Pastor Skip Heitzig guides us through First
and Second Peter in the series Rock Solid. Would you turn in your Bibles, please, to
First Peter, chapter 3. We're studying the book of First Peter. Peter, of course, was one of Jesus' close
friends and followers while he was on the earth; First Peter, chapter 3. Can we pray together? Father, we never want to presume that we can
understand even your revelation as simple and plain as it is, and, yet, the true meaning
of it, without the help of your Holy Spirit, there are so many different interpretations
out there of what things mean. We just want to say that we depend upon you,
and we agree with the words of our Savior Jesus who said, "Without me you can do nothing." And I know there are times when we think we
can do a few things without you and we'd just pray you'd forgive us of that thought. You gave us life, we can't do anything without
your power, without your strength. And certainly we can't change our futures
or our present without your help. I know that you know the situation of every
family, every single person, married person, in this room. You know what we struggle with and you love
us through every moment of it. Help us, Lord, to grasp what your Holy Spirit
is trying to get across to us in this passage at this time, in Jesus' name, amen. So there was a pastor who was building something
in his backyard, he was building a wooden trellis. And it was a trellis for a flowering vine
to crawl up. So he's out there with his hammer and nails,
and he noticed there's a neighbor boy watching in his yard. He had come in to watch him build his trellis. And he didn't know why he was there; he was
uninvited. But he figured, you know, he would keep working
and the little boy would go away eventually. Well, the more he kept working, the boy just
kept staring at him and wouldn't go away. Finally, the preacher put his hammer down
and he said, "So, uh, uh, are you just trying to get, uh, some tips on gardening?" And the little boy said, "Nope. I'm waiting to hear what a preacher says when
he hits his thumb with a hammer." [laughter] What does a preacher say when he
hits his thumb with a hammer? It's a good question. Now, that brings up a point, and that is,
the world is always watching us. The mic is always on. The camera is always rolling. People are trying to find out what we're really
all about. Sometimes when I go to public places around
here, I can feel the eyes on me. People would recognize me and go, "Oh, that's
that preacher guy." And I know, I could see it because I see them
look and they'll whisper to each other. [whispers] [laughter] So what the deal is,
is that: "Okay, I know he can preach, but how does he practice at a restaurant in public?" And that's Peter whole theme. Peter is saying you are being watched in your
response to the government. You are being watched in your response to
your boss. You are being watched in your response to
your husband and your wife. So because you are being watched, be tenderhearted,
loving, be compassionate, be nonretaliatory---all those attributes we talked about last week,
because usually, normally, that's acceptable. Those are traits and attributes that even
the world will accept. But what about when they don't? What about when your holiness meets their
hostility, your goodness meets their grievances? What happens when you do good and you're sweet
and kind, but they marginalize you or even slander you? What do you then? What do you when God haters decide that just
because you believe in God, you should experience some pain because of it? Then what do you do? Back in 1999, you may remember the story of
a man by the name of Graham. That was his first name; his last name was
Staines. Graham Staines and his two boys, an eleven-year-old
and a six-year-old, were killed in India by militant Hindus. They were burned to death. The story is that they were ministering at
a camp, and Graham Staines was teaching at this camp out in the jungle. In the middle of the night, around midnight,
actually, these militant Hindus came into the camp and disrupted things, and set on
fire the jeep where Graham Staines was staying with his two children, spending the night
for the next morning. They were burned to death. When the fire cooled, the body, the charred
body of Graham Staines was shown with his arms clutching his two boys. Reason? Why did that happen? One simple reason: they were Christians. That's all. They were there, they were doing good, they
were loving the people, they were pouring their lives into them---but they were Christians,
and they suffered because of it. So, in our text, our chapter, First Peter,
chapter 3, beginning in verse 13, Peter offers two possibilities: number one, you do good
and you're not hassled. You do good and they leave you alone, unharmed. Second possibility: you do good and you are
harmed. Let's look at it. Verse 13, "And who is he who will harm you
if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness'
sake, you are blessed. 'And do not be afraid of their threats, nor
be troubled.' But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,
and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is
in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers,
those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God,
to suffer for doing good than for doing evil." Five verses, four truths, four things you
can expect when holiness meets hostility. And here's the first: normally, goodness is
profitable. Normally, usually, typically doing good is
a good thing and it's profitable. It'll work out for you. That's his thought in verse 13, but, you know,
