(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

1 Peter, chapter number 3, tonight the Bible reads in verse number 1, Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Now what I want to point out verse number 1 here is that he talks about being won without the word. Now let me start out by saying that the term soul winning is biblical. Sometimes when you preach about winning someone to Christ or winning souls, people will balk at that terminology and say that it's not scriptural to win someone to the Lord. And a lot of times this is coming from Calvinists or people who don't believe that we have the power to actually go out and get people saved and pull people out of the fire and actually make a difference in people's lives by preaching the gospel to them. They believe it's all predetermined and God does everything, Christ does everything, you know, we don't do anything, we don't win souls, it's Christ that does the saving and all that. But this is not biblical, friend. The Bible uses this term winning someone or winning souls repeatedly about getting someone saved, and in fact the Bible even goes further and Paul talks about saving people. He says, I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. He said in Romans chapter 11 verse 14, if by any means I might provoke to emulation them that are of my flesh and might save some of them. So Paul said, I want to save these people, right? I want to get them saved. Of course Proverbs 11 30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. Here it talks about the husband who's not saved being won by the conversation of the wife, okay? So yes we do win souls, yes we do go out and save people. Now of course this is not taking away from Jesus as the Savior, but Jesus Christ has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation and because we are ambassadors for Christ, we go out soul saving or soul winning as the Bible says. And so don't let people tell you that that's not a biblical term. The holier than thou's want to pontificate and give God all the glory. Well you know I'm so glad you're giving God all the glory for the nothing that you're accomplishing. You accomplish nothing, you win no one to Christ, you sit on your rear end letting the world go to hell and then give God all the glory for salvation. Well good job for you giving God your whole zero. Giving God the glory for all the zero that got saved and the zero that got baptized. Now look, I give God all the glory as well, but I'm gonna use the biblical terminology that Paul used when he said, I want to save some of them. What about when Jude said, others save with fear. Others save with fear. Go to Jude if you would. Keep your finger in 1 Peter 3, we'll come right back to it. But look at Jude. The Bible tells us in this powerful verse, Jude 22, it says, and if some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. So recently I had mentioned in a video that I made about how this verse is just completely butchered in the NIV and in the modern versions because of a textual variant in the underlying Greek text. There's a corrupt Greek text out there for this verse that says something completely different and so therefore when you read like an NIV or a New American Standard or an ESV, this verse reads completely different just because of a word change in the original. And so basically in this verse of some have compassion, making a difference, the NIV says something along the lines of, be merciful to those who doubt, which is just obviously a completely different thought, okay. But it's funny, James White, who is kind of the archenemy of King James onlyism, he scoffed at me making an issue of this verse and he said, oh this is an obscure verse, this is a verse that people don't really base a lot of their thought on evangelism on this verse. I mean he acted like he couldn't even remember the last time he ever heard this verse preached and that it's just an obscure thing, why am I making such a big deal about such a minor verse. But what's funny about that is that when you're an independent fundamental Baptist, this is actually not an obscure passage because when I was coming up as an independent fundamental Baptist, I can't even count the sermons on others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire. But we as a soul-winning Baptist, we love this passage. This is actually one of our key passages that we keep turning to, our Bible kind of falls open here because we keep turning to this passage and we keep preaching on this passage because we believe in soul-winning. But obviously if you're a Calvinist, yeah this is just obscure passage to you. Who cares about Jude 22? Big deal! Well it is a big deal, friend. And when the Bible says of some have compassion making a difference, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, what he's saying is two kinds of people here. Some people you save by showing compassion to them, other people you save with fear. You know the hellfire and brimstone preaching is what's going to save them. Other people, love and compassion is going to reach them, right? And so the making a difference is that you basically discern or make a difference between these two different types of people. Some have compassion making a difference, others save with fear, right? So there's two different attitudes that you can have, two different methods that you can have for reaching people, okay? And that's what this is teaching. But again he says save with fear. Why is he telling us to save people if we don't save anybody? Isn't that what the Calvinists will say? Well we don't save anybody. How can you talk about winning souls or getting people saved? You're so prideful, you didn't save anybody. Well yes I did save somebody. I saved somebody because Jude told me save them with fear and I went out and I did what? I saved them with fear. And you went out soul-winning and some of them you had compassion and you made a difference, others you saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire. So don't let anybody tell you, well you didn't get anybody saved, you did, well I just say well I know you did it, but I actually did. And they say well that's not what Jude meant, that's not what Paul, well that's not what I meant either then. Because when I say I got someone saved I mean the exact same thing that Paul meant when he said I might save some of them. And he also said in 1st Corinthians chapter 7, How knowest thou, O wife, and I hope I'm quoting this correctly, if thou will save thy husband? Or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife? So he talks about saving your husband, saving your wife, getting people saved, amen? So 1st Peter chapter 3, if we go back there, he says likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife. So this is basically a wife that has an unsaved husband, an unbelieving husband, he doesn't obey the word, but the Bible says that he can be won without the word just by the chaste conversation of the wife. Basically the testimony of a good wife is so powerful that it's likely to lead to her husband getting saved. So if there's a saved wife out there and her husband is not saved, if she is a godly Christian, if she is subject to her husband, if she obeys her husband and is a godly wife, she's very likely to win her husband to the Lord. Now what we want to be careful with this verse though is that we don't misunderstand this, that people get saved without the Bible. I've heard some people turn to this as a proof text to try to say see you can get saved without the word, you can get saved without the Bible. Folks that is false. Let me explain to you why. First of all there are lots of verses that explain that the Word of God is what saves us. The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Bible tells us that he quickened us by the word of truth, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a fine kind of firstfruits of his creatures. In the parable of the sower, the Bible talks about how the sower sows the word, okay. The Bible says he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be safe. So you have verse after verse even all the way back in Psalm 119 God's Word has quickened me and all throughout the Bible and I could do a whole sermon on the fact that you have to have God's Word to be saved. It's God's Word that