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[0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. We've heard several verses read from this passage throughout our time of musical worship.

[0:35] This is a text that's familiar to us. It's rich with Old Testament references and quotations, and it's capped with very down-to-earth applications, as we'll see in verses 11 and 12.

[0:48] Let me pray for us to begin our time. Oh God, we pray that you would speak to us now as we open your word. Your word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.

[1:00] May you make its being alive very real to us this morning. Help us to recognize the clarity and power of your word. And Holy Spirit, I pray you'd make this book living to us.

[1:13] You're the one who inspired it. You're the one who inspired Peter as he wrote. May you help us understand this morning. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen. Well, during World War II, there were American missionaries in the Philippines named Herb and Ruth Klingin.

[1:32] They were taken captive along with their young son in a Japanese-run prisoner of war camp. They had no crimes that they'd committed other than being American.

[1:44] They were there to preach the gospel, but had been taken captive in this prisoner of war camp for three years, beginning in early 1942. Lieutenant Kanishi was the commandant of the camp, and he had devised many inventive and torturous ways of killing his prisoners, especially as the war drew on.

[2:07] One of these maniacal plots involved serving them unhusked rice, these grains of rice that had not had the hard, sharp outer shell removed.

[2:18] And if consumed in this state, it would cause intestinal bleeding that would lead to the prisoner's death in a very short period of time. However, the amount of work it would take to remove the shell was not worth the calories that the rice would provide.

[2:35] This is just one of many ways that he would torture and kill his prisoners. And yet, even in these horrible and harsh circumstances, the Klingons still joyfully and boldly proclaimed Christ, even to their captors, any chance that they had.

[2:53] They continued with joy to persevere through this suffering as gospel witnesses wearing their suffering well. And in this letter of 1 Peter, the apostle Peter is writing to a suffering church.

[3:11] This is a church that's experiencing much hostility from the world around them. And Peter, and ultimately God, is wanting these churches to respond in a way similar to how the Klingons responded to their suffering.

[3:27] He is wanting them to have joy and faith and confidence and hope, even in light of their suffering and death. And you see in chapter 1, verse 1, if you look there, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles.

[3:45] They're chosen by God, but they are dispersed throughout several regions of what we would call Turkey. Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

[3:57] And throughout this letter, one of the constant refrains is the theme of suffering. We'll see it mentioned several times in our text this morning. In chapter 2, verse 13, he turns to how Christians should relate to unjust and pagan authority.

[4:15] In chapter 2, verse 18, how should servants relate to their unbelieving and unjust masters? In chapter 3, how should believing wives be subject to their husbands who do not obey the word?

[4:31] In chapter 4, the apostle Peter says, do not respond to the suffering as though something strange were happening to you. In chapter 5, verse 9, when he talks about the afflictions that Satan is bringing on this church, he says, know that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

[4:51] These Christians are afflicted and persecuted in ways that we could hardly imagine. And instead of calling them to avoid this, Peter tells them to wear it well, to wear it with joy and faith.

[5:05] But as is so often the case with the Bible, Peter doesn't simply tell them to grit their way through it. He supplies them with warm encouragement by which they can stand against the schemes of the devil and the wiles of this world.

[5:21] And you can almost hear the question from these people of why are we going through this? Are we suffering because we've done something wrong? Why is this happening to us? And that's a question we'll often ask in suffering as well.

[5:36] A couple of years ago, we went on a road trip with my family to Kentucky and we collectively came up with the idea to travel by night because the kids would sleep in the car the whole way there.

[5:47] And at about 3 a.m. after all three of the kids woke each other up taking turns doing so, I muttered to myself, why are we doing this? We can't turn back now.

[5:59] We just got to keep going. But why did we decide to do this? And it's possible these believers were asking, is this going to be worth it? Why are we following Christ if it's leading to our death?

[6:10] Why are our loved ones being killed? Is this going to be worth it? So our title this morning is Rejected by Men, Chosen by God. Rejected by Men, Chosen by God.

[6:25] And we'll cover it in three points, the first one being the building of God. The building of God. And we see this in verses 4 and 5. Peter says, As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious.

