Would you take God's Word tonight, please, and open to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3, and we're going to be looking tonight from verses 8 down to verse number 12. And I want to talk tonight about this topic, the good life and how to live it. I feel like I'm kind of extending the Legacy Conference just one other sermon. I actually prepared this for that and got sidetracked and didn't have a chance to preach about it. So I want to do it tonight. And I want us to think about this subject as we look at 1 Peter 3. Look at verse 8. Love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. So the good life. When you think of that phrase, you might think of Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, rich people sitting around their swimming pool, famous people riding in their luxury vehicles around those areas. But we all know that that's not the good life. In fact, people in Beverly Hills or Palm Springs aren't any happier than people that live in Catonsville or anywhere else in the world. In fact, some of the most miserable people in the world are people that have a lot of the world's riches and material things. They have anything that money can buy, and they're just not happy at all. So what is the good life, and how do we live it? The truly good life comes from having God's blessings on us. And that is particularly in the area of having healthy relationships. In fact, I think God's blessing is inseparable from having healthy relationships. What did Jesus say in Matthew? He said this, he said, you know, he kind of sums up the whole message of the Bible, and it's to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourself, right? I mean, he sums it all up just like that. So the good life is tied up in good relationships. The Bible says, as far as you can, as much as lies within me, live peaceably with others. And, you know, life can be good when you have good relationships. Even if you don't have a lot of things, your life can be good. But if you're constantly at odds with others, then you can have all the stuff in the world, but life isn't so good. And so Peter here in this section is kind of reminding us about that. And what he does in these verses, he's really quoting from Psalm 34, which says that if we want to love life and have a good life, then there's some things that we have to do with our lips, and there's some things that we have to do in our lives. And all of that results in having good, healthy relationships. And then the scripture promises that God's blessings will be on us. We see this in verse number 12. Now, if we don't like that, the contrary is true. Then the face of the Lord will be against us. Let me tell you what the good life is. The good life is having God's blessings on us. and the not-so-good life is having God's face against us. I certainly don't want to be that. I certainly don't want to do that. And so these verses really focus on our relationships, relationships to believers, relationships to our enemies, the lost world, relationships to our God. Now, the context of it, look at verse number 8. Look at the word there, finally. Peter is summing up the section, really, that began in chapter 2, verse 11, where he tells us how we are to act and live as aliens or pilgrims in this wicked world. The theme, which continues in the chapter 4, is our witness in this hostile territory. You see, we are to be distinct in our behavior as Christians. We're to be noted for our obedience to Almighty God. We're to be noted for our submission to proper authority towards government, towards our job in our home. We're to be noted for submission in all those areas. And the commands he gives in this summary section are contrary to the world and the ways of the world and are opposed to our own natural inclinations. And what Peter is saying here is if, you know, if we live like foreigners in this world, that is, as if we're part of another world, a heavenly world, we will have a powerful witness for Almighty God. That's really the whole message here. And so before we look in detail about how we must live the good life and experience the good life, let me just say one word about motive. Why do we want a good life? Why do we pursue that? Well, our motive for living this kind of a life should be to glorify God, to please God. That has to be the bottom line motive. You want to live a good life, it starts with that. God has designed life so that when we seek to make Him look good, That's what it means to glorify God. We make God look good to a watching world. When the world sees your life, what do they learn about God by looking at your life? We who call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ, what does the world see in us? And when we make God look good, when we glorify God by obeying his commands, The Bible says we inherit a blessing in verse 9 that you're called that you should inherit a blessing. But when our motive is selfish. When we're using God to make us happy, using God to give us the good life, well, you know what'll happen? You'll come up empty every time. We don't use God to give us a good life. We live a life that is pleasing and honoring, that glorifies God, and guess what we get as a result? We get a good life. And so really, it's all about the importance of our motive in that. And there are two broad areas where we must seek to please God, in our walk, that is our behavior, including our attitude, and in our talk. Now, so this whole section here, Peter is just talking about cultivating our love, cultivating your relationships through love. This is one of the distinguishing marks of a Christian, that is, that you have love. And again, if we read these verses, we can see that he says, have compassion to love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, and so on. This is all about You see, that is the thing that marks a believer. When you are truly a child of God, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you