In the sermon 'A Kingdom Like No Other' by Jason Dohm, the speaker expounds on 1 Peter 3:8-12, highlighting the Christian conduct that glorifies God. Dohm emphasizes the six attributes Christians are called to embody: being of one mind, having compassion, loving as brothers, being tenderhearted, courteous, and not returning evil for evil. These attributes form the foundation of a life of worship and a kingdom unlike any other, centered on love and unity. The sermon underscores love as the distinguishing mark of Christians, aligning with Jesus' teachings in John 13:35. Christians are encouraged to turn away from evil and seek peace, supported by the Holy Spirit, to live lives that reflect the Gospel. The sermon calls for self-examination and continuous repentance, warning against the destructive power of the tongue. The overarching message is one of striving for a life that exalts God through love and unity, despite differences or persecution.

The three verses eight through 12. Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary blessing knowing that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing for he who would love life and see good days Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it 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." The title of the sermon today is, A Kingdom Like No Other.

The word kingdom isn't even used in the text. But make no mistake, this is about the kingdom of heaven. This is about King Jesus and how he works out his will in this people who never were a people, but he's made a people who had not obtained mercy, but now they've obtained mercy. And as I've studied this text, I am blown away by the life that God intends for us to have together. Peter is wrapping up a flow of thought in this text.

For quite a while now, at least in sermon weeks, Peter's been bearing down on a single topic. And that is conduct that glorifies God, living a life that praises God for his grace in your life, living a life of worship. And so he's attacked different categories of life. He started with Christian citizens. How should a Christian citizen live?

Well, they should live in a particular way. And when they live in that particular way, God is worshiped in the life of a Christian citizen. Christian servants, People whose time and labor is owned by another should conduct themselves in a certain way. And when they live that way, God is praised. People look on and say, wow, God has done something significant in the lives of that man or that woman or that child.

Christian wives, Christian husbands ought to conduct themselves in a particular way. And when they do, God is worshiped through a life. So Peter has been drawing lines, this category, and then this category, and then this category, and then this category, and now he wipes away all the lines and he says, all of you. All of you be this. And so this is the end of this stream of thought and he's taking aim at all of us.

And he is describing what our life together ought to look like as we receive his grace, as we're shown mercy, and that mercy causes us to want to live a life of worship. So then what should our life together look like? Peter tells us. And he paints this beautiful picture. And it's an odd picture, at least by the world's standard.

The world can't really get their arms around what Peter is trying to describe here. They don't have a context for this. They don't have a framework for this. When they see this, they think, how odd. This is not like my normal experience.

In Acts 17, Paul and his comrades are in Thessalonica And someone says, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. Well, that's exactly right. The gospel is intended to have that effect on the world. So when the world sees the working out of the Gospel in a life that they say, the world has been turned upside down, our world is turned upside down by the Gospel. Amen.

May it be so. May God work in our lives in such a way we receive his mercy and then endeavor to live lives of worship that the world would look on and say that is turned all upside down. Amen. May it be so. May the world think that we're crazy.

May the world look at us and say, that's too good to be true. That really is what this text is about. When you read this text, and then you think God has designed our life together to look like this. It ought to have a little piece of your heart going, that's too good to be true. Could it really be that beautiful to live together like that?

And the answer is yes. And the answer is we're not there yet. That God has begun a good work and He is bringing it to completion. And the completion of it is completely dependent upon him, but we have not arrived there yet. Listen to what Jesus says in John 13.35.

Jesus gives the distinguishing mark of his people. Now, as people ought to be characterized by many things. So it's not the only mark, but the distinguishing mark is in John 13.35. Jesus says, by This all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Love, love, love, love.

That is the distinguishing mark of a Christian. We've got to have many things that describe us, but at the very, very top of the list should be love. That is how the world is to know that we're his. Is that we look like him in this very particular way that we love one another. And so make no mistake, Peter is aiming at this in our text.

That we be distinct from the world because we love each other. And then Peter says, Here's what it looks like when a people who have received mercy live together in love. It looks like this. This is why the sermon title is what it is, a kingdom like no other. Think what's the other institution that is going to rival this kingdom?

