Welcome Suffering as a Part of Life: Overcoming Cultural Hostility - 1 Peter 3:13-16

1:16Well, if we liken cultural hostility to the gospel or to Christ, if we liken it like a volcano, there is the mounting pressure stage, and then there is the eruption stage. The recipients of this letter were in the eruption phase. Hostility had broken out under Nero in epic proportions. They were an extremely persecuted people, and they were scattered, dealing with some very difficult circumstances. If I put America into the spectrum, I think we all would see that we are in a culture of growing hostility. I think if you spend any time looking at the news or just aware of things going on in our culture, you'll see a mounting pressure. We are certainly in no way to the eruption phase, like has taken place here in this book and in other parts of the world. There are those who are experiencing very dramatic and very profound persecution. Well, Peter's audience was being persecuted hard. Public policy of their government was aggressively against them. And the question becomes: how does one make it through such time? How does the church make it through such times? And why would God allow his people to go through such times? Very good question. How does one live victorious in such times? And bringing it more to home, how do we as fathers? Followers of Christ overcome the cultural hostility of our times, whether that be on the large scale with the government hostility or workplace hostility, or whether it be on a very individual or personal level in the workplace or in our family or relationships. How do we overcome cultural hostility that we will face as believers?

3:28And cultural hostility is a spectrum. Sometimes it's extreme, sometimes it's mild. But Christ has promised that all of us, in some way, shape, or form, at various times in our life, are going to experience hostility because we are identified with Christ. It's coming. It's here. It has already been. It's going to be a way of life. And the question becomes: how do you and I overcome the cultural hostility without being overcome by the hostility? How do we overcome without being overcome? Well, that's what this passage is about this morning. And I want you to do three things, three action items. I want you to put into practice these three things. And if you do, these three things will enable you to overcome whatever hostility that you may face. To whatever degree, in whatever circumstance, these three things will enable you. To overcome whatever hostility that you will experience as a Christian. So, I just want to walk through them. First, verse 13: Be zealous for good. The first action item, thing you need to be put into your heart and in your Monday and in your way of life, is be zealous for good. Look at verse 13. There's a question that's being asked: Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? It's a question that implies an answer: Who in society likes to harm people who are truly doing good? And that's this question. Okay, think about it: who really wants to harm somebody who's doing good, truly doing good, whether it's in society or in the workplace or home or in other associations, who out there, even in a culture such as Rome, who really wants to harm people that are doing good? Well, the answer, by the way, Peter has framed the question, is not very many. Not very many. The answer is not no one, because obviously there are those, but he's saying, by and large, nobody really, or not very many people want to harm those who are truly doing good. I mean, who in government wants to destroy a good citizen? I mean, truly, I mean, I know some of you are snickering. I mean, well.

5:57But the idea, who seriously, a government? Government's job is to govern, to oversee good citizens. You don't want to destroy good citizens. You may have a different definition of what a good citizen might be, but a good government does not want to destroy a citizen. Even a bad government doesn't want to destroy a good citizen. What boss likes to harm a good employee? Not very many. What teacher wants to harm a good student? Teacher is there to teach. Why would they want to harm a good student? Because of the whatever reason. Well, not many. What husband wants to torment a wife for treating him well? Nancy, put your hand down.

6:48But what husband, seriously, he's coming off this context where he's talked about submission and he's talked about the citizens. He's talked about the slaves and master relationship. He's talked about the spouse relationships. But what husband wants to torment a wife, even if he's an unbeliever? Why would he want to torment someone who's treating him well? Same is true. What kind of wife wants to inflict evil upon a kind, thoughtful, and considerate husband? Who wants to harm anyone who's doing good to them? That's his question.

7:22And the answer is not many. Oh, there are some. And he's going to address that in the next verse. But the question implies an action. And what Peter is saying, endeavor to become zealous for good. Actually, the word is a noun there. Instead of zealous as an adjective, it's actually a noun, zealot. An adverb would be zealously. An adjective would be zealous. But the noun is zealot. And what he is saying is, become a zealot for good. That's the literal reading. Be a good zealot.

