How Husbands Should Live With Their Wives: Part 2

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Worship Before the Throne of God: Part 3

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So I'd like to, in this message, how husbands should live with their wives. This is all -inclusive.
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So please turn with me as we continue our study through the epistle of 1 Peter, 1
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Peter chapter 3. Wonderful text we have before us, the apostle Peter, who was a married apostle, he knows, he was experienced.
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But this is the Holy Spirit of God inspiring him to give us these wonderful words of life, to instruct us in righteousness and how we should live as Christians.
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He's very evangelistic, isn't he? I love this about Peter and James as well.
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These men were very practical apostles. Shoe -leather faith, we call it. So in 1
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Peter chapter 3, I'll be reading verse 7 to 12.
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And verse 7 specifically speaks to husbands. Then there's a transition from verse 8 to 12.
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And we're going to be looking at these verses as a whole today, whereas we looked at verse 7 last
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Lord's Day. So hear the word of the living God. Verse 7,
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I'm reading from the NASB. You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with some one weaker, a weaker vessel.
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Since she is a woman and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.
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To sum it up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind -hearted and humble in spirit.
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Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
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For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
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For the one who desires life to love and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
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He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the
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Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer.
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But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. May God richly bless the reading of His holy word from our ears to our hearts this morning.
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Let us pray and let us seek the help of our God within this hour as we continue our worship in hearing
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His word. Oh God, oh God, our Heavenly Father, we do humbly come before You in Your wonderful presence,
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Your holy presence, Your glorious presence. In the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son.
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Lord, everything that we have is all because of His death, all because of His sacrifice.
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We point, we go to the cross. Everything we have flows from the cross. Lord, we thank
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You for this great salvation this morning. Help us, Lord, not take it for granted. You're good and You do good.
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So holy is Your name. Help us, oh Lord, to worship You in spirit and truth. And our prayer is with the psalmist.
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Be Thou exalted, oh God, above the heavens. Oh God, we give thanks unto
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Thee. May Your glory be over the earth. And Lord, we thank
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You for Your great faithfulness towards us and Your steadfast love. And Lord, we do pray this morning as we seek
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Your face that we would ask of Your help. Lord, I confess I'm weak this morning. We're all weak.
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Lord, we need Your help. We need Your strength to even worship You as we should worship
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You. But Lord, it's not within our own willpower. It's by the power of the Spirit of God. So that's why we call on You, God, to help us in this hour in which we may see
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Your hand, hear Your voice, perceive of what
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You have to say in truth. So Father, no matter how bad our circumstances are in life,
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You're good. You have a good purpose. Lord, we would ask that You'd give grace. Lord, as we pray, oh
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Lord, just not for ourselves, but we pray for our brothers and sisters that's facing horrible circumstances now.
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Lord, and I know their eyes are not on the circumstances. I know our brothers and sisters' eyes upon Jesus within this hour.
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Father, we pray, no matter how horrible these situations are, as they suffer for Your name's sake, we would pray, oh
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God, we would pray, oh God, to give them grace within this hour. That Your blessed
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Spirit, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of truth, the Comforter would help them, oh
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God. You would help them. Lord, that we would pray that all of Your children today, no matter what we're facing, in good or bad, on the mountaintop or in the valley, or in comfort or in persecution, that we would all turn our eyes upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ and look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this earth would grow strangely dim in the light of Your glory and grace.
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And Lord, we would ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. This particular passage has two main themes that tie together.
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The first is the role of the husbands. The role of the husbands whose call is to love his own wife intimately, as we looked at last
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Lord's Day in part one. And he is also to give precious care.
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This is not about being served, as we look at. It's about serving.
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It's about serving. Just not one another, it's about serving God. Ultimately God.
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And ultimately, that is the right perspective, isn't it? Loving God, serving
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God, loving people, loving one another, serving one another.
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The love, I really believe, is always the motive for the service. The reason why we serve is because we love.
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Love is always the first. It's the motive. It is the core. That's why 1
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Corinthians 13, Paul defines love, God's love. It's the greatest. He even said that.
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Now abides hope, faith, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Agape.
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So, in saying that, the theme as for husbands, the theme poses the question, do we see our wives as someone just to take care of our needs?
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Or do we see her as our loving helpmate, in which we are to love and serve, and a co -laborer as an heir of the grace of life together with Jesus Christ?
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Or do we just go along sharing the same room with her?
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No. We looked at that, didn't we? It's more to it than that. We are to live with understanding, with knowledge,
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Scripture says. So we are called to see her as precious.
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I think that's the word. That word precious means that we are not to take her for granted. We are to be stewards.
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And I like that word stewards. I thought about this. She is a gift from God.
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We have been shown, us husbands have been shown favor from God in giving us wives so that we may have the wonderful privilege to love her, and to serve her, and to care for her.
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I like to look at it as like we've been given a precious jewel from God, a precious, valuable jewel that needs to be taken care of.
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So when we have something very precious, something valuable, like a diamond or a pearl, we guard it, don't we?
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We make sure we're not going to lose it. We make sure it's taken care of. It's beautified.
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And that's the way we are towards our wives. So husbands, we are to focus in on that.
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So our prayer should always be a... I think about this prayer most of the time. It's a very simple prayer.
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But as we love and serve our wives, as husbands, I always pray, and I pray this in my walk with the
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Lord as well, but especially for my wife. Jesus, be Jesus in me.