[6:45] You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

[6:58] At the very beginning of chapter 2, if you look in verse 2, Peter calls these believers to, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word so that they may grow up into salvation.

[7:12] Verse 3, If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. A phrase borrowed from Psalm 34. And in Psalm 34, that is a reference to Yahweh, to God.

[7:23] And yet in verse 4 he says, As you come to him, as you come to the Lord, as you come to Yahweh, who is a living stone rejected by men. So we learn that the Lord from verse 3 is Jesus Christ himself, according to verse 4.

[7:40] As you come to him. Now he's writing to believers, and so what we learn from this is that coming to Jesus is not simply a one-time event. Yes, there is a decisive moment where someone is transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the realm of God's beloved Son, but coming to Jesus by faith is an ongoing act of the Christian life.

[8:06] And as you come to him, the hymn is Jesus, a living stone rejected by men. A living stone. This is an intentional paradox that Peter uses here.

[8:19] How is a stone living? Stones are great, but they're not animate objects. So how is this stone alive? And the implication is through resurrection.

[8:31] Christ is alive today through the resurrection after his death. He is a living stone because he lives forever, and he is a living stone because he gives life to all who come to him.

[8:45] He was rejected by men. This is something prophesied in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 53, this servant of the Lord was despised and rejected by men.

[8:59] Psalm 118 that was read from earlier was rejected by men. And we'll see a chain of Old Testament quotations in our passage today. This is primarily a reference to the Jews, the ones who plotted against Jesus to take his life through crucifixion, but it extends to all who have rejected Christ both before and since.

[9:21] And this word rejected isn't just a rejection without information. They weighed him. They counted him. They considered him and came to the conclusion that he was insufficient, that he was not what they were expecting.

[9:37] He did not measure up to their expectations. And this rejection that was all throughout his ministry climaxed in the crucifixion. They plotted against him, planned his death, and killed him.

[9:55] He was rejected by men. But in the sight of God, chosen and precious.

[10:07] This word precious could maybe more accurately be translated as honored. He was chosen and honored in the sight of God. He was rejected by this world, but in God's sight, he was chosen.

[10:22] He was honored. We hear the repeated phrase throughout the Gospels where God speaks audibly and says, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

[10:34] What the world thinks of someone is zero indication of how God views them. What the world thinks of Christ gives us zero information about how God views him.

[10:50] So do not put too much stock in men's opinions. Listen to God. Take his word to heart. Strive to be pleasing in his sight.

[11:04] Jesus was chosen in the sight of God. He is the Savior, and he was raised and exalted to the Father's right hand. And as we move through this text, we'll see that this pattern of suffering and exaltation that Christ experienced will be the same trajectory of our lives as well.

[11:23] We, like Jesus, will suffer now, but be exalted later. And these Christians that Peter is writing to were despised by many, but they were chosen and honored in God's sight.

[11:34] They were destined for exaltation after suffering. We see this starting in verse 5. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices.

[11:56] Peter now looks on these churches and says, you guys are living stones in the same way that Christ is the living stone.

[12:08] What we learn is that Jesus' resurrection life becomes our resurrection life. What's true of Christ is true of his church. We call this union with Christ. What is true of him becomes true of his people through faith.

[12:22] faith. We have the very life of Christ in us. And the fullness of this reality will not be fully known to us until the end of the age, but even now, we possess this resurrection life inside of us.

[12:39] And you, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. This is a divine passive.

[12:50] God is the one who's doing the building. We're being built up by God as a spiritual house. And in the Bible, whenever we see language of being built or building up and house, we're referring to the temple.

[13:05] The temple was built in the Old Testament. Jesus referred to the temple as the house of God. And so what Peter is doing here is he's saying the church is the new temple. The church is the place where God dwells.

[13:18] The church is the place where God makes himself known. The church is now the dwelling place of God. This is true of us as individuals as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.

[13:30] But this is also true of us corporately as a group. When we show up, God is with us. We are the temple of the living God. As we gather as God's church, he is with us just as he promised us he would be.

