Believer’s Obligations (Part C)

Here's a man, Peter, he's applying scripture.

He's saying, look, what we read in the Bible is real stuff. Yeah, God, he sees what's going on, his children, the righteous, not to smack them over the head. We often respond, well, if he sees, why is he delaying? Why does God appear to be inactive when I need him most?

The final answer is he sees beyond everything we see. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Peter.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. The title of today's message is Believer's Obligations, as Pastor Rick teaches through 1 Peter chapter 3. He is sovereign over us. Thank God, he is also loving.

We'll come back to that in a little bit, but one more picture of not reviling for reviling. In the days of Naaman, Naaman was a man that men loved and people did not mind following. It comes out in the story, there's so many people under his authority that were encouraging him. You should go see the prophet. The prophet did that, they loved him. Well, Naaman had led a raid into Israel and taken slaves of the Jews with him and one last, one young woman or girl, he had a sign to serve his wife. Do you know what that young Hebrew daughter of Abraham said to Naaman's wife? If my master would only go to see Elijah the prophet, he would be healed.

How many of you would say, I hope he drops dead the way, I hope he gets worse? That's not what she did. She pointed the one who enslaved her to the cure, to his diseased body. What a picture, what a magnificent hero of Scripture, she didn't even know it.

She's just telling the truth, she believed in the power of God through the man of God. It was legendary. What is legendary of me? Those who aren't throwing rocks at my casket, the ones who love me, what will they remember?

I hope it is a man of God. Every one of us should ask ourselves that question. Not about me, not all about me, but it should be all about me.

No, it should not. Knowing that you were called to this. Now our business is to love others without a need for them to love us back. That's it. Knowing that Christ loves us.

That is something to think about. I will love you without demanding your love in return. That is agape love.

That is not phileo, that is agape. You mothers, you know that. Sit up with a child all night long when they're little, and in the morning when they feel better. Tell them do they come in and say thanks mom. I don't remember ever thanking my mom as a little guy. That's her duty.

I didn't think that way, I was just off to play. Gratitude. That word thank is related to our English word think. He says knowing that you were called to this, but I say Jesus speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. You're going to need to pray up for that one. We are going to need to run after, pursue, chase the Christian life in the spirit to achieve any of that. And thus we pray, leave me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Christianity is not a religion for angels.

It is a religion in its strict sense for sinners. Souls banished from the presence of God. Is that not what happened to Adam and Eve?

Get out of the garden, he put a century there, sentinel, a spiritual being with a flaming sword. 2 Corinthians tells us that we banished souls can be reconciled. That's the kind of faith, this is our reality.

Beyond religion, it is our reality, it is the real thing. Now, all things are of God, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that beautiful 2 Corinthians letter. It's hard to teach 1 Corinthians, it's just spanking guilty Christians for the first nine chapters, of which I am one. But that second one is reconciliation, because enough of them pledged themselves to get their act together.

You can work with that. You can't work with one that is just insistent on staying in the flesh and still claiming Christ. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, of fixing the problem. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Four times, reconcile, get it fixed as much as is in you, fix it. Romans 5-11, and not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation. Banished souls can come back through the way of Christ, the truth and the life, and there is no other way. And if you believe there's another way to heaven, you've been lied to and you've fallen for it.

You've been suckered and sold a bag of, you've been sold a bucket with no bottom. It's useless. He says here, Peter does, that you may inherit a blessing were it not for my own failures, were it not for my own fairness, I would point my little preachy finger at you to get your act together. But I've got mine too. And so this makes it very real. I cannot claim everybody except me.

I'm in it too. Everything I preach is for me too. First Peter, again, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but through the word of God which lives and abides forever, the incorruptible. You can't mess with God's word. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth, how many Christians think it's cool to not be reverent?

You will make yourself a fool with that kind of cool. Verse 10, for he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. A general principle. He's not giving an absolute guarantee. He says as a rule, if you want to see good days, long life, then work to be righteous. He's quoting Psalm 34, which is a psalm of David. David wrote this psalm after he behaved as a fool in the presence of the king of Gath, Philistine ruler.

And he survived it and he went and he wrote about it and he put music to it. Psalm 34 verse 12, who is the man who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good.

