Standing Against The World's Wind Part III 1 Peter 3:8-17

This morning is our third Sunday in the text 1

Peter 3, verses 8 -17. Two Sundays ago we looked at verses 8 and 9.

Last Sunday, verses 10 -15. And this morning we will look at the second half of verses 15 -17.

What we have seen in these 10 verses is the big idea to prepare yourselves as Christians to receive opposition from the world.

In this text we have seen seven disciplines. How? In fact we have seen four of them. We will see three more today.

And here is the four that we have seen. The first one is uniting with fellow believers in love. And what we have seen here is that unity is built around the truth.

And as we are built around the truth of God's Word, we can live out that love and unity that God has designed.

The second discipline that prepares you to receive opposition from the world is by refusing to respond to evil with evil.

As opposition comes, we need to prepare ourselves not to respond like the world responds.

Christians do not return evil with evil, but return evil with good. The third discipline that prepares you to receive opposition from the world is by experiencing the

Lord's tangible blessing through a righteous life. As Christians, we should be motivated to experience

His favor upon us even as the world opposes you as you stand with Christ.

The fourth discipline that prepares you to receive opposition from the world is by moving not an inch when hostile pressure comes or the temptation is to fold.

Right? When that pressure comes. That's what the world wants you to do. But we must stand with Christ knowing that no one can truly harm you as the

Lord is with you. So do not fear. Do not be troubled as Peter told us.

Stand with Him and He will take care of you. And this brings us to our fifth discipline how you are to prepare yourselves as Christians to receive opposition from the world.

And that is this. By readying yourself to defend attacks on your faith.

And we'll see this in the second half of verse 15 which I will read at this time.

Where Peter writes, I'm going to start with the beginning of verse 15. In your hearts, honor

Christ the Lord as holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect. This is a common verse that many people know.

Many Christians should know. This is a verse that every Christian should know. We should all memorize this verse. Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have.

But do it with gentleness and respect. One of the ways of looking at a

Christian's life is that you are constantly defending the gospel.

We defend it through word and we defend it through deed.

The English word defense is translated from the Greek word apologia. And this is where we get the study of apologetics.

The study of apologetics is simply defending the Christian faith. Next week we are in fact going to have a class related to this that Alan Walker will be teaching in adult

Sunday school over at the Madsen building at 9 a .m. Alan is an expert on creationism and he's going to teach on how science shows us that God created the heavens and the earth.

But the world has told us something different. The world has told us that the universe created itself, that everything evolved from a single cell and that humans in particular evolved from apes.

In other words, everything just happened. But nothing in the world works like that.

Every effect has a cause and if there is a design then there must be a designer.

And I am putting a plug in for everyone to join that class next Sunday at 9 a .m.

Other areas of apologetics focus on arguing for the truthfulness of scripture. That scripture is indeed historical.

This is where questions are asked. Was there a flood? A global flood that is.

Did the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah really happen? Did Moses and the Israelites really cross the

Red Sea? Did a donkey really speak to Balaam? Did David really kill

Goliath with a slingshot and a stone? Did Daniel really survive a den of lions?

Was Jonah really swallowed by a whale? Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

The field of apologetics seeks to answer these questions. And what

I can say with confidence is that the Bible is always proved true. Every logical argument, every archaeological find, every historical document only proves the truthfulness of scripture.

The world we live in is indeed the world of scripture. Now that is the field of apologetics.

But is this what Peter has on his mind as he says, always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you?

If you were to ask Peter about arguing for creationism, the validity of biblical history, and especially the resurrection, the bodily resurrection of Christ, he would be okay with that.

Of course he would say, yeah, argue for that. But Peter would probably hang on this most importantly.

One of the most powerful ways to win someone to Christ, to show the truthfulness of the

Bible, is by telling your story in relationship to the cosmic story.

It is by explaining, as he says in verse 15, the hope that is in you.

One of the ways the Apostle Paul in the letter to the church in Philippi described his ministry was as a defense of the

Gospel. In Philippians 1 -7, Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, it is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart.

