Somehow tapped into my sermon on my desktop last night or something before Because that song could not have been a better choice Please turn with me to the book of 1st Peter Our text this morning will be from 1st Peter chapter 3 verses 8 through 17 And we will be looking at verses 13 through 15 specifically. I planned to go through verse 17, but we will not make it that far today. I'll be preaching and reading from the NASB this time. 1 Peter chapter 3, starting in verse 8. To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. For you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For the one who desires life to love and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. 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. And keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, Those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing good, or excuse me, doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong. Now since our series in 1 Peter has had large gaps between each sermon, It has been my practice each time to review what we've learned previously in order to remind us of the context so that we might understand each passage as well as possible. This morning will be no exception. You will once again notice that in our passage today, verse eight begins with the words to sum up, or as the ESV says, finally. And we see immediately then that this section is a summary of the teaching that has preceded it. And this morning's passage from verses 13 to 15 is still part of that summary statement. So all the more reason then for us to review what we've learned so far. Please be encouraged though and know that there is a purpose behind this review. There is a command in this morning's passage that is very impacting to our lives as Christians in this world. It truly holds the key to all Christian living and will affect the way that we are able to perform all the commands that we've been given so far in this epistle of first Peter. But again, in order to understand as well as we can what we're being commanded to do and for what purpose, we must understand what we've been taught so far. So please stay with me as we proceed toward that goal. As we've journeyed through this larger section of 1 Peter, starting all the way back in chapter two, verse 11, Peter's been showing us and answering for us this question. You might have it memorized by now. What does the Christian life, a life devoted to God, look like in a pagan society? We found the answer to that question stated in general terms is this. It looks radically different than those in the world around us. Those who do not know God and do not believe in Jesus Christ. We have found that the Christian has different priorities different attitudes, and responds in radically different ways than those of the world who are unbelievers, who find themselves in opposition to the things of God. This section has been all about our behavior in this world as believers in God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Just look at the commands that we've been given in this section. Abstain from the passions of the flesh. Keep your behavior excellent. Subject yourselves to every human institution. Slaves, be submissive to your masters. Wives, be submissive to your husbands. Husbands, be understanding towards your wives. And if we go back a little further, we've been commanded to put aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. and to fervently love one another from the heart, with a love that's stretched to the limit of our abilities. We've also been exhorted to conduct ourselves in fear, in holy reverence to God during the time of our stay on earth. And it all points back to chapter one, verse 15. Like the holy one who called you, Be holy yourselves in all your behavior. Peter's been telling us that as we live this way, as we live for God, as we live as though we've been freed from the bondage of sin and death, free to live a life as servants of God, we will stand out and look radically different than the world around us. And of course, anything that looks different is going to be noticed and often treated badly only because it looks different. Even good behavior, and here, according to Peter, especially good behavior will be treated with prejudice. He's told us that because of our good behavior, we will be slandered as evildoers, even for doing things and in acting in ways that they see as good. Peter has warned us that we will at times be treated unfairly and that there will be times when we will suffer for doing nothing but the right thing. But he's comforted us and encouraged us to endure these sorrows when suffering unjustly. by assuring us that these things are not unexpected. In fact, we've been called for this very purpose, that we might endure sorrows while suffering unjustly. And when we do what is right and suffer for it and patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. In fact, when this happens, we are blessed. He's not surprised by what is happening and neither should we be. In fact, it is this good behavior of ours in the face of unjust treatment that God uses to bring glory to himself in the day of visitation and that he uses to silence the foolishness of ignorant men. Now, what makes the true Christian really stand out in the world is the fact that this behavior that we're being exhorted to is completely contrary to the nature of humanity's fallen flesh. And this is how, in the context of first Peter, we are commanded to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light through our good behavior. We're called to be proclaimers of how great God is, not by shouting from the mountaintops, not in this context, but by our good behavior amongst the people of a fallen world. Behavior so good that by it, a wife might even win her unbelieving husband without a word. As we discussed last time, we're commanded in chapter three, verse nine, to behave in a way that is perhaps even more challenging than any other command we've received up to that point. In keeping with the example set for us by Jesus, for us to follow in his steps, we're commanded not to return evil for evil or reviling for reviling. When we're insulted, we are