with you this morning, please turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. Last week we started looking at our duties to those outside of the church of Jesus Christ, meaning those who are not our fellow brethren, but those who are of the world, those who are children of the devil and enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. Verses 8-12 in 1 Peter 3, Peter tells us that instead of seeking revenge against them when they speak evil of us and do evil to us, we must seek to do them good. We must bless them. Bless them with our words, bless them with our actions, as we imitate our Father who is in heaven, and as we follow in the footsteps of our Savior as He lived on earth. So that's verses 8-12. But now in verses 13-18, Peter continues this discussion of how we are to deal with those outside of the church by specifically dealing with the issue of suffering. But not suffering because of our own sins. And not suffering just in general because we live in a fallen, cursed world, and we get sick, or we get injured, or we lose someone that we love. No, He's not talking about that kind of suffering. Here He is talking about suffering for righteousness' sake. Or suffering because you are a Christian. Suffering because you desire to live a godly life in Christ, and people hate you for it. They hate what you stand for. They hate what you believe in. They hate how you live your life. And they will make you pay. They will make you suffer in a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways. They may attack your reputation. They may forsake your friendship. They may get you fired from your job. They may put you in prison or they may even take away your life. Now, this can be done by other strangers. This can be done by our neighbors. And sadly, this could even be done by those that we love, maybe even those that are in our own family. Well, there are three things Peter teaches us here about suffering. First, in verses 13 through 14, he points out the honor of suffering. And then in verses 15 through 16, he instructs us how to suffer, and then in verse 17 he gives us a comforting word while we suffer. In fact, if we added a fourth point in verse 18, he points out the great example we are to follow while we suffer, which is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're not going to be able to look at all of those verses this morning. We'll probably get about halfway through it today. But let me read now verses 13 through 18. And then, like I said, we'll at least look at about half of this. We'll look at the honor of suffering, and then we will get into the instructions on how we are to suffer for the glory of God. So here now, the word of the Lord. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. Help us to desire it more than honey and the honeycomb. Help us to value it more than gold and silver. Help us, Lord, to feast upon Your Word, enlighten our eyes to the goodness of the Word of God, and help us to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Help us to really understand how we are to respond to those who hate us and revile us and do all kinds of evil things against us, falsely on the account of our Savior. Help us in this hour, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's first look at the honor of suffering, and we find that in verses 13 through 14. But in verse 13, Peter makes, I think, a general observation about life in this fallen world. Now, this is not a blanket guarantee that we find here in verse 13, but he says here, generally speaking, due to the common grace of God at work in this fallen world, people will not harm us or do evil to us if we are zealous for what is good, or zealous for good works." Again, he says, now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Now, what is good here has already been defined for us by Peter. You can find what is good and the definition of it in verses 9 through 12. What is good is not being vindictive. What is good is if somebody curses you, you don't curse them back, but you bless them. If you don't pursue violence against people, but pursue peace with them. If you turn away from evil and you do good. God here promises us in a general way that even unbelievers will leave us alone. Again, in a general way. Now we know this for a few reasons, but one of them is this is the will of God for all governing authorities in this world. that if we do good, if we are zealous for good works, they leave us alone. For instance, the Apostle Paul says this in Romans chapter 13, "'For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good.'" So Peter says essentially the same thing in chapter 2 verses 13 through 14. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to the governors as sent by him, to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. So if we do good, we should receive their approval and praise. Again, this is not some guarantee, but we at least know this is God's revealed will for every single government in this world that they approve of and praise the good and they punish the evil. But this generally rings true also with our unbelieving neighbors we live beside. Maybe you're familiar with Proverbs 16, 7, which says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. This is what the pulpit commentary says about this verse. It says that this verse intimates the far-reaching influence of goodness. How it disarms opposition, arouses reverence and love, gives no occasion for disputes, and spreads around an atmosphere of peace." So again, in general, government should leave us alone and even our neighbors should leave us alone if we are zealous for what is good. So here's an application that we can draw from this. If there are people who