with every text there's a context, so I just need you to see how thoughts connect. Do you mind? Just look back at verse 10. Look what he says, "For 'he who would love
life and see good days' "---I would raise my hand on that one. I want that. If he wants that, then "'let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit." "'Let him turn away from evil and do good.' "You want to see good? Do good. And then in verse 13 the question: "And who
is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" Now that is, that is a rhetorical question,
meaning the question is asked, there's an implied answer that everybody knows. So let me restate it for you. Here's Peter writing to his audience and saying,
"If you live the way I just described, if you're loving and humble and you are nonretaliatory
and you are tenderhearted, you are all those things; who's going to bother you? Who's going to bother you if you live like
that?" Implied answer: nobody. You're going to get by unscathed. Normally, you will never suffer if you are
a person who does good to other people and you are after benefiting others around you. Even the greatest opponents of the gospel
are not going hinder people helping other people. They're going to leave you alone. That's what the question means. "Who will harm you if you become followers
of what is good." Now, let me insert something here, because
it brings up something I think is a crucial point to be noted. The history of Christianity is, in part, at
least, the history of societies around the world being benefited by the goodness done
in them by Christian believers who live in them. Example: the whole concept of the value of
life, the whole concept of human rights is a biblical concept. Those are values that emerge from those with
a Christian worldview, because we believe all men and women were created in the image
of God. Women's rights, where did it come from? Not Gloria Steinem, not the women's liberation
movement, or the different fronts or break-offs, it came from the Bible. Because when Paul and Peter and Jesus spoke
2,000 years ago, the culture around them did not respect women at all. In fact, in some cases I have seen letters
from a Greek soldier written to his wife 2,000 years ago who said, "If you have a little
boy, keep it. If it's a girl, throw it away." A girl was owned by her father until she was
passed off to a husband, and then she became the property of her husband. In that culture came the Bible that said,
"There's neither male nor female, we are all one in Christ." That's a Christian worldview. Compassion for the sick, compassion for the
poor, they come from Christians. The first hospitals were erected by Christians. The Red Cross was originally a Christian organization. The Salvation Army, a Christian organization. Cultures where missionaries infiltrate it
has been shown over and over again that literacy goes up, they're more educated, they're more
advanced, they're more compassionate. The force behind eradicating slavery in England
years ago was by a Christian statesman. Child labor laws were enacted by Christian
men and women. And then even in our own country in the early
1800s when a French statesman by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville came to America,
one thing that startled him is how many volunteers were helping people around them. And these were volunteers from organizations,
associations that had been founded and were currently being run by Christians. He saw the impact in culture by Christianity. So, who's going to bother you if you live
that way? Normally, typically, usually, nobody. I think it's pretty safe to predict that probably
most of you, if not all of you, will never be killed in this country in your lifetime
because you believe in Jesus. That's probably not going to happen. You're probably not going to get beat up because
you just simply say, "I love Jesus." Probably not going to happen. And if you're a good person and you follow
these things that Peter outlined, that we described last week, that's just a good way
to live. I mean, it's going keep you out of jail, it's
going to bring peace with your neighbors, you're not going to get hassled, because you
are seeking good, you are doing good. And so, "Who is he who will harm you if you
become followers of what is good?" That's the first expectation: normally, goodness
is profitable. But there's a second that follows quickly
on the heels of that is, eventually, persecution is inevitable. Eventually, persecution is inevitable. Verse 14, "But," and the old King James says,
"But [and] even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed." And then quoting Isaiah, chapter 8, " 'And
do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.' but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,"
etcetera. So here's the deal: goodness is good, righteousness
is right, but being good and righteousness will not make you immune from trouble. Eventually, because you are the light of the
world, and you shine your light into a dark world, there's going to be some problems. Jesus put it this way, "Men love their darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil." And Paul made to Timothy a very, very important
promise. He said, "All who live godly in Christ Jesus
shall"---what? What will they suffer?---"persecution." "All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution." Eventually, persecution is inevitable. So here's the deal: the world will tolerate
you, but not for long. Eventually, at some point, at some level the
world will persecute you. Why is that? Well, I've used this illustration on a number
of times, but it's like if people are in a dark room, and their pupils are dilated, they're
