1 Peter, 3:13-17
Vern Peterman · Jan 28, 2007
1 & 2 Peter (2006-07), No. 17
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492601522245

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We are continuing 1 Peter 13-17. So you got the right handout? Okay, just check it. From here through the end of the book, Peter addressed the matter of suffering for believers. So it's interesting, we've kind of gone through some different subjects, and while there will be some variation, it isn't all just monotony, believe me. Peter is going to be addressing suffering for believers from here through the end of the book, all the way to the end. And we kind of have the bullet point outline there. Conduct in suffering, Christ's example in suffering, Christian essentials in suffering, and carrying out ministry in suffering. So we've got those four in summary points here. So while we've called this Suffering 101, It's not intended to be academic, is it? Why would Peter not be interested in something academic?

Yeah? Alright, yeah, he was a get things done kind of guy. Good. What have we noticed about the verbs that we've found throughout the book of 1 Peter? Pardon? A lot of them were participles. Yeah, in other words, spoken in terms of being inaction. That's Peter's emphasis. He occasionally uses imperatives, but leans toward using, describing the Christian life in action rather than do this, do that. It's not that he wasn't interested in inaction, but He looked at it as action and inaction. That's reality. That's the way it's that's the way it is meant to be.

So he simply described it in action rather than telling them this is what you got to do. Most of the time we find that's Peter's pattern. And one of the things that also underscores the idea that Peter was not an academician was that Peter himself went through some persecutions. Can some of you think of what some of those persecutions were that we have even recorded in Scripture? Thrown in prison. Early in the book of Acts, we see that recorded, right? I'm sorry? Isn't that something?

For denying Christ, he suffered a great deal. Interestingly, though, While he most certainly suffered, it was less than two months from the time he denied Christ and said, I never knew him, to delivering the message that he did on Pentecost, on the day of Pentecost. So astounding, the change in that guy. But you're right, there was a great deal for him to go through and to deal with and reckon with.

Alright, let's take a look at 1 Peter 3.13.

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? Now let's ask a question here. Is Peter, using a question, giving believers a promise that if you're zealous for what's good, you'll never have any harm come to you? Is that what he means? If you are zealous for what's good, you'll be like you're already in heaven, right? Is that what he's saying?

No? Yes? Not so sure? Okay, yeah. Norm's got the idea. Yeah. Okay. Well, he was always zealous whether he was wrong or right. Ah, yes. There's Peter for you. A zealous man. Yes. No matter what was happening, he was zealous. Yes. And ready. Okay. Interesting. Here, this proves zealous for what's good. This word, good, here's agathos.

We'll take a look at that, kind of trace it through the passage. Really here, Peter is not promising no harm, but he's laying out a general principle, and the rest of what he writes makes it clear. We could, if we were to take that one verse independently, we could take it as some sort of a promise, but when you read the rest of it in context, it's clear that's not what he's saying. Here's, I think, however, what he was trying to point out.

There is a general principle that applies a few ways in life. We have some bullets there. The approach to life's relationship that is characterized by good in return for good, or even good in return for evil, tends to bring about but does not guarantee a good response from others. The principle that the world easily applies is evil for evil, right?

You do something to me, boy, I'm going to get revenge. I mentioned in the main service two or three weeks back, there's a guy who wrote a book on how to get revenge. And it sold so well, he wrote How to Get Revenge Part 2. The world is really into the revenge thing.

And what he is saying here is this good or evil doesn't matter. You return good because that's from the Lord. not responding with an evil and return for evil approach, but rather being zealous for what's good. Now, what's the difference between just kind of doing good stuff and being zealous for what's good? Why does he make the differentiation?

Pardon? Degree? Yeah, there's a magnitude? Right, okay. Ah, yes. Zeal is more noticeable. It accentuates the degree element that Doug brought out. What else? We have this term activist, right? Yeah. Tom? Is it possible to be so zealous for what's good that it's not good? I suppose it could be, you know. Yeah, yeah. The good needs to be truly good, not just sort of. Not just superficial, and not just checklist. Not just externally, as Doug used the word superficial, but truly.

