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Sunday morning service from Faith Baptist Church
Good morning, good to see you on this Lord's Day. So thankful for the opportunity of gathering together to worship the Lord together, to fellowship with one another. You know, the New Testament exhorts us to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
And of course, that speaking is through our singing. So we get the opportunity to do that today as well. And I hope it'll be a day of great blessing and spiritual encouragement and growth, feeding on the word.
And when we feed on the word, it increases our faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. And so much benefit that comes by just setting the day aside and turning our attention on the Lord.
Before we begin our worship service itself, let me mention a few things in your bulletin for your attention. Today, of course, Scott and Victoria Williquitt are with us at least this morning. And we'll be hearing from Scott and the message in a little while.
Appreciated the Sunday school hour and just giving us some insight into the PEP ministry and school of church planning that Scott's involved in. And so thankful for that update. But then this evening, we'll be back in the book of Mark, just starting that new series in the gospel of Mark.
And tonight's message is in chapter one and focuses on preparing Jesus. We often think of needing preparation ourselves for various things, but what would Jesus need prepared for? John the Baptist prepared for Jesus, but how is it with Jesus was prepared?
So we'll be looking at that tonight. Wednesday night, Doug and Ruth Backrick will be here just to give a brief update. They're really kind of passing through in their brief furlough time. And so they'll be here Wednesday, share with us what's going on in their ministry in the Philippines.
And then if you would notice in your bulletin, two weeks from today, Sunday, June 6th, in the evening, instead of the typical evening service, we have the YMSA fellowship, the young married single adult fellowship at the foreman's that's at 5 .30 and begin with a supper time, a light supper.
So hence the signup sheet, so we know how to plan for that. And then correspondingly to that time, encouraging everyone else, anyone who's not in the YMSA group to have some fellowship times in your home.
And so invite somebody to your home. And if they've already been invited somewhere else, let's invite someone else. And so don't wait to be invited, all right? You do the inviting and let's get to know one another and share together in things of the Lord on that evening.
And trust you'll be able to do that. So we've come together today to worship our Lord and we want to begin with Psalm 57. Be reading the first six verses in a little while, but verses seven and eight say, my heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and give praise. Awake my glory, awake lute and harp. I will waken the dawn. So let's waken the dawn and sing praise to our Lord. Shall we? Jim, come and lead us, please.
And that opportunity is on page number 71 in your hymnals, 71, come thou Almighty King. Let's all stand together, please. We'll sing all four verses together, number 71. I say.
Glorious heavenly Father, thank you again that we can meet. Thank you for the privilege of knowing you and being able to hear from your words. So Lord, I ask that be amongst us, you touch our hearts and draw us closer to you.
Just thank you for the promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus. So we ask all this in Jesus' name. May we be seated.
So I wanna read together Psalm 57, the first six verses of the psalm. You find it on the back of your bulletin and we'll read these verses in unison together today. So when I begin reading here in a moment, join with me and we'll just like we sing a song together, we'll read the psalm together.
And then after we read, Jim will come and lead us from our Psalter in the tune that is used to adapt, the adapted to this psalm. Psalm 57, verse one, let's read together, shall we? Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me for my soul trusts in you and in the shadow of your wings, I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by.
I will cry out to God most high, to God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me. He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
My soul is among the lions. I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue, a sharp sword. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have dug a pit before me. Into the midst of it, they themselves have fallen. Lord, add his blessing to our reading together of his word.
Jim.
Pastor, it's on page 121 in your red books, there's Psalter's 121. Show mercies, Lord to me. It's a familiar song. I believe it's. Take my life and let it be. Let's sing, we'll sing all six verses together.
Lord to me Soul to you would flee From my trouble refuge bring In the shadow of your wing. In the shadow of your wing Call out to God most high Who works all his wise design From heaven hearing me Saves me from the, saves me from.
In the lion's den they would slay me in They destroyed me and so Their tongues as sharp and sore Let your glory and your worth, Lord be praised in all Deadly snares all men soothed by
Pray together today. Our Missionary of the Week is Sam Slobodian. He heads up the Baptist International Evangelistic Ministries, primarily focusing on Russia and Ukraine, although they do have some ministry into closed countries, Muslim countries.
And so they are involved in primarily working with missionary pastors that are already in churches in those countries, supplying them with needed resources and very helpful and valuable ministry. So pray for the Slobodians.
And then we want to pray for some in our church family. Of course, we're continuing to pray for Jodi Knapp and her recovery from COVID. She's still up in the hospital in Rockford. They were planning to transfer her yesterday back to rehab, but just had a little bit of a setback.
So continue to pray for Jodi that the Lord would give her deliverance from the medication that is really what's causing her problems right now, and they're trying to wean her off of that. So pray that that would be effective and she would slowly improve.
Well, quickly improve, frankly. Thank the Lord for answers to prayer that we've seen even this week. The family was quite excited the other day. Friday she got a text from Rebecca, said, Mom is awake, all caps, exclamation points.
That was most unusual. And she was awake for quite some time and able to respond in conversation. So we thank the Lord for that. Continue to pray for her. I want to continue to pray for Kent Foster and ask the Lord to give strength to his body and encouragement to him and Lori.
Renee, I see Renee here this morning. Renee is beginning chemo on Tuesday, and just pray for that to be effective. Also, there's a meal train set up for Renee. The information for that came too late to get in the bulletin, but we will send that by way of email and post that information on the bulletin board as soon as we can.
So pray for Renee and then pray for Bob. Continue to pray for Bob Klein, that God would give grace to him in his battle with cancer. And then glad this morning that the Williquettes can be with us. And in the morning Sunday school hour, he shared with us a bunch of slides of ministry in Myanmar.