saves us. It's faith that comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This is what they're missing in this verse here. It says if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. What that's actually saying is that they've already heard the word. How can you not obey the word unless you've heard the word and didn't obey it? So it's not saying this person's getting saved without hearing any Bible. What happened is this person heard the gospel. They heard the Word of God and they didn't obey it. They did not believe on Jesus Christ. They did not get saved. Well what the Bible is saying is don't just keep beating that person over the head with the gospel as a wife. Now it's time to just show them the testimony. Show them the godly conversation. Show them a godly example. That's how you're gonna win them over to the gospel. Not by just preaching to them non-stop the gospel. Now look I believe obviously that if there's a wife and her husband's not saved the best thing she could do is preach the gospel to him. Preach him the Word of God. Give him the gospel. But everything if he rejects the gospel, if he doesn't get saved, if he doesn't listen, then at that point it's time to just be the best godly Christian wife and example and win him over that way without the word. Okay now even when I'm at work if I preach the gospel to somebody and they don't get saved I don't just keep going through the Romans road with that person over and over again. I don't just every time I see them all right here we go again for the fifth time, sixth time, seventh time. What I typically do if I and I guess I don't work with unsaved people anymore since you know except when Tyler Baker worked here but anyway you know now that I'm a pastor but you know back when I was out in the world and I was at working as an electrician when I was doing fire alarms and I would work with unsaved people you know I would use opportunities I had to give them the gospel. Now obviously you need to be wise about how you do this you don't want to sit there and just stop everything on the job site and just start preaching the Bible and you're stealing from your employer if you're not putting work first when you're on the clock okay and you have to be sensitive about the customer and the company and the rules to everything there is a purpose and it's everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven so there's a time to preach the gospel and there's a time not to preach the gospel and to shut up and dig the hole that you're supposed to be digging okay amen but when you have those opportunities like for example let's say you're on a long drive you know back when I was an electrician we would often drive to job sites an hour two hours three hours away and you're sitting in the car you're talking that can often be a great time to share the gospel and I think a good rule of thumb is when you're alone with someone give the gospel when you're alone with someone give them the gospel just in all areas of life that's a good rule of thumb because that's usually the best time to have a serious conversation with people and they're not worried about what their friends think or anything like that so when you're in the work truck give the gospel or another opportunity could be maybe when you're sitting down at lunch you're off the clock you're on a break you can preach the gospel but again you have to be careful that you're not cramming it down people's throat that aren't interested if people aren't interested they're not interested right try to give the gospel attempt to preach the gospel yeah I try to get them interested but if they're not interested then sometimes you have to know when to walk away okay and shake the dust off your feet and just talk to the next person but let's say you give somebody the gospel and they don't receive it which is gonna happen all the time you know you you get a chance in the work truck or at lunch to go through the whole plan of salvation and they hear the gospel but they don't get saved today I don't just keep preaching the gospel to that person over and over again because that can seem a little bit repetitive or redundant or like a broken record or even annoying to just keep saying the same thing to someone over and over again so what I typically do because I still want that person to get saved you know finally gave him the gospel once I don't want that to be the end of it typically what I'll try to do after that is just bring up other conversations down the road about other biblical subjects because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God so what I've done sometimes is just told them other Bible stories hey let me tell you an interesting story from the Bible I remember when I worked at Roundtable Pizza there were guys there that had no interest in church no interest in the things of God they did not believe the Bible they did not believe on Jesus Christ but they would beg me to tell Bible stories just because they were so bored and we'd be sitting there and we'd be folding boxes or we'd be making rolling out dough or something and they enjoyed hearing stories because I would really you know try to tell them in an exciting way and I remember one time just spending hours while we were doing some menial task just telling the whole story of Genesis just going through all the stories talking about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and about how his brothers didn't know who he is he's playing a trick on them and all that you know and just go through look anytime you can talk about the Bible quote scripture talk about the things of God where people don't necessarily feel like you're just hammering them on salvation though you know what you're watering the seed is what you're doing because you're you're getting the Word of God to them any way you can and anytime other subjects come up you know you can put a biblical perspective on and say well here's what the Bible says about marriage or here's what the Bible says about child rearing or here's what the Bible says about you know this current event that's going on or whatever and so you can get the word to them in other ways without just giving them the Romans road over and over again and then after you've kind of softened them up for a while then you can attempt to give them the gospel again you know after you've already talked to them and given them other things then sometimes maybe a few weeks later you can try again with the main thing which is actually salvation okay now that's for like a co-worker or a friend or whatever but I mean look if this is someone that you live with you especially don't want to just beat them over the head with the same thing every day I know people where their their wife isn't saved their husband isn't saved and they just keep giving them the gospel but you know at some point it can it can get to where they'll just start tuning it out because it's like I've already heard this I've already heard this so therefore at some point it can become better to just show a good testimony be a godly person be a good son daughter mother father be a good wife husband sister brother whatever the case may be and let your testimony speak for itself now I'm not talking about lifestyle evangelism in lieu of preaching the gospel you know I'm talking about I'm talking about first preaching the gospel and then doing the lifestyle evangelism after you've already given a clear presentation of the gospel now let's work on just showing them the light of Christ through your life being that epistle of Christ known and read of all men and especially if this is your spouse you don't want to just tell them every night good night I hope you don't die in your sleep because you're going to hell tonight you know if you die you know that's not the right way to do that right you want to be you want to show love for your spouse and you want to gently bring them along and give them the Word of God pray for them be a good wife be a good husband preach to them other biblical things if they're interested maybe if they say I don't hear about the gospel but if they're willing to talk about other biblical subjects or if they're willing to read scripture or something then whatever but you see what the Bible says here he said especially with the wife because the wife is not the