Pastor Skip Heitzig guides us through First and Second Peter in the series Rock Solid.

Would you please turn to First Peter, chapter 2, and let's pray together. Lord, we believe that you are absolutely in control of our lives. And what a delight it is to be in your hands, to be children of the living God, to have a reality, to live with the reality that there's hope for us; hope every single day, and hope that lasts beyond this life. Lord, only you know the situation, the condition, the hearts of everyone who has gathered for this particular meeting, this service.

You know what we have gone through, what we're thinking about, what bothers us, what irritates us, what causes us joy. We give you now the opportunity, Lord, to bring us back on track, back in line with your will, with your truth, by examining what we know to be the very Word of God given to us by Peter. Help us, Lord, help us to grow. We don't want to stay where we are, we don't wish to stagnate, but we want to be growing, as Peter wrote, "Growing in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Help us, in Jesus' name, amen.

I want to begin with a question: What do you think is the best way to impact the world for Christ? You see, that question has been approached a number of different ways. Somebody would say, "Well, just walk up to somebody, give them a tract." Others would say, "No. You need a real glitzy campaign and mass evangelism." Now all of those, both of those will work, but some will even go to an extreme to make an impact.

William Sangster who was a preacher in England years ago had somebody in his congregation who was a barber and he owned a barbershop. And one day when his client was in the chair and the barber lathered him all up for a shave. He then walked up to him with that straight razor poised right over his eyes, leaned in, and said, "Are you ready to meet your God?" The last thing people saw was a lathered man running down a London street. It didn't make a great impact, except, "Stay away from that barber."

Reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon where Lucy says, "Charlie Brown, I would have made a great evangelist." Charlie Brown said, "Really? How's that?" And she continued, "Well, I convinced the boy in front of me in class that my religion was better than his religion." "Really? How did you do that?" Lucy smiled and said, "By hitting him over the head with a lunchbox." Again, effective, but not to lead someone to what you're trying to lead them to---and that is, Jesus Christ.

I remember, on a personal note, when I was living at the beach and I tried to go witnessing on Sunday nights, sometimes Saturday nights, there was this evangelist at the beach who would yell at people. So, we'd all walk by and there was this guy yelling at the top of his lungs. Many of the things he said were truths, but people didn't feel compelled by somebody yelling at them and telling them they're going to go to hell very soon.

So the best way to make an impact, making maximum impact, most of us wouldn't choose any of those ways. However, what many will do, unfortunately, is go the opposite approach. "Let's copy the world," some would say. "Let's be so much like the world in our value system and our behavior that they won't know the difference." Now, just think about that. Is that really going to attract an unbeliever? I mean, why would that person change if there's nothing to change to?

If you're trying to prove to them you're as cool as they are, as inclusive as they are, I don't think lowering our standard or compromising our position or watering down the gospel is going to attract or make an impact. Jesus put it this way: "Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." In the nineteenth century a hymn was written, a song was written called "Onward Christian Soldiers." It became adopted by the Salvation Army.

And some of you, remember that song? "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before." Somebody rewrote that to reflect how modern Christians think. It goes like this: "Backward Christian soldiers, fleeing from the fight, with the cross of Jesus nearly out of sight." One of the things I love about Peter is he takes the right approach. We're in chapter 2 beginning in verse 11.

And we're going to look at two verses, verse 11 and 12, where Peter is talking to the people he writes to, writing to them telling them about making maximum impact in this world. Now, let me just give you a little bit of background so you know where he's coming from. He's writing to people who are scattered, Christians who are scattered around modern-day Turkey, ancient Asia Minor. In chapter 1, verse 1, he says that they are scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, those areas, a widespread swath of land.

These believers that are scattered are also suffering. In chapter 1, verse 6, he says you're facing many trials. In verse 7 he says your faith is tested by fire. So, picture now a group of young believers who are feeling the pressure of the unbelieving world around them, and Peter knows they need encouragement and incentive to shine their light brightly and to show to the unbelieving world the validity of their faith. And the most impactful way, the most effective way we can make maximum impact is simple---your life, my life, lived well.

In a nutshell, that's the message---your life, my life, lived well. Years ago, I'll never forget this, I met a man here at this church who was all excited about being a Christian and excited about telling people he was a Christian. His only problem---he kept getting arrested and put in jail for crimes he did commit. And I remember talking to him, saying, "Do me a favor, do us all a favor, either get your act together and let's see some changes, or quit telling anyone that you are a Christian." Your life, my life, well lived.