will have love for others. That is the telltale sign that you truly are a child of God, because we're changed on the inside. And the people that were once people that we didn't care for, now we love. I think I told you four years ago I was in Ethiopia and I was brought to a house one night of some men who were Muslims that were converted to Christianity. They brought me into this big room with all these men there sitting around the rug. They weren't smiling, and at first I was a little bit nervous. But then when I saw them stand up and come towards me and hug me and say that we're believers, we know Jesus Christ, I mean, there was such a love that I had, and just the time that I spent with them, just an incredible thing. That is the power of the gospel. It sheds the love of God abroad in the heart of those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we're going to look at the three areas where we're to cultivate our love. Now, some would say, well, wait a minute, if we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, isn't it automatic then? Well, it's like any gift. God gives that gift, but we also have to nurture that gift. We have to cultivate that gift. We have to take care of that gift that God places inside of us and make sure that that love, that seed of love that God planted in us when we were saved, that it continues to grow and flower and flourish. So, Peter's going to tell us to cultivate this love in three areas. First of all, here's number one, cultivate a love for the church, a love for the church. The church is to be a haven of love. Studies in church growth have revealed that what draws people to church is not so much theology or doctrine. but the love that they experience in that church. When they come into the doors, whoever they are, and they come and worship with us, they should sense the love of Christ and the body of Christ, and they should feel accepted and loved. It doesn't matter who they are or where they're from. When they come in, they sense this atmosphere of love and, you know, just having a love for being here in God's house. And you've heard me talk about this before, but I fear that what's happening in the church in America is after COVID, people haven't gotten back into the good habits of being regular in the house of God. They don't treat it like it's a priority anymore. Almost like it's something that is, you know, you do if you want to do. There's seeming no commitment to being gathered together whenever God's people come together. We should be in the house of God at the appointed times. That's part of cultivating a love for each other in the church. And, you know, we know sometimes you may not feel like coming to church. It's like that man who was sleeping in one Sunday morning, his wife came to him and said, you know, you got to get ready. You got to get up. It's time to go to church. And he goes, I don't want to go to church. She said, well, you should still go anyway. We said, well, give me one reason why I need to get up and go to church. She said, well, because you're the pastor. You know, sometimes even pastors have trouble getting out of bed on Sunday and going to church. But it's not so much inspiration as it is duty and cultivating that love by being where you're supposed to be in church. Now, how do we display our love in church? Well, there's unity. Look again at verse number 8, be all of one mind. This doesn't mean that we always have to agree over every little thing, but we have to have a common bond, we have to have something that unites us together. Unity doesn't mean uniformity, it means cooperation in the midst of diversity. The members of the body work together in unity, even though we're all different, from different backgrounds, there's something that unites us together in harmony and in peace, and you know what that is? It is our love for Jesus Christ. It is our love for the Word of God. It is the doctrine, the fundamental doctrines of the faith that teach us about the gospel and about the Lord Jesus Christ that unites us all together in Christ. On the essentials, there has to be that unity, amen? But on the non-essentials, you know, we can overlook that. Wisdom is learning what is essential, what is biblical absolutes, and what are things that you can overlook. You know, I don't want to yield my biblical convictions because if I yield my biblical convictions, that is a compromise. And I don't want to do that. But if I yield preferences or things that are non-essential, that is courtesy. That is simple courtesy. And we have to have the wisdom to know what are the essentials. And so, that's what unites us together in Christ, the Word of God. So unity, but also sympathy. Look again at verse number 8. Finally, be of one mind, having compassion one of another. Compassion simply means to feel with. Our Savior is one who sympathizes with our weaknesses. And so we are to enter into what others are feeling. We are to rejoice with those who do rejoice. We are to weep with those who weep. We are to allow the sufferings that other people go through to touch our own emotions. We're to be sensitive to how we would feel if we were in that person's place. We should all do that. We should all purposely enter into other people's burdens and help them bear those burdens. You know, God made us all with emotions. And healthy relationships takes into account other people's feelings, other people's emotions. When people are suffering and sorrowing, be there to help them. And so there's that compassion. But then there's brotherly love. Look again at verse number eight, where it says, love as brethren. That's one word in the Greek. And you guess what it is? Philadelphia. Philadelphia. By the way, they won against the Saints today in football. Philadelphia, that city, the Greek word means brotherly love. That's exactly what it means. And it points to the fact, as believers, we are members of the same family. So we have this family