boss so she can't just Lord over her husband and sit down and shut up and listen to the gospel if a husband doesn't obey the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of life because they've already heard the word that's why they didn't obey it because they heard the gospel already now it's time to show them the lifestyle verse 2 while they behold your chaste conversation coupled coupled with fear who's adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or a putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorn themselves being in subjection under their own husband so the Bible saying that Christian women should not be overly into their appearance right they should not spend hours and hours getting dolled up and putting on the Bible says gold and elsewhere the Bible says pearls costly array expensive clothing is unbiblical friend that's what the Bible says all right the Bible says that women should not put on costly array but that they should be dressed in modest apparel modest humble apparel now you can still dress nice and dress stylish and look your best but not going out and buying the super expensive brands and wasting a bunch of money on gold and precious stones and pearls and gold and and the fancy garment you know just wear sensible clothing and don't spend a ton of time on your parents you know why because you should be spending more time on the inside I mean imagine if you spent the time reading your Bible praying serving your husband that you spend in front of the mirror applying all that makeup and putting on all that apparel and all the jewelry and you know get your priorities right it's the inside that matters work on your heart more than on the outside is what the Bible is teaching here and he brings up an example from the past he says in this manner also the old in old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection under their own husbands and he brings up Sarah as the example now a lot of people think this is outdated this idea of women being in subjection to their husbands because of the feminist movement that women don't need to submit to their husbands anymore but here's what's interesting first Peter was written a little bit less than 2,000 years ago okay so people say well that's outdated but here's what's interesting Sarah lived about 2,000 years before first Peter was written so first Peter is going back 2,000 years and saying hey be like Sarah so it's pretty easy for us in 2019 to go back 2,000 years and say read first Peter why because it's the same thing 4,000 years ago as it is 2,000 years ago as it is today because God's Word doesn't change and God's view on marriage has not changed so women are to be in subjection to their own husbands the Bible says even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement now the reason that this often strikes readers odd when it says that she called him Lord is because in 2019 in our vernacular when we say the word Lord we usually only say that about deity we usually only say that about God right when we say the Lord we think God and obviously you don't call your husband God all right that would be very extreme and it would even be blasphemous right I you know I like your attitude but that's too much all right so when we see Lord obviously that makes us think of God and that's why this strikes us as weird but what you have to understand is that in the Bible the word Lord is sometimes referring to God but sometimes it's just referring to a boss or a master okay it's just someone who's in charge is the Lord the Bible will talk about Lord with a lowercase L just talking about the Lord of this manner or the Lord of the vineyard or the Lord of this servant or whatever we think of lords and ladies right going back a few hundred years now in most languages in fact in every language that I've ever studied and I've studied a lot of foreign languages in every language I have ever studied the word for sir and Lord is the same word it's only English where this is different where we have a different word for mr. and sir as Lord if we're speaking Spanish señor señor means sir and also el señor is the Lord el señor and then you would say mr. so-and-so you would say señor he meant it right you would say say your Rodriguez right mr. Rodriguez so in in it's that way in German it's that way in Hungarian it's that way in Greek I mean it's that way in pretty much every language except English okay so what you have to and it used to be somewhat like that in English so when the Bible says here that she called him Lord basically the equivalent would be that she's calling him sir or she's calling him master or she's calling him by some kind of a title that would denote respect and submission okay so obviously it's a little bit different for us in 2019 because the word Lord has a different connotation now so the the connotation here would be like she called him sir basically okay in that sense she called him señor if you speak Spanish right so Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement now I want to point out another key thought here in verse 5 where it says that the holy woman also who trusted in God were the ones that were in subjection under their own husbands right they trusted in God here's the thing a lot of women don't want to submit to their husband because they think well if I submit to my husband bad things are gonna happen my husband he doesn't know how to run things I need to run things because if he runs things he's gonna mess it up isn't that the attitude of some women I can't him let him lead because he'll you know take us the wrong direction or whatever but this is where trusting in God comes in trusting in God says well if God commanded me to obey my husband and submit to him even if I don't think it's gonna work out good I'm gonna go ahead and trust God and submit to my husband anyway because that's what God told me to do and all things are gonna work together for good to those that love God so I'm gonna go ahead and submit to my husband because I trust him no but I trust God okay so you say I don't trust my husband okay well then trust God but either way you need to obey and submit to your husband and that's gonna be for the best okay you say well I'm not willing to take that chance then you don't trust God you're not trusting in the Lord Sarah trust in the Lord so she's willing to follow Abraham and this is a whole sermon in of itself and I want to talk about first Peter so I don't want to go off too far on this tangent but you know what Abraham did some pretty squirrely stuff as a husband well you don't know my husband okay read Genesis and tell me if you want to be married to Abraham you remember the stunts that Abraham pulled oh she's my sister and all that gets you abducted into some strange household twice okay I mean look if Sarah can call him Lord and submit to him you can submit your husband he was not the ideal husband hey he was a great man of faith but he was not the ideal husband at all by anyone's definition and so it's a great example to say hey Sarah trusted the Lord and you know what Sarah ended up being blessed and be and living a great life and everything ended up great even though Abraham did some really dumb things along the way that put her in danger she ended up being okay why because God was looking out for her so this is what I'm saying you trust in the Lord and it's gonna be okay well I'm better at running things well you know what I'd rather be in God's will with a bozo running things than to be out of God's will with a skillful smart person running things because the blessing of God is everything obedience to God is everything right so keep that in mind ladies when you're tempted to rebel against your husband because you know better well maybe you do know better but you know what it doesn't matter he's the boss I'm not saying that your husband is always right I'm just saying that as far as you're concerned your husband's always right I'm not saying that your husband is smarter than you I'm saying that he's the boss even if he's not smarter than you okay and some of you are not as smart as you think okay and maybe you are smarter maybe you're not but I if I had a nickel for every woman that I ran into who thought that she was way more spiritual than her husband and then I met her husband and I walked