Join us as we discuss key elements of marriage, faith, and Elijah’s time. Discover how followers of God can structure their lives around love and spiritual dedication. We include listener letters that reflect on personal journeys and the transformative power of biblical studies. Embrace the challenge and blessing of aligning your life with God’s teachings, achieving a righteous path that elevates and enriches your spirit.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
As you stream movies or music, you likely pick up a common theme. People are on an insatiable search for satisfaction and happiness, or maybe just peace. Sadly, there’s really no lasting happiness or peace in this life apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that’s what we look at in this study on Through the Bible with our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I’m Steve Schwetz, and we’re in the book of 1 Peter 3. And as you find it, here’s a special introduction from Dr. McGee. He’s reading from 1 Peter 3, verse 6, which says, As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord.
SPEAKER 01 :
Since we read here that Sarah called Abraham Lord, it might be well to go back and see the story itself and see in what way their relationship worked out. And I go first to the 16th chapter of Genesis, and we read there, Now Sarah, Abram’s wife, bare him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarah. Now, who’s listening to whom here? Abram is listening to Sarah. But now later on, that little boy Ishmael is born into the home. And then later Isaac is born to Sarah. And I tell you, that became a great bane to her existence. And finally one day she said to Abraham, you’re going to have to get this brat out of here. He’s not going to inherit with my son. And actually, Abraham did not want to send that boy away. Because after all, Ishmael was his son. And he said to the Lord, O Lord, that Ishmael might live before me. And the Lord said, No, Sarah’s right. You’re going to have to send that boy away. You see, Abram listened to Sarah then at the time of taking Hagar. And now after the child is born, again he listens to her. She says, You’re going to have to get that boy out of here. And out he goes. And it broke Abraham’s heart. And I raised the question, who is running that household? And I would like very much to make this statement here because I think it’s needed today. There is the idea that the man is sort of a top sergeant in the home. in running the home, and the wife is certainly a buck private in the rear rank. And that just doesn’t happen to be the way it was in the Scripture. You’ll look here at the home of Abraham and Sarah, and it’s given to us as an example. Sarah had charge of the home itself. Everything that was in the home that pertained to the home and to home living, Sarah had charge of that. But Abraham had charge of the overall running of the household, the servants outside, the business outside. He had entire charge of that. And that’s the way that it was divided by these two. So when Sarah called him Lord, you must remember what he was Lord of. And you must remember what she had charge of also. In other words, marriage in court today is considered a contract. That’s what a marriage license is. It’s a license that you can make a contract with another party. A man can make a contract with a woman. She can make a contract with him. That they’re going to live together, take care of each other, and to love each other. Now, what is it that’s going to hold a marriage together? What is it that’s going to make it? Well, the thing that’s going to make it, friends, is just one thing. That’s love. And all of these how-to books that have been written today on marriage, and they have been written by the carload. It’s the one relationship in this life that’s altogether different than any other relationship. When God created Adam and then brought Eve to him, and I think he left Adam there a long time by himself. And when Eve came, And she was a beauty, I’ll tell you that. Because all the daughters of Eve that have been beautiful, they got it from her. Believe me, it was a love relationship. And that’s the kind of relationship today that God wants to base marriage on.
