Peter's Exhortation on Suffering: Part 1

Holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Need for Eternal Perspective

Please open your Bible with me as we do return back to our study through the epistle of 1 Peter. I thought it was refreshing to, as we had communion, to look at Isaiah 6. That is always a tremendous text, isn't it?

And you just can't do justice to that text of the holiness and the greatness of who God is. We need to keep our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? And especially in the days we're living in, it's so easily to get distracted.

It's a battle, as you well know. It's a continual battle, and it doesn't let up. And sometimes it's very exhausting. It is exhausting. And we need strength from the Lord. I'm going to be honest, it wears me down sometimes in fighting this fight, and I'm sure you're with me.

But God comes alongside, and He gives us strength as our day. And He gives us new strength, and He is our strength, right? And I pray that this is going to encourage your soul. As I've been feeding my soul on this, and I've been, once again, I cannot get away.

No matter where you go in Scripture, you cannot get away from the holiness of God and being holy. Sanctification is such a laborous part of the child of God, and it's an important part, isn't it? Especially in the day we're living in, you see so little of it.

And I think of myself, I said, Lord, do a work within me. I see the battle, and I get weary at times, and I said, no, I don't need to focus on myself so much. Help me to focus on Jesus. So many times we can get so inwardly focused, and we lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we become discouraged.

And God knows, God knows what He needs to do in us, right? But we need to know ourselves. As I believe a Puritan said this, I don't remember who said it, you take one look at yourself and a thousand looks to Christ.

Peter's Exhortation to Persecuted Christians

Well, we look at 1 Peter chapter 3, and our text this morning on this Lord's Day is a wonderful one. It's verse 13 through 17, verse 13 through 17, it's an exhortation that the Apostle Peter gives to persecuted Christians.

And that's going to be what we're looking at. This is going to be a part 1 of a part 2 series, as we'll be looking at this. And I'm glad I broke it up, because there's so much within this text. Verse 13 through 17, 1 Peter chapter 3, hear the word of the living God, I'm reading from the NASB translation.

He begins with a question, following from verse 12 of quoting Psalms. And Peter picks up his thought here by inspiration of the Spirit of God. First question he begins, who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.

Yet with gentleness and reverence. Verse 16, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right, rather than doing what is wrong.

We'll stop right there, I think that's enough meat for us to chew on. And to look at as God helps us within this hour as we study His word and worship Him. Let's pray and ask God to help us within this hour.

Lord, our God and our Father, hallowed be Thy name. We pray, oh Lord, that you alone, who is worthy, exalted, will be glorified. Just not here within this small group, but Lord with your church everywhere across this world.

Especially among those that are persecuted. Oh God, be glorified. Be glorified. Lord, Thy kingdom come. Lord, we pray that your kingdom, which is forever and ever, will soon come. And we know it's coming.

It's coming. We know it's in heaven, but it's coming on earth. It's coming on earth. Father, we know that your Son, who is King, you have set on your holy hill, will reign forever and ever. Lord, we think about the next section of prayer as we pray this before you, oh Lord.

The third petition, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Lord, we pray that Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Father, for Thy will to be done, that means our will must be undone. Help us, I pray, Lord, with the sheep of your pasture.

Sometimes we go astray. Lord, bring us back to the place we should be. We're the shadow of the wings of the shepherd, the great shepherd of the sheep. Lord, may we be in submission to your King that you've set in Zion to reign forever and ever.

The great shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for this time. And Lord, we last pray this morning, open our eyes that we may behold the wonderful things from your law. Prepare us, oh Lord, need be, for the days that are ahead of us, if you so will it.

And we would be ready for anything that comes our way. Any kind of suffering. Lord, you know. You know what's best. Our flesh pulls back on this. And Lord, you know what's best for us. May we believe it, may we obey it.

And that in the end, we may triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask this in his blessed name for your glory. Amen and amen. Now, to help us to understand more clearly the text before us, we need a little background of what Peter is saying.

Peter is a very evangelistic, isn't he? I love his evangelistic zeal. I think that has a lot to do because he's an apostle, but he's a fisherman.

He's very, very practical.

He's kind of a different type of an apostle than Paul the apostle. Paul is more theological in many sense. Being his background, what it was, but God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles. But he had a background of knowing the word of God.

And it doesn't mean that Peter didn't know the word of God. But Peter came in a different way as a practical fisherman. It's really neat how the Lord takes people and just makes them who they are. And they are still who they are.

But the Spirit of God does a marvelous work and they say some of the same things by the Spirit of God. So, we need a bit of background, don't we? Peter was saying in the text before, so Peter is a very evangelistic.

