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Amen. Okay, 1 Peter 3, I want to just look at a few verses again, so from verse 8, 1 Peter 3, and we're going to look from verse number 8, 1 Peter 3 says, Finally be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Lovers, brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye 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. I'd like to look at verse 10 again there, it says, 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. And the title of my sermon this morning is Cut Out the Guile, Cut Out the Guile. I'd like to pray before we continue. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for just so many lessons, instructions, commandments, ways of living that you give us in your word, and this one today, something that maybe many people don't really think about, aren't really aware of, something that we see everywhere, which is around us a lot, this speaking with guile, help me to just preach this sermon just accurately and clearly and boldly, fill me with your spirit please, Lord, help everyone to have attentive ears, to really want to hear what your word's got to say, to want to put it, apply it into their lives as well, in Jesus' name, pray all of this, Amen. Right, so what is guile? What is guile? It's one of those words that for me seems to have become less negative with time. Webster's 1828 dictionary says guile, the noun is craft, cunning, artifice, duplicity, deceit, usually in a bad sense. dictionary.com says of guile that it's insidious cunning in attaining a goal, crafty or artful deception, duplicity. Now here are some synonyms for it as well, because again you're thinking well what exactly, well synonyms being similar words to it, trickery, craftiness, cunning, deceit, deception, dishonesty, dissimulation, duplicity, and some antonyms which are basically the opposites of guile, forthrightness, frankness, honesty, openness, sincerity, and uprightness. So basically you get the idea, it's being deceptive, manipulative, ulterior motives to what you're saying, dishonesty, pretense. So examples, the passive aggressive stuff that would be denied if pointed out, you know you've probably been on the receiving end of that stuff a lot. Little digs and insults with a smile or laugh at the end, yeah that's guile, when the goal is to really insult you but make it look like it's just a joke. Angling a conversation somewhere in a subtle way, people do that a lot, so they want to try and get a result, get the conversation going somewhere, so they try and angle it as if it just happened by accident, you know. The flattery, flattery is guile, okay flattery is not sincere, it's guile, it's deceptive. And let me tell you something, this is common in the world, okay, very common in the world, and you know what that means? That it's common amongst Christians as well, okay, it's common in the world, it's common amongst Christians. But is that an excuse? God said through Peter, God spoke through Peter in 1 Peter 3.10, he said in verse 10, 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, no guile. He basically said if you want to enjoy your life, if you want to get the most out of it, cut out the evil speaking, cut out the guile. And for me, look, there are three clear reasons in this passage to cut out guile, but before we go through them, okay, in case anyone here is already sitting here starting to harden their neck, that can sometimes happen, you start to see the stiffening going on at the beginning of a sermon maybe, maybe they're thinking well sometimes you've just got to be a bit sneaky, you know, nowadays you've just got to be. Sometimes a masked insult is better than getting into a row, or maybe they're thinking some people just need a little subtle put down now and then, you know, sometimes you've just got to find a way of getting what you want, sometimes you've just got to find that way whether it's sneaky or not, maybe some say it's not possible to go through life without a bit of guile here and there, just a little bit here and there, now you've started to explain what it is, well sometimes you need a bit. Well apparently it is possible because the Lord Jesus Christ is described a chapter earlier, if you want to have a look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 22, 1 Peter 2.22 describes the Lord Jesus Christ as someone who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, okay, so apparently there was no guile found at all in the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now just to differentiate, okay, Jesus Christ spoke in parables sometimes didn't he? Jesus Christ preached some sermons that were indirectly warning people about those in attendance, Jesus Christ said things to make people go and reflect on themselves, like for example the rich young ruler, but there was no trickery, there was no deceit, there was no faking, there was no ulterior motive that was sneakily hidden, there was no manipulation, okay, and again in case you're thinking well that's Jesus Christ, well turn to John chapter 1, John chapter 1, because I had someone once say this to me about lying, he said to me when I was, I'd preached about it, people got really upset a long time ago, it was over two years ago, I preached a sermon about lying, not being acceptable according to the word of God and people had their backs up because they wanted to justify some sort of way of, you know, getting a Covid jab and this sort of thing and for me I was just saying well I don't see that we should, that should be our goal, you know, anyway the argument was well, you know, I gave an example of Jesus Christ, well that's Jesus Christ, yeah but Jesus Christ is who we're looking to behave like, okay, so look, yeah, look, we're all going to make mistakes, people in the Bible, not one of them apart from the Lord Jesus Christ is sinless, okay, and they're not our benchmark are they, our example, our benchmark who we're aiming to be like is Jesus Christ, right, now Jesus Christ, there was no guile found in his mouth but yes there are people other than Jesus Christ, it seems, did have no guile as well, in John chapter 1, Philip takes Nathanael, who's by the way also known as Bartholomew in case you're wondering, to Jesus and in verse 45 in John 1 it says this, Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathanael said unto him can there any good thing come out of Nazareth, Philip saith unto him come and see, so he sounds pretty straight talking to Nathanael does he, he just says oh really can there any good thing come out of Nazareth, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith to him behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile, so for me he's kind of saying it like it's a rarity, it's like behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile, that's how I read that, you know, he's saying that's quite a rare thing, an Israelite with no guile, it's such a rarity that Nathanael's aware of the fact that he stands out in this sense because he then says in verse 48 Nathanael saith unto him whence knowest thou me, so he says behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile and he's go wow how do you know me and he knows that he doesn't, he's probably one of the few people around that isn't