1 Peter 3, 9-12 will be our passage this morning, so let's just pray. Lord, thank you for giving us this passage this morning on this day. And in your sovereignty, having appointed all things, we can come with expectancy for what we need and what you will give us, what you will do. I pray that you would just give Give me not only the right words, but the right spirit and heart that it would just be clear. And again, as we prayed this morning that we wouldn't come here, we would not come here to see anything other than the words on the page. And ultimately, then your will and your heart for us. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So we're gonna start with kind of a, A lengthy introduction that's going to set this passage up. I hope you've had a chance to read these verses ahead of time. If not, it'll be fine. So, after Peter's introduction to his whole letter, he does the indicative, how things are, and the imperative, how things need to be. because of how things are. Then he introduces the main section and really the main theme of his letter with these verses. And I just want to read them again to us. This is the word of the Lord. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and foreigners to abstain from the cravings of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. keeping your conduct among the Gentiles good. And you can, there's that blank for you in your handout, keeping your conduct among the Gentiles good, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and give glory to God on the day of visitation. So here, this is kind of the tone setter for the whole section of this letter. The emphasis is on how you're supposed to be living in the world. And you are in the world and you are living, so this applies to you. This applies to each and every one of us. In an unbelieving world, specifically, as outsiders, we are outsiders. As foreigners and sojourners. Especially when the world speaks against us as the outsiders that we are, as evildoers. When that unbelieving world speaks against us as evildoers, Peter says that then especially we are to keep our conduct among the Gentiles good that they may see our good deeds. And so he goes on then to describe this goodness that we're supposed to have in the language of submission. Now, we're going to read these again, but I'm going to add another ingredient that we haven't really noticed before. So, we can go to the next slide here. He talks in chapter 2 verses 13 and 15. Submit yourselves to every human creature, even to Nero's and Pontius Pilate's, for this is the will of God, that by doing, and he guesses, you don't need to guess, you know the word, good. So he continues this theme, by doing good, You should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Then it comes to the slaves. Slaves, submit yourselves, there's the ingredient of submission, to your masters, even to unjust masters. There's the ingredient of living as sojourners and foreigners in the world. So even unjust masters. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good, there's the theme again. and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. And so we're not surprised, we come to the wives. Wives, submit yourselves, there it is again, the submission to your own husbands, even to disobedient husbands. So see, Peter's still on his track. And what Peter's got in mind is us as outsiders. living in the world, even when my husband, if I was a wife, even when my husband is that world, and I'm the outsider, even in a sense, in the marriage relationship, what am I to do? I am to submit to my husband, disobedient as he might be, because you are Sarah's children, Peter says, if you do good. And do not fear anything that is frightening. So, constant theme. do good in the context of submission to unbelieving Gentile authorities, especially when they're mean to you. If we were just to put it really simply. But what if you're a Christian? So we see Peter's theme, but then we say, what if you're a Christian in a place of authority? What if you're the one in charge? as in a manner of speaking. I'll just put it that way. What about Christian husbands? So we can go to the next slide again now here in 1 Peter 3, 7. Husbands, Peter says, now look at here and look for the ingredients here that we've seen before. See if they're there. Husbands live in the marriage relationship according to knowledge, bestowing honor on the female, on the feminine one as the weaker vessel. as also heirs together with you of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered." Now, did you notice that none of the major ingredients that we've seen are in that verse? None of the ingredients. There's nothing about submission. The wives here are actually Christians. They're not unbelieving Gentiles. And then Peter never says anything about doing good. He doesn't use that language here. So what I want us to see is that Peter's kind of gone off here for a moment. He's kind of moved away from his major theme. And this isn't to say that husbands don't do good. The point is that Peter reserves that language for when we're living in relationship to those who are not believers around us. So we're seeing how Peter is working here and we're setting us up. This is all setting us up for our passage this morning. So, when Peter addresses the husbands in verse 7, he's gone off on a different kind of track for a moment, kind of. Because we know what his main theme is, Christians living under pagan authorities, vulnerable Christians. But even though the husband isn't vulnerable like that in his relationship with his wife, even though he's not called to do good in the context of submitting to his wife, that's not his calling, We've seen that he is still accountable to the same gospel. He's still accountable to the same gospel truth as his wife, which is why Peter can then conclude in