Or how do you pronounce it, Myanmar? Myanmar, that's how he pronounced it. I caught that. I've been pronouncing that wrong. But anyway, the situation there, of course, is grave with a military takeover and military personnel exercising their will on people with their guns at will.
Children, innocent, it doesn't matter. And it's a very, very dire situation, and especially for, think of our believers, brothers and sisters in Christ. There's a Bible college that he'd ministered in while he was there, and they've had to close that down and pastors have had to scatter and so forth.
It's just been a very difficult situation, so we want to pray for the situation in Myanmar. Let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Our Father and our God, we are thankful that even as we read in the psalm this morning that the enemy rises up against your people and he would do all he can to overcome and destroy, but we're grateful that you, our God, are almighty, you are all-powerful, and we, your people, we rest in your care and we are secure in your sovereign purposes and in your perfect plan for your people and even for this world.
So much that is taking place in our world confuses us, it confounds us. We can't fathom what is going on and what the end of it all will be. We're so grateful that we don't have to, but we can trust in the one who does know it all, does fathom it all, and uses it all for your ultimate purposes.
We think of that even in relation to the situation in Myanmar and our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering there, people as a whole. I pray that through this time of crisis, your people would show forth as lights in the darkness and we think of the hold that Buddhism would have in that country, and I pray that the ineffectiveness of that false religion would be evident and that the truthfulness and the impact of Christ in the lives of his people would stand in sharp contrast.
And may you use this crisis in that land even to bring many to faith in Christ. We do pray for relief, we pray for the ruthless military to be brought under control, we pray for the wicked one who has seemed to exercise his way there.
We know that his way is only exercised as far as you let it go, so we ask, O Lord, that you would restrain him, you would reel him in, that he does not have his way with the bringing to death of so many more people.
Bring peace, we pray, to that place. We think also of the situation in the Middle East and this recent conflict in Israel, and the Palestinians, and Lord, we just, again, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the peace of Israel, and we know this will ultimately come only with Jesus coming.
We pray for that, we pray for our own nation and the strife, the struggles, the moral decay, even the political decay, the division in our land. Father, we pray for healing to our country. Again, we know that that healing ultimately comes in the gospel.
So we pray that in this climate, which our country has found itself, that the gospel would go forth with greater clarity and greater power in light of the darkness and the efforts of power. We pray today, Father, for your people who are in need.
We pray for the Slobodians and their ministry with Russia and the Ukraine and some closed countries. We pray that you give them wisdom and skill in the managing of the resources that you give and the influence on the pastors that they serve and the churches that are influenced by the work of the Slobodians.
We pray for our church family and those in it who are hurting, we think especially today of Jodi, and ask for her health. We pray that you would, by your grace, strengthen her and strengthen her body, restore it to health.
I pray that she would be able to get free from the control of the medication she's been under. I pray that she would become alert and awake and responsive and that this would only get better and only improve.
We pray for Bob and ask that you would be gracious to him in the emotional turmoil of this time. Give him physical strength, give him emotional strength, especially strengthen him spiritually. Father, we pray for Kent and Lori.
We pray that you would meet their needs right now, need of encouragement. Kent, the need of physical strength and healing, we pray for them. For Bob Klein as well today, we pray that you would continue to be gracious to him in his battle with cancer.
And for Renee, as she begins treatment on Tuesday, I pray that graciously she would be able to handle the medication and the process. I pray that she would be strengthened. I pray that she would get the help that she'll need through this time.
And we pray for complete healing for Renee. Again, Father, we thank you for the privilege of gathering together today and for hearing your word. And I pray that through the ministry of the word today, your spirit would work in our hearts and accomplish your purposes in our lives today.
And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Number 296 in your hymnals, Be Still My Soul. It is reassuring to know that in all of the chaos and confusion in the country, in the world, even our own country, that God is still in control, and that gives us peace within.
Let's all stand together, please, and sing all three verses together, Be Still My Soul. Number 296. Be still my soul, the Lord is on my side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change, be faithful, will remain. So thankful for Victoria Williquette playing piano for us today.
I know Kelly was grateful for a day off today and appreciate Victoria playing very well. Scott has chosen the text today for his message from 1 Peter. He'll be preaching through the book of 1 Peter. We should wrap up about 3 o 'clock today.
I'm kidding. But I want to read for our scripture reading 1 Peter 1, read through verse 16. Verses 1 through 16. 1 Peter 1, follow along as I begin reading the first verse. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Grace to you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love.
Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into.
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who has called you is holy, so also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
A brief word of prayer, and then Scott will come and preach to us today. Bless, O Lord, this chapter, this book to our hearts today as Peter helps us to deal with times of crisis. This we pray in Jesus' name.
Good morning. Your pastor was optimistic it'll be more like six tonight, so I'm very glad that you're here today. I'm very glad that we're here today. We so value your ministry, your pastor and his wife.
Been friends for a long time, and we're just so happy to be out in churches again and be able to travel a little bit. Please continue to pray that we'll be able to travel overseas now in the future, as that is the primary task of our ministry, to train pastors in third-world countries, chief of which Myanmar, Chad, India, Africa, India, those kinds of places.
So please be praying for open doors and for the ability of people in third-world countries to gather, which is one of the issues. We can go, but most of the places we go, the people there that we've administered to are the last ones who could potentially see a vaccine, and so they won't be allowed to gather.
So please be praying for the ability to travel and for the ability for people to gather. So we're in the book of 1 Peter. By the way, this is my lovely wife. I didn't introduce her in Sunday school, and I should have.