For you all are partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and the confirmation of the

Gospel. Then further down in verse 15 and 16 of this chapter,

Paul wrote, Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the

Gospel. What Paul and Peter are saying is that one's life and ministry is built on a defense of the

Gospel. This was true for Paul, for Peter, and it's true for every

Christian. When you tell your story to someone, you need to understand what you believe.

You believe that God created the world, and when He created the world, it was good. But Adam and Eve fell into sin as they were tempted by Satan.

And every human that came from them is a sinner by nature and by choice.

But God did not give up on humanity. He put into place the plan He had all along, and that plan was to send

His Son Jesus on a rescue mission to save sinners. When Jesus went to the cross,

He paid the full penalty for anyone who would believe in Him as He bore the Father's holy wrath and His wrath was exhausted.

He faced hell for you so that you don't have to. And everyone who believes in Him has their sins forgiven and receives eternal life.

I don't say this very often, but can someone say amen? Amen. That's the truth of Scripture.

That's the story of life. That's the Gospel. You need to explain why it is that you are a

Christian. And you may get into some apologetics like it's obvious that God created the world.

It's obvious that the Bible describes the real world that we live in. But you also describe the truthfulness of the story of Scripture as it relates to your own life.

You are explaining, once again as Peter writes, the hope that is in you. One thing you know as you are honest with yourself is that you are a sinner in need of the

Savior. Some of you have heard about the Christian leader, Ray Comfort.

What I love about Ray Comfort's ministry, Way of the Master, is that when he shares the Gospel with people, he takes them through the

Ten Commandments. He goes right down the list. He asks, Do you have any idols in your life that you have put before God?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the first two commandments. He then asks,

Do you have, or have you ever, taken the Lord's name in vain?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the third commandment. Have you ever disobeyed your parents?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the fifth commandment. Have you ever been really angry at someone else where you thought bad things about him or her?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the sixth commandment. Have you ever had a lustful thought about the opposite sex?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the seventh commandment. Have you ever cheated in school, cheated someone in some way, or stolen something, even if it is small?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the eighth commandment. Have you ever lied about someone, or lied about something you did in order to cover for yourself or someone else?

The answer is yes. That takes care of the ninth commandment. Have you ever wanted something that was not yours, and you wanted it really bad, someone else owned it, and you knew you couldn't have it, but you longed for it?

Well, that's the tenth commandment. That's what we call a covening. So, that takes care of the tenth commandment.

At the end of this questioning, you realize you have worshipped other gods, taken the

Lord's name in vain, disobeyed your parents, had unrighteous anger, had lustful thoughts, cheated, lied, and you've coveted what others have.

Then you realize that the standard to reach heaven is perfection. Romans 3 .23

says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6 .23 says, The wages of sin is death. This is eternal death.

There's only one hope for sinners, and John 3 .16 tells the solution to everyone's problem.

John 3 .16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only

Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

As you go through your life, people will ask you, what do you believe and why do you believe it?

As Christians, we all know to a certain extent the answers to this, but the question is, are you good at defending your faith?

If someone were to ask you today what you believe and why you believe, how would you do?

Are you good at explaining why you live your life for Jesus?

We need to be able to explain the truthfulness of our Christian faith. People will ask you this.

In this context, those who are hostile to you and your faith may ask you this question.

Some are open to the Gospel and some are not. Some, you might stand before leaders and you have to give a defense and they don't care what you say, but you say it anyway and someone might be listening and say, this person speaks the truth.

Whether it's persecution or not, we need to be able to tell people what we believe and why we believe it.

We need to understand this. Sometimes, though, this is interesting, sometimes your communication of the truth is not meant to rescue someone, but God uses you as a tool of condemnation.

Just like the prophets in the Old Testament. Now as Peter explains the importance of sharing your faith well, he highlights something that is very important as you give your presentation.

What Peter writes at the end of verse 15 is that you are to do this with gentleness and respect.