away saying I think he's more spiritual but a lot of women they just think they're way more spiritual and they think they're the one who needs to lead when in reality if the husband were in the driver's seat things would be going better okay because it's the natural order of things that God has created it's the right way of doing it okay not because men are better than women not because men are smarter women they're not better than women they're not smarter than women they're just the ones who God has ordained to lead and when you do things God's way you're blessed and God's blessing will cover a multitude of foul ups from the husband amen we've all made mistakes and but you know what at least if we do things God's way God's gonna cover for us okay so the Bible says in verse 8 or verse 7 sorry likewise ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honor unto the wife as under the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered so the Bible says husbands dwell with them according to knowledge know your wife get to know your wife honor her treat her well love her nourish her cherish her do things God's way as heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered verse 8 finally be all of one mind having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous now the word pitiful here it doesn't really mean the same thing that it means to us today we say oh you're pitiful you're pathetic when the Bible says pitiful here it means full of pity it means that you have pity on other people it means that you feel sorry for them you have mercy on them when something bad happens you weep with those that weep and you help out those that are in need that's what it means to be pitiful and to be courteous means to be kind and treat people well and polite and so forth verse not verse 9 not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you're there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing so we could just continue this on marriage right because he was talking about marriage at the beginning he was talking to the wives and the husbands how about this when it comes to marriage don't render evil for evil don't render railing for railing so your spouse starts yelling at you and saying rude things to you don't just turn around and just say oh yeah well let me tell you something buddy don't render evil for evil don't render render railing for railing overcome evil with good knowing that you're there unto called that you should inherit a blessing for he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it try to get along is what he's saying here right a shoe evil hate evil do not rail and curse and have your tongue participate in evil and guile eschew evil and do good seek peace and ensue it okay ensue is sort of like the word pursue right see the sue on the end there and the Bible is saying here that peace doesn't happen by accident you have to be a peacemaker right strive to get along if husband and wife are just going through life not caring about their marriage and just living their life and not putting any effort into marriage it's not going to be a good marriage right marriage takes work you have to seek peace you have to strive to get along you have to actively love your spouse and work hard at having a good marriage if you want to have a good marriage because it's not gonna happen by accident and if you don't believe me then just look at all the people they're getting divorced and look at all the people even that are married and have a miserable marriage because it's not easy to have a good marriage it takes effort right so you want to put forth that effort seek peace and ensue it the Bible says in verse 12 for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open under their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good but and if you 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 so he shifted from marriage to just talking about life in general he actually shifted all the way back in verse 8 but a lot of this you can still apply to marriage but he goes on to just talk about the fact that when you go through this life if you do the right thing there are going to be people who persecute you attack you lie about you falsely accuse you but if you have a good conscience and if you do that which is right if as in verse 13 at the end there you be followers of that which is good then who is he that will harm you look at verse 13 who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good verse 16 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 instead of worrying what people think about us we need to be worried about whether we're right whether we are doing well whether we love God and are obeying the Bible is more important than what people think okay because if you are getting falsely accused what's more important than going out and proving to everybody that you're innocent what's more important is making sure that you actually are innocent you know making sure that you're actually doing right making sure that you actually are blameless because if you are blameless and you are not guilty of the things that you're being accused of you know what you can go to bed at night and lay your head on your pillow and know that God's gonna take care of you there's a scoreboard in heaven it always reads the right score and you know what there are people on this earth that are gonna get things wrong and make accusations and and especially if you're in a public position defending yourself could become a full-time job if you're not careful and you know you don't want to just spend your whole life just defending yourself against every false accusation I mean if I defended myself every time someone attacked me it would be a full-time job literally I don't even know if it would even be humanly possible because it just every single day some video gets uploaded Steven Anderson lies Steven Anderson exposed you know Steven Harrison's a heretic Steven has a false teacher you know but guess what everybody who is well known gets attacked like that whoever they are it's just the way life is I mean my wife was showing me there's this there's this lady who puts out cookbooks and she never says anything controversial who is this again the Pioneer Woman okay who knows the Pioneer Woman right so I don't know anything about the Pioneer Woman but my wife has some of her cookbooks and she has this blog and she has cookbooks and this woman's not controversial to my knowledge she doesn't get up and speak out on politics she doesn't get up and speak out on religion and rip face and tell she's basically putting out a cookbook okay I mean it's just how to make food and she doesn't say anything inflammatory she's just a lady cooking and putting out a cookbook but here's the there literally our entire websites correct me if I'm wrong here I want to get this right isn't there like a whole website just attacking there are at least two websites attacking the Pioneer Woman just eight sites directed at a cookbook so just stop and think about this if God said that we're gonna be persecuted if we live right and all that will live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and if we preach the gospel there are gonna be many adversaries and if we see all the Apostles getting thrown in prison and everybody's suffering right then fast forward to 2019 you can just make a cookbook and everybody's gonna hate you make websites against you thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you should I be surprised as a Bible believing preacher if people exist to hate on me when people exist to hate on a woman who printed a cookbook I mean they literally don't they criticize her because the foods too fatty you know because she put she put in too much butter and they're not just giving tips like hey I think you should use a little less butter they're just like I can't believe that you would make all this fatty food and all the butter and the crayon so yeah so what do you expect if you get him to preach the Bible you're gonna get attacked you're gonna get hated on but here's the and you're gonna get falsely accused I'm sure she's been falsely accused of crazy thing I mean I was walking through the store one time and they had some pioneer woman scandal on the front of one of these magazines one of these tabloids I don't know if