It cuts off the revenge and retaliation cycle that's characteristic of the way this world operates and the way the sin nature loves to work. Sin nature loves to operate with a pattern that says, you did bad to me, I'm going to do bad to you. Or you may not have done anything to me, I'm going to do bad to you. And the world underscores that cycle as well. How about the proper role of government is to maintain order and to limit the expression of overtly evil behavior in society. That's what Peter has said earlier in 1 Peter 2. And Paul wrote also in Romans 13, the believer who is zealous for what is good is actually a model citizen. How does that play out? Why is the believer who is zealous for what is good a model citizen?

There is moderation when there should be. There is thoughtfulness. Well, you're not going to be stealing. You're not going to be beating people up. There will be some behaviors that are resultant, and you'll be following the law of the land. It's the correct Christian attitude. That's what Christ has taught us to do. Isn't it interesting that being in action, the believer that the Lord has laid out, ends up making the believer a model citizen in just about every society. Yes. Ah, OK. What this is talking about is particularly individual believers, isn't it?

So it doesn't this doesn't really address the war issue. If we were to get into that, we won't have time to tackle it full on. But if we were to get into that, James addresses that. that ultimately war comes, the book of James, ultimately war comes from conflict of the heart. It's the conflict in the heart and the lack of reconciliation in the heart that is the source.

So Peter's question isn't intended to make some kind of guarantee other than to lay out a general principle. He's going to lay out the other principles that apply subsequently here. Jesus pointed to the source of good and evil behavior. Let's look at the top of page 2 there. By the way, do you have a handout? Are you fully equipped here? All right.

In Luke 6, 43 through 45, For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from the briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. For his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. So what is he saying here? Is he giving just agricultural instruction? What's his point?

As your heart is, so are your actions, including your speech. Yeah. Part of what Peter's talking about here is, let's get to the heart of the matter, right? He's saying that the believer Because the believer is in Christ, the believer, because the believer has Christ indwelling him, the believer, because the believer has a heavenly citizenship, all the things that puts the believer in the position that the believer has eternally, it makes sense that the believer yield fruit accordingly. That's what is pointed out here. Notice how many times Jesus uses this word good.

And by the way, it's the exact same word Peter used in 1 Peter 3.13. Agathos here. And it's interesting. I heard a story once.

There was a nurse who was running down the hallway in the hospital. And she wasn't quite looking where she was going in keeping with her speed down the hallway. And she was carrying a glass of water. And anyway, she happened to run into one of the doctors and just dumped water all over him. And then she just let out with a profusion of bad language. And then she said, oh, I'm sorry. That really isn't what I meant. And the doctor said, well, what came out was just like the cup. It's what was inside that got spilled. And that's really the case.

What Peter is pointing to is certainly the believer has a sin nature still. However, the character of the believer, the eternal position of the believer is in Christ. Paul writes to the church at Colossae and he says, May the message of Christ, may the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And that word dwell means make its home in you. Make its home. Let the word of Christ not just camp out, not just visit temporarily, but dwell intimately. That's what Peter's talking about here. So the believer is has been changed positionally at the point of belief. That's his eternal position. But there is also the process of living that out. And that's what he's pointing to here, isn't he?

Okay, now, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. And that is just a variation on the same word, agathos. Agathosune. Now, about the big word, if, in this sentence, it is what is known as a third-class condition.

Peter was not assuming that the believers had proved zealous for what is good or not proved. One way or the other. But he was just making a statement of fact. He was not making a statement of fact, rather. He was placing a favorable and godly option before them. Prove zealous for what is good. how he's laying it out.

One more perspective on this, from an eternal and spiritual perspective, a believer cannot truly be harmed in the ultimate sense. While at the outset we've said that being zealous for what's good is not a guarantee, we can tell from the context, that the believer will never run into trouble. There's also this other perspective, and ultimately, can a believer be harmed In the eternal sense? No. Can anybody do anything to you? No. Why is it that a believer cannot ultimately be harmed in the eternal spiritual sense? Because God's totally in control of that in a different way. Yeah. It's out of touch from anything that this world can do. It can't do anything.

