Good evening, Lakeside. Well, if you're like me, this week that's coming up is something that you're looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Tuesday is officially and finally Election Day in America. Now, tens of millions of Americans have already voted. This seems to be the longest voting season I can ever recall. But the long-drawn-out political battles of this presidential campaign and of all the other campaigns will finally be over. The election's going to happen. It's going to be done. And sometime this week, there will likely be winners and losers for the various races, and this election will be behind us. And that's what I'm looking forward to. It'll be over. No more TV ads. No more flyers. It is finished. But what I'm dreading this week is that sometime this week there's going to be winners and losers. And our country will have to deal with the aftermath, both in our local community, but playing out on a larger stage around our country. I fear that no matter which candidate ultimately prevails, the ugly divisiveness of this election season is not going to go away anytime soon. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and I'm misreading the state of America. I hope that that's the case. But our country seems to be consistently at war with itself. We've divided ourselves into camps. And as this goes forward, it seems like we're getting angrier and angrier with one another. And our country doesn't seem to be looking for reconciliation We seem at these occasions to be looking for retribution, the opportunity to pay back whoever was in power. The winner gets the spoils, the loser is going to be humiliated and made to feel even worse about where they stand in this country. As I've looked around, I have seen that humility and kindness have not been present during these campaigns and I don't have some belief that on Wednesday we're going to wake up and humility and kindness will suddenly spring forward. Now we all have hopes and wishes for this election and I really do have a point of all of where I'm going. Our hopes and wishes may come true or they may not. But what I want to stress and what's going to be the focus of what we're talking about tonight is that the outcome of the election should not change how you live your life. What God wanted you to do today and what God wants you to do tomorrow and on election day and the day after has never changed. 1 Peter 1 verses 14-16 say, As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Nothing about the election changes our responsibility. Regardless of which party is in power in the White House, or in Congress, or regardless of who's on the Supreme Court, the biggest issue for you and I is being holy as God is holy. Now there's a sense in which I think you can agree with that. I've been teaching on 1 Peter. I read those verses over and over because I think it's the theme of the book. But I want to challenge us tonight to dig a little deeper into our own hearts. Because our text is going to address some things about how we interact with the world around us. And I want us to not miss what's there for us. So let me suggest to you this. Examine how you're thinking about this election. Examine your heart. We have two dominant political parties in America. The ballot always has other parties that nobody's ever heard of, but there's two parties, Democrats and Republicans. And you're probably pulling for one of them over the other even now in your heart. You want one of them to prevail depending on where you land politically. So just for a moment, I want you to think about those who are strongly supporting the other side. I'm purposely not picking a side, I'm just saying, you know what you want. Think about the people that support the other side. Because it's our nature, no doubt you think of the side you're pulling for as the good guys. But I want you to think for a moment about the bad guys, those on the other side, whatever that side is. Do you find yourself hating them and what they stand for? Do you find yourself despising them when they talk and they speak about their views and values? Think about the leaders on the other side. Those tend to be the people that are most on TV in the ads. Do you despise them? Do they make you angry? Does your blood pressure go up when they start talking? Do you just wish they would go away permanently? Now let me go a little farther with that. Think about the worst of the bad guys. Each of us may pick a different person, but think of the worst of them. Would you be happy if they walked into Lakeside next Sunday and sat down next to you? Would you be able to pay attention to Pastor Steve's preaching, or would you be spending all of your time frustrated that they're sitting next to you and all the things you need to tell them about what they're doing to ruin America? Now, I'm gonna keep going with this, but I'm gonna go from a different direction. and then I hope at some point to pull it together. Would America be a better place if every American citizen came to genuine faith in Jesus Christ? Not just everyone attending church, we've had that before in our history, but people being born again. Do you think that would make more of a difference than the right politician being elected? Do you think it would change our government if all of our politicians, either Democratic or Republican, became genuine followers of Jesus Christ? The answer is obvious. Of course it would. What our country needs more than anything is people to come to faith in Jesus Christ. It's one thing to hate politicians and hate people who support them. It's another thing to worry for their souls. to be concerned about their salvation. So tonight I'm going to be talking about something that's very practical, which has to do with evangelism. But evangelism in a way perhaps that you're not normally thinking of. Because while certainly some politicians would do a better job than others, I'm not suggesting elections aren't important. I vote. I follow politics very closely. What I'm suggesting to you is that at the end of the day, The differences in America are going to come about when the hearts of Americans change. And that's only going to come about through faith in Jesus Christ. So in the context of our teaching, you can go ahead and turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 if you're not already there. Tonight we're only going to be covering two verses. Verses 11 and 12. But they land in the midst of a particular context. And I'm going to reread verses that I taught the last time I was here on Sunday night. Look at verses 9 and 10. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Peter was writing to believers like us. They were in a hostile world, a hostile culture. They had a government that did not protect them. In fact, at times was complicit in their persecution and their suffering. It was hard to be a Christian. And Peter was reminding them, as we talked last time, and was encouraging them by the fact that God chose them. And brothers and sisters in Christ, tonight, God chose us. But there's a special reason. And I believe verses 11 and 12, while they're transitional verses in the book, they really focus on this. Why did God call us to be a chosen race to royal priesthood is this, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him. That's what our society needs. They need to hear the excellencies of a saving and merciful God. And that's why He's chosen us. to be his people. So that should be our focus. Not merely on politics so that we can enact the right laws to force people to act the right way. That doesn't get him any closer to heaven. We need to live in such a way that the gospel has an opportunity to persuade them to repent and come to Jesus. So tonight as we go through verses 11 and 12, I've got a simple two-part outline. tracks the two verses, two practical steps for living an evangelistic life. Two practical steps for living an evangelistic life. And the first step is this, keep fighting the sin that stirs in your heart. Keep fighting the sin that stirs in your heart. This may not seem evangelistic, but I assure you, we'll see all of this together. Verse 11, says this, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. When Peter uses the word Beloved, it's not just a throwaway, it's an indication that he cares deeply for them. He wants them to be able to endure in the midst of a difficult, difficult time. And he's showing them that as God chose them and loves them, He loves them too. And he uses some phraseology that is very clear of how he respects them as well. He said, Beloved, I urge you. And this is interesting because Peter gives commands throughout this book, but in this case, he's not actually phrasing a command, he's pleading with them. One version treats it as, I beg you. This is a love of a shepherd for God's sheep, and he's pleading with them, you need this. I want this for you. Certainly it goes with his command, be holy as God is holy. But he's pleading with them. And he's pleading with them based on their unique status in the world. A status that you and I share. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, The terms are really synonymous together, but they're talking about people who don't really belong somewhere. An alien is one who lives in a foreign country. They're not really a citizen of that country. A stranger denotes somebody that's living alongside other people. They don't really belong. And that's what we became when we became God's chosen race, His holy priesthood. It's in a sense that God gave us a new passport, so to speak. Paul in the first part of Philippians 3.20 said this, for our citizenship is in heaven. That's how Peter is appealing to us. Certainly we live in America, we're citizens in here. But Peter is making it clear that ultimately as believers, once God called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, He gave us a new citizenship, and it impacts us because we can't be like the people around us. We have to live differently. We're citizens of God's kingdom, and how we used to live is one way, but now we have a new status. And we don't get to fit in with the people around us. So He says, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust. Now there's a sense in which we get this. It may not look evangelistic yet, but I promise you it will. But this is just talking about the daily battle that we fight against sin. Abstain means what we think it means. Avoid this. Don't do this. Don't go towards this behavior. And the way it's phrased grammatically, it means this is ongoing. It's not a single event. This is a daily activity that we have to be a part of. And what we avoid is stated very simply, fleshly lust. Now, the word lust certainly can mean sexual sin, but in this context it goes beyond that. It actually simply means a strong desire. At times that word is used in the Bible and it's translated differently. Normally it just means a desire. But in this case, by attaching the word fleshly, he's making it clear these are corrupted desires. These are desires that would line up with what you see in Galatians 5. So as you think through your conduct, Galatians 5, beginning at verse 19, lays out the deeds of the flesh. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, faction, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarned you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, as you think through life, anything that fits in that category, that you feel that desire welling up in your heart, you've got to fight against it. You've got to stay away from it. The reality is that as believers, our flesh is still a part of us. God saved us. He gave us a new nature. He gave us new desires. Yet until we're in heaven, we still have those battles within our hearts. John MacArthur described this very well. He said this, even though regeneration produces a new disposition with holy longings, that new life force remains incarcerated with the old unredeemed human flesh, precipitating an ongoing battle between the spirit and the flesh. That's exactly what Peter describes, a battle. Look again, to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Here's what makes this challenging is most aspects of this battle are fought internally. All of us don't know what the others are fighting. Because these desires that spring from our heart are what we're fighting against and each one of us has to wage war whether we want to or not. Because those lusts are waging war against us. Certainly if you fail in this battle it can be visible to others, but this is talking about your personal private conduct. How you deal with those challenges and those temptations of the heart that still come at you. And what he's picturing is that we've been called out of the world, but the old sins of the world keep calling back. We're citizens of a new kingdom, but the activities of the old way still whisper to us, come back. One of the commentaries that I read by a man named D. Edmund Hebert, he said this, those lusts constitute an army of soldiers engaged in constant warfare against the soul, aimed at capturing the believer and making him useless to God. They can't take away our salvation, but they can take away our witness and our effectiveness for the gospel. War is an apt description. And if you've lived for any time as a Christian fighting the battle against sin, you know that is wearisome. Here's the challenge. We sometimes in our desire to explain away why we struggle, Put the blame in the wrong place. Does Satan attack us? Of course he does. Does the world tempt us? Of course it does. But what Peter's talking about, and what the Bible makes clear, is the war is happening because of your own desires. James said this in chapter 1 of his book, beginning at verse 14. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." That's the battle Peter is addressing. And let me encourage you, even as I'm challenging you to fight the battle, to win the battle, understand that the fact that you're in a battle isn't an indication that you're a bad Christian or somehow you're a lesser Christian, because it's a battle that all Christians face. I don't know of anybody describing the battle better than the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. In Romans chapter 7, in a text that's familiar to many of us, beginning at verse 18, He describes what Peter's talking about. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I'm no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members." So we have to acknowledge the battle's real. It's there. There's never a truce. There's never a day where sin just takes a break. There's never a day where we don't have to watch out for those fleshly desires to spring their head. But let me encourage you, as difficult as the battle is, it's possible. We can win the battle. If you know Jesus, there's never a time where you can truthfully say, I didn't have a choice. If you know Jesus, there's never a time where you could say, it wasn't my fault. God's Word says you can prevail against sin. 1 Corinthians 10.13 is a verse I memorized early as a Christian. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. So if we want to abstain from fleshly lusts, we have to condition ourselves when those fleshly lusts rear their head to look for the escape. It's there. God promised that you'll never be tempted beyond what you can withstand. We're no longer slaves to sin. Romans 6.6 makes that clear. So while we have a battle, we can prevail. And what Peter's telling us is that we must prevail. Our witness is at stake. If we want to proclaim the excellencies of our Savior, which is why God saved us, then we have to fight the battle. We have to never give up. And I don't want to digress, and we'll see how this is evangelistic, but let me challenge you already this week. If the election doesn't go your way, some of those fleshly lusts may rear their heads. The enmity, the strife, the outburst of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions. Let me encourage you, prepare to fight the battle now, not after you know the results. Ask God now to help you win the battle against these attitudes if the bad guys win the election. And while this may not have jumped out at you yet, while this is evangelistic, I assure it affects our witness to the world. So the first practical step for living an evangelistic life is just keep fighting the sin that stirs in your heart. The second practical step is this, keep living a life that is above reproach. Keep living a life that is above reproach. Verse 12 says this, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. What Peter is saying is that we proclaim the excellencies of Him by how we live our lives. So let's look at this a little bit closer. Starts out with something very direct, keep your behavior excellent. Now there's an assumption by saying keep your behavior excellent that we're already doing some things excellent. And this is the logical follow-up to fighting that internal battle. If you have a good inward life, it should lead to a good outward life. You have to fight against your fleshly desires and avoid sin, but you also have to live righteously to live holy. If you've ever