Y U Need Jesus

By Bobby Blakey on August 2, 2020

1 Peter 3:13-17

AUDIO

Y U Need Jesus

By Bobby Blakey on August 2, 2020

1 Peter 3:13-17

This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] Father, we come to you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. And we love the name what for what it means that he is this, he will save his people from their sins. And Father, we ask that now you would teach us how to live out the name of Jesus, that you would teach us how to represent the name of Jesus, how to share the name of Jesus with other people who might ask us. Father, we know that some day every single knee is going to bow. And every single tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he is the name above every name. And so, Father, I pray for everybody who's gathered together here tonight that you remind us that the name of Jesus is more important than anything going on planet Earth right now. It's the one name anybody on this planet is getting saved by, and it's the one name we'll be singing about for all of eternity. And so, father, please exalt the name of your son, Jesus. We pray. Amen.

[00:01:09] Who brought one of these with him here tonight. Anybody? Bring one of these. I invite you to open the Bible and to turn with me to 1 Peter 3.

[00:01:18] And we're going to look at first, Peter, three, 13 to 17 together. And here's the thing. When you study the Bible. One of the things that is so important, you can just write this.

[00:01:28] If you've got our handout, you want to pull it out right now. You should just write at the top of your notes context. Context is so important when you are studying the Bible. What can happen if we're not careful is we instead of context, we do proof texting. And what happens is a verse. It gets pulled out of the Bible passage that it's in the chapter that it's in, the book that it's in. And instead it gets put up on the wall or it gets put up on Instagram with like some big picture of flowers or waterfalls or beautiful sunsets. Right. And you pull a verse out and you put it up. And pretty soon, like people, even sometimes they memorize one verse. And then when you think about that verse, you think about that one verse. You don't think about the verses before it, the verses after it. You don't think about what Book of the Bible the verse is in. You just think about the specific words in the verse. And if you're not careful over time, the verse means something when you put it by itself that it doesn't really mean when you read it all together. And that, unfortunately, is what has happened to First Peter. Chapter three, verse fifteen. This is a proof texting verse for this idea of apologetics. Often I have heard first Peter 315 quoted by itself. But what we're going to do together right now is we're going to study it actually in its original context and we're going to see what it really means. And so if you've got your Bible open, I'm going ask if everybody would stand up for our scripture reading.

[00:03:11] And we're going to read. I'll read for us. Everybody read along with me first, Peter, three, 13 to 17. And if you're a Christian, this is going to tell you to imperative important things for you to do.

[00:03:24] In fact, this might even reveal to you that you are not really a Christian here tonight. And so we need everybody to give this our full and undivided attention. This is the most important thing you're going to hear is the word of God. So please follow along.

[00:03:39] As I read first, Peter, three, 13 to 17. 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.

[00:03:57] But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord is Holy, always being prepared to make it offense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame, for it is better to suffer for doing good. If that should be God's will, then for doing evil.

[00:04:25] That's the reading of God's word. Go ahead and grab your seats. And maybe you've heard that verse before. To set apart Christ is Lord of your hearts. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. With gentleness and respect. First, Peter, 350. Who's ever heard that verse quoted by itself before? All right. Now, if you just look at it even in English right away. Can you see that verse is not even a complete sentence. Can everybody see that with me? Do you see how the sentence actually got started in the verse before? And the sentence continues in the verse after it. So that's a bad grammar to pull out a thought.

[00:05:08] That's not even a whole sentence, OK. So this idea that we're seeing here in First Peter three is that there's a way that you should be conducting yourself. There's a way that you should be living your life. You should be zealous to do what is good. You should be fired up to obey Jesus. This is where we left off last week when it said righteousness. Look back at verse 12, chapter three, verse twelve. It said, The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. See if you believe in Jesus, you are declared righteous by God at the moment, you put your faith in Jesus, you are made right with God, but then you're supposed to live out righteousness. That's what it's talking about here in verse 13. You're zealous for what is good. You're even ready if you're doing what is right and people don't like it. If you're that goody two shoes, you're not cursing. Like everybody else, you're not cheating on your homework, but like everybody else, you're not talking bad about your boss behind his back. Like everybody else. And people want to give you are time for doing what is right. You'll keep doing what is right, even if you suffer for it. That's the idea. You're living a certain kind of life. And when people see you living that way. Look at that person always trying to do what is right. Look at their zeal that they have to live for Jesus. Somebody is going to ask you why.

[00:06:36] Why are you always doing what is right? Why don't you laugh at that joke when we tell that joke?

[00:06:42] Why don't you join with us when we're gossiping and slandering and cutting somebody else down? Why are you acting different than us? People are going to ask you to give an answer. Why do you have hope? We're over here. We're complaining. This is what the world does. The world speaks in a negative way. People love to complain. They love to dispute that.

[00:07:05] Has anybody heard some complaining going on in America lately? Anybody with me on that? We're complaining about the Corona virus were complaining about what other people are doing and protesting. We're complaining about what's happening in our political elections. I mean, we're just negative about all kinds of things going on.

[00:07:25] And here's you just live in your life for Jesus Christ. Somebody is going to say, hey, why aren't you having a bad attitude being negative like the rest of us? And at that moment, you have a chance to give a reason why you have hope.

[00:07:39] That's what this is really about.

[00:07:42] It's you're living in such a way that you're establishing credibility that there is something different about you. You are living like like life isn't going out of control, like everything is going wrong, but that Jesus Christ is the Lord of heaven and earth. And he has all authority. And he saved you out of your sins and he gave you you are a new creation in Christ. And now that hope, you're living that out and people are like, why?

[00:08:10] You tell them, I'll give you a reason, my hope is in Jesus Christ. So that's what this passage is about.