verse eight. He comes to his conclusion of this long section we've been in. Finally, all of you, whether you're a husband or a wife, makes no difference. male or female, master or slave, parent or child, rich or poor, young or old, whether you're in authority or under authority, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, be lovers of the brethren, be tender-hearted, be low-minded. So here's the common ground between the Christian wife and the Christian husband. It's the gospel! And it's awesome! They're both equally... me and my wife are both to be equally, equally low-minded. equally one-minded, equally sympathetic and tender-hearted and loving one another. We're to live out these identical gospel realities, though, in the very different, in your handout, the very different context of submission and God-given authority. Now, as we're almost done with our introduction, Notice that Peter is still assuming relationships between Christians, okay? He started out, and it was slaves and unbelieving masters. It was wives and disobedient husbands. It was sojourners and foreigners living in a world that talks bad about us. Then all of a sudden, we had husbands with Christian wives. Now, as he concludes, he shows why he can talk about both, all of these in the same group, because we all are accountable to the same gospel and the same gospel truth. But now, Peter's going to come back to where he left off. He's coming back to his main theme. Because even though we have different stations of life, some of us are wives here. Some of us are husbands here. Some of us are wealthier. Some of us are not so wealthy. Some of us are employees. And some of us have people under us. So we're all in different stations in life, in one sense. There is another sense in which we're all in the same place in this world when it comes to the unbelieving Gentiles around us. And that's because all of us equally, whether you're a boss or an employee, whether you're a husband or wife, whether we're a parent or a child, if we're in Christ, all of us equally are sojourners and foreigners. in this world and what it means to be a sojourner and a foreigner that is by definition to be vulnerable. That's what it is. I was talking with Andrea about it the other day, just yesterday. When we first moved to Morris, I just moved to Morris from Minooka and I felt like a foreigner. I thought everyone knows I'm a foreigner here. Because there's something about home. When you're at home, you belong, right? And you know, this is my territory. This is not our territory here, brothers and sisters. And the world knows it. And when we're not living in our home-friendly territory, we are, by definition, vulnerable. Now, we don't like to be that. We like to put up our walls and our fronts and be self-sufficient and strong and protected, but at the end of the day, being outsiders in this world means to be vulnerable, to be more exposed to oppression, persecution, unjust treatment. And so what Peter is wanting us to see is that there is a sense in which we can all find ourselves in the same boat with that Christian slave of an unjust master. Or that Christian wife living with a disobedient husband. It's the same principle. It's the same idea. The world may treat us unjustly as sojourners and foreigners, may insult and revile, may slander and mock or any other kind of persecution. And then what? Then what? How do we respond? How do we react to this? Because you're gonna react somehow How do we approach this? And the answer is this. No differently than if I were that Christian wife living with a disobedient husband. See, Peter's been setting us up. Some of us have been like, man, I sure am glad I'm not a Christian wife living with a disobedient husband. Maybe you're a Christian wife saying that. Some of us as husbands are saying, oh my goodness, that would be an amazingly difficult calling to submit to a disobedient husband. I'm glad I'm not in that boat, right? It'd be hard. What about that slave being beaten unjustly by an unjust master? Glad we're not that. And now Peter says, wait a minute, there is a sense in which that impossible, radical, supernatural calling of that Christian wife and that Christian slave is the calling of all of us living in this world. And so now it's in this section of this conclusion that Peter picks up again this theme he's had since the beginning. The theme of doing good even when, and let us say, especially when we are being treated unjustly. Do you see the theme? It's not just that Christian wife, it's not just that Christian slave, it's you living in this world. They've been our model. And now we're called to be ready to exemplify that ourselves. So verse 9 says, finally, and I'm bringing the finally all of you from verse 8 and applying it to this next part. Finally, all of you do not repay evil for evil. or reviling for reviling. Okay, so question. This is where I started out for myself this week thinking about this passage. If in my fleshly sinful nature, if I did not want to repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, would we have to have this command in the scriptures? One way you can approach the scripture is whenever there's a negative command in the Bible, do not do this. The first thing we should do is let that command be a window. Let it be a window into the true nature of our own sinful hearts. Let that negative command do not, let it be that window revealing to us in crystal clear, and we need that, high definition, who I am, and what's in my heart, apart from Christ. So this is what you need to know. I know this because it's the word. You need to know this about yourself this morning. And I need to know this about myself. When I'm treated badly, My natural fleshly instinct is always, and we'll say that again, but it's in your handout, that blank, always to repay that evil in kind. Maybe