In his sermon titled 'Suffering as Opportunity,' Jason Dohm challenges Christians to view suffering not as a negative experience to be avoided but as an opportunity for spiritual growth and the advancement of the gospel. Despite the natural inclination to recoil from suffering, believers are encouraged to see it as a chance for God's glory to be revealed and for personal progress in faith. Citing 1 Peter 3:13-17, Dohm emphasizes that suffering for righteousness is actually a blessing, as it aligns with God's sovereign plan. Christians are called to be 'warriors, not worriers,' trusting that God is in control and using all circumstances for their good. The sermon highlights the importance of being ready to give a defense of one's hope with meekness and fear, focusing on the need for both willingness and ability. Godly conduct ensures a clear conscience and ultimately leads to vindication, even in the face of slander and persecution. By embracing suffering as part of God's will, Christians can experience true joy and rest in their faith.

So probably over the last year I've been trying to rigidly keep myself to three pages of notes. I just will not allow myself to start on a fourth page. And when I get to the end of three pages I go look for things to cut out if I still have room left. Well, anyway, I was not able to keep myself to three pages today. And I almost always bring a stopwatch to put up here.

And I don't have that with me today. And so the conclusion of the matter is you're in big trouble. But many of you have been listening to Dan over the last month, and so this is going to seem like just a few moments. The title of the sermon today is Suffering as Opportunity. Suffering as Opportunity.

Even those of us who have been in the faith for a long time still so often recoil from suffering. And God would have us think differently and to learn not to recoil from suffering as if something strange were happening, as if something out of the will of God were happening. And this text is going to help us with that. It's going to help us with this knee-jerk reaction that has us just recoil from suffering, has us working so hard to stay out of suffering, and when we're in suffering, working so hard to get out of it, and to see it differently. Because the truth of the matter is, as children in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, our greatest victories come when we suffer.

And I'm getting a little ahead of myself because that is absolutely what next week's text is all about. In last week's text we ended with Peter quoting Psalm 34. And I want to look at the very last verse of last week's text, which was 1 Peter 3, verse 12. Again, this is Peter quoting Psalm 34. Verse 12 says, 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. So Peter is giving us this great vision of a sovereign God who sees everything. And so he is seeing The thoughts and seeing the words and seeing the deeds of the righteous and he's standing by ready to sustain them, ready to support them, ready to help them. God, A sovereign God is in heaven watching the righteous, seeing everything that goes on in this world and He is ready to hear their prayers and He is standing by to sustain and support His people. This is the vision that Peter is giving us.

And he's also watching those who do evil. He knows all their thoughts. He knows all their words. He knows all the things that they're doing. And he is standing opposed to them.

And so therefore, Christians don't need to be warriors. They need to be warriors, not worryers. Christians don't need to be worried all the time because God is in heaven. He's seeing everything and He's ready to support the righteous and He stands opposed to those who do evil. And so we are to be a people who know that we have a loving Father who's orchestrating all things, even suffering, especially suffering, to bring about His glory and our good, that He's working all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to his purposes.

So we're going to go right to the text. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would help us to trust you. And I pray that you would use your words to make us ready to suffer for your glory. May we not recoil, may we not be a people recoiling from suffering for your glory, but may we see things through the lens of your sovereignty that you are controlling all things and that this is actually for our blessing, for our good, as you make your name great.

God, I pray that you would make us a people who are ready to make a defense for the hope that you have placed in our hearts. Thank you for giving us hope. Now make us ready to defend this hope to a hostile world. I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word in Jesus' name. Amen.

Alright, let's look again at verses 13 and 14. 1 Peter 3 verses 13 and 14. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

Peter here in these two verses is setting before us the outcome of godly conduct. What comes out of godly conduct? Well, it's one of two things. The point of verse 13 is that most people, even the most vile and wicked and evil people, won't harm you for godly conduct. That's normal.

Even the most wicked people will not harm you for godly conduct. In Galatians 5, 22 and 23, Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23, Paul gives us the fruit of the Spirit. He tells us what the fruit of the Spirit is. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Do you know what it says next?

Against such, there is no law. People aren't out there making laws against the fruit of the Spirit. So when the people of God are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, There aren't people out there trying to make laws against you. There aren't laws, people aren't laboring, giving their lives to put laws on the books against gentleness. And they're not going to harm you for kindness by and large.