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No longer me, but thee. Resurrection power, fill me this hour.
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Jesus, be Jesus in me. I love that prayer. It's so simple, but it basically says, I must die to myself.
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Christ, be Christ in me. Jesus, be Jesus in me and through me. Don't let my wife see me, but let her see
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Christ. And that's the way it is with the Christian life as well, but that's what the two that are one are to do, and especially the responsibility and the duty for the husbands, right?
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So this is to be our prayer, and this is to be our utmost responsibility, done with great care.
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It's a call of consideration. We looked at consideration. We looked at a call to be careful, steadfast.
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We looked at chivalry. We looked at companionship. We looked at communion, like caring for a precious jewel, like I said.
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The second theme, that's the first theme, pretty much, that is found in verse 7.
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And in verse 8, beginning at verse 8 to 12, the second theme is like a bookend, basically holding up the theme of submission to God.
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You see this theme running through. Peter never gets away from this. Submission is underscored.
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Submission to God is underscored. It's like holding up a bookend with that other part, harmoniously relating to others.
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And it's not only just among, for husbands and wives, it's also among believers within the church.
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And I'm going to tie this in. We're going to kind of bring it all together today. So the right priority is always, always this, loving
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God first. Our love toward God. And then second is loving our neighbor.
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You know, we cannot get away from this. You see this all the way through Scripture. Jesus, in Matthew 22, you can turn with me there if you'd like to see this, but in Matthew 22, there is a lawyer that comes to Jesus.
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In Matthew 22, verse 35 through 40, let me read those verses to you. And it says this, one of them, a lawyer.
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I was looking at the original, when it speaks of a lawyer, it's defined in parentheses in my
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Bible, and it actually says, an expert in the Mosaic law. Now you would think this lawyer would know.
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He did know, but he's testing Jesus. Notice what the Scripture says. He's an expert in the
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Mosaic law. He asked Him, speaking, he asked Jesus a question, testing
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Him. Teacher, notice he calls Him teacher, rabbi, which is the great commandment, and the law.
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Well, Jesus gave him an answer. Jesus gave it to him, quoting from Deuteronomy 6, 5, in the first part,
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He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
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And then the second, He quotes from Leviticus 19, 18. He quotes exactly from the
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Pentateuch. This is the great and foremost commandment, is to love the
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Lord your God with all your heart, soul, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all of it, not some of it, all of it.
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And the second is like it. He says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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I love that. Jesus goes on to say this, and this is remarkable, this is profound.
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He says, On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.
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That's a mouthful. That is everything summed up. Actually, what He's saying is, this is the whole duty summed up right here.
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All together, the whole duty of man to God. Love God. With all your being, with everything that you have.
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We all fail to do that. I was talking to my son Davey on the way here. We can't even do that within an hour.
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But Jesus Christ did this in His entire life. Every moment, every second, every hour,
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His whole entire life, He loved His Father, in which
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He was one with. But He did it in the flesh as a man, full of the Holy Ghost. And He did this with everything within Him, completely.
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He loved God, and He also loved His neighbor. And I would honestly say this,
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I don't think I'm out of line doing this, saying this. The law actually says, Neighbor as yourself.
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Jesus loved His neighbor more than Himself. We see that in His life.
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You see the perfect man. You know, it makes me think of the first four commandments. So the
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Decalogue, the law of God, speaks about our worship, our love to God. The first four commandments.
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Then the second half is the final six of the commandments, is love for our neighbors. And you know what you see about that.
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You have the vertical relationship with God that is first and foremost. Then you have the horizontal relationship with our neighbor.
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What do you have? You have a cross. That's the cross line. So it's love for God, love for our neighbor, that's summed up, that fulfills the whole law.
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Isn't that incredible? If we could keep that before us and practice this, I'm telling you it would go a long way in our marriages, to our husbands, to husbands and to wives, and loving one another, in the church, amongst each other, as we put this in shoe leather faith.
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Now again, who has done this and acted upon this in flesh and blood perfectly? Only the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Only the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say that. No other, nobody else in history, ever walked this earth, fulfilled the law in its completeness.
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Only Jesus. And this is yet, he says, this is the great, the foremost commandment given to us by God.
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And if you look at it, real submission to God breeds closeness.
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There's closeness. It's how we draw close to God in this. And it's our love, our depth to God.
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And how can we have such a love? Well, Scripture answers that. When we come to God, through the
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Holy Spirit and the new birth, the Holy Spirit literally sheds His love in our hearts by the
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Holy Ghost. Well, that sounds like a double negative, but God does it through His Spirit.
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That's what I meant to say. God does that work. He gives us a new heart, right? So we don't have the capacity to love.
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But God has. Oh, He is love. And He pours His Spirit within us.
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But there's a heart transplant. There's a great miracle that takes place in the new birth. So compassion, consideration, care, and charity, and all those virtues, literally is paves the way, and then we lead effectively.
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Without that, we cannot lead. It leads effectively, rational, harmony, and then there's blessing from God.
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The blessing comes from all that. Well, let me ask another question here.
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What sets the barrier? What sets up barriers? What sets up the barrier from blocking, from clogging up God's love, dams up the mighty love of God that is to flow through us?
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Why don't we see this more often? And let me mention this to you as well as a footnote.
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This kind of love that we're talking about right here from Scripture is true holiness. This is living out a holy life, separated from God, but it's our love toward God.
