Sermon Tone Analysis

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Now before we dive into verse 12, let’s remember it’s connection to

The doctrine brother Andy begin to unpack in this verse last week was the doctrine of?

Sanctification.

The pursuing of holiness through waging war against the sinful desires of the flesh.

Abstaining from the passions of the flesh.

Or another way we explain it is the mortification of sin.

The putting to death the of our sin.

CHBC Statement of Faith states in

Article X. OF Sanctification,

“We believe that Sanctification is the process which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness; that is a progressive work; that is begun in regeneration; and it is carried on in the hears of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means, especially,-- the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness and prayer.

Are we left to guess what these passions or works of the flesh are?

If we are going to abstain from these passions we need to know what they are.

Galatians 5:19

John Owen writes,

The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

Therefore Beloved, as those who are sojourners and exiles; Those who are born again by the mercy of God; Those who are elect exiles in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood we must fight against our old nature with all of our might!

Here is what Puritan James Ussher wrote regarding the believers internal war with the flesh, it is

“the daily exercise of our spiritual strength, and armour, against all adversaries, with assured confidence of victory.

For the state of the faithful in this life is such, that they are sure in Christ, and yet fight against sin: there being joined with repentance a continual fighting against and struggling against the assaults of man’s own flesh, against the motions of the Devil, and enticements of the world.”

As brother Andy mentioned last week, he expounded on the negative side of sanctification.

Abstaining from fleshly passions.

This week we are going to look at the positive side of sanctification.

Instead of fighting the evil we are going see Peter provides us with some positive actions which results in the chief end of man, the glory of God!

Beloved as sojourners and exiles we are to maintain,

I. Good Conduct (2:12a)

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable.

A. The Beloved are to be among Non-believers.

What is the very first implication in verse 12? If we are to keep our conduct among the Gentiles honorable, we have to be amongst the Gentiles.

This means we are to be in the company of unbelievers, people who don’t believe what we believe, who don’t live like we are to live, and ultimately are not indwelt by the same Spirit we are.

We have God’s Spirit within us convicting us of sin and righteousness.

They are under the ruler, reign, and dominion of the Father the Devil.

Another way we understand this is that we are to be in the world, but not?

Of the world!

How much time do we spend with non-believers?

Some of us probably spend more time around the lost than we really want to.

Some of us may long to be with the saints more and more, which is a great longing by the way.

However, we cannot forget the importance of being with those who need the gospel.

The beloved

What Peter is talking about here is not just passing by Gentiles in the grocery store, or waving to our lost neighbor as they walk by the house, or even just speaking to an unbeliever at work.

He is urging us to a consistent way of life to be lived out among those headed for Hell apart from the saving knowledge of our LORD and Savior.

conduct expressed according to certain principles way of life, conduct, behavior

Do you remember what Jesus said when he was accused of being among sinners and tax collectors?

Jesus not only gives us the example of being in the midst of sinners, but explains why.

We are never going to be able to call sinners to repent and believe in the Jesus if we are never among them.

So the beloved are to be among the Gentiles, and t

B. The Beloved are to conduct themselves consistently.

Again Peter here is not talking about a short knock on a door or passing out a tract which are not bad things but many of the people we see on visitation or during evangelistic opportunities will never be seen again.

But, the Gentiles we come in contact with on a consistent basis need to see us conducting ourselves consistently.

:27-3

We are to live life in a manner in worthy of the gospel of Christ!

We are to live life firm in one spirit.

We are to live life with one mind striving side by side for the faith.

We are to be unafraid of our opponents.

WE

We are to live lives of believe with a willingness to suffer.

We are to live lives in conflict while conducting ourselves in accordance with our profession.

This means the,

C. The Beloved are to conduct themselves honorably.

What does it mean to conduct ourselves honorably?

The word honorably is speaking,

of moral quality (opp.

αἰσχρός IAndrosIsis, Kyme 32) good, noble, praiseworthy, contributing to salvation

How then are we to maintain good, noble, praiseworthy conduct as we are among unbelievers?

While we are in the midst of this process of progressive sanctification we are to engage in this spiritual warfare while maintaining good conduct.

We are not to fight with the weapons of flesh and blood, but by putting on the whole armor of God.

Fastening on the belt of truth.

Putting on the breastplate of righteousness.

Shoeing our feet with the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Taking up the shield of faith.

Taking the helmet of salvation.

Taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Praying at all times in the Spirit.

Keeping alert with all perseverance.

Making supplication for all the saints.

Now if we prepare to battle the way Paul prescribes in , will not enable us to keep our conduct honorable among the Gentiles?

Another way to say it is, as we grow in grace together through corporate worship, fellowship within the community of faith, consistent personal bible study and prayer, and pleading for the help of the Spirit we will keep our conduct honorable among the Gentiles.

Notice in the middle of verse 12,

We are to display,

II.

Good Deeds (2:12b)

so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds

First,

A. Good deeds silence those that speak against us.

If Christians are living honorable lives why in the world would unbelievers slander us or speak evil of us.

This again is where context is helpful.

Note these statements from Roman historians around 100 A.D.

Christians were “loathed for their vices.”

Nero blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome because they were “hated for their abominations” and adhered to a “pernicious superstition.”

Suetonius stated that Nero punished Christians as a sect professing a new and impious “superstition.”

Some accused them of cannibalism, in a pernicious, possibly willful misconstrual of the Lord’s Supper.

The charge of “hatred of the human race” grew from their refusal to join in worshiping the emperor or local patron deities

Remember the lost have not been give sight to see spiritual truths.

Therefore all that we do is foreign and odd to them.

They don’t understand why we gather for worship, they don’t understand why we eat at the Lord’s table, why we abstain from their sinful practices.

This means they see us as odd, as holier than thou, as different, and often our practices are convicting to them and even in our actions and words we seem like we are being judgmental.

When the truth is our conduct is not for their condemnation, but because of our sanctification.

But what happens when the lost slander a faithful believer?

The slander slides right off!

It doesn’t stick because their accusations are false or invalid because of our consistent Christlike conduct.

Secondly,