are harming you, Make sure you are actually suffering for righteousness sake and not suffering for your own moral failings and sins. So if we're going to play the persecution card, we need to make sure that we're actually being persecuted. There are times when Christians think they are rightly suffering for the Lord when they are actually suffering because they are obnoxious, rude, mean, cruel, unpleasant, unkind, quarrelsome, and nasty towards other people. They may speak the truth, but their speech is seasoned with little to no grace and love. They may do good deeds, but there is this self-righteous aroma about their deeds that is unpleasant in the nostrils of others. And then they claim they're being persecuted, but in reality, people are rightly offended at their behavior. In some sense, they're just awful people to be around. So they're not actually being persecuted. They're rightly suffering for their sinfulness. So in your zeal to serve the Lord, make sure you follow passages like Titus 3, 2, which says, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Brethren, that is vital as we stand for Jesus Christ. The gospel calls us to be courteous. It doesn't call us to be unkind. And so, as we're standing for Jesus Christ, we don't need a quarrelsome spirit, we don't need to be violent, and we don't need to be vile. We need to be gentle as our Savior is gentle and lowly of heart. So remember, God calls us to be lights in the world to open the eyes of the blind. He does not call us to be fireballs which burn out people's eyes, right? We're to be lights that enlighten people, that take them out of the darkness, not burn them up, not scorch them like a flaming sun. And so let's remember, brethren, if we suffer, we need to suffer for righteousness' sake. not suffer for our own moral failings and sins. But in verse 14, Peter gives us this absolute guarantee. He's a realist. Peter understands that we live in a fallen world. He understands the natural hatred and enmity bound up in the heart of every sinner towards God and His people. And he understands that without God's restraining grace, How that hatred could break out at any moment upon the church of Jesus Christ. Just think about Peter's own life. He had already been repaid evil for good many times in his own ministry. Just read the book of Acts. He's going around and he's preaching the gospel to people, and they are reviling him, they are cursing him, they are imprisoning him, and he's doing the greatest amount of good. He is zealous for the greatest amount of good, which is to preach the gospel to these people. And yet you see how he is treated. And of course, if church history is authoritative, at least at this point, He was martyred for the faith. So, he knew that verse 13 doesn't always come true. He knows that people will actually harm us even when we are zealous for what is good. Whether it's our neighbors or the government, they can come after us. And so I think he encourages us with the words we find in verse 14, when he says, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Or maybe it should say, you are blessed. I think the ESV says, will be blessed. I think a lot of the other translations say, you are blessed. I think that's important to say. If you're suffering for righteousness sake, it's not like you'll just be blessed in the future, but you are presently blessed. If people are harming you because you're standing firm for the truth of the gospel, then right here and right now, you are blessed. Of course, you're not blessed in the eyes of men. They're cursing you. They're reviling you. They are harming you. They're bringing great suffering upon you. But brethren, you are blessed in the eyes of God. Peter's already mentioned this in chapter 2 verse 20 when he says, but if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. A commendable thing, a blessed thing, a praiseworthy thing in God's sight when you suffer for doing what is good. So this is the great mystery, I think, and paradox of suffering for the name of Jesus Christ. When others revile us, God rewards us. When others do evil to us, God does good to us. When others violently assault us, God gives us peace. And in a way, the more people harm us, the greater God blesses our souls. It's kind of a mystery. People are doing all kinds of evil against us and yet God is blessing us in the midst of all of that evil. So brethren, if the Lord is on our side and if the Lord is our helper, what can man really do to us? Even if they harm us, even if they persecute us, we're really not harmed at all. They may be able to hurt our bodies. They may be able to kill our bodies. But we know this, they cannot touch our souls. They cannot do damage to our inner persons. And they cannot mess with our relationship with God. So although it doesn't look like it or feel like it, if we are suffering for righteousness sake, we are blessed because God says so. And that's what you can go back on. God says so. God says, I am blessed if I suffer for righteousness' sake. Again, it may not look like it. It may not feel like it. People might not be saying you are blessed, but God says you are blessed. We're blessed because God is using our suffering to further conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. When we suffer for the name of Jesus Christ, it's as if God is drawing us closer and closer to our Savior. That we have more intimate communion and fellowship with Him than we ever have in our lives. When we suffer for His name and His cause and His gospel, we become more acquainted with His own sufferings. And so we can be like the apostles who were beaten by the Sanhedrin, but rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ. Or we could be