8:01But in the way the Greek is arranged, it would put the emphasis and the activity upon the good. So you'd say, be a zealot for good. Be a zealot for good. That's what is implied here. How do you overcome cultural hostility? Well, do that which is good. And that refers to actions that are beneficial, or helpful, or kind, wholesome, considerate. He's just used the word right there in verse 10, where he says, the one who desires life and to see good days, that is, to see prosperity. That's how Peter is using it.

8:50You see, become a zealot is what he is saying. Become a zealot that promotes the prosperity and well-being of others, both in this life and the life to come. Physical dimension and certainly a spiritual element. Be a zealot for the well-being of others. Let this be your disposition. I mean, wouldn't you like to have somebody who is a zealot for your good? An advocate? That's a zealot, zealous for your good? I mean, how would you harm someone like that?

9:22And I think many of us evangelicals have lost a vision for this in many ways. We need to be a people that are zealous, known for good works that benefit others. Now, I know there's a danger in this. Many groups have adopted a social gospel that strips biblical theology and the Christ-centeredness away from their humanitarian efforts, and they make the church nothing but a humanitarian aid station void of the gospel, void of the real truth, void of the real need for society. Certainly, that is not the way to go. And I can tell you, a beautiful, beautiful marriage, one of the most beautiful marriages of them all, is the best of biblical theology with the best of service to our fellow man. That is a beautiful, beautiful marriage. And what Peter is doing is he is wanting them to rule out all harm that is due. To sinful reactions, or due to reckless living, or careless behavior. That's why he's saying, become a zealot for good, so that when people, when you do face hostility in the culture, that it's over real biblical reason, that it's truly Christ is why they are persecuting. Not because you're a jerk, not because you were reckless, not because you retaliated. Don't let that be part of your disposition.

11:04What Peter is saying: if a person must suffer, let it be for the sake of Christ. So, the first thing you need to do in order to overcome whatever cultural hostility you may be facing is to be zealous for good. Second is to view suffering for the sake of righteousness as a blessed privilege. View suffering for the sake of righteousness as a blessed privilege. It is a privilege to be able to suffer for the name of Christ. Verse 14: But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. Sometimes you just might suffer purely for the sake of righteousness. There are going to be those cases that you just might.

12:00Find yourself persecuted not because of your personal defects, but because of the sake of Christ. And there are those who are going to despise you, even though you are a zealot for good works and you have treated everybody well, exceedingly well. There are still going to be those who will despise you and your good works simply because they tie, they are, they relate to Christ. And when that happens, the testament of Scripture and the testament of Peter is, you are blessed. You are blessed. And the word for blessing, sometimes it carries the idea of being happy, certainly carries the idea of being privileged. But the blessing here would include that, certainly. But it extends to God's favor because the glory of Christ is exhibited in your life. It extends to that favor because you look like Christ. Look at 1 Peter 4:14.

13:09If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. That is why you are blessed. It is because the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of Christ rests upon you, and you are blessed. That is what God delights in. So when you truly are suffering for the sake of righteousness, it is a blessed thing because the glory of Christ is being seen in your life.

13:44What a blessing that is. It excites the Father. And Jesus' testimony of Scripture is very loud and clear on this. Matthew 5:10, Jesus says, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are 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.

14:21Wonder where Peter got his teaching on this subject, right? Luke says it like this: verse 22, Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you. That means cut you off, cut you out of their circles. Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and insult you and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. And he says this, Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.

