July 1, 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

(1 Peter 3:13-17)  And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?  But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.  For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

You don’t have to be saved for very long until you discover that there are some in this world who will be out to harm you and speak evil of you.  I Peter 3:13 asks the question, “who is he that will harm you, if ye be follower of that which is good?” 

I have discovered that Satan is the one who is out to harm us once we turn our life over to the Lord and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior.  Before we were saved, he kept telling us that we were OK and didn’t need to be concerned about eternity, that God loved us all and we were all going to heaven.  However, once the Holy Spirit put us under conviction and for the first time we saw ourselves as lost sinners with no hope and realized that the only answer was to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation, Satan changed his story and started telling us that we really didn’t get saved.  Satan is a liar and the father of it.  (John 8:44)  …He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

Satan is also described as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour.  (1 Peter 5:8)  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

This morning, he is the one who is out to harm you.  Peter tells us then to be followers of that which is good and there is only one who is good.  (Mark 10:18)  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 

Peter also tells us that we should be happy if we suffer for righteousness sake and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh for a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear.  Jesus said that we are blessed when we suffer for righteousness sake.  (Matthew 5:10-12)  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Although it is inevitable if you belong to Christ for evil to be spoken against us, it is our responsibility to make sure that when they do speak evil against us they do so falsely which in the end will make them ashamed.  What I’m trying to say is that when evil is spoken against us, let’s do our best to make sure that it’s a lie and not the truth.  Peter concludes in v. 17 by saying, it is much better if we suffer for well doing than for evil doing.

Bro. Rick