like Paul and Silas who were arrested and imprisoned for the sake of Christ. But what were they doing in the jail cell? They were singing hymns to God. So, God uses suffering to further conform us into the image of Christ. And we are blessed because the Spirit of God will not leave us in our sufferings, but He rests on us, and dwells in us, and helps us, and comforts us, and assures us of the love that God has for His people. Peter says this in chapter 4, verse 14, If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. And we are blessed also because God promises to greatly reward us in heaven for all our sufferings for Him on earth. Jesus taught this very thing. In the Sermon on the Mount, He said in Matthew chapter 5, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Those are just three reasons why we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness sake. When we suffer, we're being further and further conformed to the image of Christ. When we suffer for the name of Christ, we know that the Spirit of God rests upon us and helps us and assists us and comforts us through that suffering. And we know that God has a great and mighty reward stored up for all of those who suffer for His name here on earth. So brethren, if we have to suffer in this way, we don't have to be miserable while we do it. God can transform our sufferings into a happy and blessed experience that makes us more like Christ, assures us that we are in the family of God, and prepares us for glory. So as we suffer, we can suffer patiently. We can suffer joyfully, and we can suffer confidently. So as Peter says in 1 Peter 4, 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. So that's the honor of suffering. That's the blessing of suffering. Yes, a paradox. Yes, a mystery. But God works great things through the wicked things that people do to us here on earth. But secondly, let's look at the way of suffering. After Peter discusses the honor of suffering, he goes on to tell us how to rightly respond to suffering when it comes our way. And basically, in these verses, he tells us what we should do in our hearts, what we should do with our lips, and what we should do with our conduct. Now, we're only going to be able to look at what we should do with our hearts. And then, Lord willing, next time we'll look at what we should do with our lips in defending the gospel and what we should do with our conduct. So, what does Peter say about what we should do in our hearts or with our hearts when we suffer for righteousness sake? Well, the first thing he tells us is that we need to get rid of the fear of man in our hearts. Look at that in verse 14. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled." Literally, He says, you should not fear their fear, neither should you be troubled. In other words, brethren, don't fear men. Don't fear the fear they try so hard to awaken and stir up in your soul. When wicked people persecute us, don't be afraid of their threatenings and revilings. Don't be troubled by their intimidations. Don't tremble at their terror. Don't give in to their demands. And don't enslave yourself to their wills. Stand firm. Be fearless. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened. And do not be dismayed. So get rid of the fear of man in your hearts. Secondly, Peter says, be filled with the fear of Christ. And I think we see that in verse 15, when he says, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy. What Peter says here is a little bit hard to translate. Let me just read what some English translations say on this phrase. The New King James Version says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. The NASB says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. The ESV says, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. And I think the way I would translate it is, but sanctify the Lord who is the Christ in your hearts. It's a little bit different readings, but here are three things that I think every one of these translations make really clear. First, this is something that we must do in our hearts. Before we move our mouth to say something or move our hands to do something, we are to move our hearts to think and believe something. So this comes first. We've got to do something in our hearts first. Something must be done in us before anything can be done by us. Right? In our hearts. That's number one. That's step one. Something must be done within us first. But secondly, the thing we are to do in our hearts is to sanctify something. That's the literal word Peter uses, sanctify. Now this word is used many times in the Old Testament to refer to setting something apart for a special and holy use. It is used mainly when things are set apart by the priests for a holy use as they served God and the temple. So whether it was animals or utensils or even themselves, these things had to be sanctified for the special and holy use of God in the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, this word is used to refer to how we as Christians have been set apart by God to be His special, treasured possession. So we have been sanctified. We have been set apart from the common and profane and wicked world that we live in to be special possessions of our Savior. So sanctify means here to set something apart, to consecrate it, to put it in a unique and special position that is distinct from everything else. So that's clear. We need to sanctify something. We need to set something apart. But third, the thing we are to sanctify in our hearts is not really a thing. It's a person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts. Now there's a textual variant here, and that's why the New King James or the King James Version says, the Lord