[13:47] We don't have to travel on a pilgrimage or summon our God from a distant place. He is with us and he is in us. And it's because of this truth that Christianity is not restricted to a place.

[14:04] That is, Christianity is not restricted to a physical location. Wherever the church is gathered, God is there. and because of this, the church is custom built for persecution.

[14:19] The church is tailor made to endure suffering and persecution. Whether your church is under a tree or in a storefront or renting a school or in a large building, if it is a true church, God is there.

[14:35] Because the church is the people of God. God is so comforting to us, especially when we are reviled and hated.

[14:46] And so God forbid that we were ever kicked out of our building or ever lost our building, but if that were to happen, nothing essential would change. God would be with us.

[14:58] We are the dwelling place of God. And we are being built up together. We collectively are this spiritual house.

[15:10] And so you cannot be a Lone Ranger Christian. You cannot do the Christian life on your own. You cannot do church at home. People constantly say things like, I feel like I can be just as pleasing to God on my own as I could be in the church.

[15:28] And what's really being said there is I feel like I could be just as pleasing to God by disobeying him as I could be if I obeyed him. We collectively are the church of God that are being built together into a spiritual house.

[15:46] And just a reminder, Peter's not writing to one specific local church here. He's writing to these churches who've been scattered throughout these five regions of the Gentile world.

[15:58] And yet they're being built together into one spiritual house. We as a church are not the totality of God's kingdom.

[16:09] We are one local manifestation of God's church, this one spiritual house that he is building. And for what purpose are we being built up?

[16:19] What purpose are we being formed into this spiritual house? To be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

[16:34] To be a holy priesthood. Peter's mixing his metaphors a little bit here. How can we be both the temple and the priest? But his point is that we are both the dwelling place of God and the ones who mediate his blessings to the people around us.

[16:48] We have direct access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's people are now priests. All of us as members of the new covenant are those who carry out the work of the ministry.

[17:01] We have direct access to God through Christ and we all represent God to the people around us. And the priesthood is a complex reality in the Old Testament but I think just four things to consider about the priesthood are helpful as we consider this priesthood of all believers.

[17:20] Priests were chosen. Priests were selected by God. We also as we will see are chosen by God. Priests were cleansed and purified to serve in the presence of God.

[17:36] We've been washed clean from all of our sin. The priests were marked by obedience. They were set apart to obey.

[17:48] And then the priests mediated God's presence. They represented men before God and they represented God before men. And Peter has all of those in mind as he calls us the church collective a holy priesthood.

[18:07] And we're to function by offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. What sacrifices does Peter have in mind here?

[18:17] Well not physical sacrifices like were offered in the Old Covenant but these sacrifices that are pleasing to the Lord in the New Covenant. These spiritual sacrifices. You think of Romans 12, 1 and 2.

[18:29] We offer up ourselves as living sacrifices. You think of Hebrews 13 where it's the fruit of lips that acknowledge the name of God and share what they have with others.

[18:43] Ultimately, these spiritual sacrifices describe all of our service to the Lord through Christ. And it is through Christ because we could do nothing pleasing in God's sight apart from him.

[19:00] John 15, 5 says, apart from me you can do nothing. So that's the building of God. Secondly, we see the blessings of belief.

[19:13] The blessings of belief. We see these in verses 6 through 10. Peter says, for it stands in Scripture.

[19:26] And Peter's now going to anchor what he's been saying in the Bible. He's going to use the Old Testament to demonstrate and prove that what he's been saying is in fact true.

[19:38] And what follows is the highest concentration of stone imagery in the Bible. He pulls together this chain of Old Testament texts referring to Christ as a stone rejected by men.

[19:54] And the first one he quotes from is Isaiah 28 and it says, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

[20:10] In Isaiah 28, Isaiah is writing to Israel to not abandon the Lord. They're tempted to flee from the Lord and not trust in him and turn to foreign allies or make military alliances to keep themselves alive and Isaiah is saying, Whoever believes in the Lord will not be put to shame.