full of guile, Jesus answered and said unto him before that Philip called thee when thou was under the fig tree I saw thee, Nathanael answered and said unto him Rabbi thou art the son of God thou art the king of Israel. Okay so Jesus Christ said of Nathanael in verse 47 in whom is no guile, so for me it sounds as though having no guile in you is attainable, yeah that's attainable isn't it, turn back to 1st Peter 3 and in case anyone still wants to justify a guile in some situations it's not okay when describing the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 14.5 John says that in their mouth was found no guile for, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Okay so guile is fault, guile is sin. Okay pretty clear right, okay it's negative but it's something that we can choose to cut out of our lives, we can choose to that's why we're told to do that, that's why we saw a description of Nathanael as someone with no guile, the title is cut out the guile, 1st Peter 3 says in verse 8 finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you are 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 to his lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it. Right the title is cut out the guile number one okay point number one cut out the guile if you want more blessings in life so cut out the guile choose to cut it out if you want more blessings in life verse 9 said knowing that ye are there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing he then said in verse 10 for he that will will love life and see good days so someone that wants to love life and have blessed days needs to control their tongue they need to speak no guile because he then said let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips they speak no guile verse 11 says let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it for verse 12 says for the eyes of the Lord over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil now this isn't talking about salvation the righteousness which comes through through faith in Jesus Christ that's not what it's talking about here for me the righteous this is God's children that are living righteously his ears are then open unto their prayers there's protection that comes for putting on that breastplate of righteousness isn't there okay there's a protection that comes with that verse 13 says and who is he that will harm you if if ye be followers of that which is good so if ye be followers of that which is good and a part of that is clearly in context here to cut out the guile isn't it if you want to love life to see good days have God looking out for you have your prayers answered have that protection refrain your tongue from evil and your lips that they speak no guile because you will get those I'm sure they're throughout life throughout Christianity who will say things are I'm going to church I'm reading my Bible I'm soul winning I'm praying I'm tithing I've given up the booze the fags the techno beats whatever it is however I'm still not feeling blessed I'm still not feeling blessed I still feel like things aren't working out for me I'm still having problems however you're spending each day sneaking around manipulating people passive-aggressive comments planning how to subtly orchestrate things for your own benefit a little question here and there bring a subject into conversation instead of just being upfront and straight down the line do you think you're gonna get blessed cut out the guile and you might start getting the blessings that God wants to give you right that's what it says here doesn't it cut it out you want to be blessed you want to see good days he said in verse 9 knowing that ye are there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing now turn to Psalm 1 because it all goes hand in hand the blessings aren't automatic salvation is automatic once you put your trust in Christ okay that's automatic the extra blessings in life aren't and to be blessed look for one you need to avoid worldliness okay you want blessings in life you want to get those blessings in your life you need to avoid the worldliness and believe me guile is everywhere in the world it's absolutely everywhere people trying to con defraud manipulate you entice deceive it's everywhere it's absolutely everywhere everywhere you turn everywhere you look and it's it's basically socially acceptable isn't it it's kind of it's one of those things that people just do it and almost smart smile and laugh about it how I managed to manipulate this person well I just said this to my husband or I just said this to my wife I just persuaded them to do this by basically not being upfront straight down the line and just just saying it straight to people Psalm chapter 1 and verse 1 says this Psalm 1 1 says blessed is a man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful so he shouldn't walk in accounts of the ungodly they will encourage you to be deceitful to use guile won't they I'm sure look you'll sit down with unsaved worldly people whether to be honest when they're safe not with worldly people and they will try and encourage you to use guile why don't you just say it like this why don't you just do that in many many different situations manipulate this to get this try and do that say it in a certain way etc ok blessed is a man that doesn't walk in that council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners and look you can model yourself on the world you can be full of scorn you can have contempt for everyone but you're not gonna be blessed are you and people are do that they'll stand in the way of sinners they'll sit in the seat of the scornful they'll behave like these people and then God just can't work out why I'm not getting blessed because there is this fake image of Christianity isn't there of the Christian life that somehow just because you're saved well God should just be showering you with blessings oh well I read my Bible well I just can't work out why I'm just not getting what I want you know I resisted this sin today well no look blessed is a man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful and you know what what how they walk and what they can't seem to do and everything else one of those things is guile it's guile it's everywhere it's everywhere and I think half the time we're not even aware of it because it we're just so surrounded by it you won't be blessed he then said in verse 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his lordeth he meditate day and night you know what my Bible says in in some 34 13 because you can apply that to the whole word of God it says keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips and speaking guile in fact it's what he's quoting in 1st Peter 3 okay it says keep my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile okay that's part of delighting in the law of the Lord meditating it day and night would be verses like that verse 3 says and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper if you want more blessings in life cut out the guile yeah one of many things but let's focus on that today cut out the guile go back to 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 10 1st Peter 3 10 says 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 astute evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil cut out the guile number one if you want more blessing in life number two if you want less chastisement in life if you want less chastisement in life he said in verse 10 for he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil his lips they speak no guile let him astute evil now now clearly for me he's referring to the tongue and lips there about that evil that we've just seen let him refrain his tongue from evil his lips they speak no guile let him astute evil astute means to flee from to shun to avoid yeah one way you do that is by avoiding all aspects of guile one way of fleeing evil is just get that guile out of my life stop behavior with God for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil now that doesn't mean that he turns a blind eye to it in case you're hoping oh the face of the Lord he just kind of turns the other way don't what doesn't matter they're doing evil no Proverbs 15 3 that of Turner says the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good okay God sees everything you do God sees all he sees the ulterior motive whether your victims do or not because ultimately people are victims of guile a lot of the time and whether they see it and whether they know it God knows right it basically means that God is in opposition to you when you do evil that's what it's saying you know wait a second what you mean opposition I thought I was a child of God well here's an example okay so say say look I'm on my kids side yeah when it comes look people want to come up against my kids I'm on their side I'm going to protect them I'm there to help them right they're my children okay but say after the service I I overhear say over here my son Jack yeah and and he's conning one of the other kids here okay he's just conning them out of something of theirs just being a sneaky little good for nothing just conning them whose side am I on now whose side am I still on his side am I going well that kid must have deserved it because you're my son Jack am I going to be one of those parents who's like oh poor little Jackie boy he must have been provoked somehow it must have been after a long list of being combat because he's daddy's little little soldier no I'm I'm going to basically I'm going to chastise him aren't I you know what are you doing what are you doing now obviously I'm going to find out what's happened but I'm going to chastise him and that's the same with God isn't it and turn to Hebrews 12 I don't know many people know these verses let's remind ourselves what God says he does God doesn't say well it was just a little bit of God it was just a little deceit guys don't worry you know it's just a little bit of sneaking around a little bit of just just manipulation no God sees it he sees the whole lot of it and God chastises it you'll turn to Hebrews 12 while you do that I'm going to I'm going to read Proverbs 12 22 which says lying lips are abomination to the Lord they're abomination he hates it but they that deal truly at his delight and believe me guile is just lying lips in one way or another it's deceitful it's conning it's manipulative it's not dealing truly God's chastisement is to be feared okay it's to be feared the purpose being that we then sort ourselves out to avoid more chastisement that's whole point in it yet so many people harden their necks harden their hearts and just refuse to accept that they could even be chastised look the truth is anyone here thinks they're not a sinner I hope not because the truth is everyone here is going to go through chastisement everyone is now it doesn't mean that every time we go through the trials of life we're being chastised it's not for us to work out who's being chastised and who's just going through life and suffering the same afflictions that are accomplished by everyone else in the world however it's for us to decide whether we're being chastised yeah and that's the whole point here Hebrews 12 says from verse 5 and you've forgotten the exhortation which which speak of unto as unto children my son despise not that means don't hate thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when I rebuke him does it sound like from that verse that the chastisement of the Lord is sitting on the naughty spot that the chastisement of the Lord is that he's you know you've just kind of got to go and face a wall for five minutes now it sounds to me like it's something that can be hated because it's probably pretty harsh right he says despise not now the chasing of the Lord now faint when I rebuke him so what sort of ways does God chastise us because many people kind of you know well I'm not feeling that kind of canes smashing my backside around or something else what is it that he's actually doing well we read um you have to turn we read in Haggai during our bible study of Ezra 2 uh sorry of Ezra sorry two weeks ago um how God chastised them for quitting his work basically so they were meant to be there building the temple doing this stuff and they basically stopped and and they seem to have a good reason for stopping okay they were threatened by the government forces threatened with force but they stopped working for quite a few years and God chastised them and Haggai 1 6 says you have sown much and bring in little you eat but you have not enough you drink but you're not filled with drink you clothe you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes this was one of the ways they were being chastised okay so basically they they weren't getting enough food they weren't feeling satisfied with what they had in life basically they weren't warm even though they had the clothing yeah they they they were earning wages but it was just disappearing okay so that's one way but that's not the only way God chastises it Deuteronomy 28 I remember preaching through that chapter I mean there is a list of chastisement in that chapter now you go well that was for Israel well anyone think that we're not spiritual Israel here if you are get out no no joke we don't have an unbiblical uh uh church discipline here right if you don't want to believe that we're spiritual Israel you can still come to this church as long as you don't start whispering that heresy around our church okay but the bible's clear about that isn't it okay we are we are Israel we are spiritual Jews right okay well look that's all there for us to learn from isn't it and anyone think well God just won't chastise you that way anymore look they were his people we're his people okay and the chastisement is for their own good it's for our own good isn't it so oh yeah that was a bit harsh though now God only kind of you know he just you know he might make you kind of maybe just trip up and hurt your knee or something now no God has serious chastisement because he wants us to behave he wants us to live right he wants us to do right and in Deuteronomy 28 you look you don't have to turn i'm just gonna some things that i've seen from there we see pestilence as a form of chastisement disease yeah violence on on his people even even getting killed we see unproductive work we see having to flee from our enemies we see chronic illness we see madness blindness and again there are probably spiritual applications of that as well however there's there were just physical