1 Peter, 3:8-12

Well, we've come to the last section here on submission. We've had three S's, so to speak. The first S of the first chapter would be what? Salvation. Salvation, right? Let's see. And then we had sanctification. And now we're under submission. The submission of the believer. Submission concerning different things that we're going to see here. We've seen servants and in the home, marriage. And now today, we're going to see another aspect of submission for all of us. And we'll look at that in 1 Peter 3, 8 through 12.

And if you have your notes, you'll notice the verses there. And let's read that. To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For the one who desires life to love and to see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

So he starts up here to sum up, and now he's speaking of Summarizing or coming to the end of this section on submission, he's not ending his message like we think some of these pastors or preachers that say, you know, they're going to finish. I'm almost done. I'm finally. And then they don't really finish. It's like a plane coming into landing, you know, and they start to land. It doesn't land, it takes off again. And some speakers are like that, right? But this is not what he's talking about.

He's talking about, finally, I'm going to sum up what I'm talking about concerning submission. And this is submission concerning to believers and also to unbelievers. So he's bringing this discussion to a conclusion, in other words, and to a climax concerning our submission. And so he says, all of you. So he's talking to all of us and to all of those he's writing to. He turns the attention to the duties of the individual, the individual groups to the request that rest on all Christians.

And the appeal is to Christian conduct that will silence the hostility of an unbelieving world. So it's he's talking about a virtue, you might say, that the Christians should have. Now, it's not something that we're working toward. It's something we already know that we're perfect in Christ, that we have been sanctified. He's already brought these truths out about salvation and sanctification. So now he's telling us some things, what it should look like. You guys are saints. Now, this is the things that you should look like. Act like what you really are, but it's not really acting, is it? It's the outflow of what the Lord is working in and through us, willing to do His good pleasure.

So, in verses 8 and 9, Peter pictures a combined conduct that is needed, and he supports his entreaty with a quotation from the Old Testament, and we find that in verses 10 through 12. Okay, in verse 8 we see Christian attitudes, or you might say virtues, toward those who are friendly. Imperatives, you might say, for getting along with other Christians. And then in verse 9 we're going to see Christian response toward those who are hostile, and imperatives toward those who are unfriendly to us. Peter uses five adjectives, you might say, which describe the desired behavior of a true Christian. These adjectives show how we are to relate to each other, and they give the ideal portrait of the church.

And the key to all of them, of course, is that they reflect our Lord Jesus Christ. So these believers, our behaviors are not natural to us. You know, in our flesh is no good thing. And so these are things that are going to come from the new man within us and that new nature. And he is pointing out these characteristics. So, we realize that we don't have the strength in ourselves, of ourselves, you might say, but we do have the strength of Christ within us to do what He would have us to do, which is His will. By His Spirit, we'll do these things.

Okay, first of all, be harmonious. I love that word. Sounds like a musician's term, doesn't it? I tell you, I teach four different schools in music. And it's interesting, when you teach these classes, these kids are They're at first very far from being harmonious. It's very interesting.

And it takes the patience of Job, so to speak, to to live with when it's not harmonious, but harmonious. When he says here, he's speaking of like mindedness, minding the same thing. And I tell you, when a kid is not mining the same note that he's supposed to, they're supposed to be playing in unison at first. You know it when it's wrong. You know, you can hear it coming out.

And so he's speaking here of promoting harmony among the brethren. Divisions always come when you have a lack of common purpose and direction. And when members of a family or a body of believers get passionate about personal preferences, then you've got divisions. How many of you have been in a church or a fellowship where there's division over maybe the color of the carpet or the piano where it sits? Anybody? Yeah, maybe somebody. Most of you have been in perfect fellowships. That's great.

I was in one fellowship where on one side were what you might call the spiritual side and the other was the carnal. And I remember at a business meeting when one lady got up and she said, let's put the cards on the table. She was on the carnal side, of course. The spiritual brother stood up and said, since when did we start playing cards in church?

I tell you, there's many, if you like us older folks that have been around at different fellowships, you've experienced quite a number of things that we could talk about all day. But he desires for us to see that we're to be harmonious. These six things does the Lord hate. Remember from Proverbs, these six things, the proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to evil, and then he comes to a wicked, let's see, then there's a false witness, and then the last of all, he that sows what? Discord. among the brethren. Now, that's not harmony. I was going to give you some illustrations of, I think, you know, what lack of harmony sounds like.