[20:30] Whoever trusts in him will not face the judgment of exile. Trust in the Lord. do not turn to other sources of help. And in Peter's day, these believers could have been tempted to bow to the powers over them, to compromise with those who are afflicting them and persecuting them.

[20:50] But he's urging them by quoting Isaiah to stay strong and to stay faithful and to use a reference to Christ as a stone. Behold, I am laying.

[21:01] This word means to put or place or to appoint. This is a chosen stone. And it's not just any stone, but it is a cornerstone chosen and precious.

[21:14] Same language Peter used in verse four, chosen and honored. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

[21:28] Believes in verse six is the same thing he described in verse four of as you come to him. Believing in the Lord is the same thing as coming to him by faith.

[21:40] And whoever believes in him will not experience the shame of judgment, but will experience the joy of salvation. And so, verse seven, the honor is for you who believe.

[21:54] We will share in the honor that is Christ. just as Christ is chosen and honored in the sight of God, so we receive honor through believing in Christ.

[22:05] We share in the honor and the preciousness that is his in the sight of God. But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[22:21] So we as believers will share in the honor that is Christ, but on the other hand, those who reject him, those who do not believe in him will face ultimate shame and dishonor. And he proves that by quoting Psalm 118, verse 22, which was read for us earlier.

[22:36] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Jesus used this verse to refer to himself in Matthew 21. Peter referred to this verse in Acts chapter 4 when he is preaching to the Sanhedrin.

[22:53] We're continuing the stone imagery, the stone that the builders rejected. The builders were those in charge of Israel's spiritual formation. Jesus used this phrase to describe the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees and the priests, those who were in charge of the spiritual life of Israel.

[23:14] And these builders rejected this stone. Jesus did not satisfy them. This rejection culminated in Jesus dying on the cross at their hands but this stone that's rejected has become the cornerstone.

[23:31] And the cornerstone anchored the building. Every angle and every measurement radiated from this stone. It was the most important piece and so it was chosen with the utmost care.

[23:44] And so how is it that this stone that the builders examined and looked over and tossed out has become the cornerstone? because the very act of them tossing out this stone, the very act of them rejecting Christ and nailing him to the cross was the exact plan and purpose of God to make him the foundation for the church.

[24:04] His death is the foundation of the church. His blood is the seed that causes the church to sprout. Jesus' blood laid the foundation for the church of God.

[24:17] He is the church's one foundation. His resurrection was God's declaration that though his son was rejected by men, he was loved and chosen by God.

[24:32] And, verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Jesus is a stumbling block to the Jews.

[24:47] And verse 8 says they stumble because they disobey the word. They stumble over him by refusing to believe and obey the word.

[24:59] And Peter has spoken about the word if you look back at the end of chapter 1, verse 24. All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.

[25:09] The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. And it's this word that the Jewish leaders disobeyed.

[25:27] And we see they failed to believe like verse 7 says, but they also failed to obey like verse 8 says. And so to disobey is the same thing as disbelief.

[25:39] And ultimately all disobedience grows out of unbelief in our hearts. And so in Peter's usage here, he quotes Isaiah 8 in verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

[25:53] The Jewish leaders examined Christ, they turned him over, were looking at him, determined that he was not sufficient, they threw him out and then stumbled over him to their deaths.

[26:06] Not only is Christ the cornerstone of the kingdom of God, he is the one who will destroy unbelievers in judgment. And at the end of verse 8 it says, as they were destined to do.

[26:24] They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. And this word destined is the same one translated as laying in verse 6.

[26:34] It means to put or to place or to appoint. God has appointed these things. Now what were they destined to do? Were they destined to stumble or were they destined to disobey the word in verse 8?

[26:49] And some people would argue that this is a simple cause and effect. So for example, the person doing a math problem who ignores the rules of math is destined to get the problem wrong.

[27:04] That's the logical consequence of ignoring those rules. And so some people would argue that that's what's going on here spiritually. Those who disobey the word are destined by way of consequence to stumble.

[27:19] But I would argue that both are in view here. They're destined to stumble because they were destined to disobey the word.