Chapter 2, verse 11, Peter says, "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." Now he will going on, and just for context let's just see how he says to do that.

"Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, or to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men---as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as a bondservant of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king."

We want to look at those two verses. We want to let them sink in. We want to dissect them. I like to say, unpack them and get their full import. So, let me give you four principles that will help you and I make maximum impact. First of all, we need to know who we are. We need to realize our identity. There's three words that Peter uses to describe who we are in verse 11, notice them: "beloved," "sojourners," "pilgrims." "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims."

Let's look at each one. "Beloved" is a word Peter loved. He uses it eight times in two letters, First and Second Peter. Eight times he wants to tell them "God loves you." It's like what Billy Graham says at crusades, or now Franklin Graham, that "God loves you. Remember, God loves you." Peter would want them to remember God loves them. This is Peter putting his hand on the shoulder about to give them a firm exhortation. This is an eye-to-eye contact saying, "Before I tell you what I'm going to tell you, I want you to know you are loved by God, so that your incentive to do what he says to do is because you love the One who loves you."

The second word that describes us, notice, is the word "sojourners." That's a word we don't use a lot. It's a word that literally means "alongside the house," alongside the house. And the reason Peter uses it is because you and I live alongside a people who make this world their home. It's not your home, it's their home. You're a sojourner. You live alongside the house. You're placed alongside believers who make this world their home.

Look at the third word. You are "pilgrims." A pilgrim is a traveler, a visitor, somebody who stops by temporarily but is on the move. In other words, you're loved by God, but you are not a local, you're a foreigner. You don't belong here. You're an outsider. Or in the words of Jesus, "You are in this world"---but what?---"not of the world." In the world, but not of it. That's the reason why John in First John says, "Do not love this world, neither the things that are in this world."

It's why Paul in Philippians, chapter 3, says, "For our citizenship is in heaven." Oh, yeah, we're still citizens of Albuquerque, and New Mexico, and the United States, and this world, but we are primarily citizens of heaven. We have another home. And because we're citizens of heaven, we will always be square pegs in round holes. Get used to that. Our problem is when we forget that, and when we forget who we are, we start living like perpetual citizens of earth rather than eternal citizens of heaven.

So, we need to know who we are. We need to realize our identity. When we do, knowing this will give us proper balance in life. It's so easy to get off balance and forget who we are and where we're going. One of the problems I have, because my dad was a builder, is when I go to somebody's house, especially if it's an older house---I was just back toward the east in my mother-in-law's house. And the problem I have is, "Boy, you know, if I lived here, I would take that wall out, and I'd put a fireplace here, and I'd decorate . . ."

And I start redesigning the whole house. And then I have to catch myself, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't live here, somebody else does. This is not your home." And although it's a fun little exercise, it's energy misspent. I don't live here. That's the reason why people who rent a home don't spend a lot of money fixing it up. It's not theirs. It belongs to somebody else. Another problem I have is when I travel places, I love words and I love to see how people use words and hear their accents.

And I often will listen so carefully, and they're looking at me as I'm studying them, because I'm trying to copy their accent. I'm trying pick up how they say those words from different parts of the United States or overseas. So one time I was over in England, in London, and I decided that I would order my breakfast in an English accent. [laughter] And I'm thinking, "I'm going to pull one over on this guy. You know, I've studied this long enough. I've listened to the Beatles growing up. I can do this."

So, we were in this restaurant, and I was with a friend of mine from Philadelphia. He talked like, you know, Rocky. And so we were in this restaurant and what I didn't know was the person taking our order, the local guy, he was adept at listening to accents and telling you where you're from. So my friend ordered breakfast and immediately the man said, "You're from Philadelphia." And he said, "Yo, right on. You got it right." So then I ordered in my British accent. I don't know what I said. "Hello, I'd like to have bacon and eggs, you know." [laughter]

And the guy looked at me and said, "And you're from California." [laughter] Didn't work. I couldn't pull one over on him. He knew I was not a local. I was from out of town and I was just passing through. Knowing this will also not only give us proper balance, but give us proper incentive, incentive. It is so easy to feel unnoticed and unappreciated in this world. And what makes it worse is when you try to bring your faith in Christ into the setting you grew up with, into your family, into your friends, and they push you away because of your faith in Christ. Now you feel more isolated and more alone.