14:56Isn't that a good thing to see? I mean, I don't know what the Lord, I don't know what heaven's going to be like, but I can tell you, I sure like this promise. I like this promise. Like, Lord, I want to take you up on this. Not in a disrespectful way, but God, I want to take you up on this promise. I want to see what you say is, your reward is great. And there the promise is in Scripture: suffering for the sake of righteousness is a blessed privilege. You need to see it as that. Third action, and this is where I want to spend our time this morning. Most of our time, let me say that. Three action items that are going to enable you to overcome whatever hostility you may face in the world. Number one, be zealous for good. Number two, view suffering for the sake of righteousness as a blessed privilege. But number three, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Look at verse 14. I'm just going to read to you a little bit of this. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. We'll pick up some more as we go, but what does it mean? What does this mean to be to sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart?

16:28Well, when you, if you're Looking at your Bible, and you have, depending on what version you have, but verse 14 may be in capital letters, or a good portion of it. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled. What that is saying is the translators are saying this is a quote from the Old Testament. And so when Peter starts using the Old Testament, it's good to go back and to understand what was the context in which this phrase that he took. What was the context? What was going on? What was the principle that Peter was drawing from the text, the Old Testament text, and applying it to the New Testament believers? Well, he's pulling something from Isaiah 8. Isaiah 8. Now, let me give you the context of what's going on in Isaiah. There's a problem. Ahaz is the king of Judah. And there is a problem. There are two kings, Rezon, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the king of the ten northern tribes of Israel. And they were threatening to destroy Judah, where Ahaz was king.

17:42But they were trying to do more than just destroy Judah. They were trying to remove the Davidic line. In Isaiah 7:6, this is what the two kings said. Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls, and set up the son of Taba. Feel as king in the midst of it. I don't just gloss over what the issue is here. They don't just want to set up another king, they want a non-Davidic king on the throne. And God has promised. He made a promise, a Davidic covenant. So when these kings from the north are coming down to set up a new king, this is an attack upon God Himself.

18:31And Ahaz put him at the crossroads of life, like many of us are going to be faced. Are we going to give in to the pressure? Are we going to, in such circumstances, trust in God, or are we going to trust in man? Are we going to seek an alliance with man, the wisdom of man? Are we going to chart our course after the course and pattern of man? Or are we going to trust in God and His promises? That's the crossroads of life. And you're going to hit many of those as you encounter cultural hostility. Well, it was interesting. The solution, Ahaz thought, was making a covenant with the king of Assyria. I'll make a covenant with you, king of Assyria. I'll become your servant if you'll come down and deal with these two kings. What's interesting is sort of a little side note. If you're looking at the news this past week, the king of Assyria, Assyria, Nineveh, the group, ISIS, is coming down and destroying a bunch of biblical history. It's an outcry. What these army coming into modern-day Iraq and are destroying biblical history. Now, when I went to college, it was taught and understood that Assyria was a, that Nineveh was a fictitious city. A fictitious city, didn't exist. And for many, many hundreds of years, it was taught as such. Something non-existent. I just saw on the news this last week that Jonah's tomb was ransacked and run over. And that, yes, we do have the capital, Nineveh, the city of the Assyrians, the capital city. And you start seeing this, and now there's this outcry: history is being destroyed. Well, we're in that same region. And Ahaz makes a covenant with Assyria. Is his help going to come from Assyria? Or is he going to look to God?

20:44Well, he looked to Assyria. Let me just read to you what happened. In 2 Kings 16 and 7, it speaks about what happened. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pelazer, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me. Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria listened to him. He was happy to come down for sure. And the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it and carried the people away into exile and put reason to death. Now King Ahaz, so after the king of Assyria comes down and wipes out one of his northern enemies, King Ahaz goes up to Damascus to meet him and he saw the altar which was at Damascus. So Assyria, the Assyrian king, had come up and set up an altar there in Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the pattern of the altar and its model according to all its workmanship. So he saw this altar, this Assyrian altar, and said, Wow, this is pretty. We're going to set this up in the temple of God.