[00:08:18] It's about people looking at you, seeing something different about you. And you've got it right there on your hand. This is why we broke it down like this. Why you need Jesus? Because people are going to come and they're going to ask you why you're a Christian. Why you conduct yourself in a different way. And what you need to say to them. Here's point number one. If you're taking notes, the reason for hope is Jesus. If somebody asked you to give an answer to defend why, you have hope. His name is Jesus Christ. Can I get a man from the congregation here tonight?

[00:08:52] Everybody. Jesus is the reason I have hope now. Now, here's what really bothers me about what happens to First Peter 315.

[00:09:01] Can I can I give you guys a little rant about this when you bear with me here for a minute? Because when we take this verse out and we don't care about the sentence, it's in the chapter, it's in the book of the Bible that it's in. And we say we've got to give a reason for hope. Well, now we don't know what hope means. Now we can defined hope to be anything we want. Why do you have hope and Jesus? Why do you have hope and Jesus will now hope? Well, a hope means a lot of different things to a lot of people. But if you've been paying attention, and I know some of you have, that's why you're sitting out here on the front lawn on Saturday night.

[00:09:36] You've been listening to these sermons from First Peter. Have we already learned a lot about hope in the book?

[00:09:40] First, Peter, has hope kind of been like the whole theme of the book of verse? Peter, have I have you seen anybody walking around wearing a T-shirt that says Hope Dimmest? Who's seen one of those T-shirts, you know, wear those shirts came from preaching first, Peter. Have you seen anybody? Has anybody said here? Hopes are high. Hopes are high, as anybody said that. Right. Who's who's ever heard about setting our hope fully on the future? Grace, that is coming. And Jesus Christ. Have you heard about that? See, when we're in first, Peter, when we're in context. When he says you should be ready to give a reason for your hope. Well, there's a lot of meat on the bones on what hope means already in first. Peter.

[00:10:22] Look, go back to chapter one, verse three. Everybody look at this. OK? If there's two messages you need to listen to over and over from first Peter, it's the first one scattered and it's the other one.

[00:10:34] Future greats, because they're the two ones where we really get this hope defined and explained for us. And here in verse three, it says, Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So under point number one, where it's talking about your hope is Jesus. See, this hope here is very clear. You have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So under that point, number one, right down resurrection. That's where your hope comes from, your hope as a person. His name is Jesus. And the beginning of your hope, the inception of your hope is Jesus Christ rose from the dead. That's what made you alive. That's what made you new. That's what saved your soul. See, we got to go. Some of us. We got to go to this place called the Garden Tomb right outside the old city of Jerusalem. And there's a first century tomb. Anybody ever been to the garden tomb that's here tonight? Some of us have been there. We've walked in and we've been in there. This is one of the two possible sites where they think Jesus was crucified on the cross, where he was buried and where he rose from the dead.

[00:11:59] I remember this profound thought I had one day when I was there in that garden with a bunch of people from our church and we're worshiping Jesus up from the grave. He arose with a mighty triumph for his foes. We're thinking this is the place the resurrection happened. It's like you just start walking taller, you feel stronger. And I had this epiphany when I realized one day this is where I was born right here.

[00:12:25] When he was in that place of death, when he was in the tomb and he burst out from the grave on the morning of the third day when he rose up from the dead.

[00:12:35] That is where I came alive right there in the resurrection of Jesus was like, this is where I come from.

[00:12:44] See, that gave me hope.

[00:12:47] See, there's this saying that we need to bring back it's that G.U., you should live your life like Jesus died yesterday, ROHS today, and he's coming back when? See, those are people who have hope, people who live in the power of the resurrection. What we're saying is we don't just believe that Jesus rose from the dead two thousand years ago when we believed that Jesus rose from the dead. We have a new life in Jesus Christ. From that moment that we believed, we have been risen with him. And that gives us hope. That's how he started this whole thing. You should be blessing God. You should be worshiping. You shouldn't be complaining and disputing like the other people around you. You should be praising his holy name because you've got hope, because Jesus rose from the dead to give you life. Now go down to verse 13 where it talks about it again. It says, We got hope in verse three. Here's what it says we should do in chapter one, verse 13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action. Here's a way of thinking, hey, you should be sober minded. You should set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So if our hope comes from the resurrection, our hope is looking forward to. You should write this down. Revelation, that's what you should write down under resurrection. You are in between right now. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the revelation of Jesus Christ coming back. And you should be putting every bit of hope you've got. Should be fully on all the goodness, all the riches of loving kindness, all the blessings that you have yet to experience that are going to come to you on the day that Jesus comes riding on the clouds at the return of the king. Do you believe let me ask you guys a personal question here tonight. Do you believe Jesus Christ is coming back?

[00:14:52] And that should give us so much hope. I mean, do you realize how much drama is starting to form right now over what's going to happen in November over this presidential election, do you realize how many of our fellow Americans are going to they're going to live these next couple of months, August, September, October, these next three months are all of their hope is going to be about who gets elected to be the president of the United States.

[00:15:17] Do you realize there's only one who you should really get your hopes in, who's coming to reign? And his name is Jesus. Can you imagine living in a place where Jesus was the king? I mean, he's already proven that he actually really cares about you. He's already proven that he has all power and authority. Can you imagine if Jesus Christ was down here among us raining? How much better? Immediately this place would be to live. Can I get any man from anybody on that? That's true. That is going to happen. It might happen before we have another presidential election. Jesus Christ said to you a promise, and he always keeps his promises. He said, I'm coming soon. And you better be ready for me. And you should be hoping in that you should be hoping that every single day. I can't wait the best day of my life is ahead of me. And that's when I get to see Jesus Christ unveiled in all of his glory, keeping his promise to come and get me to take me home, where he's prepared a place for me to be with him for all of eternity. Put all your hope in that. Stop hoping in the comeback out of Corona virus. Stop hoping in some kind of social justice. Stop hoping whoever is president is going to solve all our problems and put every bit of hope you've got and the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back.

[00:16:48] That's what it means to have hope.

