If you turn in your Bibles this morning, the epistle we call 1 Peter, 1 Peter, we'll be reading this morning from chapter 3, your bulletin says I'll be reading through 22, we'll be reading through 17. And as we read this section of Scripture this morning, it's a turning point in the epistle, in the letter that Peter writes. In this section, he looks back to what he had introduced back in chapter 2, verse 12, where he called on believers to live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. And he goes on to explain what that means in relationships. And then he brings us to a new topic in this section. He closes out that idea and he brings us to a new topic, which is the suffering that Christians can expect to experience as they live that kind of life. So let's read together from chapter 3, starting at verse 8. The holy and infallible inerrant word of God. Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another. Be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear. Do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Our text today begins in verse 17. And it begins with a question. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? Or more literally, who is going to harm you if you are zealots of goodness? Now you may think zealot seems like a strong term, and I don't think I really want to be known as a zealot. You know, that's what we call people that are fanatical or exuberant or excessive. That's a derogatory term. And I think that's true enough. It's a name that people give to others that they're opposed to. We hear it occasionally today. Those that are pro-life are called anti-abortion zealots by those who promote abortion. Just as an example. And I wonder if in Peter's day this expression, zealots of goodness, wasn't just such a derogatory name. Much as the name Christian was. For we read in chapter 4, verse 6, that Peter says, If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. Well, what exactly is Peter asking in this question? What is the if here? Well, I can tell you the question is not whether someone is going to try to harm those who are zealous of goodness. It's clear throughout the whole letter that Peter writes that that's the case. And just in this example, chapter 4, verse 4, Peter says, They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation as they do, and they heap abuse on you. He says elsewhere, you should not be surprised that you have to endure this suffering for doing good. So the question is whether you, dear readers, will be the target. Are you a zealot of goodness? Are you eager to do good? Well, of course, he responds. I don't know anyone that would admit that they weren't zealous to do what was good. And if we wanted to think of all the reasons people give for what they do and why they do it, we'd have to go to Palomar College and take a philosophy course and hear all the justifications that men give for what they call good and why they do it. But the Catechism gives us a very clear answer that will help us get us on the right track. Question and answer 91 asks the question, what are good works? What are we to be zealous for? Those only which proceed from true faith according to the law of God for His glory. and not such as rest on our own opinion or the commandments of men. Zealots of goodness are eager to do that. And question 86 answers, Why must we do good works? Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit after His very own image, that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for his blessing, that he may be glorified through us, and that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the fruit that it bears. And further, that by our godly walk, we may win others to Christ. So, if that's what you mean by, of course I'm eager to do good, then you are counted among the zealots of goodness who are chosen for blessed suffering and who are commanded to an awe-filled fearlessness and who are called to testify of your abiding hope. See, first of all, zealots of goodness are not born that way. They must be chosen. It's contrary to our nature. Although God created man good and after his own image in true righteousness and true holiness, because of the disobedience of our first parents, we are all conceived and born in sin. We hate God. And we hate our neighbor. We don't know what good is, let alone pursue it. But that goes against the grain today. The popular belief today is, well, man is basically good. And even within the church, we're tempted sometimes to think that way. But that thinking, that conviction will leave you scratching your head every time you read the back page of the North County Times. Or when you read a headline like the woman this week that drowned five children, her five children. The world cannot understand that that is possible. We're not born to do good yet. Though this zeal is contrary to how we are conceived and born, God is able to change our nature. Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 that God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Praise the Lord. And Peter made it clear from the very outset of this letter in chapter 1 verse 2 that those who are so unable to be zealous for good are those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. But they've not simply been chosen. They've been chosen for a purpose. They've been chosen to bless its suffering. He says in verse 14, but even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Now we should not conclude from this statement that this blessing is because of our suffering. That there's something meritorious in our suffering that God will reward it with a blessing. This is the error of ascetics who go away from the blessings of God. They go and abuse their bodies or deny themselves the goodness of God's creation in order to gain a blessing from God. They think highly of themselves. You see, suffering can result from either good or evil. It's not a blessed thing in itself. And as Peter teaches in chapter 2, it's one thing to have to endure suffering for doing evil, for that is his just reward. It's quite another to bear up under the pain of unjust suffering because by God's will we do good. Verse 17, he says, It is better if it is God's will to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. So we must rather see that zealots of goodness suffer because they're blessed. They're marked out. Chapter 4, verses 13 and 14. Peter teaches that because you participate in the sufferings of Christ, if you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed. Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. And Jesus made it very clear, as recorded in John chapter 15, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. At the same time, it's helpful to remember that suffering is not the opposite of blessing. In our 21st century evangelical mindset in America, we hear many messages that say that if you're blessed, you're happy. If you're blessed, you're wealthy. If you're blessed, you're healthy. If you're blessed and you're zealous for goodness, there will be suffering. Jesus promised it, Matthew chapter 5, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Now this is certainly a promise of future blessing. And 1 Peter, or the letter that Peter writes, the first chapter is all about that future blessing and how marvelous it's going to be. And that's where to fix our hope. But it's also a present blessing. This is a pronouncement of blessing today. In the midst of suffering, you're blessed. But though you, as zealots of goodness, will suffer opposition, you are granted immunity. You will not suffer ultimate harm. You'll not be destroyed. Even though the world may consider you a doormat to be walked on, a killjoy to be cursed, a goody-to-choose to be harassed, or as the Bible would say, as a sheep to be shorn or slaughtered, you're more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. For if God is for us, who can be against us? And neither life or death, angels or demons, present or future, any powers, height or depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. So yes, there will be suffering, but there will be no ultimate harm. And what blessed assurance we have in the face of suffering for zealously doing good, the good that we've been chosen for, and as we face it, we are commanded here in this text to face it with an awe-filled fearlessness. The end of chapter 3, verse 14. Do not fear what they fear. Do not be frightened. Peter's quoting from Isaiah chapter 8, verses 12 and 13. A word of the Lord to Isaiah, when Jerusalem was surrounded, threatened with destruction, And instead of turning to the Lord God Almighty for deliverance, as they so often did, they turned to an earthly king. And the Lord issued his promise that Jerusalem would thus be destroyed by the very king they called out to for help. And in the face of that prophecy, he turns and he says, I will call out a remnant for myself. And to this remnant, he says, do not fear what everyone else is fearing. Do not fear what they fear. Do not be in dread of what's coming. Why? Because the Lord Almighty is the one you're to fear. He is the one you are to dread. And it's just as Jesus warned His disciples, He said, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. The Lord God Almighty. If you read in the Old Testament in the Isaiah passage and you compare it to the 1 Peter passage in your NIV, you'll find the words are slightly different. In the Old Testament, it has the word dread. It compares dread to fear. And the question is, is this dread the same as fear? And I would answer no. Most English Bibles translate it in 1 Peter this way. Do not fear what they fear. Do not be troubled. Trying to make us aware there's a difference. And the Greek word behind this word is a word that gives us a picture of trembling, like a trembling leaf, or like knocking knees, or like trembling in your boots. Trembling. And if we look back to Isaiah's prophecy. Chapter 8, verse 12. And we look at the Hebrew there. There's a very particular word used only three times in the Old Testament. All in Isaiah. First in verse 12 that says how not to respond to your enemies. Do not tremble. And how to respond to the Lord Almighty to tremble. And then in chapter 29, verse 23. a prophecy of how the people of God would respond on the day that God visits them. That they will respond with this trembling. So what is it? It's more than just trembling. The Hebrew tells us why there's trembling. And it's not from fear or terror, but it's from awe. From being awestruck or being confronted by something that is awful. And I use that word advisedly. We don't use it biblically today. Awful. But when the Bible uses it, it means to strike someone with awe or to fill them with a profound reverence. Children, if you think of the Bible stories that you've read and heard about when an angel comes to visit someone, what's the first response in the presence of an angel? Hi, how are you doing? No, it's on the ground. In awe. And how much more when the Lord Himself reveals Himself to the people of God. In awe. The Bible doesn't use it like we do for something that's very bad or unpleasant. Like our Brussels sprouts. We might use the word awesome. It comes kind of close. It's something that impresses us. But we use it so much, It really doesn't mean what we're called to here. I have four teenagers. They use this word occasionally. I think it's most often applied to the special effects we see in movies. Oh, those are awesome. Really? They're pretty neat. They're pretty impressive. I don't know how they do it. But it's all virtual. It's not real. let's consider reality let's consider the heavens and the earth which the Lord has created let's consider the stars and their courses and the fish in the sea now that's awesome you might have to leave town to see it but it's awesome and yet dear friends that's nothing that is nothing compared to the awesome God who created it all by the word of his power and who sustains it even now by the word of his power. The heavens are but his throne and the earth is but his footstool. That's awesome. That's awful. And we ought to prostrate ourselves before him. Therefore, with Peter, I think is saying here to you as zealots of goodness in chapter 3 verse 14 is that you're not to fear those who oppose you you're not to stand in awe of them and he leaves unsaid but he certainly means because that is reserved for God Almighty he is the one you are to fear he is the one you are to regard with awe I know that's a tall order when it appears that your opponents have you outnumbered or have you surrounded or they hold all the cards or they seem sharper than you are or they're quicker with the tongue. People of God, when all that you see tempts you to fear and to tremble in awe in the face of opposition in the pursuit of goodness, you will find this awe-filled fearlessness to which you're called as you sanctify the Holy One of Israel. That's what Isaiah says in chapter 29. As you sanctify the Holy One of Israel, as you regard Him holy, as you fear Him. There is no room for fear of men. This is what Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Holy be your name, sanctified be your name, our Father in heaven, the Holy One of