punishments we see astonishment of heart that's basically for me people that just cause the anxious and and just constantly nervous and everything else oppression adultery so basically your wives end up committing adultery because of you being chastised losing homes being extorted by people thieved from robbed these are all threats of chastisement in Deuteronomy 28 losing children to the heathen and to captivity families turning on each other chronic anger chronic fear that's all that's the reality of of God's chastisement okay that's some scary stuff isn't it and and look and again it's not something for us to go i remember brother or sister so-and-so went through this they must be getting chastised that's not our business okay let them work that out for themselves okay how do we know if we're not getting chastised tick the boxes do do the right things and when you do do things bad come to God if we confess our sins he's faithful and just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but there are some obvious boxes to tick aren't there look you know because people just don't get it do they they they because of so many false prophets so much just weak so-called bible teaching out there people literally look at it go well i read my bible or i i was praying this morning i just can't work out why things aren't going my way they haven't been in church for 10 years or they haven't they they aren't even trying to find out how to get people saved to learn how to preach the gospel the first clear commandment for us to do and so many other things let alone what we're talking about is a deceit the goal God says it's lying lips of abomination he says if you want blessings you don't want chastisement get away from that make sure your lips don't speak evil and then basically that there is no guile in your life at all however people just say i just just don't know what i can't be getting chastised must just be a trial of life i went to church last week but there's so much more to it isn't there and they're clear things that that are you know and that's basically from turning away from God and all these things ultimately you're turning away from God aren't you because God tells you clearly what to do okay and he does chastise verse six but it's for you i'm good verse six where you are in Hebrews 12 says for whom the Lord loveth he chasteth and scourgeth every son whom he received look every person here has been chastised and will be chastised in life the trick is make sure you know when you're getting chastised if you endure chasing God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteth not look what sort of look what sort of father doesn't chastise the son i tell you somebody doesn't love their kid enough okay we're told to chastise our children it's for their own good he says for what son is he whom the father chasteth not but if you be without chastisement were of all the partakers any bastards and not sons the Bible's clear there look if you're running around in sin and let's say what we're talking about today if you're manipulating people you're conning people you're saying subtly malicious things about them and you're not being chastised why not why not well maybe you're not saved now i'm not here to judge whether or not you're being chastised but you can judge it can't you because for me the Bible says clearly that if you don't you don't want his face to turn against you you need to cut out this this junk out your life the Bible says here but if you be without chastisement where of all the partakers all then are you bastards and not sons and he said clearly didn't he in first beat of 310 for he that will love life for see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile he said in verse 12 the face of the Lord is against them that do evil i don't want the face of God against this is an important message isn't it because this is common stuff right now of course the chastisement is far and good but you know what's even better than getting chastisement is avoiding it in the first place look the chastisement should help you and the threat of it look and again how often will you even hear this preaching because people don't want to talk about chastisement and the threat of chastisement because it's uncomfortable but it should it should be something that makes go i don't want that stuff in my life i want to get right and look if you get right you might be able to avoid the chastisement at least in those areas right so if you want less chastisement in life cut out the guile cut out the goal for one look down to verse 11 or look let's look at verse 10 sorry verse 10 in first peter three says for he that will love life first peter three in verse 10 and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile let him astute evil and do good let him seek peace and ensure by the way you know ensue here is to follow or pursue yeah astute is just to flee from to to put away yeah for the eyes of the lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the lord is against them that do evil pretty clear isn't it but who is he that will harm you if you be full of that which is good but and if you suffer for righteous sake let it still happen happier ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled but sanctify the lord god in your hearts be ready always to give an answer to every man ask ask if you're a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear having a good conscience at where of whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in christ for it is better if the will of god be so that you suffer well doing and feeble doing okay so let's cut out the goal number one if you want more blessings in life number two if you want less chastisement in life number three if you want to positively impact others in life if you want to positively impact others in life peter said in verse 11 to rather do good to seek peace he said in verse 16 to have a good conscience so that they're ashamed that falsely accuse your good behavior and look first off okay all that goal isn't doing any good is it okay it's not seeking peace is it okay so you're not trying to seek peace with your brothers and sisters whoever whether it's your church members whether it's your family your workmates you're not seeking peace when you're using up it's destructive it's destructive it caused problems a lot of the time it's to get bitterness off your chest a lot of the time it's to hurt others a lot of the time it's to get something out of others to manipulate them to use them etc but but here's a funny thing with it is unbeknownst to those guilty of guile everyone is from time to time but the worst cases of this the truth is people see it you see it don't you they notice it it's not as clever as people convince themselves it is like people love to think man you know they'll never sussy you know i'll just when they're asking you these searching questions when they're just saying these little comments where they think it's just weird isn't it i think it's just pride isn't it people just think oh they'll you know they'll never clock that i'm just angling it this way i'm doing that but but look on that okay you don't want to go too far and just assume guile all the time okay so obviously we want to give people the