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All right, brothers and sisters, please remain standing for the reading of God's Word as we continue our consideration and study of 1 Peter. My sermon text this evening, 1 Peter 3, 15, will be focusing especially on verse 15. I'm going to read verses 13 to 17 to fill out the context a little bit, but again, our main focus tonight will be on verse 15. And you will find that on page 1205 in your pew Bible. So, friends, this is the Word of God.
Let us hear it with reverence and awe. 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.
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let's pray for
the Lord to bless the proclamation of his Word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that
you have spoken to us. We ask that by your Spirit you would help us to hear that which the Spirit
has revealed to us in this portion of your Word. We thank you, Lord, for your God-breathed and
errant, infallible, authoritative Word. We pray that we might indeed receive it with reverence and
awe. We pray that we might indeed hear these truths and put them into practice in our lives,
and we pray that your Holy Spirit would cause your Word to find a lodging place in our souls
once again this evening. Be with us now and bless our time in the Word this evening. We pray these
things in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, Amen. You may be seated.
Well, dear friends, the Epistle of 1 Peter is a great gift of God to his suffering church.
For in this divinely inspired letter, the Apostle Peter seeks to encourage, to comfort,
and to bolster the faith of the believers to whom he was writing. And these believers were
believers who were facing a fiery trial of persecution for their Christian faith.
1 Peter is a wonderful, divinely inspired, gospel saturated guide to living a godly life
in the midst of a godless world. And one of the evidences of its Christ-centered,
gospel-driven focus is its emphasis on the Christian hope. That hope is not merely a pipe
dream, merely a wish, but when the Scriptures speak about the hope of the gospel, it's speaking of
something that is sure and certain, yet still in the future. And indeed, the promise of eternal
salvation we've already received through faith in Christ as our Savior. We've already received
the gift of salvation in its first installment, if you will. We've already been justified and
adopted, and we are sanctified in Christ, but we are also not fully saved in the ultimate sense,
in the sense of glorification. That awaits the future. But we are promised in the gospel that
if we are in Christ, that hope is secure, for there is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. And so friends, this focus on the Christian hope is a focus on the
sure and certain promises of eternal salvation which are found in the Lord Jesus Christ and
through faith in him. And so as Peter writes here in our passage for this evening,
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 what? For the hope that is in you, the sure and certain hope
of your eternal inheritance in Christ. And that is part of our apologetic, that is part of our
defense of the faith. Our passage for this Lord's Day evening calls us as God's people to be always
prepared to offer a defense and apologetic for our Christian hope to those who inquire,
in other words, to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. Among other things,
this indicates that one of our responsibilities as a church is to defend the Christian hope
of the gospel that we have received. Praise God for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it gives us
an eternal hope. Well friends, our passage for this Lord's Day evening is found in the midst
of this final lengthy section of 1 Peter. Again, to quote from Dr. I. Howard Marshall, he explains
as he comments on this section as it begins in verse 13, he says, a last major section of the
letter begins here, here in verse 13. From this point onward, Peter is concerned principally,
but not exclusively, with the Christian's response to actual persecution. To be sure,
the hostile attitude of non-Christian society was also very much in the background in earlier parts
of the letter, but there he focused directly on the character of Christians individually,
in the Christian community and in various social relationships. But now the focus shifts to an
actual response to specific attacks. In chapter 3, verses 13 through 17, Peter urges his readers
to make positive use of the opportunities posed by hostile situations. And indeed, friends, because
our hope in Christ is firm and certain, because we have the promise of eternal life and we can be
sure of that promise because of the gospel. Therefore, we can give a reason for the hope
that is in us, in the power of the Spirit. Well, friends, as we look at this, as we consider our
passage for this evening, the first thing we notice here is a call to submit to Christ's
Lordship, a call to submit to Christ's Lordship. As Peter is speaking of suffering for righteousness
and how we as believers in Christ should respond to that, he says at the end of verse 14,
have no fear of them, those who would persecute you, nor be troubled. But instead, what are we
to do? Verse 15, in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. In your hearts honor Christ the Lord
as holy. Now, if you have a version like the King James Version or the New King James Version,
it reads somewhat differently, slightly differently. It says, for example, in the
New King James Version, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. And that may cause you to wonder,
well, which is the more accurate translation? And again, as I explained on the last Lord's Day,
this is a textual issue. There are some ancient manuscripts that have the reading that is
represented in the New King James Version and others that have the reading that is represented
in versions like the English Standard Version. According to the textual expert, Dr. Bruce Metzger,
the reading that is represented by translations like the ESV is supported by early and diversified
external evidence, which is a fancy way of saying that the reading Christ the Lord is supported
by early and widespread ancient manuscript evidence. And in my opinion, I believe in line
with many biblical scholars that this represents what Peter probably wrote in the original. And so
we can rest in this text. In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. Well, friends, proclaiming
Jesus Christ as the divine Lord is an essential part of the biblical gospel as that gospel was
preached by the apostles. The proclamation of Jesus's divine lordship and the implications of
that lordship was part of the apostolic proclamation of the gospel. And in order to effectively defend and bear faithful witness to our Christian hope, we need to submit by faith to Jesus Christ as Lord,and we need to seek to live under his divine lordship. We see this, for example, and just to
give you a couple of examples as we compare scripture with scripture, consider what Paul
writes in Romans chapter 10 verses 8 through 13. He writes the following, but what does it say
as he's speaking about the proclamation of righteousness by faith, the gospel, the good
news of righteousness by faith, the word of the gospel, he says, but what does it say? The word is
near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim,
because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is what? That Jesus is Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same
Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved. If you trust Jesus as Lord in your heart, that will lead you to confess
him as Lord with your lips, and this is part of the apostolic deposit of the faith. And then consider
what Paul writes in Colossians 2 verses 6 and 7, as we consider again the theme of Christ's lordship
and how important that truth is for the biblical gospel. It says here in Colossians 2 verses 6
and 7, therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him
and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Again, who do
we receive for our salvation? We receive Christ Jesus the Lord, Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah,
the promised Messiah, the anointed divine prophet, priest, and king, the son of the living God,
and the divine Lord, the word made flesh. It is he, it is him that we receive, and as we receive him
by faith, we are also having received him to live in union with him, rooted and built up in him.