But it's interesting that in music, you know, if you have that low note, that lower note, all these overtones that can come out if the other notes are just pressed down, not played, but just pushed down certain notes, if certain notes are pushed down and you hit that bottom note, these other notes will sing out. And you have a beautiful harmony. We can't get this on the piano here quite as well as you can with the larger grand type piano, but it's very interesting.

So I like to think of that lower note as being our foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then when we're all abiding in him and we've got our notes pressed down, so to speak, the right note. which is abiding in Him, we're going to sing out. Some of us might be a C or an E or a G, but it's going to all work out and it's going to all blend.

So, how do we get harmony? What he's talking about here, of course, is to have the same purpose. And for all of us, it's like rowing a boat. You know, we're all going in the same direction. We're to be of the same mind, the mind of Christ. Paul, isn't it Paul that says we have the mind of Christ? And so we are to be saturated with the word of God. And when we are, we're going to have great harmony.

It's wonderful. So to be like minded is more of a request for unity of disposition than sameness of opinion. You know, we can have different opinions about things, but the disposition, the inclination for, you know, we have the same purpose. And so, even though we may have a different opinion about certain things, we can agree on the main purposes of our life and the life of other believers and we can get along.

Scripture says, all seek their own and not the things of Christ Jesus. So, that's not the mind of Christ. This harmony is not about compromise, especially when it comes to doctrine. So we're not to compromise doctrine. So we should never have division over just mere opinions. And hopefully we don't have to come to any place of division over doctrines. But that's the only case that I know of where you'd want to separate, you know, come out and be separate from those who are not walking according to the proper doctrine. basic doctrines.

So for living harmoniously with other Christians, we need to keep renewing our minds in the Word, be saturated with the Word. And as we in humility abide in Christ and keep our mind on the ministry that he's given to us, we're going to have wonderful harmony. So Romans 15, 5 and 6 is a great verse. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I also like this verse. I didn't have it in your notes.

It's Philippians 2.2. Make my joy complete, Paul says, being like-minded, having the same love, And then he says, being one in spirit and purpose.

I think that's a great cross-reference, Philippians 2.2. Oneness in love, oneness in spirit and in purpose.

If we're going to disagree on something, we need to do it in love and respect for one another. You know, I don't know if you've ever been in a Bible study where there's somebody, when they don't like something or they don't like the point or they have a disagreement, they say, I disagree. It doesn't sound like a loving way of putting it. You know, if you don't see it that way, don't say I disagree. It's just like, You know, I have an opinion, you know. So, you know, disagree agreeably. There must be a better way to say it than I disagree. You get any ideas? Yeah. Yeah, we can. Yeah. Yes, that's good. That's good. Have you ever considered it this way? That's good. That's good. But when we take it, I know a little carnal selling it.

I. OK. All right. Now, he says, be sympathetic. That's the second word we have here. Sympathize. OK, that's a southern pronunciation in the Greek, of course. OK, to feel compassion. This is an active word. In the King James it says, having compassion one of another. It simply means to be affected with the feelings, with our feelings by something. To share in the brother's feelings or the sister's feelings.

Have you ever been in a situation where somebody, you know, you're going through grief and the person doesn't understand that grief and they're, And they say the thing that just really doesn't help you much. Have you ever had that? Maybe just briefly tell what happened when her first husband passed away. Just a brief statement on that. The interesting. people mean well, but if you haven't gone through this, you know, you really don't know how to really comfort someone that is going through a terrible grief. And my husband was killed quite suddenly by a driver.

So at the fellowship that we were at that time, I had so many Some of the women say to me, you know, we're watching you. We're watching you to see how you're going to handle this. Or, you know, and then another gentleman that's, you know, a pair of church organizations. One day, two weeks after my husband died, he said, you know, how's God doing, Deb?

I said, well, you know, you know, that really wasn't intended that way because I was really feeling the impact then of being alone. And then there was another doubt, you know, and sometimes it's some of your best friends, some of the people that you've been so close to. But she never had anybody that she'd lost in her life. My husband was the closest one to her that she'd ever lost. And she just told her son, now don't you let me act the way Beverly is. Don't you let me go out to the commentary.