SPEAKER 02 :
What a great introduction. You know, God’s Word is such an essential guide for our lives. And speaking of that, here’s a letter from a fellow Bible bus passenger telling us how God’s Word is a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. James in Tulsa writes this, Being new to the area, I was trying to find a sports talk radio show for my morning drive. Surprisingly, I found Dr. McGee and have been seated on the Bible bus ever since. This program, in exchange for my traditional sports talk radio, has changed my life in so many ways. I finally found peace with my family, life, and career and reawakened my spiritual life, which I realized now was lost. Being a stranger in a strange land, the Bible bus has given me new body armor as a Marine preparing to stand guard on the streets of heaven with my brothers and sisters. Well, that’s a great letter, James. Thank you for writing to us. And what about you? How has God used our study in 1 Peter or any of our studies to encourage you? Would you let us know? You can drop a note in the feedback section of our app. That’s super easy. You can also email us, BibleBus at ttb.org is the address. And you can always send us a letter. We love those too. The address to write is Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. If you’re listening in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Now let’s ask the Lord for his help in understanding as we open his word. Heavenly Father, would you open our hearts to see how wonderful your word is as it’s revealed to us by your spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Here’s our study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee in 1 Peter 3 as we go through the Bible together.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now friends, we come back to the third chapter of the epistle to 1 Peter. And last time we were looking at conduct in the home, actually the husband-wife relationship. First of a wife who’s married to an unsaved man, and then of apparently a Christian husband and a Christian wife, and the way that he should treat her. And I’m sure that I said last time some things that were a little different than many of you have heard. And I, right now, am waiting like I did when I was a little boy. And I’m sure many of you recall that on the 4th of July, you got firecrackers. And when you got a great big one, You lighted it and then you sort of scrunched down and then even put hands over your ears just waiting for it to go off. So I’ve been waiting for the reaction that I’m going to get from that particular section. I would like to add, however, one further word. Marriage is something God has given to the human family, not just to Christians or to the nation Israel. It’s back in the book of Genesis that God made man and that at that time he was alone. And I think the Lord let him be alone for a long time to let him know he was missing something. And then it says that God took man and from man he made woman. And it’s interesting, the Hebrew word, he took ish and he made ishi. In other words, it’s called a help meet for him. That is, a help that was fit for him. In other words, the other half of him. He was only half a man, and she is to be the other part of him. Now, with that in mind… You can see the relationship is not one of a man insisting on treating a wife like a little child and that she has to jump every time he says so. She’s there to help him. She’s there to be part of him. She’s there to love him. And he is there to protect her and to love her. That is the ideal relationship in marriage. And what Peter was doing here was telling a wife with an unsaved husband, and I don’t think it’s one that she’d married, but she got saved afterward. She’s tried to win him, not by now assuming the place of a Bible teacher or the place of a witness and talking down to him, but her life now will have to be the mess. And he’ll be looking very closely at that. Now, we got down into the section conduct in the church, and we were moving rather rapidly through this particular section here. And I’d like to read verse 8 again. Verse 8, chapter 3 of 1 Peter. Finally, be all of one mind. This is conduct in the church now. having compassion one of another, love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Now, what he’s saying here, be like-minded, sympathetic. Tenderhearted means to be sensitive to the other individual. And courteous here means to be humble-minded. Now, that is the attitude and the action of the believer among other believers. And then verse 9, “…not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that ye are called to this, that ye should inherit a blessing.” In other words, this is the way that you turn the other cheek to someone. That is, another believer says something evil about you, something that’s not true. Well, are you to strike back? No, commit him to the Lord. Lord will take care of him. 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. That is, don’t be deceptive. Now, all of us want to live. Unfortunately, there are a lot of believers today that are not enjoying life. They’re not living it to its full. They’re not getting all out of it. A young medical student in Nashville came to me. He was the president of my young people’s work there and a very fine friend. I wasn’t too much older than he was in those days. And he said to me one day, he says, you know, Vernon, I want life to be like an orange to me, that I can squeeze every drop of juice out of it, and I can live for God. Well, that’s what this verse means. For he that will love life. Do you want to really live, friends? Well, here’s a good formula. Here’s the key to it. If you go around in your life and you’re constantly speaking evil of someone, If you are speaking guile, deception, not telling the truth. And then verse 11, he says, let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. And you see that a child of God is not to sit back and act pious. That’s not the way. Let’s live it up, friends. But let’s not live it up by indulging in gossip and evil. Let’s live it up by pursuing that which ministers to peace. And let’s live today for God. How important that is. And then verse 12, “…for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” Now, here is an amazing passage of Scripture. And I’d like for you to note, first of all, that the thing that Peter’s doing is actually he’s quoting a psalm here. He’s quoting Psalm 34. And I think probably I ought to turn back to Psalm 34 and read verse 15 and 16 to