22:15So Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Thus Urijah the priest made it before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. When the king came from Damascus, the king saw. The altar, then the king approached the altar and went up to it and burned his burnt offering and his meal offering and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. In other words, he moved the altar that God had commanded to be built, moved it aside, got this new altar after the pattern and liking of the Assyrian gods. The result of Ahaz's alliance with man is that he became a vassal of Assyria and he grossly corrupted the temple worship in Jerusalem. So, what Ahaz ended up, instead of trusting in God, you know what he ended up with? He ended up with a tyrant king and a false religion. And that's what happens to you when you go down the pattern of compromise or you give in to the world system and the world pressures that are coming against you. This is exactly what Ahaz did. He buckled. He was overcome by the pressures.

23:38Well, Isaiah tried to persuade Ahaz to avert the spiritual and national disaster. He tried to go and exhort him to put his trust in God, not the king of Assyria. And in Isaiah 8:10, he says, Look, devise a plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand. For God is with us. Immanuel. God is with us. Do whatever they want. God has promised the Davidic line is going to endure. And God is going to see to it that his promise will be realized. But you know what they did to Isaiah? They accused him of being a conspirator. Oh, the reason you're telling us that is to just, you want us overrun by our two northern enemies. You want us overrun, and you, in the likes of Jeremiah, you give us counsel so that we won't make allegiances with the people like Assyria or Babylon, so that we will be run over. You're really against us. Your counsel is against us. That's what they did. And it's in this context that God spoke these words that we read in 1 Peter to Isaiah. And he says it like this. In Isaiah 8, chapter 11, For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people. And in verse 12, God said this to him, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. He shall be your fear and he shall be your dread.

25:27So as Isaiah was writing to say, Look, Judah, you do not need to fear being conquered or be overtaken or defeated or destroyed because God is with us. Put your trust in Him. And then Peter uses this same passage to encourage people who are in a very similar situation. They feel like they're about to be run over, overcome, defeated, and destroyed. But what Peter is saying is, look, you're not going to be destroyed because God is with you. You see how he uses this?

26:05Do not fear their intimidation. You don't need to be fearful of being run over because God is in your midst. But I want you to see something very neat. Peter modified it in an interesting way. Some minor modifications, but then there's one major modification that I want you to see. So I put it up here on the overhead. Verse 12 in Isaiah 8. And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy. Now let me show you how Peter quotes this. Chapter 3 and parts of verse 14 and 15. And do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. So who are you to fear in Isaiah?

27:00Yahweh. Only one place, only one person should be regarded as holy. And that's the same thing. Who should you regard as holy? It's the same word as sanctified, to set apart as holy. Who in Isaiah 8, 12 should be feared? Who should be sanctified as Lord? Yahweh. Yahweh of hosts. But look at what Peter does. It's like he scratches out Yahweh and he says, sanctify Christ as Lord. You see what he's done? There is no question in Peter's mind who it was who walked among us. Emmanuel. God with us. Christ has walked among us. Yahweh has come among us. We know who he is. And Peter does this without flinching, without hesitation, without explanation. It's incredible. And if you think about the Jews were very hyper about altering a text and to ascribing any glory to anyone else except for God. And here is Peter.

28:16Yahweh has been among us. And you are not to fear whatever may come against you because Yahweh is with you. Therefore, sanctify Christ as Lord. Your heart. I want to talk to, I want to go back to keep carrying this thought. What does it mean to sanctify Christ as Lord? Well, it's the only imperative in this whole section that we are looking at. It means to set apart, it means to consecrate, it means to dedicate oneself to. And it means to hallow, to hallow. You remember in Luke chapter 11 and 2, when Jesus is teaching them how to pray. He says to them, When you pray, say, Father, hallowed. Same word, sanctify. Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. That's the idea. May your name be hallowed. That's the idea. And where? Where is this to be?