Here's what Proverbs 16 verse 7 says. Proverbs 16 verse 7. When a man's ways please the Lord, We're talking about godly conduct here. When a man's ways please the Lord, he, God, makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. When our lives are Worshipful, when our lives are to the praise of God and our ways are pleasing to Him.

God makes even our enemies live at peace with us. That's what's normal. So it does not say that we won't have enemies. It says that God will make our enemies to live at peace with us. So people might hate us for our godly conduct, but rarely will they harm us for our godly conduct.

That is what is normal. Unbelievers even have their own way to talk about messing with godly people. They even have their own language for talking about how it's not a good idea to mess with godly people. Karma. Karma.

What is karma? Karma is you better not do anything bad because it will come back around to you. You better not mess with godly people because that will come right on back around to you. Or maybe what goes around comes around. You Ever heard an unbeliever say that?

What goes around comes around. So unbelievers are not godly people, and they don't love godliness. And they might hate the Godly. But God has pressed something on them of a knowledge of sowing and reaping. Even the ungodly know about that law of the universe that God has put into place, that whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

And so they have their own language to talk about the things that going around, coming around. So that's what's normal. The ungodly might hate the godly, but rarely will they harm the godly. Sometimes though, godly conduct is persecuted. Sometimes people are wicked enough that they will harm you for godliness.

So Peter addresses that in verse 14. And he says, even that is to our advantage. Even being harmed For godly conduct is to our advantage. Verse 14. But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed.

The ungodly intend something for evil, God uses it for good. It happens all the time. The ungodly mean it to be evil. They mean it to be for your harm, but God just flips it around and uses it for good. How many times have you seen God do that?

Many, many times if you've been in the faith for a while. It's just like God to work that way. This is just what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount, you remember, He gathers His disciples to Himself on the mountainside and then He's seated. At the beginning of this marvelous sermon in Matthew chapter 5.

Jesus says in verses 10 through 12, Matthew 5 verses 10 through 12, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. That's just what Peter's talking about in our text. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. That's just what Peter's talking about in our text. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You want to know how you're blessed? You get the kingdom of heaven. Is that enough for you? Is that enough of a hope for you that if you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, that you gain the kingdom of heaven?

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Jesus says this is how the godly have always been treated.

They've always been slandered. They've always been persecuted for righteousness sake. Look at the prophets. What does Jesus say to do when you are persecuted for righteousness sake? When someone wants to harm you for godly conduct, what should you do?

Rejoice. Be exceedingly glad. Consider heaven. Consider the rewards that are waiting, that are stored up for the righteous. Brothers and sisters, can you do this When you're persecuted for righteousness sake and you're slandered, can you rejoice and be exceedingly glad?

Have you sufficiently considered the joys of heaven, the rewards that wait when this life is over for those who have trusted in Christ. So that you can see these momentary afflictions in context. See them for what they really are. See them with eternity as the backdrop. And now, that thing that we recoiled from that was all consuming in our thoughts just seems like nothing.

It's nothing. It's a momentary affliction. It's not even worthy of being compared with the weight of glory that awaits those who have trusted in Christ. Now consider what James says in James chapter 5 verses 2 through 4. James chapter 5 verses 2 through 4.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that The testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. A key element of the believer's happiness, if you want to be happy, this is a key element of your happiness as a believer, is this, progress. The inverse is also true, by the way. A key frustration for a believer is lack of progress.

Something that makes a follower of Jesus Christ happy, glad, able to rejoice is progress in the faith. You know what it's like. You've been bogged down and you're not seeing any progress and you're frustrated and then there's progress. Yes, there's progress. There's joy.

The various trials that we fall into yield progress under the mighty hand of God. If he didn't bring us into the various trials, We wouldn't have the progress, a key element to our happiness. We would like to make progress just in the classroom. I go, I memorize Galatians 5, 22 and 23, and now my brain has acquired what the fruit of the spirit, those these nine things. And now I am perfected.

That sounds nice, but that's not how God disciples sons and daughters. Just isn't. Here's how he helps us to make progress. He brings us into various trials. And so James says, what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, rejoice.

Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Why? Because God is doing something. Because God is giving us progress and that contributes to our happiness. You've heard of the dreaded no-win situation where you only have two choices and with either one of them it's just going to go bad.