not to insult back. But in case that's not difficult enough for us to perform, we're asked to go still further. Not only are we not to repay evil for evil, but we are to repay evil with good, with a blessing instead. Now I know that there are at least some of you who find this command as difficult as I do, because I've heard you talk about it. It's one thing to be asked and encouraged not to revile and return, not to insult back when we are insulted, not to strike back when our pride is damaged. When someone has the audacity to say something or do something offensive to us, Especially when it is unjust, unfair, or absolutely not true. But to give a blessing in return for that treatment? That's just too difficult to do. But is that not the example set for us by Christ? Have we not been commanded to follow that example as closely as possible? Chapter two, verse 21. For you've been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously. And did Jesus offer a blessing in return for the evil and reviling done to him? Look at verse 24. And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. Talk about a blessing instead. While we were yet sinners, while we were still enemies of God, He bore the sins of all who would believe in Him for eternal life. And for those who were persecuting him, he prayed while hanging on the cross, Father, forgive them, they do not know what they're doing. This is the example left for us to follow. To love our enemies in the midst of being treated badly. To not return evil for evil, but blessing instead. Now of course this is a very large scale example. An example of suffering for doing what is right and repaying evil with good. An example of such magnitude that only Christ could accomplish it perfectly. But it is the pattern that we are to follow. It is the example. of how we are to behave in the midst of unjust treatment in this world. We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. As a friend of mine used to say, I'm sorry, friends, but I'm afraid that this is not hard teaching to understand, though it may be hard to accept. and, I might add, hard to perform. Especially if we attempt to do so by our own strength. But Peter has not left us to our own devices here. He's not given us the command to act radically different than the world around us, and completely contrary to our fallen flesh, and then dropped the mic and walked away. In this morning's passage, he has given us perhaps the most powerful exhortation in this epistle in regards to living the Christian life, in regards to acting like Christ and reacting like Christ to all the unjust treatment we may receive in this world when we look radically different, when we look like Christ. And that exhortation is found in verse 15. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. This is the key to all Christian living. Write this on your doorpost, burn it into a piece of wood and hang it on your living room wall. And cut the sermon title out of your bulletin and tape it on the fridge. Tape it to the steering wheel of your truck, or the bus, or the excavator. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. If you're taking notes today, this will be the main point. And I was tempted to make it the only point. Because this is the one thing I want you all to take away from this sermon today. If you accidentally forget everything else you hear today as soon as you walk out that door, remember this one thing. If you are a believer and you want to look radically different in this world, if you want to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and win people for Christ solely by your good behavior, If you want to love life and see good days, and if you want to be able to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Peter is telling you here that The way for you to be able to perform all these commands you have given, have been given, and truly the only way that you'll be able to obey Jesus Christ and keep all His commandments is not to set out to do them by your own strength and direction, but to sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. This is so important. So important that we must not just let this slip by. We must slow down and try to understand this. This is the key to performing all the commands we've been given to perform. And especially all the ones that our fallen flesh does not want to do. Now we'll look at this exhortation this morning under three headings. First of all, we'll look at the meaning of it. Secondly, the opposite. And thirdly, the effect. The meaning, the opposite, and the effect. First of all, I will try to make a humble attempt to define what this means. Volumes could be written about this exhortation. But I will try to define it for us this morning so that we can have a better understanding of what we are being commanded to do. You know, it's an easy one to memorize. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Really rolls off the tongue. But what is it really saying for us to do? What is it really commanding us to do? Let me first start by asking this question. Who do you sanctify as Lord in your heart? Who's really calling the shots when you decide what you will do and when you will do it? How you will act or react? How you will spend your time? I can tell you right now that my answer to that question far too often is me. And I can only assume, since we all still live in our fallen flesh, the answer is the same for each of us here. But who is this one that we're commanded to sanctify as Lord in our hearts? Jesus Christ. Instead of putting myself in charge, here's a brief description of the one who is supposed to be in that position. The exact image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation. The one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The creator. The Word become flesh. The one who lived the perfect life and gave it all on our behalf. The spotless Lamb of God. the one who made peace for us by the blood of his cross, the one who ransomed us with his precious blood that we might be reconciled to the Father, the one who bore our sins in his body on the tree, the author and perfecter of our faith, the living stone, the precious cornerstone