This goes back to what Peter said in verse 9. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless for to this you are called.

As you share Christ with those hostile to you, you are not to talk to them like they talk to you.

You are not to treat them like the world treats people. As you share

Christ with those open to you, you are to make sure there is kindness and respect in your words.

Christians are not hotheads. We are those who are slow to anger. We are those who control our emotions.

We are those who show respect to others. And this respect is not just to those who are even open to listening, but even those who aren't open to listening.

Where an opportunity might come for you to share what you believe and why you believe it.

And as you explain this, as you explain the truthfulness of scripture, as it relates to your own life, what happens is that people will see that this is true.

This is not some fantasy as people try to say. You are those people who believe in Jonah and the whale.

Donkeys don't talk. People misunderstand that this world we live in is a supernatural world.

It is far more complex than we could ever imagine.

And these realities are far more true than people could ever imagine. And this is what we need to communicate to people.

The Lord may use your witness to bring those in darkness to the light as you share clearly and powerfully the general truth of scripture and the reality of it in your own life.

And He may use it to bring others to Him or even as a witness against them.

But it's our responsibility to be faithful in this area. So prepare yourselves as Christians to experience opposition from the world.

And the fifth discipline, how, is by readying yourself to defend attacks on your faith.

The sixth discipline, how, you are to prepare yourselves as Christians to experience opposition from the world is by making fools of those who utter false things against you.

And we'll see this in verse 16 where Peter writes, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

What Peter is communicating is that as you stand for the truth, all kinds of insults will come your way.

We saw this two weeks ago where I quoted the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 verses 10 -12 where Jesus said,

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus and Peter are saying the same thing. As a Christian in this world, people will say false things about you.

But you know that as you stand on the Word of God, what you are communicating is the truth.

And we saw this in verse 15, to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you.

And when you do that, you are communicating the truth of the Word of God, it's truth in your life, and you are bringing it to bear on all of life.

But the world will tell you that you are the problem.

Even though you stand for the truth, even though you truly are the ones loving others, you will be called all sorts of names.

In the first few centuries of the church, Christians lived under the authority of the

Romans. They lived in the Roman Empire that largely speaking was not friendly to Christianity.

The early Christians were called all sorts of names. There were severe accusations made against them.

They were called cannibals because they ate the Lord's Supper. They were called atheists because they did not worship the

Roman gods. They were considered unruly because they did not worship the Roman Emperor.

They were even called child molesters because adults and children gathered in the same location as they worshipped.

As you can see, Christians were called outlandish things.

And this is not just something of the past, but something very much of the present. Christians are called outlandish things even in our day.

What are the things we hear Christians called today? And someday from heaven we'll look back and be able to say, this is what you were called at this point in history, this is what you were called at this point in history.

Sometimes it's the same. Even in the Roman Empire they were called haters of mankind. Bigots, a hater, a homophobe, a transphobe, an

Islamophobe, religious fundamentalists, archaic Neanderthals who need to keep up with the times.

And here's another one that's very popular, strong, Bible -believing Christians are called Christian nationalists.

They're trying to tie the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th with all Christians. If you are publicly vocal against abortion, if you are publicly vocal about marriage between one man and one woman, if you are publicly against government intrusion of churches during COVID -19, if you are publicly vocal against social justice, which is not biblical justice, if you raise concerns about what is happening in your local school district because you want to protect children from teaching that is ultimately damaging to them, but is subtle.

And I believe the main way that persecution has arrived in America is taking place as Christians stand for biblical ethics in the public square.

As you do this, you are seen as an enemy of what society falsely calls virtuous and what they want to push forward more and more.

And here's a local one that some of you have heard about at St. Croix Falls High School, which is of course the high school in our community here.

Now before I say what I'm going to say, I want to say clearly that any critique we make, we desire to do as we just saw in verse 15 with gentleness and respect.