studied books on biblical counseling, they have a principle that says you put off sin and you put on righteousness. It's a biblical principle. The goal is not just to avoid sin, although that's critical, it's to do the right thing. The word behavior is just talking about all aspects of our daily life. He's already used the word in the verse that I keep reading over and over, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Chapter 1 verse 15. And the word excellent just has the idea of beautiful and honorable and praiseworthy. So what he's saying is that our lives at every point in every day should be beautiful and honorable and praiseworthy, morally good, doing the right thing, choosing the best course of action. He's really describing carrying out the good works that God prepared for every one of His children. Ephesians 2.10, After making it clear before this that we're only saved as a gift of God, when we're saved, we have something to do. Verse 10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And now we're getting into why this is evangelistic. It's because of where it's occurring. We're aliens and strangers, but we don't live in our new home yet. We still live here. So he says, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. In other words, the Gentiles, as he's using the term, is just referring to all unbelievers. And there's an implication here, an assumption, that at least some of your life is going to be lived around unbelievers. So unfortunate at different times in Christian history, some believers in their desire to avoid sin or worldliness have walled themselves off from the world. They've pulled all the way back such that they live insular lives with no contact with the outside world. But how can you proclaim the excellencies of Him to a lost and dying world if you don't see the lost and dying world? Jesus modeled this when He dined with tax collectors and sinners. He was willing to be amongst them because as He said, the righteous don't need it, it's the sinner who needs it. We should be living our lives not running away from all unbelievers, but being on display before unbelievers. Now, of course, there's a balance. We have to be wise. 1 Corinthians 15.33, Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. We have to be balanced in how we do things, but the reality is our lives should be on display to a lost and dying world. It's one of the things that's most challenging to me since I went from being a lawyer to a pastor. I was always among the Gentiles as a lawyer. Here, I'm mostly around you guys. I have to work harder to find unbelievers. But the reality is, our lives amongst unbelievers are supposed to proclaim Christ. Keep following in verse 12, but keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that... In other words, this is the explanation, so that, and there's really a two-fold explanation. One has to do with the fact that unbelievers will accuse us of stuff. One will have to do with the ultimate outcome for some of those unbelievers. So that in the things in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. This is really how the whole thing becomes evangelistic. This is what's so critical for us. Now first, we have to accept that the world will not like us. If we're living righteously, if we're behaving excellently, if our behavior looks radically different than the world around us, they are going to slander us as evildoers. Peter's not arguing for that, he's accepting it as a given. That there are going to be people who are going to accuse you of things because they see that you're different. The original hearers had all kinds of accusations. In the early church, they were accused of being atheists because they wouldn't worship all the gods of Rome. They were accused of being rebels and subversive because they didn't worship the emperor in the same way as others. And on and on it went. False religions accused them of all kinds of things because they didn't participate in their idolatry. Things aren't so different today. You don't have to look very far to find Christians being accused of being hateful bigots. or intolerant or repressive or hating women. On and on it goes. What Peter is talking about is what Jesus said would happen. In Matthew chapter 5 verses 11 and 12, Jesus said this, Bless her to you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." In other words, Jesus made it clear, people are going to falsely accuse you of things. People are going to accuse you and I, if we're living excellently, of doing wrong things. It's almost a paradox. The more righteous you live, the greater the false accusations. And our response isn't to fight and argue over every false accusation. Our response is to live righteously regardless of the accusation. As he says, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds. In other words, you don't get caught up in the fact that they're lying, you get caught up in living holy, being righteous. Now, this goes without saying, that means that the accusation should be false. If we're living like they say we're living, if we're doing the sins they say we're doing, well then that's not slander, that's just them pointing out our hypocrisy. But the reality is, if you're living as aliens and strangers in your daily life, people are going to notice. And some will accuse you of things. Peter described the world's confusion with us in chapter 4 verse 4. talking about sinful activities and sinful conduct, he said, in all this they are surprised, meaning unbelievers, that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you. If we're living correctly, our fellow citizens of America really won't know what to do with us. Because we're different. We're aliens and strangers, but what