Seek peace and go after it. The eyes of Yahweh are under righteous and his ears are open to their cry. The face of Yahweh is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

That's a pretty stiff penalty. As Peter learned in the upper room, if Christ does not wash the sinner, the sinner can have no part with Christ. And so as prayer of the psalmist and the sinner is, Psalm 51, too. This psalm, again, as you know, David survived an egregious sin with Bathsheba. And he writes this 51st Psalm and he says, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

That deep, that iniquity, that deep down dirt that plagues us. He wanted out of it. He didn't want it in his life. It's the mark of a believer. I want it out, not only because it's bad for me and for others, but it is against my God. Verse 11, let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. Again, he's quoting the psalm. We are obligated to go after peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the sons of God. Verse 12, our life characterized by turning away from what is evil, going for what is good. He says, for the eyes of Yahweh. It's the Lord here in the Greek, New Testament written in the Greek, but he's quoting the Old Testament, the covenant name of God.

To the Old Testament, righteous Jew is Yahweh, but to the Christian it is Jesus Christ, who is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Here's a man, Peter, he's applying scripture. He's saying, look, what we read in the Bible is real stuff. Yeah, God, he sees what's going on, his children, the righteous, not to smack them over the head. We often respond, well if he sees, why is he delaying?

Why does God appear to be inactive when I need him most? The final answer is, he sees beyond everything we see, and that's good enough for him, and in the end we'll have to wait, it will be good enough for us. This life will be the only agony we will have. The Oxford martyrs, Ridley, Latimer, and Chambers, they were scholars. Two of them were old men, and they were burned at the stake because they loved the word of God. Latimer says to Ridley, because they were burned together, Kramer would be burned later, Latimer says, we're about to light a candle in England that will never go out.

What kind of courage is that? Later, Chambers, he recants against his outcry against Rome and Catholicism, and then he is given, he takes it back, well he's not believed, and he's sentenced to be burned at the stake several months later, and he gets to preach a sermon before his death that day, and of course he lets it all out. The people loved these men because they were preaching God's word to them, and they weren't getting God's word prior to them in England.

This is the English Reformation. Well anyway, Chambers, he goes to the stake, and the hand that he used to sign his recant, he puts it into the flame, he screams out, burn hand. In other words, you, you who signed and betrayed your Lord, you perish. Courage. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.

Those men died knowing God saw them would receive them, as did Stephen and so many other martyrs, men and women alike. That's what faith does. It sees beyond what's up in my face. It sees to eternity. Since Jesus lives forever, will never leave or forsake us, he sees it all.

What kind of courage does he have to tolerate his kids being messed with? It's profound. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways.

They're higher, big higher. Psalm 138, 6. Though the Lord is on high, yet he regards the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Get away from me.

He's stiff. Get away. So when you read that verse in Psalm 138, you say, I don't want to be that proud person, self-exalting, puffed up with myself, impressed with myself, disdained for others, certainly not submitting to God. I don't want to be that guy because that's the one who God resists. In verse 13, and who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

Again, a general principle. But even if you should suffer, and here's why we know it's a general principle, because Peter's sane enough to point this out. Even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed and do not be afraid of their threats nor be troubled.

Luke's gospel, Jesus speaking, he says, And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more they can do. You know, we just came real close to that last general election. We would be under a lot of pressure right now if God didn't intervene, but he hasn't always intervened on behalf of the righteous, as he had just recently done for us.

But there's still time. There's still time for us to be martyrs. He continues, Jesus does, he says, But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he is killed has power to cast into hell.

Yes, I say fear him. So when Peter says don't be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, because God, God has it under control, and Peter says, listen, this is a persecution we're under. I don't know if it's going to escalate or not at this point in history. He did not know where this was going. None of them did.

Where did it go? It went to the point where Nero was burning Christians as tortures in his garden while he, on a chariot, rode nude to tell the people, you see, I hate them too. It went to the point where both Peter and Paul were executed for their belief in Jesus Christ.

Peter didn't care. He wasn't troubled anymore. He was not the same man that stood by the enemy's fire, having followed Jesus from a distance and denied him.

He's not that man anymore. He saw the risen Lord. This is a new Peter. It's a new you.

It's a new me. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, serious business. That's why I resent having bunnies associated with the resurrection of my Lord. I don't even like the name of the goddess of sex and futility being associated with Jesus being up from the grave. That's not self-righteousness. It's just a fact. What does an egg have to do with the blood of Jesus Christ in that empty tomb?

I'm sure somebody clever enough can fit it in, not me. I hope I don't sound self-righteous, but I am firm in my conviction on that matter. The day we come together to celebrate the Lord's resurrection is no day like it on earth.