Israel. For you are to sanctify Him because He alone is holy. He sanctified you by His Spirit and He's called you to be holy, even He is holy. But He alone is holy. And so we have to ask what this means in verse 15 when Peter goes on to say, But in your hearts set apart, sanctify Christ as Lord. What does this mean? Someday today think that it means that, well, it means to open your heart so that Jesus has come in. As if they held the key to their own heart. To others it means that it's to appoint Jesus as Lord of my heart and my life. As if they had the power to appoint and the authority to name him Lord. Now, it certainly means that it's to acknowledge that Christ is the Lord of your heart and the master of your faith. But it's more than that. And this is foundational, people. When you sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, it is because you understand and regard Jesus of Nazareth, very man of very man, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who was crucified, dead, and buried, raised the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits now at the right hand of God the Father. You are confessing and regarding Him as very God of very God. the Lord Almighty as we read about in the Old Testament incarnate the Holy One of Israel who dwells among His people Yahweh of hosts in the flesh He is God the Creator the Sustainer the Redeemer the Ruler over all angels and principalities and powers Jesus the mighty warrior king who will return in glory at the end of this age. Sanctify him in your hearts. As R.L. Dabney rightly translated this command, sanctify the Lord, the Christ, in your hearts. And because this is so that our Lord, Jesus Christ, is the Lord God Almighty, The promise of Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10 still stands. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For Yahweh Himself promised in Joel chapter 2 verse 32, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, that is, on the name of Yahweh, that is, on the name of Christ, will be saved. If you were here this morning and you have not called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and confessed Him as Lord and believed in your heart that He was raised from the dead, understand that this is with whom you have to do. This is with whom you will have account. Repent and believe even this day. but if you do confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and you sanctify in your hearts the Lord, the Christ, as zealots of goodness by God's grace, as you rightly fear Him, and as you prostrate yourself in awe before Him, and as you sanctify Him, He will be your sanctuary in the face of opposition. There's no place for fear or dread. It's somewhat like a resident of the country of Zimbabwe said this week. You may have missed it, but there was a total eclipse of the sun this week. Went over to the middle of Africa. And in Zimbabwe, where things are not good, politically terrible, economically worse, this woman watched this eclipse of the sun and she said, it's amazing. It's such a huge phenomenon, it makes you feel so small. it makes your problems seem so small how much more will the magnitude of the Lord the Christ's awfulness crowd out every fear and every problem and circumstance that is how you have fearlessness in the face of opposition is by sanctifying the Lord the Christ in your hearts zealots of goodness chosen by God to bless His suffering as you sanctify the Lord to Christ in your hearts your awe-filled fearlessness will drive you to answer His call to testify of your abiding hope. Verse 15, the second half. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have but do this with gentleness and respect keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. Zealous of goodness. What is your hope? When it comes to evangelism I know some of you get stuck here. You don't know what to say. And that's because you think you have to come up with something original. something engaging perhaps even dramatic well the fact is that it's not something unique in the sense that we each have a different hope we all share the same hope and instead of trying to ponder and figure out what it is go to the word it's right here let the word free you up so you have a hope to present here it is 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. That is your hope. That is my hope. Of course, the Apostle John put it in 1 John chapter 3, Dear friends, now we are children of God. And what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. your hope is in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for you. And your hope is that he's keeping you for himself until the final day when he brings you to himself. That's your hope. And now that you have it, you're to be always prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason you have it. You see, this hope is a reasonable hope. It's not a blind leap of faith. It's not an empty wish whistling in the dark. And again, you don't have to be original people. There's only one reason that we have this one hope. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. We find it sprinkled throughout 1 Peter. But perhaps you're most familiar with how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve, and then to hundreds of witnesses, And finally to me, Paul says. The reason we have the hope is that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, died, was buried, was resurrected for our sins. That's your hope. That's the reason. You are always to be prepared to answer everyone who asks you. For it. We've just completed a week at the Del Mar Fair where several of you volunteered your time to go down and make yourself available, open yourselves up, so to speak, to have people ask you this question. Praise the Lord. I hope you found encouragement. And this week coming, we have Vacation Bible School where many others will volunteer their time to present the gospel to children from this neighborhood and their parents. ready to give a reason for the hope that they have. Praise the Lord. But, zealots of goodness, this says everyone, this says always, at work, at play, in the home, whatever, wherever, whenever. It's not likely to be a formal inquisition like it was for the disciples in Jesus' day and like it is around the world for many places. Many places where martyrs are made daily for the cause of Christ. They're asked this question and they give their hope and they give their reason for it and they are killed for it. It's highly unlikely that any in this room will ever face that. Our children may. But even if it was that situation, you're to give your answer