of the church in whom we will never be disappointed. the one whom all of Scripture was written about, the one to crush the head of the serpent, the Messiah, the King, the one risen from the dead who now sits at the right hand of the Father, reigning in glory. How absurd would it be for me to place myself above Him in anything. It is Him who must be Lord of our hearts and not ourselves. And where are we to sanctify this one called Christ? In our heart. The heart is the center of the entire person. Peter calls it the hidden person of the heart. Chapter 3, verse 4. It is the seed of love and of hatred, the center of our feelings and affections from joy to pain to dissatisfaction to despair. And it also often refers to our minds. Proverbs says the heart knows, it understands, it deliberates, it reflects. It is where the true you resides. But for the believer, for those of us who've placed our faith in Jesus, according to Ephesians 3.17, the heart is also the dwelling place of Christ. It is the place where His Spirit resides in us, according to 2 Corinthians 1.22. So if Christ resides in our hearts, and all of our thoughts and emotions, all of our likes and dislikes, all of our joys and fears are in there too, what does it mean to sanctify Christ in your heart? Now what's the word sanctify mean? Set apart, right? So does that mean that we set Christ apart from all the things in our heart? Like grandma's fine china, we hang it on the wall, we only bring it down on special occasions? Are we only to have Christ dwell in our hearts on Sundays? And then put him back up on the shelf in order to go about our lives according to the desires of our heart? No. It is Christ who is to have the dominant position in our heart. But He's not to be the centerpiece. He is to permeate every piece. And we are to sanctify Him not by setting Him apart from the sinful desires in our heart, but by removing the sinful desires from our heart that He may reign. You see, the Greek word translated here is sanctify. is the same word in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, where it is translated, hallowed. Hallowed be thy name. Hallow Christ the Lord in your hearts. Magnify Him, honor Him, glory, glorify Him in your heart. Give Him the place of honor. Put Him first in all things. Submit all your wants and desires and thoughts and wishes to Him. Hallow Christ as Lord in your heart. And He is to be Lord of our hearts. Not only does the term Lord mean that He's to have complete control, but it also means He's to have ownership. of your heart and everything in it. You're to hallow Him as owner of your thoughts, owner of your emotions, your desires, your pride, owner of all that is you in the inner person of the heart. Fill your heart with Christ. Hallow Him as Lord. Come to Him and long for the pure spiritual milk of His living and abiding Word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Let obedience to Him affect every thought and action that you take. Colossians 3 16 puts it this way that the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom Teaching and admonishing one another with songs hymns and spiritual songs Singing with thankfulness in your heart to God Whatever you do in word or deed Do all in the name of the Lord Giving thanks to him through God the Father. I whatever you do in word or deed. This is exactly what Peter has been talking to us about, our words and particularly our deeds. And just as Christ, in the midst of his persecution, kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, which enabled him to endure the suffering of the cross without sinning, Just as the beautiful Christian woman is empowered to submit to her husband because of her hope in God, we as believers in Christ are given the strength and fortitude to live radically different lives when we sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. But please notice here that this is something that we are commanded to do. This is not just something that happens to us when we, by God's grace, are born again and receive Christ into our hearts. This is something that we are commanded to do, an action that we are to take, to die to ourselves and live for Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 16 24 if anyone wishes to come after me He must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it and Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it Secondly Let's look at what I'm calling the opposite. Point number two, the opposite. I'm calling it the opposite really for lack of a better term. And because of the contrast given at the beginning of verse 15 in the word, but. We're told in verse 14, do this, or excuse me, do not do this, but sanctify Christ. Look at the second half of verse 14. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled. The opposite of sanctifying Christ as Lord in your heart that is presented here is to have fear in your heart. Literally what this says is, do not fear their fear, and do not be shaken. Do not let the repercussions of acting radically different make you timid about showing your faith. Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. Don't let your faith be shaken when you face suffering for the sake of righteousness. After all, verse 14, even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And is this not what keeps us from behaving in the ways that Peter has commanded us? Is this not why we are timid sometimes about being open about our faith to others? We fear the repercussions. We want to be accepted. We want to be included. We want to be treated fairly. But when we act that way, when we're troubled by such things, who is it then that we have set up as Lord in our hearts? ourselves. Peter says no. In contrast to that, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. It is Christ who is to be our fear, not men. We're to rely on His power, trust in His faithfulness, submit to His wisdom, imitate His holiness, and give him the glory that is due only to him. Besides, in verse 13, who is there to harm you? Who is there to do any real harm to you? We looked at this last time when we read in verse 12, that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer. We were drawn by Peter to Psalm 34, and I know I read it last time, but I'm gonna read parts of it again. As David describes for us how the eyes and the ears of the Lord were upon him, I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. And then he says one verse later, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints. To those who fear Him, there is no want. Now, it is important for us to note here that God did not shield David from all suffering. That is very clear. And He doesn't keep us from it either. In fact, at times He wills it to happen to us. But He will deliver us out of all our troubles, just as He did for David. And David goes on to say, the Lord is near the brokenhearted. and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. And so, Peter says in verse 13, who is there to harm you? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Sing to Him as David did. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. Now, the third aspect of sanctifying Christ as Lord in your hearts that I'd like to take a look at this morning is the effect that it will have on your life. We just looked at one, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts and you will not fear their intimidation and you will not be troubled. But there is so much more. as you give your thoughts and emotions and all of your likes and dislikes and all of your joys and fears over to Christ and let Him take ownership and control of them, you will begin to look and sound like Him. For instance, Matthew 12, 34 says, the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. So it follows that as we fill our hearts with Christ and hallow Him as Lord, we will begin to sound more like He sounds. And we know from here in 1 Peter, all the way back in chapter one, verse two, that God the Father had two purposes for choosing us before the foundation of the world. The first one is that we would obey Jesus Christ. That we would obey all His commands and all His leadings. That we would pursue righteousness and seek to obey His law at all times. And the only way we can hope to achieve that is to sanctify Christ as Lord in our heart. The second purpose for God choosing us is that we would be sprinkled by His blood, by Christ's blood, which means that we would have communion with Him in a covenant relationship, that we would abide in Him and He in us. And as we do that, And as we allow Him to take control of our thoughts and our emotions, we become more and more transformed by the renewing of our minds, more and more transformed into the image of Christ. The effect this will have on our lives is that we will be radically different than those in the world around us. We will fit the description of the Christian given to us in verse 8. Harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit. We will, as verse 11 says, not only seek peace, but pursue it. We will be what verse 13 calls, zealous for what is good. We will go after what is good with intensity and enthusiasm, so much so that we would rather face suffering for the sake of righteousness than to ever sin by returning evil for evil. The effect that sanctifying Christ is lowered in your heart will be, verse 10, that you will love life and see good days. For you will keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. You will turn away from evil and do good, knowing in your heart that the eyes of the Lord are on you, and that His ears are attentive to your prayer. That He knows what is happening to you, and that He will deliver you out of every situation. The effect of sanctifying Christ as Lord in your heart, will be that you will be so enamored with Him, so satisfied in Him, that your hope in Him will be apparent for all to see. It will be oozing out of you. You will be able to stop it from showing, and you won't want to. But this is a topic for next time. In conclusion, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Hallow Him in your heart, magnify Him, honor Him, glorify Him in your heart. Give Him complete ownership and authority over everything that is you, your thoughts, your desires, and your emotions. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought that is not in keeping with Christ's thoughts, give it over in obedience to Christ. Every desire that is not in line with His will, give it over in obedience to Christ. Every emotion that is not rooted in His love, give it over in obedience to Christ. Submit your will to His will. Make His thoughts your thoughts. And soon His words will be your words, and His behavior will be your behavior. This is how we are to proclaim His excellencies in a fallen world, by being like Christ. And the only way to be like Christ is to sanctify Him as Lord in your heart. Please pray with me. Gracious Heavenly Father, how we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You give us challenging exhortations, challenging commands, but You don't leave us to our own devices to figure out how to do that in our own strength. You have given us Your Son, and You have given us the Spirit of Your Son to indwell us. And yet, how often do we separate Him in our heart from all of our wants and desires that we like to participate in without Him. Father, encourage us, teach us how, show us how to let Christ permeate every piece of us. As we pray almost every Sunday, transform us a little bit more into the image of your Son. You have shown us the way to do that. You've commanded us to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. Teach us how to do that, Father. That as we go forth from this building, we will look like Him. We will not shy away from being different. for being ostracized, for being goody-two-shoes, or looking different than those around us and not being accepted in the group, we'll be so enamored with Christ, so satisfied in Him, that nothing else will matter. In fact, we will be blessed if we're persecuted for it. For we know that it is these good deeds that we do in this world that they notice, and that you will bring honor and glory to yourself through them. Father, strengthen us to the task. Teach us to die to ourselves daily and to live for you, for you are worthy. All glory and honor belongs to you, Father. forever and ever. Amen.