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When you're loving God, you're not loving the world, right? Because both cannot mix.
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You can't mix oil and water. So, the Scripture says that if you love the world, the love of the
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Father is not in you, right? Jesus says you're for me or against me. So there's no mixture, unholy mixture there, which a lot of people would like to mix it up, but it doesn't mix.
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So again, what's the question? What is blocking up the dam of God's mighty love to flow through us, and our homes, and our marriages within the church?
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What's blocking it up? Can I mention to you? It sounds simple.
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It's definitely S -I -N, notice the I, or P -R capital
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I -D -E. Notice the I in the sin and I in the pride.
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Both is the I. That's the problem. I must die. I must go to the cross.
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I must be crucified. That strong -will attitude that resists
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God and submission must die. It blocks up the barrier of God's love, mighty love, to be effective.
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But it makes it ineffective and destructive and meaningless in our own lives.
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You know, as I was studying this, I couldn't help but think about the plumb line. The plumb line is like a main line
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If that plumb line gets clogged up of God's flow, there's problems that takes place.
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Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the prophet Jeremiah said this in chapter 2, verse 3.
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This is a loaded up verse. But it really strikes to the core the problem that we all have that blocks up and damns up God's love.
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For my people have committed two evils. Notice he says, my people. He's not speaking about to the pagans.
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He says, my people. God's people. They committed two evils. What's the two evils?
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Well, he says, number one, they've forsaken me. That's the biggest sin. They've forsaken
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God. God's people? Forsaken Him. The fountains of living waters to hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
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That's a loaded up verse, isn't it? In other words, what's it saying? It says that God's people basically abandoned the
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Lord, turned against the Lord, and the source of salvation and love.
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And second, as in speaking to the context to Jeremiah 2, Israel turned to idols.
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They forsook the Lord and turned to idols. And that's the problem that we're seeing today, isn't it?
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It's forsaken the Lord, and the people even using the name of Christ. That's why Paul says that people that use the name of Christ need to turn away, depart from iniquity.
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It's a serious thing to abuse the name of God in these matters. Jeremiah compared these with underground water storage devices of rainwater.
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We've been getting a lot of rain here this recently, haven't we? And the rainwater which were broken and let water seep out at the bottom, it would seep out and thus proven to be useless.
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And that's what's happened. It has broken cisterns, and we need to repair the breach.
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And if we desire to see God work among us within the church, we must love
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Him above all things and love others as ourselves. You know, as you quote that, when
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I mention that loving others as ourselves, there's a lot of false teaching about that.
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Psychology has run rampant in the church. They automatically say you need to love yourself. It's the truth.
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But is he talking about self -love? God forbid. No, he's not. Now, there's a lot of people that prove that that is self -love, but that is not self -love.
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It's dying to self. It's denying self. Dying to self.
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It's not self -love. How can you prove that? Well, in Matthew 7, 12, to the context,
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Jesus is referring to this kind of love. In everything, in everything Jesus said, therefore treat people the same way that you want to be treated.
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That you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. Jesus said that.
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What do we call that? The golden rule. The way to treat others. With respect.
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With dignity. With care. With honor. Even if we disagree with them.
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You know, we're not to... We need to hold our tongue. We're going to look at that in a minute. We need to watch our lips and what we say and put a guard over our mouth and be wise and be swift to hear and slow to speak and something we need to all practice, right?
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Because with many words comes sin. Who fails at that? I fail at that all the time.
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God help us. So, 1 Peter 3, basically verses 8 through 12,
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Peter is concluding here his love, I'm sorry, his line of thought,
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I should say, from chapter 2, verse 13 to chapter 3, verse 7.
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Then he goes on from that particular verse from chapter 3, verse 8 to 12.
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Now we've got another section. So the boundaries in the sense of culture with fruit and the call from God.
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So as Christians and as believers in Jesus Christ, our attitude, that's number one, is our attitude.
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Our heart motive. Our motive. And our conduct. First within our heart and also our conduct towards one another should be characterized by practicing
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Christlikeness. Now, let's not take that for granted. That is so, so serious, isn't it?
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Isn't it the goal for each and every one of us as believers in Jesus Christ to be like Christ? To follow
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Jesus Christ, to be like Him in everything. So that's basically what I'd like to set before you.
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We're going to look at Christlikeness as it characterizes our relationship to one another as husbands and wives, but also to one another.
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Because this is our calling. This is our calling. It is the way to blessing, according to Scripture.
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It is loving one another, loving God, loving one another, husbands, wives, one another in the church.
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I tell you what, redeeming grace church, we should never get away from this.
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If we show the love of God and demonstrate the love of God in selfless love and loving one another, it will go a long way to our spiritual strength and growth and our health as a mark, a true mark of godliness within this church.
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So I'd like to set before you a couple of points. It's just very simple. The first is practice
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Christlikeness. Practice the practice of Christlikeness. I'll get it out in a minute.
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Christlikeness, the life, in order to minister blessing. Practice the
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Christlike life to minister blessing. And the second one we will look at is to practice the
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Christlike life in order to inherit God's blessing. One is to give the blessing and the other one is to, or say practice it, to minister, to give the blessing.
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The other one is to inherit the blessing. The giving and the inheriting. So in order to inherit it, we must do the giving.
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But God is ultimately the source of the giving. He's the giver. So, let's look at it.
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The first practice of Christlike life, being like Jesus Christ, in order to minister blessing, to give the blessing, to give the blessing, to minister the blessing.