[27:32] God has not only appointed that they would stumble and fall but that they would disbelieve and stumble. And these ideas might alarm us but this is all throughout the scriptures.

[27:45] Proverbs 16.4, Yahweh has appointed everything, even the wicked for the day of trouble. You think of Acts 2.23 that these men crucified Christ by the perfect plan and foreknowledge of God.

[28:02] Even the death of Christ, all the scheming that took place on behalf of the Jews was according to the foreknowledge of God. And while these ideas are alarming to us and can make us uncomfortable, Peter is comforting his suffering people.

[28:19] He's reminding them that this evil world is not outside of God's control. All of the plotting, all of the scheming by powerful and wealthy men is not outside of God's control.

[28:31] God rules over even those who oppose him. as is evidenced in the death and resurrection of Christ.

[28:44] And verse 9 shifts from a discussion of the unbelievers to the church. And what we read about in verses 9 and 10 may seem like exaggeration on Peter's part, but that just shows us that our view of the church is too small.

[29:00] We need this glorious view of the privilege of the church. And he describes the church as a new Israel. And it's not that God is done with ethnic Israel.

[29:14] It's not that all of God's promises made to Israel are fulfilled in the church, but the church is the fruition of the promises that God made to Abraham that he would bless his seed and the ends of the earth would receive that blessing.

[29:29] Verses 9 and 10 are soaked with Old Testament quotes and illusions. And just another reminder, we need to be familiar with the Bible. Peter is not quoting everything that he refers to here.

[29:43] He's expecting us as his readers to know where he's coming from with these verses. So I'll read verses 9 and 10 for us. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

[30:06] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

[30:18] You are a chosen race, or you are a chosen ethnicity. It's a quote from Isaiah 43. So God has appointed the wicked to judgment in verse 8, but believers are his chosen people according to verse 9.

[30:37] Just as Jesus was a chosen cornerstone, so his people are also chosen. What is true of Christ is true of his church. We're described as a royal priesthood borrowing from Exodus 19.

[30:49] It's a rare combination of both royalty or kingship and priesthood. God's religion. We're to mediate the blessings of God to the nations as sons and daughters of our royal God.

[31:05] A holy nation. This is found all throughout the Old Testament. We are in fact a holy people.

[31:18] Standing before God, we are spotlessly perfect through the blood of Christ. And now in our life, that is progressively being worked out and put into practice, but as we stand before God, he sees the righteousness of his beloved son as we stand before him.

[31:37] And collectively, we are a holy nation. A people for his own possession. We belong to God and serve his purposes.

[31:50] Why has he done this? Why are we like this? Why has he saved us? There is one purpose that Peter gives in verse 9.

[32:02] That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The one purpose that Peter says all of this happened for is so that we would proclaim his excellencies.

[32:19] That we would make known who our God is and what he has done. We must be proclaimers. We must speak the gospel. This is the overarching purpose of these blessings.

[32:34] And so are we proclaimers? Are we those who point people to the gospel? Are we those who make the excellencies of our God known?

[32:46] The word excellencies is a reference to all that he has done in salvation and all that he is in himself. Psalm 145 verse 5 says, On the glorious majesty of your splendor and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

[33:04] We must not only think about what our God has done and who he is but proclaim that to the world. And we're proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

[33:21] The word called in the New Testament most usually refers to God's calling in salvation. And what we see from the New Testament is that this isn't merely a wishful word spoken by God.

[33:34] This isn't merely a hopeful invitation extended by God. This calling itself has power. This calling itself is performative. This calling itself is effectual.

[33:50] And this combination of darkness and light reminds us of creation. And we're reminded that what God speaks is reality.

[34:01] The call itself transfers us from darkness to light. Just as God's word creates light in Genesis 1, so his calling, his word creates faith.

[34:12] And Psalm 118 is a reference to what the Messiah will do. Verse 23 says this is Yahweh's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord alone gets glory for salvation and we must proclaim his excellencies.

[34:29] Once, verse 10, you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

[34:40] mercy. These are quotes from the book of Hosea. And in Hosea, Israel has completely apostatized and walked away from the Lord and he disowns them.