accustomed to the darkness, and you open the blinds and let the sunlight in, or you turn
on a bright overhead, they're not happy to see you. They just want you gone from their presence. Turn off that light, it hurts them. And so it is with the gospel. So it is with those who do good. Did you know the Bible says Jesus "went about
doing good"? Now, just think about that statement. Jesus Christ went about doing good. He healed sick people, that's good. He raised dead people, that's good. Their families were really happy. Those are good things, but eventually the
hostile world around him; what did they do to him? They killed him. They wanted to extinguish the light. So here's the principle: persecution is the
result of obedience. Or I'll put it in a more memorable way: great
persecution is the result of the Great Commission. You preach the gospel, not everybody's going
to like it. Because everybody doesn't like it, there's
going to be persecution at some level. Because, you see, somewhere down the line
you're going to be telling the world why you're so sweet and why you're so compassionate,
and why you're so loving, and why you volunteer for things and help the sick. And they're going to ask you why. And when they say, "Hey, why do you do that?" You're not going to stand there and go, "Uh,
I don't know." You're going to say, "I do that because I
love Jesus Christ who is my Savior and died to set you free." When they hear that message, the fireworks
begin. When they hear that message, the sparks will
fly and the anger will be developed. Jesus said these words in John 15, "If the
world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. And they hated me without a cause. 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute
you." So even when Christians are kind and wonderful
and helpful and magnanimous, they still represent the gospel that is "narrow" and "exclusive." Because our gospel says that only those who
trust in Jesus Christ will enjoy heaven forever, and those who reject Jesus Christ will be
forever lost. You think that's a popular message? No way. I got on e-mail from someone---I'm smiling
when I say that---who claimed to be a Christian and said these words to me, "I don't understand
why every religion thinks they have God's special attention. It appears to me that Christians are no better
than Muslims." I pondered over that little e-mail, and I
thought, "Well, you know, I gotta say I agree with him." Christians aren't any better than anyone else,
but we are better off than everyone else. And we have a better message than anyone else. Because our message says no matter who you
are, no matter what you've done, no matter where you live, you can be set free from your
sin and you can spend forever in heaven with God, guaranteed. There's no better message than that. [applause] So listen, here's the deal, and
I say this sincerely: if there were 485 different ways to get to God, I would stand up here
and preach all 485 ways. But the Book that I read and that you read,
and you say you believe in, says there's one way. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the
life. Nobody comes to the Father except through
me." And when you say that and that is so narrow
and so exclusive, this is going to happen. But notice, you gotta notice this, there's
a qualifying phrase. Notice it doesn't say, "But even if you should
suffer." It doesn't say that. It says, "If you should suffer for"---what?---"righteousness'
sake." Ah, that's a whole different category now. If you suffer for righteousness' sake, or
as it says in verse 17, "suffer for doing good." You see, Jesus never said, "Blessed are the
persecuted," he said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake." It's no great blessing to get beat up. It's no great blessing for people to yell
at you. You don't walk home after being hassled and
go, "What a great day, everybody yelled at me. And I got beat up." [laughter] You're just a weirdo if you think
that way. [laughter] It's like the cannibal who was
staring at the missionary and made the missionary really queasy and uneasy. And he said to the cannibal, "Why are you
looking so intently at me?" And the cannibal grinned and said, "I'm the
food inspector." [laughter] There's no blessing in being eaten. It all depends what you're being eaten for. Is it for righteousness' sake? Because, you see, you could invite persecution
on yourself by being an obnoxious person. I was going out of Popejoy Hall one night,
it's the performing arts center here, and as I was going out after a play and the whole
crowd was going out, there was some guy standing on a wall. I think he had a Bible and his hands raised
up, and he was yelling at us, yelling angrily, his furrowed brow, and "Aaaarg!" And he was telling us the good news, "You're
all going to hell." [laughter] I'm thinking, "Uh, so what's the
bad news?" And I was watching people as they were watching
him. I was looking at the looks on their faces. Nobody had the look on their face like, "H'm,
this is interesting and compelling, tell me more." They were like, "Get away from this bad man
quickly, quickly, quickly." It was a complete turnoff to them. Jesus said, "Be wise as serpents and harmless
as doves." I don't know why some Christians think they
need to be as wise as doves and harmless as a snake. I believe the Lord is looking for sharpshooters,
not grenade launchers, somebody who's going to be very careful and aim very specifically
when they speak to unbeliever's truth, rather than just throwing it out there and seeing
what happens. But even if you do, you do good and you share