It's no win. I can't do anything that will deliver a desirable outcome. No matter what I do, the outcome is going to be undesirable godly conduct Presents us with a no-lose situation Peter is teaching that in verses 13 and 14 Godly conduct presents the believer with a no-lose situation. Most of the time, even evildoers won't harm you for godly conduct. But even if they do, even if they do harm you for your godly conduct, you're blessed.

You'll have more progress in the faith so that you should count it all joy, so that you should rejoice and be exceedingly glad if they persecute you. So Christians never need to fear obedience. Did you get that? Obedience is never something to be afraid of. Don't you wish you had some of that time and energy back that you've spent fearing obedience?

And it never proved bad for you. You feared the outcome. And sometimes even a fearful outcome comes upon you, and God turns that into a blessing. Christians never need to fear obedience. Peter quotes Isaiah chapter 8 verse 12, and do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, He quotes this in verse 14.

Don't be afraid of the threats of the wicked. Don't be troubled. Don't be disquieted when people want to harm you for godly conduct. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 10, 28. I kept hitting spots like this when I was getting ready for the sermon.

Wow, Peter sounds like Jesus. Peter must have sat at his feet, listened to him. He must have been here for these sermons. You better believe. Peter was there in Matthew chapter 10 listening to Jesus, and now he's teaching in 1 Peter what Jesus was teaching.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10 verse 28, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Do you want to be finished with fearing men? Then know that they're done when they kill your body. There's not one other thing they can do to you.

They have done their worst and the believer is fine. When wicked men have done their worst to the people of God, the people of God are fine. The people of God are never better. Isn't that comforting to know? When wicked men have done All that they can do, they've done their worst, the people of God are never better off, they're dead.

And to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. So you've done your worst. Congratulations. You have put me in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is so freeing.

This is so freeing. Listen to Proverbs 29 verse 25. Proverbs 29 verse 25. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

It's like Jesus in Matthew Chapter 10 was preaching out of the Proverbs. The fear of man brings a snare. So Jesus says, don't fear man. The worst he can do is kill your body. Trust God, because God is not done when your body's done.

It's then when the significant things start to happen in eternity. It's when your body's done. God's not done then. All the rest of your enemies will be done then. Better hope God's not your enemy then.

Because he is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." Does that mean you'll never be harmed in this earth? No, that is not what that teaches. It means even people when they're harmed by the wicked are safe. People who are in the hands of God and no one can snatch you from his hands if you're his.

People who are in that hand, though a man might harm them, they're safe. This is what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are declaring to King Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Kings, when they say, King, God is able to deliver us, But even if he chooses not to, we will not bow down and serve your idol. Because death is safe for us. That is why these three men could say that to a king of kings. Death is safe for us.

There's no fear of death for us. So God's probably going to save us, but the furnace is a safe place for us to be. If he shows up to rescue us, it's safe. If he doesn't, we'll go and be with him. This is what Peter is teaching, that even if evildoers harm us, we're blessed.

Now let's look at verse 15. 1 Peter 3, verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and 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. Peter exhorts us to three things in this verse. First, Peter exhorts us to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts.

You are to sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Sanctify means to set apart, to create clearance between God and everything else in the heart. Create distance between God and everything else in your heart. The heart is where your affections live. All the things that you love live in your heart.

And so it's the control center for you. Because the things that you think and the things that you say and the things that you do are just a working out of what you love. Those things live in your heart. So you're controlled by your heart because all your affections are there and the decisions that you make, the choices that you make flow out of the things that you love. God is to be set aside as Lord there.

God is to be given total preeminence in the place where your affections live. He's to be given first place. He's to be given the place, the seat of honor in the place where your affections dwell, your heart. This is only appropriate in the heart of a redeemed person. This is the only appropriate thing in the heart of a redeemed person.

This is the only appropriate thing in the heart of a redeemed person, a person who has received the mercy of God. Nothing else is appropriate but that God would have the place of preeminence. That he would be the most loved thing in that heart. And that distance would be created between that most loved thing and everything else, the place of honor. Why?

Because he's worthy. Nothing else is worthy of that seat, of that spot, of being on the top shelf by itself. Only God is worthy of that. And so it's inappropriate to take what only God is worthy of, what only belongs to God, and apportion it to something else. That is the nature of idolatry.

That's what idolatry means. That's why idolatry is so much more than carving something and putting it on the mantle and burning incense to it. That's really the least part of idolatry. The most part of idolatry is to identify something else and love it. But only God is worthy of your love.