We don't want to unnecessarily stir up controversy, but when an issue arises that confuses young people that goes against biblical morality and could lead people down the wrong path, especially young people,

Christians should stand up for what is right. It's our responsibility to do that, to be obedient to the

Lord Jesus Christ. So this is our community, so this we must do. What happened is that one parent's daughter came home from school during the king and queen voting, and she told her mom that they are going away from king and queen to be more inclusive.

This led a parent to post on her social media our St. Croix Falls school district has changed from homecoming king and queen to gender neutral under the direction of our high school leadership.

Now, I wanted to verify the truthfulness of this so I did some digging this week to find out what was going on.

Not just me, but also Amy Herring, who goes to this church and a couple of other Christian parents who have kids at the school.

We wanted to find out what happened. And by the way, Amy Herring was homecoming queen back in the day.

I didn't know that. Her parents here know that. Jordan Braun was homecoming queen as well. Anybody else, by the way?

John, were you king? No? Okay. So we communicated with the school board president and found out that on July 11th, the school board changed the homecoming policy per request from the student leadership and the principal.

In the previous school year's handbook, it states that a king and queen would be crowned while the new policy did not include the terminology king and queen.

Now I didn't attend the football game but I heard that one young man and one young woman were crowned but were vaguely called royalty and not king and queen.

Now this change sounds small it sounds harmless but it is a subtle change that is significant.

It should cause Christians in the community concern because this subtle change could open the floodgates where you could have two kings or two queens chosen in the future and what this does is blurs the differences between men and women, which the king and queen tradition holds to and signals approval to the

LGBTQ agenda. And there are many, many traditions in America, including in all these schools, by the way.

All these public schools, Laurie Brooks was telling me they used to sing hymns in the public school.

So even the tradition of king and queen you might not understand this, but it actually has

Christian roots. There's a Christian undergirding to even something such as that.

So this change led many parents in the community to be concerned. There's one

Christian lady in particular who took courage and stood up on social media for the school traditions that are in line with God's good design.

This lady is Tammy Wandra. Some of you know Tammy. She was married in this church in 2001 and her daughter

Hannah went to VBS here. Tammy said that while she supports many of the things the school does, she loves her school, she loves the school district, she was extremely disappointed in their decision and in her post said that she would rather face the wrath of man than the wrath of God.

And what Tammy is showing here is the fear of the Lord. Sadly, but not surprisingly,

Tammy did receive the wrath of man. She was called a hater and judgmental.

People unfriended her immediately and she was even surprised that Christians didn't come to her defense, even some

Christian leaders. And I had a chance to talk to her this week and I read her this passage that we are going through right now in 1

Peter 3 verses 8 -17. She is blessed for standing on the truth of God's Word.

If you do what is right, as the masses go in another direction, you will be criticized.

And as I said one week ago, we as Christians are going against the flow of society. Society is running hard in one direction.

And the Lord is leading Christians to go in the opposite. This is the responsibility.

We tell the whole truth and we do it in a way where any honest evaluation will be able to say you spoke it in love.

But here is the problem. Often times there will not be honest evaluations of your communication.

Once the world knows that you are a Christian who will not compromise, it does not matter how kind you are.

You will be called every name in the book. This is what Tammy Wander experienced. Anyone who knows

Tammy knows that she is the kindest, most loving woman you can run into. Yet she is called a hater.

And that's irrational. If you do all that Christians are supposed to do, you will be called all kinds of names.

Jesus said it would be that way. And we see it even in our community. And when you are called all kinds of names, what

Peter is saying is that you are being slandered. You will notice that Peter says when you are slandered, not if.

Set this in your minds, this will be your experience as a Christian. You will be slandered. Slander is when lies are told about someone else.

When someone is said to be one thing when they're really another. And we live in an upside down world where everything is kind of backwards.

When you stand for the truth and others say nasty things about you that aren't true, this is slander.

Peter is saying that as Christians, this will be your experience in this world. Unbelievers and even compromised

Christians will say false things about you. But God, the one whose opinion matters alone, is pleased and his evaluation is that as you stand on the truth and live for the truth, you are faithful.