So like my friend Dick Hillis, I've told the story before so I apologize, but my friend Dick Hillis was in China when the communists came in and they were wanting to gather up the Christians. And so they came to Dick, who was a missionary, and the lieutenant in the communist Chinese army pulled his pistol out and held it up to Dick's head. And he says, you're going to give me the names of all the Christians here, or I'm going to blow your brains out. And Dick said, that's all you can do.

That's all you can do. And the lieutenant put his pistol back into his holster. He realized that Dick was untouchable. He couldn't threaten him. Because Dick realized, he says, hey, you know, you can't harm me. You may think you can, but you can't harm me.

Look at Romans 8.28-30.

We know that God causes all things to work together for good, even the pistol up against Dick's head. To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called. And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified."

Every believer predestined, not as some ominous, oh no, I'm predestined, I can't change a thing, I'm stuck, whatever's going to happen. No. You are predestined not for some robot-like activity, You're predestined to the end that you'll be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And that's so reassuring. That is phenomenally reassuring. And that's why Dick could tell the lieutenant, that's all you can do. He says, you can't touch me. Not really. Because the Lord's got things under control. Okay, let's take a look. 1 Peter 3, 14-16.

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. And keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

So, Peter had a few critical insights. I want to kind of point them out here that you'll see in bullet form. This word that's translated but, B-U-T, is Allah in the Greek. And there are a couple of words that are primarily translated but, B-U-T, and this one means a sharp contrast, okay? It's not a slight turn in the sentence, but a sharp contrast. Not this, but in sharp contrast the opposite, this other.

The other thing is, we can suffer as Christians. So that's clarifying any question you might have with Peter's verse 13 statement of promise that nothing will ever trouble us in this world. We can suffer as Christians. We'll take a look at James 1-2 shortly. We might even suffer if we have done what is right, with our actions coming from a heart of righteousness, which is from Christ Himself.

The phrase, for the sake of righteousness, makes righteousness not just incidental, but pivotal to the suffering. Just any old suffering won't do. Suffering for the sake of righteousness. What looks like an awful thing is really a blessing. The Greek conveys, but even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, this is where there's a term called ellipsis.

The apostles used it for emphasis. Paul used it, and our English translations tend to take it out. But here's an example. Paul said, for me to live, Christ. To die, gain. See that? What did he do? He took the verb out in order to make a pause there for emphasis. Peter did the same thing here.

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, dramatic pause, blessed. You know, it's interesting that the tendency of translators has been to just put it in. So, real interesting, it's been the pattern. There are a number of places where the English is smoothed out, and that's been done for centuries.

But this is one instance where the Greek is just, if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, blessed. He used that ellipsis for emphasis. Now, even our Lord's brother, James, Can you imagine growing up with Jesus? It's tough enough growing up with siblings, but to grow up with Jesus is something else, right? Well, he says, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. This word, all joy, my brother was going through this and translating it, and he said, we could translate this and get the idea across, consider it ultimate joy. Now, what to you would be an ultimate joy? Can you think of an ultimate joy? What are some examples of things that people might...

I don't think we even understand it. Yeah, alright. You might be right there, but when you think of an ultimate joy, what do you think of? Key lime pie. Cool. Pardon? All right. Cadence, for example. Right? Okay. Birth of a child. Pardon? Get the whole family together. Yeah. Family reunion. Get everybody together.

That can either be an ultimate joy or something quite the opposite. But an ultimate joy. Yeah. You might think of other things. Maybe a wedding or something. But look at what James says. Consider it an ultimate joy when you encounter various trials. This is either a profound insight or it's nuts. Isn't that right? Either James has got an incredible insight into things or it's absolutely bananas. This is amazing stuff. So here's James, who was not an academician, not speaking hypothetically or theoretically, consider it ultimate joy, my brethren, when you encounter that word various.

The Greek word behind that is the word where we get our word for polka, like in polka dots, you know, little ones, big ones, varying. And when you encountered a variety of trials, So, when you look at this, look at the passage Peter is talking about saying, blessed.

