give them praise.

Like, you did a great job. You know, God is glorified

in you because of this. And that's really what

he's talking about here. Why? Because we are

called. We are summoned to praise. Are we just

so quick to condemn and to malign or to slander

or to say something wrong or evil about somebody?

People get on your nerves. Instead of the first

thing that you say is, cursing them how about

if the first thing you do is you pray for their

issues and then you praise them for what they

do that actually is a blessing don't be so quick

to curse but be quick to bless and that to you

are called why so that you too may obtain praise

god loves to praise his children for whoever

desires to love life and see good days Let him

keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking

deceit. Interesting term, keep. This is Psalm,

I want to say 43, but I think I'm wrong. Somebody

can look that up and let me know. But this is

from the Psalms. Whoever desires to, I had it,

but it literally just, whoo, right out of my

mind. So whoever desires to love life and see

good days, let him keep, let him stop. Let him

cease his tongue from evil. What's he mean here?

It's not to keep my tongue closed in the sense

that I'm closing my mouth. It's literally to

stop saying evil things. Say things that are

blessings, praises. There is a time for rebuke

and correction. And that must be done with the

Word of God. After all, right, the Word of God

was given to us. It's inspired. And it must be

used for rebuke and for correction and for training

and teaching and righteousness. And so if we

want to see good days and we love life, then

we should keep our tongue from speaking evil

or stop speaking evil and our lips from speaking

deceit, saying things that are... Purposely harmful.

Notice what it says in verse 11. Let him turn

away from evil and do good. In other words, don't

do evil, do good. Let him seek peace and pursue

it. God's people should be seeking peace. And

the reality is, blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called sons of God. And we

must, at all costs, as we have said over at least

a year, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the

bond of peace. We must be people who pursue peace.

Why? Why should we pursue peace and seek peace

and desire peace? For the eyes of the Lord are

on the righteous. He is watching you. and his

ears are open to their prayer. God hears your

cry. That's really what he's saying here. God's

eye is on you because you belong to him and his

ears are attentive because he hears your cry.

But the face of the Lord is against those who

do evil. I'm like, I looked at this and I was

like, these are actually very common phrases

in the Greek and the Hebrew. It's a term to show

that real true favor is not based on what you

receive. Just because you get something doesn't

mean God's favor is on you. Real true favor from

God is that his eye is upon us and he hears our

cry and that he conforms us and molds us into

the image of his son. He is faithful to us. All

the other things he does because he's a good

father. After all, if earthly fathers who are

evil know how to give good gifts to their children,

how much more does the heavenly father would

give to you who ask? And so this issue, but the

face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

We kind of understand this. I don't know if you

really grasp the reality of the... Of the evil

eye. If you guys ever watched. What's that? Five

-0 Goes West. You never watched Five -0 Goes

West? You got to watch. It's a great children's

cartoon. He gives them the stink eye. You know.

You know when you're a kid. The kids know. Because

when they do something wrong. What do they get?

Because mom and dad's face are upon you. That's

literally what it means. That God's judgment

and wrath are against you because you are evil.

You've done something wrong. And so if mom and

dad's face are against you, you know, don't run.

It will be worse. Second principle, when Christ

is sanctified in our hearts and we suffer for

what is just and good, it allows us the opportunity

to proclaim the truth of Christ. Do we really

look at the reality of our suffering as an opportunity

to proclaim the gospel? I find it when people

are at their very lowest moments, when they feel

they're at the end, to preach the gospel even

more. It's the greatest desire. But that's the

reality of what suffering should do for us. Suffering

should not cause us to shrink into a corner.

But it should bring us boldly out into the open

for all to hear the truth of Christ. And so Romans

8, 38 and 39. For I am sure neither... Death,

nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things

present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor

height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation

will be able to separate us from the love of

God in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is nothing,

does not matter how bad life gets. The truth

is our suffering is our badge. First Peter 3,

13 through 16. Now, who is there to harm you

if you are? zealous, most eagerly desirous of

for what is good. Interesting that this term

really means my deepest eager desire to imitate.

This word what is not the word what in actually

an original language. It literally means to imitate.

Mimites is the term. And we get this word to

mimic. Are you an imitator of what is good? So

if we were to read this this way, it says, now

who is there to harm you if you are most eagerly

desiring to imitate good? Makes a lot more sense

now, doesn't it? It's not that I desire what

is good, but that I must imitate the good. I

must live it out. And hermeneutically, within

the context of what Peter is saying here, that

makes a lot of sense. They could have done a

little bit better job on the word what? To imitate

good. Now, but even if you should suffer for

righteousness, that means for what is just, you

will be blessed. Why? Because our reward is Christ.

Doesn't matter what man may take. There's many

evils in our day. Many trying to be in control.

And what we're going to read later is that really

Christ is in control anyway. Doesn't matter who

sits on a throne. There is only one throne worth

sitting in. And that only goes to one man, one

God. His name is Jesus Christ. Have no fear of

them. Interesting. Why should we not fear them

who would cause us to suffer, persecute us? Because

our reward is Jesus. Nor be troubled. That means

to be disturbed. That makes a lot more sense

for me too. When I think about the reality of

suffering for Christ, there's no need to fear.