I've always loved the story about Samuel Morrison, a missionary who gave his life to the continent of Africa. He was coming home to retire. He was on a ship headed for New York Harbor. On the boat with him was President Teddy Roosevelt who had been in Africa for three weeks hunting big game. When the boat pulled into New York Harbor, Samuel Morrison the missionary noticed the crowds who came to welcome the president home. There were balloons and bands and banners and people shouting at the president.

He, however, Samuel Morrison walked off the same boat completely unnoticed. It bothered him. In his mind he was thinking thoughts, really almost a prayer, to the Lord: "This president's been in Africa for three weeks killing animals, he comes home and the whole world welcomes him home. I've given my life to see souls saved and eternal life given, and I come home and nobody notices." Just then he heard the Lord's voice speak to his heart, saying, "You're not home yet."

This world is not your home, and to give proper incentive as well as proper balance, we need to remember we're loved by God. But we're just passing through; we're sojourners. We need to realize our identity. The second is to resist. Knowing who we are will help us know what to do when certain impulses and temptations come. "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."

Do you see what Peter is doing? He's beginning on the inside with our hearts, with our minds, and what we think, and how we deal with thoughts before he gets to the outside. Because Peter wants us to know if you're going to live a godly life on the outside, it begins by living a godly life on the inside. So, here you are. You're passing through, this world isn't your home, so say no or "abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul." It's pretty obvious that Peter acknowledges that in this world we will be bombarded with desires to do bad things, sinful things, wrongs things.

And here's why: our souls are saved, if you're a Christian, our souls are saved, there's a newness in you, but your soul is incarcerated by your human, fallen nature, the flesh. And so Paul says, "There is temptation taken you but as is common to man." You get the point? Everybody goes through them, and everybody has temptations, everybody has impulses and drives and desires to do wrong things. Everyone, even that cute little baby born into your home, that son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter that you think is perfect---flash, news flash---they're not.

Years ago a report was put out by the Minnesota Crime Commission, seventy-seven pages. I'll spare you, but I'll give you one paragraph, very, very insightful document. And I quote, "Every baby starts life as a little savage." Every parent is chuckling right now. "He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it---his bottle, his mother's attention, his playmate's toy, his uncle's watch. Deny these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless."

"If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions, to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist," close quote. Powerful, powerful statement. What's the source of all this? You have it right here---the flesh, the flesh. Paul writes in Galatians, "The flesh [wars or] lusts"---that's what the word here means: strong desire, intense craving. "The flesh lusts [wars] against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." That happens in you. It happens in me. Dwight L. Moody the great evangelist once said, "I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than any man I know." Find that to be true?

The biggest struggle is often inside. It's what Peter means here: "Fleshly lusts which war against the soul." You know what the word "war" means here? It's not a single battle or a skirmish. The word that he chose for "war against the soul" means to carry out a long-term military campaign. That's how the Romans fought and conquered. They would set up a village, a town, a city, around the city they wished to conquer for weeks, months, and even years. It was a long-term military campaign. So here's the truth: all of those allurements afforded to us by the fallen world that produced desires within us, they're like an army of terrorist that want to subdue and enslave you.

What are these fleshly lusts? Well, there's a little list of them given in Galatians, chapter 5. I'll read it to you. Paul writes, Galatians 5 verse 19, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies---" and just about now you're going, "Okay, okay, I get it." But he keeps going, "Outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies"---and you're going, "Okay. I got it." But he keeps going, "Envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries," and then he says, "and the like," which is his way of saying, "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," implying this is an endless list.

So what's the solution? What's the fix? Well, in that very same chapter of Galatians 5, a few verses up, Paul puts it this way and gives us a solution: "This I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Let me tie these thoughts together. If we live a spirit-led life, we will have the power to, as Peter said, "abstain from fleshly lusts," which means hold those things away from you. Don't let them in.

If you've ever read John Bunyan's works, besides Pilgrim's Progress, he wrote a book called The Holy War where he envisions us as being a fortress with walls and gates. You have an eye gate, the ear gate. You let things into your mind by what you see and what you hear and even by what you touch or smell. And the solution is, is when the enemy comes, close the gate. Don't let the enemy in. I have a little dog, you've seen him up on the screen before, named Mac, this little crazy Welsh terrier. If the gate is open, he will run away.

And the other day my wife was walking him and he got out of the gate and he chased a coyote in our neighborhood. Well, let me rephrase that---the coyote made Mac think he was chasing the coyote. That's how coyotes work. They make dogs think that they're playing, and they lure them back to their den where there are his buddies ready to kill him. Now, long and short of it, Mac's fine. He has a little emotional trauma. He's been to counseling this week, but he's going to make it. [laughter] The solution is---keep that gate closed.