She isn't always able to travel with me, so I'm really glad she's with me today and this weekend. We'll be in the book of 1 Peter, and we're gonna do just a flyover because this book has tremendous application for us right now.
Just a little bit of church history. Eusebius was a Christian bishop in the church in Caesarea around A .D. 330. He is commonly regarded as the father of church history. He was a godly man and persecuted sometimes for his faith.
In fact, once the emperor Valens threatened Eusebius with confiscation of all of his goods, torture, banishment, and death. I'm gonna take everything you have. You'll be tortured, banished, and I may kill you.
Now, you may not think... By the way, may the places we go, those are the threats believers are facing. We used to think, we used to talk about this in our churches, in Christianity here in the States.
We used to say, there will be a day when the persecution we read about around the world is gonna come here. But we all thought we'll be long gone before it happens. Well, it's coming, folks. Our nation has changed.
I'm not telling you anything you don't know. We live in a different world than we lived in a few years ago. And it's not stopping. It's continuing to decline. It would have been hard to imagine a few years ago if one of us would have said to the other of us, this is what life is gonna be like in 2021, and in 2023, and so forth.
We'd have laughed. No, come on, you're kidding. Well, here we are, folks. So he is threatened with confiscation of everything he has, torture, banishment, and death. And here's how he responded. He said, he needs not fear confiscation who has nothing to lose.
What do I have on this earth? What do you have that you own?
Nothing.
You own nothing. It's all on loan. God's granted us use of it. We're stewards of it. But nothing we have is our own. Your house, if it's paid for, it's mine. It's not. It's the Lord's. Your car, your wardrobe, your gun collection, whatever it is you have, it's not yours.
And that's what he was reflecting. Take it all. Take everything I have. I don't own anything. Nor banishment to whom heaven is his country. So banish me. I don't, my residence really isn't here anyway.
I'm a citizen of heaven. Nor torments when his body can be destroyed at one blow. Torture, it's not that big a threat. Nor death. And he says, this is wonderful. Threaten me with death. Death, which is the only way to set a man free, to set a man at liberty from sin and sorrow.
You're threatening me with death? Kill me. No more sin and sorrow for me. Take my life. And where am I going? I'll be at the Lord's side. Death is no threat. And you know, the kind of attitude that he possesses, that he possessed in AD 330, this is the kind of attitude that Peter is challenging the believers in these various churches to possess as they're facing trials and suffering.
And it would be very helpful for us to take 1 Peter, work through it, understand it, and take on these same traits because we are gonna be facing more of the kinds of struggles that the early church faced.
Peter wants to impress upon his readers that there will be threats of loss and torture and death and how are they gonna respond to it? By standing for the Lord. So today I'm gonna overview this book. And it won't take, it will be done in 40 minutes or so.
Overview this book and extract Peter's main points. Now you can work through this book and pretty easily extract the main points. This is not difficult. The goal is that we'll be impressed with what the original readers were impressed with and being challenged to stand for the Lord in a hostile world.
Our world has not been hostile. It was supportive for decades. It became ambivalent for a long time. Most of us grew up in kind of the ambivalent era. Now we're going into hostile. The world that our children and grandchildren are inheriting is hostile and becoming more and more hostile.
So there's a lot here for us. Let me give you a little bit of background regarding 1 Peter. First this was a circular letter. We just read the first portion of the book and notice this is written to the elect exiles of the dispersion, I'm reading from the ESV this morning, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
This is written to believers in churches scattered around. This is not just one church in a specific situation. This is multiple churches all facing persecution trial difficulty. If you dig into this book deeply, you'll note that the audience is a mixture of Jew and Gentiles, Jews and Gentiles.
The purpose of the book clearly relates to persecution, the persecution they were facing. I'll just note a couple passages where it's obvious that this is where it's going. Chapter 1, verses 6 -7. Chapter 2, verses 11 -12.
2, 20 -22. 3, 13 -18. 4, 3 -5. And 4, 12 -18. All those passages address persecution, suffering for the Lord. So it's not hard to determine the theme of the book. In fact, let me have you turn to chapter 5 and Peter actually states for us why he wrote this book.
If you have any question or if there's any ambiguity, verse 12 of chapter 5. By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written briefly to you. So Silvanus is probably his amanuensis, his secretary.
By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. So he's at the end of the letter, the very end.
You see the word this? This points back to all that he has said in this book. In this book, I'm exhorting you and declaring that the challenges and encouragements, the commands related to how to live in a hostile world, this is the grace of God.
Stand firm in everything. In other words, stand firm in everything I've written to you in this book. So the point of this book is simply this. Believers must stand fast in the grace of God amidst suffering and persecution.
And we are going to be facing more and more of it. We need to stand fast in the grace of God, in the things we find written in this book. Let's pray and we'll dig in this morning. We thank you, Father, for your kindness.
We thank you for the country that we've grown up in, that we live in. We love it. We love America. But we look around every day and see changes, some of them small, some of them immense. We wonder where it's going.
We pray for our leaders, that you would guide them, that you'd cause them to make wise decisions that genuinely have the interests of the people of this country in mind. We pray this morning for believers around the world who are suffering, some just simply suffering a terrible life, a hard life, some, many, suffering for the name of Christ.
We pray, Father, as we look at this book this morning, as we apply it to our own lives, that we will prepare ourselves, gird up our loins, prepare ourselves for service for you in a hostile world. Teach us from this book.
Draw us close to you. We thank you for Jesus. We love him. We ask these things in his name.
Amen.
So three points this morning. First, amid Christian suffering, stand fast, folks, in your personal holiness before unbelievers. So we're gonna bounce around the book a little bit. I'll just have you turn different places.