[34:54] He says, even though I'm sending you off to exile, I will bring you back. And though for a time you were not my people, now you are the people of God. And Peter is saying this reference in Hosea includes us as Gentiles who are grafted into these promises originally made to Israel.

[35:14] This is us. We have received mercy because the Lord has promised. And if this seems anticlimactic to you in light of everything else he has said, it's because you do not understand the mercy of the Lord.

[35:28] His mercy is undeserved and unmerited. He withheld the punishment that we deserved because he loved us and sent his son for us.

[35:39] And so though once we were in darkness, though we once lived very differently than we currently do, though we were once not a people, we've been formed into the people of God who have become his dwelling place here on earth.

[35:54] And though these Christians were experiencing persecution and were looked down upon from every corner of society and hated, God has called them his own.

[36:05] Though they have no place to call home here on earth, they have a home with God, he is their refuge. And so how should we live in light of this?

[36:16] We've seen the building of God, we've seen the blessings of belief, and thirdly, we see the basics of godliness. The basics of godliness. How do we relate to the world around us?

[36:37] How do we relate to the world around us as it is? It would be easy, and it's possible for many of us just to complain about the world, and wish we could relate to the world as it used to be, or relate to the world as we hope it one day could be.

[36:56] But how do we relate to the lost world around us as it is? Do we withdraw? Do we become monks? Do we all go in on some lands together and live communally?

[37:08] As cool as that would be for 12 minutes, no. On the other hand, do we become activists? Do we try to redeem every corner of culture and transform all of it from the inside out?

[37:22] Is this going to get increasingly better? No. We must live as lights in the darkness and suffer well.

[37:36] Verse 11, beloved, such a powerful word in light of the rejection they've received from the world. I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

[37:56] And keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

[38:11] A sojourner or a pilgrim was someone who was going home. Someone who is going somewhere, whose eyes are on a different land. Someone who is seeking life in another place.

[38:27] And though we are God's people, we will not feel at home in this world. Because we are God's people, we should not feel at home in this world.

[38:39] We will feel like we are just passing through and that is a good thing. It's a sign that we are God's own people. people. And so how is it that we live as people who are not citizens of this world, who do not belong here?

[38:59] He gives us a negative command and a positive command. He tells us to abstain and to keep. Abstain from the passions of the flesh. These are the natural desires we have apart from the work of the Spirit.

[39:12] And this is instructive to us because those who have the Spirit are not exempt from these temptations. Just because we are saved does not mean we are completely removed from anything that could tempt us.

[39:25] And this includes any sinful desire. We were called to abstain from them. And he says they wage war against your soul.

[39:40] Our sinful desires are carrying out a sustained military campaign against our souls. They are relentlessly aggressive.

[39:54] The word used here for waging war is how we get our word strategize. Our sinful desires are seeking to ruin us. And war is a complex event, especially thinking of days gone by.

[40:10] All kinds of considerations need to be made of the supply chain and food supply and weaponry and positioning and strategy. What we learn is this is not an easy task.

[40:23] We cannot be passive in this fight. We must fight back. We must fight for our souls.

[40:36] In war there is always a conqueror and those who are conquered. And it says that our desires, the passions of the flesh, are waging war against our souls.

[40:49] There's a, really as it were, a civil war going on inside of us. And we see that our battle is not against the unbelieving world around us or outside of us, but against the hellish desires in our own hearts.

[41:05] This is where the battle is to be fought. We must abstain from these things. So a question for us is, do we declare war on our own sin and love our enemies?

[41:19] Do we declare war on our sin and love our enemies, or do we harbor our sin and look down on our enemies? Peter is not calling them to withdraw from this world, but to live rightly in light of it, abstaining from these fleshly lusts that are so compelling to us.

[41:40] He says in verse 12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

[41:55] Peter doesn't encourage them to launch a political attack in self-defense. He doesn't encourage them to take up arms to defend Christianity. He calls them to live virtuous and beautiful lives in the eyes of the watching world.