As you stand for the truth and live for the truth, do you know what you have? Peter mentions this in verse 16.

You have a conscience that tells you that you are in the right.

This mechanism that God gave us in our minds is called a conscience. Every human has it. The Apostle Paul describes the conscience in Romans 2 verses 14 -15 for when

Gentiles who do not have the law who don't have this book by nature do what the law requires they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Every human has this mechanism known as a conscience. If you are walking with the

Lord, then your conscience is working the way it is supposed to. A properly working conscience tells you when you are doing good and when you are doing evil.

So when you do something that is right, you feel good. You are at peace.

But when you do something that is wrong, you feel guilt and shame. Last week

I explained the story where I was accused of all sorts of things because of an article I wrote about the corruption among the leadership of the

Evangelical Free Church. I highlighted their persecution of a biblical pastor. I was accused of much, but you know what

I had? A clear conscience. As a sinner trying to live out the word of God, I know what it's like not to have a clear conscience.

I know what those emotions feel like. This happens when I sin. But with this article

I wrote, my conscience was perfectly clear. What Peter is telling these

Christians in Asia Minor, and what he is telling you is that as you stand for the truth of God's word, people will tell lies about you.

But you have a clear conscience knowing that this is not true. What we must understand is that a clear conscience is priceless.

People can say whatever they want, but you can sleep at night. When I was accused my emotions were righteous anger and sadness.

And I'll admit sometimes my anger has turned into unrighteous. And when that has happened, I have needed to confess that before the

Lord. But when your conscience has not been seared as 2

Timothy 4 .2 says, then listen to your conscience. Your conscience is seared, meaning that it doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

Sometimes people say this person doesn't have a conscience. And that's true. Sometimes people get so evil, so hardened that their conscience does not work the way that it was made to work.

But as it is in line with biblical truth, your conscience will tell you when you are in the right and when you are in the wrong. And what

Peter writes in verse 16 is that those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. As you have a properly working conscience that is clear, as you walk with the

Lord in the midst of opposition, you are the one who is in the right, and the ones accusing you are in the wrong.

Those who revile you as you are living out God's will for your life that He has designed for you, they are in a position of shame.

In the end, they are the fools and you are the wise. They may stomp on you in this life, but at the final judgment as they stand before the

Lord, they will stand in shame as the Lord delivers His judgment. To the unbeliever, this rebuke will send this person to hell.

To the believer who was held back by the world and was in fact a nuisance to those doing what the

Lord wanted them to do, these people will lose reward. The judgment day will be a bittersweet day to these.

In one sense, they will be grateful to be in heaven, but in another sense, there will be sadness of all the reward lost because their

Christianity was pretty worldly, which prevented the Lord from using this person more.

There will be lots of shame on the judgment day for those who reviled faithful Christians.

But may we be those who have a clear conscience because we do what the

Lord has called us to do. So prepare yourselves as a Christian to experience opposition from the world.

And the sixth discipline is by making fools of those who utter false things against you.

And now we arrive to our seventh and final discipline, and this point is going to be shorter.

And here it is. Realizing that God means for good maltreatment from the world.

So prepare yourselves as Christians to experience opposition for the world by realizing that God means for good maltreatment from the world.

And as we look at this last point, let's read verse 17, where Peter writes, For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be

God's will, than for doing evil. What we have seen throughout this text is that as you suffer as a

Christian, you are blessed. Verses 9 through 12 detail this blessing and verse 14 describes this as well.

As verse 14 once again said, if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

Now in verse 17 as we just read, Peter once again says it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be

God's will than for doing evil. So in verse 14

Peter writes this, and in verse 17 he writes the same thing. But suffering for a Christian is not a matter of if, but a matter of when.

Peter has said this very thing, and this specific suffering we are talking about here is pushback from the world.

In the previous verse we just looked at, in verse 16, Peter says when you are slandered.

Not if, when you are slandered. And this will not be the entirety of your experience on earth.