29:20Where is the place of this sanctification? Where is the hallowing? It's in your heart. It's very interesting how what the Old Testament Revelation gives us about Yahweh. It says this in Exodus 20, right after the Exodus and the Israelites have come out, and God gives them his Ten Commandments. He lays this down. He says, Thus God spoke all these words, saying, I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water or under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God. First thing you need to understand, I want full and complete devotion from you, Israel. This is what God, first order of business.

30:28And then in Deuteronomy 6, 4, read these words. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you shall be upon your heart. The first place, the first priority where God wants is in that throne room of your heart. Sanctify Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, as Lord, as over your heart. I don't know what the heart of man looks like. I mean, we can take an x-ray and we know what the physical heart looks like. What the spiritual heart looks like, I don't know, but I can imagine that we can make a comparison with there's a pinnacle, and on that pinnacle somewhere, there's a throne.

31:26Metaphorically, I think we can get the idea here. Peter is exactly. Exhorting us to set Christ on the pinnacle point on the throne of our innermost being and then bow down in reverence and awe and submission to Him who sits on the throne of your heart. That's what sanctifying Christ as Lord means. There's a high point in David's life. Saul wanted to kill David. Saul was God's anointed ruler for the time. David had an opportunity to kill him. But listen to what David said.

32:10In 1 Samuel 26:7, Abishai said to David, Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and I will not strike him a second time. But David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt? The name Christ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah, the Hebrew word for anointed one. And here is David saying, Who can stretch forth a hand against God's anointed one and not be guilty? You really appreciate David here, a man after God's own heart. And what we as believers need to sanctify Christ as Lord of our hearts, as the anointed ruler over our lives, and let us dare not touch our hand against Him, let us not dare go contrary to His ways. Very strong. We talk a lot about sanctifying Christ as Lord, but I think we very rarely get our minds around what this really means.

33:27Christ is not sanctified in your hearts until you can honestly say, Jesus of Nazareth, to you belongs everything that belongs to God. And then bow down and worship Him. That is sanctifying Christ as Lord. And generally speaking, sanctifying Christ as Lord manifests itself by giving him the love of your hearts. It manifests itself by giving him the thoughts of your mind, the engagements of your soul, and the activities of your daily life. But in this, and certainly that is true, overarching, generally speaking, but in this context, there are three specific ways mentioned in the text on how, what a Christ-sanctified heart looks like. First of all, a Christ-sanctified heart is not intimidated nor troubled by man. Verse 14, we already looked at that. And do not fear their intimidation, do not be troubled. You see, when there is a holy reverence for Christ, When that occupies the soul, there is no room for the fear of man. And these words, as we've already looked at, were originally spoken to Isaiah. Then Peter applied them to his audience. But they are given to us as well. We, as the body of Christ, are not to fear the threats, the movements, the efforts to silence, or the efforts to harm. We are not to cower into making an alliance or resort to any kind of retaliation. We do not have to fear being overtaken, defeated, destroyed, because God is with us. The church will be here when Christ returns, because God is in her midst.

35:14What a privileged name to have a manual on your. Second, a Christ, a sanctified heart, is always ready to make a Christ-honoring defense. Look at verse 15: but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. Always ready means being prepared for an event. In Matthew 22:4, it's the man who's prepared a feast. It's ready. Come, be ready. My mom, who's here with us this morning, one thing I know about her is she always has food ready. She is prepared. And even if we drop in unannounced, some Somehow she pulls out something incredible very quick. Always ready. And I'm not telling you, you can, my dad's here too. You can vouch to that. Always ready. Well, that's the idea here. Always be ready to give a Christ-honoring defense.

36:22Now, I used to be overwhelmed by this verse because I thought it meant I had to become a master apologetic. Have you ever gone to some of these apologetic conferences? And this verse is touted quite a lot. And there's some heavyweights apologetics. I mean, they can take anyone down on any subject. They're like a grizzly bear. They're loaded. And I thought that this meant that I had to take on the most astute critic of the faith, including the atheists, the agnostics, all the cults, the heretics, all the false religions, and all the compromisers within the ranks of Christianity. I thought I had to be able to answer all of them all the time. But that's not really what it's saying here.