And he gives good instructions to the Christians, the believers, and how that they should live before God and before a hostile world. This is relevant to us today because we're, as a believer in Jesus Christ, even though we're in a different culture, we're in the western culture, even in the eastern culture, they were more severely persecuted.

So, in one sense, in our mind, we're going to have a hard time wrapping our minds and our thoughts around this because it's hard, even though we've been through trials and persecutions in our own world, nothing like what they went through.

Especially here, recently, the Christians in Afghanistan, as you well know. It's hard for us to understand this. But at the same time, if we cannot wrap our minds about this, may the Spirit of God apply this to our hearts and prepare us for the days that may come.

And we may think of this as bad things for our children and for us and whatever may be, but, you know, God is in control. God allows everything that is happening to happen. And we must understand this.

We must know that God is sovereign. He is God. And I like what R .C. Sproul says, if God's not sovereign, then He's not God. But He is sovereign. And aren't you glad of that? If it wasn't for that, if we didn't know that God was in control, and if we didn't know that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, we just might as well perish, right?

And perish for no reason whatsoever because there would be no hope. But we know there's a living hope. We know that Christ is risen from the dead. Our faith is not in vain. God is sovereign. He's on the throne.

He's holy.

He's in charge. He knows what He's doing. Nothing gets by God. Now, this is an encouraging word to us because even though, again, we may not be able to understand what Peter is writing here, may the Holy Spirit apply this to our hearts and prepare us for whatever may be coming and teach it to our children.

We don't need to forget this because it's important that we all are prepared. Now, the fact that this letter that Peter is writing in Asia Minor is addressed to persecuted believers, persecuted Jewish believers that were scattered abroad.

We know that, don't we, from chapter 1. It's addressed to the persecuted believers specifically. And the church was very, very strong. I think of it at this time period. The apostolic church was strong.

Now we've come to the point in a day, especially in America, sad to say we receive the apostate church that's gone back from God, has forgotten God, and we're living in that day. But these Christians were under heavy trials of being rejected by society and persecuted.

They were severely rejected and hated for Christ's sake. The world was hostile toward them. They were experiencing some occasions of very hostile persecutions. So now as he writes this letter to the persecuted church, his desire, Peter's desire, is to give them a right and a biblical perspective, instructions encouraging them and encouraging their faith.

Now isn't that what the apostle is to do? He's a servant of the Lord. He writes them this letter. The Spirit of God is breathing upon him. And he helps them to get the eternal perspective, to be steadfast in this persecution and how to deal with this persecution.

Aren't you glad for the Word of God? He even shows us how we can deal with the persecution. I need to hear this. Lord, how can we deal with, even though persecution has not fully come here to America, but it's coming.

We do not need to veer away from it. It is eventually coming. You can see some signs of that today. So the recipients of this exhortation, this encouraging letter from Peter, these people are experiencing severe persecution, trials, harsh treatment, and sufferings.

Now, to understand this, let me give you the Word of God in this context. If you look at 1 Peter, just back up a few chapters, chapter 1, verse 6 and 7, notice what Peter says. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a while, it's just for a temporary time, he has the eternal perspective.

Isn't this what this church is about in a sense? It's not the building, it's coming here in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in worship, and it helps us get the eternal perspective. We set our mind on things above, not on earth.

He says, just for a little while, a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. That means temptations. So that the proof, that means the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to the result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Right there from the beginning, he's encouraging them that their faith would be genuine because it's much more precious than gold. It's going to be tested by fire. How many times that your faith has been tested by fire?

And we're talking about real fire here. These people experienced real external fire, physically, and then that fire was tested to their faith. And that, you know, the way I'm sure they looked at it was, it's best to go through that now than to go to eternal hell fire.

I'd rather be tested in the fires of faith now. If you go to the next chapter, that's chapter 1, chapter 2, look at verse 18 to 20. The apostle Peter says, servants, we looked at this, and being submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable, that means perverse, but this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? Good question. And then he says this, but if when you do what is right, there's what Peter, his theme is on this, he says, if you do what is right and suffer for it, patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

This finds favor with God. Then if you go to chapter 3, verse 8 and 9, he says this, some translation says, finally, he's kind of come to this part, the heart of the message, the heart of the book, to sum it up, all of you be harmonious.

Now, that word all, that means in the context, husbands and wives and all believers, all of you be harmonious, there's the be, the character, this is the way where these characteristics that are named, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

We're to give a blessing. And notice this, for you were called for the very purpose, for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. That is so important to underscore that, that is their calling, for that purpose, that was it.

