In the church where we were last Sunday, the preacher gets up to read the scripture and he doesn't say, please stand. Everybody just stands. It's so automatic with them. First Peter chapter three, verse number 13. And who is he that will harm you if you 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, Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evil doers, 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 doings. And verse 15. 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. We ask Heavenly Father your direction in our thoughts this evening. May we see what Peter is saying. May we feel and experience what the Holy Spirit is telling us. We ask Father that you'd strengthen us in the inner man and strengthen us in the outer man, the living of the Christian life. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I don't know that this is the case, but do you have a sister who used to be very close to you, but who now refuses to let you see her children, your nieces and nephews, because you are now a Christian and she is now a Mormon? Or did you lose your job? That job you had at the time of your salvation, when you went to your employer and you said, now I'm a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you lose your job because of that testimony to your boss? Have you ever been teased for taking your Bible to work or to school, intending to read it during your lunch break? Have you ever been spit upon by an old friend to whom you were talking about your new friend in the Lord Jesus Christ. In our part of the world, persecution is relatively mild. It still exists, and it can be very painful. In other parts of the world, there are people who are being tortured and slaughtered for their faith in Christ. If you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. I'm mostly concerned with verse number 15 this evening, but it's important to consider it within the context. As we noticed in earlier lessons and as we have just read, Peter is talking about suffering for the cause of God. He tells us to live in such a way that whereas they may speak evil of you as evildoers, they will, by your good conversation, eventually be forced to eat their words. Of course, he was not talking about being ill-treated because of sin. This is not because we have become obnoxious to people by... pointing out to excess the wretchedness of their lives. It's not that people are persecuting us because we are living in self-righteousness and going about in such a pride fashion that everybody hates us for what we are pretending to be. Peter is talking about suffering for righteousness sake. It isn't always the case, but the context of being ready to give an answer is given to us by Peter from a context of suffering. Before coming back to verse number 15, I'd like you to turn to Acts 26. Paul had just returned from Greece, Asia, Macedonia had just come back to Jerusalem. He carried with him love gifts from the brethren in those foreign lands, gifts that were given to Paul to carry to Jerusalem because Jerusalem was in the midst of a plague, or a drought, I should say, and they were suffering persecution from the leadership of the Jews. So this would be a great blessing to the saints who were there. But while in the city, Paul was attacked by the Jews and nearly killed, almost torn asunder, limb from limb. He was rescued and eventually was brought before Governor Festus and the Jewish king Agrippa. Let's begin reading in verse number one. 26-1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, I'm sure he said it with a great deal of pride, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. He is the king of the Jews at this point in time. Wherefore, I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. What I'd like you to notice is that Paul was doing exactly what Peter is telling us to do in chapter three, and he's doing it for the same reason. Paul was in the midst of persecution. He had been suffering at the hands of the Jews, and now he opens his mouth in defense of his hope. And as I say, it is the same kind of situation that gives us verse number 15 in chapter three. What is that hope to which Paul and Peter refer? Neither apostle tries to define it for us. Paul doesn't define it because the man to whom he is speaking is purported to be an expert in the things of the Jews. Paul simply says unto which promises our 12 tribes instantly or Constantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. And you'll notice in your Bible, I hope, because it's in my Bible this way, the word promise is in italics. which means there is not a Greek word there which is translated promise. It's not in the original language. So the verse could read, and now I am being judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers, unto which our 12 tribes used to live and serve God day and night, hoping to come. Our translators use the word promise because it makes an accurate comment about that hope. The hope to which the Jews hoped and that for which Paul was being judged was a promise that God made to those people. And as Paul tells us later in one of his letters, this hope of eternal life was something which God who cannot lie promised before the world began. Tying these things together, we see that this hope is not an uncertain wish. but something guaranteed by the omnipotent God. You shall receive this, and it's called a hope simply because we haven't received it as yet. But it's a promise of God, and God is not going to be thwarted. He's not going to be defeated. It's going to take place. Now here's an interesting play on words in Paul's statement. He compares the act of hoping to the object for which he was hoping. Unto which promise our 12 tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hopes sake, we have a noun and then we have a verb using the same word. Which hopes sake, King Grippa, I'm accused of the Jews. The godly people in Israel were hoping for the promise to come, and for this same promise, Paul is being judged. Because he says, it's been fulfilled. The Jews didn't believe that. It has been fulfilled. That was basically Paul's defense. He was on trial for something which many Israelites had been expecting since the days of Abraham, or at least almost that long. And now it has been fulfilled, or at least much of it has. Much of the hope has been received. That hope, which is our hope, even though we're not a part of physical Israel, that hope can be understood from three different points of view. One is our physical resurrection from the dead. We have a hope. of resurrection. In the same breath in which Paul said these things, for which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews, he said, King Agrippa, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? The hope involves the raising of the dead. Gripa, it appears, leaned toward the liberal Sadduceic sect of the Jews. Generally speaking, they denied life beyond the grave. So they denied that there was such a thing as resurrection. King Agrippa, why don't you believe in a resurrection? There it is in the word of God. To the Sadducees, to people like Agrippa, life was all about their 70 years on this earth. So they maintained the Old Testament law in some form because they were hoping for the blessing of God during their time on earth, their 70 years. So they're expecting Nothing beyond the grave. Our hope, as Paul teaches us here, is there is a resurrection. There is more to come. As far as Agrippa was concerned, when they were dead, when he was dead, they were dead. Life is over. It's finished. It's gone. The Sadducean way of life is essentially what most Americans practice today. Oh, there's all kinds of religions and whatnot, but it's, well, this is all you got or this is basically all you have. Let's make the most of it. The second aspect or the second way to think about this hope is salvation from sin. Just like Christians today, the saints of the Old Testament had a hope of righteousness and a hope not only of forgiveness for sin, but of deliverance from sin. And this was the reason why many were looking for the Messiah. Two of those Old Testament saints are described in the New Testament. Turn to Luke chapter two. I know we shared these two with you a year ago, 18 months ago. Verse 25, we'll do it again. Just after the birth of Christ, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when Mary and Joseph, the parents, brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us, thou thy servant, depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel." He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Now I've seen it. The hope has arrived. Another of those Old Testament saints is described in verse number 36. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived without a husband seven years from her virginity. She was a widow about fourscore four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. And she coming in at that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. These scriptures bring to us a third aspect of our hope, the coming of the Messiah. We have redemption, we have salvation, we have the coming of the Messiah. For ancient Israel, most people thought only of Christ's incarnation. They expected Christ to come and then establish a millennial kingdom and we go on from there, or they were to go on from there enjoying all those blessings. In Jesus' incarnation, however, when he became a human being, when he took human form, I should say, it was to provide us with salvation. But that salvation will never be complete until our glorification. We will be glorified and our salvation will be complete when the Lord returns again. The hope of the saint, whether in the Old Testament, the New Testament, or in all those years since the New Testament, the hope of the saint is or contains three major aspects. Salvation in Christ through the Messiah, resurrection, and then the return, which are all tied together. They're almost one subject, but we can separate them. And this explains the language of Paul in the book of Titus. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope. And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." This is the hope for which we are in hope. This is the hope for which we are in anxious anticipation. Now, go back to 1 Peter chapter 3. If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happier 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. doing so with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evil-doers, 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. About what did Peter encourage those saints to be ready to give an answer? Doesn't the verse tell us? Give an answer for the hope that you have. Be ready to give an answer for your hope. And why were they suffering? Well, can't we assume or should we not assume it again was because of the hope? That's the subject. We can't exhort each other to be ready in various contexts to explain the gospel to another person. We should be ready to do that. To talk about the cross, to talk about the Savior, talk about salvation. But the context of this passage is specifically about our future hope in Christ. Not only were they testifying of the past and the crucifixion, but these people were talking about their future with the Lord. Not only were they witnessing and testifying, but they were actually living in the light of that hope. And that was what was bringing the persecution upon them, the way they were living. Be ready to give an explanation for your hope as they persecute you. Perhaps 1 John 3.1 can shed some light. Turn to 1 John chapter three. The scripture. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, our hope, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. The hope which these people held so close to their hearts led them away from their former sins and the lifestyle in which their former friends continued to live. Their changed lives made them obnoxious to the sinners who were around them. Not that they were trying to be obnoxious. It was just the difference between them. It was automatic. Their hope-filled lives raised questions to which they needed to be ready to answer. Paul in Colossians 3, 4 further helps us to understand what Peter is saying. Turn to Colossians chapter 3. Verse number four. This speaks about our hope. Telling us or reminding us that Christ will soon reappear. He's coming again. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And what is the context of verse number four? If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye appear with him in glory. Mortify, kill therefore your members which are upon the earth. like fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walked, sometime you did walk in these things before, ye lived in them before. But now you don't. Now you're children of God. Perhaps before you were saved, you would go out partying with your friends, getting thoroughly drunk, getting high, and then committing fornication, things for which the wrath of God cometh. Or maybe you were a bully. terrorizing people that you considered to be weaker than you. Perhaps you boasted of your ability to steal things. You were a shoplifter, and from time to time you would show your friends the things you had stolen. Or maybe you had a massive collection of pornography in those days before there weren't computers. But then you were born again. and you immediately quit those things, all of them. Not only did you stop sinning in these ways, but more positively, you started to yearn for the things which are above, and you actually set your affection on heavenly things. You began to love righteousness just as much as you used to love wickedness. And you began to produce the fruit of the Spirit, which you demonstrated to people around you, love and joy and peace, that sort of thing. You set your affection on things above, things which have a heavenly source, things which have a heavenly end. and you began to earnestly expect the return of the Savior, actually speaking to people about the second coming of Christ. These things created mixed responses. There were some who understood what you were saying and rejoiced in these things with you, but your former sinful friends were still sinful acquaintances don't understand and perhaps mistreat you. To them, for them, you need to be ready to give an explanation, an answer. Peter is saying, he is telling us to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and prepare our minds and our mouths, give an explanation for our expectation of the return of Christ. In the light of Jesus' possible return today, live in such a way that people will see a difference between the old you and the new you. Live in such a way that people will see the difference between you and them. And then when they ask you for an explanation, be prepared to give them an answer from the word of God. You don't necessarily have to force down their throats their wickedness and your gospel. Just live in such a fashion that the door, the Lord will open the door where you can walk through and answer their questions. It will give you the opportunity to share the gospel with them. 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, doing so with meekness and fear.