All right, 1 Peter chapter 3 again this morning. 1 Peter chapter 3. We are returning to the passage, the message that we actually began two weeks ago. And we gave the first part of the message. We had kind of a busy morning, if you recall, two weeks ago. A number of things that we were trying to take care of in a finite period of time. but we're happy that we can return back to this passage here this morning. Verse 13 is where we're going to start, and perhaps this might jog your memory just a little bit. The title for this message is, Fighting Fire with Kindness. Now, I'm hoping that that title as odd as it may sound, will encapsulate the spirit of what this passage is saying to you and me as believers today in the 21st century, even more so, I think, that it encapsulated the message to those 1st century believers. Of course, to perhaps say it a little more bluntly, this is a passage that is talking about our witness to a hostile world. So that's really what we're dealing with. What is the nature of our witness into a world that is hostile to our message? So, let's begin reading here in verse 13. We'll read through verse 17. And so Peter writes, And who is he that will harm you? if ye be followers of that which is good. But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye. And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Having a good conscience. that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing." Let's ask the Lord's blessing on our time in His Word this morning. Our Father, once again, we are so grateful for the opportunity we have to gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, I love these folks. I love the opportunities that we have to come together to fellowship, together to sing songs of praise and lift up our voices to honor you, and times that we have to commune together your holy word. And I pray this morning that as we spend these moments continuing to think about Peter's message to those first century believers who were suffering, who were being persecuted, Lord, who lived lives that in many ways we would not even begin to recognize. when we compare them with the lives that we live. And yet the message to them is still a message to us. And Father, we need to recognize what that message was then, what it is today, and the application of that message to our lives. Father, we desire to be witnesses to the world around us. Even in the face of hostility, we trust that by Your grace, we would be the witnesses that we ought to be. That our lives and our words, our spirit even, would testify of Your goodness and Your mercy and Your grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Father, in these moments that we have together this morning, help us not to be distracted, help us not to have thoughts that wander away to something else, but help us to be able for these moments to concentrate upon this passage. May the Holy Spirit give us understanding. And Father, may the Holy Spirit impress upon each of us individually areas that we might need to address. and I pray that by your grace we would make application that Father, we individually as families, as a church, would provide a witness for Christ to the world of our day. And Lord, we'll seek to give you the glory for all that you do in our midst and through us. We ask this in Jesus' name. As we come to this section again, remember that the bigger section began back in chapter 2, verse 11. The theme is how to live as aliens or pilgrims in the wicked world in which we live, in a fallen world, in a world that has been affected by the curse of sin. So we're talking here about our witness in a hostile territory. The larger section goes from chapter 2, verse 11 into chapter 4. So we're not at the end yet, but we're nearing the end of this portion of Peter's challenge to the Christians of his day. But perhaps we could put it this way. What Peter is challenging the believers of that day, and of course by application us today as well, is that we are to be distinct. Christians are to be distinct. When we think about our witness to the hostile world around us, we are to be different. In the immediate context leading up to this, what we've just previously been looking at was the idea of relationships. Relationships in general affected by our walk, by our talk, that we are to cultivate relationships, adopting godly characteristics, and seeking actively to live in peace with others, And building upon that, two weeks ago we asked this broadening question because the first portion of this was relationships mainly among ourselves, among God's people and their own families. But the broadening question is, how do we then relate to the world around us? So we all acknowledge, yes, this is how we should live together as families and as the family of God. But what is our relationship as Christians? to the world at large. How do we approach that? What should be the guiding light, if you will, for our relationship more broadly spoken of? Or, perhaps I could say it this way, or ask it this way. Does our walk and our talk play into our relationships to the world? Again, just trying to get our minds thinking, I'll ask it this way. Should we have a purpose that gives direction to our relationships in the world? Let me ask that again and I want you to think about that because this is really now getting down to where we want to be. Should we have a purpose that gives direction to our relationships to the world? And I think that even without going any further, we would all say, well, yes, obviously we should. All right, good. We agree on that. I don't see anybody frowning, so I'm assuming we all would recognize that that is true. There should be a purpose that gives direction. The real question now is, well, what is that