Turn to chapter two. I'm sorry, chapter one. Chapter one, verses 15 through 17. You're probably already there. First, we need to stand fast in our personal holiness and in our holiness in front of, before, in the presence of unbelievers.
1 Peter 1, 15. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, if you call on God as your Father, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.
Notice that word exile. Over and over in this book, by the way, believers are called exiles. You're sojourners, you're foreigners, which is a point we'll note a little bit later. Look at chapter two, verses 11 and 12.
So be holy as I am holy, and so forth, chapter one. Now, chapter two, verses 11 and 12. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, here's that same terminology, people who are not citizens of this world, don't dig in, don't plant yourself, don't assume that you're citizens here, don't think along those lines, think in terms of you're foreigners here.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to do certain things. So first of all, here's what you should not do. You should not engage in the passions of the flesh. Abstain from, I want you to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
So here's what not to do. Don't be involved with the passions of the flesh. Verse 12, now what should you do? Conduct, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, notice it's a when, not an if, when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see what?
Your godliness, your good deeds, and glorify God on the day of visitation. So according to verses 11 and 12 here, we should respond a certain way to mistreatment. So keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak, and they're going to speak, you live a holy life, you live a godly life, they are going to respond a certain way.
And how are they gonna respond? Oh, they're gonna respect you. They're gonna praise you. They're gonna thank you for the way you live. No, that's not it at all. They will, when you live an honorable life, a godliness, they will speak against you, not as even neutral, but as evildoers.
Don't we find this more and more? That godliness is evil? That righteousness is evil? Certainly they're obeying the Bible, and the ethics of the Bible. That way of thinking, that way of living, that's evil, that's the epitome of evil.
But notice, how do we respond then? They see your good deeds. When they speak against you, you're living an honorable life, they speak against you as evildoers, how do you respond? With more good deeds.
Folks, realize, by the way, you can certainly live your life as an unbeliever. You come to church on Sundays, and maybe Wednesdays, and other times, you can meet all the times that the Christians meet, and you can know all the lingo, and dress the way, however you want to dress for church, and you do all the things.
You go to the church fellowships, and the potlucks, and you can... But in the world, you can live just like a worldling. You can do that. The Bible would question your Christianity. In multiple texts where Jesus and the apostles and their writings questioned the fact that a person living that way is a true believer.
How can you be a believer without genuinely following Christ, being a disciple of Christ? And a disciple of Christ is holy, seeks to be godly 24 -7. So you can live this way, an ungodly way, but if you live a holy life, if you lead a life that glorifies God, you've got a target on your chest.
And the more holy a life you lead, the bigger the target gets. It gets redder and redder. And how are they going to respond to your holiness?
Evil.
You're evil. And they'll mistreat you. And how do you respond to their response? They see your good deeds. You don't diminish your holiness, folks. You increase it. You keep living a holy life. You don't stop it.
You don't slow it. You don't cover up a little here and there. They see your good deeds. You keep shining as a light in a dark world. If your life is a dimmer switch, and you're on medium shining in the dark world, you crank it up.
And you live a more holy life. Turn to chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. So clearly, folks, holy living will not shield you from slander. Holy living will not shield you from mistreatment. Holy living will make you a target for slander and mistreatment.
And the target gets redder and redder the more holy you live. And you just keep doing it. Chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. How do the Gentiles live? In other words, how do the unsaved live? He describes it.
Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. What does that sound like to you? The way people are living now in our world. More and more and more. So here's the unsaved life.
And you know people live in this kind of life. Maybe you work with people living in this fashion. Notice, with respect to this, in regard to that kind of ungodly living, they, the people who live this way, are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you.
So you live a godly life, they live an ungodly life, and they look at you and go, what is wrong with you? The way you live is incomprehensible. You live a holy life. They don't get it. They don't understand it.
It makes no sense. What is wrong with you? And then what's going to be their response? You think your holy living will cause them to respect you, at least? No, they'll malign you. So they'll accuse you of being an evildoer, chapter two.
They'll say to you, what is wrong with you? Why don't you want to join us? And then they'll malign you. They'll speak against you. And what do we keep doing then? We just keep living holy lives, folks.
Now I want you to notice the end of verse, chapter two, go back to chapter two, look at the end of verse 12, because I want you to notice something that we can easily kind of miss. And that is that sometimes the people before whom we live a holy life, sometimes God will work in their hearts and God will save them.
So again, verse 12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, which they will, they may see your good works, they may see your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
This is a phrase that I think speaks of salvation. Some will, some will stop maligning and some will trust Christ. Jesus, there's a similar phrase we find in Matthew chapter five, verse 16. Jesus says, in the same way, let your light shine before others.
You know this text, let your light shine before others so they may see your good works. Very similar terminology, see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. There will be some, Jesus says, who will see your godliness and they'll give glory to God in heaven.
They'll be saved and their life will ultimately bring glory to God. I think that's the point here. On the day of visitation, on the day when they meet God, they will not reject him. They will be those who glorify him.
They will be those who have trusted in him. So there are two responses to your holy life. One is mistreatment and one is understanding by the grace of God and faith. Many will fall into this category.
A few, by the grace of God, may fall into this category. But you keep living a holy life for the glory of God and for these people. They need to see Christ and who else will show them Christ but you? Turn to chapter three, verses one and two.
We see an example. Peter gives us an example of this very thing in chapter three, verses one and two, a text you probably know. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands. This is Christian wives and unsaved husband.
Be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word, they're not Christians, they may be one without a word.
By what?