it was the Enquirer or one of these kind of scummy you know oh we talked to her second cousin twice remove and got all the dirt on the pioneer woman she's not what she makes herself out to be and she's scum and I was just like it was like this expose and a lot of it was just made up crazy stuff because it's coming from the Enquirer and I'm not here to be an apologist for the pioneer woman okay I don't even know if I've even eaten any of her recipes and I had yeah my wife said I've eaten some okay so did I like them well you know I've never I've never gotten it direct from her but I'm getting it secondhand apparently because my wife cooked some of the recipes okay but I'm just saying if you have a good conscience though you know what when all the attacks come it's like water off a duck's back a lot of people I just had somebody say to me yesterday pastor I don't know how you do it because you're constantly getting attacked and bashed how do you do it I'll tell you how I do it I have a good conscience so people can lie about me hate me attack me and call me names but the end of the day I put my head on my pillow and I sleep like a baby because I did what was right and I have a good conscience let the heathen rage let people falsely accuse me it doesn't matter so just get that mentality where you don't feel like you always have to defend yourself every single now there are times when you should defend yourself there are times when you need to defend yourself when accusations are serious or whatever but there are times when you need to just let things go and say you know what who cares let God deal with that I'm just gonna go on live my life I'm not gonna get hung up on every time somebody attacks or criticizes me because if you have a good conscience and if you're a follower of that which is good who is he that will harm you hey if God be for us who can be against us so what you need to do is worry about whether God's for you you need to worry about whether you're a follower of that which is good you need to worry about whether you have a good conscience and let the chips fall where they made that's what's important not just oh what do people think about me what are people gonna think now it does matter what people think but it matters a hundred times more what God thinks and it matters a hundred times more whether you have a good conscience and there's no substitute for a good conscience I wouldn't trade a good conscience for all the money in the world and you know people that have a bad conscience they would pay anything to get rid of their bad conscience having a good conscience makes life sweet and it makes you sleep like a baby and don't trade that for anything have a good conscience right do what's and if you and you say well I've already said then confess it and forsake it we all sin all the time but if you confess your sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so okay yeah we sin but then we confess it we move on and we go to bed with the good conscience amen because we get things right with God and then we go to bed and go to sleep and wake up start over his mercies are new every morning so the Bible says it's better according to verse 17 if the will of God be so that just suffer for well-doing then for evil doing what's he saying you're gonna suffer no matter what in life you will suffer in life no one goes through this life without suffering everyone suffers if you're a godly Christian you will suffer if you're a worldly sinful person you're gonna suffer you don't think people who go out and get drunk and party and fornicate and do drugs you don't think they suffer they suffer the hangovers they suffer the shame and embarrassment and stupidity of the life that they live and then Christians suffer persecution hardships trials tribulations everybody suffers the choice is not to suffer or not to suffer that is not the question friend the question is suffer for well-doing or suffer for evil doing life is going to have suffering in it you want to suffer for doing what's right or do you want to suffer for doing evil if you suffer for doing well happy are you if you suffer for doing evil it's just bad on bad well one to you there's no benefit to it so he says in verse 18 for Christ also has one suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God that he might they might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit so Christ has set an example of suffering and we talked about this this morning in 1st Peter chapter 2 and 1st Peter chapter 2 really rolls right into chapter 3 because in 1st Peter chapter 2 if you remember from this morning he talked about in verse 21 for even here unto where you called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously do you see how that rolls right into chapter 3 so in chapter 2 he says look Christ was righteous and he suffered wrongfully but he did not return railing for railing he did not render evil for evil but contrary wise blessing he said father forgive them for they know not what they do so chapter 3 is really reiterating a lot of the same things from chapter 2 about suffering wrongfully your authority tells you something they get on your case hey just go with it why because God's watching and if we have a good conscience and do right God will make everything right God will bless us remember when Jacob's boss Laban kept ripping them off God made sure Jacob got paid so God's looking out for us God is gonna take care of us the Bible is telling us that we should suffer for well-doing and not for evil doing and have a good conscience Christ did the same thing okay now at the end of this passage so that's pretty much what this chapters about the fact that if we do what's right we're gonna sometimes be falsely accused and suffer wrongfully but God is gonna take care of us and in the end we'll be blessed if we do what's right okay just like Christ he suffered wrongfully but then at the end what happened he's exalted it says in verse 22 he is exalted it says he's gone into heaven verse 22 who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him so the Bible says if Jesus let this mind be in you which was all which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likes of men and be found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God also has highly exalted him so therefore if you're a child and you become obedient under your parents even if you end up suffering wrongfully God's gonna exalt you if you're a wife and you're obedient to your husband and you end up suffering wrongfully God's gonna exalt you at work you submit to the manager you submit to the boss you suffer wrongfully God's gonna exalt you God's gonna lift you up that's what the Bible is teaching here right so this is the same theme that carries from chapter 2 into chapter 3 now in the closing moments of this sermon I want to deal with the difficult section at the end of chapter 3 so I think everything up to this point has been pretty easy to understand hasn't it it's been the milk of the word up to this point just explaining that wives need to submit to their husbands so that they can win them to Christ if they're not saved and be a good testimony husbands need to love their wives and treat them well and we need to seek for peace and try to get along be a good person have a good conscience do what's right suffer wrongfully be like Christ I mean it's pretty easy chapter right but there's a little bit of strong meat of the word mixed in and this is what the Bible is like friend the Bible is a mix of things that are easy and things that are hard and the Bible is this way by design because if the Bible were all easy everything were easy to understand you would get bored with the Bible you'd love it the first time you read it you'd love it the second time you read it but after reading it 10 or 15 times you'd start to get pretty bored if everything were easy and you understood everything you'd get bored so the Bible also contains some very hard and difficult sections so that the more advanced student of the Bible can stay engaged okay now I strive to make my sermons the same way every sermon I preach even if it's a really difficult subject I try to include some easy material so that even a baby Christian who comes and they know much about the Bible they can at least get something out of the message