purpose that gives direction to the relationships that we have in the world at large? Well, let me see if I can, again, just sort of challenge our thinking a little bit. As modern believers, and we touched upon this two weeks ago, as modern believers in our Western orientation, You and I have difficulty understanding the real context, the real impact of this passage. Because we live comfortably. We do. We have comfortable lives. There are people in the world who look at our lives and they think we are rich. And they want our lives. And we take them for granted. We do live in a blessed country. and we do live blessed lives. But the downside of that is because we take these things for granted and because we live in a free society like we do, we will not always truly understand what it would be like to live in a place where our faith is under threat of direct persecution. Now we may bemoan the direction we're going, but the truth is we aren't fearful today of the Gestapo crashing in the back of the church and carrying us all off to jail. We are Christians, and we can live our Christianity openly in the world about us. Whether that changes in the future is in the hand of God. But you and I today really don't have those concerns like many in the world do. We're not facing the possibility of imminent torture. We do not fear the confiscation of our property or our families being torn away from us because of our commitment to the gospel. That's not true everywhere in the world. The Middle East. This morning we prayed for the days in India. And again, we are disconnected from much of what goes on in the world, but if you do any reading about what Christians in India suffer, there are places in India where churches are burned down, where pastors and their families are killed. because Hindus or Muslims take exception to the gospel of Christ. That happens. It happens all the time. And I mentioned that since the year 2000 in Nigeria, in Africa, 62,000 Christians have been martyred for their faith in Christ. Simply because they're Christians, they have been killed. Now that's unfathomable to you and me. We're not concerned when we go to church on Sunday morning that someone might try to catch the church on fire and trap us inside. But that's happened in places like Nigeria. And I say all that to say that that is the kind of suffering that is the backdrop to Peter's message. Those are the people, people who are facing those kinds of threats are the ones that Peter is talking to. So you and I read it, and oh, that's nice, and it doesn't have the same impact. In fact, I want to read something to you that maybe, I hope, will kind of set this in our minds. This was something written by a man by the name of Athenagoras, and he wrote He wrote something called, A Plea for the Christians. He wrote this in AD 177. So this is about roughly 140 years after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the second century that he is writing to. And here are his words. He says, Among us you will find uneducated persons, craftsmen, and old women. who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth. They do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works. When struck, they do not strike again. When robbed, they do not go to law. They give to those that ask of them. and love their neighbors as themselves." That is a Christian writing about Christians about 140 years roughly after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you hear some echoes of what Peter is writing here in this passage? I hope so. This is a stark contrast to how we view our place in the world and how we react to our present world. So our question today focuses upon the application of this to us. Maybe we don't have the same concerns they did in the second century. Maybe we don't have the same concerns that they did in the first century. But when it comes to our service for Christ, do we have reason to fear? This is where we were last week. We may not live with the same fear that these early believers did, that you and I still deal with fear in our Christian walk. Isn't this true? What am I talking about? It is the fear of witnessing to the lost. Now if we lived in one of those countries where our overtly testifying of our faith in Christ might bring some kind of real persecution upon us physically, then we perhaps could at least understand it that Peter says even in that circumstance, Provide a testimony for Christ. You and I do not live under that same threat. But if I were to ask for a show of hands and I'm not, how many of us would admit to the reality of a fear that comes upon us when we're in a situation where we realize, I need to talk to this person about Christ. Do you have a fear when that happens? You know, the churning stomach, the sweaty palms, your voice gets just a little bit tighter because you're feeling the stress. Do you fear? Do you have a fear when it comes to witnessing and telling someone in the world, perhaps a coworker, perhaps a family member, perhaps a neighbor, but talking to them about your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter's message here concerns our witness to a hostile world. We really don't live in a hostile world, but we still carry a certain fear. Peter wants us to realize that our best witness will combine our behavior and our words motivated by a genuine respect for our Savior, a genuine fear of Christ. That's really the message this morning. Our witness combines behavior and words lived out with a genuine respect motivated by understanding who He is and His expectation for us. This is true whether we live in a world where we literally fear physical persecution or we have the simple fear of providing a witness for Christ. Now, very quickly here. Note how Peter describes the believer's place in the world. We see, first of all, the hostility of the world toward believers. And I'll just point out some words very quickly. Verse 13, harm you. 14, suffer. Do not fear their intimidation. Do not be troubled. Verse 16, slandered, reviled. 