Don't you let me not. Don't you let me not. It was really hard to go to sleep in our bed and things like that. Don't you let me do that. That's not the way to do. And I get wind of this and it's like, what am I going to do? They weren't sympathetic, in other words. OK. They don't know what to say and what is the best thing for us to do when we don't know what to say and what's the best thing to do? Just stay quiet. And, you know, just to be there with the person, you know, rather than try to say, well, God loves you. That's the reason this has happened or or he's, you know, trying.

Sometimes, you know, us, we believers... So we need to realize that, first of all, be in prayer and look to the Lord so that we can have the right sympathy, have the type of sympathy that he's talking about here, to be able to feel it the way others. You know, a great verse is in Romans 12, 15. Paul says, Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. We need to uphold one another in prayer about these things, you know.

So when you look at this word, sunpetheis, it brings out the idea of to be affected not only by a person's sorrow, but by their joy. You know, I've heard of people that, you know, they're rejoicing about something. And somebody comes in and puts a wet towel on it. Have you ever had that happen?

You know, one brother came in and was telling about all these number of souls that had been saved in a certain situation. And this other brother said, How in the world are they going to do all the follow-up on those people, you know? I mean, here's this person rejoicing over souls being saved, and this other guy, he's got a negative attitude. That's what I call an energy, not a giver, but they take energy from you. We need to be energy givers and be sympathetic toward whether people are rejoicing or if they're in sorrow. Now he says, be brotherly. Oh, go ahead. Well, I have a question because certainly what Beth went through was not appropriate. But what do you do when someone doesn't move past, for instance, someone who's in a long-term situation.

I have a son who moved in in his 40s and he's got a permanent total disability from a work-related injury. It's been now, I think, two or three years, maybe three years, and he's just bitter and pretty angry with God. And he said to me the other day, it really affects your theology. That's crazy news.

I understand that, I mean I can see how long term, I mean he's in constant pain, but I don't feel like it's appropriate for me just to say, oh poor guy, I know this is hard for you. Yeah, it is hard for him, certainly, but he still needs to trust the Lord. How do I encourage this guy? What can we do? And Norm very sweetly said, I don't know. I feel like, yes, we want to be sympathetic and I am sympathetic to his pain because I've had pain.

On the other hand, I know we still have to trust the Lord, and I don't know how to balance that. I don't know how to make it work. Yeah, so people go through the, some people, they want to blame God for a situation and say, you know, this business, you know, it's all, you know, it's not working, it's not real, you know. So, does anybody have an idea on that? You know, I have to say that I wasn't much help at that time. I'm sure it was worse than the 80s.

I think a lot of it was because of some of the things that Burns taught and some of the classes and so forth. Yes. And Mike. But I must say that I felt that 24-7 training as it is, It was there one time when I had goose flush. All over my body, different pain. So I just had it like that. I don't know what it was like.

But I finally realized, and partly because of, I don't know what our dear brother here goes through, that the Lord gives us trials in different ways, and He's not going to give us something that we can't handle. I haven't gone to eat one of my guns or anything of that nature. I understand that the Lord has his way of But teaching and other things, and what I have to be careful not to do, and this is the most difficult, is to not overreact and have the pain with the person that would understand me the most, other than the Lord, and that's my dear wife. So you have to be careful that you don't take it out on someone else. But he teaches me too. He's what? He's taking you. OK, so. Pain. The pain for.

Yes. I think we're going to as we proceed in this study, I think we're going to see more of Peter talking about suffering. In fact, I know we will. For unto you is given not only to believe, but also to what? Suffer. I mean, it's going to be there, brothers and sisters. It's there. And and for someone like Job, you know, he finally came out of it, you know, the Lord. But there was a process. And so we can't.

Speed up the process for some people, you know. So, I think just being there in prayer, I think being there to be hospitable to the person if we can, and let the love of Christ flow through us without trying to give them counsel, unless they ask for it, you know. Yes, go ahead Marilyn.

I mean, I was going to a counselor and I finally quit because all he would say to me is, you know, what a horrible person my ex-husband was. And I blamed him for everything. And I'm like, well, I'm not growing in this at all. And somebody else would actually help me handle what was going on.

That's good. Thanks. That's that's good to share that. You know, I think, you know, you touch on this is one word. It's amazing what you know, what accord it strikes with people. And I think one of the things that's key because he's going to be talking about suffering from from next week's passage on to the rest of the chapter, I mean, the rest of the book. One of the things that seems to me that he's putting this is kind of a summary of the things before, but also a lead in to the next part that we're interacting with people. There's both the sympathy thing, which is a which is a responsiveness to their what state are they in rejoicing, weeping, mourning, puzzled, all those things. And and thinking, where are they not just being, you know, okay, here's my standard answer for your standard problem, you know, but being sensitive to where are they, what are they going through?

