Warwick Baptist Church
Sunday August 7
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  • Look To The Son
  • Mighty To Save
  • In Christ Alone
  • How Great is Our God
  • Lead Me To The Cross
  • The Good Life

    1 Peter 3:10–16 ESV
    For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep 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 prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
    Opening Prayer
    1 Peter 3:15 ESV
    but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
    “Make a defense” Aplogia
    foundation of what we are called to do as witnesses to the Gospel
    “Yet do it with gentleness and respect”
    To understand more fully what we called to do here
    We must understand broader context of this scripture
    We are going to move a little bit through scripture
    Ultimately what I want you answer this one important question
    What does it mean to be a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ?
    Desire the Good life.
    1 Peter 3:10 ESV
    For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
    Love life and see Good days”?
    What is Good life?
    subjective: Money, health, entertainment
    This actually a quote from the Old Testament
    Psalm 34:11–12 ESV
    Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
    “The Fear of the Lord”
    the “Good Life” is synonymous with Fearing the Lord
    Right relationship with God.
    What should be true about such person?
    How do you know you have a relationship with God
    We know that is only found through faith in Christ
    But what type of person you are is can also be described with
    A focus on what you say:
    Psalm 34:13 ESV
    Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
    A lot of scripture dedicated to “taming the tongue”
    Lies, gossip, slander, boasting, hatred
    malicious words that come from people’s mouth
    Today would include the horrible things people type
    messages, social media
    Simplified:
    “Keep from speaking evil about people and stop lying”
    Illustration: Secret Clearance
    In Navy I working toward a certification that required Secret Clearence
    introduced to “Need to Know”
    You have proved to be trustworthy, but if you don’t a r valid reason to know the information, you are not privied to the information.
    Why are you telling someone this thing you are saying?
    A focuses on what you do:
    Psalm 34:14 ESV
    Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
    Turn away from evil and do good
    notice the contrast between EVIL & GOOD.
    “turn away” implies a decision on your part
    when given the opportunity: turn from evil
    Seek peace and pursue it
    Seek and Pursue
    indicates a constant, persistent effort
    even in the face of opposition to peace, you still pursue it.
    This could be peace with others, or peace with God
    The reward of those who seek “The Good Life” … favor with God
    Psalm 34:15–16 ESV
    The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
    Don’t really need to elaborate too much on those verses, do I?
    You want to be able to go to God when you face trails?
    “His eye are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.
    You want to live life described for your own pleasure in a way that the bible describes as evil?
    “The face of the Lord is against those who do evil...”
    “...TO CUT OFF THE MEMORY OF THEM FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH” (Yikes)
    The Good Life Challenged
    1 Peter 3:13 ESV
    Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
    I think most would agree that living a “good life” is better than living a “evil” one.
    But what about those who question their strength to do so?
    Peter gives a sort of logical argument to living this life for God.
    Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
    In other words, what bad could happen to you if you are a Godly person?
    That seems pretty logical … except we know that there are horrible things that happen to godly people.
    (What kind of argument is that)
    The argument is one of getting the proper perspective...
    1 Peter 3:14 ESV
    But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
    Plain an simple:
    We do not seek to live a good life because of what the world has to offer. We seek to live the good life because of what God has promised.
    Will we suffer for righteousness sake? YES you will
    Will God always be there to bless us for living for Him? also YES
    How can they really harm you when God has promised to bless you?
    The Good Life Defended
    1 Peter 3:15–16 ESV
    but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
    Here we come to the focus of this sermon.
    God Christ as Holy
    Always be ready to make a defense for your hope in Christ
    but do it with gentleness and respect.
    Culture of “Theologians”
    They have a tremendous amount of knowledge on the fact of the bible. (even brag about how much money they’ve invested in their library.
    But their are lifeless and void of any kind of love.
    They know facts ABOUT God but they don’t understand what He is talking about in His word.
    You need take on the responsibility of knowing how to defend your faith.
    How do you answer the questions of those who oppose or simply don’t believe what we believe.
    You may be able to win an argument with facts
    But you will change their hearts with the truth.
    Closing Prayer
      • 1 Peter 3:10–16ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:15ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:10ESV

      • Psalm 34:11–12ESV

      • Psalm 34:13ESV

      • Psalm 34:14ESV

      • Psalm 34:15–16ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:13ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:14ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:15–16ESV

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