Neither of them held anything back. They expressed the unfathomable and out-of-this-world response of the believer to trials and suffering. Blessed. Now, both Peter and our Lord addressed heart trouble. Look at Peter's startling do-nots at the end of verse 14. A couple of do-nots, right? Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled.

Now, what do you think Peter was talking about? Was intimidation just kind of looking at you funny? What do you think their trials might have consisted of? What magnitude of intimidation might Peter be referring to here? People being taken captive. We have letters from the governor of one of the provinces that Peter was writing to, letters between that governor and the emperor, how do I deal with these Christians? The letters were written some decades later, but probably indicative of, how do I deal with these Christians? They're an odd bunch. I persecute them and they just seem happy about it. What's going on here?

Peter's letter got the point across, didn't it? Now, our Lord used similar words here. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor let it be fearful. Notice in both of these passages here that the remedy and godly alternative to fear and troubling a troubled heart is what? Is Christ. Oftentimes, we're inclined to look at, what's the formula for me as a Christian to have peace?

What do I have to do? Is that a bad question? It's a normal question, isn't it? It's a normal question. Notice what the focus is here, and Christ puts His finger right on it. My peace. The answer is not in a do, it's in a him. It's the person. And it's not from him, John, it is from Jesus in the same kind John has. Yes. Yeah. It is the Lord's peace Himself. It is Him personally. Okay? Him personally. Yes, Doug? Ah, okay. So you're wanting to back up to that question. Doug asked the question, what's the definition of, for the sake of righteousness? Got any input on that? What's a sake? Anybody ever see a sake? What's it talking about?

Well, to go back to an Old Testament example, when he was in Pharaoh's court, he suffered for the sake of righteousness. He refused to be a moral, not pharaoh, podifer. He refused to have to be intimate with Potiphar's wife. He was maintaining righteousness. He was being righteous. And obviously this is an Old Testament example. Sure, but it's a perfectly valid example. So she gives the example of Joseph in Potiphar's house. Joseph had been doing a phenomenal job taking care of everything in the house. But the wife was enticing and trying to seduce him and he said, nothing doing.

And he suffered for it. He suffered for, to be very explicit about Doug's question, for the sake of righteousness. He lived out righteousness and suffered for that, for doing that. Could you also say that, could you replace the word righteousness and say for the sake of Christ? Because Christ is our righteousness. Ah, good. You hear that? Could you say, for the sake of Christ, because Christ is our righteousness? Certainly. Certainly.

Isn't that what my friend Dick did? My friend Dick suffered for the sake of righteousness and explicitly suffered for the sake of Christ. And it so happens that what he said absolutely baffled the lieutenant. But that might have been his last second, depending on the lieutenant's whim. Okay, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. The word sanctify means to set apart as holy. It's part of that same family of words that is translated saint. It's part of the same family of words that means to be holy or make holy. So the external environment doesn't look so good. So how do we deal with this problem? We've got a problem. People on the outside are doing things that are troubling. How do we respond to that?

I think if we know them, we encourage them in a better way. And if possible, we acknowledge them in a better way. And if not, we pray, Thy will, not mine. Let's take a look, because your last statement there is, we pray, I will not mind. What's Peter's point here? Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Supposedly substitute, but set apart as holy Christ as Lord in your hearts.

Here is a problem that comes from things outside of me. Ever have one of those? If you have some kind of circumstantial difficulty, And it looks to here the way he describes it, could well be from other people. But none of us have ever had problems with other people, right? Here's a problem. It comes from other people.

How do we deal with it? What's our response? How do we deal with that difficulty that's come upon us from another person's actions towards us? How do we deal with that? What would Jesus do? Notice that Peter's first point, he says don't be troubled and intimidated and those kinds of things, but that's just telling you what not to do. What's the first thing to do? OK, there's that there. All right. All right. Notice that Jesus, when he's speaking directly, says, my peace is the answer. It's me. OK, I am the answer. Yes, Jack. OK. Yes.