they can at least walk out of here and say hey you know what I learned that if I obey my parents God's gonna bless me and even if they do me dirty you know what God's gonna make it right and take care of it right so they could just take a basic truth and then I also try to include more difficult truths in every single sermon so that the advanced Christian student of the Bible isn't just sitting there saying I already know all this I've already heard all this now of course even if we do know these things we need to have our pure mind stirred up by way of remembrance sometimes we just need to be reminded of things that we already know I mean yeah every every wife knows she's supposed to obey her husband if she's been in church or read the Bible but it doesn't hurt to kind of hear that again sometimes because our culture is constantly telling you the opposite so it's good to get a little refresher on that okay we're on any biblical truth but there are some hard things in the Bible now some people will point and say the King James is too hard and then they'll point to a hard verse it's not the King James that's hard it's just the Bible that's hard the Bible and the King James has some really easy verses too Jesus wept any questions no there was a man sent from God his name was John everybody got it in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth need any help with that no so the Bible is a mix of easy and hard so yeah you can point to hard verses in any version of the Bible because the Bible is just hard in places and easy in other places amen so right here we have a hard passage and I'm gonna spend just about 10 minutes here in the end on this difficult passage and then we'll be done so we got the whole gist of the chapter and I'm gonna tie in the difficult passage with the rest of the chapter because remember scripture is not to be read in a vacuum or in isolation is to be read in context part of the reason why people misunderstand scripture is because they take it out of the context so now we understand the context now let's tackle the difficult passage and see if we can understand it within the context of chapter 3 because verse 22 goes back to what we were just talking about and it all ties together so now let's look at the difficult passage the Bible says in verse 18 for Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit quickened means brought to life by the spirit by which now the by which is talking about the spirit by the spirit by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the arc was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water the like figure one to even baptism that also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ now there are some things in this that are easy and some things that are difficult let's break this down let's start with the easy stuff first okay verse 21 pretty easy verse 21 says the like figure where on to baptism does also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ now this is pretty easy to understand that Noah's arc and Noah being saved when the world was flooded by water is a picture of salvation that's pretty easy to understand okay it's also the easy to understand how the figure of baptism saves us now notice the Bible does not say baptism saves it says the like figure where unto baptism does also now save us so it's not baptism that saves us it's the figure it's what baptism represents that saves us okay now do you see the parenthesis in verse 21 the parenthesis is a thought that is outside the structure of the main sentence okay that's what parenthesis are used for so let's read the sentence without the parenthesis the Bible says the like figure we're on to even baptism does also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ so we are saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what does baptism picture the wrap the resurrection of Jesus Christ so the figure of baptism is the resurrection of Jesus because when you're standing up in the water it's a picture of Jesus on the cross when you go down under the water it's a picture of his burial and when you come up out of the water it's a picture of his resurrection so the figure of baptism saves us by the resurrection so what is it that saves us we're saved by the resurrection baptism is a figure of the resurrection so verse 21 is not very hard and then when we add the parenthesis it gets even clearer the like figure we're on to baptism does also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh so is baptism gonna wash away our sins and put away the filth of the flesh no it's not it is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ let me ask this does the answer come first or second second question come first answer come second right so if we talk about an answer what happens first do I answer my phone is the phone ring first the phone rings and then I answer it answering is always something that you do next someone asks you answer someone calls you answer answering comes second so the Bible says that baptism is not the putting away the filth of the flesh but it is the answer and what is it an answer to a good conscience toward God how do we get a good conscience toward God how do we get a clear conscience toward God okay first you've got to get saved you get forgiven of your sins then you get baptized so baptism follows salvation okay it's an answer it's not the question okay it's not the ringing it's the answer it's the thing that comes next first you get a good conscience toward God then you get baptized all right and it's a figure of the resurrection which is what saves us okay now let's tackle the tricky part in verses 19 and 20 by which also he went and preached under the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water now what does this mean when it says that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the spirits in prison which were sometimes disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah now people have a lot of different views on this because this is kind of a difficult passage they're all different opinions on this so I'm gonna give you all the opinions that are out there okay I'm just gonna give you all the opinions that are out there and then I'm gonna explain to you which one is right and the one that is right is actually the traditional view that most people had through the years most churches have had most Christians have had through the centuries the traditional view is the right view in this particular stuff traditional view is not always right but in this case the traditional view is right okay but let me give you all the different views that are out there some people interpret this as Christ preached to the disobedient people before the flood when Noah was preparing the ark either Christ literally preached to those people like Christ Old Testament appearance of Christ Christ went and preached to those people just like Melchizedek showed up and talked to Abraham or Christ appeared in the fiery furnace with Daniel other people say that it was the spirit of Christ speaking through Noah the Prophet that when Noah preached it was actually the spirit of Christ speaking to those people back then they heard the preaching of God's Word at that time other people believe that when Christ died on the cross that he went down into hell and that the prison being referred to as hell and that Jesus went down into hell and preached to the people in hell okay and he preached the gospel to them but if you believe that you'd have to specifically believe that he's only preaching to the pre-flood people because that's what it says okay so there's that view out there and then here are some subsets of that view some people think that he just went down there and preached to the spirits in prison and just said see you suckas when he's done and pretty much say he just preached to them and just left them in hell and just preached to them and just moved on okay other people think that he went down there and he preached to them and gave an opportunity for salvation he gave an altar call that's one hell of an altar call again I mean when you're down in hell when you're down in hell preaching the gospel I think everybody's gonna come forward I mean think about this you go down there you say all right who wants to be saved you've already been burning in