[42:12] He calls them to pursue goodness so that their lives will be a testimony to the world around them. And here's this word, honorable. Even though Christ was rejected, he's honored in the sight of God.

[42:25] Even though we are rejected, we have honor through Christ and through faith in him, and we must act honorably. We must display that honor in front of the Gentiles.

[42:40] And this word honorable can also mean good or beautiful. This is the word God uses to describe creation as beautiful or good in the beginning. And so what we see here is the word to declare the gospel with our mouths and to display the gospel with our lives, and we cannot choose one or the other.

[42:58] We cannot just say, I'm living my life in light of the gospel, so I don't need to proclaim it. Both of these things must be true. And why does he say among the Gentiles?

[43:08] He's writing to Gentiles. He's writing to Christians who have been saved out of paganism, to these Christians who are dispersed throughout Turkey. He's telling them that now that they've been saved, they're a holy nation.

[43:25] You're no longer truly Gentiles. You are Christians. You are a new race. You are a royal priesthood to God. And keep your conduct honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, not if, they will reject and revile us just like they did Jesus.

[43:49] And so how are we to handle this? What does it look like to conduct yourself honorably when people are speaking against you? If you look at chapter 2, verse 21, Jesus is a perfect example of this.

[44:06] For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

[44:17] When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

[44:32] The best way to conduct yourself honorably when people are speaking against you is to contain and possess unstained integrity.

[44:45] Satan and the unbelieving world are on the watch for slip-ups. And unfortunately, the church has supplied so much ammunition to the world on this front.

[44:58] We must be men and women of integrity in order that they may see your good deeds or your beautiful deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

[45:11] The word visitation can refer to judgment or salvation. And so context will determine what's being referred to here. It's possible that, and it's likely that Peter is saying that by living your lives in a godly way, these Gentiles around you will see those things and will give glory to God.

[45:32] They will convict them. You'll be a conviction to them and they will repent of their sin and turn to Christ. But glorifying God isn't only reserved for salvation.

[45:44] On that day, even the wicked, even the sinners will give honor and glory to God by acknowledging who he is. And so on this day of visitation, either way, God will be glorified through us living pure and upright lives.

[46:03] We obey in order to glorify God, not only with our own lives, but even in the lives of those who hate us. And one day, they will glorify the Lord either in salvation or in judgment.

[46:18] But the world should look at our church and see transformed lives. But what does the world see when it looks at our church? Do they see some of these blessings that are described here?

[46:34] Do they see that we live different lives? Do they see that we're set apart from sin? This is what Peter is calling these churches to. And by God's providence, the Klingon family survived the prisoner of war camp.

[46:54] They saw liberation in February of 1945. And years later, they found out that Kenishi was tried for his war crimes and hanged.

[47:08] Before he was hanged, he had converted to Christianity. What was it that caused such a momentous life change? He mentioned that something that had affected him profoundly and deeply were the lives of the missionaries that he had tortured.

[47:29] He knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he also saw how they suffered well, how they maintained joy in the midst of their suffering. And the power of the gospel and the testimony of a holy life can shake even the most hardened sinners.

[47:46] So friends, even though we're rejected by men, we're chosen by God. We will not be at home in this world because we were made for another one.

[48:00] I pray that these truths will be planted deep within our hearts and sustain us on our darkest days. And may these truths help us to suffer well.

[48:14] And we'll close with the words of 1 Peter 5, verses 10 and 11. After you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

[48:34] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let me pray for us. Our Father, we pray that you would make us those who proclaim your excellencies.

[48:53] We pray that we would fully experience the blessings of belonging to the church, your spiritual house that you are building, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

[49:08] Lord, I pray that though we are rejected by men, we would remember that we are chosen by you. Not because of anything we have done, but because you have had mercy on our sinful souls, that you have supplied power now through the Holy Spirit to abstain from the passions of the flesh and to maintain honorable conduct in the sight of the watching world.

[49:30]  Father, I pray our church will be faithful to the task you've given us of proclaiming your excellencies to the ends of the earth. It's in Christ's name we pray.