This is the bottom line, isn't it? The first thing, and Peter gives some, you know, not this and not that, but the first thing, and this is the first positive thing, because people always ask, what do you do? Well, guess what? It's not so much a do. Yeah, there is, you could put it that way, but ultimately it comes back to it's a person. Turn to Christ and look to Him in the midst of that situation. Yes, yeah. Looking to ourself in the middle of the situation is going to put us on the wrong track. Is that an unnatural thing to do? The first impulse often is to look to ourself. And as we deal with things in life, a lot of times there'll be a lot of sorting out, who am I looking at?

But Peter's just saying, hey, he doesn't sit there and load on, hey, I've had decades of experience and I've been through all kinds of persecution myself and I've been through some awful circumstance. Circumstance says, Peter doesn't load those on, but we know those were true of Peter.

And his response is this, set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts. Number one priority. Him. Turn to Him in the midst of those things. Doug? Yes, and we will certainly get into that. But let's ask this, why could we possibly rejoice in suffering? Christ is Lord, and why does that allow us to rejoice? There's a purpose in it, okay? Whatever is happening is not by accident. Does it mean that you won't experience any pain? No, it doesn't. Does it mean that you never struggle with anything? Nope, it doesn't. But there is a purpose in everything that goes on, and that's something that the world can't offer and does not understand. God is able to work all things together for good.

Hal was in the hospital over there and someone came by to ask him. I think it was the staff psychologist, you know, how are you doing? And of course, a lot of the people who come in there in the cancer ward have some pretty serious things sitting in front of them. Some things that would give a lot of people pause.

And Hal says, well, the Lord has me here and he knows exactly what he's doing. It just couldn't get any better than this. Baffling answer from the world's perspective. Baffling answer. But here he is. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Let's look at the top of page four there. So the response is to turn to Christ and to see Him as the Holy One. See that? To turn to Christ and see Him as the Holy One.

I'm in the middle of a nasty situation. It could come up in a lot of circumstances. It may be traffic. It might be a work situation. It might be with family members, friends, people you thought were friends. It could be a lot of different circumstances.

But the response there is to first turn to Christ and see Him as the Holy One. Here's Stephen being put to death by the unrepentant Jews. Stephen had just spelled out the history of the Jews, bringing them right down to his own time and their own time. They did not respond favorably, did they? They were not happy with the story he told.

It was witnessed by the then unbelieving Saul, later called Paul, right? It may have also been witnessed by Peter. And this is what Luke recorded took place, Acts 7, 54 through 56. Now when they, that is the Jews, heard this, they were cut to the quick. And they began gnashing their teeth at him. And they weren't just trying to show their teeth to a dentist here.

Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Certainly what he was seeing was a vision, but what was he seeing about the Lord Jesus Christ? Was he sanctifying Christ as Lord in his heart?

Yeah. You see exactly that. That's what you see described. He was looking to the Lord at this moment when the stones were flying. He suffered for the sake of righteousness. It fits perfectly. Isn't that amazing? And here's Paul standing by, not a believer yet, approving. And probably, I would say likely Peter, somewhere on the scene, seeing his brother and the Lord with his last seconds of life. And the rocks were coming.

I think how encouraging that was to all the other Christians, to have Stephen say, Yeah, yeah. And this is the thing, when we get in the midst of different kinds of difficulties, to first recognize, boy, you know, nothing makes more sense right now than for me to turn to the Lord. And we can get in all kinds of circumstances, and what Peter describes is things that are coming at us from the outside. It's circumstances, and particularly may indeed involve people bringing the difficulties right to us, right at us. And not as someone who's hypothetical, not as someone who hasn't seen it, But knowing quite well what this is like, he says, to set apart as holy Christ as Lord in your hearts.

Always being ready to make a defense for everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. So what Peter is saying, all the Christians should be really defensive, right? Bev, you're shaking your head. She doesn't believe it. Let's think about what's involved in being ready. What does he mean by that? Be ready. Always being ready. Here's this in action again. Being ready to make a defense to everyone. What's involved in being ready? First of all, recognize that Christ dwells in me, and I am in Him, and it's recognizing the position that I have as a believer. What else? Ah, good. Defending the hope that is in you. The hope that is in you, it is not being defensive. as I first jokingly implied. It's not being defensive because I'm not touchy about me. But it is instead defending the hope.

