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I Peter 3:15, "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;"

 This morning, there are many that are ready to spout their opinion about anything, and there are others that are unwilling to give an opinion about anything for fear of seeming ignorant. However, people will always do things according to their own natural, willful thinking if the Lord God is not sanctified in their hearts. Many people like to quote the latter part of this verse, but it is impossible to fulfill the latter without first obeying the former.

 The first thing that Peter mentions in this verse is to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. That means that we should set Him apart from the other things that we have to deal with. However, we set Him FIRST
 in our hearts when we sanctify Him. There are many that put God somewhere different in their hearts and minds, but they fail to put Him in the proper place.  The LORD requires us to have a faithful service to Him, and as such, we cannot take part or share in His glory. He alone is first, and it should behoove us to put Him first in our hearts and minds. Now, since the Lord is sanctified in our hearts, let us move on to the rest of the verse.

 We are to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is within us. Notice that he does not say to be ready to start a fight or argument. Be ready to give an answer. Many use this verse to point to missionary work or evangelism. This verse clearly states that we are not broadcasting our beliefs to everyone in general and no one in particular. We are answering INQUIRING minds! They are asking, and we need to be ready to answer. Many times, if someone asks about our service, we tell them, "Come and see."  But, if they ask us specifically of the reason of our hope, we need to be ready to talk about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is the reason for our hope. He atoned for our sins and fulfilled all that the Father sent Him to do. He is our salvation, and we are preserved in Him. That is something that every minister, deacon, member, brother or sister needs to be ready to answer at all times. If they cannot, then they are lazy servants.

 I tell the folks that I try to pastor that I do not expect them to know everything about the books of Revelation, Ezekiel, and other difficult passages, but I do expect them to be ready to give an answer about Jesus Christ and the salvation that He accomplished. They should be able to talk about man's unrighteous condition, God's calling, and our future glorification. One of the most depressing things to hear in a religious conversation is for someone to answer a basic question concerning eternal salvation and redemption by saying, "I am going to have to ask my pastor about that." If we have a hope of one day being in heaven with our Saviour, then we HAVE to know the reason that we have that hope. If we do not, then we have vain religion, and we are barren and unfruitful. Let us ever strive to have pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father.



In Hope,

Bro PhilipButton back to previous page