37:09The application of this text is far more simpler. Give an account. Always be ready. This implies, number one, that you can be ready. You can be ready while you continue to grow in your readiness. And I think we need to be growing in our readiness, growing in our ability to defend the faith. But you have a lot of. More ability to be faithful to this text than you may even know. Look back carefully at the text. Who are you to give an account to? Every single person in the world? No, always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. Okay, so now we've narrowed the field quite a bit. God's going to bring the person into your life that's going to ask. You need to be ready when asked, when that pressure point comes, that you can defend why you believe. Why is there hope in you? We're not to be overwhelmed and thinking that we must be able to understand every argument, but we are to simply respond to those who ask us. And what response are you to give? Look back at the text.

38:24The response for the hope that is in you. Don't give me the hope that's in him or her. Give the hope. What is it that convinced you? What is it that won your heart? What is it? Why are you hopeful in Christ? And just give some of the true reasons. Give some of the true reasons why you were hopeful in Christ. That is what you are to give. And I growing up, I think about when you boil down.

39:00My reason for my hope, I would boil it down to the very basic thing. Yeah, I know a lot of biblical arguments, I know a lot of scripture, studied a lot, but the bottom line comes down to he changed my life. You want me to know what the hope is within me? It comes from an encounter with the living Christ. I had seeds planted while I was growing up. In junior high, I fell among some friends. We thought it was cool to do wrong.

39:35And as I was in that phase, I started having this growing awareness that God didn't give me life just to waste it. Some of you are there, some of you are wasting it, some of you still are in that mentality, think it is cool to do wrong, be your own boss, do your own thing. And then one night, a young preacher came and he preached a sermon on Isaiah, and something like scales fell off. A lot of the seeds that had been planted germinated, and I understood God hates sin, and I mean hates it. Okay, he hates it to a degree like you can't even understand. And he's not going to sit there and allow sin to continue forever. He hates it, and he's not going to camp constantly. Compromise his standards just so that he can have me as a buddy. He is totally holy.

40:39But then I also understood he killed his son. And he killed his son because he didn't want to kill me. And then that gave me a thought. Why wouldn't he want to kill me? Because he wants a relationship with me. He wanted to have a relationship with me. That is the reason. And I understood his grace, his mercy at that moment. God killed him so he wouldn't have to kill me. God killed him so he wouldn't have to kill you. Why? Because God desires a relationship with you. And a new spirit, a clean spirit, came over my darkened heart. And from that day forward, I wanted to do what was right. And I was grieved when I grieved the heart of God. That is the reason. You can look at my report card. You can go back, and ultimately, I can show you fruits of repentance that came out of that. A clean spirit was born in me. That is the reason of my hope. And I can give you a whole lot more. But all of you have a testimony of how you came to Christ. And if nothing else, you can share that as the reason for the hope that's within you. And no one can argue with your testimony because it's yours. Look back at verse 15. As you are giving the reason for the hope, you're to do it with gentleness and reverence. Gentleness, this has a perspective on the individual you're sharing with. Humility, courtesy, consideration for the person.

42:18Reverence, this has God in view. Fear and respect and devotion to God and to His Word. Share the hope with gentleness towards man and reverence to God. Trust God's sovereignty. That's what Peter is saying. Trust His sovereignty. This whole gospel thing going to the end of the earth, it's His enterprise. And He will bring the people into your life that He wants you to answer. And do not be intimidated. Do not be timid. You don't think you're too little for this or your testimony is too insignificant. I can tell you that sometimes it's the little stones that bring down the great giants. I can tell you there are those testimonies of some heavyweights in the faith or some great men and women through the ages who have been won from some of the most unlikely statements, even by children.