And the way that comes across in the Greek is it's the in you hope. It's the in you hope. There is most certainly a hope that dwells within the believer. Notice that as we go through this, Peter keeps pointing to the answer is inside, not in the circumstances. It's sanctifying Christ, setting apart Christ as holy in your hearts. And the hope isn't hanging on the outside. Boy, I sure hope the circumstances turn out better. The hope is in you. It's the in you hope. Peter also here conditions the readiness upon two things. The unbeliever asked for the reason for the In You Hope.

What does that tell us? It is not our job to shove it down the unbelievers throat. He explicitly says when they ask, be ready. So it's not be ready to shove it down their throats. Be ready to shove the words into their ear whether they want it or not. It's instead, be ready so that when they ask, you respond.

And what are you responding with? Not defensiveness, but defending the hope that is in you. Giving a reason for the hope that's in you. Now, there's one other thing. The response of the believer to being asked is conditioned by gentleness and reverence. Why would those two be important? You have to be received. The information has to be received as well as given.

Ah, okay. It's not just a matter of giving it. Alright, I've given it. The guy's all cut to shreds, but I've given it to him, right? No. What's that? Because a man is convinced against his will. Yeah, this is not something where you're going to shove the facts in front of them and that person is going to be forced to respond. It simply isn't going to happen.

This is the person who is asking for answers and is then responding. The believer's response to the asking comes from a readiness, and it is responded to, the asking is responded to, by gentleness and reverence. It's not responded to by nastiness and vengeance. My volume is better than your volume, right? Yeah?

Let me do, for instance, my mother. She doesn't get it. And I try to, you know, She says she knows it all, but her actions later are completely against what I just have been trying to tell her. And she seems to be angry, and I try to be calm to talk to her about, you know, even if it's suffering. You know, she doesn't mention it once before somewhere about, be joyful when you suffer, you learn things, and what have you.

She doesn't get it, and I am trying not to Now, I would suggest, having encountered similar circumstances, I would suggest that one thing is to look at what Peter has here is on our part a readiness. And then secondly, looking at her particular circumstances, prayer for the Lord to work on her heart. And then the Lord can actually work in ways that are surprising. I'll tell briefly the account.

My dad's mother, so my grandmother on my dad's side, she had been an unbeliever and over the years various people had presented the gospel to her and she basically just kept, you know, she would respond just mouth shut. No response. She'd just look at you, mouth shut. Wouldn't respond at all. She, in her 80s, came down with cancer, and it was pretty clear to everybody in the family that she was going to see her last days. And so various family members, myself included, tried to approach her with regard to the gospel, but you know what we got? Same response. Just mouth shut, no response, nothing.

And we prayed for her, different people spoke to her, and here's the amazing thing. The Lord may indeed use somebody else. Now, that doesn't mean we don't respond biblically, but the Lord may answer it in a different way. In this case, what happened is, unbeknownst to us, here's all these family members bringing the gospel to her. There were neighbors that came over and helped her and presented her the gospel. And she responded to that and became a believer. And, you know, it wasn't anything we planned, and it wasn't anything we'd strategized, but the Lord is able to work in hearts, and to work in the hearts of people who are otherwise quite unresponsive.

Monique, can we pray with you now? For your mom? Yeah. Why don't we do that? Lord, we would pray for your work in the heart of Monique's mom, and we would pray for your provision of truth for her through those whom you would appoint to bring that truth, that she might indeed listen and respond.

And should it be your will that Monique be your instrument to deliver that, we just pray for wisdom on her part. And Lord, for the truths that we see in this passage here now, to come forth and to be clear. And we thank you, Lord, that even in this situation, for every believer involved, Lord, you work all things together for good, and we can count upon that. You will use this for eternal good. And we count upon your faithfulness now. In Jesus' name, Amen. Ah, good point. You hear what Doug said? We can't save anybody. Let's ask this question. I'm really glad you brought that up, Doug, because think about this story of Stephen we just saw further up the page.