[00:16:51] Now, if you believe that all of your seen and the fear of death got defeated yesterday and Jesus is coming back tomorrow, how are you then going to live your life to day? You're going to live different than everybody else around us. And the people who see you filled with this hope of Jesus are going to look at you and they're going to say why?

[00:17:13] And that's going to be your opportunity to give an answer for the reason that you've got hope. Are you living like you have the hope of the resurrection and the revelation of Jesus Christ? That's what the idea is here and first, Peter, that's what he's been developing and he's been building this contrast because even though we know we've been saved.

[00:17:38] And even though we know where we're going to be with Jesus right now, we're suffering. We're submitting. We're scattered. And we're having a hard time. And he's telling them how to live their life through this hard time, but that their hope is so powerful. It's so real that even when you're going through a time of suffering and submission and being scattered, your hope can transcend all of that in Jesus Christ. You don't have to live based on your circumstances. Your hopes are high in your salvation.

[00:18:16] That's the message of first, Peter. Now, it's not just in first, Peter.

[00:18:21] Go with me back to Titus, chapter two, everybody go with me to Titus chapter to a great cross reference for us here as we think about this hope, this hope that comes from the resurrection looks forward to the revelation. Titus, too. Let's pick it up in verse eleven, tightest to eleven to fourteen here. It says, The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people who brought salvation for all people. His name is Jesus. Grace has a face. When Grace appeared there, he was Jesus Christ, the God man who put on flesh the son of God full of grace and truth. And he appeared, and he's bringing salvation for everybody. And he's training us a new way to live. He's teaching us to renounce on godliness and worldly passions, say no to the sins of this world and to live self-control. Upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope and what is our blessed hope. Look at this, everybody. The appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. If you're not hopin about Jesus coming back, you're doing Christianity wrong, OK? If you didn't think this week, I can't wait for Jesus to come back. Maybe it's going to be soon. That's not how you're supposed to be living as a Christian. Everything in your life is supposed to be pointing towards the reality that at any moment, like a thief in the night, Jesus is going to return, not as a suffering servant, not as a humble man, obeying to the point of death on a cross.

[00:20:07] He's going to come back riding on the clouds. Everybody's going to see him. He's going to come as a conquering king. And he's going to establish his kingdom to reign.

[00:20:17] And it says that your blessed hope, that's what you're waiting for. That's what makes your life makes sense.

[00:20:25] And if we're not even thinking about the thing that makes our life as Christians makes sense. Well, that could be explaining why we're having a hard time. Says, no, you're waiting for your blessed hope. You're going to see the glory of our God and savior Jesus Christ. And then look at verse 14, who gave himself for us to redeem us, to purchase us by his precious blood. He he buys us out of all lawlessness, all sin. And he purifies for himself a people who are his own possession, zealous for good works. See, Jesus died for us and he rose again. That's where our hope comes from. Jesus is coming back. That's where our hope is looking forward to. And in between, I have zeal to live for Jesus to do good works for Jesus. Right now. So you got to ask yourself, am I really live in this kind of hope life because I'm supposed to be living it so much that people would ask me why I live the way I live?

[00:21:33] Now, go back to first Peter Chapter three and look what it says in the continuation of this thought. So we're going to have to we're going to have to expand. We just zeroed in on the reason for the hope, because hope has been a major theme in First Peter.

[00:21:48] Hope is something we shouldn't be like. Oh, yeah. I remember we talked about that. That's the thing we should keep thinking about throughout the whole book.

[00:21:56] But look at how the the sentence continues here in verse 16. It says Having a good conscience.

[00:22:05] So that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. Now, this is an idea. Peter's been developing as well. If you are living a hopeful life and Jesus people are not going to relate to that and they're going to want to say bad things about you. And this is something this kind of persecution that it's talking about here is something every single Christian will experience. Everybody who wants to live for God will experience persecution. It could be as simple as this. Right. And earlier it said your zealous to do what is good. You suffer for righteousness sake. Here it says you have a good conscience and you have good behavior in Christ. Now, here's another word I want you to write down.

[00:22:50] If you're taking notes, write down the word conduct, conduct. I think these are the two most important ideas in P and first, Peter, hope and conduct. Now, when it says behavior there, I have no idea why they translated a behavior, because in other parts of First Peter, they've been translating that same Greek word, conduct the manner of life, the pattern of how you live when people see the way that you are living your life. That's when they're going to ask you for a reason, for the hope that is in you, because your conduct is going to be at a contrast with the world around you. People who don't know God are going to live different than people who really do know God. OK, go back to chapter one, verse fifteen, where it uses this same idea of conduct. Chapter one, verse fifteen. It says, as he who called you is holy. Our Father in heaven. They're saying about him right now. Holy, holy, holy. Set apart. There's no one like him. He's perfect. He has no sin, as he who called you is holy. You also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written. You shall be holy. For I am holy.

[00:24:08] So we were called that our conduct would be we're trying to be like, God, we're not trying to be like everybody else.

[00:24:15] And we need to say that very clearly, because right now I hear a lot of people saying, can you believe how hypocritical those people are? Can you believe how hypocritical these people are? Look, other people have always been hypocrites. That's not the issue. The issue is, are you going to be one of them? That's the question. We've got so many people, Christian people say, did you see what they did? They're such hypocrites. And then guess what? The Christians do. Well, because they did it all go do it, too. That's not being a Christian. Now, being a Christian is when you see a hypocrite, you say, I don't want to be like that. I want to be set apart. I want to do what God tells me to do, not what everybody else is doing. Of course, other people are being hypocrites. We are called to be holy in our conduct.

[00:24:59] We're called to be different.