I found myself even thinking this week, that is like so obvious. Of course I want to repay evil for evil. I was like, you don't need to tell me that. And then I began to think, and I began to think to myself, isn't that even revealing even more my depravity? and my sinfulness and my weakness. Maybe we need to understand then what it says about our hearts and think deeper about it and let it humble us and help us to see the true, in your handout, helplessness of our flesh. Let's ask you, what does a child do when his brother or sister hits him? Now, I'm saying this not just to give you something light to think about. No, I want you to think about the reality of this. What does a child do when his brother or sister hits him? He hits him back. What does he do when his brother or sister says something unkind? He says something unkind back. What does he do when he's treated badly? He treats badly back. That's just the laws of the universe. The laws of our sinful nature. Now, for the children here who think I'm picking on the children, I'm not, okay? Because here's the next point. First of all, all of us who may have grown up by this point were all children once, weren't we? And these are the things we all did. But the exact same sin nature that was in us then is still in us now. You used to hit back when you were hit. Now maybe we're more sophisticated, maybe, maybe more subtle, maybe more secretive, maybe even more self-controlled, but God looks at our hearts. We may not give back on the outside as a child may do. A child just hauls off and you hit me, I'll hit you. We may not do the giving back on the outside, but so often we're giving back on the inside. And here's the key. Very often, I think most often, without ever really knowing it or admitting that to ourselves, And so maybe we're imagining or we're wishing or we're rejoicing in some misfortune that might come or we're hoping and it's all very subtle and we don't even believe we're doing that because that's really horrible. Who would say, I do that? Well, when that person has treated you wrongly. That's just how we are in our sinful nature. It is amazing how wonderfully friendly and nice and kind and considerate we can all be. And the world can be. You know, I look around the world, man, we got the politest, nicest people in the world at times. But what happens when those people are all of a sudden treated unjustly and badly? What happens when that happens to me? We can be the nicest, friendliest, most wonderful, most courteous people until the moment I am treated wrongly and that is the decisive factor. Until the moment someone insults me, treats me unjustly. Jesus said that doing good to those who do good to us and treating kindly those who are kind to us is no better than what the Gentiles do. And it may in the end say absolutely nothing whatsoever about our hearts. Here's the key in your handout, it is only. How nice you are when someone's nice to you, that really says ultimately, it might say nothing about you, nothing at all, nothing whatsoever. It is only how we respond when others treat us with evil intent. That is when we have the genuine litmus test of who we are inside. Because given the right trigger, given the right circumstances, that part of us that I am able to keep hidden so well, even from myself, it's just very easily and very quickly exposed. So this is the Lord's command to us. Do not repay evil for evil. Do not repay reviling for reviling. So we ask, how is that possible? I mean, how can I not even be imagining that repayment? How can I not even be wishing for it in my heart? I don't know, maybe it's been a while since someone's treated you badly or wrongly. Maybe you're having a hard time identifying, but if you've had that recently, I bet that you're feeling that. Like, this is impossible. In the end, there's only ever one way to not give back to others what they've given to you. So the second half of the verse says, finally all of you, do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called that you may inherit a blessing. There's the gospel for you. There's God's ways for you, which are not our ways. So instead of repaying evil for evil and reviling for reviling, which is what we want to do, we are instead, on the contrary, to bless those in the world who treat us badly, to bless those who insult us and treat us badly and mock us. If there was ever anything that ran counter to your flesh, I would guess that this is it. And let's just be clear about what this means. To bless that person is not to be that smug, hypocritical, I will bless you and I will be better than you, in response to your treating me this way. No, it's this. We are to sincerely desire. That's key. Sincerely desire. And then therefore pray for. God's mercy and His grace and His kindness and His favor to be upon those very people who have attacked me and treated me wrongly. We are to sincerely want, want and pray for their peace and their well-being. And we may see that at first and feel that that's even more impossible than the first part of the command. I mean, I can get so far, we can do the first half, don't give back, but then we have to go to this end and give what they've not given to me? We might feel that that's even more impossible, and for the unsaved person it is, but here's a miracle. Here's something wonderful. For all of us here who are in Christ, It is actually this positive side to the command to bless that makes the first part possible and even in some wonderful way easy. Easy. I don't mean easy in the sense of easy in the flesh, but rather easy in the sense of totally and completely free to not give back in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm free. How does the gospel in your handout free us to never, ever, ever hit when I've been hit? How does the gospel free me to stop, to stop treating someone badly