What other institution has as its key objective love? Go find a workplace like that. Go find a government like that. As we go to the text, let's pray. God, I'm so aware of my own personal frailty and sinfulness in all these things.

But I pray, O God, that you would come and help me to be conformed into the picture that you've painted through our brother Peter in this text, that you would help us. Oh God, send help from heaven. You've begun a good work and it is entrusted to you, good thing that it is, oh God. It is not dependent upon us. Send help from heaven to accomplish this life among us.

May we live to your praise, O God. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's read and then consider verses 8 and 9. First Peter chapter 3 verse 8.

Finally, all of you be of one mind, Having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tender hearted. Be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling.

But on the contrary, blessing. Knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Paul begins by saying, all of you be colon. I'm putting the colon there. Peter begins, did I say Paul?

Peter begins, all of you be these six things. And then he gives us six things throughout the course of verse 8 and verse 9. All of you, all of you together, elect, going back to the beginning of the letter. All of you elect people be these six things. Now we're going to go look at them, each one in isolation, each one individually.

But let's begin by considering the big picture of all of these six things together. These six things are what love looks like when you live it out. If you want to know what it looks like when a people bond themselves together in love and live that way. Live according to the rule of love. It looks like what Peter is describing here.

Love is the distinguishing mark of Christians, as Jesus said in John 13. And so Jesus is building this spiritual temple where we offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable through Jesus Christ. And God is exalted when his people live together in love. Maybe we should just go to the benediction now. That is the point of the text.

God is worshiped. He is exalted. He is praised when his people live together in love. And that is what Peter is calling us to in this text. Until our life together looks exactly like this, We're not to the target yet.

It is not time to pat ourselves on the back because we believed in Jesus and been saved. No, no, a thousand times no. Until our life together looks like this and it doesn't, not fully, Then we have not arrived. And I'm pretty sure we're going to die saying that. I'm pretty sure we're not going to hit the Sunday where we just celebrate that we have arrived at this destination.

But Peter is calling us to very wonderful, beautiful, particular things. Let's look at them. Number one, be of one mind. Peter says be of one mind. Exertations to oneness, to be of one mind, to be in one accord are all over the New Testament.

They're everywhere. It's not just Peter in this one spot. It's all the writers of the New Testament saying the same thing, sometimes in a little different way. Be of one mind, be of one mind, be of one mind. It's a major theme.

The oneness of his people is dear to the Lord's heart. He died for the oneness of his people, among other things. So when Jesus prays, the great high priestly prayer in John 17, he's praying for the oneness of his people. And this is what Peter is talking about, be of one mind. It's the indwelling spirit that gives us this.

Apart from the Holy Spirit of God coming and taking up residence in your life, in your life, in your life, in your life, in your life, in our lives, we have no hope to be of one mind, no hope whatsoever. Listen to what Paul writes in Ephesians 4 verses 1 through 3. Ephesians 4, 1 through 3. Paul writes, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all loneliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. Endeavoring to keep, here's the punch line, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

If you want to know how we can be of one mind who come from all these different backgrounds, all these different places, all these different countries, for crying out loud. If You want to know how we can be of one mind who come from all these different backgrounds, all these different places, all these different countries, for crying out loud. If you want to know how we can all be of one mind, this is it. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is the indwelling Spirit of God that creates the opportunity for us, very different people in many different ways, to be of one mind.

In multiple places, Paul says we have the mind of Christ. This is getting close to the heart of what Peter is saying. When He calls us to be of one mind. Have the mind of Christ. When the Spirit sanctifies you, means sets you apart for God's glory, sets you apart for God's purposes, He begins a long process of conforming you to a certain image and that image is the image of Christ.

That's what the Spirit marks you out and says, you are God's. You're His. And he gives you the gift of faith. And then, little by little, you stop being what you were in your thoughts, in your words, in your conduct, and you start to get squeezed into this wonderful mold. The mold is the image of Jesus Christ.

It doesn't happen all in the day you're saved. You know that experience tells you that. But the spirit goes to work and he starts a good work in you. And your thoughts start to change. Okay, well that's not just happening in your life, it's also happening in your life and in my life and in your life.

And there's one fixed point out on the horizon. Now we start at a thousand different starting points but there's one fixed point. We're all heading not to a thousand different points but to the same point. And that is conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. That is what the Spirit's job is.