You're in a war. I've always been amazed when I see photographs of our troops overseas when it's 110 degrees in Afghanistan and they're completely suited up with hundreds of pounds of helmet and vest and outfits. You know why they're dressed that way is because they know we're in a battle zone, a mortar could come unannounced at any time. And so with believers, we're in a war zone. As Paul said, we need to "put on the whole armor of God," "abstain from fleshly lusts."

So, we realize who we are, our identity. We resist the impulses with a spirit-led life. Now that's all inward so far. Now, look in verse 12. He takes it from the inward to the outward. He says what is private and inward must be eventually become public and outward. Verse 12, "Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles," his word for unbelievers, "that when they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Let me read it to you in the NIV. Listen to it. "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." I think you realize that unbelievers study us. One of the reasons is that they want the dirt on us. They're watching to see if you'll fail, and they would love it if you did. So that's why when at work you get angry at an employee, he register that, and they might even say, "Oh, you say you're a Christian? You just frowned."

"Yeah, I guess because I'm a human." "Yeah, because you're a Christian." And hold you to this standard, and they would love to turn it into an accusation. They did it with Jesus; did they not? They called him a drunk, a glutton, someone trying to overthrow the government, one who forbid people to pay taxes---all those were false accusations---an illegitimate child, false accusations. They did it with Paul the apostle. They said he was a troublemaker, that that he was trying to stir up riots all over the world.

They did it with the early Christian church. Did you know that one of the accusations of the unbelieving world toward early Christians in the Roman Empire is they were cannibals? There were stories of them eating children at their feasts. And that's because they heard of the Lord's Supper where we use the words of Jesus where he said, "Eat this; this is my body. Drink this; this is my blood." And they turned that around into an accusation of cannibalism. The early Christians were accused of incest because they called one another "brother," "sister."

The early Christians were accused of atheism---can you imagine?---because they wouldn't worship the pantheon of Romans gods or Caesar who was deified by the Romans---all false accusations. So here we are, citizens of heaven living alongside a people who are citizens only of this earth. We're called to live differently than they live. But whenever we do, they won't like it, and they will accuse you of everything imaginable. What Peter is simply saying is live so noble a life that any of those accusations won't stick, by inward purity, and an outward quality.

Now, he's going to tell us how to do that. Unfortunately, we don't have the time today. But just notice beginning in verse 13, he says you do it by submitting to your government. That'll be an interesting study. You do it also, in verse 18, by submitting to your employers. And if you're a wife, you do it a third way by submitting to your husband; that's chapter 3, verse 1. That's the ways you demonstrate it. But suffice it to say today we as Christians are on stage. The lights are on, the lights, the bright light of the unbeliever is on us, and they're watching us.

My question is: What are they seeing as they watch us? I love what Ruth Graham used to say when she was alive here on earth. She used to say, "A saint is a person who makes it easy to believe in Jesus." It's so simple but profound. "A saint is a person who makes it easy to believe in Jesus." Christians should be the most honorable, honest, trustworthy, reliable people in the community. Unfortunately, many times it's the opposite. I've heard people say, "I would never hire another Christian. They're lazy, they're late for work, and they try to take advantage of me."

Live such good lives that those accusations won't stick. Folks, it's Peter's plea for integrity. Some of you remember Erma Bombeck, an author. She had what she called "Bombeck's Rule of Medicine." It was simple: "Never trust a doctor whose houseplants have died." Isn't that great? Go into his office, all his plants are dead. You're thinking, "Uh, no. If you can't take care of lower life, you're not touching me." "Never trust a doctor whose houseplants have died." How about trusting a Christian whose life doesn't reflect any things of the things that that person claims?

So, with an inward and outward quality, how effective can this be? Well, I take you to the end of verse 12, and that's our fourth characteristic here: remember your intention. Now, here's what he's going to do, and we're closing this off. In the last part of this verse, he's saying, "All of this is so that---the ultimate goal being what it will do to unbelievers." Look, look at it yourself. "Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, so that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe," here it is, "glorify God in the day of visitation."

"Glorify God in the day of visitation." What does that mean, "day of visitation"? You wouldn't be familiar with that unless you're an Old Testament student. It's an Old Testament phrase, and Peter was a student of the Old Testament, he was Jewish. "The day of visitation" is an Old Testament phrase used several times to describe when God comes and visits the earth with blessing or with judgment.