God, we are to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. But I do think the better reading is, we are to sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts. So it's a difference between should it read God or should it read Christ? Well, I think Christ is the better reading because it's found in the earlier manuscripts, in the manuscript tradition, and quite frankly, it's the more difficult reading. I mean, sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts and we'll see why it's a more difficult reading because of its Old Testament background in just a second. But usually if it has earlier attestation and it's a more difficult reading, a lot of times it's probably the most reliable reading for us. So that's just a couple reasons why I think it should say the Lord Christ instead of the Lord God. It's very specific as it's pointing us not just to God in general, but it is pointing us to the second person of the Trinity who has taken on human flesh, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I think Peter is specifically pointing us to Christ and saying, He is the one we are to sanctify within our hearts and souls. But let's look at the Old Testament background real fast. If you want to turn to this passage, you can, but it's Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8, verses 12 through 13. Peter is actually quoting from this section of Scripture. Now it's not an exact word-for-word translation, and I even think Peter might be applying this passage of Scripture a little bit differently than how it was applied to Isaiah's hearers, but the teaching is still the same. It's not as if he's misinterpreting it. It's not as if he's doing something funky with it. The teaching is the same. It's just two different audiences. But this is what Isaiah 8, and I'll read from verse 11, verse 11 through 13 says, For the Lord spoke thus to me with His strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." Now the Israelites who were living in the southern kingdom of Judah at this point in time, greatly feared that several of their neighboring countries would conspire together to invade them and destroy them. They even thought the Northern Kingdom would conspire with some of these pagan kingdoms to take them down. But instead of trusting in God to protect them and to keep them safe, They inquired of necromancers and mediums and magicians. Just keep reading in Isaiah 8. It tells us very clearly they don't consult the Lord. They don't consult the Lord's prophets. They consult these pagan witch doctors. And instead of looking to God for help, they look to Assyria for protection. So they pretty much went everywhere else except to God for help. So this is what God is saying to Isaiah. Don't fear your enemies. Don't trust in the arm of the flesh. Don't seek wisdom from witch doctors. Don't seek protection from pagan nations. Instead, look to Me. Trust in Me. Hope in Me. Fear Me. God is saying, I'm the one who will protect you. I am the one who will uphold you. I will be your refuge. I will be your sanctuary. I will be your help. That's the Old Testament background. It's almost a quotation from Isaiah chapter 8. So what does this all mean? Well, 1 Peter is telling us that the Lord of hosts in Isaiah 8 is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 8, the Lord of hosts, the Lord Almighty, Yahweh, is the one to be sanctified. Again, but the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy, or Him you shall sanctify. That's Isaiah 8. But what does Peter say? He says, sanctify the Lord Christ in your heart, or sanctify the Lord who is Christ in your hearts. So the Lord is the Christ. The Lord is the Messiah. The Lord is Jesus. I think Peter here is clearly identifying Christ as God, as the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts. We just saying holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord of hosts. Christ was the Lord of hosts that Isaiah saw in his great and glorious temple vision. When the seraphim called out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. This is the person that we are to sanctify in our hearts. This one that is high and lifted up, this one who is holy, the thrice holy God. And he's the Lord of hosts. Which means He's the all-powerful God who commands the angelic army in heaven and even all the human armies on earth. The Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, the Lord Sabaoth. That is the one we are sent to sanctify. So the Lord of hosts in Isaiah 8 is none other than the Lord Christ in 1 Peter chapter 3. But secondly, how are we to do this? How are we to sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts? Well, sanctifying Him in our hearts doesn't mean that we make Him holy. You can't make a person holy who is already holy, holy, holy. He is already set apart from all creation. He is already high and lifted up. He is already at the right hand of God. He is already in the most sanctified place in the entire universe. Sanctifying the Lord Christ in our hearts means not that we make Him holy, but that we recognize Him as holy, that we treat Him as holy, that we honor Him, that's how the ESV, honor Him as holy, honor Him as separated from everything else. Since He has been exalted to the highest station in all creation, we are to exalt our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the highest place in our hearts. We are to lift Him up. We are to exalt Him. We are to enshrine Him. We are to hallow Him. Since your heart is a temple of Jesus Christ, He is to be the supreme object of your worship. Sanctify Him in the temple of your heart. Put Him at the supreme seat of worship and glory. So that's what we're supposed to do. But third, doing this is the