But it will be part of your experience. 2 Timothy 3 .12 says all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

So if you're walking closely with Jesus you're going to experience pushback. And Peter states this very thing in verse 17, it is

God's will for you to suffer for his sake. Why would it be any different?

Our Lord suffered greatly when he went to the cross. Look at what this world did to him.

This is the world we live in. The world will never treasure you. John 15 .20

Jesus said, remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

What I've already mentioned as I've gone through this text is that the range of persecution you will experience will vary.

But at minimum, you will be looked down upon. And we need to set this in our minds.

Don't desire the world to love you. Desire to please God. Find security in that.

And you know what's interesting? It's not like everybody's going to hate you. You're going to have lots of friends as you do what the

Lord calls you to do. You know what it is? It's called the remnant. The remnant church comes together. You come together.

You have this unity as we talked about in our first point. We experienced it last night. What a rich time.

Almost 100 people come out. And these are people who love the Lord. This is you.

You want to follow Him. You have a desire to follow Him wholeheartedly. What a great experience this is to live this out.

There's a certain kind of people that you want to like you. Those who are closely following the

Lord. If they like you, if they're encouraged by you, if they approve of you, that's a really good thing.

And that's what you're going to see. If worldly people think you're great, it's probably because you're compromising in some way.

So keep that in mind. Now in the movie, I mentioned this movie a while back,

The Essential Church. This movie highlighted John MacArthur's church's battle in California against government intrusion on their church.

There was a church historian on there who was an expert about Christians who lived in the 1600's in England.

Those who stood strongly on the Word of God during that period were persecuted by the state church.

And this church historian said a powerful quote, God's truth is enduringly true throughout all generations.

It transcends culture. The church is always going to be an embattled people.

If it's swimming with the tide, it's not being the church of Jesus Christ. Look to the past.

Learn from the past. Because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

So, push back from the world is a part of God's will for you in this world.

But the good news is, as verse 14 says, as you stand with the Lord, you will be blessed.

You are blessed for doing good, but those who do evil are not blessed. In this world, people suffer all the time for doing wrong.

There are consequences for people's actions. But to suffer for doing the Lord's will, you are blessed.

This truth we must always store deep in our hearts. As God writes your story, there will be pushback from the world.

But whether in good times or difficult ones, the Lord's blessing is always with you as you walk with Him.

So as we summarize this three -Sunday sermon, prepare yourselves as Christians to experience opposition from the world.

And we've seen seven disciplines how? By uniting with fellow believers in love, refusing to respond to evil with evil, experiencing the

Lord's tangible blessing through a righteous life, moving not an inch when hostile pressure comes, righting yourself to defend attacks on your faith, making fools of those who utter false things against you, and as we have just seen, realizing that God means for good maltreatment from the world.

May we be those Christians. May we, Eureka Baptists, be that church who glorifies

God as we stand with Him as the opposition comes.

That we may stand against the world's wind. Now next

Sunday, we are going to see one of the most well -known verses in the

New Testament, 1 Peter 3 .18. And then we're going to see one of the most confusing passages in the entire

New Testament, verses 19 -22, where Peter talks about the daughters of men and the sons of God and the

Nephilim. That's going to take us to Genesis 6 where Peter is referencing.

But I look forward to digging into that with you. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father in Heaven, Your Word is what we need and what a privilege it is to gather.

And Lord, we live, largely speaking, in a place of peace where we can gather and worship

You. And we're so grateful for that. Help us never to lose sight of that.

But even in a place, Lord, that is still less hostile than a lot of places.

There still is hostility. And we should anticipate to see it more in the future as we near Christ's return.

So prepare us, Lord, to face that. And that we would use what we learned in this text to prepare us for those days when they come.

And even the things we experience right now in our lives. So Lord, apply this to everyone right where they're at. The big thing is that we want to be mature

Christians. That's my prayer for everyone in this room. To be mature Christians who stand with You every step of the way.

In Jesus' name, Amen. As we wrap up here, a reminder, if you have any prayer requests, any questions...