We're talking about good works and godliness in the two texts we just read. How is this unsaved husband gonna be won over by the holiness, the godliness, the godly conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct?
So Peter gives an example here. Let me just give you an example. This is sometimes how it works in the home. You have an unsaved spouse and a saved spouse. And what should the saved spouse do? Live a holy life, a good, godly, faithful, holy life before their spouse.
And God may, in his kindness, use it to save. Let me just say, by the way, we're talking about personal holiness here. This really also extends to church holiness or separation from the world. Paul's address, I'm sorry, Peter's addressing according to chapter one we just read, churches in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, and so forth.
Churches. So he's not just saying to churches or to individuals, be holy in the face of mistreatment and persecution. And by the grace of God, some may come to know Christ and pray to that end. He's saying you churches remain separate from the world, from the world that will mistreat you.
And folks, that is really coming. Tax exempt status, that's not gonna last much longer, I don't think. I hope I'm, I certainly hope I'm wrong. Things keep going the way they're going. So when you give right now, it helps you with your taxes.
What if that ends? Are you gonna give as sacrificially? Are you still gonna give 10, 12, 15 of your income even if you don't get something out of it?
Are you?
When churches as institutions are mistreated, how are we gonna respond? Well, you know, if we just give in a little bit in these areas, if we just don't attack these ways of living or this view of the origins of man, if we just don't reflect the biblical teachings of marriage, we just become silent in those areas.
If we take some of the biblical teachings that we've taught in the past, biblical teachings, and just stop talking about them, maybe we can skip through and not be treated so poorly. But if we start, if we continue to teach what the Bible says about family and marriage and the origins of man and sexuality and all of that, if we keep teaching what the Bible says, man, we're gonna be in the crosshairs of the government.
So maybe we should just tone it down a little. That's what's coming. And what are you gonna do then as a church? Look back at chapter two, verse 11. Peter, in this book, by the way, Peter can say nothing good about unsaved culture or the philosophical underpinnings of the world.
And that probably prompts him to keep saying things like what we see in verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles. It says something similar in chapter one, verse, what, one or two. He's making it clear, you individual believers and you churches, you are separate from the world.
Live that way. Be separate. Come what may, be separate. Folks, the bottom line, too, is we're not gonna win them by being like them. That's been talked about for decades now, and it doesn't, just be like the unsaved.
Talk like they do. Use the same gutter language that they use. Drink and carouse like they do, and tell them about Jesus a little bit, too, and God will use that. No, that's not what the Bible ever teaches.
Consistently, it's live a godly, holy life, and God will use that to bring people to a knowledge of Christ. So first of all, in the midst of Christian suffering and persecution and difficulty, stand fast in your holiness as an individual believer and as a church.
Secondly, amidst Christian suffering, stand fast in your Christian expectation. Turn to chapter three, verse 14. Five times in this book, Peter uses this little Greek word, elpis, which is hope. Chapter one, verse three, 113, 121, 35, and 315.
And the word hope, by the way, as you know, does not mean pious optimism. It's not, I hope it turns out well. It's not that. The term speaks of a believer's deep conviction, a settled expectation in God and his working.
The term hope throughout the scriptures, this little Greek word, speaks of a complete confidence in God, his plan, his wisdom, and his salvation. So chapter three, verses 14 and 15. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, there we are, you'll be blessed.
Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. In other words, there's a fearful situation. There's a reason to be troubled. They're suffering, and they're potentially afraid. And he says, don't be. Instead of that, verse 15, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.
Let's read that last portion again. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who is going to ask you in an unsaved world, in a wicked world, in a persecuting world, some are going to ask you for the reason regarding the hope, the confidence that you have.
So a couple things here. First, again, this term confidence or hope, it's not this I hope so stuff. It is a confident expectation in God. I know who God is. I know he is sovereign. I know his plan is all wise.
And he's writing to believers who are suffering, loss, you know, death. He's not writing people who are living in luxury. No, persecuted. And I know, this believer, I know God is kind and gracious, that he is sovereign, all wise, that he has a perfect plan, that it will work out, that I may in that plan suffer and die.
And if I do, oh well, I'm with Christ. There's just no suffering. The sufferings of this world are minuscule, are a moment, a blip on the screen in relationship to eternity with God. So here's the hope that these believers have.
So he speaks of this hope in two ways. He speaks, first of all, of it as an attitude. This is their attitude. Notice, be prepared to make a defense for anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that's in you.
They are exhibiting this hope. It's an attitude that exudes from them and others see it. And it's not just an attitude, apparently, then it is a message of hope. So once people see this confidence you have in God and the fact that you're joyful and happy in the midst of your struggles, they're gonna ask you, getting back to what we just said, what's wrong with you or what's with you?
How is it that you're not discouraged? How is it that you're not trembling and fearful? The terminology he uses earlier, have no fear, do not be troubled. How is it that you're not that way? And now because they've seen this attitude of hope just flowing out of you, they ask the question, and now you can give them the words of hope.
Well, let me tell you. Let me tell you about God. Let me tell you about Jesus Christ. Let me tell you what God has done for me through faith in Christ. Let me tell you about how sinful I am, how sinful I was, the trajectory of my life, how much I battle with sin now still, not in a bragging way, but just making it clear.
It's not that I'm perfect or holy. Let me tell you about Christ and what happened on the cross, how He bore my sins and yours, and how the Father poured upon Him all the wrath that I deserve for my sins and you deserve for yours, and this great exchange took place, Christ for me, and then one day as I understood this, I trusted Christ as my Savior and Lord, and He graciously saved me and made me His child, and now no matter what I face, and I see what you're facing, friend.