That is what the Spirit is doing in the life of Christians. He's changing their thoughts and giving you the mind of Christ so that even though we had a thousand different minds, we're moving towards single mindedness, having one mind. So Peter is calling us to that. Jesus Christ is our Lord. We're called to follow him.

This Lord who laid aside all of his rights and came and laid down his life to purchase a people were being made like him. And as we're conformed into that image, we're becoming single-minded. We're starting to have one mind. Now, does that mean we're going to agree on everything? No.

Doesn't mean we're going to eventually share a brain and all agree on everything. But it does mean that love and unity are to flourish in spite of the differences, in spite of the differences, among the people of God. This does not mean that doctrine doesn't matter. This is not some wishy-washy state where we agree not to care so that we can have love and unity. No.

This is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, where we all receive life by embracing the true gospel and then the Spirit of God works on us and is moving all of us to this same point, which is conformity to the image of Christ. We're going to continue to have things that we don't see the same way. Love can flourish even there. Unity can flourish even there. Because as we're conformed more and more and more to be like Christ laying aside our rights, It gets less and less hard to do.

The more like Jesus you are, the easier it is to lay aside your rights and stop being so full of pride and we can live together with great precious unity, with much love. Number one, be of one mind. Number two, have compassion for one another. This is the second thing that Peter is calling us to. Have compassion for one another.

The NASB and the ESV render this be sympathetic. And that's because the Greek word looks almost exactly like our English word sympathetic. Our English word sympathetic comes right from this Greek root of this word. Have compassion for one another or be sympathetic. Now listen to what Peter has already said in this letter in chapter 2 verse 10.

He says that we had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy. The compassion that we have received, if you're in Christ, is the ground for our compassion for one another. It's the source of it. It's the fountain of it. It's the reservoir of it.

The true people of God don't have trouble being compassionate one towards another. Now imagine, again, we're talking about a kingdom that's like no other kingdom. Now think about a kingdom where I'm commanded, exhorted, given every incentive to have compassion on you. And you're commanded and you're exhorted and you're given every incentive to have compassion on me. What kind of a kingdom is that?

What kind of a life can we build together on that? Where I'm moved towards compassion towards you and you're moved towards compassion for me. I hadn't obtained mercy. My sins against God were great and they were many, but then just because of God's goodness, I received His mercy. And this becomes the ground, the source of compassion for you, and vice versa.

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells this parable where a king is settling accounts with a servant. And this one servant owes him millions and millions and millions of dollars and he can't even begin to pay it back. So the king is going to sell him and his family into slavery. And the man begs this king for mercy so the king just forgives his debt. All the millions and millions and millions of dollars just forgiven, the debt wiped away.

And then this servant goes and he starts choking his fellow servants over a couple of lousy bucks. You remember the first time you ever read that parable? Just the indignation that rises up in your heart when you read about that servant going to choke a few lousy bucks out of his fellow servants after he'd been forgiven. These millions and millions and millions of dollars that You say, no, how can this be? And so it is with the people of God.

Mercilessness is completely out of step with the Gospel. Mercilessness is completely incompatible with our faith. Why is that? Because we're all recipients of great mercy by definition. If you're in Christ, then you've already been forgiven more than you'll ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be called on to forgive.

But compassion is completely in step with this gospel. Compassion, having received this avalanche of mercy, compassion is the most compatible thing that could ever be with this gospel. Because we come humiliated and cleansed. And so we know what it's like to live with sins and frailties and to have that overlooked, passed over. And so to do it in a small way to a brother or sister is a complete non-issue.

It's so easy to do. That's easier said than done, isn't it? We're growing in that. I get it. In 1 Corinthians 12 verse 26, Paul has been speaking about the body of Christ, about how all of us together, though many, are formed together into this single body of Christ.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 26. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. So if you suffer according to the dictates of the gospel, what's appropriate for the gospel I suffer to? Or if you're honored, I rejoice too.

Because we're members one of another. We have the grounds for compassion and sympathy because we've been made one. Paul says almost exactly the same thing in Romans 12 verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We shouldn't have people weeping alone in the people of God.