I'll give you an example of each. When Naomi and Elimelech left Bethlehem and went over to Moab, because things dried up in Bethlehem, then her husband died and her sons died. Naomi said, "I'm going back home to Bethlehem." And the Bible says because "she heard the Lord visited his people with bread." God showed up with blessing. But sometimes it means negative. Zechariah, chapter 10, the prophet says that God was angry at the leaders of his people and the Lord was visiting them with wrath and fury, visiting his flock in anger.

So, whenever God shows up either in blessing or in judgment, it's spoken about as a visitation. So Peter uses it here. They will "glorify God in the day of visitation." In Peter's mind using the phrase, I believe he's speaking of the second coming of Christ when Jesus comes again to the earth and visits the earth a second time. That'll be a day of good news, well, for some. It'll be a day of bad news for others. Right? So how can a person who was observing a Christian glorify God in the day of visitation?

Well, two ways, but primarily one way. Number one, and the best way, is they're looking at your life, checking you out, watching the way you live. They've heard the gospel message, God is visiting them with an inkling of conviction and the need for salvation, and they're going to remember your lifestyle. And that's going to push them right over, that's going to be, like, the final closing of the deal. They'll remember your life and go, "Okay, I'm in. I'm gonna do it. I've just seen a changed life displayed in front of me. I'm in. I'm all in."

They'll glorify God in the day of visitation by receiving Christ themselves. You say, "Well, what about the person who observes our life but says, 'I want nothing of it,' and dies in that? Will they glorify God?" Actually, yes, they will. Because the Bible says in Philippians, "Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord." Even the most defiant person will have to confess Jesus is Lord and give glory to God. But I would suggest the first is better.

Do it now with your will voluntarily rather than later under force and compulsion when it's not voluntarily. Either way by observing your gracious, godly life produced from the inside convictions because you realize who you are, you've said no to those things that war against your very soul, people observe it, and that---that will make maximum impact. I want to close with a word to believers, and then a word to unbelievers.

If you're a Christian, know this: life is built on character. Character is built on choice, decisions. Every choice, every decision you make, large or small, does to your life what a sculptor's chisel does to a block of marble---shapes it. Every choice you make shapes who you are. And as it shapes who you are, it shapes how people looking at you will view the God you say you serve. You're on display. That's why this exhortation is so important.

Now, a word to unbelievers. I realize that Christians over the last two thousand years haven't all been perfect. In fact, none of them have been perfect. I can't think of a single one that is perfect. And yet some of you, perhaps, as an unbeliever, you've said, "I don't want to be a Christian because there's so many hypocrites in the church." Let me just say, I apologize for all the hypocrites that have ever existed.

But I also want to say to you that is no excuse. Because in the last day you're not going to have to sit before all those hypocrites to be judged, you'll only stand before God. And all those hypocrites won't have to stand before you to be judged, but before the God who forgave them for what Jesus did for them. So, when you say, "There's so many hypocrites in the church," I say, well, then there's room for one more. Come on in. [laughter] Because last time I checked, Jesus died for sinners. And Paul said, "I'm the chief of them all," chief of them all.

In this text Peter speaks about the war of the soul. Jesus said, "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?" If you don't know Jesus personally today, during this Advent season, this Christmas season, this very day, this would be a perfect time for you to say yes to the One who gave it all so that you could be his. You come to him and you let him work in you and change you. You come the way you are. You don't have to clean up your act. You don't have to be perfect or angelic.

Just come as you are---soiled and stained, with all the stuff, all the baggage. Let him take you as you are. Let him do his work and watch what he can do through you. Let's pray. Lord, these two verses hold so much truth. Thank you that you've afforded us the time to uncover each phrase, and to realize these principles that transcend two thousand years. Would you help us to have a realization of who we are---greatly loved by you, but just passing through this world; in it, but not of it.

And because of that, with that long-term goal in mind, we would be able to with a spirit-led life say no to those impulses that are waging a long-term battle against our soul. And then with that to turn outward and reveal that integrity to a world that is watching, to make maximum impact, that you would visit them with salvation. Lord, I pray for anyone who doesn't know you yet here. I pray this would be the day when they would surrender to your love for them as you compel them by the perfect person of the Lord Jesus Christ, by that perfect life, to be changed by it, in Jesus' name, amen.

For more resources from Calvary Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.