[00:25:02] As he who called you his holy are you now born again? Are you now a son or daughter of the most high? Are we all brothers and sisters? And Jesus Christ? Well, our family plays by a different set of rules than Satan's family. We're fundamentally different. We're not dead. We're alive. We're not in the darkness. We're light. And we're supposed to act like it. Go over to chapter two, verse 12. This is this is a verse that not enough Christians are paying attention to right now. First, Peter, chapter two, verse 12, key pure conduct among the Gentiles, among the people who don't know God. Keep your conduct honorable among the gentiles so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

[00:25:56] Peter says this is how your life is going to be as a Christian, you're being called to different conduct. Holy, it's described honorable. You're going to live. Different than the rest of the world. And this is how it's how it's going to work. Right. Let's say let's say you work at a job and at your at your workplace. Maybe you work in construction, you work in an office environment. You have a lot of coworkers and people. They curse at your workplace all the time. Maybe some people here can relate to this.

[00:26:29] People are dropping words that if a child says it, they would say that's not OK. And yet here they are, an adult, just letting this word spew in. People are they're dropping inappropriate jokes. They're talking bad about other people behind their back. All you have to do in America is not say those things. And someone at some point will get mad at you just because you don't talk like that.

[00:26:54] And they'll be like, why don't you talk like that? How come I never hear you say something like that?

[00:27:00] How come when we're over here, Chad, and you act like you're too good for us? I guarantee you they're going to want to say something bad about you. The problem is you're doing the right thing. And when they try to say something bad about you, it sometimes reveals to them that what they're saying is wrong.

[00:27:17] That's going to happen to every single one of us who lives for Jesus Christ. They're going to try to speak evil about us because of our conduct.

[00:27:27] And win and go, so. So now go back to chapter three, verse 16. So you need to have a good conscience. You need to make sure that you are not doing anything that you think is wrong. You're not disobeying God in any way. You need to make sure that you are walking in righteousness, that you are zealous for what is good. And if your conscience is clear, it says here in verse 16, when you are slandered, notice it doesn't say if you are slandered.

[00:27:57] And I know somebody at our church there, a brand new Christian date.

[00:28:02] You know what? They actually got saved during Corona virus. We praise the Lord for that. Anybody? Jesus is still doing his thing. He's not on lockdown. He's still building the church. Jesus doesn't stay at home. He saves souls. That's what he does. And and now this new Christian is reading their Bible as new Christians are prone to long for the pure of the word. And now some of their family members who have never seen this person sitting in the house reading the Bible before are like, why are you reading the Bible in our house?

[00:28:35] How dare you read that book in here?

[00:28:39] And they're upset at them because they're sitting down, maybe they've got coffee, paper and pen. I don't know. They're sitting there minding their own business, reading the Bible, and people are coming after them just for reading the book.

[00:28:53] They're trying to say something bad about them.

[00:28:55] They're trying to get them to stop doing it. When you shine the light, when you act like you're alive. Dead people in the dark don't like it.

[00:29:04] And they're going to say something to you about it. They're going to try to slander you. They're going to try to make you doing good, seem wrong.

[00:29:13] They're going to try to twisted around on you. That's what it's saying here.

[00:29:18] They're going to speak evil of your good conduct in Christ. And they're going to end up ashamed. And you're going to end up approved. And here's what you've got. You've got to get to this place in your mind is what it's saying, OK? It's saying when they see your conduct, they're going to come and say about it and when they're going to say something mean or nasty and it's probably going to involve our letter. Why? Why don't you say this? Why do you do this? Why are you different? Here's what you've got to think. Don't get offended about what they're saying about you. This is your moment to talk to them about Jesus.

[00:29:57] That's what he's teaching us here.

[00:29:59] There's going to come a moment when you're live in a different way. And they're going to come after you. And they're going to want to say something about you. If you don't get angry at them and you respond to them in kindness, if you actually see that as an open door to say, hey, well, let me tell you what Jesus Christ has done in my life.

[00:30:18] That's actually a powerful moment, if you're ready for it.

[00:30:24] And so the U. Let's talk about the you here, your second point. The result of Jesus is a changed life. The result of Jesus is a changed life.

[00:30:39] And that's why we have it. You like that because the you there is a letter that symbolizes repentance, that there has been a turnaround in your life. There has been a change of mind in your life. You were going down. You were perishing apart from God. You were on your way to hell in sin. But Jesus came down and he saved you and he turned you around. And now you conduct yourself in a whole new way, wholly honorable in the name of Jesus.

[00:31:13] And people, they're going to see that about you. They're going to ask you about it.

[00:31:17] They might even be bothered that you're not like everybody else.

[00:31:23] So, see, here's the thing. If we're not talking to people about our hope in Jesus, that almost begs this other question here. Underneath that is, can people not tell that I'm different? Can people not tell that I'm wholly an honorable.

[00:31:41] Like, wait a minute, if nobody's asking me why I'm living with this hope will. Does that mean they can't see that I've been changed? Does that mean I'm talking like everybody else around me? Does that mean I'm actually blending in with the world? Is the reason nobody's comin in asking me why I'm different?

[00:31:59] Because the facts are I'm not really that different.

[00:32:05] Wow. He's saying this is the expectation of every single person. It's not the hardcore Christians who get persecuted, every Christian gets persecuted, every Christian will have conduct that is set apart. And somebody somewhere will try to say something bad about your conduct. That is that is going to happen to every single one of us in Jesus Christ promised in scripture.

[00:32:30] Peter preparing us for it.

[00:32:33] If they can't tell we're Christians, we might have to ask the obvious question, are we even really a Christian? Are we even really changed? Have we experienced a resurrection in our soul? Do we have the hope of being with Jesus forever? Or are we actually somebody who claims to believe in Jesus, but we just live like everybody else? Turn with, you know, first, Timothy, Chapter three, I need everybody to see this verse first, Timothy. Chapter three, you know, this whole situation where we've we haven't been able to assemble as a church even now. I'm so excited about these outside services we're having. I mean, last weekend I came away so pumped up. It felt like we did church last weekend with this on Saturday night. Two great services on Sunday morning. I mean, it was awesome. But this whole experience we've been going through over these months, since March 15th to today, where we have not had a service back in this building that entire time.