That kind of love, preeminent love, first place, top shelf, by itself kind of love. Brothers and sisters, this is simply the great commandment Sanctifying the Lord God in your hearts is Simply the great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6 verse 5 or Matthew 22 verse 37. This is the great commandment. All the other commandments roll up under this one.

Loving God with the whole heart. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. May he have the place, the seat of honor where our affections live, where the things that we love live. May he be on the top shelf all by himself. This is what Peter is calling us to, and we should always be checking.

What's on the top shelf? Not what I talk about, but what works its way out into my thoughts, into my words, into what I do. So number one, Peter is exhorting us to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. Number two, Peter is exhorting us to always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. To be in a constant state of readiness to explain why we have hope.

This suffering for godly conduct is actually an opportunity for the advancement of the gospel. We recoil. We can't wait to get out of it, but we're seeing it wrongly. It's actually an opportunity for the kingdom of our King Jesus Christ to advance, to expand for the border to encompass more ground than it used to encompass. Either You will be drugged before the authorities, called before the court so to speak, might not be an official court, might be a very unofficial one.

Either you'll be drugged before the authorities, hauled into court, and an account will be demanded of you. Why are you making those educational choices? Why are you spanking your kids? Why do you insist on speaking about Jesus? Why do you hate homosexuals?

Or Someone will notice your patient suffering and ask, how come? How come you never hit back? How come you don't respond in kind? What allows you to do that? Everyone else strikes back.

How come you don't strike back? And Peter is saying, be ready for that moment. God is bringing that moment upon you, either where you'll be hauled into court, and an exclamation, an explanation, an explanation will be demanded of you. Or someone will notice that you suffer patiently and they'll say, how come? And they'll say, how come you hate homosexuals?

And here's what I mean when I say that I love them and you hate them and you're off to the races you're ready You're ready for that moment Peter is promising us that God is going to bring us the moment and The question is will you be ready for the moment? The moment is coming. Will you be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you? I want to propose that there are two essential elements to readiness. Two elements.

You have to have them or you're not ready. Willing and able. Willing and able. If you're willing but you're not able, you're not ready. If you're able, but you're not willing, then you're not ready.

You have to have both of these things. If you have them, you're ready. If you don't have both of them, you're not ready. So the question is, are you willing? Romans 1 verses 16 and 17.

This is Paul in Romans 1 verses 16 and 17. I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Are you willing? When God brings the moment to you, Will the moment find you willing or unwilling? Ready or unready?

When someone notices godly conduct in your life or the life of your family, You're in the supermarket and your kids behave and nobody else's kids behave. Wow, I notice your kids aren't running wild. Or you have more than two children. Wow, you have a lot of children. Or you find a wallet full of cash and you turn it in.

Wow, why'd you do that? Or you don't respond in kind. Somebody lets you have it with both barrels, just lays you out verbally and you bear it patiently. Wow! How come you did that in that moment?

Are you willing? Not just to say, yeah, we have a lot of kids, we love it. Or, Yeah, you caught us on a good day. Our kids are behaving. I say that, we laugh, but I've said those things many times and just ended it there.

Are you willing? Here's an exhortation. Let our evangelists help you. God gives. We're all on the hook for evangelism.

But we're not all Holy Spirit gifted evangelists. Ephesians 4 teaches that, that there is a special gift of the Holy Spirit. And that there are evangelists who the Holy Spirit has gifted in a different way than he helps others in this category. And if you stick close to these people, God's given us some of these people, when I say this you know who I'm talking about. I don't have to call out names.

You know exactly who they are. It's not a hidden gift. If it's not, if it's a hidden gift, they don't have the gift. Okay. That should be obvious.

And if you'll get around with, get around them and watch them in action, you'll be helped. And if you'll go with them and force yourself out of your comfort zone, you'll be helped. I've been massively helped in the last two years by our evangelists, the people that God has sent among us to help us in this category. If you ask me what have been the areas of persistent sin that have been so hard for you to shake over the last decades. This is one of the very few things that are going to be on my lips right away.

Disobedience in evangelism. I'm happy to get in the pulpit and point towards the choir and speak to people who love the word of God about the word of God. That's not a problem. But you put me in front of an unbeliever who might be offended with what I say and I'm not interested or I have not been interested. You know what that is?

That's called disobedience. That's called sin. That requires repentance. But I have been helped by the people that God sent into our midst for this purpose. And because I'm a pastor and I was too afraid not to tag along, too afraid to be seen as afraid that I would go on these ventures and pressing through out of my comfort zone and I found out you really don't die.