We see this also, for example, in the way that the apostle Paul describes the church in Corinth
as he opens up 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 2 and 3. He addresses the church as follows,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints
together with all those who in every place do what? Call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
both their Lord and ours. Jesus is Lord, and we are to submit to his Lordship. Indeed,
as he is Lord, we are to walk in union with him. Friends, living by faith in and submission to
Christ's Lordship is vital and essential to our defense of the faith. It is vital and essential
to our apologetic. While being intellectually equipped with sound doctrine and sound argumentation
is certainly an important part of defending the Christian hope, the hope of the gospel.
At the same time, effective apologetics is not merely an intellectual game involving clever
argumentation and running logical circles around the arguments of unbelievers. It is also grounded
in a Christian walk, which honors the Lordship of Christ and which bears the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. And so, dear listener, are you honoring Christ the Lord as holy in your heart? Is Jesus
Christ your Lord? Have you trusted him as your Lord and your Savior? He is Lord, and it is because
he is Lord that he has the power to save us sinners. Praise God that Jesus is Lord and that he is
sovereign and that he is our King. We see here next in our passage a call to preparation. Not
only do we have a call to submit to the Lordship of Christ, we have a call to preparation. As it
says in verse 15, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason,
for the hope that is in you. Always being what? Prepared. Always being prepared. Dr. Marshall
writes, the text probably implies no more than that Christians should always seize such opportunities
when they arise, but it is fair to add that they will be unable to capitalize on the opportunities
if they are not already prepared with a coherent understanding of faith and some practice in
rehearsing it. Jesus is saying, and he alludes to Jesus' saying in Matthew 10 verse 19,
and let me just read that verse really quickly because some might point to Matthew 10 19 and
say, well we don't really need to prepare, we just need to rely on the Holy Spirit, right?
No need for preparation in our witness for Christ, but notice again Matthew 10 19 says this. It says,
when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say,
for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. Now some have taken that passage and
said you don't really need to prepare, you don't need to really study hard and know your faith in
order to share it, but as Dr. Marshall points out, Jesus is saying in Matthew 10 19 is meant to rule
out worry, not preparation. We need to keep that in mind. He says, Peter says, or the spirit through
Peter here says, always being prepared, prepared. Now I bring this up and I belabor this point beloved because there seems to be this idea out there in at least in some Christian circles that it is somehow unspiritual to prepare for sharing the gospel with others, as if preparation somehow stifles the Holy Spirit. Friends, not to be unkind, but that's really pietistic nonsense. The spirit of God is the spirit of truth. He is the spirit of order. He is the spirit who brings order out of
non-order and certainly the spirit is pleased oftentimes to use our preparations to forward
his gospel and to cause his gospel to bear spiritual fruit. The spirit of God is not opposed
to preparation, but can be relied upon to use our preparations to bear witness to our Christian hope.
But at the same time, a practical application of this principle of preparation is that such
preparation involves both intellectual aspects and godly living. How is it that we are always
prepared to give a reason for the Christian hope, the promise, and the certainty of eternal
salvation through faith in Christ and Christ alone? How is it that we are enabled and prepared to give that witness? Well certainly that involves knowing the gospel and being able to articulate the gospel at least in its basic form. At the same time though, it also involves godly living. As the
cliche goes, and it is a cliche, but like many cliches, there is some truth to it. You've heard
the cliche perhaps. You are the only Bible that some folks will ever read. Yes, we defend and
share our Christian hope by our words. We must use words, but we also demonstrate that hope by our
Christian lives and our walk with the Lord. Here, listener, does your life adorn or defame the gospel
message which you seek to defend and which you seek to bear testimony to. We are called to be
always prepared. We do that by making sure that we understand the gospel, that we are somewhat
practiced in sharing the gospel with others as we have opportunity to, and also we do so by making
sure that we are walking the talk, that we're being doers of the word and not hearers only
who deceive ourselves. But the reason we are to do this is because we have a duty to defend. This
is the next point that I'd like to bring out from our passage for this evening. In your hearts,
honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to do what? To make a defense to anyone
who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. The word in the Greek for defense is the word
from which we get our word apologetics. It's not talking about apologizing for being Christian,
obviously. It's actually a word that has legal overtones. Dr. Wilbur Smith defines the word
apologia as follows. He defines it as a verbal defense, a speech in defense of what one has done
or of truth which one believes. We see the apostles in the New Testament. We see examples
of the apostles giving a defense for the Christian faith on numerous occasions.