truth, and you might suffer for righteousness' sake, notice it says, "You are blessed." It means honored. God is honoring you to be in a position when
you're experiencing what Jesus experienced. You're honored, you're blessed. Then he quotes Isaiah 8, which says, "And
do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." Now, let me just give you a quick little background
on that. In Isaiah, chapter 8, King Ahaz of Judah felt
threatened because the king of the north in Israel had a coalition with the king of Syria. And they both threatened to come down and
pounce on him. And he's getting all bent out of shape and
nervous. And so Isaiah the prophet comes to him and
says, "Don't worry about it. Don't be alarmed. Don't be frightened. The Lord's going to take care of this. Don't be troubled by their threats." So Peter's lifting that up and applying that
here. You are blessed if that happens. It might not happen, it probably won't happen,
if it does happen, you're blessed. We had a guy on staff several years ago. He was a part-timer. And he was walking home after work here to
his home which is nearby, and over his ears he had a set of headphones. I mean, they covered his ears. Now, the headphones weren't plugged into a
listening device. He didn't have one. He was just using, get this, the headphones
to keep his ears warm. I don't know, he found an old pair of headphones,
he had them on, he's walking home. Well, three guys see him thinking that he's
listen to some listening device like an iPod. And they go up and they demand that he turn
over to them his listening device. He goes, "I don't have one. It's not plugged into anything. It's just to keep my ears warm." But he saw this as a divine opportunity. He said, "Do you guys know Jesus Christ?" They looked at him like he was living on the
moon. [laughter] And the ringleader said, "Don't
tell us about that stuff!" And then he said, "I have a gun." Colby said, "Uh, okay, whatever." But he kept talking to them about the Lord,
and the guy said, "I'm not afraid to use this gun." And our staff member said, "Uh, okay. I just want you to know I'm not afraid to
die for Jesus Christ if it comes to that. And by the way, why are you so afraid whenever
I mention the name Jesus Christ?" Those three guys beat him up and broke his
jaw and it had to be surgically wired for it to function again. But he got up from being beat up and he went
home singing. He didn't even have anything to listen to,
right? He just singing, rejoicing that he is blessed,
honored, that he was persecuted, not for weirdness' sake, not for obnoxiousness' sake, but for
righteousness' sake. He felt honored by God. Well, there's a third thing, and that is,
practically, reasons are beneficial. So, normally, goodness is profitable. But, eventually, persecution is inevitable. So that means, practically speaking, having
reasons is beneficial. Look what it says, verse 15, "But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts," this is really the heart of the passage, "and always be ready
to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear." In other words, people are going to come along
and ask you why you believe the stuff you do. When they ask you that, and they're wanting
reasons to figure you out or why you are a person of faith, have those reasons ready
to share. So how do you do that? Well, first of all, it says, "Sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts." Here's a better translation, I believe the
most accurate: "Set apart Jesus Christ as Lord in your heart." In other words, before you go out and face
the world every day, you make sure that you are inwardly in the right spot, that Jesus
is your Lord, you're loyal to him, that you love him, you affirm our commitment to him,
know that you believe in him, you belong to him, you're beloved by him. You better have that firmly in grasp before
you meet the unbelieving world. Jesus is my Lord. Chuck Colson has written a lot of great books. But he wrote a book where he reminds us that
2,000 years ago in the early church if a Christian were to stand up in a public arena and cry
out in public, "Jesus Christ is God!" he would have had no problem at all. No one would have batted an eye, because the
Greeks and the Romans were polytheistic. They believed in many gods. "Okay, you believe Jesus is God. He's one of many gods. Cool, whatever." But if a Christian would have stood up in
public and said, "Jesus Christ is Lord above all and there is no other," he would endanger
his life. Because now he's saying Caesar is not my Lord,
there's somebody higher than him. Caesar took the name "Lord," and to proclaim
that exclusiveness like this would place his life in jeopardy. So here's the deal: it has to start inwardly
in your heart before you can take it outwardly to your world. The only way you can stand publicly is because
you kneel privately. Daniel stood before Nebuchadnezzar with great
boldness. You know why he could do that? Because in chapter 1 it says, "Daniel purposed
in his heart that he would not defile himself." It all must begin there. You sanctify Jesus Christ as Lord in your
heart. Then, "Always"---and always, I looked it up;
you know what it means? Always. [laughter] "Always be ready to give a defense to everyone
who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." So get this, the word "defense" here, you
want to give a defense, is the Greek word apologia. We get our word apology from it. So doesn't that sound weird? "Always be ready to give an apology to everybody
who asks you a reason for the hope." You might say, "You know, I'm really good
at that. I'm really good at telling people 'I'm sorry