[00:33:39] It's really kind of had to redefine in our mind. What does the word church even mean? And we've had to understand maybe more clearly than ever before in our entire lives. Church is not something we go to. Church is who we are.

[00:33:59] And first, Timothy, chapter three here. Are you there with me? And first, Timothy, chapter three, verse 14, because he's writing a letter to Timothy. He can't be with him. And he says, I hope to come to you soon. Bye. But I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God. A pillar and buttress of the truth. You need to know how someone ought to behave. Guess what the Greek word is, everybody? How someone ought to conduct themselves in the House of God. Churches, not a building we go to. Church is a way we conduct ourselves. It's who we are. We are the church. And we're set apart not just when we go to a building on Saturday night or Sunday morning, we're set apart because we are holy with God. We are saved by Jesus and we no longer fit in with the world around us.

[00:35:05] So we've we've lost this idea. We've become a holy huddle. We've become a Christian subculture. When really it's about how you conduct yourself. That is what the church is supposed to be recognized as.

[00:35:20] Do people know that about you?

[00:35:23] Would people see a real difference in you? There are people maybe here tonight maybe watching on the livestream.

[00:35:32] There are people that the point that you need to get is I never talk to people about Jesus and nobody asked me about Jesus because I don't really live for Jesus.

[00:35:45] I haven't really been changed by Jesus, my conduct blends in so well. The world does in even notice me.

[00:35:55] That's a scary thought right there, and if that's you, you need to do some soul searching, some prayer about this. How do I really have hope as my conduct really been changed? Now go back to first Peter Chapter three, because we've done two points and we haven't even finished this sentence yet. OK.

[00:36:13] So, yeah, we're supposed to have hope and we're supposed to be ready to share that hope if anybody asks us. Boom. We tell them about our hope in Jesus Christ. And the reason they're going to ask us is because we're different. We're living in this radical way.

[00:36:29] But then look at the first part, see it even before verse fifteen, the verse begins with this. Have no fear of them nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as Holy said Jesus apart in your heart.

[00:36:49] Now, notice it have no fear of them nor be troubled. I can tell you the number one reason that people don't give the reason they have hope.

[00:36:59] The number one reason Christians, people who call themselves Christians in America, don't talk about Jesus more. They don't post on social media about Jesus more. They don't bring up Jesus and family dinner conversations more is because they are afraid of what other people will think about them if they talk about Jesus.

[00:37:21] Number one reason people are not ready to give an answer that they have hope is they're afraid of what other people are going to think, say or do about me if I go to hard core as a Jesus freak.

[00:37:34] And this is something you don't act like you're above this. Don't act like I'm not intimidated by other people. I'm just super bold for Jesus. This affects every single one of us.

[00:37:45] That's why Jesus so many times has to say, have no fear. Don't be troubled. Don't let this world press you into its image. Don't let all the trials of the world make you think. Now's not the time to talk about Jesus. Now, they're not going to appreciate it. Now, I can't bring it up. No, it's saying get rid of that fear that would keep you from talking about him. Have no fear of them nor be troubled if Jesus Christ is Lord. See if you have set Jesus apart is holy. And this is the same idea how Jesus taught us to pray. Hallowed be your name. Like Jesus is the one I'm living for. Jesus Christ. He is the one who saved me. He's been exalted to the highest name. Everything I do now, it doesn't matter what other people think about me. It matters what my master Jesus Christ thinks about me. I live now not to serve or please other people. I live to serve Jesus. Can I get any man from anybody on that? It doesn't matter if other people are afraid of you. If you're afraid of what other people think, you should be afraid of what Jesus thinks.

[00:38:58] That's what it's saying. Be afraid of what Jesus thinks. If there is an opportunity where you could talk about Jesus, it's not like Jesus wasn't there at that opportunity. Somebody says to you, hey, why don't you curse with us?

[00:39:13] Hey, why on your lunch break, do you always go over there and read your Bible? It's not like it's just between you and that person at that moment who is always with you, who promised to never leave you or forsake you, who said he would be with you always to the end of the age. He's right there. When somebody says, hey, why do you have hope? It's not like you're just talking to them. Jesus is right there looking at your conversation.

[00:39:39] Jesus is like, this is our big moment.

[00:39:42] This is the moment where you could tell them how much we love one another.

[00:39:47] This is how you could tell them I died for you and you could tell them how you're living for me. And this is more important than anything else to you and your life and your like.

[00:39:56] And you just ditch on it because you're afraid of that human being.

[00:40:01] I'd be afraid of the one who's coming with eyes of fire, with a sword coming out of his mouth and his robe is going to be dipped in the blood of his enemies. That's who I'd be afraid of. I'd be afraid that there was a day who somebody asked you why you have hope and you dared not to mention his name, the name that will be above every name that every one will bowed down to.

[00:40:22] And even those people would look at you and think, why didn't you tell me about Jesus if you knew he was like this? Even the nonbelievers wouldn't understand why we don't talk about Jesus.

[00:40:37] If the one with all authority is on our side, why are we afraid of people who are lost in the dark with zero authority over us?

[00:40:49] And yet so many Christians.

[00:40:52] Live in silence every day. Afraid of what other people will think about them. And not even bothered by how they're disappointing their Lord Jesus Christ, is he set apart as the Lord of your art?

[00:41:04] Is he your master? Do you live to serve Jesus Christ?

[00:41:10] It says, now, this is a quote. This is something we can't understand. The sentence begins with a quote. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, but set the Lord apart in your heart. That's Isaiah, Chapter eight versus 12 and 13. So I need everybody to grab your Bible and flip some pages. Come on. Let's hear the beautiful sound of Bible pages turn in. It's on page five hundred and seventy two. If you got one of our books, we're going to Isaiah Chapter eight. OK. And we're good. This is why I need everybody at this church to read through the Book of Kings with us. Because because some of us and I'm not trying to offend anybody here, but you might be biblically or literate. OK.