How many of the Jews that Stephen spoke to responded favorably? We have no account that any of them responded favorably. And here is the guy who is later to be Paul the Apostle looking favorably on Stephen's stoning. Did it look like good things were happening? Did it look like there was responsiveness to what Stephen said? Nope. And was Stephen sanctifying Christ as Lord in his heart? Yes, he was.

And so, when we look at this, Doug makes an excellent point. It is the Lord who does the saving. It is the Lord who does the moving. And when He moves, it will be abundantly clear. It is astounding to see what happens when the Lord moves, and He often may well surprise us.

Nancy and I had gotten engaged, and I took a quarter off of school during that time to work at my folks' ranch. And there was another guy working there at the ranch, and his name was Russ Haupt. And Russ had just become a believer, and he wrote a letter to his girlfriend who was across the country, I think around Atlanta. wrote to his girlfriend and he said, you know, hey, I've become a believer and, you know, we can't see each other the way things were. And anyway, his girlfriend got the letter and called up.

Don't go anywhere. I'll be right there. And she wasn't kidding. She got on the next plane out of Atlanta. Flew into San Francisco, took a car up, and we saw her like real quick, right there. And we stayed up, I forget, it was 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.

And she says, I have been looking for how to know the Lord my whole life, and nobody's been able to tell me. And that's all because this guy Russ said, I want to sanctify Christ as Lord in my heart. And that means you and I have to have a different relationship.

Well, amazing thing of amazing things. It was just astounding to see her. She told the story of how she'd been looking for the Lord her whole life. And guess what? All it took was being ready. Okay? All it took was being ready. And she said, you know, give it to me. And it didn't matter what hour it was or anything else. She wanted to hear it.

So there will be those that ask, and Doug's point is well taken. Our place is the readiness. Our place is to sanctify Christ as Lord. Our place is, out of Christ's very character, the gentleness and the reverence, recognizing the holiness of the message that we have, the holiness of the Lord who indwells us.

It's the Lord's responsibility for the rest of it. It's not ours. And I think that's one thing I would encourage in your situation, that your responsibility is not to change her. Your responsibility is the things that Peter has outlined here. The rest is God's to do. The Lord will work, but it's not our job to pull it off.

Yeah, I'm just a couple. a couple of times back, because actually I had taught, and then Gene taught, because I was kind of up to my eyeballs with things, and then I came back and taught. So I think it's a prior time. The first Sunday of the month, I think. But let me try to summarize here.

Paul, when he would speak, would tell the believers this is your eternal position in Christ, then here is the logical outcome from that. And he would use imperatives to describe that. Paul understood a character of a lot of the gentile and pagan people's thinking. You see, in pagan religion, there was virtually no relationship between the pagan religion and how you lived, there wasn't a moral sense to it. Example, we have writings from people of New Testament times, praying that they would be able to steal better and lie better. And so there was no moral connection.

So what Paul would do was to tell them, Here is your position in Christ. Based on that position in Christ, then this is the morality that makes sense, out of your position and from the life of Christ. Peter, however, takes... obviously they're both looking at life lived out, but what Peter does is he assumes what Paul has taught, but focuses on the Christian life in action. describing the action is his primary focus. So anyway that's, now is that answering your question?

Okay. Right. where we're based upon our knowledge and purity of what our identity is, we're equipped to live out these situations in the spiritual sense and the practical sense. So when we're talking about different people in our lives, or whatever, that are not seemingly responding to our input, we're really relying on the Holy Spirit to do the work. Yeah, yeah. There is a ministry of the Holy Spirit in that individual who's receiving the message. There is also a ministry of the Holy Spirit within us to be the deliverers of the message.

But it's the Holy Spirit's responsibility in each case, not our job to make something happen in their life. We're running out of time. I notice there's people stacking up at the back door. Pretty soon their noses will be pressed flat up against, so we better stop. Okay? Alright. Lord, we do thank you for the time. We thank you for your precious word and for the depth that is there, for the phenomenal insights that apply to our very lives. Thank you for these precious truths. In Jesus' name, Amen.