I'm a Christian.' "That's not what it means. Peter isn't saying, "Now, from now on when
you meet an unbeliever, you say, 'I'm so sorry if I offend you because I'm a Christian.' "That's not what that means. We get the term apologetics also from that
same word. And it means to have a defense or offer explanations
or give good reasons for. Apologia, apology, apologetic was what lawyers
used to do in giving a formal proclamation in defense of one of their clients. It means to stand in a courtroom and give
good and compelling reasons on behalf of your client. That's what it means. And you know why he chose this word? I think I know why. Because we live in a world where we are always
in the courtroom. You are never out of the courtroom. This world is a living courtroom. And every day where you live and where you
work, and people who know you, we're always on trial. People are always deciding at any given moment:
"Am I going believe in Jesus; am I going to reject Jesus?" They're wrestling with issues of faith, and
that will largely be determined by what we say and by how we live. This is what I've discovered: unbelievers
have really good questions. Christians ought to have really good answers. You might know what you believe, my question
is: do you know why you believe what you believe? Here's my story: I was raised in a religious
home, let's just put it that way. I was not a Christian till I was eighteen,
but I was raised in a religious home. I always thought I was a Christian. When I was eighteen years old it was legit. I was saved. It was repentance and faith, and I came alive. And for six months I got into the Bible and
it was so exciting. And then something happened to me---it was
called college. I went to college and everything that I had
been taught for six months to believe in was challenged in my face, overturned, argued
against. My very first day of school in my integrated
zoology class the professor said, "Show of hands; how many here in the classroom are
foolish enough to believe in Jesus Christ?" Well, I raised my hand. I didn't know if it was a trick question or
not. I noticed one girl put her hand up, and then
when he said "foolish," she went like this. She didn't want to be embarrassed. So I was, like, completely outnumbered. I didn't know you could ask that in a college
classroom, and slam Christianity, but apparently you could do just about anything in a college
classroom. He went on the rest of time to talk about
how stupid those with that worldview were. A few months later I was in my anatomy class,
and then my radium physics class, and I was taught that believing what I believed was
a myth, a feel-good myth. And I walked home so confused and so challenged
with my head in my hands, I said, "I don't want to believe a myth. If this is just a myth, I'm not going to believe
this any longer. I'm not going to go to church to feel good
once a week and then, and then that's it." So I started studying, and researching. I discovered something really great. I discovered that not only do unbelievers
have great questions, there are great answers for those great questions. There's really good ones. So I studied and researched and was equipped,
and I started looking for unbelievers. I wanted to find---I wanted to find the deepest,
most intellectual pagan doctor or professor and say, "Dude, let's have a chat about this. I've discovered some really cool stuff I'd
like to talk to you about." And you know what I've discovered also? The Bible always encourages Christians to
think, to use their heads. Never once does the Bible say, "When you come
to church, please check thy brains at the door. And come in and have a mystical experience,
then put on your normal hat and go back to the real world"---never. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, your mind, your soul, your strength," that you can apply objective reason and logic
and you can be ready. And it's fun. One author said, "Any Christian who cannot
present a biblically clear explanation of their faith will be insecure when strongly
challenged by unbelievers. In some cases that insecurity can undermine
their own assurance of salvation. The world's attacks can overwhelm them." But notice he says don't just be ready to
give an answer, but you should be ready to give an answer---notice what it says---"with
meekness and fear." You know what that means? Gentleness and respect. My problem: I studied and I was ready for
unbelievers, and I wanted to win the argument. I won a lot of arguments and lost a lot of
people. The goal is not winning the argument; the
goal is saving the soul. That's where gentleness and respect come in. That's where you listen to them, you spend
time with them, you are concerned about the details of their spiritual journey and what
they wrestle with. It's not like, "Oh, dude, don't even finish
the question---I know the answer." [laughter] You listen to them. And it's not going to take just one time,
it's going to take perhaps several times to meet with that person and give them good answers. Well, let's look at the fourth and we'll close
it off. Verse 16, "Having a good conscience, that
when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be
ashamed." Here's the fourth principle: inwardly, conscience
is indispensable. There is no greater personal possession than
a clear conscience, a "good conscience" as he says here. You know what your conscience is? It's that divinely implanted mechanism whereby
you are either feeling accused or excused, convicted or affirmed. At salvation your conscience is cleansed. That's why you feel so good. Your conscience, all the accumulation of guilt