Even if they speak badly to you, even if they do take offense, even if they show you a special finger, You do not die. And you've obeyed God. You've done your duty. Let our evangelists help you. Follow them.

Go where they go. They're going to the nursing home on Tuesday nights. And they're talking to old people, people who are going to die soon, about substance. They're going to the parking lot to serve Hot dogs on Monday night. They're going to the abortion clinic to appeal to women who are about to murder their babies.

Go. Go out of your comfort zone. I know you're uncomfortable about it. There's only one solution for that, repent. You have to repent.

I had to repent. I'm still repenting. But I'm so thankful for the progress that God has brought into my life through our evangelists. Go. Go with them.

Learn their trade. Are you willing? Secondly, are you able? You have a willing heart, but are you able? Can you clearly articulate the gospel under pressure?

Can you? Can you clearly articulate the gospel under pressure? That's Kind of how the gospel is shared is under pressure. The low pressure situations for sharing the gospel are few and hard between, few and far between. That's why we're so terrified.

This is the value of baptism interviews and membership interviews because people who really do know the gospel, When they get in front of three elders, find out that clearly articulating the gospel under pressure is a different animal. Okay, good. So, better to know it. Better to know that it's not the same thing and to make yourself ready to clearly articulate the Gospel under pressure. Mark Dever in Nine Marks, the book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church has helped me because he lays out the essentials of the gospel as God-Man cross response.

And that is burned into my head now. Under pressure, I can remember God-Man cross response. And I can remember to talk about the gospel in that sequence. What is God like? What is man like?

What does the cross mean? Okay, God and What God is like and what man like creates a problem. The cross solves the problem. This is the gospel. And then all that demands a response.

It might not be the perfect, there might be a better way to remember, but this is the way I remember it. And under pressure, When I can't remember hardly anything else, God-Man-Cross response is there. I can articulate the Gospel clearly under pressure. Number two, can you clearly articulate what God has done for you in your life? Now you know there's a thousand things, if you're a believer, there's a thousand things he's done for you.

He's blessed you in so many different categories of life, in so many different ways, but are you ready to clearly articulate it under pressure? Can you say what God delivered you from? Can you say the fruits of being saved? Number three, is your spiritual life such that you are not quenching the voice of the Holy Spirit? Okay, so number one was clearly being able to articulate the gospel under pressure.

Number two was being able to clearly articulate how that has worked out in your life so that you can bear testimony that this is true and I've seen it in my own life. Number three is Do you have a spiritual life where you're ready? Where you're able? Where you're not quenching the voice of the Holy Spirit? Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10.

Now in Matthew 10, Jesus is sending out the disciples to preach in the cities. So this is the sending out chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 10 verses 18 through 20, Jesus says, You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles." So Jesus says what's happening when you're hauled into court. This has a bearing of our text in Peter. What is happening when you're hauled into court?

It's as a testimony to the judges and to the Gentiles. Continuing. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. I do think we should study to be able to clearly articulate the gospel.

And I think we should think through what God has done in our lives so we can clearly articulate that. But in the end, we want to be a conduit of the Holy Spirit to sinners. And there's a promise that when you're hauled into court, when you're brought before kings and governors, that the Holy Spirit will give you what to say. So you don't need to worry. And I'm not suggesting that anything that is or isn't in your life is going to keep the Spirit from doing what the Spirit wants to do.

But I am suggesting that to neglect the means of grace that God has given us, His Word, seeking His face through prayer. To neglect those means of grace and assume that the Spirit is going to speak anyway is sinful presumption. You have no right to assume that. So thirdly, is your spiritual life such that you are not quenching the voice of the Holy Spirit? Now the writer of this letter, Peter, the same Peter was there in John 6 when everybody is abandoning Jesus because he said hard things.

And Jesus looks at his 12 disciples and he says, Do you want to leave also? And you remember what Peter says, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life. And now we're his ambassadors.

Be ready. Always be ready. Be in a continual state of readiness, which means that we're willing and able to speak the words of life as ambassadors of God. We're ready to say, be reconciled to God through Christ. This is one of many ways that God takes what was intended for evil, was intended for harm and uses it for good.