because they first treated me badly? How am I set free from this law of my old man? Well, the gospel sets me free. by calling me to actually do the opposite. To bless those who treat me badly so that we might inherit the blessing that we've all been promised in Christ. That is the beauty and the power of the gospel in us, of Christ himself in you and me. Now, here's the thing. But we have this command, don't do this and do that. What I love about the scriptures is that it never just gives me the don't do this and do that. It always wraps it up in God's grace. And we see that here in this passage because he wraps up this command, don't pay back evil for evil, do bless. It wraps this up in the gospel in terms of our past and also then looking forward to our future. So on the contrary, bless for to this you were called. When were we called? In the past. So that you might inherit a blessing in the future. And what are we doing now? We're blessing those who insult us. And it's all wrapped up in the past and the future. Our responsibility to be always blessing is now. But what Peter wants us to see in your handout is that this is what we were already called to in the past. Because I wanted to say, you could go out from here and say, well, I got that. I am not supposed to do bad, and I am supposed to bless those who treat me badly. But if we don't get the past calling and the future inheritance that is ours, then if we aren't living in that, you won't go out and do that. We need to be empowered from within by the truths of this gospel. So, I want to ask you, what is this calling of ours? Reflect for a moment on your calling. It's God's saving and redeeming call. It's the call that comes only to people who are totally unworthy. God doesn't call anyone else. that comes to undeserving, unresponsive even, people, and people at enmity with God, and then that call transfers them out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's in 1 Peter. What is your calling? It's the voice of Jesus that calls all of His sheep by name. so that they never fail to hear his voice. It's not like, oh, I'm listening, I'm trying, I don't know, can I hear it, am I listening? No, when Jesus calls, everyone hears it, period. They hear it, and because they have heard it, they come and they believe in saving faith. Do you know that if you are believing today in saving faith, it was because Jesus called you by name, and that call could not be missed. or ignored. It was a gracious call that drew you irresistibly to Him. That call is what came to you. That's why you're here today. That's the call Peter's thinking of when he talks in this verse about our duty and our obligation to bless people who are mean to us. And right away, maybe we're thinking to ourselves, well, there must be two different calls here. A call to be saved and blessed. I love that call. And then there's the call, too, to be obedient and holy. And that's to think wrongly. And we'll miss the point here. We'll miss the gospel. Brothers and sisters, there is only one call that you have received. Holy of God's free grace that call was. And that call is equally, both and, that call that you received when you heard your name. It's a call to blessing and to obedience. It's the same call. The same call that guaranteed your blessing is also the call that now enables your obedience. The obedience without which you will never inherit the blessing. See, when God calls you, He calls you to blessing, to salvation, to an inheritance. And that call is also to obedience and holiness by which you will inherit that blessing. And all is of God's gracious call. This is what Peter wants us to see as he calls us to this impossible task in the flesh. And so Peter says, we can go, I think to the next slide, maybe you're there already. Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called. Called. that you may inherit a blessing. And this is where people get confused. They think, well, what was I called to? I was called to bless others so that I will inherit the blessing? That sounds like works. No. No. Because God's call is one. The same call that called me to salvation and blessing is also the call that called me to obedience and holiness. And that call is holy and completely of God's free, sovereign grace. What is the blessing that we're still waiting and striving to inherit? Are you striving to inherit a blessing? What is this blessing that we're striving to inherit through an obedience that's empowered by God's gracious saving call? Back in chapter 1, this is what Peter wrote about this inheritance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to his abounding mercies has begotten us anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. What is the inheritance we wait for And we know we'll inherit as we're blessing those who treat us badly. It's eternal life. And so what we see now, and this is big for me to really just grapple with this and recognize this. Returning blessing for evil is not just a mark of the super elite, super spiritual Christian. I think we can go to the next slide, yeah. I think that's where we are. It's actually one of the most basic in your handout, Marks. Of who? Of those who will inherit eternal life. That's Peter's point. I mean, I would like to think of the people who are just sincerely desiring the good of people who are mean to them. Those are like the super elite Christians. Peter says, no. Those are the Christians who are inheriting eternal life. It's the basic mark. It's one of the most fundamental marks of every true follower of Jesus Christ, who when he himself was hanging on the cross, When He Himself was suffering for our sins, we know what He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. If you're following that Jesus, how can we not do what He did? So instead of reviling, Jesus blessed. Instead of paying back evil for