and shame is forgiven. Hebrews, chapter 9, "The blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanses your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?" But once that happens we have to carefully
guard our conscience and win the war with sin on the inside. That's what keeps your conscience clear. There's no greater way to live. Paul the apostle stood up in Acts 23, and
he said, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." And Peter's point is a clear conscience will
help you face a hostile world. As you're criticized by other people, your
conscience is clear. They might accuse you of all sorts of things,
but you have a clear conscience, therefore you are bold. Several years ago it was a very difficult
time in my own ministry. I was, during that time, not without my share
of critics. And I remember somebody coming up to me during
that time and he said, "Boy, this has gotta really keep you up at night." I said, "No, actually, on the contrary. I go to bed every night and I sleep like a
baby." He said, "How is that possible? This would keep me up every night." I said, "I sleep well because I know the truth. I have a clear conscience." There's no greater gift than having been there
and you know what you know. You know what happened. You know what the truth is and you have a
clear conscience. And the point Peter is making is even when
you're slandered, you are bold because of your clear conscience before God. So, I opened up talking to you about that
missionary in India that was burned with his two sons, as tragic as that was, a few years
ago. Let me conclude with that. Let me come full circle. His wife Gladys survived. His daughter Esther survived. They moved from the West as missionaries to
India. Now they're bereft of father, husband. She wrote a letter that was published in every
newspaper in India. That's over a billion people could read it,
over a billion people. This is what she said: "I have only one message
for the people of India. I am not bitter, neither am I angry." "But I have a great desire, that every citizen
of this country establish their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who gave his
life for their sin. Let us burn hatred and spread the flame of
Christ's love." Then she said, "I'm not leaving this country
and going back home. I'm staying here. God called me here. I'm going to raise my daughter in your country." So now the world could see what a Christian
says when his thumb gets hit by a hammer, big time. "That's how they respond, with love and forgiveness
and grace?" But she saw that as "This is my opportunity
to tell a billion people that Jesus loves them and died for them." When holiness meets hostility, a pure conscience. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for Peter's straightforward
and very simple words to those of us who follow Jesus Christ. We know that we live in a country very different
from the Roman Empire, a country that historically has been sympathetic to the message of the
gospel. We know those doors are closing fast, but
probably in our lifetime we're not going to get killed because we say we're believers
in Jesus. If we do good, it's a good way to live. If we seek to benefit people, those are good
things. But eventually because we open our mouths
and tell them why and what we believe in, that's going to incur wrath. I pray that we would be ready for it by beginning
inwardly and having a purpose of heart, setting Jesus Christ apart as the sole object of our
love and loyalty, and then facing a hostile world with good answers for their good questions,
objective, reasoned answers for their queries and inquiries. Lord, I pray that we will be able to do it,
having been cleansed in our conscience from dead works and living a pure life before you---not
perfect, not perfect, but forgiven. Lord, I pray for anybody who might be sitting
here whose conscience is burdening them because it should burden them. They feel guilty because they are guilty. That shame and that guilt that is produced
by the sin that all of us have has never been dealt with. They try to cover it up by good works. They try to cover it up by their education. They try to cover it up by even going to church
and being a religious person. But they can't seem to get free from that
guilt. Purify their consciences as they give their
lives to Jesus. With our heads bowed, anybody here who hasn't
given their lives to Jesus Christ really---I was eighteen years old, I lived my whole life
going to church. I didn't know Jesus till that moment. Something became real to me. If you want that reality, if you've never
given your life to Christ or if you've wandered, either way, would you just raise your hand
up quickly, just raise it up. Say, "Here I am. Here's my hand. Pray for me as you close this service." I'd love to pray for you. I need to know who I'm praying for. God bless you, sir; right in the middle, and
toward the back; and to my right, toward the back. Anyone else? Raise that hand up. Right up here to my right; and again to my
right, toward the back; yes, ma'am, in the middle. Anyone else? Raise it up. Toward the back on my left. Father, for these hands, for these lives,
for these men and women I pray simply that you would do a deep and abiding work of change
within them as they turn from the past and give you their future. I pray, Lord, that they would be washed free
from the stain of guilt that would plague their consciences. Set them free, bring them peace, change completely,
and then use them for your glory to reach the world where they live, in Jesus' name,
amen. For more resources from Calvary Albuquerque
and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.