benefit of the day you don't just want to be like they must have said that for that reason they must because they're people that do that as well ultimately it's evil surmises as well isn't it just you're just seeing the worst in everyone and everything everything must have been gone everything must have been sneaky but sometimes it is just blatantly obvious isn't it everyone's been around people it's just blatant yeah you can you can literally see the cogs turning in their head while they're trying to manipulate you and it's it's ridiculous and what does that do does that make does that help does that make you think oh what a great person and everything else and really want to be i just want to avoid people like that because i don't really want to just be constantly thinking oh man i think i'm at they're at it again with me what they're trying to manipulate this conversation to achieve this time what are they trying to trying to get from me or what are they how they're trying to make me feel now here comes an expert down or subtly covered or something else and and what they'll do is they will they'll ask like i've seen things like this so they'll ask searching questions as if they're really interested like they're just making conversation but it's always just close to the bone stuff or they'll be or it'll be guile with like we've had it here especially with our kids so they'll just be basically people will just be lying your kids and ask them personal questions about your home life and things like that as if they're kind of you know they just just happen to just it's just a random conversation you know but it's guile isn't it it's gone they're trying to prime information out of them the the um the the trying to subtly hurt you and then just searching your face for a reaction you know how people do that before so they'll say something that should be hurtful and then just stare at your face it's crazy yeah people do that stuff right okay now and of course look we should give people the benefit of doubt but it there are just there are those who are just serial beguilers serial beguilers okay and look some people if you are that might eventually just avoid you but for the unbelievers you're around it's a bad testimony isn't it okay that's a bad testimony to um look it's a bad testimony to believers and unbelievers and you're gonna you're gonna find people some people distance some people don't look some people there is obviously there's a bully mentality thing that you'll see in schools and sadly you see amongst adults as well where people like that a lot of the time people will want to be on their good side because they're hurtful because they're constantly just sniping and little things then people just kind of want i want to at least if i'm friends then they're not going to do it to me so there is that but but other people will just start to distance and ultimately those relationships won't be good relationships but what about for the unsaved as well turn to first thessalonians too because they do see it to look you're not just because you're saved it doesn't mean you're just a great reader of people look there are normal unsaved people out there that can see all this stuff and they're less likely to trust you when you're then preaching the truth to them are they if you're always manipulating always angling always trying to trying to use guile in conversations in your relationships and your behavior with people are they now going to believe you and trust you when you're trying to preach them the truth about the lord jesus christ i would say probably not now first thessalonians 2 paul is speaking about when he and silence silas first preached to them in philipi okay so he he's referring to this point he says in verse 1 for yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain but even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated as you know at philipi we were bold in our god to speak unto you the gospel of god with much contention for our exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile and look i would say that sort of manipulative sort of attitude could spill into soul winning too can't it i mean we've had people here before that were basically manipulative when they were soul winning making people listen making people just agree with them almost using kind of bullying tactics and just manipulating them to just say everything they wanted to say that's not soul winning though is it so when he's preaching the gospel yeah and trying to get people to put their faith in jesus christ not just agree with you it's a you know not just don't let them get a word in just keep speaking so they can't interrupt me and stuff like that that's not soul winning is it verse 4 says but as we were allowed of god to be put in trust with the gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but god which drive the hearts for neither at any time used we flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousness god is witness so basically there was none of that junk yeah none of that junk none of that manipulative junk nor of men's salty glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of christ but we were gentle among you even as a nurse sorry cherishes her children and that's how we want to be with people don't we kind of gentle not plotting and planning for our own ends many people do that just plotting and planning trying to get what they can out of people and then he says so being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have him part unto you not the gospel of god only but also our own souls because you were dear unto us now go back first peter three so if you want to positively impact others in life cut out the guile yeah whether it's soul winning whether it's just those who are around you whether it's those in your private life look people see that stuff and again we all give it look i i give people the benefit of the doubt with stuff i'll make a mental note that was a bit strange you know but when it's time after time after time eventually it's just like this is just guile this is god and then it for me it just already it's just cast shade upon that person doesn't it now look at verse eight he says finally be you all of one mind having compassion one of another lovers brethren be pitiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you're there and to call 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 for the eyes of the lord are over the righteous and his ears will open unto their prayers but the face of the lord is against them that do evil for it and look at verse 17 it says for it is better if the will of god be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing totally cut out the goal number one if you want more blessings in life number two if you want less chastisement in life number three if you want to positively impact others in life and number four if you want to avoid the appearance of evil in life if you want to avoid the appearance of evil in life peter mentioned the word evil a lot in that passage didn't he and hopefully you noticed that i was kind of highlighting the word evil there a bit right and when it comes to most evil people look guile is just like one of those defaults okay it's just default characteristic so look if