17, suffer. Then, how in the face of the world's hostility, the best witness combines behavior and thought. So we have good behavior. Verse 13, zealous. for good, 14, righteousness, 16, good conscience, good behavior, 17, doing good, and then thoughtful words. Verse 15 speaks of our being ready to give an answer, the reason of the hope that lies within us. The idea here is the idea of...this is the Greek word apologia, We have the idea of giving a defense of the faith. So, Peter here is wrapping up his observations, and he is pointing out that how do we succeed in providing a God-honoring witness in our walk? And it is by giving due reverence to Christ. So, what we talked about last time, our witness is to an often hostile world. I'll just simply point out a couple of things very quickly. Remember, as we maintain a good conscience when we're slandered. This is the first part of the passage. Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? The idea is someday our enemies will be put to shame. Either in this life, because our good behavior exposes their lies, or at the judgment God calls them into account. This is what we talked about a couple of weeks ago. That our enemies either hear or in eternity will be called to give an account of their activity, of their actions, of the way they treat us. Those who do good may suffer here, but their vindication will be in eternity. So, at the end of the day, we may suffer in this life for Christ, but this life is temporary, isn't it? I have to say, and this is probably natural, but the older I get, the more I realize how temporary life is. But that's not a bad thing because this world ultimately is not our home. Heaven is our home. and we are passing through this life, and what is the purpose for our lives here? I mean, truthfully, at the very moment we became children of God, could He not have just simply called us home into His presence? Why has He left us here? Does He have a purpose for us? This goes back to that statement that I gave a few moments ago. Should we have a purpose that gives direction to the relationships we have with people in the world? And the answer is yes. And it boils down to this. What is the expectation of God for you and me as His children? And it's simply this, that we provide a witness to the lost men and women in this world to the reality of who He is and what He has done. We provide a witness to the world that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. They should see the reality of that, the truth of that, demonstrated in our lives to them. God has left us here to bear witness of His mercy toward those who are at war with Him. Now, how do we do that? This brings us to our first main point for today. We need to understand. This is the second main point. The first one is we are to be a witness in a hostile world. How do we do that? We need to understand that our witness combines our behavior and our words. I've already said that, but we want to spend a few minutes now thinking about it. So, our witness is to a hostile world. That's the place where God has called us to be witnesses. But our witness... combines what we do and what we say. Someone else put it this way. Our lives provide the foundation for our lips. I thought that was pretty good. Lives, lips, you know. At least it spoke to me. But our lives give the foundation for what we're going to say. Will they listen to us? How can we gain a hearing before them? Now, some people you may have an opportunity to witness to and you've just met them for the first time in your life. And that's wonderful when you have those kind of divine appointments, right? But there are other people that you and I have had the opportunity to get to know over some period of time, and it is our lives that will oftentimes win us the opportunity to then verbally share with them why we have hope. That's what verse 15 is saying. They see our lives and they wonder how is it possible for you to live under those circumstances with a spirit of joy that you display. How is it possible? And that's our opportunity, isn't it? To share how it's possible. Because it's not humanly possible. It is a peace that passes all understanding. Isn't that what Paul says in Philippians 4? We have a peace that is not normal. It isn't something that the normal person in this world has experienced on their own. It is a peace that can only come to us through our relationship with God, but they see it and they wonder how they can have that same peace. What is your secret? And then we can share with them verbally behavior has gained us the open door. So let's think about this a little further. Our witness is tied directly to our behavior. This theme runs through the epistle five times in this paragraph. Verse 13 speaks of good, 14 righteousness, 16 talks about a good conscience and good behavior, 17 doing good. In fact, we see the Apostle Paul using this same language back in the book of Titus chapter 2 Paul speaks in verse 7, "...in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works." Talking to believers and saying, hey, this is what should be true of you. Your life should be a pattern of good works. Verse 10. not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." That our lives, our behavior adorns the gospel. It makes it look attractive. People want to know, where did you get that? That's kind of the idea, right? You see somebody wearing some piece of clothing, a jacket or shoes or whatever appeals to you, and you say, wow, I