And what do they need? And maybe it's not a bunch of words spewed at them. And yet there may come a time where what they need is some words. And then what are the wise words? And that's something to be learned, isn't it? Yes, it is. And it seemed like if we haven't been through something very similar or it's very hard to say the right words. Yeah.

I know I've said the wrong thing in places of ministry that one brother's boy had been shot. He shot himself and he was dying. And I was trying to encourage him, the father, with the words from the Word, but it wasn't the right timing to share what I'd shared. I should have just been there, you know, just crying with him and not saying a word. He didn't need anything but just understanding. But before or after, but after the tragedy first hit, they were quiet for two weeks. And it's interesting, we pay attention to all their words and they made some mistakes. But notice that they did have an up sense to, now wasn't a good time to say anything. You know, he starts off saying this, be these things. I kind of think this is the real be-attitudes for us Christians, you might say.

You know, not the ones in Matthew, but he says, he's speaking of brotherly love, you know, Philadelphia. It's the, you think of the Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. I live there. It was more like the city of brotherly shove, you know, but as Christians, we should care for one another. allowing the love of Christ to flow through us.

This produces a problem because not everyone is lovable, maybe, or likable, I should say. Maybe that would be a better word. You know, so however we're to love as God loves, how does He love us? He loves us while we're yet sinners, enemies in our minds. And so it's just the opposite of the world's way of doing things, you know, dog eat dog, you know. And it's a me first attitude.

So, but there's to be a family feeling is what he's bringing out here. A family feeling within the body of Christ. Paul said in Romans 12.10, I don't have that in your notes, but he says, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love.

And in 1 John 3.14, John says, we know that we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. Then he goes on, Peter says, be kind hearted.

This word means to be tender-hearted. The King James says to be pitiful. Some of us are in that state, of course, pitiful. But pitiful, he doesn't mean it in the way we think of somebody being pitiful. He means tender-hearted, quick to forgive others, kind-hearted in personality. Show it, in other words. Show your kindness. Our hearts are to be kind and gentle.

Ephesians 4.32, Be ye kind one to another, forgiving each other, even as God and Christ has also forgiven you. It's a done deal. He's already forgiven us. So we should do that.

I remember when I was in school work years ago, I didn't cooperate with the principal of that school concerning an offering he was going to take. I felt it was inappropriate, and yet, and so I refused to take part in that offering. It was an offering for the teachers, and I thought, well, I thought we shouldn't charge the parents for the program, so to speak, that we were putting on. And but rather than just going along with what he said, I just I refused to be part of it.

And later I realized I was wrong that here was a principle. He was in charge. He had the right to decide to do what he wanted to do. And it really wasn't a doctrinal thing. It was an opinion. And so I but years later, I saw this man at a Bible conference. And I said, would you please forgive me for being unsubmissive to you in that situation? And his kindheartedness, the love of Christ was in that brother, the kindness. He said, I've already forgiven you. And while that really stuck with me, you know, this guy has forgiven me right away, I believe, you know, and that's to be our attitude.

Then you think of David and Mephibosheth. Remember, Mephibosheth could have been killed by David because he was of the household of Saul through Jonathan. But no, David was very kind to him and he restored all the land of Saul to Mephibosheth. And he also allowed him to eat bread at his table continually. He was just kind to him. And so, let's think also of how the Lord was kind hearted. He was kind hearted when he was here on the earth and of course he's already been kind hearted toward us and forgiving us all of our sins.

Okay, then he goes on, Peter says, be humble in spirit. Okay, this means to be humble minded. humility. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life. So it's not to think of ourselves more highly than we should think of ourselves. Matthew 11 29 says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest to your souls. So, we are to have this attitude of humility, as the Lord did, and putting the interests of others in front of ourselves. Serving is part of this, and this requires humility. The proud think it's all about themselves and their own needs, but we are to consider, as believers, the personal needs of others.

Colossians 3.12, So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

So we see humility listed there in Colossians 3.12. So, we've had these five different virtues or attitudes.