hell for thousands of years now that's gonna be pretty easy to get people to come down that aisle okay so these are the these are the different views that people have you know it did did Christ go down and preach to people in hell are those the spirits in prison now other people here is yet a fifth view is that Christ went down to Paradiso Abraham's bosom okay and he went down there and preached to people that were already saved under the Old Covenant but they hadn't heard the New Testament gospel so they had to get that straight from Jesus so they could get saved and he could take them to heaven and so forth messing with that microphone again so obviously some of these views are pretty silly okay now let's let's go through each of these because I'm just putting all that now am I missing an option if there's somebody out there and somebody heard a different interpretation that I'm missing yeah but I'm talking about this passage so is there anything else that I meant because that's the one I just mentioned the one where he goes down there and preaches to the Old Testament Saints and then gets them the New Testament gospel then brings them out okay is there any is there any other option for this that I believe those are the five that people believe okay yeah to the unsaved or the same okay so do they get to get out then but I'm saying I'm saying do they do according to that view do they do they get to come with them now that they heard it okay all right so anyway so these are some of the views that are out there there's the view that he went down and preached on people and they're just they're still in hell he preaches to them and they're still there or he takes them with look let me explain to you why all of these are wrong except one here's the thing about this the Bible said if we actually look at what the Bible and I'm not trying I hope I'm not confusing you by giving you all these crazy theories I'm just trying to show you all the different options and use the process of elimination here but the Bible says here that the people that he preached to were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing so we see here that God was long suffering while the ark was a preparing remember Noah built the ark for a hundred and twenty years and so those people had a lot of chances to get saved because Noah preached for 120 years Noah was a preacher of righteous and the Bible specifically says that it was God's long suffering that's what it says here that waited for 120 years while the ark was a preparing so it sounds to me like these people have been given ample opportunity so why would they then get another chance that doesn't make any sense the long suffering was back then that's when they had their chance to get saved once they're in hell there is no second chance to get saved right abandoned hope all ye who enter here all right if you go to hell you're done okay when you're in hell you're in hell forever you have to get saved in this life okay so this idea of these people from before the flood getting a second chance I'm not buying it for one second because God was already long suffering and waited and gave them a chance gave them a chance gave them a chance they either got saved or they did okay now this attitude of well he went down there and preached unto the unsaved and just told them you're doomed by here's why I don't believe that that's what it's saying because if you go to chapter 4 and verse number 6 it says for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flood watch this but live according to God in the spirit so whoever was preached to lived according to God in the spirit so if he just went down there and preached and said you're doomed you're done that wouldn't make any sense okay and this idea that well he had to go down there and preach the gospel to them the saved you know the saved needed to hear the gospel because they were saved under the Old Covenant folks the gospel was preached to Abraham the Bible says number one but number two the Bible doesn't talk about him preaching to the safe it says he's preaching to those who were disobedient he preached to the disobedient so to try to turn this into a passage of always preaching to the Old Testament Saints so he can get him out of Hades and get him up to heaven that's not what it says here these are the people who were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah these are specifically read what the passage says folks these are specifically the people before the flood in the days of Noah they disobeyed they did not get on the ark does everybody see that let's go with what we know in the passage disobedient before the flood they didn't get on the ark these people God gave them every chance and they screwed it up everybody understand that's who we're talking about that's who he preached to now what I believe is the traditional view that says that this is Noah speaking by the Spirit of Christ before the flood this is not Jesus did not go down to hell preach to people and get people saved that's a strange doctrine and it does not fit the context why would Peter in an epistle where he's sitting here and talking about loving your neighbor loving your wife loving your husband suffering wrongfully be like Christ endure suffering just all of a sudden say oh by the way let me roll out a radical new doctrine that's caught nowhere else in the Bible that Jesus went down and preached the gospel to people in hell and gave him a second chance and got people out of hell all right now back to what we were talking about it'd be like what did you just say in two verses if Christ went down and preached to people before the flood and gave them a second chance at salvation that's a dramatic doctrine that needs more Bible than just one verse that has nothing to do with anything else in the chapter okay what the verse is actually saying I'm going to show you how this ties in bear with me we're almost done keep your finger here and go back to chapter 1 let's compare Scripture with Scripture go back to chapter 1 and let's get the context in 1st Peter here in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 11 the Bible says searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify who's the them look at verse 10 of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently verse 11 searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify so according to verse 11 of chapter 1 the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets is that right the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets watch this when it testified what's the it the Spirit of Christ when the Spirit of Christ testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should fall so according to 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 11 the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets and it preached the Spirit of Christ preached through the Old Testament prophets so then if we look at chapter 3 verse 19 by which also he went Christ went and preached by the Spirit right because by which also he went and preached under the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing so the preaching took place while the ark was being prepared because it says he preached to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah Noah preached for 120 years and that's when the long suffering of God waited as Noah preached to the spirits in prison by the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Christ spoke through him that makes sense because when Jesus Christ spoke he said the words that I say into you they are spirit and they are life so Noah's preaching the Word of God he's preaching in the Spirit of Christ okay now you say well why it says the spirits in prison here's the thing saved Christians from the Old Testament or saved believers or saints or whatever you want to call them they weren't in prison it's like oh Abraham Isaac and Jacob you're such great guys now go to prison Daniel great job Daniel go to prison you think God sent all the saved Old Testament Saints to prison and by the way these are the disobedient from before the flood because I'm just bringing that up because that's one of the interpretations that's out there hell you say well hell is the great prison well does the Bible really spend a lot of time talking about hell as prison not really