We are members of one another. And that should give us such a natural sympathy and compassion for one another that we can't wait to rejoice when there's good news. And we're there to weep when there's weeping. Number three, love as brothers. Love as brothers.

Love is the fulfillment of the law. That's Paul in Romans 13, 10. On the command to love God and to love your neighbor hangs all the law and the prophets. Everything in the Word of God has a relationship to love. It all hangs on the framework of love.

Peter brings us here to a particular kind of love. Brotherly love. Family love. Sibling love. So Peter is giving us a frame of reference so we can say Not some nebulous, fuzzy, not sure what it means kind of love.

A very particular kind of love that you're going to be able to relate to. Love as brothers. Love among brothers is very particular. It's not a cotton candy kind of love. You know what I mean by that?

Everybody loves a little bit of cotton candy, but nobody wants it for dinner. Isn't that true? It just does not satisfy. So it's delicious and fine have some, but it's not going to be dinner. Brotherly love is meat and potatoes kind of love.

Have you seen messes in the church that make you not want to get entangled again? Too bad. Too bad. God is calling us to brotherly love and brotherly love isn't afraid of that. Brotherly love will take the risk to entangle up our lives enough that somebody might get wounded at some point.

So if you've been part of the mess and your reaction to that is not getting tangled up again, you have to reverse tracks. You have to actually repent. You should repent of that. God is calling us to entangle, to risk the mess. He's calling us to brotherly love.

Brotherly love is a particular kind of love without pretense. You're going to have to save your phoniness for other relationships. Not going to get away with that with your brother. Because, you know, your brother grew up with you. You might be able to push that over with people who know you at the surface, but you don't try that stuff with your brother or your sister because they know better and they'll call your mess.

Right? Brotherly love has fewer boundaries. So with the other people in life that we say we love, talk about loving, have an affection, a warmth in our heart for, but there's that boundary out there. They're not going to ask you kind of beyond this point. They're not going to stretch you there.

Brotherly love to boundaries way further than that. The obligations are higher. Your brother will call you for things he won't call the other people in his life for. So when you're really in trouble and he's only got one phone call, he's calling you. That is the kind of love being described.

Christians have the same father. They've been adopted into a family. So we have the same father and we have the same older brother, a sympathetic high priest. And so it really is brotherly love. And how many of you have relationships in the church that transcend anything you ever had in your blood family.

Many of us do have that. Praise the Lord. It means that God really is working. This indwelling spirit is really helping us to make Progress so that this description, brotherly love, almost becomes richer in the local church context than it ever was in the family context. Praise God for that.

May it be so. May this be, may brotherly love be on the rise among us. Number four, be tender hearted. Be tender hearted. We are called to soft heartedness.

Tender heartedness. Now compare this to a life of doing things to get service points to earn favor with God. Let's just contrast these two things. Peter is calling us to tender-heartedness, to warm-hearted affection, to soft-heartedness. Now, just put that on one hand and on the other side, put a life of just doing things, checking the box to get our service points so God is happy with us.

You can't get those two things to touch at any point. They're so far apart from each other. Tenderheartedness is not a robotic mechanical obedience. I love you. How may I serve you?

This isn't us. I love you. How can I bless you? By definition, true Christians, real ones, are people whose hearts of stone have been removed and replaced with a heart of flesh. Peter is talking about this.

Can you remember what it was like to be stone-hearted without God and without hope in the world. And then God's grace laid its hand upon you and gave you a heart of flesh. We're to be so tender-hearted, so form-hearted, so soft-hearted towards one another. This is one of those where we need to look into our hearts and repent. However far God has brought you, he hasn't brought to where you can't look inside and see that there's been some check box to your life.

There's been some cold mechanical doing that needs to be replaced by tender heartedness towards your brethren. Number five, be courteous. Be courteous. The Greek literally means friendly, kind. Courteous, friendly, Kind.

Common courtesy really should be common among us. If you haven't noticed, common courtesy isn't very common anymore. It's evaporating. It's disappearing. But among the people of God, it should be in abundance, common courtesy among us.

It's a basic disposition that is friendly and is kind. And this is deeper than just being southern. That's evaporating too. Southern culture that is just basically courteous. Now, of course, no one can stab you in the back like a Southerner either.