Are they just there radical? Or are they something that should be descriptive of us? Of course we know it's something to be descriptive of us as believers. So, at what extent this last week have you seen these things in your own life? Have you seen the fruit of the Spirit in your own life in applying these things? And what are we going to look forward to this next week?

Well, it's something we cannot do in our own strength. It's something that we have to do each day, depending on the Lord, to work these things in and through us. Now, by His Holy Spirit, of course. Okay, now he goes on to verse 9. Peter shows how to respond to hostility of an unbelieving world. We see here Christian responses to those hostile to us, to those who sin against us or misuse us. How should we be in relationship to these people? Something has been done to us, and how are we going to respond to it? And by whose life do we respond? So now we look at this verse.

First of all, not returning evil for evil. This word evil, kakos, it means worthless. Returning something worthless for something worthless. Don't give back injury for injury. So this not returning evil for evil points to what was done to us. It was something evil, something that was worthless.

You know, someone said that they saw a what do you call it? A T-shirt that had the words on the back of it. I don't get mad. I just get even. And certainly that's the attitude of the world. You know, what tells best what we really are? Is it an action or reaction or response? You know, the scripture says, surely every man walks in a vain show. You know, we can we can put on a ministry smile, so to speak, you know, and look real pious. And yet not really what you really find out is when when you see how someone reacts in a situation, how do they respond?

There's an old track that was out years ago called What Made You Cross? I don't know if you ever seen it, but the whole idea of the track was, you know, if you don't get ministered unto, then you're going to get upset. And that's walking in the flesh, of course. So, you know, the ball doesn't go in the hole, you golfers, you know, or the referee or the coach or the whoever's dealing with the, you know, calling the calls on a game. If they don't call it right, you watch the anger that flies in the games, you know, the guys get so angry.

Well, it's the idea is, that if you don't get ministered unto, usually that's what it is that causes us to react or respond. I like to think of a response as being something we do in the spirit and we react in the flesh. Our actions can be, I mean, we can walk in a vain show, but now when something goes wrong, do we react in the flesh or do we respond in the spirit? And so he's saying here for us to not return something worthless for something worthless. I mean, if somebody does something worthless to us, to return that evil back to that person. So the reality of what somebody is, is really how they respond or react.

Any questions about that? Yes. Okay. Can you clarify your question a little bit more for me? Oh, yeah. OK. So someone, you know, where to judge righteous judgment. Right. But, you know, also the scripture says that men judged by our appearance. So we can misjudge things so quickly. And what we may think is somebody doing something evil to us. It may be that we've misjudged that, too.

I'm not sure that I totally understand exactly what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Does anybody have any ideas? OK, well, we'll talk wisdom and privacy about this, but we'll talk and try to clarify that some more. No, that's all right. No, that's good. OK. All right.

He uses the word for don't return evil for evil. It's the Greek preposition, the word for for directive in exchange. It means you did this and I'm going to respond to you in exchange for this. The principle here is to never react in kind, never return sin for sin. We need to learn to take wrongs. And this is something not easy for us, you know. So. But why should we be willing to take a wrong?

Well, that's because Christ did this. You think of his life, and we've gone through this just recently, just thinking about all the insults that came on him for being called illegitimate, his birth being illegitimate, and all the things that we've just recently studied about Christ and his life, concerning his birth and his life. He was just misunderstood and he had evil given to him continually by the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Israel. Okay, Isaiah 44, 22. I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. David gives us a great example of this when he did not kill King Saul. He had a chance to, and he didn't kill him. He didn't touch God's anointed. He was willing not to return that evil. Let God take care of it. Yes? That's good. That's good. That's good. So walk in what you are. Be what you are. You're a saint and act like one. Or walk in what you don't really, it's not acting.

I don't like that word. You're a good guy. Yes. That's good. It is. Yeah. It's a natural to our new man. That's good. All right. Did you have just a brief response to Buzz's question? I think we're going to be diving into some answers to that over time. So we'll get there. All right. Great. That's good news. All right. Not returning insult for insult. The King James says railing for railing.

I used to supervise the kitchen at the Navigators, and I remember some of those young people that would come there and work, and I was pretty young myself, too. But I remember getting very upset with some of the guys when they didn't perform like I thought they should. And I would really get angry at them. I had one guy who was a Marine, humble young man. He'd about climbed the wall crying. He was so unhappy. And I realized afterwards, I was railing on that young man.