Now, if you back up to chapter 2, look at verse 21 to 25, for you have been called for this purpose. Again, he repeats himself, and it's not by accident, he is reminding them that this is their calling, you have a purpose, God has a purpose, and it's not the message that you hear in America today.

America's false teachers will tell you, your purpose is your best life now, to get everything externally, that is not the purpose in which, that's all carnal purposes. The purpose in which God had these, for these people here, was to suffer for Jesus' sake, but there is an inheritance on the other side.

Right now is the cross, then the crown comes. We got it backwards in America. False teachers are telling you now, get your crown now, don't worry about the cross, bypass the cross. But I'm telling you, to get the inheritance and the crown on the other side, there's a cross, there's a cross.

If there's no cross now for the Christian here, there's no crown there. See, people wants their blessings, and their external blessings, and their millennium, their crowns. Now, does it work that way?

God does bless us in foretaste to encourage us, but it's internal. Now, if there's physical blessings, well, we thank God for that, yes. But we better make sure that our heart is into things. Peter again, again states this great truth, for you have been called for this purpose.

You've been called for this purpose. He's giving these persecuted Christians a glorious eternal perspective. Aren't you glad of this? If we were undergoing severe persecution, we need to see there's something better than the now.

You see, God has given them the purpose of their calling. And that purpose and the blessing calling was to endure the suffering for now, which is only little time in comparison to eternity. I'm telling you, the Puritan, I think it was Thomas Watson, it might have been Watson, correct me if I'm wrong, says, what fools are they that drink a drop of, I'm sorry, yes, a drop of pleasure for a sea of wrath.

That's sad, isn't it? But it's the truth. People now living for pleasures, for their external pleasures, but yet they're not living for eternity, the eternal. And that's the perspective Peter has given.

He's evangelistic. He said, this is the way we should live. It's your calling. This is your vocation. You endure the suffering now. A blessed calling to endure suffering for Jesus' sake. It's not for our sake.

It's not suffering we bring on ourselves. It's suffering for Jesus' sake, right? For righteousness. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. In other words, we're tracing out His steps.

We follow the Master. The Master. How in the world do we think we're going to be treated so good from the world if the Master got hung on a tree and crucified because He was the truth? And it was the religious people that wanted Him dead.

Folks, I'm telling you, things have not changed. There's nothing new under the sun. People do not want to hear... They want to hear about the blessings of God, but they don't want to hear about God and the cross.

But you cannot take away... If you take away the cross, you have taken away Christianity. You have taken away the heart of the gospel. And Peter says, who committed no sin? Jesus did not commit sin. They still hung Him on the tree.

Nor was any deceit found in His mouth. We got deceit in our mouth, but Jesus had no deceit. And while being reviled, He did not revile in return. While suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

This is Jesus.

And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by His stripes, by His wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Now, that gives us a background to what's happening here, right? Peter is giving an exhortation to persecuted believers. Glorious rewards to come. There's a cross now, but there's a crown waiting you.

1 Peter 1 .4. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, will not fade away. Reserved in heaven for you. It's reserved in heaven. We need to keep that in mind, don't we? These persecuted believers, I'm sure, was loving this encouraging...

This is really an encouraging letter, this whole letter. These five chapters of 1 Peter, because it was to the persecuted believers. And again, we have a hard time relating to that because we're in a western civilization.

We don't even come close to the persecution. But the reward, the inheritance that was bought by the blood of Jesus was received by faith to those that were born again, have a living hope, and that living hope is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

There would be no living hope if Jesus was not risen from the dead. But He's risen from the dead, right? So there you have justification by faith. That's the heart of the gospel. Justification by faith.

There's no sanctification unless there's justification. But I can assure you this, even though they're separate, they're linked together. You have justification by faith, then you have sanctification that follows it.

A holy life that follows a life that is justified. Well, you see this in the Word of God. Peter calls them to live holy lives. Look at chapter 1, verse 15. But like the Holy One who called you. There's the calling again.

He has called you to be holy. Be set apart. Be set apart from what? Be set apart from the world. We're supposed to be different from the world. Yourselves also in all your conduct. That means your behavior.

You must be set apart.

Jesus said that.

You're to be lights of the world. He said, you're like a light on a hill that cannot be hidden. Everybody sees it. And then He says in verse 16, Peter says, because it is written,.

He quotes Leviticus,.

You shall be holy for I am holy. Then you go to chapter 2, verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

There's the calling again. Get that calling. The calling to suffer. The call to be holy. The call. The purpose. That's what we've got to have in mind, folks. So what is Peter saying in all this? How has he given them hope?