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The apostle Peter exhorts believers, all believers, to practice Christlikeness.
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An attitude towards one another. That's a command. Jesus said, a new commandment
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I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. That's the commandment
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Jesus has given. That's the head of the church. He's the head of the church. He's the Lord and the Master. He begins by expressing the desire also for Christian community here.
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This is important. What does he say? Look at it. Verse 8, to sum up, to sum up all of you, all of you, underscore this word, be, be, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit.
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First of all, we must use this passage as a template. And honestly, as I was reading this, and going through the references of Scripture, which we're going to look at in just a few minutes, this is basic, this is not radical
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Christianity, this is basic Christianity 101. This is loving one another.
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This is loving God. So we should, Christians living should check up, we should check up and examine our hearts of how we are to treat others here, and how we see that we are treating others, and see if we're bearing fruit in obedience and demonstrating the work that Jesus has done in all of us.
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So all believers, be, be, all of you, he says, be. There's the character, there's the attitude, there's the core of it, would you say, the heart of it.
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And what does he say? Be harmonious. Let's look at the first one. Harmonious. What does this word mean? Harmonious literally means, in the
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Greek here, to think the same, to think the same, to be like -minded, to be like -minded.
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It means to show peace, the peace of God in all situations, in all situations.
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Peace of God, peace with God. First we've got to get peace with God before we get the peace of God, right?
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We've got to get peace with God through Jesus Christ, in which He gives us, through justification by faith alone.
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Then we have the peace of God, which Paul says will, what, rule your heart and everything.
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It literally just rules it. You could go through the most horrific situations, outward circumstances, and you can have a peace like a river, as the little song says.
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Children's songs, I've got peace like a river. I mean, you can have that because of the peace that's only found in God.
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I like what Philippians 2, 3, we're all familiar with these verses, but I think, I want to just let the lion out of the cage this morning, okay?
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Do nothing. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.
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This is Paul the apostle, that great chapter in Philippians 2. He wrote in prison, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.
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You put that to work among the church, you have some power, you have some unity, you have some harmony.
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You put that to work in your home, husbands, wives, you will have harmony. Well, that's harmony.
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Harmonious. Think the same. Be like -minded. The early church had all things in common in their mind because they were in truth, unity in truth.
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Then, the next word is sympathetic. What about that word? That's a great word, isn't it?
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Sympathetic. It means to be understanding. It means to be identifying with one another and putting ourselves in another person's shoes so we can have real compassion toward them, right?
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Put ourselves in their shoes. We need to do that more often. That will go a long way.
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That will show a lot of respect. How does it feel to be in that person's shoes?
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Let me put myself in their shoes. Third, brotherly. He speaks about the word brotherly.
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I think about 1 Peter 1 .22 in which we already looked at. He says this.
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Since you have in obedience, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.
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Sincere love. In other words, a real love. It's not hypocritical.
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It's really loving that person and loving their soul and loving them as Jesus loved them.
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Isn't that wonderful? And then he says, fervently love one another. Fervently.
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One another. One another. From the heart. From the heart.
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That's brotherly. Let's go to the next word. What about that word kind -hearted? Kind -hearted makes me think of Ephesians 4 .32.
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Now this one's really convicting. But listen to what he's talking about being kind -hearted.
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Be kind to one another. Be kind to one another.
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Notice the one another's. I think we ought to have a chart one day and put all the one another's of the
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Scriptures on there. I'm telling you. That'll make a healthy church right there. Be kind to one another. Tender -hearted.
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Tender -hearted. Not hard -hearted. Tender -hearted. And then he says this.
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Forgiving each other. Just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
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What a verse. So convicting, isn't it? To those who have been forgiven much, loves much.
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That's what the Scripture says. Forgiven much, loved much. To those who have been forgiven, loves much.
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And we are never more like God. Never more like God. Never more like God when we are forgiving and tender -hearted.
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That's the truth. Just as God in Christ. God in Christ also has forgiven you.
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I want you to think about that. I want you to put a sealer out there. How much has God forgiven you in Jesus Christ?
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I want you to think about that. How much compassion has God shown you through Jesus Christ? How much favor has
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He shown you in Jesus Christ? How much mercy has He shown you in Jesus Christ?
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How much has God forgiven you in Jesus Christ? I'm going to let the Scriptures answer that. I'm not going to answer that.
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Go with me to Psalm 103. Don't you love this psalm? This is one of my favorite psalms.
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This psalm is so rich with the loving kindness of God.
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His hesed. His tender mercies. And you know what David's doing?
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It's the psalm of David. He's praising God for His tender mercies. His loving kindness.
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His mercy. His compassions that never fail as Jeremiah said. Notice what he says.
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I'm going to just read you the psalm, okay? Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
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Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.
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What is His benefits? Who pardons all of your iniquities. Who heals all of your diseases.
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Who redeems your life from the pit. Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion.
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Who satisfies your years with good things. So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
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The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known
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His ways to Moses and His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious.
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Slow to anger. Abounding in loving kindness. He will not always strive with us.
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Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins.
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Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth.
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So great is His loving kindness toward those who fear Him. And as far as the east is from the west.
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And as far as He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children.
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So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame.
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And He is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass.
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As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. And when the wind passed over it, it is no more.
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And its place acknowledges it no longer. But the loving kindness of the
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Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. That's critical, isn't it?