Brothers and sisters, make the most of every opportunity. Suffering is not to be recoiled from, suffering is an opportunity to advance the gospel. Number three. So the first thing that Peter said in verse 15 is to sanctify the Lord God in your heart. The second thing that Peter said was to always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you.

This third thing that he says in verse 15 is give your defense with meekness and fear. Give your defense with meekness and fear. It must be in meekness and fear. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells a parable. The verse ranges verses 9 through 14.

In Luke 18, verses 9 through 14, Jesus tells a parable of two men who go to the temple to pray. One of them is a Pharisee. He's known as a meticulous law keeper. The other is a tax collector. The Pharisee looks down the way at the tax collector, and he begins to thank God that he's not like him.

Thank you, God, that I'm not like that man. And then he begins to list for God all the things that he's done good. He fasts twice a week. He tithes and on and on and on. And he thinks himself worthy of the Lord's favor.

Meanwhile, down the way, the tax collector cannot even raise his eyes to heaven because his sins are pressing on him. He's been brought face to face with his desperate need for mercy. So he goes to God and he beats his breasts, not even looking up And he says, God have mercy on me, a sinner. And Jesus says, that man goes home justified. And that other one is, that hypocrite is fit for the fires of hell.

We must bring that disposition having been made aware of our desperate need for mercy, that we are lost without the mercy of God. This is the disposition that we bring to the defense that we give for the hope that is in us. Having the high ground of truth does not change that. Did you get that? The fact that you know truth, really do know truth, and really do have that high ground and that your adversary does not know truth and does not have the high ground, does not change that disposition.

You must make your defense in meekness and fear with the disposition of a tax collector who won't even look to heaven. Listen to what Robert Leighton said. Robert Leighton was a pastor in London in the 1600s, and then a bishop in Scotland after that. He says this, imprudence makes some Christians neutralize much of their labor in speaking for Christ and only serves to drive away those they are trying to draw in. Leighton is saying that a lack of wisdom, a lack of coming in this disposition of humility wipes out all the labor of many Christians and drives away the people they're trying to draw in because they've thought that having the high ground of the truth allows them to come in a spirit of pride to the people they're making a defense to so they wipe out any good that could come from it.

We're to speak the truth in love. We're not just here to speak the truth. NUKE WITH TRUTH. Nuclear warhead. Boom!

Won the argument. No. We don't win people that way. Verses 16 and 17. For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Oops, excuse me. Let's start in 16. See, all this can be fixed on the tape. This is the great thing about digital technology. Verse 16.

Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Peter in these two verses speaks of the vindication for suffering for righteousness. For believers, vindication comes from God. I didn't even stumble upon Psalm 43 this week, but that's exactly what Saul, where Gary took us during our time.

Vindication comes from God for the believer. Believers care what God thinks. They don't care about what men think. Paul says this in Romans 8.31, if God is for us, who can be against us? Does that mean that no one else will be against you?

No, it means it doesn't matter. If God is for us, who can be against us? People will be against us and it doesn't matter if God is for us. And that's why godly conduct affords us rest. Rest from having to satisfy all the people who can never be satisfied anyway.

A good conscience, a cleansed conscience, A conscience that has been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the atoning blood, the substitutionary blood of Jesus Christ. That conscience knows that God is for me, So it doesn't matter who's against me. And godly conduct keeps that cleansed conscience clear. Did you hear that? This is what Peter is arguing for.

Not just feeling good about yourself, but a conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and now godly conduct. You keep your conscience clear through godly conduct. I'm not talking about salvation coming and going. Don't misunderstand me. You've been saved by God.

Nothing can pluck you from His hand. But you sure can cloud up your conscience and defile it through ungodly conduct. So keep your conscience clear through godly conduct. And be like Jesus in last chapter, 1 Peter chapter 2, 23, who committed himself to him who judges righteously. Peter's calling us to act like Jesus, who when he was reviled, he didn't revile in turn.

He just committed himself to God knowing that he judges righteously and Jesus had a perfectly crystal clear conscience. So he cared nothing for the applause of men and he lived for the approval of God. Now Peter says, when they defame you as evildoers. When they defame you as evildoers. Peter sets before us the certainty of slander, believer.

It is certain that sooner or later, it's just a matter of time, you will face slander. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11 verses 18 and 19. Matthew chapter 11 verses 18 and 19. For John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, And they say, look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

But wisdom is justified by her children. Jesus is musing on the people of his day who were determined not to be satisfied, who were determined to speak evil. You came eating and drinking, you have it, you're demon possessed. You came eating and drinking, you drunkard and glutton. So whether you ate and drank or didn't eat and drink, they were determined to speak evil of you.