they will see is our good works, our excellent behavior, But the world loves to accuse us. And on those rare occasions when Christians fall, it gets a lot of play. You see it. There's a reason there's headlines when a Christian leader or a prominent Christian does something scandalous. The world wants to believe the worst about us. And when one of us slips, it confirms their biases. So it's critical that we be on the alert And we live for Christ every day. Now what does excellent behavior look like? On a given moment, it just looks like the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5.22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So you think about everything you do, even the things you do at work, are you doing them with love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness? Are you acting that way with your family? Are you acting that way with the world around you? It's one of the things that's made me cringe a lot in this election season. Because Christians are in the newspaper, they're all over TV, and at times, the behavior and the words don't sound a lot like the fruit of the Spirit. They sound a little bit like the deeds of the flesh. So be careful. Guard your heart as we approach things. And this is the ultimate point. And this is where everything I'm talking about becomes evangelistic. They may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. And He's making it clear that even as they slander us, they're still watching what we do. And if we're living rightly, if we're keeping our behavior excellent, if we're being holy as God is holy, if we're walking by the fruit of the Spirit, some are going to be won over by our conduct. Some may change from mocking us to following us. He says, some may glorify God. No unbeliever glorifies God. He's talking about some may get to the point where they realize He's right. There's something different. This Christian stuff is real. I want what they have. And I believe after study, the day of visitation here is just a reference to the fact that God may visit them with salvation. God may come and give them a new heart, and it's influenced in part by watching how you and I live. And when they see us, they'll ultimately come to faith based in part on our example and witness. Again, this is consistent as all of the Bible is with the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5, 16. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. We know this from experience, but sometimes our actions speak louder than our words. And I think that's what Peter's calling us to. He's reminding believers, including us, who live in a hostile culture, amongst hostile people, who reject Christ, who reject our values, who would be happy to mock and accuse us of things that aren't true. He's saying, live this way anyway, because some of them may come to faith. In fact, if we think for just a minute, we were them before we knew Christ. So let me encourage you this week. We have an opportunity to apply all this, including in our interactions with our fellow citizens after the election. So let me challenge you. If the election doesn't go the way you want, if the bad guys, whoever they are in your mind, actually win, what's your response going to be? Are you going to be depressed and grumbling and complaining? Angry with your fellow citizens who are so foolish that they can't see the good guys that are standing right in front of them? Let me encourage you, don't give in to those fleshly lusts. Live your life this week the way we should live it every week. Fighting sin in your heart and keeping your behavior excellent. Praying for those who voted the wrong way and praying that they'll actually see in your life a testimony of God's grace. Trying to live your lives in such a wholesome and beautiful way that the world doesn't just see an angry and disappointed fill-in-the-blank political party, but they see an alien and stranger who loves people anyway and who wants others to be blessed even if they're the bad guys. Please join me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the reminders of your word. Few things could be more basic than for your word to tell us don't sin and do the right thing. But Lord, the curtain has been pulled back a little bit tonight to show that the implications of avoiding sin and living correctly are not just personal. It's not just about us and how we feel. Lord, we live in a lost and dying world. We live among the Gentiles here in America. And I pray, Lord, that You will touch our hearts so that we live out of love for You, but also with an eye towards witnessing and being evangelistic to the lost. Lord, I pray for our hearts. We are so easily led astray by our corrupted desires. We thank you that you've given us a new heart. But until we get to heaven, we're still in these fleshly bodies and those old temptations creep up over and over and over again. Lord, help us win the battle. And I pray, Lord, that as we are fighting the battle against sin, we don't forget to obey Your commands. And I pray that because of our lives, some of those who are mocking us will come to faith in Jesus Christ. And Lord, perhaps some who are listening to my voice now don't know the Savior. I pray that You would open their eyes to the sinfulness that is in their heart, or they already see it. I pray that they wouldn't deny it. And I pray that they would understand before holy God the wages of sin is death. But that you sent your son to live the perfect life that we couldn't to die in the place of sinners. And there's forgiveness at the cross if they'll trust in Jesus Christ. Lord, we love you. We pray for our country. We pray for our families. We pray for our church. We ask all of this in Jesus name, amen.