I'm facing some of these things too, but no matter what I face, I know God knows what He's doing, and I know that come what may, I'm going to be forever with God, forever with Jesus Christ, forever in heaven.
See, this attitude of hope that kind of exudes out then allows opportunity for you to voice it. Here's why I have this hope. So, folks, stand fast in your Christian expectation, in your Christian hope.
Hold on to it.
Let it flow.
If you find yourself being negative, I find myself being negative right now. There are certain news outlets I can't listen to, or I'll throw a hammer at the TV, and there are a lot of news outlets that I trust, and I can't listen to them either.
For very long.
It's because of me, not them. If I listen too long to some of the stuff that's going on, I get a little ticked. Maybe you're not this way, but I get frustrated, kind of angry and ticked that these things are happening, that our world is changing this way, and so if I listen too long even to accurate representations of what's happening, I can just start becoming negative, and that's not what I need to be exuding to my neighbors, people who know me, unsaved people.
That's not what you need to be exuding either. Your conversations with your neighbors and coworkers can't all be about politics, and you're trying to convert them to whatever your position is. No, you're exuding Christian hope.
Unsaved people are also struggling for a myriad of reasons. They need to see in you someone different than they see when they look in the mirror. They need to see someone who is hopeful, and then hopefully they're going to ask you why, and then you have an opportunity to tell them, so don't let your Christian hope kind of get lost or shoved into the footnote of your life.
You're hoping the Lord should come out. Thirdly, amidst Christian suffering, stand fast in your family relationship with other believers. Turn to chapter 2, turn to chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. Stand fast in this right here, in the church family.
Chapter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen race. Now, he's writing to believers in churches, specific individual churches, local churches, and he uses Old Testament terminology really to communicate a closeness, a familiness.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's, for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, this is now giving the gospel, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. So this terminology, again, Old Testament terminology, is to communicate that these local churches are close-knit, that there's a familiness there.
Folks, God has not designed us to go through trials on our own. God's designed us such that when we go through suffering and difficulty, we have others around us to support and strengthen. The church is to be a haven.
You're not going to find a haven out there, because they will malign and ridicule and persecute,.
By and large.
This is the haven, and God's designed it to be that way. So you have to make sure.
It is that.
You're part of the haven. You can ruin the haven just as much as you can strengthen it. There's a book written 25 years ago, Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church by Donald Whitney.
I recommend it.
It's really excellent.
In there,.
I forget what the chapter was about specifically, but it talks about a pastor that was a man in the church who'd been faithful for years, just stopped coming. By this time, it's been a month or so, he hadn't come.
The pastor's wondering.
What's going on.
So the pastor goes to his house, knocks on the door, lets him in. They sit in the living room, and there's a fire going. It must have been fall or winter. There's a fire going, and they're both seated in such a way that they're looking at the fire.
Neither of them says a word. They've been friends for years. Neither of them says a word. Eventually, the pastor takes the fireplace poker. He reaches in, and there's a red-hot coal ember, red-hot in the midst of all the other embers.
He reaches in with that implement, pulls that coal out so it's separate from all the heat. They're both watching this thing now. It slowly diminishes in color,.
Diminishes,.
And eventually it's just black. It's just a black coal, lifeless, no fire to it at all. Then the pastor takes that poker, shoves it back in amidst the other coals, and within a few minutes, it's red-hot again.
The man looks at it, the pastor, and says, Yeah, I see what you mean. I'll be back next Sunday. You get the point. That's what the church is there for, to keep you spiritually strong, red-hot, not lifeless.
But when you separate yourself from the place that God has designed to strengthen, encourage, support, educate, minister to you, you disconnect from that place that God has originated, and you'll soon become lifeless in your walk.
I don't know what all you're doing.
In Illinois.
We live in Michigan, and our situation is interesting with our governor and all of that. I don't know what you and your church and other churches are doing. There are some Christians now who are saying, We kind of like this livestream stuff.
I don't know what you're doing. We haven't talked about it. We kind of like this livestream stuff. Get up, have a leisurely breakfast. We can watch church in our jammies if we want. Very casual. It's kind of fun.
It's nice. I've got a whole Sunday. It's really easy. You can watch the church service, eating your Cheerios, if that's what you want. And there are some Christians who are saying, Let's just keep it that way, or I think I'm going to keep it that way because I really like it.
Don't.
Maybe you're watching livestream.
This was designed to be a haven for you.
You know,.
There is something about praying together as a family. There's something about singing together. It's one thing to sit in your living room and watch a football game by yourself.
Yay!
There's something else when you're in a stadium with 80 ,000 people.
It's different. It's really different. God has not designed us to sit in our living room and yell yay or amen in a sermon. It's together. We lift up our voices together. There's this congregational choir, and God loves and has actually ordained the congregational choir, us singing together, praying together, singing together, giving together, hearing the Word of God together.
There's something about.
Eyeball-to-eyeball.
That you don't get through a TV.
If we're eyeball-to-eyeball.
And you're home, you can get up whenever you want and get more Cheerios, and I can't see. You won't do that now. Probably some of you might. I don't know. Most of you won't. There's something about.
You know, God ordained the message, what to preach, and the method, preaching, that gets lost if we're not together doing it. Turn to Hebrews 10, a passage that you know, I think, well, but let's just look at it because it supports, I think, what Peter's trying to say throughout this book.
Now, he could have just addressed individual suffering Christians. He really doesn't. He addresses churches. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Okay, it's not all about me, right?
It's not all about you. It's about stirring up one another. It's this Greek word,.
Allelon.
We find over and over and over in the Scriptures talking about local churches, believers and their relationships with others in the church. Devote yourself to one another, care for one another, pray for one another.