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To fear in God. And His righteousness to children's children.
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And to those who keep His covenant. And remember His precepts to do them.
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The Lord has established His throne in the heavens. And His sovereignty rules over all.
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Praise God. Bless the Lord, His angels. Mighty in strength who perform
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His word. Obeying the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you
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His hosts. You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the
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Lord, all you works of His. And all places of His dominion.
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Bless the Lord, O my soul. This man, the man after God's own heart.
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He was just blessing God and worshiping God. And praising God for His loving kindness.
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His mercy and His tenderness. God's compassion. And we're never more like God as we forgive one another.
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As Peter is speaking of being tender hearted. Tender hearted. And forgiving one another.
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You know that makes a marriage strong, doesn't it? Because there's many times as you live with your helpmate.
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You have to forgive one another, don't you? Times, miscommunications come up.
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There's conflict that come up. And words can fly that can be hurt.
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And I'm telling you. You know what I'm saying. Husbands, wives. What is the greatest balm?
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Is forgiving one another. Tender hearted. Being loving. Being kind. Being compassionate and understanding.
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Goes a long way. Well, there's so much more we can say about that.
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But I believe that Psalm answered that question. Amen. Gives us the answer, doesn't it? The fifth thing that he mentions,
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Peter is, back to Peter. Is in humble in spirit. In humble in spirit.
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Now that's a whole sermon, folks. But I'm not going to preach a whole sermon on it. Let me just give you a little bit. Brother Keith reminded me of this in a song.
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That's right from Scripture. About one faith. One Lord. One faith. One God. One baptism. Ephesians 4, verse 2 through 6.
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You can turn with me there if you like. The Apostle Paul speaks about what it means to be humble in spirit.
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And also in chapter 2, Philippians. You can go right back to that. But I chose this particular verse.
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With all humility. With all humility. In verse 2, chapter 4.
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And gentleness with patience. Showing tolerance for one another in love. Being diligent to persevere.
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To persevere. To preserve. I'm sorry.
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The unity of the spirit. To preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
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And then he says this. Notice the ones. The one body. There is one body. And one spirit.
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Just as also you were called in one hope of your calling. There's the calling. One Lord.
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One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all who is over all.
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In sovereignty there he's talking about. And through all and in all. Praise God. Don't you love the ones there?
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The oneness. The unity. The harmony. The togetherness. One body.
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One spirit. One hope. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father.
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Not two. Only one. Only one. Then verse 9.
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Verse 9 of 1 Peter chapter 3. He says this. Not returning evil for evil.
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Or insult for insult. But giving a blessing instead for you. Were called for this very purpose.
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That you might inherit a blessing. Now we go into the inherit the blessing. That's my second point. We are to practice
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Christ likeness. A Christ like life. In order that we may inherit
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God's blessing. We first looked at the giving of the blessing. Now we are going to look at the inherit the blessing. Peter through the
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Holy Ghost. Says this. As I mentioned. We are not returning evil for evil.
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Or insult for insult. But giving a blessing instead. Now he talks about the inheriting the blessing.
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This is a call not to seek revenge. Not to retaliate.
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Against those wicked people. That have harmed us. And wronged us.
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Now I am telling you. This hits hard for all of us. Doesn't it? There is a lot of injustice in the world.
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There is a lot of wrong. But can I tell you this. God is going to make it right one day.
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When Abraham pleaded before God. The question was. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
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You know Abraham knew the characteristics. And the attributes of God there. Because he knew that God was just and fair.
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Now this is such an encouragement to me. And I am just passing this encouragement on. God is going to make it right one day beloved.
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But it is not for us. To put it within our hands. To take justice.
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In our own hands. You see what I am saying? Now it doesn't mean. That we are to sit by the byways.
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And let someone continually railroad you. And bulldoze you. And just sit there and take it.
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Now that is a passivity. Now I don't want to go too far into this.
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But there is a passivity in God.
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A passive love that is stronger than anything we know of folks. And that is what the text is talking about.
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It doesn't mean that we are not to be wise. Now I don't have time to get into all this.
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But if you look into the Proverbs. And you look into the Scripture. Jesus even said it. Wisdom is justified over children.
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You are to use wisdom in our walk. You are not to sit there. And just be a doormat.
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To be trampled underfoot. Jesus expects us to use common sense and wisdom. Right? Jesus even said it.
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He said be wise as serpents. And harmless as doves. Put those two together.
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You got something. Now I don't want to get into the details of that. But what he is talking about here.
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Is about we are not to seek revenge. Okay. We are not to go after retaliation.
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Even though we have been wronged in many ways. And I don't know what you have gone through. I know a lot of people. Godly people that have been wronged in many many ways.
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They even have to go to court. To try to make it right.
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But we are not to seek revenge or retaliate. Let me tell you what the text is really saying. What does the scripture really say?
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What does the scripture say? Well let me read a few verses. Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20, 22.
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You can go with me there if you like. There is a lot of verses in Proverbs I like to use.
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I am going to be jumping back and forth. But look at this. Proverbs 20, 22 is a good one. Do not say,
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I will repay evil. Wait for the Lord. There is the answer.
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Let's wait for the Lord. Why? Well, if you wait for the Lord, He will save you.
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He will deliver you. God is the deliverer. He will deliver us.
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Only God, not man, avenges evil. And in truth, only
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God has the right and justice to do so. We do not.
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You know why? Because only God is righteous. Only God is just.