Anger rests in the bosom of fools, and so we need to judge this type of an attitude of railing insults. He says, not returning insult for insult. So insults point to what was said. So never react in kind, Peter says. Never return the sin. If someone tells a lie about you, don't tell a lie about them. Sometimes people can tell the truth about you, and that can be spread around, and that can be hurtful too sometimes.

1 Peter 1.23, And while being reviled, he did not revile. This was the Lord's attitude. He did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously.

Great, isn't it? I have to say, the Lord could have upped his dress so you could really follow through on it. You're going to get it in a minute. Like these parents, they tell, you do that again, and then they do it again. If you do that one more time, and never do anything. Remember when David was cursed by this guy Shimei?

You know, he never did respond or react. He responded. He didn't react to him. He responded in a kind way. But he didn't return insult to this man who was cursing him and even cast stone at him. But he didn't respond. He didn't react to him with another insult. OK, so we need to refuse to retaliate that way.

Commit it to the Lord. That's the way the Lord did. So, but now if you're in a protective role, like a police officer or protection of your family, we are to carry out what we're supposed to do. For instance, in Romans 13, 4, it's the government, it's a ministry, a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing. But for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. So the point is that, you know, if a police officer is insulted, I don't think he's to insult him back, but he's supposed to take care of the situation properly, according to the way the government would have him to do.

Remember Paul, when he was treated unjustly, when it comes to civil injustice, we see like in Acts 22-25, Paul said to the centurion, is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and he's a Roman and he's uncondemned? And so Paul was then released because he pled his legal right. Paul points out his legal right and he appeals to Caesar.

And so there's times when you don't, when somebody is doing wrong to you, that you need to use the law to get things right if you can, if you can correct it. But sometimes we can't correct situations. And so then, like in the case of Stephen, we have to, you know, he just, what could he do? He just said, Lord, hold not this sin against these men. They were killing him, stoning him. So if you can't correct it through legal means, then we need to allow the Lord to take out the vengeance.

I think if you have an accident where somebody is, like I remember knocking over a lady's motorcycle one time, I felt like she was double parked behind me accidentally. tipped it over, well, she took me to court about it. And so I was thinking of Matthew, where it says not, in Matthew, in the Attitudes, where it talks about, you know, not, you know, if somebody takes you to court, you know, don't, you know, just let them, you know, take whatever they want. In other words, you give in to it. But I think we have the ability to be able to, by God's grace, if there's a way to handle it legally, that we can do that.

He says here in Romans 12, 19, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Then Peter goes on and says, but giving a blessing instead. And this word means to speak a word of thanks or praise or a benediction. And so Christ, of course, prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And Romans 12, 14. says, bless those who persecute you and bless and do not curse.

So I think not, you know, rather than doing a reaction of some kind that's in the flesh, we need to respond the way the Lord would have us to do, which is to give a blessing. He says, why? Because you recall for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. Oh, we have so many blessings, don't we, in Christ.

And so, he says, the one who desires life. He goes on here in verses 10-12 and speaks about those who desire life. And he uses Psalm 34, 12-16 to confirm what he has just said to us about these five things. And so, he says, he gives us a recipe. for loving and having good days.

He says, first, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. And he says, let him turn away from evil and do good, and he must seek peace and pursue it. And so, that's a good summary, isn't it? Keep your tongue from evil. Turn away from evil. Run to peace. Pursue peace. Now, then he says, the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So God knows those who do evil.

That should be a motivating thing for us, shouldn't it? That Christ is always here with us as believers. And knowing His presence, we need to do what's important to Him, and that is to live in the light of His presence and to be a doer of the Word concerning these matters. Any questions or anything you want to add to this?

Alright, I don't know about you, but I'm having a great time with Peter. It's just so good to see that Peter sees things from a positional viewpoint. If you look at it, you can see that he understands the position. I used to not see that he did that, but he does. He's good. We're going to have a great study as we continue with 1 Peter and then get into 2 Peter.

Let's thank the Lord for the time. Father, thank you so much. These words that just show us what our attitude should be as believers, as saints, as those called unto the life of holiness. And Father, we know and realize, we cannot do it apart from you, that moment by moment, day by day, And week by week, and each year, we need you for each occasion to respond in the Spirit and not to react in the flesh. And to walk, not in hypocrisy, but in the truth as true believers, as those who really are walking in the Spirit and led by the Spirit of God. Thank you so much for this time now. Precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.