Here, let us think about, consider how we can stir up one another to do what?
Love and good works.
To live God-honoring lives. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. Some, you know, have found it, it's kind of fun watching church in your jammies. So some are doing this. The very thing he's mentioning, the author of Hebrews, the very thing he's mentioning, neglecting to meet together in church, some are doing.
It's their habit now. But encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Now, understand, the believers being addressed in Hebrews were going through similar situations as the ones we see in 1 Peter.
They were suffering persecution trials and they were reflected as the author wrote the believers in Hebrews. In the early church, you can lose your livelihood, especially if strong Jewish area. You lose your job.
You become a Christian, you lose your job. No one's gonna come to your shop anymore. No one's gonna buy anything from you. You can't provide for your family. And there may be death. He's writing Christians who are facing severe suffering.
And what does he say? They're saying, they're thinking, you know, maybe we should just not get together. That's become my habit. And what is the author of Hebrews say? Don't neglect that. You might risk your life coming in the door.
Risk your life. You might risk your livelihood. You might lose your job. You might lose your business. No one might come to your store because you're a Christian. And what's the author of Hebrews say?
You meet with God's people.
Why?
Because you need that more than you need anything else. You need to be stirred up to love and good works. And the place where that stirring up happens is in a body of believers. Now, Peter mentions a couple of things.
If a church is gonna be the haven that needs to be a couple of things.
Number one,.
Believers should rid themselves of any inner family strife. Look at chapter two, verse one. Look at chapter two, verse one. He is addressing believers who are suffering and he gets very personal as to how they should be living within their churches.
These churches that must be a haven because the world is not. So chapter two, verse one. So put away all malice, all these are very strong words, by the way, all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Now, he might be referring to the believer's relationship to everyone but a few verses before this verse and a few verses after he's clearly addressing the churches. So I think the main point is in your churches.
Now, understand, look at the terminology. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. He's talking to people in churches. So what can we assume then? That this is a list of the kinds of things happening in the churches.
This is not a great list. Listen, he could say, I know what's going on in your church. There's malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. That's what's going on in your church right now. By the way, some of that's happening here and in every church.
And what's he say of it? If you're gonna be the haven that you must be for one another, you've gotta get rid of all this. Toss all this. The word malice refers to every type of wickedness. Whatever, it's such a huge umbrella term.
Anything that the Bible categorizes ungodly is in that word. It gets specific. All deceit, hypocrisy and envy. Lying, the word hypocrisy, the Hebrew word, the Greek word means basically to be an actor.
This is my face when I'm with you. This is who I really am regarding you. That's what it's talking about.
Envy.
How come they got a new car? How come my car doesn't have that new car smell and his does? How come their house is so much nicer than ours? They could afford to redo their kitchen. Why can't we afford to redo our kitchen?
Instead of, they have a nice car. Praise the Lord for it. They just redid their kitchen. Praise the Lord they had the ability to do that. Let's thank God for how He was gracious to them. There's a big difference between that way of thinking and why don't I have that?
And by the way, we can all say that kind of thing about pretty much everyone. That someone in this room has something you want. So you can be envious. And the point is, don't be envious about anything.
Be thankful when God is kind to one another.
Get rid of the envy.
All slander. This word slander is a very broad term. It doesn't just mean lying about someone. You can be truthful in the gossip that you tell and it's still slanderous and ungodly. The word has this idea of any kind of demeaning, hurtful speech, any kind of speech that when I say it I want your diminishment.
I want what's best for me. I want what's worse for you. That's the idea in my speech. And is that happening here? It was happening in these churches. Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia. It was happening in these churches.
When it happens here. These aren't ifs, these are whens.
Because we're all sinners. You might not be committing any of these right now. Tomorrow's a new day. Your envy might pop up any second. Your hypocrisy, you wearing a mask. This is how we are in church in front of people and this is who I really am.
That may pop up any second. What do we do with it, folks, if this is going to be what that out there will never be? A place of support, help, and encouragement. We've got to get rid of all this stuff.
If you have a problem with someone in this room, you have a problem with someone in this room, you go talk to that person before you leave. Or if they're not here, you make the phone call. Or you set up a meeting.
You do it.
You don't wait for someone else, you don't wait for them to do it. They may not even know. We get done at 12? Or are we done already?
Soon.
I pastored in Rockford. A lady comes into my office. We've probably been there 15 years by this time. Comes into my office. Pastor, I'm leaving the church. Older single woman. Why? I knew nothing. Why?
Because years ago, Mrs. So-and-so said this to me. Mrs. So-and-so, a deacon's wife, who is the sweetest, godliest woman you've ever met in your life, like 15 years earlier, before we even were there, so it was more than 15, said this to me.
She'd been angry for all that time, for decades. They worked in the hospitality. They worked in the kitchen together. They did stuff together. But there was this boiling under the surface. So there was a mask.
How are you today?
Underneath there was anger and bitterness, and it was growing. So now she was going to leave the church. And I can almost guarantee you that every time they passed each other in the hallway, they both smiled and said hello.
And the one was genuinely smiling and saying hello, and the other one was like... Because that's what came out in my office that day. Now, if she'd have gone to this woman and said, you know, 15, 20 years ago, you said this to me, the woman probably would have said, I don't remember that, but if I said that, I was wrong, I sinned, please forgive me.
Because that's the kind of woman she was. I can tell you, she was that kind of woman. She was a godly woman. If you have a problem from something, someone said something yesterday, a day before, whenever, a year ago, whatever it was, deal with it now, right now, right now, and clear it up.