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Only God knows. He knows the motive of men's hearts. He knows how to expose it. He knows how to deal with it.
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Let's look at what the scripture says. Deuteronomy 32, 35. This is where Solomon reached into.
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He reached into Deuteronomy. Jesus always quoted a lot from Deuteronomy. Because it's part of the
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Pentateuch. It's like the solid foundation. They've got the law and the prophets. But it's the core of it.
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Deuteronomy 32, 35. Notice what scripture says. Vengeance is mine. It's all about God.
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Vengeance belongs to God. It's almost like God is saying, you don't touch it. Don't you touch it.
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It's too hot for you. You let me handle it. You let me handle it.
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Vengeance is mine. And retribution. I love this verse.
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In due time, their foot will slip. In due time. It will slip, not may slip.
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It will slip. That's just the way it goes, folks. That's the law of sowing and reaping.
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It's going to happen. They will slip. For the day of their calamity is near.
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Isn't that an encouraging verse? The day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.
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There you have it, right from the scriptures. Now go with me very quickly to Romans 12. You see where the apostle
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Paul takes this, and he is reaching into the same verses. Notice chapter 12, verse 9.
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We'll start with verse 9. We'll take it all the way to the end of the chapter. Let love be without hypocrisy.
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Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. This sounds almost like Peter. Echoing pretty much both of the apostles, the same
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Holy Spirit. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. There it is. Giving preference to one another in honor.
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Not lagging behind in diligence. Fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. These are strong bullet points, folks.
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This is like a cluster of power. Just power points. Just pam, pam, pam.
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Rejoicing in hope. Persevering in tribulation. Devoted to prayer. Contributing to the needs of the saints.
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Practicing hospitality. And then he says in verse 14, Bless those who persecute you.
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Bless and do not curse. He's echoing what Jesus is saying. Rejoice with those who rejoice.
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Weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind. There's that same mind again. And toward one another, do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.
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Do not be wise in your own estimation. Then he says this, Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
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We need to underscore that, don't we? Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
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Never take, Never take your own revenge, beloved. Never take your own revenge, beloved.
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But leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, Vengeance is mine,
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I will repay. He's quoting Deuteronomy there. Says the Lord, But if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
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And if he's thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head.
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And then he says this, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. With good.
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Good overcomes. Good triumphs. Because good is from God. Hebrews 10, 30.
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Chapter 10, verse 30. For we know him, we know him. Do you know him? Talking about God.
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Who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people.
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And I can't help but not leave, I'm not going to leave out verse 31. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living
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God. That's something sobering. Terrifying. Terrifying thing.
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To fall to the hands of the living God. I believe Peter is also, he's reiterating these words from Proverbs, but he's also speaking of what
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Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5, 11 and 12. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
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Rejoice, be glad, or exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets which were before you.
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That's the words of Jesus. This goes a long way with all the injustice going on, doesn't it?
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We don't need to take these kind of matters into our own hands, because God, after all, God can do a far, far better job than any of us.
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Now many times old flesh of mine gets in the way. I say, Lord, I'd like to help you and humble this guy over here.
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And God says, the Holy Spirit just smites me with conviction right then, and says, don't even think about it. Don't even think about it.
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I got this. God knows how to handle the wicked, right? Saint Augustine said this, quote,
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If you are suffering from a bad man's injustice, forgive him, lest there be two bad men.
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Amen? Amen. That's good wisdom, isn't it? And he's getting that right out of Scripture.
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Forgive him, lest there be two bad men. Well, amen. That's the truth.
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So we pay someone back, do we? No. We don't pay them back. We only do good to them.
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When we do pay them back, evil for evil, insult for insult, what are we doing? What are we doing? We're escalating the problem.
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We're creating a worse problem. That's what sin does, folks. It creates the mess even worse.
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You know this. It keeps piling up, piles on sin upon sin, problem upon problem, conflict upon conflict.
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It gets worse. It keeps hurt. More hurt happens. And we, and by the way, the most important thing, we usurp
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God's authority. We're not submitting to God and His Word when we're taking it in our own hands.
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Well, he quoted Proverbs 25, If your enemy is hungry, give him food. Isn't that great? If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat.
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If he's thirsty, give him some water. Why? Well, you heat burning coals of fire on his head.
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Burning coals. The Lord will reward you, the Scripture says. He's going to reward you.
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And the north wind brings forth rain, and the backbiting tongue and angry countenance.
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You know what that is? Cause and effect. Cause and effect. Cause and effect. Rain cloud brings rain.
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We've been seeing a lot of rain. That's why that backbiting tongue produces more anger. That's all it does.
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It just creates the problem. Well, we need to get to the root. How do we give the blessing? Acts of kindness, most important.
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Praying for them. Peter says, You were called for a very purpose, this very purpose that you were called to inherit a blessing.
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Finding ways to bless our enemies, to serve them, praying for their salvation. Right? I think praying for them goes a long way.
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Let's find ways to bless them. That's tough. Say this to the pagan world, they look at you crazy.
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But this is the Spirit of God that gives these instructions. And you know only by, let me say this, only by the power of the
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Holy Spirit can we do this. We can't do it in our own power and in flesh. Showing the love of God.
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Showing the love of God. Let's go to verse 10. Look at verse 10. Don't you love it?
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He's quoting Psalm 34. He quotes Psalm 34, verse 12 through 16.