Well, how has he given encouragement to the people of God who are suffering at the hands of wicked people? He holds up the glorious gospel before them. That gospel is the living hope who is Jesus Christ.

He holds up Christ before their eyes to build their faith, to strengthen them, to encourage them for a glorious purpose,.

For a future.

It may not be here now. What is undergoing now is severe persecution. It's hardship. It is trials. You know what I'm talking about if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ. It's not your best life now.

That is totally opposite of the gospel. I like what MacArthur says. If you live in your best life now, you're on your way to hell. The best life now comes when we die. When we enter into heaven's portals.

But right now there's a cross.

There's taking up a cross. Jesus says you deny yourself. You take up your cross and follow Me. That's the heart of the gospel. Sin has to be dealt with. And then you confront sin. And people don't like to hear that because they love their sin.

Well, God hates sin.

He hates it with a passion.

More than we can ever know, folks. Well, there's a cross to bear now. And there's a crown to wear and heaven to come. That's what He's saying. He's encouraging them to be steadfast in the faith in the midst of suffering, hardship, opposition, trials, and adversity.

So in all that, Peter is mentioned previously. He's exhorting the believers in suffering for righteousness' sake. So in our text, verse 13 through 17, he continues the exhortation on suffering for right and wrong.

He's preparing them for suffering. He's giving an exhortation. So in today's message,.

Like I said,.

It's going to be a part one of a two-part series. I want to just give you two points that I'd like to set before you. There's four. Let me mention them all. We're going to cover two today.

Lord willing,.

We'll finish up the message next Lord's Day. Four major points, or should I say four major attitudes we need not to forget. If we're to be faithful in prevailing in the face of opposition and persecution, we must believe, we must believe that we follow after Christ until the end, every day, to live faithfully, continually contending for the faith, fight the good fight of faith, keeping our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first one is found in verse 13 and 14, determination. Determination. We must have determination. The second one we'll be looking at is dedication. Dedication or devotion. You could say devotion as well as dedication.

I think they go hand in glove. And then Lord willing, next week we'll be looking at the third and the fourth one. It will be a defense and a duty.

But today,.

We're going to look at the first attitude by the help of the Holy Spirit is our determination. What kind of determination do you have? That's an attitude we should have. Notice verse 13 and 14. Who is there to harm you if you prove what is good?

He's resuming his argument with a question. Who is there to harm you if you prove what is good? The answer is implied.

No one.

That's the answer that's implied. No one can harm you. Even in the face of violent persecution, no one can ultimately harm you. Yet, let me say this. In the practical, realistic, I am a realist,.

History proves.

Through the martyrs, more recently, like I said in the church of Afghanistan, if you heard on the news and if you've been keeping up, many of the church underground there has been executed. They're at home with the Lord.

As you well know, a lot of the Christians there were left behind and they were gunned down by Islamic terrorists. But the Scripture says, precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of the saints.

It's homecoming for them. I'm telling you, this is real. And the persecuted church is real today as well. But you know, if you look at the history of the church, there seems to prove that the church has had many enemies.

The worst enemy is within. But there's enemies that hate the church that will harm them physically. Spiritually, they cannot do harm. And that's what Peter has in mind. Now, I want us to look at this.

The foes and the enemies of the faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are real. There's at least two possible explanations of this paradox. I want to just touch on this. But the first one is, generally speaking, those who follow a path of righteousness for Jesus' sake are not harmed physically.

Sometimes that if God wills it, He delivers His people physically.

He does.

You read this in Scripture. You physically read. God is a God of deliverance. And we prayed for that for the church of Afghanistan. But God did not will that. He ultimately delivers them from the hand of the enemy so that they enter into portals into heaven, right?

They leave this world through death.

And sometimes it's torturing death. God does sometimes choose to deliver His people physically out of that for evil. Examples in Scripture is, so many examples. You find in 1 Samuel 17, David's victory over Goliath.

That was a huge victory, wasn't it? You go on and you read in Judges 7, Gideon's little small band, as you well know, soldiers achieved a victory, a great victory over a much, much larger Mennonite army that was camped out against them and they were coming in to destroy them.

But that little band of small believers obeyed Gideon, obeyed the Lord ultimately. And you know the story. God gave the victory and many times we see that in Scripture. So God sometimes chooses to deliver.

The three Hebrew children is another one. Daniel 3, you know the story well there. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that was their heathen names that they gave them. They had Hebrew names, but this was their heathen names.