[00:41:57] Let me just put it like that. All right. Look, if I asked you. Give me the names of the two parts of the divided kingdom. Israel and Judah, great. Which ones in the north? Which ones in the south who took over Israel, who took over Judah?

[00:42:18] What year did they do it? That's something everybody here should know. This book can not make sense to you. Large chunks of pages can not make sense to you. Unless you understand that at some point in this book, there was a division in the kingdom of Israel and the Northern Kingdom was called.

[00:42:40] See, we weren't really super confident about that right there, were we? We weren't just jumping at that one worry. And the southern kingdom is called.

[00:42:49] Yeah. A little better.

[00:42:52] So we're going to have to know, Mabry, everybody, we're going to have to understand how this actually works, because I want to flip you to what Peter's talking about in Isaiah eight, but then to tell you the story of Isaiah eight. Well, you got to go back to Isaiah Chapter seven. Everybody look at Isaiah Chapter seven and look at this beginning right here. And this is where a lot of Christians today get lost. It says in Isaiah, chapter seven, verse one in the days of A has the son of Joe Thumb, son of Zaya, King of Judah, Resine, King of Syria, and Pekka, the son of Somalia, the king of Israel.

[00:43:26] Is that the part where you just basically kind of gloss over and move down a few verses? Am I speaking to anybody right now?

[00:43:33] Case, what's going on? If I can help you get the context is we've got a king up here in Israel and he's going to come down. The key guy we need to know here is a has a has is the king of the southern kingdom of Judah. And if you read King's with us, you're going to watch this whole thing happen. You're going to see the foolishness when Solomon passes on the kingdom to his son. That son does not follow in the wisdom of proverbs. He is a fool. And because he is a fool. The kingdom is divided. And now we've got this guy A has down here and up here in Israel, the king is allying with Syria, who's up here in Israel and Syria are going to come and wipe out Judah in the south. There's going to be a civil war and Israel in the north. They have an ally in Syria and they're going to come and they're going to take out a has and the kingdom of Judah and the people in Judah. They are afraid and they are troubled because there is a war come in and we're going to get invaded. We're going to get wiped out. Those people are stronger and more powerful than we are. And in Chapter eight versus twelve and 13, here's the prophecy here that Isaiah is going to bring to King a has. Let's start in verse eleven, for the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this. People see, we got to be set apart. We got to be different. Isaiah, everybody else is freaking out. Everybody else is afraid about what's going to happen and hears the word of the Lord. Verse twelve do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

[00:45:30] This is what Peter's referring to.

[00:45:33] Hey, do you remember that story about a has and Isaiah and how Israel and Syria, two kingdoms were coming against one kingdom and they were all freaking out? They were having conspiracy theories. Everybody was panicking. Everybody's like the sky is falling. What's going to happen to us? We're going to get invaded. No, Isaiah, you can't be afraid of what everybody else is afraid of. In fact, go and tell everybody that they're commanded by God. Don't be afraid. Don't be in dread. Don't be troubled. If you're going to fear anything set apart the one who has angel armies and be afraid of him. Let God be your fear. Do you fear God or man? It is one or the other. Take your pick. You gotta stop playing both sides and call yourself a Christian.

[00:46:22] And that's what they're saying to the people of God here in Judah. Now. This story is epic. If you can now understand what's happening.

[00:46:33] Because Isaiah comes to the king of Judah Eyharts. And he says, on behalf of God, go back to Chapter seven.

[00:46:42] And look what it look what it says here, well, there's a word that he brings. I want you to see this whole story. Look at verse seven, this Isaiah seven seven. And Isaiah says to the king A has on behalf of the Lord. Thus says, the Lord God. Here is a prophecy about what's about to happen. It shall not stand. It shall not come to pass. The head of Syria is Damascus. The head of Damascus is Resine. And within sixty five years, e freedom will be shattered from being a people. The head of Ephraim is Sumara then same area as the son of Amalia. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. Hey, King of Judah. King of God's people. I've got a prophecy from the most high. For you, Syria. Israel, they're not going to take you out. In fact, they won't even be around in 65 years. By 65 years time. They will have been taken out. Not only are you going to survive, you're going to be around longer than them when they get destroyed.

[00:47:41] That's the prophecy.

[00:47:42] And then you've got to love that line. Does everybody love that line if you're not? Look at that last line. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all. Like, do you guys really believe in God or not? It's basically what it's say. Like, if you're just afraid, like everybody else, then how are you, the people of Jesus, the resurrection in Revelation, people of hope?

[00:48:05] And so the king here, he hears this bold word of prophecy.

[00:48:10] And but this king is not a good king. And look what it says in verse 10 again. The Lord spoke to a has asked a sign of the Lord, your God. Let it be as deep as Ishmael or as high as heaven. OK, King, we can tell you're of weak faith. We can tell you and the people are afraid. So here's what God says to this guy of weak faith. Ask me a sign. Ask me. You want me to prove my power to you? You want me to show you something? You want me to give you a little something here. Ask me, what do you want me to do? How can I prove it to you? How can I prove that my prophecy will come true? And then this is a bad move right here. Verse twelve.

[00:48:41] But A has said I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test. I'm way too spiritual to ask for a sign over here. I'm way too godly to need God's help. You know, you ever met one of those people before? I got I'm so godly. I don't even need God to be godly. I mean, that that's what he's acting like here. So for, like, God just threw him a major bone. Like, I'll throw you I'll throw you a sign. Like, I'll help you out. All encourage you. All give you strength. I know you're weak. And he says, I'm not weak. I'm strong. I'm doing just fine. I don't need to ask God for anything.