no okay so when you read prison you can't just automatically say oh that's hell there okay the spirits in prison are just unsaved people because the Bible says that if you sin you're the servant of sin you're in bondage the Jews said we've never been in bondage to any man and he said well the Sun has to make you free okay so I think about the song that we sing long my imprisoned spirit lay fast found in sin and nature's night so we see that the imprisoned spirit is the unsaved person's spirit Noah preached to the disobedient through Christ or Christ preached through Noah you could look at it that way preach to the disobedient spirits while the ark was preparing that makes sense than rolling out some radical new doctrine that Christ went down and preached to people in hell and they got a second chance and yeah I know that he had long suffering back then they don't need another chance they had their chance just like if you die without Christ you had your chance okay now how does this fit the context because the context is about people suffering like Christ suffered and then Christ was exalted right you do what's right you're blessed you do what's wrong you're cursed okay and the Bible talks about how Christ was put to death in the flesh at the end of verse 18 he was put to death in the flesh and he was quickened by the spirit okay does everybody see that and then he explains how you know Christ went by that same spirit and he preached to the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water now let's tie in verse 6 for this cause of chapter 4 verse 6 of chapter 4 for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit what I believe this is referring to is the people who died in the flood they were judged in the flesh but they lived in the spirit what do I mean by that because I believe that there were people who heard Noah's preaching and got saved but they did not get on the ark now here's why I believe that because anytime you preach the Word of God you're gonna get results every time we look at any prophet in the Bible when he preached the Word of God people got saved people got right there's never been a preacher who just got up and had no results if he's preaching right because the Bible says God's Word will not return void okay the Bible says he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him so I heard from many preachers that Noah preached for 120 years and didn't have a single convert I don't believe that for a second because that makes absolutely no sense Noah would have to be the worst preacher ever if you preach for 120 years and get no one saved I guarantee you that Noah got people saved but guess what getting people saved and getting people on the ark are two different things think about how many people get saved but they don't want to go to church they get saved and they don't want to obey God in other areas right so Noah got up and preached and people got saved but it doesn't mean that they did right and it doesn't mean that they lived right and they still needed to be punished so I believe that there were a lot of people who were judged in the flesh but they lived in the spirit you know they got saved so they went to heaven when they died and so I don't believe that everybody went to hell except Noah okay I believe that there were people that got saved but they got judged for their sins and think about it this way folks and I'm trying to hurry up because I know we're out of time but this is a hard passage and you may disagree with me on this because this is difficult passage but but here's the thing about it let's say everybody in America got saved which obviously will never happen but let's say everybody in America got saved but let's say America just continued to have just gambling drunkenness abortion wouldn't God still judge America you judge it more see if you have a saved guy who's a drunk and an unsaved guy who's a drunk who's gonna get punished more the same guy right if a saved person commits adultery and an unsaved person commits adultery who's gonna get the worst punishment the saved person right because unto whom much is given of him so much be required so let's say you have ungodly people before the flood sinful people before the flood worldly people before the flood Noah's a preacher of righteousness he could still preach and get people saved he could preach and get people believing the Lord worshiping the Lord calling upon the name of the Lord because they called upon the name of Lord all the way back to Genesis chapter 4 people called upon the name of the Lord to be saved so if they're still continuing in their sinful life though God might still drown them all and wipe it out and only bring Noah on the ark because he said the only have I found righteous in this generation so the rest of the people were too sinful they were too wicked it doesn't mean that none of them were saved because we're not saved by works we're saved by faith okay so therefore you know I know this is a tough passage but I believe that when it says the gospel is preached to them that are dead it's not saying he preached them after they were dead he's saying they preached to him and then they died they drowned okay but it's not saying that God that Christ went to hell and preached to dead people because that wouldn't make any sense if you went and preached to dead people and it's just like sorry you guys are doomed then then how do you how does that jive with verse 6 when it says live according to God in the spirit if they're just gonna stay in hell so that theory doesn't really jive does it and if you went down to hell and preached to them and gave them an altar call and said hey who wants to get saved do you think anybody's gonna be like well let me think about it if you went down there and preached if you went down there and preached and gave people an opportunity to be saved every single person would get saved so then just all those wicked violent horrible people who had all that chance all that long suffering before the flood and then it's just like oh you guys all get to go to heaven because you get this awesome altar call after you burn in hell for several thousand years kind of soften you up a little bit for the gospel okay that's those are both don't you think those are both kind of silly right there those two are kind of silly about leaving them in hell or hey let's give you an opportunity to get an altar call to get out of hell those are both silly don't jive with the Bible okay the other one that says oh well he's picking up the Old Testament Saints and taking them to heaven that's just not what this passage says at all because this passage says they were disobedient before the flood it doesn't say Old Testament Saints see what I'm saying that's just a complete turning of the passage on its head so if we eliminate those possibilities then pretty much all we're left with as a reasonable interpretation of this passage is that Noah is in the spirit of Christ preaching to people before the flood or that Christ himself literally made an Old Testament appearance and preached before the flood those are really the only two options that are reasonable and make sense but I think in light of 1st Peter 1 11 it makes more sense that it was Noah doing the preaching and it was the spirit of Christ preaching in him so that's what I believe about this difficult passage but it is a hard passage so here's the moral of the story don't base what you believe on a hard passage base what you believe on a clear simple passage that you know what it means and then hard passages like this take a lifetime to study and understand and fully grasp so don't get too hung up you when you come to something like this in the Bible just don't get too hung up on it focus on the part about submitting to your husband and loving your wife amen you understand that all right good let's borrow some word of prayer Lord we thank you so much for your word Lord and and I pray that people would understand Lord I hope that I made things clear with this difficult passage Lord and I just pray that you just bless us as we go our separate ways help us to put these things into practice and be willing to suffer for what's right and and and have a marriage that would honor and glorify you and to live our lives peaceably in this world in Jesus name we pray amen