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And by the way, why is he quoting? He's doing this to basically to confirm what he's just mentioned in his exhortation.
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The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
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He confirms his exhortation. The one who desires life, love and see good days is not our best life now.
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Right? But it is the abundant life in Jesus. Now what does that mean?
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I get, is the abundant life for me to get big Cadillacs and lots of cars? No. By no means.
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Wrong, wrong, wrong interpretation. Let me tell you what the interpretation Jesus is talking about.
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That life abundantly is inward power and joy in the Holy Ghost and righteousness in the
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Holy Ghost. Peace that passes all understanding. That's what he's talking about. John 10 .10
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The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus says,
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I have come that they may have life. He is the life giver. Because he is life.
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And have it more abundantly in abundance. Not think. I'm telling you, that shows you how carnal people think.
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It's not talking about things. It's talking about the abundant joy in the
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Holy Spirit and riches in God and all that Christ has given us. Abundant life is in Jesus through the new birth.
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In Jesus and it's ours. And it's ours throughout all eternity.
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It begins here. But it's for all eternity. Praise God. So Peter speaks to us and how to experience that rich joy, that rich blessing.
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Those riches in Jesus Christ. All the riches in Jesus. It's all in Jesus. If you've got
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Jesus, you've got it all. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, like the song says.
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And even if a wicked and a hostile world, we can express this right in the midst of this. And they may look at you crazy.
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Fine. They're supposed to because you're sojourner. You're different. We're holy. Well, from this text, let me get some practical instructions in heading to my conclusion.
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First, what are the requirements of one that desires life? To love and seek good days.
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Well, first of all, look at verse 8. To sum it up, all of you, husbands, wives, all believers, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind -hearted, and humble in spirit.
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That's the requirement. Verse 9, second requirement. Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult.
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I'm recapping. But giving a blessing instead. In other words, not desiring an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
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And not taking vengeance in our own hand, but letting God be God and taking care of that Himself.
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Loving your enemies and not trying to get even with them, right? I remember a saying, I don't get mad,
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I get even. That's bad. That's terrible. We don't get neither, right?
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If anything, we get mad at sin, right? We get mad at Satan. But we love
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God. We love the souls. We pity the souls. Third, verse 10. Having a pure and honest speech.
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Pure and honest speech. Verse 10, the one who desires life, must desire it. He must desire it first.
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He's got to have a desire toward it. He must love it and want to love it and see good days.
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He must keep his tongue from evil. It reminds me of Psalm 141 .3. Set a guard,
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O Lord. He's praying. Set a guard over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips.
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Very practical prayer, isn't it? We're to make sure that our tongues are under complete control, the
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Spirit of God, and ask God to help us in the discipline of our tongues. Lord, help us in this.
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Peter quotes the Old Testament just to remind us that we have to live by the right authority, right?
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If you desire life, see good days, then when there's a submission to God, we submit to God's Word, to obey
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His Word. You know what James, James talks about the tongue. Go with me to James chapter 3 real quick.
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We've already been through James, and oh my, this chapter here will cut you all up.
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Well, it's good that we get cut and have some surgery. We've got to have the healing of the wounds, but listen to this.
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James 3, I'm sorry, chapter 3, look at verse 2.
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For we all, all stumble in many ways, all of us, including himself. If anyone does not stumble, what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
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Now if we put the bits into the horse's mouth, such a small member he's saying, so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
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Look at the ships. Look at the practical illustrations he gives. The ships also, though they are so great and driven by strong winds, still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires, so also the tongue is a small part of the body and yet it boasts of great things.
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Such a small member, but so, it does so much damage, doesn't it?
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Then he goes on, another practical illustration, see how great a forest set aflame by such a small fire, by a small spark.
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The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity, world of iniquity, set to blaze a whole forest.
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The tongue is said among our members as that which defiles the entire body, sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell.
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For every species of beast and birds and reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue.
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Wow! It is a restless evil, restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our
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Lord and Father and with it we curse men. Isn't that convicting?
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Who have been made in the likeness of God and from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.
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My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?
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Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives and vine produce figs?
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Nor can salt water produce fresh. We get the point, don't we? Wow! He made his point very clear.
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Well, very quickly, I got to try to wrap this up. Next in verse 11 he says,
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Must turn away from evil and do good. Must seek peace, pursue it. Must turn away from evil.
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Must, must. Notice the must, these imperatives. Hating sin, loving righteousness. Must turn away from evil.
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There is the negative side. Seeking peace, pursue it. There is the positive side. Perfect balance.
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Verse 11. Four imperatives. Let me go through them real quick. Must is a command. A command.
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The first one is to keep. Keep his tongue. Second, he must turn away from evil.
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Keep. Turn. Turn away. Reject. It's a positive rejection in what is sinful and the treatments of others.
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We're to turn away from. Proverbs 3 .7 says, Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
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Then, that's the positive note. Then let him do good. Good life is not doing what is evil, right?
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But doing what is good and right. Next is, the third imperative is, He must seek peace.
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Fourth imperative. To pursue it. Seek peace, pursue it. Seek it, pursue it.
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Hebrews 12 .14. Pursue peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the
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Lord. Powerful verse. Pursue. Pursue peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the
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Lord. This is how we draw near to God, folks. With full faith and a clear conscience.
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Matthew 5 .9. Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus said, for they shall be called the children of God.