like that. Where'd you get that? You're interested in it. That's kind of the idea. We adorn the gospel. They see that we are clothed in something that they wish they had. That's what Peter is talking about. They ask us a reason. And what is it that draws their attention? It is this idea in all things showing itself a pattern of good works. In fact, it goes on and he says in verse 14, who gave himself for us, speaking of Christ and His sacrifice, who gave himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. So it is His desire that we have a desire, zealous. It's important to us that our lives are exhibiting what He is doing in our hearts. So this idea, and in fact he goes on in chapter 3 of Titus, the first two verses, "...put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work." And then he goes on, "...speak evil of no man, be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men." So, be ready for every good work involves How we treat other people. Don't speak evil of them. Don't fight them. Be gentle to them. Show meekness and humility to them. It's not us trying to show that we're superior to anybody. It is a recognition in all humility that we are sinners saved by grace. And we can, through our behavior, gain an opportunity demonstrating what God is doing in our hearts we have an opportunity to share with them a reason of the hope that lies within us. So we are to be zealous for good works. God's people should have a zeal to do good things. It is especially important that we deal rightly with those outside the faith so that the name of Christ will not be dishonored. It is sad that we have to acknowledge that there are Christians and there are Christian organizations They practice shady business practices. They cheat. They're dishonest. I know of Christian companies that will willingly twist the law for their own purposes, for their own business practices, for their own benefit. That's a bad witness. Because the world sees us doing that, and they say immediately, oh, I thought you were a Christian. All these Christians. It's sad. Peter says in verse 16 that we are to keep a good conscience. Now, let me give you a warning about our conscience. Our conscience is not an infallible guide. It can be warped. Now, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. If we have a new believer, someone who was not raised in a Christian home, someone who was not raised with Christian biblical mores, if you will, they come to Christ, they trust in Christ as their Savior, but they have not yet learned Their conscience has not yet been exposed and shaped by the Word of God, and so they may come from a society where lying and cheating is normal. And what would you expect that new believer to do? They're going to not know that their conscience isn't striking them at that point. Years ago, I remember being in a pastor's fellowship and there was a missionary. I'll not say what country he was from, being a missionary too. But he was sharing with us that one of the things that was difficult for him when he first went to that country is he's operating, you know, from a Christian standpoint about honesty and integrity and uprightness and little things. Now maybe this isn't quite so different today. This was about 40 years ago. So, you know, who knows? Maybe America caught up. But he was sharing that things like getting his car worked on and going and putting it in the garage and the guy said, oh yeah, I'll have this ready for you in a couple of hours. And it was really a couple of days. and that he learned over time that whatever he was told by people in that society, that culture, they had no qualms about not really giving you an honest answer. It was just their society. They'll learn this was the way and minister to them in the face of that. Well, that may be the world, and if somebody is saved in that circumstance, then they won't know any better. But what happens when they are exposed to the Word of God? What would the Word of God begin to do to that new believer's heart? Over time, as that person is put in a position of hearing the Word of God, of reading the Word of God, exposed to what the Scripture says, the Word of God will begin to change their conscience. Their conscience becomes informed by the Word of God. And now they begin to determine their conscience is helping to give guidance about what is right and wrong. And it's not because their conscience is informed by a sinful, lost, fallen world, but their conscience is informed by the Word of God. And they will draw different conclusions as a believer about what is right and what is wrong. That is what should be true of all of us as the Word of God impacts our lives, as we read it in our daily private devotional time, as we have opportunity to be in church services and in Sunday school and dig classes in our case and in other Bible study opportunities. When these things happen, the Spirit of God is molding the way we think as believers. And we begin to come to conclusions about what we should be doing and should not be doing. But it isn't just simply saying because my conscience said so. It's because I have a conscience that has been affected by the Word of God. That's why it's so important for us to be in the Scripture and not simply say, well, my conscience is fine with that. Well, you know, that may be good and that may be bad. Because what informs your conscience? Where did your conscience get the idea of what was right and what was wrong? It's unfortunate we live in a world where, and I don't want to go down this route, so I'm trying not to. We live in a world that basically says your truth and my truth do not have to be compatible. That what's true for you doesn't have to necessarily be true for me. That we can have