more blessings less chastisement and think of others doesn't motivate you hopefully not behaving like a vile reprobate should motivate you yeah okay we want to avoid the appearance of evil don't we okay and the sad truth is in this christian life there are a lot of wicked people around that try and pretend that they're normal believers and we don't want to look anything like that do we okay turn turn back to chapter two so first peter chapter two first thessalonians 5 22 where you turn there says abstain from all appearance of evil okay we're told to abstain from all appearance of evil peter's constantly using the word evil describing this sort of behavior and obviously look okay just to make it clear using guile doesn't mean that you're a child of the devil okay so in case anyone's going oh man where's he going with this okay it's a fleshly thing that everyone is capable of okay just to make it clear we're all every single person here we're all capable of using guile it's not like sodomy or pedophilia or bestiality or preaching a false gospel okay it's none of those things okay it's not right they must be a reprobate because they use guile because they're full of guile in fact it's something that many babes in christ will actually naturally struggle with so look at first peter two and verse one first peter two one says wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the lord is gracious so peter's telling them to lay aside that stuff and get into the word you know he he he's basically saying to get into sort of the honesty the integrity the uprightness which look basically look they're all the milk of the word aren't they okay it's not this isn't like complicated complicated doctrine is it this isn't the strong meat of the word yeah it's pretty simple stuff to try and get right early on isn't it i think that people who aren't even saved have never read the bible you know if they really thought about going i'm sure god wants us to be honest doesn't he he wants us to have integrity he wants us to be a bit straight down the line he doesn't want us sneaking about you know slipping and sliding in conversation everything else he just wants us to be a bit straight down the line right not trying to comp people not trying to manipulate people etc it is pretty simple right that's the milk of the word isn't it okay this isn't like trying to understand a really deep and hard doctrine this is just simple teachings early on in the in the word of god isn't it okay and of course look there will be weak fleshly moments for all types of christians okay we're all going to have weaker moments we're going to have moments when we're back in our old sins when we get in the flesh okay but what is a bit of a strange mix okay for me would be a soul-winning church-going bible studying seemingly mature christian full of guile that's weird isn't it that's a weird mix when you've got someone that seems to be ticking all the boxes that seems to have the appearance of being this this solid soul-winning you know man or woman of god yet they're then full of guile sneaking around deceitful when they talk to you manipulative look all that stuff's not a good look is it that's not a good look now if you're a babe in christ look that stuff's going to be should be things which you're told to lay aside you know you're going to have more issues with that but malice malice is like extreme enmity hatred he said laying aside a man's guile we've just talked about what guile is hypocrisies all that hypocritical type behavior the holier than now stuff all that stuff the envies that stuff again again new believers sure people sometimes get a bit fleshly at times but if you're just constantly full of envy that's weird isn't it if you're if you seemingly are growing in all the other ways because this is simple stuff isn't it evil speakings just constantly just just be basically speaking badly of everyone just evil all the time and you could also add other stuff like the hot bad stuff coming out of your mouth etc now turn to psalm five where we see similar things but now it's talking about the really wicked now it's not talking about the babe in christ now we're talking about the god haters and whilst you turn now i'm going to read act 13 10 where paul is addressing the reprobate sorcerer bar jesus okay and he says and it says and said in act 13 10 oh full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the lord garland subtlety go hand in hand don't they the the in fact the the devil was described as being more subtle than any beast of the field and paul in in second corinthians 11 3 said the serpent beguiled beguiled eve through his subtlety okay they go hand in hand together right look the devil's people are rarely direct guns blazing okay they're really look you'll get them you'll get like and it's a way of trying to scare people and stop people wanting to come to church or stop people wanting to preach the truth you'll get like the sodomite protesters and all that sort of stuff but but that's that's a bit rarer the majority look they're not even the truth is they're not really usually as blatant as the clowns that we had in our church before okay that's obvious stuff that's the stuff like that that should have been and obviously it was a learning curve for many that was this site that was ridiculous wasn't it that was just full on just pride on the sleeve just covetousness the whole lot is just open bearing to all yeah okay that's the obvious stuff but they're not always like that but psalm five says this in verse one to the chief musician upon nail oath the psalm of david give ear to my words oh lord consider my meditation harken unto the voice of my crying my king and my god front of thee will i pray my voice chat that i hear in the morning oh lord in the morning will i direct my prayer unto thee and will look up for thou art not a god that hath pleasure wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in our sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity here that god hates a certain type of people workers of iniquity this is another word for chart children of the devil okay children of belial reprobates okay that's a work of iniquity he said thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing leasing is an old word for falsehood or lies he said he'll destroy them that speak leasing the lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man okay we see the same sort of stuff deceitful the leasing lies verse seven says but as for me i will come into the house in a multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will i worship toward thy holy temple lead me our lord in thy righteousness because of mine enemies make thy way straight before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouth their inward part is very wickedness their throat is an open sepulcher they flatter with their tongue look and again because you look at this i'm talking about the most wicked people we're talking about this open second sepulcher the wickedness the bloody and deceitful man and then suddenly it's flattery oh wait a second but but flattery is a form of guile isn't it and what's the difference between flattering a compliment for people that get confused about this and think i better not say anything nice to