with gentleness and respect, he says. As servants of Christ, you're zealots for good. You're zealots of goodness. And you're unafraid to press his claims. You have no fear of men. Yet you are motivated by the love he's shown you and the desire to see them reconciled to God. Therefore, you deal gently. You know you can't change your own heart, let alone change theirs. That's not your job. You are called to testify. And you're to deal with them as a servant of God out of reverence for God because you know that ultimately it's His work. It's He who changes hearts. And His Spirit moves when and will He will. When and where He will. So whether when you give your answer they are cut to the heart and they repent and they believe or whether they well up in rejection with venom or whether they're just indifferent. Everything's under control. You've done your part. The bold words are not enough, people. Even if they're given with gentleness and reverence, they alone will not honor God. the Lord, the Christ, unless you maintain a clear conscience at the same time. Now, in our psychology-infested times, we tend to think of this clear conscience as a state of mind, something we contemplate. But when we do that, we are easily deluded to think that we have a clear conscience when in fact we have a callous conscience or a seared conscience. It's become so unused, so impaired, that nothing bothers it. That's not what Peter's calling us to here. Rather, this is a matter of our good behavior in Christ, which is controlled by a good conscience. I have a couple watches at home. I have a good one and a bad one. A good one keeps time. The bad one doesn't work. That's what he means by good. It works. So maintaining a good conscience does not imply that we're going to be sinless, for we know that we won't be until Christ returns and cleanses us finally. Rather, a good conscience is one that is not impaired, one that is trained, and is trained by regular immersion in this. We take our thoughts, our words, our deeds, and we measure them against this word. we apply this word back upon our thoughts and our words and our deeds so we can learn to tell the difference between good and evil. Now, this training involves at least this much. Avoiding conscious and willful disobedience to what we know already to be true. That will callous your conscience. And at the same time, continually practicing immediate repentance. Confession to God for the sins that we recognize. Don't let it wait until Sunday. Don't let it wait until whenever. Now. Requesting forgiveness not only of God for what we've done against Him, but requesting forgiveness of those we've sinned against. Believer or unbeliever. That's how you practice a good conscience. In short, to practice a good conscience is to be zealous for goodness. You won't put up with the wicked. You practice the good. You see, we have to maintain this good conscience. So that those who observe this kind of good behavior in Christ will be curious to know what's up with this guy. Our circles are very narrow, generally. We don't spend much time amongst a lot of unbelievers. Spend some time there. If you're walking this way, you'll get asked. You'll get asked. They'll be curious to know, and that's when you get to give them the hope you have and the reason you have for it. But we need to maintain this good conscience all the time because even after we give the answer, those who have heard it will be watching to see if we're credible, if we're believable, if that really was the truth. and it really doesn't matter whether they in the end are ashamed because they call our good works wicked or if because they're converted by God's grace and they glorify him on the day he visits us either way we are called to maintain a good conscience we have a timely example from the news this week not a Christian that I know of but a fellow by the name of Joseph Ellis a very renowned historian who was described by a colleague as a man of the highest integrity and who said of himself, I believe I am an honorable man. He was discovered that he has, for years, misrepresented his own history. He's lied about what he's done. When he was confronted with this evidence that he had done none of these things, he says, I regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I did these things. And he was backed up by the president and says, I too deeply regret the effect this has on other people. That's an apology. That's not repentance. It reminds me of how I apologized for getting caught with my hands in the cookie jar as a boy. I was starting to get caught. I wasn't sorry I took them. People of God, a zealous goodness, in like matter, no matter how large or small your misconduct, when it gives ground for true accusations against you as one who testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ, you not only injure your witness, but you shame your Lord. We're called to testify and to maintain a good conscience. Zealots of goodness. You've been chosen of God to bless his suffering as you wait for his glorious return. And as you do, heed his command this day to sanctify the Lord, the Christ, in your heart so as to cast out all fear of men and circumstance and thereby answer his call to always be ready to give the reason for the hope that is in you. as you walk in a manner that's worthy of your calling. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this day that was recorded and put down by your Apostle Peter. We thank you for the assurance that it gives us, Lord, that you are sovereign. that there's nothing outside of your control and that having been chosen by you to be zealous of good works, that you know in your wisdom will draw opposition in this wicked and evil age. We thank you, Lord, that we are assured that there is no ultimate harm that can come to us, even though it would go to the extreme of having the body killed. We thank you that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God that's in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And Lord, we hear your command this day. That in the face of opposition, not to fear and not to tremble. But to stand in awe of you and to sanctify the Lord, the Christ, in our hearts. And cast out all fear. And Lord, by your Spirit, enable us to be always prepared, always prepared to answer everyone who would ask us for the reason of the hope that we have. And that by your grace, more and more, our walk would be a walk that is filled with conduct becoming of our Lord. That we, by your grace, would maintain it to your glory. and to our good. We ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.