This is going to be true of believers from time to time. No matter what they do, people are going to speak evil of them. That is why it's futile to chase after the approval of men because there are men and women in this world who are determined to withhold approval and to speak evil of you no matter what you do. Jesus says, But wisdom is justified by her children. Wisdom gives birth.

Wisdom has children. So you can see what comes from wisdom. You can see whether the fruit is good or whether the fruit is bad. Brothers and sisters, can you be patient enough to simply let everyone see it all work out? We're called to that.

We're called to be patient enough instead of insisting on defending ourselves so that we are approved of by everyone, which can never be achieved anyway. But to just be patient enough to simply let it all work out, and people to see the children of our deeds, figurative children of our deeds. The offspring of godly living so that People can just see the scoreboard. There's you and there's your false accusers. There's your slanderers.

And in time, when wisdom has her children, when the godly conduct gives birth to a certain kind of life, to certain kinds of fruit, the scoreboard will tell the tale. And all the points, all the points of good fruit will be on your side, not on the side of the false accuser. And they'll actually be very ashamed to have ever slandered you in that way. But you have to be very patient to arrive there. You have to let things work out so that people can see the offspring of wisdom.

Can see the fruit of godly conduct. You don't have to respond and justify yourselves. In fact, very, very, very, very often, It's counterproductive to ever open your mouth to people who are determined to say, you eat and drink, you're demon possessed. You don't eat and drink? What was the other thing?

I forgot. It's been a long week. Look, a glutton and a wine beaver. I said that all wrong. Anyway, you know what I mean.

Luckily. Verse 17. Peter returns to the subject that he introduced in chapter 2. Don't be beaten for your faults. So he's talking about suffering, but he's talking about a very particular kind of suffering.

He's talking about suffering for righteousness. And when you're suffering, you should not be quick to say, I'm suffering for righteousness. You should be very careful to evaluate and ask, am I being beaten for my faults? Sometimes we bring suffering on ourselves from acting like an idiot. But we never want to think that.

So we're happier to think of ourselves as a martyr. So you got to be really careful about that not to deceive yourself, that your suffering is coming from godly conduct. Whenever we're suffering, before we accept the mantle of martyr, we do well to look in our own hearts and ask, Am I being beaten for my faults? Do I really have the disposition of the tax collector? Or have I come in here with pride, made my defense in pride, and now I'm being beaten for my faults.

That's a good question to ask. If you worship God with your life, if you proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light by godly living, by living the way that the people of God ought to live. And you suffer anyway. You can know it is the will of God. That's what verse 17 is saying.

If it is the will of God. If your conduct has been godly and you're suffering, It is the will of God. If your conduct has been godly and you're suffering, it is the will of God. God has brought this to you for a purpose. He's had you hauled into court as a testimony to the kings, the governors, and the gentiles.

Make the most of the opportunity. We can know if our conduct's been godly and we're suffering for it, people are harming us for it, we can know that it is an opportunity to advance the gospel. That's what God is doing. So instead of recoiling from suffering, we should be asking, what's God doing? We should put on a different set of lenses.

The set of lenses, the glasses that we're used to looking through are the glasses of self-interest. And we just, suffering is bad, it's to be avoided, and we spend all our time and energy trying to stay out of it, and then when we're in it, to get out of it. And we ought to be looking through the different set of glasses of what God does in this world and asking, what is God doing? Why has God brought me here? May God make us a people who see suffering this way, who actually live not like atheists but like Christians.

Here's what I mean. There's such a thing as practical atheism. It has nothing to do with the beliefs that we profess. But it has everything to do with what our thinking betrays, practical atheism. To recoil from suffering as if God is nowhere, God is not working in this world.

God has not brought these things to me. It's practical atheism. And God wants to disciple us. He wants to give Progress to his sons and daughters so that they don't think that way anymore. That they know that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil May God give us faith to see that he is ruling in heaven so that when suffering comes to us only God has brought it upon us only God and it is an opportunity for his glory to spread and to grow. It will be for our happiness. Let's pray. Oh Father, make us a happy people, make us a happy people by giving us progress in the faith. As you bring these various trials into our life, God, I pray that you would help us to count it all joy.

Make us able to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Make us ready to suffer for your glory, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.