competing truths. Now, there's a logical problem with that, right? Because if I have a truth and you have a truth and they are not compatible with each other, then something's not true. But the world doesn't look at it from the standpoint of logic. They say, oh, no, no, no, no, no. We can have competing truths. But the reality is we can't have competing truths. There is truth and there is falsehood. And you and I, if our conscience is filled with the Word of God, should be able to make the right choices with a scripturally informed conscience. The alternative to that is believers who will make decisions solely based on their conscience. Well, my conscience says this is okay. But what does God's Word say? Well, I have peace. Wonderful. But is your peace based upon following a principle of Scripture that has informed your conscience in the choice that you have made? So it always comes back to the Word of God. We cannot divorce ourselves from what God's Word says. It always is what should give guidance to the choices that we make. So, don't cover your sin. Confess it as a child of God. How wonderful is it that we can confess our sin? And He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that great that God is so merciful and gracious to people like you and me? We don't deserve it. But that's why it's grace. Because it's not a question of what I deserve. It's a question only of the fact that God has chosen to do good to me because of the work of Christ. Not because I deserve it. Not because I have earned it. Here's what I'm driving at. It is a tragedy any time a preacher gets caught doing something that he shouldn't be doing. And I wish I could tell you that it's rare, that it almost never happens, but you read the same news sources I do. And unfortunately, And it happens in what we would call bi-believing churches with born-again believers that we find people who have high profiles who do stupid things. And what does that do to their witness for Christ? What does that do for the witness of the church for Christ? So we should be careful. I'm just challenging each of us. Be sure in your workplace you are to be a witness for Christ while you're there. Among your family and among your neighbors, they should know you're a Christian. Your labor should be a labor of love. Your activities, you should be doing good things. and they should know you're a Christian, and we'll talk in a moment about the opportunities then for the verbal part of this. But if you are going to not be a consistent Christian, then it might be better not to even have a testimony that you are. Now that sounds harsh, doesn't it? But how many people do you know and I know whose one excuse for not going to church is because the church is full of hypocrites? Now I know we could give them some answer, but the reality is, for that person in that moment, they know someone who made a profession of faith in Christ, who then did things that were not Christian. And however we may cut it, here is a soul that has been affected because our behavior, the behavior of some Christian, did not live up to the standards that gave them an opportunity to be a positive witness for Christ. So that's the challenge that I think we have to take seriously. That the Lord expects for us to recognize that the lost people around us are watching us. They're watching our behavior. They're watching what we do. And we have to be willing to say, and we're going to get to the third part of this in just a moment, What is our motivation for all of this? But just trying to borrow a little bit of my thunder, we know that we have the testimony of Christ at stake. And if we're going to sanctify Him, if we're going to set Him apart, then we have to recognize the role of our behavior. in the eyes of the lost. Remember, this is in the context of our witness to a hostile world. They are already hostile to Christianity. Our behavior can either combat in a positive way their hostility or it can feed it. So how we behave is important here. I'm not talking about being sinless, by the way, because that's not possible. I'm talking about living a life. The bent of our life is to honor our Savior. That should be the bent. That should be the direction we're headed even though we all have good days and bad days. That should be the overall direction. Now having said that, so that is how our witness involves our behavior. The second part of this, our witness involves our words. And this is verse 15, and this is the part of the passage we're all probably more familiar with. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. The fact that they are asking implies they have seen, they have noticed our good behavior. Otherwise, why would they be compelled to ask us anything? So our good behavior gives us the open door. It is what provides us the opportunity. They see how we bear up in the face of difficulty, in the face of even being mistreated, We bear up with hope and joy. And sooner or later, they're going to ask, why do you live the way you do? They see that we don't respond the way the world responds when bad things happen to us. Do bad things happen to good people? Do bad things happen to God's people? Yes, because we live in a sin-cursed world. And so we're subject. We get the flu. We get sick. We have physical issues, financial issues. We live in a fallen world and we are subject to that fallenness as long as we're in this world. How do we react to it? That's the question. That's what Peter is talking about. How do we react? And especially when we're being put upon because of our testimony as God's people. Because I'm a Christian, the world is mistreating me. How do I respond to that? Peter says, when they ask you a reason for this hope, what makes you different, how you can bear