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Now, very quickly. I want to see if I can squeeze this in. For the eyes of the
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Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears, notice His eyes, His ears, attend to their prayer. But the face of the
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Lord is against those who do evil. That's a loaded verse. But it really brings us to what we need to hear.
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Peter gives the incentive, the incentive that motivates us to be holy. To be godly in a wicked world.
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To be loving. To be Christ -like. That first incentive is knowing that the eyes of the
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Lord are toward the righteous. His eyes see. In other words, He sees everything. He's omniscient.
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He watches over us. His eye is upon the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
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God is watching the righteous. There's an accountability of the awesomeness of God's eye.
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You know, that occurred in our life a lot of times, in a loving way. But from evil, knowing that the eye of God, before the face of God, God's eye is on us.
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Then, but as good as that incentive is, it's not the primary one. The main one is this. His ears.
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His ears attend to their prayer. God's eyes, God's ears. He sees all, but He hears all.
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He hears our prayer. Proverbs 15 .3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
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Proverbs 5 .21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders
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His paths. Zechariah 4 .10 God is scanning to and fro throughout the whole earth and seeing everything.
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God is aware of every minute detail. Nothing escapes the eye of God. Isn't that wonderful?
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Every single detail. Every minute thing. Jesus said, The Father even knows the count of the hairs of your head.
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Isn't it incredible that God knows every minute little thing?
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It could be terrifying to one degree or it can be comforting. It depends where you are with God. God's aware of every detail.
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Well, very quickly. In order for Him to hear our prayers, that's the primary incentive.
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He hears our prayers, the prayers of the righteous. We cry out to God. His ears attend. Great incentive.
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Peter is, as you live godly in this wicked world, God hears our prayers.
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We should have a humble attitude as we come before Him. It's a promise that He hears us, the righteous cry, and He hears us.
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What a glorious promise. But, what's the last one? The face. Notice we talked about the eyes of the
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Lord, the ears of the Lord, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now wait till we talk about face.
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Anytime He talks about face, He's talking about judgment. And, most of the time in Scripture, when
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God's face is against, His visage is of anger. In the Bible, it speaks of Genesis 19, 13, regarding Lot and Sodom.
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We are about, the angels said, they went to Sodom and Gomorrah, and they told Lot, we're about to destroy this place because the outcry has become so great, before what?
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The face of God. God's face is against that evil, and He's about to destroy it.
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Those angels were to destroy it with fire. From the fire of God. Lamentations 4, 16, the presence of the
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Lord, or literally, the face of the Lord, has scattered them. Judgment, judgment. This has happened in America, folks.
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God's face is against America. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this today, right?
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With the sin that's growing like cancer. May God have mercy on us.
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So, and may the church be the church. But, when God sees the wicked, He sees them in an angry face. Let me close with this.
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Ephesians 5, 25. It says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave
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Himself up for her so that He might sanctify her, cleanse her, by the washing of the water of the
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Word, that He might present to Himself a church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle, any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.
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Now, I gotta leave on a note, the bride of Jesus Christ, He is all about,
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Jesus is all about purifying His church, right? His bride, He's gonna have a pure bride. I like what
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Ravenhill said, me and Brother Keith talked about this. Ravenhill said,
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I've been to many, many weddings, but I've never seen a dirty bride. I've seen all kinds of brides. Fat brides, skinny brides, rich brides, poor brides, but never a dirty bride.
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And Jesus is not gonna have a dirty bride either. He's coming back after a bride that's glorious, that loves
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Him, and the husband, as Jesus, loves to seat and cleanse
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His bride in every way. The greatest desire for her should be that she becomes conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, therefore
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He leads her to love and purity. So what is God telling you in today's message?
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Love your bride. Love one another. Be submissive to God. Am I encouraged and strengthened?
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Am I pursuing peace and holiness? Am I controlling my tongue? Do I have a bridle over my tongue?
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Am I listening to my helpmate? Do I listen to her? Am I swift to hear and slow to speak? Is there any sin in my life for which
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I need to confess and repent which is needed? We should cry out to God.
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Search me, O God, and try me and see if there's any wicked way in me. How can I learn and grow more in Christ?
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How does all this apply to me personally? Well, we need to submit to the
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Gospel, right? We need to submit to Jesus Christ and His Lordship. Submission.
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Obedience. Resist the devil. Submit therefore to God and resist the devil.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank You. And Lord, we thank You for this time together.
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And Lord, we thank You for Your grace that's only in Jesus Christ.
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Lord, we're so unworthy of this. Thank You, Father, that You grant to us by Your power and grace to live with a forgiving heart.
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Help us, Lord, to forgive one another, to forgive our enemies, not to retaliate for Your namesake, not to respond improperly, and not to insult by insult, and evil with evil, but that we might give back good for the evil, and love for the hate, that we may overcome the evil with good.
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Lord, help us by Your Holy Spirit to live under the authority of Your Word. And Lord, we would pray, help each and every one of us to truly submit, truly submit to You and the authority of Your Word.
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Lord, this is Your Word. You have honored it. You have exalted
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Your Word above even Your name. Lord, help us to pursue peace and holiness without which we shall not see
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You. Lord, we praise You and we thank You for this time of worship and we bless Your holy name because one day,
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Your Son will come for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. As He will come back and every eye shall see
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Him. And the church will be washed in the blood of the Lamb. And it will be a glorious church.
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Oh, hallelujah. We thank You, Father. And grant to us the grace to live the godly life.