anyone you know well flattery isn't sincere okay and it has a purpose it has a motivation so flattery there's an ulterior motive to it it's not just like oh well i want to say something nice i want to compliment something on something they've done or said or whatever else or something they're wearing whatever it is flattery isn't sincere flattery has a motivation there's a goal to it okay and and again look you don't want to just assume everyone's flattering but in the bible it's always a negative okay it's always a negative you want to watch out for that now often these types of people will flatter you they'll set you up and then when your guard is down trying to hurt you so i've seen it where they'll literally flatter you and then a few minutes later once they've set you up and they've got your guard down then they try and hit you with something that's going to hurt you then and sometimes it's not as quick as that sometimes the factories for a while before eventually they're trying to do something you know we obviously you know we've talked about it before people in the workplace who will be flattering you while trying to take your job or people trying to flatter you to set you up for something to try whatever it is it's a bad thing yeah if we're going to compliment people it should be sincere shouldn't it okay it should be sincere now we're not just talking about obviously the guy behind the pulpit telling you how amazing every single one of you is okay and obviously there are those flattering false prophets out there proverbs um 216 you have to turn there it says they're getting wisdom knowledge and discretion to deliver thee from the strange woman even from the stranger which flattereth with her words there's a lot of those out there look there's a lot that if you think about the seductress what's she doing she's trying to flatter people okay that's a one of the tactics of it proverbs 29 5 says a man that flat with his neighbor spreadeth the net for his feet not just women either okay it's guile it's manipulative it's calculating it's deceitful it's spreading a net it's flattering someone but really your heart's not with them okay there's some ulterior motive some motivation he where you are though he says um destroy thou them oh god let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in a multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against thee that's strong words isn't it let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice let them ever shout for joy because they'll defend us them let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee for thou lord will bless the righteous with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield okay so point being guile is definitely not good now again we're not saying well any look everyone here has used golf sadly you will probably do so in the future okay that doesn't mean i'm accusing people of being a rep for that but they're there it is a classic trait of them it's deceit it's it's subtlety it's guile it's flattering all that sort of stuff is the way they work they work with their mouths and tongues in our sort of battle it's spiritual battle it's not that they're charging in here to beat everyone up okay it's subtle it's it's it's it's a spiritual game and it's done through the mouth okay and it's something we have to look at and it's something that you then don't want to just appear to be like like i said it's it's weird obviously when you get people that seem to be right in other areas now go back to first peter three if you want to avoid the appearance of evil in life cut out the guile yeah cut out the guile don't don't don't appear to be like these types of people verse eight says first peter three eight says finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you are 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 ensure it title is cut out the guile yeah cut out the goal number one if you want more blessings in life number two if you want less chastisement in life number three if you want to positively impact others in life number four if you want to avoid the appearance of evil in life and point number five here is how do you cut out the garden how do you cut out the garb because maybe you're thinking look that that's actually easier said than done brother and i've actually had a problem with this maybe look i'm not expecting you to kind of put your hand up and come and confess all to everyone but maybe you're sitting there maybe thinking look actually i can do this a bit yeah i look it's something that i've maybe picked up or i've been doing all my life maybe maybe i learned this from young maybe look there are people it's not necessarily just right snap your fingers stop it yeah it can be something that's a kind of just to go to it's something that you naturally will do you'll naturally manipulate and actually try and get what you want get what you can from people and and people people can get quite good at it as well some people are subtle with it some people are clever with it okay this isn't just always just blatant out any open stuff as well and some people maybe have a problem with this well when it comes to church setting and look you you could add you could add the workplace you could add home life you could add anything really verse eight said here finally be all of one mind having compassion one of another love us brethren be pitiful be courteous so first thing being all of one mind is to work out what's your goal here what ultimately is your goal for coming to church because the goal should be and i've said this many times look there might be a side goal of improving yourself yeah there might be a side goal of coming to church because i want the fellowship there might be a side goal of coming to church because i want my kids to be raised in a church or because i want to i want to tick the box i'm told to come to church i'm coming to church but what your ultimate goal should be you're coming to church to serve god that's that's our job in life isn't it you got saved what's your job to serve god so if you get your head straight with that and you're coming here part of that is being all of one mind isn't it because how on earth are we as a church going to serve god if that we have people in the look we can still serve but it's not going to be as effective if people in the church are really here and deep down there's bitterness towards others in the church there's all these issues all this angst is what trying to manipulate trying to get what i can you try if i could get this do that if i could just say if i could just hurt that one because they really need a bit of hurting you know i could just try all that sort of stuff well you're not of one mind are you so first things first we need to get our goals right we're in church to be a group of people to be an army a force that are serving god right and we to we need to all be of one mind with that and cut out the petty stuff for that he said having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous so having pity compassion love for each other that's something we are regularly commanded and now look often because the world goes so far in that way where basically christianity is a picture of people with basically love which is the