up as you do, be ready to tell them. That's what verse 15 is saying. This is the verbal side. My behavior is going to give me an opportunity. How I respond to difficulties in life. But when that opportunity comes and someone says, what is different about you? I need to be ready to give an answer. And this is where, again, we see the idea of giving a defense when he talks about asking you a reason of the hope that is within you. Be ready always to give an answer. The idea is the apologetic. It is a prepared legal defense. I mean, use a fancy idea. The idea here is that when they ask us a reason of this hope, that we give out a well-reasoned presentation of the gospel. Now, this is where we get fearful. I don't know what to say. You ever felt that way? You know, somebody hears an unsaved person and the door sometimes is wide open. And our first response is, I don't know what to say. Can I make it as simple as possible? Because really it is a simple message. There's a gospel tract, God's simple plan of salvation. We want to make it more complicated, but it really isn't all that complicated. Let me give it to you in a nutshell. Everybody has a problem. It's called sin. Is that true? Every person is born with a sinful nature. Our sin alienates us from a holy God. The wages of sin is death. Christ bore our sin through His death and His resurrection. He took our sin upon Himself. Sinners need to accept God's gift of eternal life and His offer of forgiveness through faith. You say, but shouldn't I say more than that? Why would you want to go any further than that? This is a person that needs Christ. Learn some key verses. You don't have to have 50 verses. You don't even have to memorize them. In fact, it might be good not to memorize them if you've got a pocket New Testament or a New Testament in your purse or today with your smartphones, right? All you need is to be able to say, you read this, and they can read it themselves. Because it really isn't up to, it's not my fancy words, it's not your fancy words that will make a difference. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. It is God's Word, it is the Spirit of God using His Word to strike it home to a heart. that the Lord can bring conviction and we can see someone come to Christ. Now what is our fear when this happens? Our fear is that they will ask some thorny question that we don't have the answer to. Is that your fear? Don't raise your hand. Well, you know, I don't know what they're going to ask, and I wouldn't know how to answer, and there's so many things they could be asking, and you feel intimidated because, you know, especially today, they've probably watched something on YouTube where there's some atheist who is throwing stones at our faith, right? And they feel all empowered that, you know, one of these Christians talked to me, I'm going to throw this out at them. Again, let's make it simple. You know how to respond when they throw these kind of questions at you? Simply say something like this, I don't know, but I'll try to find out. But in the meantime, let's talk about. And you get back to the point. Because here's the reality. People will often raise objections and questions to divert you from their sin. They don't want to talk about sin. Their resistance really isn't intellectual. It's moral. They don't want to deal with their sin. Now, they'll throw out those intellectual arguments, and here's the point. We need to avoid arguing. When I'm talking about our behavior and our our words, our talk, that our witness consists of these two, it isn't our behavior giving us an opportunity to have a debate. Debates really don't do anything. I have found down through the years there are a lot of people that love to debate. And unfortunately, I have found that I have a propensity sometimes to love to debate. And it's so easy to, you know, it's kind of a contest. Oh, he made a good point. Let's see how I can counteract that and throw something back at him. But am I really trying to get this person to a place where they can put their faith in Christ, or am I trying to win a verbal contest? It's not about winning a verbal contest. It's not about a debate. It's not about me walking away saying, I came out on top of that discussion. It is simply about sharing the gospel. And it may be in that moment you may walk away thinking that person has no desire whatsoever to hear this. Let me share a little personal word of testimony here. One day when I get to heaven, I'm looking forward to meeting some guys that I have no idea who they are. I have no idea what their names are, so I'm going to have to ask God to give me some direction. But when I was a teenager, and I've shared my testimony getting saved when I was just shy of 15 years old, 14. When I was about 12, maybe 13, a friend, a buddy and I went to an old stone quarry that had been filled with water and it was a place where you could go swim. This is just north of Columbus, Ohio, Delaware, Ohio. And they had these spinners. I don't know what you'd call them. But out in the middle of the water, they were chained to the bottom so that they could move a little bit. But they pretty much stayed in place. But you could spin them in a circle. And you know what guys love to do, right? You get on there, and you try to spin each other off. Yeah, spin it faster and faster. And there's nothing to hold on to. And eventually, you go sliding off. My buddy and I got on one of those. And about four or five boys our age swam out to us. One of them hopped up there with us. The others began to spin it, but not so fast that they were going to spin us off. They had a plan. They began to spin, and we're kind of trapped on there at the moment, and the boy that climbed up there with us began to witness