evil, Jesus, by the way, we know He sincerely prayed. Let's just be sure of that. He sincerely prayed. for God's mercy and grace upon the very people mocking Him as He suffered and died. And now all the true followers of Jesus. Who are the true followers of Jesus? Well, they can be very easily identified as those who do the same things. Because why? Because the Gospel of Jesus of their past calling and their future inheritance. Do you see how it's wrapped up in the past and the future? Our present obedience? That has set us free to follow today in His steps. We said that to bless means to sincerely desire their favor, God's favor and grace and kindness for them. But if it means that, it assumes even more. I mean, how can you honestly, sincerely pray for someone's peace and well-being without being motivated to do good in your handout? To do good to that person, yourself. And to actively seek yourself for that person's welfare. The point of blessing can never just be our words, it also requires our actions. In your handout. So Peter goes on to quote from Psalm 34 in verses 10-12. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now I want you to see something that Peter is doing here. Because when David wrote this Psalm, He wasn't necessarily thinking of specific situations where others are doing evil to me and I'm doing good back to them. That wasn't necessarily what David was specifically thinking about. But it doesn't matter to Peter because here's the thing. Watch this. This is kind of crazy. Peter's point in quoting this Psalm is that evil is always evil no matter to whom you do it. No matter who you do it to, it's evil. If it's evil, it's evil. So, you know, David's saying, don't do evil, don't speak deceit, don't do all this, and we all agree. But then Peter quotes this and he says, and do you know that also applies to those who are mean to you? Evil is evil, whenever it's done, reviling is always reviling, even if it's reviling of those who first reviled you, it's the same thing. In our flesh, in my flesh, I want there to be a difference. I want God to put it on a scale. And so even if I'm being mean and it's wrong and I admit it and I know it, at least it doesn't weigh as heavily on the evil side as being evil to someone who was nice to me. Peter's point in quoting this Psalm is it's all the same. There's never any difference in the eyes of God. So when David says, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, let him turn away from evil, Peter hears this, do not repay evil for evil. When David says, let him do good, let him seek peace and pursue it, and we all read the Psalm, I agree with that, I need to do good and seek peace and pursue it, well then Peter catches us, because what he understands this to mean is, that means bless those who revile you, and do good even to those who treat you with evil intent. In other words, in your handout, there are never any exceptions to the rule of blessing and doing good. Remember, it's not how you respond to others who are nice to you that shows you what's in your heart. It's only how I respond to others who treat me wrongly. that lets me see honestly what's in my heart. And therefore gives me, in your handout, the assurance of both my past calling and my future inheritance and my blessing. All right, in Peter's quotation from Psalm 34, you see that he starts and ends with the blessing. We can go to that, yeah. So you see at the beginning and the end, it's all about blessing and that Peter zeroed in on that in his letter. But for David, and so also for Peter, the blessing that we inherit is not just something future. And this is what we'll conclude with here as we come to the conclusion. It's not just something future. David talks at the beginning about loving or enjoying life. You see that? Whoever desires to love life, that's like saying whoever desires to enjoy life, this life, and see good days, these days. And we ask, who wouldn't want that? We all want that. Then if we skip to the end of the quotation, we see what those good days are, what is a life that's to be enjoyed. David says, the only life that's truly full of joy is the life the Lord watches over and cares for. The only days that are truly good are the days of the one whose prayer the Lord always hears. This is the man, this is the woman, this is the child whose days are blessed and good. And David wasn't saying that the righteous will live a carefree, happy, pain-free life. The point here is we're being treated badly, right? That's the whole point. Instead, the message of David and Peter is summed up in these words in Psalm 34, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Where was that Scripture fulfilled? It was fulfilled in Jesus, who was reviled, persecuted, even to death. And then ultimately delivered out of all his afflictions. in Jesus' life of suffering and pain. He knew all of that. He was treated as an outsider by the world because He didn't belong to the world. And then He called us out of the world too to belong to Him and not to the world. But as Jesus lived this life that He experienced of pain and suffering and rejection by the world, He knew the blessedness, and we can know it too, of living every day with His Father's eyes upon Him And his father's ears always open to his cry." I ask you, do you know this blessedness too? Do you know that blessedness? I liked how one commentator said it. I hope it will be helpful to you. He said, the eschatological, we've used that word before, it's that end times future salvation we're all waiting for. That end-time salvation is encountered today. How do we encounter it today? We encounter it as blessing. Because it comes to us through the active consolations of God. Consolations which are flowing to us every day. through our fellowship and union with Christ. And so this is what we see in your handout. The reason