love. There's opportunities for us to express this family love, and that's what we are here in the body of Christ. We are family. But then also, pity. The Bible says, be pitiful. Being pitiful doesn't mean, you know, being sorry, all right, or bad. Being pitiful, that means having pity for someone else. The Greek word is a very interesting Greek word is eu and then splachnon. That word there actually is a word that means your midsection, your stomach. Sometimes you see it translated into King James, bowels, bowels of mercy. That is kind of a weird expression to us because, you know, at the time that the King James Bible was translated, that word was used, but we've kind of changed expressions. You know, today we say to someone, I love you with all my All right, we don't say I love you with all my stomach, all right? Or bowels. All right? But in the Greek world, when an emotion came out of you, it seemed to rise up from your midsection. And that's the idea here. that's what it's talking about, to be pitiful means really just to be sympathetic. Pity is a good translation, but I think sympathetic really is the whole idea here that we show sympathy, inward concern, a genuine love for others, and it's revealed in this tenderness of heart that we have towards other people. Now, in the Roman Empire, this was not a quality that was admired, but Christianity changed all of that. And this was a Christ-like emotion. And so, there's pity, but then courtesy. Look at verse 8 again, be courteous. The Greek word here, phileo, phrone, phileo means friendly. Frone means minded or to think, and so it's to be friendly minded. Just to have a mindset that is open, that is friendly, that is courteous. You know, we live in a day in which it just seems like we don't see a lot of courtesy anymore. You don't hear words like thank you, or please, or pardon me, or yes ma'am, or yes sir, or no ma'am, or no sir. Christians need to be a model of courtesy. The English word, courtesy, actually came into common usage in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was derived from two words, court, and then the word etiquette. And they would shorten those two words and put them together, courtesy. And it really was used to describe the conduct of royal members of the family in the midst of the king's court, a decorum, an etiquette that they would exercise that was always appropriate. And so, since you are children of the king, your whole life should be marked by courtesy. Be courteous. So, cultivate a love for your church by doing all these things. But here's number two. Cultivate a love for your enemies. So, wait a minute. Now, my church, I can work on that. But enemies, really? Look at verse number nine. Not rendering evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrary-wise, blessing. Not only should we love God's people, but we should also love our enemies. Now, the recipients of this letter were experiencing a certain amount of personal persecution because they were doing the will of God. You have to remember that when Peter wrote this, he was writing to believers who were in Rome, and they were going through a time of severe persecution. And you've heard me talk about this before, and I'm teaching a church history class. for the seminary, and we're talking about this very issue, too. Major events that really had an impact on Christianity was the destruction of Jerusalem, but also the fire of Rome when Nero had sent out his henchmen to light some section of Rome on fire. And because he wanted to kind of do an urban renewal project for his own palace in a certain area, he was voted down by the Senate. And so, tradition says that he sent out some of his henchmen just to burn it up. And, you know, there's the old traditional idea that Nero was playing his what while Rome burned, his violin. Actually, it was a lyre. He's a lyre, but I mean, the instrument lyre. And while Rome was burning, And the fire got out of hand because the streets were so narrow. And the fire leaped from one street to another. And Rome was made up during that time of about 14 districts. 11 of those districts were left in ashes after six days of burning. And when things went bad on him, He had to find a scapegoat, so he turned against the Christians, this new group of people that were meeting there in Rome, and he said, they're the culprit, they're the ones to blame. They're always talking about a baptism of fire and persecution swept across Rome. And Peter here is writing to these believers that are going through this difficult time, and really he's warning them that, you know, it's not going to get any better. You're living in a hostile world. And you need to learn how to live that way. He was actually telling them, just stay prepared. And really, that's the word for us today. We need to be prepared for difficulty like that when it comes. And as Christians, we can live on one of three levels. We can return evil for good. That's a satanic level. We don't want to do that. We can return good for good or evil for evil. That's a human level. Anyone can do that. Or we can return good for evil. That is Christ-like. That is a divine level. And Jesus is the perfect example of this latter approach. In fact, go back to 1 Peter, look in chapter 2, and look down at verse number 21. Just back up a few verses and notice what Peter says, for even here unto where you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. that you should," what, follow in his steps. And then he says this, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but he committed himself to him that judges righteously. And so, that's our example. As God's children, we have to live that way. That's what God has called us to. And so, we don't render evil for evil. So, this is a high calling for all of us as children of God. But the Apostle Paul wrote this. Listen to this in 1 Corinthians 5.11. Actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person or a covetous or an idolater