So a lot of that is just very culturally external only courtesy. We're not talking about good manners in public. Courtesy. Now listen to what Paul says in Philippians 2. This is Paul in Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Now, I could have used that as a cross reference for almost any of these six things. I stuck it in with courtesy, but it cuts across so many of the other things.

But what we're being called to is a lowliness of mind that makes us friendly and kind to our brethren. Makes us courteous. What we're being called to is esteeming others as better than ourselves, thinking more of others than we think of ourselves. It's all the things your mom tried to teach you when you were little. Mom was right.

Number six, Don't return evil either in deed or in word. Don't return evil. In other words, it's coming your way. Don't return it Either in deed or in word. This is the only don't do on the list.

All the others are positive commands. Be this, be this, be this, be this. Go be that. Here's a don't do. Here's a don't be this.

Peter is writing to a persecuted brethren. We keep seeing that. He's writing to people who are persecuted and he's making them ready for more and for worse. Peter knows that there's more persecution coming, not less, and worse persecution, not lighter. And that's true.

That's what's going to happen across the Roman Empire as time goes by, more and worse. And Peter is making the people of God ready for it. And so people are going to be doing evil against them. People are going to be speaking evil against them. And you can't wait until that happens to make yourself ready.

Otherwise, you'll return evil for evil, And you'll return reviling for reviling. You'll just do back what was done to you. So you got to make yourself ready now for the time of evil doing and the time of evil speaking so that you girded your spirit up for it. You have made yourself ready for it. Peter is actually saying follow Jesus, do like Jesus.

Michael read this earlier, but I'm going to read it again. 1 Peter chapter 2, just last chapter, beginning in 21. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. Act like Jesus. Be like Jesus.

He was reviled. He did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges Righteously. In other words, evil was done to Jesus. He didn't return it.

Evil speaking was done against Jesus, and he didn't return it. Why? Because he had trusted himself to God. Every natural inclination you ever had wants to respond in kind. Wants to lash out when evil is spoken of you.

Or wants to give it back when evil is done to you. That's all your natural inclinations. That was the old man. The new man responds with the opposite. Put off the old man, Paul says in Ephesians and Colossians, put off that old man, All those very natural inclinations that would drag you in the wrong direction put on the new man.

Respond actually in the opposite direction. So there's responding in kind And then there's just not responding at all. That's better, but not what we're called to. What we're called to is respond with the opposite. When evil is done with you, to bless.

When evil is spoken against you, to bless. So when that unbelieving family member slanders you, you don't slander them back, you don't say nothing, you look for an opportunity to bless them. This is a kingdom like no other. What other kingdom operates like this? When that unbelieving co-worker slanders you, You don't revile in return.

When that unbelieving family member doesn't invite you, leaves you out, well fine, you just wait until it's my birthday. Never come to my birthday party ever again. This is not the people of God. And we laugh, but this happens in families. This happens in families.

And these things go on for decades and decades. Not us. Not us. Because God has had such compassion on us that we can spare a little for our unbelieving family members and neighbors and coworkers. Can you spare a little compassion?

Has God shown you enough compassion that you have a little to spare for your unbelieving co-workers who need the Gospel? Your unbelieving family, your unbelieving neighbors. Matthew 5, the very end of the Beatitudes, Jesus is talking about the same thing. He's talking about you being persecuted for righteousness sake. And he says, great is your reward in heaven.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Great is your reward in heaven. These momentary trials aren't even worth being compared to the glory to come. They're not even worth putting side by side.

If you're a Christian, you were called to this. It is a picture of the Gospel. When evil is done against us, when evil is spoken against us, and we respond with the opposite, It's a picture of the gospel. This is what happened to Jesus. This is a way that we can show the world that it's time to turn it upside down.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 12 and 13. 1 Corinthians 4, verses 12 and 13. Paul says, and we labor working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.

Being defamed, we entreat. Paul's talking about his life, what's happening in his life and he says We're being defamed. So what is Paul doing in response? He's entreating. He's appealing.

He's trying to win over his persecutors. It's like Jesus at the cross. The very men who are nailing him to the cross, he's praying for them. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.