There's nothing like it. The only thing associated with that day is Him. Well, I told you I was full of the Spirit. Verse 15. Oh, we're almost out of time.

I was going to stop earlier, but we can do this if you just turn your watches off. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Devote your heart to God.

Be ready to answer the challenges. We don't have to answer challenges as people do in courtrooms and other places. All we have to do is say why we believe. That's what a witness does. I can tell you what I saw. And sometimes we're so pressured by this, we need to be theologians.

How do I answer that question? Look, I can't answer your question, but you believe all that stuff and you know that's fine. Let me tell you what I believe, what I saw, who I know. Revelation chapter 12, verse 11. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony because they did not love their lives to the death.

In fact, let's take verse 10 with it. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of this Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death. They went out like heroes. Satan was enraged and they went out like heroes, as did Ridley and Latimer and Kramer.

And then we read this. Well, I'll save that last one in Revelation to finish this up. He says, Always be ready to give a defense because you walk with the Lord. The word defense, the apologia, where we get our English word apology, but it does not mean sorry. It means defend in the context in the Greek and how it is used. In our English it's become something else, but it means to stand against it.

And that's what a defense is. Some souls don't know why they're rejecting Jesus Christ and that's an opportunity for us to tell them why they should not reject him. He says, To everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. How'd that person come to ask you in the first place? God sent them.

That's how. And so, don't depend on the pastor to reach the lost souls you bring to church or want to bring to church. He, the pastor, is to equip for the work of ministry.

The work of ministry involved the preaching of the gospel. Meekness, he says, meekness is strength held back for a reason. You have strength to pick an egg up, but you don't crush it in your hand for a reason. You have other things to do with it, and it's not on resurrection day.

We have so much more, but we have to move on. He says, with fear. Reverence. There is an irreverence amongst Christians today, I think in an effort to identify with the world, to be like them, to ask unbelievers how we should behave and to fit in. We're not trying to fit in with them. We're trying to fit them into the kingdom. Broad is the way, narrow is the gate that leads to destruction. And there are many that go in by it because narrow is the way that leads to eternal life.

You've got to press in through what is narrow. We're not here to fit in with them. We're not here to be quirky either, self-righteous or kooky or anything. We're here to be centered on Jesus Christ. That's what saves people, saves souls. And so this reverence belongs to our faith.

Verse 16, having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. Not because we tried to fit in with them. The church Christianity is so much, especially our young Christians, are just so determined to look, to walk, to act like the world. We have a saying, walks like a duck quacks like a duck.

It's a duck. How about walk like a Christian, speak like a Christian. It doesn't take much to do that. It just means that we know who we are. We don't have an identity issue. That's hard. It's not an easy one because those who are comfortable with the world will challenge it with, oh, yeah, well, what does that look like? And they're just, you know, okay, fine.

You know the truth. So take care of our conduct and God will take care of our characters, an old Christian phrase. Proverbs 28, the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion because the conscience is clear. Yeah, Satan accuses us day and night.

Why? Because we're guilty. We're sinners. But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Who shall separate you from the love of Christ Jesus? Who?

No one. Verse 17, for it is better if this is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Yeah, talk is cheap, but consider the life of Joseph.

Consider Joseph before Potiphar's wife. For the noblest act of his life, he went to prison. He went to jail.

How many men would have crumbled such an invitation? And he stood firm and he suffered. He had to be in prison and say, where is my God who's given me these dreams?

Who's given me the interpretation of dreams? Why is he allowing me to suffer like this? Why have my brothers sold me to slaves?

Why am I now in prison? But we never get that from Joseph. He's like the happy-go-lucky guy just skipping through the field, doing this next thing. I've tried to do it. I can't skip my trip every time. Acts chapter 5, many Christians don't have this in their Bibles. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. To suffer shame, that's a heavy hit, is it not? To be embarrassed?

To have people mock you, shake their heads, kiss you? The tribulation heroes, verse 17 of Revelation 12, we close with this, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, that is Israel, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, the church, Jew and Gentile alike, listen to it, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. We're imperfect, but we pursue his testimony. We try to uphold it. It's so frustrating and heartbreaking to find Christians turn on their pastors or other Christians for upholding righteousness without legalism. I mean immorality, not winking at it. This is what the scripture is talking about.

God is not going to bless those who tell him he's wrong and that they should be allowed to live without conviction. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1 Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.