There are, as we compare again, compare scripture with scripture. Let me take you to a few passages
where this term is also used and to kind of give us an idea of how this terminology of apologia
is used. Turn with me if you would, for example, to Philippians chapter one verse seven. Philippians
chapter one verse seven. Just give me a moment to get there. In Philippians one verse seven,
the apostle Paul writes, it is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you
in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense
and a confirmation of the gospel. Paul was set apart for the defense and the confirmation of the
gospel and he uses that word here in this passage. We see this also in second Timothy chapter four
verse 16. Second Timothy chapter four verse 16. It says this, at my first defense no one came to
stand by me but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them. He's speaking about
illegal defense before officials here and we see this kind of language also used in the book of
Acts. Acts 22 verse one. Acts chapter 22 verse one. Let me just get there where Paul addresses
the people and it says brothers and fathers hear the defense that I now make before you.
Hear my apologetic, my defense and then he proceeds to share his testimony and to speak
of the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see this also, this kind of language
and the final example I'll use is Acts 25 verse 16 where he is before Agrippa and again he's
defending himself. It's a legal context and he says I answered them that it was not the custom
of the Romans. This is actually Festus speaking here. I answered them that it was not the custom
of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met his accusers face to face and had
opportunity to make his defense, his apologetic concerning the charge laid against him. So there's
legal overtones to our apologetic and we are to give a defense as you would in a courtroom.
My friends what does this point to? What does this teach us? Well it teaches us that the church not
only has a responsibility and a duty to preach the gospel but also it has a duty to defend
the gospel before a hostile unbelieving world. But how do we do that effectively? How do we do
that effectively? Well this leads me to my final point which is based on the latter part of this
verse. 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 how? With gentleness
and respect. Gentleness towards the unbeliever to whom you are sharing with whom you're sharing the
gospel. Respect or reverence towards God showing a reverence towards God in your in your testimony
in your apologetic. Do it with gentleness and respect. You know this this reminds me of what
we're told in Proverbs 15 verses 1 to 3 and I know in that passage it's a different different
context but nevertheless I think we could apply the principles laid out in in Proverbs 15 1 through
3 to an apologetic situation. It says in that passage Proverbs 15 beginning at verse 1
of life but perverseness in it breaks the spirit that is true in general in general human relationships if someone if you're if you're in a dispute with someone and you speak harshly to them then you inflame their anger that's the natural tendency but a soft answer turns away wrath a harsh word stirs up anger a gentle tongue verse 4 is a tree of life a gentle tongue promotes life
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit you see the contrasts there friends
these principles apply in apologetic scenarios as well in situations where we encounter
ignorant or hostile objections to our Christian faith it's easy to respond with defensiveness
especially if you're talking with an unbeliever who is attacking your Christian faith or belittling
you for your Christian faith it's easy to return evil for evil it's easy to get defensive to react
with vitriol and vehemence it's easy to react with guns ablaze as we seek to metaphorically
destroy our non-believing objectors but as those who are followers of Jesus Christ this is not how
we are to respond to hostility we're not to respond to cursing with cursing but with blessing
and we are not to respond to unbelievers with harshness when they display their ignorance or
hostility towards the gospel instead we are to speak gently we are to offer a gentle word
we are to speak the truth in love certainly speak the truth defend the gospel the good
news of Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins raised from the dead for our
justification defending the gospel which promises salvation by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone apart from works of the law we must stand for the truth we must speak the truth but
we must speak the truth in love and offer a gentle witness and we are to do so in the hopes
that our objector will be brought to repentance not simply that he would be humiliated or lose
the argument but would be brought to personal repentance and faith so brothers and sisters in
Christ as we seek to be always prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in us this hope which
is not merely a wish but a firm and certain a firm certainty because our salvation is a firm
certainty in Christ let us seek to bear witness to that gospel with gentleness and respect for
there is great power in a gentle witness may god give us the grace to have many opportunities
to present a gentle witness for the gospel of Jesus Christ amen let us pray our lord and father
in heaven we thank you oh god that you have saved us we thank you that you have sealed us with the
spirit unto the day of redemption we thank you lord god that we have a hope that is truly a living
hope we ask lord that you would give us grace and wisdom to know how to bear faithful testimony
to this living hope that we have in Christ may we always be prepared to give a reason for the
hope that is within us to anyone who asks a reason for that hope we pray these things heavenly father
in Jesus name and all of God's people said amen as we close our time this evening let's rise and
we'll sing as our closing hymn number 459 my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood
and righteousness we'll rise and sing number 459