we bless those who revile us, the reason we do good to those who treat us wrongly is not just so we might inherit a future blessing. Now that should be a pretty strong incentive, really strong, powerful, but also so that we might taste of that blessing today. Because who is it that the Lord listens to? Those who bless their enemies. Who is it that the Lord watches over and cares for with His eyes always upon them? Those who do good to those who are mean to them. And so as we bless, we know the assurance As we're in the very act of sincerely desiring the well-being and the welfare of those who treat us badly, that is in the moment that we know the assurance of the Lord's eyes upon us. And I use this word very specifically, the unutterable joy of knowing His ears are always open to our prayer. That's a good thought. It's a good place to be. Peter said to the husbands, live with your wives according to knowledge so that your prayers may not be hindered. And now what he's saying is, do you know who the Lord listens to? Those who bless, those who despitefully use them and mistreat them. So, question, are you one who desires to love life and see good days? David warns us. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And you know what Peter makes of that? The face of the Lord is against those who hit back when they've been hit. But then David encourages us. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. You know what Peter makes of that? The eyes of the Lord are on those who bless when they are insulted and reviled, and who do good when they're treated unjustly. His ears are always open to their prayers. And so, I would just remind us, if you can go back and think back to the messages on submission, If you thought the lot of the Christian slave with an unjust master was hard, and I know I sure did, impossible in the flesh. If you thought that the lot of a Christian wife married to a disobedient husband was difficult, and in the flesh, impossible. Okay, what we all need to get ingrained in our hearts is that their lot is really, in the end, the calling of us all as sojourners and foreigners living in the world. So Peter writes, finally, all of you, do not ever repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling. But on the contrary, bless. Here's the gospel. For to this you were called, that you may inherit a blessing. The command to bless those who desire our hurt calls us not to a legalistic and begrudging compliance. That would be impossible. But to a confidence in the transforming power of the new birth. which allows Christians in all sincerity to speak and act toward adversaries from a heart that truly desires their blessedness. So, I want to ask the same question twice. One is kind of the command and the other is the gospel. So the next time, that you're spoken against the next time you're treated in any way, wrongly or unjustly, how will you respond? And I'm not saying, I know sometimes we're all going to be this situation and that situation, but how would you apply this there? I think as we surrender ourselves to the Spirit, we'll have the wisdom to know. What we struggle with the most is just blessing when we've been cursed. So how do we respond the next time it happens? Exodus 23. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you, hates you, Lying down under its burden, you should refrain from leaving him with it. You should rescue it with him. Now think of the person who hates you. He may have done you some significant harm. Jesus said, Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. From one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and to everyone who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that us would do to you, do so to them whether they do it to you or not. You see what the Gospel is looking for is that inner heart disposition that we have. And so 1 Thessalonians 5, even though we apply this to ourselves as foreigners and outsiders living in a world that doesn't receive us, we can also apply it in the context of the church. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. But now I wanna close with just this, with this gospel and here, this wraps it up. Question, the next time you're spoken against or treated in any way wrongly or unjustly, will that be your opportunity? Like the opportunity you jump at. To do what? To experience more fully the joy of your calling. and to taste more fully, even today, the blessings of your future inheritance. Do you see how that works? Isn't that beautiful? Lord, I pray that you would help me. I confess to you, I have to. I still have that old man living in me. And I want You to put it to death. And I pray that by Your power and grace in me, I would strive and put it to death. And I pray, Lord, that I would know the joy of my calling, and of tasting even now, even in this life, my future inheritance, as You give me opportunity to bless those to persecute me. As you give me opportunity to sincerely, from my heart, desire and long for their well-being and their good and their blessedness. Thank you, Lord, that you didn't just call us to this in a law and a rule by itself, but you wrapped it up, beginning and end, in your grace. Lord, I pray that perhaps if there's some of us here who have a seed of bitterness in our heart, I pray that that seed of bitterness will be killed by the Gospel-enabled strength to bless those that we formerly did not like. Lord, I pray that You would be glorified and honored in us, Your people, as these truths are reproduced and lived out in us. Thank You, Lord, for the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who when the people mocked and taunted Him as He suffered on a cross, could cry out and say and pray to You, asking for their forgiveness for they knew not what they did. We pray these things for your honor and our good and joy. In Jesus' name, amen.