simulation okay and there's all these just faking like ultimately a lot of its guile as well that this the the fake smile the kind of oh great to see you where really they absolutely hate you despise you for daring to be a soul winner or something else in turn you up there joe whatever it is yeah that's not what we're talking about but so because of that we kind of we we often kind of have to pull away and explain you know that the ultimate love is going out preaching the gospel for example and that there is a love that comes from warning people of evil people right that's loving etc however we should still love each other shouldn't we and look that's not always easy is it and it's not always easy sometimes when you're seeing a lot of weird stuff and you're kind of thinking man like you know these people are acting weird sometimes now we can all maybe feel like that okay but ultimately we're told to have compassion one of another we're told to love as brethren we're told to be pitiful okay that's having pity isn't it okay that's that's going okay look instead of going oh you know this person you know how dare they have this i want how they dare they do this or say this or be like that or whatever just have pity on them just think look they're just you know what they are do you know what they are do you know what everyone in here is they're just ultimately broken sinful people trying their best to serve god that's the majority of people in here isn't it and that's a hard life sometimes no it's a great life and i wouldn't ever change it but sometimes it could be tough can't it and sometimes you can just look at people and go man they're trying they're just trying aren't they trying their best you're going to get it wrong we're all going to get stuff wrong we're all going to but we want to have pity on each other yeah said have have uh having compassion one or another love as brethren be pitiful and he said be courteous and that's basically polite or considerate isn't it and again we should be considerate of people of maybe stuff that they go through in life and everything else be considerate of of the of of just them and they're not the same as us and and you know and i think when you start getting your head and straight with things like that you're maybe not just in your mind going to be thinking how can i like hurt them how can i say this oh i'm gonna have to like slip in this in a conversation do this we don't we don't want to be like that do we and look we're all going to get things wrong okay we're all going to behave in the wrong way but we want to be all of one mind we want to have compassion one of another we want to love as brethren we want to be pitiful we want to be courteous and look if you feel like someone's done you wrong it's not just in the church maybe it's a spouse maybe it's a work colleague the answer isn't right now how can i hurt them and many people do that don't they you you feel wronged and then you're trying to find a way of hurting someone else and spouses do it a lot don't they and then a lot of the time it then goes to guile and we look if we get our heart straight with that maybe it becomes a bit easier to cut out the goal he said not rendering evil for evil people can do bad stuff for you railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you're there on to call 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 god let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensure it so that should be our goal where possible is it now just to carry out we're not talking about false prophets we're not talking about the wicked we're not trying to get have peace with the wicked okay look they can go and kick rocks yeah i don't care i i'm not trying to seek peace with vile reprobates okay that's not my interest with those people preach a false gospel i hate them with a perfect hatred okay they're scum that's not what we're talking about but but all of basically the these imperfect people in this room ultimately want to try our best to have peace now my way of seeking peace with people might not be being best friends everyone in the church yeah because maybe eventually there's not going to be peace in that and something there are people that necessarily don't always click and etc however we seek peace by just being polite being nice not trying not speaking with guile not trying to manipulate con etc right and and look yeah you could you could apply it to every area of your life couldn't you so how to cut out the guile well i would say look ultimately it's by trying to love people and again that's not always going to be easy right that's not always and again like i said outside your life as well we're trying to do that trying to think of other people not yourself because a lot of it comes to selfish it comes back to selfishness what can i get out of people do that and i think you're gonna you're gonna you know that's gonna help a lot but maybe remember these four points cut out the goal if you want more blessings in life yeah maybe that might help you cut out the goal if you want less chastisement in life yeah be aware of the chastisement in life that might help you number three if you want to positively impact others in life yeah actually i do want to make a difference i want to make a difference in the church i want to make a difference to those out there maybe i need to cut out the guile and people are going to take me a bit more seriously and number four if you want to avoid the appearance of evil in life look at the least you might say well forget all of that but i definitely don't want to look like some sort of record so i'm going to cut out the goal and and like i said number five how just love people yeah love people try your best to do that as hard as it sometimes is on that we're going to pray well thank you for your word thank you for um well just those clear teachings there from first peter chapter three um just you know something that that is seems to be commonplace in our world seems to be something that's that's just kind of encouraged that is not almost not frowned upon in many areas now but help us to to not not judge things by the world standards judging by your standards lord help us to understand that that sort of behavior it's deceitful it's dishonest it's not it's not upright it's not it's not you know it's not frank it's not it's not uh it's not behaving with integrity help us to just cut that out of our lives help us to cut out the god lord help us to to just be be you know straight honest people like you want us to be help those those of us here that maybe battle with that time to time just to just to really think about what you want from us not to you know get our backs up and think uh you know this must be at me or something else because this is a sermon that the whole church needs lord and we'll regularly need things like this help us to just want to want to put it into our lives want to respond in the right way as you'd want us to respond help us to avoid the chastisement in life to take grab hold of the blessings in life as well and help us to to now get out and and you know just in a straight honest way go out and preach the gospel to people lord help us to get people saved in return for this evening's service in Jesus name for all of this