to us. He began to share the gospel. And I wasn't happy with that. I didn't like that. I was there to have fun. It's hot. It's summertime. So my buddy and I, we let them know that we really did not want to hear any of that gobbledygook. I don't know what word we used. And we swam to shore and we laughed. I laughed with my buddy about those stupid Christians out there and what they tried to do. Now here's the truth. When those guys left, they probably left thinking, well, we tried to witness, but those guys had no desire whatsoever to hear us. And to my buddy's face, I had no desire to hear what they had to say to me. But here's the reality. What they said to me was a seed planted. I remembered that conversation. I remembered their earnestness. I didn't get saved that summer. But it wasn't that many summers for a 14-year-old. How many summers do you have, right? It wasn't that long, all things being equal, when I came to know Christ. And the day I came to know Christ, I thought about those guys and what they tried to do and how disappointed they probably were. And I thought, Lord, someday I want to meet those guys. And I want them to know what they thought was a failure really wasn't a failure at all. And that's what I'm trying to say for you and me today. We have an opportunity to answer a reason of the hope that lies within us. And it may be that we think this person has no sensitivity whatsoever to the truth. And we go away saying, well, that was a waste of time. It's never a waste of time. It's never a waste of time. Because sometimes you and I plant a seed. Sometimes we water a seed. God gives the increase. We don't know. But there might be some folks walking around today who know Christ as their Savior, and God used our testimony, our witness in one of those moments that we thought was a failure to help move that person along toward the moment they came to Christ. We can't know that in many cases until we get to heaven. So I'm hoping in heaven there will be some folks walk up to me and say, oh, I heard you talking to those guys. Well, I wanted to talk to you. And you may not remember, but there was a day when... So it's not about arguing, it's not about trying to win points, it's not about winning the game. It's simply about my sharing what God has done in my life. Now, I want you to notice. He says that we do this with meekness and fear. Meekness and fear. Gentleness and reverence. Gentleness is not weakness. It's not a lack of boldness. It's strength under control. Again, I'm not here trying to show this person I'm smarter than they are. Reverence refers to fearing God more than men. How can we speak confidently before this person who is contrary to us? Because I fear God's opinion more than man's opinion. He called us to witness to a hostile world. Now, that brings me to my third point. So, our witnesses to a hostile world, it involves our behavior and our words, Number three, the motivation of our witness is Christ. It is our reverence of Him. To sanctify the Lord in your heart. To sanctify means to make holy, to set apart, It's the same word used in the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Hallowed is the same word. To hallow God's name means to set it apart as holy to reverence God above all others. This is actually a reference back to Isaiah chapter 8. In that context, faithless King Ahaz of Judah has allied himself with the Assyrians. Remember how wicked they are? to basically help protect him from the northern tribes who've been in rebellion and Syria. So you have us, Syria, and Syria. Don't get confused. So they did that. Isaiah, the prophet, and a faithful remnant stood up and said, this is wrong. We can't go to the godless to protect us. We need to go to the God of heaven, to the God of our fathers. He will be the one to protect us. So they were charged with conspiracy by those who wanted to ally themselves with Assyria. And the Lord is encouraging Isaiah and those with him not to fear the Assyrians and not to fear those in Judah who were charging them with conspiracy, but rather Isaiah and those with him in that context in the book of Isaiah were to fear the Lord of hosts and regard Him as holy. They were to sanctify Him. The idea is that they were to have a reverence toward God, that pleasing God was more important than pleasing men. And so this was not about saying what the people in Judah wanted to hear. This was about saying what God wanted to be said. And how does that apply then to the passage we're looking at? Simply this. People may not want to hear. And we may be tempted to only say what will tickle their ears. But we need to be willing to simply speak the truth. God is the one who uses it. We speak the truth because it's not about making them feel good. It's about our reverence for our Savior. and that motivation of wanting to please Him, that means that we're willing to say what is necessary to this unsaved person. Do people enjoy being told they're sinners? No, we live in a world where everybody's a victim and if you come across and you say, oh, you know, it's not your fault. Oh, let's talk more. But when you go to them and you say, you know, this is your fault because you are a sinner. They're not going to be happy with that. But it's not a question of me making them happy, it's a question of sharing the gospel and pleasing God by speaking the truth. Now, I say that, that brings me to my conclusion. I want to read something for you, and I want you to think, listen carefully when I read this. This is from, it's not the entire thing, but this is from something called a letter to Diognetus. You guys remember that? You studied that, I'm sure, somewhere in some class, right? A letter to Diognetus. Diognetus was a pagan. He had some questions about Christianity. And this is a book that was written. It's not scripture, but it was a book that was written about 1800 years ago by Christians to answer some of his questions. And here's the answer to who are Christians. Who are Christians? Now listen carefully, and I'm reading this because remember what we've been looking at here in 1 Peter 3. Now, here we are, approximately 160-170 years after the resurrection of Christ. So, the church is less than 200 years old. So, 2nd century, very end of the 2nd century, roughly, is when this was written. And this was the testimony as it was recorded then. Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, or by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. The course of conduct they follow has not been devised by the speculation and deliberation of inquisitive men. They do not, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines. Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life. Do you hear that? They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. As citizens, they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is like their homeland to them. They're willing to take the gospel. And every land of their birth is like a land of strangers because their real home is in heaven. They marry like everyone else and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring. In that culture, you didn't lack your kid, you just took him out to the forest. Different world. They share a common table, but not a common bed. Exist in the flesh, but they do not live by the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws all the while surpassing the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death. They are poor and yet make many rich. They lack everything, yet they overflow in everything. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor, they are glorified. They are spoken ill of, and yet are justified. They are reviled, but blessed. They are insulted, and repay the insult with honor. They do good, yet are punished as evildoers. when they rejoice as if raised from the dead. They were sold by the Jews as barbarians. They're persecuted by the Greeks. Yet those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred." End quote. Did you hear the echoes? What Peter is talking about? Here we have some Thank you. So here we are about 150 years or so after Peter writes. And you can hear the echo of what Peter said. Here is a people living in a time when to be a Christian was illegal. they constantly were under the fear of persecution. They turned their world upside down. Not through strength of arm, even through persecution, because they had a testimony. Just what Peter is saying. Their behavior, the way they conducted themselves, even in the face of being mistreated, gave them an opportunity. And people would ask, What is it about you people? Because they weren't all Greeks, all Romans. They weren't all Egyptians or all Syrians. They were from every people group in the Roman Empire. Men, women. The first reading I gave you, rich, poor, old ladies. You read that and say, well, that's not very flattering. That's the whole point. They were not the most flattering people from a human perspective, but they had an impact. And if that's true for them in the world in which they lived, could you and I have an impact for Christ today? Should we not have a witness to the hostile world around us? Absolutely. And so, I trust that by the grace of God, we'll examine our own lives and we'll ask ourselves, am I zealous for good works? How do I respond when mistreated? Are you able to give a gentle defense of the gospel? Then God can use us mightily. And that's my prayer, that the Lord would use us mightily. We don't know how much time we have. The Lord could come today. Even so, come Lord Jesus. He may not come for another thousand years. Now I know our sense of it is, it's got to be close. And I hope so. But we really don't know. But until that day comes, as long as we are in this world and we have life and breath, we have a purpose. That is to be a witness. We never can set aside that purpose. God helped me to be a witness. My desire to be a witness for Him should be to my relationships with my neighbors, with my co-workers, with my family members, With anyone I meet, my desire to fulfill the purpose He's given to me should direct how I reach out to them and build a relationship. May God help us to do just that. Let's bow our heads. Father, I thank you for the opportunity that we have to study through the book of 1 Peter, to think about these truths, and Lord, to seek by your grace to understand them, and then to make application to our lives. Lord, I'm thankful that we don't live under the same circumstances that those first and second century Christians lived. I'm thankful that we have the freedoms that we have, that we enjoy. I'm thankful that we can come to church and we don't have to be fearful of someone bursting in the back door of the church and carrying us off to jail and confiscating our property. Thank you, Father, for giving us these freedoms. But Lord, help us not to take them for granted and somehow think that because we have such freedom that it is less important for us to consider our witness. Lord, in some ways, to whom much is given, much shall be required. You've given us so many more opportunities because we live in a country with such freedom. and yet we squander it so often. God, help us not to squander it. Help us to have hearts that are sensitive. Help us to see the lost around us, and God, help us to make a difference. Help us to so live our lives by our behavior and by our words that they will ask us a reason of the hope within us. May it resound to your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.