[00:49:14] Now, maybe this is going to start to sound familiar here. Verse 13. And he said here then all House of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary? My God, also.

[00:49:25] OK. So you don't want to ask a sign? Fine. Here's the sign. God's going to give you. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And you shall call his name. What? What is his name? And man, you are. Which means what? OK. You don't want to sign. How's this for a sign? I'm going to send my son to save the world.

[00:49:47] I think he I think it was a pretty awesome sign.

[00:49:51] I mean, here's the prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus, and it comes to a king who is afraid of his enemies, go over to chapter nine, verse six. And this is a part of this story. And the chapter nine, verse six to us. A child is born to us. His son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace of the increase of his government and of peace. There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, uphold it with justice, with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. Do you see what he gets back to in this prophecy of why these people should not be afraid? Hey, there's going to come a savior. God's going to come and be with us. And there's going to come a revelation of a kingdom.

[00:50:55] And he's going to rein in his government's never going to end. And then finally, there will be justice, there will be righteousness, and we won't be the only ones. Live in a new way and conducting ourself zealous for good works. Everyone will live that way in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

[00:51:12] Everything will be that way.

[00:51:15] In the New Jerusalem.

[00:51:18] Now, see, here's here's our problem, our problem, it's a big problem that we have. You might want to write this down. My problem is I live in space and time. Write that down, everybody, your problem is you live in space and time, that's your. That's probably the biggest problem you've got. Maybe. Because you are a prisoner of the moment, you are a prisoner to right here right now and you're caught up in what's happening today.

[00:51:43] And ultimately, what's happening today will be as irrelevant as us not knowing about some kings in the divided kingdom that we can't even tell you which kingdoms, which are what the Kings names are or what happened.

[00:51:56] But let me tell you what will be relevant forever and a day is that there was a resurrection and there has been a revelation. And all that's going to matter in the end is Jesus Christ. And you forget that living in space and time.

[00:52:11] And you can read stories, thousands of years old and there about that. And then you get caught up in what's happening in August 20, 20, like it's the end of the world. People have been thinking the world was going to end for thousands of years.

[00:52:27] And God's been trying to tell them, hey, think about the kingdom of eternity. Think about the kingdom.

[00:52:34] That's spiritual. Think about what's really happening beyond what you can see beyond this present moment. Outside of that, there is a God with an army of angels, and he will reign forever.

[00:52:49] Fear him. Stop being afraid of what these other human beings fear, because if they don't fear him along with you, they're going to be the least of your worries.

[00:52:59] That's what the Bible saying. Now, Peter, see do you see how deep that that that this cross reference goes right here?

[00:53:07] Do you see that this is a story upon a story, upon a story that would you are having someone come to you and they're saying, why do you why are you different? Why do you have hope? Why did you bother? Like everybody else is right now by everything that's going on right now. Why are you different? You're not just saying something right now.

[00:53:31] You're seeing what people said at the time of Jesus. You're saying what Isaiah said thousands of years ago. You're saying what's going to be said for ever more that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you say that you are outside of space and time and you actually matter in eternity.

[00:53:50] You actually are unleashing ultimate reality upon whoever is listening to you, you are telling them the one thing that will get them out of space and time, that Jesus Christ is our hope.

[00:54:04] He is our only hope. He is our one way out of space and time without being destroyed.

[00:54:13] And we should be shouting it from the rooftops.

[00:54:16] We should be looking how to talk to somebody about Jesus every single day, at the very least, we should be always ready to give a reason for why we have. If somebody is going to come all the way and ask us.

[00:54:33] We should be able to tell him. I'm so glad you asked. Let me tell you, I don't cuss. Let me tell you, I read the Bible. Let me tell you why I have hope no matter who is president.

[00:54:45] His name. It's Jesus speak his name. It is the only name that's going to help that other person.

[00:54:55] It is the name that they will bowed down and agree with you about some day, stop being quiet about Jesus Christ.

[00:55:04] Give a reason. That you have hope.

[00:55:08] And here's the real soul searching question that we got to get to the question there at the end of your handout.

[00:55:17] Do you get asked why? That's the question there, do you get out? Asked why?

[00:55:25] Because it's hard to believe. That in the land of dead people. We're everybody's blind.

[00:55:34] You could be bursting forth with eternal life and you could be seeing in the glory of Jesus Christ. And no one would even want to know why. If people aren't asking you why, that might be a very big problem, if no one's ever asking for a reason that you have hope.

[00:55:55] You got to ask yourself, do I really even have a hope? If nobody can ever see it. And let me ask you if you like, no, people do ask me why I can remember a time when so-and-so said that to me. I can remember when they said, why don't you come party with us? Why are you always going to church? They asked me that. Why question. Then here's my question for you.

[00:56:18] If people do ask you why, what did you say to them when they asked you? What was your answer? What was your defense? What was your reason that you gave them for the why question? Did you preach Jesus Christ to them? Did you say his name to them?

[00:56:39] Were you clear? Were you bold? Were you like, this is the moment I was made for. This is why I'm still here. This is now. Put away space and time. Enter into eternity. This is now what it's all about. Is that how you responded?

[00:56:56] It says that you should live always ready for a reason, for the hope that is in you. If you've got your goody bag there, you've got. Are are bullets in there? Can everybody everybody look at this. Look at this bulletin here. Here's some things that I've I've decided I need to do based on this passage of scripture. When I think about giving a reason for the hope that I have, one of the things that I decided I'm going to do based on praying about this, studying this, preparing to preach this to you is I noticed where I where I live. There's always people walking around with air pods in their ears. Right. Because you can't say earbuds, because that makes you sound like a fuddy duddy these days. So you've got to say air pods. Am I right about that? Who sees people walking around with airports? Anybody see that every day? You see people walking around? Well, I will. I decided I'm going to start a why you need Jesus podcast to give some of those people something worth listening to. And we're going to just do a podcast. What if there was a podcast out there that just preaches the gospel over and over to people? Does that sound like a good idea to unleash that on planet Earth and space and time? So we're going to start a podcast. You know what else we're going to do? We're going to we're going to do good newsgroups. Do you see that there? And this is coming up in two weeks. What we're going to do is when you come back next week, there's going to be a map. And on that map, it's going to have all these different parts and different times. And in two Saturdays, two weeks from today, August 15th, we're doing good newsgroups at parks all over this area, parks in Long Beach, parks in Huntington Beach, SEAL Beach. We'll do a lot by the ocean. We'll go to some of the parks, Miles Square Park.