sure remedy to demolish the fear of man that so often enslaves our hearts. How many times have you not stood for Christ because you feared what others would think about you or say to you or do to you? Have you ever been in a conversation with someone where you know the Lord has opened an opportunity for you to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ to that person? Maybe that person's telling you all about their problems and all about their issues and all these struggles that you have, and you know this would be a perfect time to point them to Jesus Christ. But how many times has that happened to you and you freeze up, you fumble, you don't proclaim the excellencies of Christ to them, And then the conversation ends and that person walks away and you may never see that person ever again. Well brethren, that's the fear of man. Or have you ever changed the way you talked or acted around a group of unbelievers because you wanted to fit in and not be seen as some religious fanatic or weirdo? Well brethren, that's the fear of man. Or have you ever felt embarrassed to pray with your family and give thanks to God publicly? Maybe in a restaurant because you know people are going to look at you weird if you bow your head and close your eyes and give thanks to God in the midst of utter strangers. And maybe you don't pray. Well, brethren, that is the fear of man. But here's the thing, sanctifying the Lord Christ in our hearts is the solution to the fear of man. In fact, sanctifying Christ in our hearts means that we fear Christ in our hearts. And if we fear Christ in our hearts, we will have no room left to fear the faces of men. Right? Our hearts will be so full of the fear of Christ There's not even a little tiny spot in our hearts to put in the fear of man. And so I really think sanctifying the Lord Christ and fearing the Lord Christ go hand in hand. In fact, we see it right there in Isaiah 8, verse 13, don't we? Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, but then it goes on and says, and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And pretty much the same thing is said in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 23 when it says, "...they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel." You see, sanctifying the Lord God also means fearing Him, letting Him be your fear, letting Him be your dread. So when we rightly sanctify Christ within us, We fear Him. And this is not some kind of slavish fear or servile fear that leads to some sort of miserable slavery to Christ. No, brethren, this is a godly, reverent fear that leads to blessed freedom. To have all those chains being broken off of us so that we might truly follow Christ and not let anything get in the way. Not man's opinions, not man's thoughts, not man's words, not man's actions. I want to end our time together thinking about how sanctifying and fearing Christ in our hearts is the armor that we need every day of our lives to protect us from the fear of man, especially when we suffer for righteousness' sake. So let me just end by giving you four ways the fear of Christ can truly help us combat the fear of man. First, fearing the Lord Christ helps us to patiently submit to His sovereign will. Fearing Christ means acknowledging Him as the sovereign Lord and King over the entire universe. That's part of what it means to fear Him and to sanctify Him. You acknowledge that He is in the highest station in all creation. All authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. Fearing Him, you recognize that. He's the Lord. He's in control. So fearing Christ means that we see Him not as some weakling who can't help us at all. Again, He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And that means all of our suffering is not accidental. It is not uncontrollable. Those who persecute us are not free to do whatever they wish to do to us because they are completely under the thumb of King Jesus. And think about this. If Christ wanted to, He could cause their eyeballs to melt out of their sockets and their brains to explode out of their heads at any moment. He could melt them all with a simple blast of His nostrils. It doesn't take much. One little word shall cause the devil to be cast headlong into the lake of fire for all eternity." One word, that's it. Christ is in control. So sanctifying and fearing Christ means we bow before this Almighty King who is in absolutely complete control of our lives, in every detail, even suffering that comes from wicked enemies of the cross. That should help us. We fear Him, that means we submit to Christ. But secondly, fearing the Lord Christ helps us to trust in His good promises and His good purposes for us. Christ is all-powerful, but He is not some sadist who enjoys watching us suffer while He sits back on His heavenly throne. He's not a cruel tyrant, brethren. Instead, He is a merciful King who is too wise to be mistaken and too good to be unkind. Ephesians 1.22 tells us that God the Father has put all things underneath the feet of Christ and has gave Him as head over all things. Why? It says, for the church. You could actually translate that as for the benefit or for the blessing of the church. Christ is head over all things for our benefit, for our blessing, for our good. So He loves us. He cares for us. He will help us. He will defend us. His eye is ever upon us. His ear is ever bent toward our prayers. And His hand is always working all things for our good. And you know, Peter's already mentioned one of those good purposes of suffering in 1 Peter 1, in these words. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That's a good purpose. It's telling us that sufferings are short and they are absolutely necessary for us. But God uses it in such a way that it purifies our faith to where on the last day, miracle of all miracles, grace of all grace, it'll actually be found to result in praise and honor and glory. So, fearing Christ means that we trust in His good purposes and promises and all the bad things that happen to us at the hands of sinners. But third, fearing the Lord Christ helps us to urgently pray for His powerful hand of protection. If Christ is able and willing to help us at all times in our sufferings, why would we look anywhere else for help? That's the whole point of what God was saying to Isaiah back in Isaiah chapter 8. Right? My people are not looking to me. They're going to Assyria for help. They're going to the necromancers for help. But they're not coming to Me. They need to fear Christ. And we need to fear Christ. And that means that we call upon His great and awesome name when we suffer. Fearing Christ means we don't look to ourselves or to others, but we look into the heavens where Christ is, and we call upon His name for deliverance from all our foes. And this is what David does time and time and time again in the Psalms. I especially like Psalm 3 because his enemies are encircling him and he's got thousands of enemies encircling him. They're mocking him. They're slandering him. They're taunting him. They're trying to say that God is no longer with him. And what does David do? He calls upon the Lord for help. He looks up to the holy hill of God, he calls upon His name, and he knows that God has heard his prayer and God has come to answer his prayers. So read Psalm 3. Here's a man who fears the Lord. Here's a man, though he has many enemies who are surrounding him, he can still lay down his head in peace and sleep because he trusts in the Lord. And he knows that the Lord is his good shepherd. and the Lord will surely protect him from all evil. So that's the third thing. And the fourth and final thing is this. Fearing the Lord Christ and sanctifying Him in our hearts helps us to stand firm in His gospel truth. In the midst of being persecuted, peer pressure mixed with the fear of man can really bring the stoutest man to his knees. Make him fold like a deck of cards. easy for even the strongest of men, if they fear man and there's peer pressure mixed within that, to give, to fold, to compromise. Just think about Peter himself, the night he betrayed his Savior. When he was questioned if he knew Christ, he denied his Lord, not once, not twice, but three times. Peter, the chief apostle, the spokesman of the apostles, Peter, who said to Jesus beforehand, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you, escaped punishment and death by denying his Savior three times. I mean, he could have repented after each time he denied Christ and said, you know what? I made a mistake. I actually do know that man. He is my Lord and Savior. His name is Jesus Christ. He could have done that, but he didn't. Instead, he temporarily walked away from Christ because he feared the faces of men. And this is what I think Peter should have done. Instead of waiting for Jesus to look at him, Peter should have looked at Jesus Christ to answer those accusations by all of them asking if He knew His Savior. I think if Peter would have stared in the face of Jesus Christ and saw Him, he could have easily answered those questions from the servant girls in the crowds, do you know Him? Because He'd be looking right at His Savior. He'd be seeing Him face to face. He'd be keeping His eyes upon Jesus Christ. That's what I'm trying to tell you now. We've got to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. And I think if He was looking straight at Jesus Christ and those questions were given to Him then, it would have been easy for Him to say, yes, I know that man. He's my rabbi. He's my master. He's my teacher. He's my Savior. But He didn't do that. He looked into the faces of his accusers and he feared their look instead of Christ. Well, brethren, we need to fear Christ in order not to bend or budge or shift or run away from the truth of the gospel. I'm thankful that there's relative peace here in the United States, but if we're ever put in a situation where a gun is held to our heads and they say, forsake Christ or die, what is it that's going to keep us enduring to the end? What is it that's going to keep us not loving our lives even unto death? It's going to be sanctifying the Lord Christ in our hearts. I love the account of the ancient church father Polycarp's death. I don't love it because he died, but I love it because of how it tells us how he stood firm to the very end. It tells us of how bold his faith was when he died. Now, Polycarp was probably a disciple of the apostle John, and he was greatly revered in the early church. I don't know if this account of his death is actually true. You go read it for yourself, because there's some things in it are a little fanatical, but I want to read this portion of it and I want you to listen to how the fear of Christ dominated his heart so much that he could do nothing else but acknowledge his Lord before his Roman executors. So let me, it's a little lengthy, but just follow along and just hear how bold his faith is in standing for Christ. It says, as Polycarp was being taken into the arena, a voice came to him from heaven. Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man. No one saw who had spoken, but our brothers who were there heard the voice. When the crowd heard that Polycarp had been captured, there was an uproar. The procouncil asked him whether he was Polycarp. On hearing that he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, have respect for your old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar, repent, and say, down with the atheists." Now back in those days, Christians were called atheists. because they denied the existence of all the Roman gods and goddesses. So they weren't atheists like you think of them today, but they denied all the gods of Rome, and so they were called atheists. So this procouncil is telling Polycarp to say, down with the atheists, meaning down with the Christians. Polycarp looked grimly at the wicked, heathen multitude in the stadium. And gesturing towards them, He said, Down with the atheists! Maybe pointing to them and calling them the atheists. Swear, urged the procouncil, reproach Christ and I will set you free. And this is what He said, Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? "'I have wild animals here,' the procouncil said. "'I will throw you to them if you do not repent.' "'Call them,' Polycarp replied. "'It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is evil. "'I will be glad, though to be changed from evil to righteousness. "'If you despise the animals, I will have you burned. "'You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour and is then extinguished? But you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want." Now that's an old man who sanctified the Lord Christ in his heart. And he had absolutely no fear of those who were about to burn him alive. He said, 86 years I have served the Lord Jesus. How could I blaspheme Him now? Brethren, do you want that sort of spiritual backbone? Do you want that kind of holy boldness? Do you want that kind of dying commitment to Jesus Christ? Do you want that kind of freedom from the enslaving attitudes and actions of men? I know I do. I hope God would give me the grace to say similar things like that if I was put in that situation. But here's the solution. Sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts. Stop acting like Christ is still dead in the tomb that He was buried in. Start acting like Christ is alive in heaven, seated at the right hand of God. Start acting like Christ is the risen and exalted Lord, because brethren, He is. The tomb is empty. The throne is occupied. Christ is raised from the dead. Christ has gone into heaven. Christ is at the right hand of God. And all things have been subjected to Him. I think when we don't fear Christ, we act like He's not really Lord. He's not really Savior. He's not really King. His bones are still rotting away in a tomb somewhere. But that's not true. Know this, Christ does not want our hearts full of carnal fear. He told us that himself many, many times. Here's just one place, John 14, verse 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Christ doesn't want your heart to be troubled. He doesn't want your heart to be afraid. He knows you're going to face many trials and tribulations in this life, but He says, take heart, for I have overcome the world. I'm not dead in the tomb any longer. I have been raised from the dead, and I'm sitting at the right hand of God now, reigning and ruling over all things. The only way that we can have this holy boldness that Pauli Karp possessed, and the apostles of Jesus Christ possessed, and so many of our forefathers in the faith possessed in the midst of persecution, is that we need to do two things. First, stop regarding man and whose nostrils is breath For of what account is He?" Isaiah 2.22. And secondly, let Christ be your fear and let Him be your dread. Oh, may God continue to put in our hearts the fear of Jesus Christ so that we would never turn away from Him. Let me just say one last thing, and it's to those who are outside of Jesus Christ. You know what your problem is? You're not sanctifying the Lord Christ in your hearts. The fear of God is not before your eyes, and the fear of God is not within your hearts. If you're a sinner, if you're outside of Jesus Christ, you are living life the way that you want to live it, and you have no room in your heart for the Lord Jesus. But you know what you need to do? You need to sanctify the Lord Christ in your heart for the very first time. It might be a good way to think about conversion. Sanctify, lift up, exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. And you can do that by believing in Him. This is what the scriptures say. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe where? Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that God exalted him. You will be saved. Sanctify the Lord Christ in your heart. Believe that He died on the cross as a sin-bearing sacrifice. Believe that He rose again from the dead. Believe that He ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. And embrace Him and confess Him as the Lord Christ. If you do, then you will properly sanctify the Lord Christ in your heart. And you will be saved. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the fact that our Savior is no longer dead in the tomb, but He is alive. He is risen from the dead. He has conquered death. He sits as Lord of lords and King of kings over all creation. He is exalted. He is sanctified. And so we pray on the basis of this great gospel reality, You would help us, O Lord, to sanctify this glorious one in our own hearts. Lord, help us to fear Christ. May He be our fear. May He be our dread. May He be the one that we look to. May He be the one that we trust in. May He be the one we call upon, O Lord. May He be the one that helps us to stand firm in the midst of those who hate us. O Lord, help us to be a bold church. Gentle but bold as we stand firm in the faith. Help us, Lord. And for those outside of Christ, O Lord, by Your Spirit, change their hearts so that they might rightly sanctify Christ in their hearts and be saved. O Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.