Paul had a like spirit. Peter is calling us to have a like spirit. When we're being defamed, we entreat, we appeal with the gospel, we bless. Now, these six things, think of if we gave our hearts to these six things, what life would be like for us in this church? I know, wow.

Each of these six things is a call to self-examination. Each of these six things is a call to action, so I'm giving you homework. Don't tell me you're dog-ated. Here's your homework. And I'm as serious as a heart attack.

And those are really serious. Do this homework. I'm checking your homework. Front row. Examine yourself against these six things, verse 8 and verse 9.

Identify the two which need the most progress in your life. I stink at this one And I stink at that one. And then determine what you're going to do about it. Sometimes this is a helpful exercise. Just Identify the weak points.

Identify the place where we've lagged the most, where we lack the progress that we most desperately need and to say, I'm going to focus on these two things. These have got to come up to par. Do that with this list. This is my big concern for our church. You know, we're anchored to what I believe is a wonderful, Orthodox, doctrinal statement.

I don't think we're going to drift off into the weeds on doctrine. I think the thing that will make us collapse is lack of love. And I say that only because I feel my own lack of love. I feel the lack. A pastor has to love his brethren more than I love you.

I'm sorry. I need to grow. Okay. But it's not just me. What about you?

When this church collapses, and many churches do, it's going to be lack of love. So if you treasure what we have in any small way, give attention to these things. If you want it to last, grow in love. We have to grow in love. Verses 10 through 12.

For he who would love life and seek good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. 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." Peter is quoting Psalm 34 verses 12 through 16, word for word, just quoting Psalm 34. He's quoting David.

And it begins, for anyone who would love life and see good days, are you enticed yet? You want to love life versus the alternative? Do you want to see good days versus the alternative? Sign me up. Where's the sign up sheet?

I'm ready. Yes. I want to sign the petition for loving life and seeing good days. It reminds me of the fifth commandment, the commandment to honor your father and your mother. It's the first command with a promise.

It comes with a promise of blessing. And so the psalmist, David, is sweetening the deal in Psalm 34. He could just command you to it. We ought to be commanded to these things, but he sweetens the deal. He says, if you'll give attention to this, you'll love life and you'll see good days.

First, he says, refrain from sins of the tongue. Refrain from sins of the tongue. Refrain from sins of the tongue. The two great sins of the tongue are evil speaking and deceit. Evil speaking and lying.

Those are the great sins of the tongue. Peter says, if you want to love life and you want to see good days, refrain from these sins. Understand what Peter is doing. He's just painted a beautiful picture of what life is to be like among the people of God. And he says, cultivate that like a farmer.

Cultivate that like a farmer. Grow that crop. And then, he goes right to What can undo all of that in an instant? So you can grow that like a farmer, work hard at it, and have it all swept away in an instant because of the sins of the tongue. Turn in your Bibles to James, James chapter 3.

So Peter here has painted this beautiful picture. He's called us to it. He said, cultivate that. But he's arguing that you can take one step forward by cultivating that and then a hundred steps back because of sins of the tongue. That all of that can be wiped away and more.

James 3 will begin in verse 4. James chapter 3 verse 4. Look also at ships. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little Remember and boast great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so." Can you imagine if you were trying to frame a sterner warning than this, how would you do it? What words would you pick to go further than James has gone here? I can't think of any.

If you put me in charge of that project, I just have to throw up my hands and say, I don't think I can go further than James. How could he warn us more about the damage that can be done through our tongues? So, who's going to set our house on fire with their tongue? Who's listening ear is going to pass it along. Is it you?

No, I'm not looking at anybody in particular. Don't look up here to see who I'm looking at. Is it you, anadome? Is it you? Is it you?

James brings this warning so severely because it's so incredibly hard to tame your tongue that James says nobody can do it. You try with all your might you find slip. It's full of deadly poison. You should be afraid of your tongue. Sets nature on fire and it's set on fire by hell.

Love and trust are to flourish among the Lord's people. That's what this whole text is about. Love and trust flourishing among us, increasing and increasing and increasing. Evil speaking and lying are love killers and trust killers. If you know of a way to kill love and to kill trust faster than these sins of the tongue, I'd like to know it.

James doesn't know of any. So first, refrain from sins of the tongue. They can burn our house down. Second, cultivate a life of repentance and doing good. Cultivate a life of repentance.