[00:58:36] We're going to be at all kinds of different parks. And there's going to be somebody at the park at this time preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you could show up and you could be praying and. And, you know, what you could even do is invite somebody, maybe somebody who asked you, why are you the way you are? Why are you different? Why do you have hope? You could say, hey, we're doing this thing with my church where we're sharing why we have hope at Parks during Corona virus, because people are intimidated. We can't really meet at church. So we're bringing the message out to the park. Would you like to come to the park with me and you will hear why I have hope. And you will invite people, if you want to, to the park and someone will preach the gospel and then you can talk to them about the gospel and you can tell them, here's what's changed my life. Here's what I'm banking my eternal destiny on. Here's what means life to me.

[00:59:36] And you could share that with them one on one. So any time now, anybody asks you, you should be ready. You could refer him to a podcast. You could invite him to a park.

[00:59:49] There is no excuse. This is going to be our expectation. If you this is your church. If you say, yes, I'm a part of the church family at CompassHB Bible Church, Huntington Beach. We are not going to lower the standard. We are not going to compromise. If somebody asks you why, we're going to expect you to be able to give a reason.

[01:00:07] Every single man, woman and young person, if you claim to be a Christian, you better be able to answer why you're a Christian. That's our expert.

[01:00:16] The expectation for all of us. In fact, we might start doing this. We might just start walking up to one another and just giving each other a little. Why symbol. And that means give me your reason for hope right now. I want to make sure you're ready.

[01:00:32] I want to make sure you can give me an answer. We might just start walking up to one another and we might start saying, hey, why don't you ever cuss? See, I work at church. It's a little bit different than most of the places that people were. My coworkers don't cuss. They always seem happy. You know what I mean? I'm going to walk up to my coworkers this week here at the church. Why aren't you cursing? Why aren't you complaining and grumbling? They better have a good answer for me, especially if they're working here at this church. You know what I mean? Every single man, woman or child, you say, I'm going to heaven, I'm going to be with Jesus forever.

[01:01:04] Why? That is unacceptable in the name of Jesus.

[01:01:10] If you're not ready to give an answer, tonight is the night of your repentance. Tonight is the night that you say I'm done missing the opportunities. I'm done being afraid of what other people are going to think about me. I'm going to said Jesus Christ apart as Lord in my heart. I'm going to fear him.

[01:01:26] And if somebody brings up my savior in my presence, I'm going to speak his name and I'm going to invite him to come to a park with me or I'm just going to sit him down. I might write him a letter. I might send him a long e-mail. Every single one of us needs to start finding what you're good. You don't have to start a podcast. But how are you going to answer the question when someone asks you why you need to be ready?

[01:01:53] To share your hope in Jesus Christ.

[01:01:56] I can tell you I can tell you a verse, there is actually a verse I'd like everybody to look at it with me. John, Chapter 360. I want everybody to look at your eyeballs on your Bibles here, everybody, Jonge has this verse. We don't want to take any versus out of context here.

[01:02:17] But I'll tell you this versus not cliche. This versus not cheesy. This verse is just not some proof text reference. People hold up on a sign. This verse is my entire life. This versus the whole reason, I have hope.

[01:02:37] It says, for God so loved the world. That he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish. But have eternal life.

[01:02:52] Father, we come to you in the name of your son, Jesus. And we thank you that you would love us to give us your one and only son. We thank you that when we were perishing in our sins, when we were apart from you, when we were your enemies, that you loved us. And you sent your grace. And your son, Jesus Christ, he came down here on a seek and save mission for our souls and Jesus live the perfect life that we were supposed to. He died in our place on the cross, and then he rose again so that we could sit here on August 1st, 2020 with a living hope of eternal life. And so we praise the name of Jesus Christ. And we look forward to him coming back. For him being revealed. We can't wait for that day. That's going to be the best day of our life when we get to see the glory of Jesus. Yeah, we've been going through some hard times. But will you remind us right now that the best times are yet to come? That the days of glory really haven't even begun yet.

[01:04:08] And that we will have so many good days in your presence, we won't really even remember these days right now. And we're wasting our time and space and time talking about time and what's happened and in time. When you loved us and you sent Jesus for us and people are asking us why, and we just need to speak his name. God, I pray that you will forgive us for not being ready, I pray that you will forgive us when we didn't give an answer. I pray that you will forgive us, that people aren't even asking us the question because they can't see our conduct is different. God, you saved us so we could be here right now, so we could tell people about Jesus while today is still called today, so that more people can call on his name. And then to eternity in your glory with us. So God replant this church. And kid, every single man, woman and child. Back to why we're here. Because we have hope and Jesus and the world needs to hear about it. I just want to lift up the people who aren't share why? Because nobody's asking them because their life is still in the same old same. They're still going according to the way of the world and they're still believe in the lies of the devil. And they they they know the gospel is true and they want to be a Christian. And God, you know, they've tried to be a Christian. But they don't really have Oprah. Jesus Christ. If there's somebody like that here tonight, somebody watching on the livestream guy, you open their eyes that they could see the glory of Jesus. And then if you really know Jesus, there's no way you could ever be the same. So far, the police save people and then all of those who are saved tell people how to get safe and let us see Jesus name lifted high. We pray this according to his holy name. Amen.

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