And from the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, the king there that had been thrown, that thrown these men in the red hot fiery furnace. And they even made a confession, even if God chooses not to deliver us, we're still not going to bow down to your idol.

But God chose to deliver them. God knows what He wanted to do to give glory to Himself. But sometimes He chooses not to deliver and He lets people go through death. We'll look at that in just a minute.

There's another one in the New Testament is Peter in Acts 12. Peter, guarded by four squads of soldiers, was led out by an angel to freedom. Actually, the church was praying for him. You know the story.

He comes, he gets led out. He goes and knocks on the door and it's like, who are you?

And there they are praying for him.

They didn't expect God to deliver them, but God delivered them.

Wow.

Now, these are just a few examples. Now, there's a second explanation. That's the first. The second explanation is worse to us because the worst thing, let me say this, a foe can do to a Christian, a believer, is does not give him, it may give them physical harm, but not eternal harm.

And I believe that's what Peter has in mind here. The enemy can't injure his body. The enemy can do some severe harm to the body, right? Physically. But he cannot touch or damage his soul. We need to keep that in mind.

There's a story in World War II. A young Christian boy, 12 years old, refused to join a certain movement in Europe. I think it was the Nazi movement. 12 years old. The enemy said to the younger youngster, don't you know that we have the power to kill you, young man?

The young man replied, don't you know? He said to the boy courageously, quietly, that I have the power to die for Christ. Think about that. This young man was dedicated, folks. He was dedicated for the cause of righteousness, for dying for our Lord.

And by the way, many, many, many died for righteousness sake, for the Lord. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of them in that time period. He was executed by Hitler. There was many others that we don't know of that stood for the faith,.

And they were executed.

This young man knew that they could not harm his soul. His soul. You know, Martin Luther said this. We're going to be singing this, Lord, really, next week. A mighty fortress is our God, but within that hymn, that Reformation hymn, he says, the body they may kill, God's truth abided still.

His kingdom is forever. Luther meant that. Better yet, Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10, 28 -31. You could turn there if you like. It's a great text. I mention this text quite often. It's one of my favorites because Jesus is actually teaching who to fear and who not to fear.

Who are we to fear?

God.

We're to fear God. Who are we not to fear? Man. We're not to fear man. What little man can do unto us. There's something greater than us, folks. In His righteousness' sake, for truth's sake, for the gospel's sake, right?

That's far greater than us. Jesus said this in verse 28 of chapter 10. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

And then He asked a question. This is to encourage us. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. In other words, God sees all things.

He knows all things. He knows even the very... He says, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Amazing.

But God knows that to details. And then He says, so do not fear you are more valuable than many sparrows. That should encourage us. That should encourage us to fear God and not fear a little man. What can man do unto me?

David prayed. So the hope of persecuted Christians then would appear to be in an eschatological viewpoint to be experienced in the last day at the last time that they might suffer now, they may bear the cross now, but God will vindicate them in the end.

God will give vengeance to the end and believe me, the judge of all the earth will do right. Now we have in our mind to these evil people like we think of Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler, but there's many wicked people.

God knows how to deal with sin. A lot of times I heard Ravenhill say this in one of his messages on the great white throne judgment. He says, Lord, turn up the temperature in hell for them. Look, we don't have to worry about that.

God will do right. God will vindicate. But it's all about God.

See?

And a lot of people will not know this until they get there. That's what J .C. Rowell says. Hell is a truth known too late. Whether a believer... Here's the deal. The apostle Paul says whether a believer lives or dies, he belongs to the Lord.

He lives to the Lord, he dies to the Lord. He's the Lord's. So we know we've been bought with a price. Let's live like we've been bought with a price. That's what Peter is saying.

Live it out.

Sounds easy, but it's a struggle, isn't it? So whether it's God's will for a believer to be delivered, or it's God's will for him to die in his faith, we're overcomers in Jesus Christ. We're more than conquerors.

That reminds me. Turn with me to Romans 8. Now, Peter is tied in right by the Holy Spirit with what the apostle Paul is saying here. Now, as you well know, this is a wonderful, wonderful text here. Oh, you get into Romans 8.

Now you're talking about Psalm 119 is the Mount Everest of the Psalms. This is the mountaintop of Romans. Notice what he says in verse 31. And this is a hymn, by the way. This section is a hymn to express the high praise of God, of His grace in bringing salvation to those whom He has chosen before the foundation of the world.

It's a hymn of security. It speaks of God's everlasting love. Look at verse 31. Just a great reminder for us. Who can harm us, see? What then shall we say to these things?

Question.

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect?

God is the one who justifies. Who is the one? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.