or a reviler. What's incredible to me about that verse is that he puts the sin of reviling or speaking against someone on the same level as an immoral person. He said, you don't want to be associated with anyone like that. If you're a Christian, don't associate yourself with those who are immoral, or those who are covetous, or idolaters, or those who revile. Those who speak evil with others, who insult other people, you don't want to be associated with people like that, that are constantly raining down insults on other people. And so, that's a high calling. And again, in 1 Corinthians 6.10, Paul said this, the kingdom of God is not occupied by thieves, covetous, drunkards, or revilers. Same idea, people whose mouths are full of vengeance, who verbally cast evil out at others. And so, what's the ideal way that God calls us to respond to our enemies, to those who are against us, to those who oppose us? Now, we're not living in a time of severe persecution, thank God. But if you live for the Lord Jesus Christ and you walk in His ways, you're going to have people that oppose you. They're going to oppose you some way. It might be somebody at work. It might be somebody in your circle of friends or so-called friends. It may be somebody in your family. that sees the life that you're living and they are hostile. What's the ideal response when people persecute us or become our enemy? Well, it's no secret. Jesus told us what it was. It is to love your enemies. That's exactly what Peter is saying here. In verse 9, but contrary wise, blessing. You give them a blessing. When they do evil to you, what do you do in return? You bless them. You love them. Now, the question comes up at this particular point. What does it mean? What does it mean to give a blessing? I mean, I'm not a priest. I can't just issue some papal blessing to somebody. What are you talking about, Pastor Harmon, when you say, or what is Peter talking about here when he says, contrary-wise, blessing? So here's what I think he means. The term here is where we get our term, our word, eulogy. Eulogy. Give a eulogy. Now, what could possibly be involved in this? Let me give you some suggestions of things that you can do that where you're giving, you're returning good for evil, or you're giving a blessing to someone who may be your enemy. Here's number one. I think that would include loving someone unconditionally. To bless someone would be to love them unconditionally. You say, how do you know that? Well, write down Matthew 5.44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Jesus said, you shall love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. You just love them in return. And that really fulfills the injunction of not returning evil for evil. That's the first thing you do to give blessing. You love them unconditionally. Now you say, well, is that an emotion? No, not really. It's more of an act of service. I might not feel like loving someone who just did something bad towards me. It really has nothing to do with your emotions or feeling. What it is, it's a love at its foundational definition is an act of selfless service towards somebody else. You just serve them. That's how you're to love an enemy. But here's the other thing, pray for their salvation. That was what I would suggest, pray for their salvation. Not only do you love them, but you pray for them that they would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's another thing, by being thankful for them. In other words, the term bless frequently in Scripture means to thank. When we bless God, we thank him. And so when Jesus took bread and blessed it, what was he doing? He was thanking God for it. And so when we say a blessing at the table, what are we doing? We're giving thanks to God for what he has given to us. And so when someone does bad towards us, you know, we can be thankful. Say, man, can you imagine the look on their face when they say or do something evil towards you and you say, you know what, I just want you to know I'm really thankful for you. I'm really thankful, you know. They say, how can you say that and really mean it? Well, because God's using that in your own life. God's using that to teach you to be dependent on him. And he's using that to humble us in the sight of God. And again, you are never more Christ-like. We just read this in 1 Peter 2. You're never more Christ-like that when someone insults you or rails against you, You don't do anything in return except bless. That's exactly what Jesus did. But then here's another way, speaking well of them. You bless a person by speaking well of them. And we see this in Scripture in many places. But here's the next thing, but desire their well-being, just desire their well-being. Luke 6, 28, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Again, it's the same basic idea here of praying for their salvation, only it's extended just a little beyond that. And so we basically desire well-being for them. And by the way, that really, when you sum all of this up, That is all incorporated in this whole idea of forgiveness. You just forgive. If someone does something against you, you just overlook it. What Peter would say also in this letter, that love covers a multitude of what? Sins. And that just means you just forgive them. You just write it off. When someone does something against me, it's not nice. My default mode as a Christian, trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, is I automatically write it off. I automatically just forgive it. I automatically just cover it up, give him a pass, it's over with. I don't return evil for evil because love covers a multitude of sins. Now, here's the third thing. We cultivate a love for the church. We cultivate a love for our enemies. But here's the third thing. Cultivate a love for life. If we're to love life and see good days, then it has to be built on the right standard. We could say the right authority. So notice verse number 10 and verse 11. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it." Now, this is a very important thing for you to know. What Peter is doing here to defend what he just said. And by the way, remember, he's writing to believers who were going through a real difficult time, that were going through persecution. Can you imagine? getting that kind of advice when you're going through that kind of persecution. And they're almost, I can just imagine some people listening to that letter being read and thinking, he has to be crazy. How can he tell us this to do these kinds of things? And Peter is going to defend what he just said. And how is he going to defend it? He's going to defend it by going to the Word of God, the final authority. That's why he will go back here now to Psalm 34. He defends his teaching to strengthen it and to show it has all the authority of God by going back to Psalm 34, because Scripture is the authority. And he's really just saying, look, when I tell you this, I am standing firmly on the Word of God. So there's people that were reading this saying, you've got to be kidding me. Peter's saying to them, listen, this is what God says. This is what the Word of God says, all right? And so he quotes right out of Psalm 34 because, again, in verse number 10, Notice the little word, for, at the beginning of verse 10. It's interesting. It signals the authority for what he just said in verses 8 and 9. Do this for, that's what the Scripture says. That's the idea. All these things I just told you, do it for, this is what God's Word says. Here's what the scripture tells us. And then he quotes from Psalm 34, verse 12 to 16 in this section. And Psalm 34, verse 12, let me just read it to you. What man is he that desires life? and loveth many days, that he may see good, keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile." But the idea here is just to support with Scripture his exhortation that anyone who wants to love life and see good days, the Old Testament says in Psalm 34, you have to do these things. If you want to have a good life and you want to see good days, this is what you do. And then Peter goes on to list what Psalm 34 teaches. And what does it teach? Make a deliberate choice to love life. Again, look at verse 10, for he that will love life. This has to be a deliberate choice. This is an act of a will. This is an attitude of faith that sees the best in every situation that comes up. You have to choose to love life. There are some people that choose to be miserable. I mean, some people I've counseled, and I try to point them in the right direction and point them to the blessings, and they always default back to all the bad things, you know, doom and gloom. And it's almost like misery is their default mode. They wouldn't know how to live if they weren't miserable. and you need to decide to love life. This is what he's telling us here. Again, it has an attitude of faith. Is God good to us? Of course he is. The very fact that he opened your eyes to see Jesus Christ, the very fact that you're gonna live in eternity one day with Jesus, and he has all these blessings laid up for you, you say, well, I've got all these problems now. Yeah, but you've got Christ to help you through all those problems, and he'll be with you. It's the opposite of a pessimistic attitude that's expressed in Ecclesiastes. Remember Solomon? He was going through his little time in life when everything was vanity and vexation of spirit. And he was looking at everything under the sun, seeing it being vain and empty. And then he says this, therefore I hated life, for all is vanity and vexation of the spirit. Why did Solomon have this attitude? Because he thought satisfaction in life came from things instead of his relationship with Almighty God. And if you try to get your happiness in life from things, that's the way you're going to end up too. The good life doesn't consist of things. It might have things, but that's not what it's about. The good life is having the right relationship with God and with others. And loving life is found in knowing God, and enjoying a relationship with God, and realizing that all the daily blessings that He loads you with, they are gifts from God that He gives you every day. You understand that? I think sometimes we're so blind that we don't see the literal fulfillment of the verse of Scripture that says, He daily loads us with benefits. Every day, He's giving us blessings. Every day, He's loading us with benefits. He's blessing us over and over and over again. And even the trials that He brings into our life, therefore, are good. He's doing good in all of that. He's making us more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's a deliberate decision on your part. You can decide to endure life and make it a burden, escape life as though you were running from a battle, or you can enjoy life because you know God is in control. God is in control. And Peter was not suggesting some kind of an unrealistic psychological gymnastics that refuses to face the facts. That's not what he's talking about. Again, consider the people that Peter is writing to. Rather, he's urging his readers to take a positive approach to life, and by faith, make the most of every situation that you have, by faith. So, love life. Here's number two. Control your tongue. Control your tongue. You know, one of the biggest problems that we face in the world today is people's lack of self-control. A lack of control. Get a grip. People need to get a grip. And it starts with controlling your tongue. Control your tongue. Again, look at verse 10. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil." Many of the problems of life are caused by the wrong words, spoken in the wrong spirit. I mean, we need to pray the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 141, verse 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. God, send an angel down with one duty, to watch my mouth. You keep a guard in front of it so I don't say a foolish thing at the wrong time. That's what David prayed. Did you know medical doctors, they can measure the health of your body by looking at your tongue? You go to them, what do they say? Stick out your tongue, say, ah. And you know, spiritually speaking, we can measure our own spiritual life. by how we use our tongue. And so Peter says, look, refrain yourself from speaking evil. But then also notice this, do good and hate evil. Again, he says here in verse 10, and his lips that they speak no guile, verse 11, let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. You see, we must do good and hate evil. We need both the positive and the negative. The old English word eschew means more than just to avoid. It means to avoid something because you despise it, because you loathe it. It's not enough for us to avoid sin because sin is wrong. We ought to shun it because we hate it, because we loathe it. And I think part of the problem is we haven't developed enough of a hatred for sin in our life. We have to develop that. That's why God favored Job. When Satan came, you remember in the book of Job, and God said, have you targeted, have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him? One who fears God and eschews evil. He desperately hates evil. That's why God loved Job the way he did because Job was a man who did good and he hated evil. But then here's the next thing. Seek peace and pursue it. And peace just simply means an agreement between two people. That's what harmony is all about. And harmony doesn't happen naturally. You have to pursue it. You have to go after it. We can't sit back and say, well, if they want to talk to me, I'm here. But I'm not going out of my way. Well, that's not what Peter says here. Peter says, look, seek peace, pursue it, go after it. Do whatever you can to live peaceably, to live in harmony. Believers has as their goal to pursue peace with others. You say, why should I do all this? Why am I supposed to do all this? Well, look at verse number 12. What is the incentive for all this? God's watching. God's watching. He sees our deeds. He sees our sins. He has a way of revealing what we hide. My mother told me this story when I was a kid. I never forgot it. She told me a story of something that she did when she was a little girl. She grew up on a farm in Western Maryland, and her grandmother told her one day, she said, Sally, I want you to take this large sack of beans to the barn. So she had to carry this large sack of beans from her grandmother's house all the way down this path to the barn. And it was a long way from her grandmother's house. And while she was walking down that path, it was so heavy and she got tired of carrying it. And right next to the path, there was a pond that was right there. And my mom said, you know what, she's not gonna miss this sack of beans. So she threw that whole sack of beans into the pond, got rid of it, you know, forgot about it. And so later her grandmother asked her, she said, did you put that sack of beans in the barn? Oh yes, yeah, I did exactly what you said. And one day, however, later, during the springtime, her grandmother called her, said, Sally, come here, took her down by the pond. And my mother looked in the pond, and there were hundreds of bean sprouts coming up out of that pond. And she said, Sally, what did you do with that bag of beans? And my mother told me that story, and then she looked at me, she said, son, remember this, your sins will find you out your sins will find you out. And that is so very true. God watches all, and he sees all. But that's really not the primary issue here. The primary issue is, you know, he's omniscient, but he's the gracious one. And he watches with the desire to bless and to do good and to give a good life to those who are righteous. Proverbs 15.3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and on the righteous. Good. And so the Lord is watching over the righteous because he wants to reward. He wants to bless. That is the incentive. That is why we live this way. Because we want to please God. We want to please God. So, let me wrap this up. What is the good life? The good life is cultivating a love. A love for the church. A love for the lost world, our enemies. a love for life itself, a love that comes from a love that we have with our relationship from Almighty God. We have that love, but we cultivate that love. And if you can do that, then you will be living the good life. Barbara Bush one time, the wife of the former president, George Bush, spoke at a college commencement, and she said this. She said, our success as a society depends not what on Not in what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house. And she's right. And healthy relationships are at the core of having a good life. And if you want to glorify God and enjoy his blessings, you know what I would suggest? I would suggest that you memorize these verses right here. and make them a part of your life and obey them. I think if you commit to memory and take whatever steps necessary to apply what Peter says here, that's how you'll have a blessed life from Almighty God. Let's bow for prayer together. Father, thank you again for your word and how it instructs our heart. Lord, we need it. We need to hear this constantly. Because we live in challenging times, but also, Lord, our own flesh wants to do what is natural so many times, rather than what we're called to do. And Lord, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. We need your help to apply all these things so that, Lord, we can truly be blessed to love life because we realize it's a gift from you. And to see good in all of the works of your hands, all that you are doing, even in difficult circumstances. to love life, to seeing, Lord, that you're doing what is best. So help us, Father, to apply all these things. And our motive is for your honor and your glory. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.