In other words, repentance isn't a one-time event that happens and now I'm saved and I just go on to doing good forever. Wouldn't that be nice? Does that match up one for one with your experience, not mine? I find myself needing to repent every day and every hour of the day, and that is not an exaggeration. God would have us cultivate a life of repentance and then more repentance and then more repentance and then more repentance because there's so much there that needs to be turned away from.

Turn away from doing evil. And then turn away some more. And then turn away some more. And then turn away some more. Every hour of every day.

Cultivating a life of repentance. Repentance is ongoing. You're never at the end of it. You're always in need of more. Listen to Galatians 6 verse 9.

Galatians 6 verse 9, Paul writes, and let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. So we're called to turn away from wickedness, to repent, and repent, and repent some more. And you're turning away from something, but you're turning to something. It's doing good and we so easily tire of this work.

It's easy to become weary in doing good Which is why Paul says, don't grow weary, you reap if you don't lose heart. Keep going, keep doing good. Finally, seek peace and pursue it. Peter doesn't say seek peace and he doesn't say pursue peace. He says them both.

He's piling up the exhortation. Why? Because peace doesn't fall out of the sky into your lap. You have to go and get it. That's the message.

Seek peace and pursue it. Don't expect it to drop down on you magically. Seek it out. Go get it. Pursue it.

You have to fight for peace. You have to fight for it. And then he gives the why behind all of these exhortations, the why. This is the psalmist and Peter quoting the psalmist. Because everyone is laid bare before God, and God acts accordingly.

God sees it all. He's seen all of our thoughts. He's heard all of our words. He knows everything that we do. This is the greatest comfort to the true Christian.

And it ought to be the greatest terror to hypocrites and unbelievers. God sees it all. Christian, His eye is on you. Not because you're a law keeper, you're still not that, but Because you're a son or a daughter. His eye is upon you.

He is for you. He will sustain you. He will support you. The things that you think are impossible are not impossible. He will help you.

The things in your life that you think are completely out of control are not out of his control. His eyes are on the righteous. His ears are open to their prayers. He hears your prayers brother or sister. He's listening.

He hasn't answered them as fast as you hoped. Welcome to the club. But he has heard them. And he loves his people. And we can trust him.

Applications, three. Number one has already been given, but I'm reminding you of the verse eight challenge, your homework. To look over verse eight, nine, and to look at those six things and say, which of the two of these are the biggest gaps in my life? Now, what am I going to do about it? Number two, what about your tongue?

Are you governing it as you ought to? Or is evil speaking and deceit a problem that you better get under control before you burn your life down and take us with you. Number three, are you cultivating a life of repentance? You know, There are certain things that if you pay attention to them, everything else seems to sort of follow along. This is one of them.

If you cultivate a life of repentance, a life of humility before God, where you know you're not what you ought to be. And you're wanting, desiring for God to put his finger in the wound and show you so that you can turn away and do good. If you cultivate that in your life like a farmer cultivates his crops, so many other things just seem to start to follow along and to fall into place. May it be that we are a people who are cultivating repentance in our lives, who are looking to worship God in our lives by turning away from all those things that so characterize the old man, the person that we used to be before Christ, put His hand on us. We're wanting to turn away from those things.

And we don't mind being humiliated and laid bare before God. Because we're not stuck on ourselves like that anymore. And we just want to be transformed now so that we could live to his praise. May we be that kind of people. Let's pray.

God, only you can do this. Looking back on 30-something years in the faith, I know that I cannot do this Lord. A man's strength is so far short of being able to produce what we see in verses 8 and 9. The beautiful life that you're calling us to. And yet we don't even have the resources in ourselves to do this.

We call upon you, oh God. Send help. Help us, Lord. Change us, Lord. Make us into a people who are cultivating an ongoing life of repentance, turning away.

Oh conform us into this image. We're so far short. But we have hope because you are God and you are faithful. I don't know if there is another source of hope than that you are a faithful God. In all of our unfaithfulness you are a faithful God, a covenant-keeping God who has made promises to your people.

God, we want to latch onto your promises and cling to them with all of our might. Make us such a people. In Jesus' name, Amen.