43:22So don't ever underestimate. Don't ever underestimate. While Christ's sanctified heart is not intimidated or troubled by man, A Christ-sanctified heart is always ready to make a Christ-honoring defense, and a Christ-sanctified heart keeps a clean conscience. Look at verse 16. What is the conscience? Well, the conscience is not the voice of God. The conscience is part of man, and it's an internal faculty of the human makeup that convicts men of sin or affirms a person's thoughts or actions. It's made up of a compound word that literally means to know yourself.

44:01And what the conscience does is it acts like an impartial judge at the very center and core of your being. Your conscience is your soul assessing itself, evaluating itself according to the highest standard that it knows. As Romans 2:14 talks about the Gentiles, Gentiles. The Gentiles. See what happens when you take out your glasses. The Gentiles. They do not have the law, but they do what's in the law in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or defending them. So the conscience, this is what it does. Sometimes it forbids that which God says is okay. The conscience isn't always a reliable guide. Sometimes it forbids that which God says is okay. Sometimes it excuses that which God forbids. And this is why we need to continually be exposing our minds to the Word of God, because that will elevate the standard that our conscience will use to judge.

45:11Simply the soul judging itself. I had a man, I was talking to a man earlier this week, and the conversation moved around. And I finally said, Look, if you were to die tonight, stand before God, and he was to say, Why should I let you into heaven, what would you say? To this, he sort of was didn't know what to say. He says, Well, I guess I'm good. I'm good. And my bottom line, I looked at him after this for a while, and I said, The bottom line is, you're not going to make it.

45:49You are going to experience a horrible, rude awakening. You know why? Because your conscience is not the final judge. God is the judge. In fact, Paul said this, I am not, for I am conscious of nothing against me, yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines me is the Lord. So we are going to be judged by the Lord. Our conscience is not going to be sitting up there on the bench judging us. It's going to be the Lord and His Word. And that is why we need to expose our minds to the Word of God. By the way, this individual after that did bow his head and cry out to God.

46:34But what Peter is saying is it's devastating, even though the conscience to damage the conscience, it's devastating when a person develops a habit of going against his or her conscience. That is deadly. But a person who has sanctified Jesus as Lord in their hearts keeps a clean conscience, and they keep exposing themselves to his principles and to his ways, so that standard is constantly being elevated, and they're constantly assessing themselves in light of his standards and living accordingly.

47:10You see, one does not overcome cultural hostility by defiling their conscience. This is what being overcome looks like. When the pressures mount around you and you then adopt a standard that is pressing in on you that you know is wrong, you have not overcome, you have been overcome. That's the pressure point, and that's what Peter is saying. So, what does overcoming cultural hostility look like? Well, it's just I'm going to conclude this by looking at the last part of verse 16. What is the effect of all this? So that in the thing which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior. In Christ will be put to shame. Remember back in chapter 2 and verse 12, this whole thing is about redemption. He is talking about good behavior. In verse 12, keep your behavior excellent. Again, back here in verse 16, he's talking about the good behavior. In verse 12 of chapter 2, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. So here's the progress: slander and mocking and reviling. That's the part of a hostile culture. Your part, good deeds, behavior.

48:47Their part, they will observe them. God's part, he will use those to convict them. God's part, that will lead them to salvation on the favorable day of visitation. You see, it's God's good behavior, his kindness that led us to repentance. And we are to extend the good behavior and the kindness even to the culture that's hostile to us. You see, God is redeeming God. This is his enterprise. And he has redemption on his mind. And this is how we overcome. And they are not overcome.

49:33So be of good cheer, Emmanuel. God is with us, and He has overcome the world. And if you do not know Him, you can today know Him. You can have your conscience cleared, you can have your sins forgiven. Cry out to Him, call Him to awaken your heart. Repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus, and He will forgive you in an instant, and a clean spirit will be granted to you. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the morning. We thank you for the assembly this morning. And God, we just pray that you would be exalted here in our midst and at the pinnacle point of our hearts. Take the time to do whatever you need to do. Continue in prayer.