Ask forgiveness. Say, well, they did it to me. Yeah, but you've been bearing it all this time, so you've been sinning the whole time in how you're handling it. Ask forgiveness for it. You're part of it.
If you've wronged someone, if you've wronged someone, maybe they don't even know about it, go to them. If you're harboring ill will towards someone, if you've been deceitful wearing a mask,.
Deal with it.
Talk to people that you've offended or sinned against. If you're envious and jealous, if that's who you have been, deal with it now.
Get rid of it now.
Get rid of it today. If you've been guilty of slander and gossip, my goodness, there's a biblical text that talks about people who do this, and the biblical text, the Greek, the terminology is basically shut their mouths.
When someone does it, shut their mouths. I always think of the happy days, and I always think of the phrase, put a sock in it, because that's what I think should happen. If you're a gossip, put a sock in it.
In fact, if you're a real gossip, it could be a dirty sock. I don't care. Put it in there and stop the talking. Just stop it, and then go to the people that you've sinned against and ask their forgiveness.
Ask someone to be an accountability partner so that you won't start up again. This has to be a haven because there are no more havens out there. Secondly, lastly, to do this quickly, turn to chapter 4, verses 8 through 11.
What should you not do? What do we not do if this is going to be a haven? Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. What should we do instead? Chapter 4, verses 8 through 10. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, you've been given spiritual gifts and abilities. Use it to serve one another. So if the church is going to be a haven, we get rid of certain things, and we add certain things.
We do certain things. First of all, this love, this inner family love is diligent. You see the word earnestly? I'm not sure how you've got it translated, earnestly. Something similar to that, diligently maybe.
The word means to stretch. It means to go out of your way, love someone, love one another in such a way that you go out of your way to care for them. The word just speaks of it's not convenient, and you'll do it anyway.
It won't always be convenient for you to show love to your Christian brothers and sisters in the church family. Do it anyway. Second, this love is forbearing and forgiving. Notice, love covers a multitude of sins.
I assume that means, that's referring to forgiveness and forbearance. Forgiveness is, you sinned against me, but I know God has forgiven a multitude of sins, a mountain of sins, and so I know God's done that for me.
I can forgive this minuscule little nothing offense that you legitimately did against me. I can forgive that, because of all that I've been forgiven. And it's also, I think, forbearance. Forbearance is, you're a little weird.
Forbearance is a little different. I don't get you. You grew up differently. You dress differently. You eat differently. You're just a little, you're a little off.
You're a little odd.
You may have people like that here. If you don't, you're the only Baptist church I know that is like that. Every Baptist church I know has some oddballs. You might be the one. You might all be oddballs.
Bottom line is, we don't care about that. We love Christ. That's all that matters. If I'm a little odd, and I'm sure I fit that category, it's okay. Thirdly, this family love extends hospitality and care without complaint.
Look at verse 9. It's so interesting to me. It's almost funny. Showing hospitality to one another, and then he adds, without grumbling. Why does he add that? Because that's often how we show hospitality.
Wait, wait.
You're moving in two Saturdays, and you want me to come and help you. You realize that if I come and help you move, I'm going to be seeing a chiropractor for two months. Because that's how it always works.
And what does this text say to us? Show hospitality, kindness, without complaining. Just do it. Wear a back brace, whatever you got. You just serve. And then he goes on to say everything.
Serve.
Each has received a gift. Serve one another. So Eusebius is facing the loss of everything, including his life, and none of the threats are threats to him. Folks, whatever threats the world is throwing at us, they're not really threats to us.
Take it all away.
It's not mine.
It's God's. He's loaned it to me. I'll use it for his glory. When he takes it away, I'll be thankful for the time I had it. If he takes my freedom, I'm free in Christ. If he takes my life, I'm not with the Lord.
The world's threats are no threats. So what are we going to do when we're living in a culture that really does hate God severely and where we face persecution, mistreatment, trial because of it? First of all, maintain your holiness.
You're separate from the world. You are to be separate from the world. Be holy as God is holy. Don't expect that holiness to reap you favor and friendships. Expect just the opposite and pray that God will graciously use it to bring some to Christ.
Stand fast in your hope, your confidence. I know God knows what he's doing.
He's all wise.
He's perfect. I don't have anything to worry about in that sense. God knows what he's doing. And God may use that hope flowing from you to cause others to ask and give you opportunity to give the gospel.
And lastly, make this place, your church family, the haven that God's designed it to be and that you and everyone here needs it to be. Thank you, Father, for this text, the book of 1 Peter, for all that it says to us.
We ask that you'll use it to encourage us, change us, bless this church family. Make this a place of friendship, support, camaraderie, help, edification. Make this the haven that you've designed it, that you've commanded it to be, that it must be.
I pray these things in Jesus' name.
Let's take our hymnals and turn to number 378. Thank you, Scott. Appreciate that timely message for our time and place. 378, this is a different tune to the familiar song, Take My Life and Let It Be. Earlier we sang the psalm with that familiar tune.
We're going to sing the consecration hymn with this alternate tune. Let's stand together as we sing. We'll sing stanzas one and three. Take my life and let it be. Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days.
Oh, in ceaseless prayer. Take my hands and let them move. The impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be. And the last. Take my will and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own.
It shall be Thine. My love, my Lord, I pour. I feed its treasure store. Take myself and I will be. I appreciate the Willikwits being with us today. Stop by their display. Look at what's going on with their ministry and they'll be out.
Yes. So if you're not on his email list, you can sign up for that at the table. Any questions, they'll be there and you can ask them. Let's pray. Now may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered a while, may he perfect, strengthen, and settle you.
To him, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen and amen. You are dismissed.