And there's no need for me to be disturbed. And

what happens with many people when they go through

very difficult things, they get disturbed. They

lose their focus. They don't really want to deal.

So they walk away from what is true. And they

try to cling on to what is false because they're

disturbed in their heart. They're just really

not feeling it. But. In your hearts, hagiazo,

sanctify, set apart, make holy Christ the Lord.

That's really how it should read. Not honor.

You must make Christ holy in your heart. He is

holy. It's not that we're like it's some type

of to bestow. This is an imperative. You are

to do it. It's not a suggestion. But in your

heart, make holy Christ the Lord. Sanctify Christ

the Lord. Set apart Christ the Lord. He is sacred

is the understanding here. Why? Because we should

always be always being prepared to make an apologia.

There is no other word for apologia besides defense

or defend. We must make an apologia, a defense

to one who asks for the reason or for a reason.

The word here, reason, is not reason. It's logos,

meaning the word. The word. Who lives in you?

Christ. And if Christ is in you, the word is

present in you. And if the word is present in

you, then you should be prepared to make a defense.

It's implied. It's understood. And this is how

it should read. If you've made Christ holy, always

being prepared to make a defense to anyone who

asks for the word of hope that is in you. That's

really the understanding here. In this word,

hope is joyful and confident expectation. Can

you not? Do you not know that you can joyfully

and confidently expect that the word of God will

do exactly what he says he will do? Of course.

So how many times have you come and you were

like, someone asked you a question and you don't

know how to answer it or you're nervous. Well,

how do I share the gospel? Well, he lives in

you. You can share the gospel. I mean, after

all. Christ did tell Paul that, listen, I will

give you the words to say. I will tell you what

to say. Why? Because I'm in you. The logos is

present. And we can joyfully and confidently

expect that he will do it. And notice, he says

this joyful and confident expectation of the

word that is in you. But do it with gentleness

and respect. Do it with gentleness and respect.

Pretty simple. Meekness and reverence. Meekness

and reverence. The idea of reverence towards

Christ and reverence towards those who are in

the image of God, the image bearer. Having a

good conscience. If I am joyfully. If I am joyfully

and confidently expecting that the word of God

will do what he says he will do and the word

of God will do what it says it will do, then

I can know with a good conscience so that when

you are slandered, those who revile or insult

you, insult your good behavior in Christ may

be put to shame. They have nothing to say. The

reality is if I'm really truly living out the

word of Christ in me and through me, then they

have nothing to say, though they will try. And

we see this a lot, especially today. Let them

say whatever they want to say. The reality is

my life is clearly above reproach because I live

obediently to the word of God. That should be

what we're thinking. And committed to. And I

don't need to be perfectly doing it. But I need

to be intentionally doing it. Because Lord knows

sometimes my thoughts. And the deep intentions

of my heart are wicked. Things I don't see. But

thank God for the word. Which judges rightly

the thoughts and intentions of man's heart. Christ

is our hope. We have nothing to fear. You have

nothing to fear. At all, ever. This period of

time that we live on the earth is short. What

do you have to fear? What do you lose? In reality,

when you die, you go to Christ and you gain him.

You already have him now. Hebrews 13, 6. So,

we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear. What can man do to me? Nothing.

So please let your mom know, Massey, nothing

can harm you in Christ. Nothing. She is free

in Christ. Doesn't matter what kind of regime

she lives under. She is free in Christ. Doesn't

matter what man would take away. We are free

in Christ. For it is better. The term better,

I like English. Not really. Because like better

is always less than greater. It's slightly less

than best. Which kind of like is frustrating.

Because I kind of like greater better than better.

And best better than better, but I never really

wanted better than greater. Just saying. For

it is greater to suffer for doing good, if that

should be God's decisions, God's will, than for

doing evil. In other words, if I'm going to suffer,

it's greater for me to suffer for doing good

because it's God's decision that I should suffer

for doing good. I mean, that's the whole point

of being righteous, living rightly, is that if

we should suffer for doing good, that's what

God would want anyway. Not that we should suffer

for doing badly. What kind of benefit do you

receive if you suffer for your sin? But if we

suffer for righteousness, what great value is

that? For Christ also suffered once for sins.

And this is the idea that the reality of the

goodness of Christ is that he suffered for doing

good for you. So when we think about this, what

does Christ say? I lay down my life on my own

accord. No one takes it from me. And the goodness

of Christ in reality is on display because he

suffers for the good, for the will and the purpose

of God the Father. It was his decision for Christ

to suffer. And that's the implication here. The

righteousness for the unrighteous or the righteous

for the unrighteous. We who are the unrighteous

have become the righteousness of God because

of Christ, our righteousness that we might bring.

Now this word might bring English. It's English,

not so good. So this word might bring is not

might bring, kind of bring, sort of kind of bring.

And that's what the English is here, sort of

maybe, maybe bring. No, this word literally means

that he would bring us near to God. What's the

purpose of Christ's suffering for the unrighteous

so that he, maybe, maybe bring me close to God?

It's kind of pitiful. The reality is, is he does.

And that's really what Peter is implying here,

that the righteous God of all creation brings

us near to God. It's not a eh. Okay? Being put

to death in the flesh and made alive in the spirit.

That's why I don't like the word might, because

it clearly says that we are. Verse 19, in which

he proclaimed, preached. To the spirits in prison.

Now, this word prison means to guard or watch.

Literally, that's what it means. And when we

read this, you go, oh, he went to hell and he

preached to the spirits. Spirits, the word here

is pneuma. And it implies a spiritual being.

And you and I are spiritual beings. And these

are those who are under guard or under watch.

So Christ goes and proclaims, he preaches the

gospel to those who are under guard and under

watch because they formerly did not obey. They

did not believe by faith when God's patience

waited in the days of Noah. What do we mean?

What do we know about Noah's story? We know that

Noah preached for how many years? 120 years.

He preached the good news. What was the good

news? God has commanded me to build an ark. And

if you come in, you will be saved. 120 years.

God is going to flood the earth. No one ever

saw rain. They're like, what is rain? And they

didn't believe him. They disobeyed. They rejected

the gospel. While Noah. was building the ark.

That's what it says here. While the ark was being

prepared in which a few, that is eight persons,

were brought safely through the water. Why does

he use this analogy? Don't you feel like sometimes

you feel like Noah? Preaching and preaching and

preaching and preaching and it doesn't matter

how much you preach the truth of the gospel,

they don't want to hear it. You're like, get

into Jesus the ark or you're going to die. They

just reject it, faithless. They disobey the command

to repent and believe the gospel. It's really

the issue. What's interesting is these eight

persons were brought safely. This word means

to bring safely out of God's wrath through water.

But they had to be in something to be brought

through something. The water is a symbol of the

wrath of God. That's what you see here. And the

ark is a symbol of their safety. They're saved

in the ark. Not floating outside of the ark.

Not hanging on by a string on the ark. They have

to be in. And that's the gospel, isn't it? And

he uses this analogy in verse 21. Baptism, which

corresponds to this, now saves you. Now, what

baptism? Is it water baptism? No. It's not the

water that 12 people got baptized last week in.

It's not that kind of a baptism. The baptism

means to be immersed into. To be immersed into

Christ. The reality of the ark is Christ. Christ

is your ark. And we are immersed into Christ.

And we are out of the wrath of God. And he saves

us through it. Now I want you to get that. This

is important here. Especially when you're dealing

with end time stuff. Christ is our ark who saves

us through the wrath. Not as a removal of dirt,

such as we saw, not last week would be an example

of emerging in water from the body, but as an

appeal to God for good conscience. That if we

are in Christ, that we are safe in him, and that

as a result, we are before him as not guilty.

That God's wrath will not remain on us because

we are not children of darkness, but children

of light. Not children of wrath, but children

of God. And we see this analogy throughout the

scripture. So, through the resurrection of Christ,

what is the reality of our saveness? The resurrection

of Jesus. How can we clarify this? Romans chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6. Romans chapter 6. This is not on my notes.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Something that the Lord brought to my mind today.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in

sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can

we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not

know that all of us who were baptized into Christ

Jesus were baptized into his death? We are not

under the wrath of God because the wrath of God

was poured out on the Son. We were in Christ

through the wrath. That's the idea here. He took

the blunt. In the same way, the ark took the

blunt of the flood. We are buried, therefore,

with him by baptism into death. So we are no

longer objects of wrath. In order that, just

as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory

of God the Father, we too may walk in newness

of life. Because we are no longer objects of

wrath, we are raised with Christ as a new creature.

Praise God. So, through the resurrection of Jesus

Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the

right hand of God, with angels' authorities,

powers having been subjected to him. Now I want

you to get this. This is one of my sticklers.

It's one of my little soapboxes, I think. All

authority is given to Christ. All of it. Everything.

Every iota, every dot and tittle. Christ is in

charge. He is the sovereign king. Christ is king.

Period. Does not matter what man says. Does not

matter what a preacher says. God is on the throne.

And Christ, all angels, all authorities, all

powers have been subjected to him. And he says

that. All authority has been given unto me. Everything.

Nothing happens in the world without the authority

and the approval of God the Son. He is in charge.

The Father has given this to him because it was

his from the beginning. We read that. And we

know that, Colossians chapter 1. He created all

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

things by the word of his mouth. He is in control.

Don't get it twisted. And we must understand

that. Because if you don't understand that, you

will continue living a life being defeated. Christ

is king and he rules whether we like it or not.

So now that we've gotten through chapter 3, I

will remind you the key, the absolute key to

understanding how to suffer well is for Christ

to be Lord, Master, holy in your heart. He is

holy. Christ the Lord is holy, and you must sanctify

him as holy in your heart. He is, period. That's

the key. You want victory? Let Christ live in

and through you. Okay? Father, I want to thank

you so much for your goodness and faithfulness.

Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for

what you're doing in our lives. And as we partake

in this table, that we would understand the importance

of the sacred, that we would reflect in all that

we do, you being the Holy One in us. We praise

you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.