you. “‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.'” Now, that’s a strong statement, as you can see, as it is made there. And this is something that the Word of God has emphasized a great deal. Over in Ecclesiastes 2.17, here is something that goes right along with this. God has guaranteed to hear the prayers of those who are his own. He is not guaranteed to hear the prayers of those that are not his own. Now, the only prayer that a sinner can pray is, Lord, I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I want you to accept me as a sinner in him. And that’s a prayer that God will hear and God will answer. But this idea that an old reprobate can live any kind of a life and then the movies and the novels have it. The old reprobate comes home and his little girl is sick in a hospital and he goes and gets down on his knees and calls upon God to raise her up. And how marvelous and sentimental that is. May I say to you, and I say it very plain, that’s nonsense. And that’s absolutely unscriptural. Now, the thing that’s important to note is, let that old reprobate get right with God. Then God will hear and answer prayer. This idea today that you can call on God under any circumstances and doesn’t make any difference who you are. My friend, he has not promised. They hear the prayer of those that are not his. And I know that’s strong language. And if you really want to live life in Ecclesiastes 2.17, here’s a man that tried everything and he lived like a reprobate. And he says, “…therefore I hated life, because the work that is wrought unto the Son is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” How many men and women today, living for the things of the world, involved in it, all of a sudden wake up and find out it’s not worth it, that life’s monotonous, life’s not worth it. No wonder they put a gun to their brain and blow out their brain. No wonder they jump out of a 13-story building. No wonder today that they take an overdose of sleeping pills. My friend, may I say, not until you come in a right relationship with God. Now, that means that we’re living on a pretty high plane, does it not? Will you listen now? And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? I guess that that means God gives you an armor that nobody can touch you at all. May I say, friends, listen to this. But, verse 14 now, “…and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake.” Happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be trouble. Now, suffering for the right should bring joy to the child of God. If you have taken a stand for the right and not made yourself obnoxious, and some Christians do that, and then they think they’re standing for the Lord. But if we have just taken a quiet stand for the right and for God in the world today, we ought to rejoice if we suffer for that. you see. And by the way, we repeat it again, you’re not going to escape suffering in this world. Someone sent me this little clipping they took out of a church bulletin somewhere. It says, Jesus often spoke of Christianity as a banquet, but never as a picnic. And how true that is. He never said that you’re going to have it easy down here. Now, verse 15, and this is a verse, and I wish that I could elucidate it, that I could exegete it in a way that it would bless your heart. I’ll do my best. Verse 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. And that means that you ought to know a little something about the Bible. The tragedy of the hour is. That here’s a man or a woman that says, I’m a Christian. And the skeptic can tie you up into 14 different knots like a little kitty in a ball of yarn. And you can’t extricate yourself at all. Why? Because of the fact that you don’t know the Word of God. Now, he says here, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Oh, do you have a little sanctuary, a little chapel? In your own heart today, when you’re riding along in the car, or you’re walking down the street, or you’re in the shop, or the office, or in the schoolroom, the classroom, there is a little chapel there. There is a little sanctuary there where you can withdraw and where you can sanctify the Lord God in your heart so that those outside will know, my friends, that you belong to him. And you don’t have to mouth it all the time and make yourself obnoxious by the things that you say, making some pious statement. Oh, if we would sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, And that’s needed today. The psalmist says, the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. But today, may I say to you, on Sunday, you may go to your church. But the world is passing you by and headed for the beach, headed for the mountains, headed for the desert, headed for places of amusement. And the whole world is not keeping silence before him. Why? Because we as individuals need to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. This is a tremendous verse. Now, 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 manner of life in Christ. In other words, make sure that those who speak evil of you are in error. When I first went into downtown Los Angeles, I met Dr. Jim McGinley in Chicago at the Moody Founders Week conference. And he said to me, how do you like being pastor of that great church? I said, wonderful. But I said, I found myself in a place I can’t really defend myself. I just don’t intend to get up every Sunday and explain all the things I’ve heard. And my business is teaching the Word of God. And I said, none of them are true. And he says, well, aren’t you glad they’re not true? Be bad if they were. Well, may I say to you, friends, that’s what Peter is saying here. Have a good conscience that when you hear these rumors about you, it won’t bother you because you know it’s not true. Verse 17, for it’s better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. In other words, if you suffer for Christ’s sake, you can rejoice in that. But if you’re doing it because you played the fool, that you’ve gotten into trouble, into sin, then that’s a different story altogether. Now we come to verse 18 here, and we have inserted here in the rest of this chapter, Christ’s suffering preached by the Spirit in Noah’s day. This is a very controversial section. Believe me, Simon Peter really moves this into a corner many times here in this chapter. First epistle, 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 made alive by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit. It’s important for us to see that he became a human being, And it was in his humanity that he died on the cross. He died on the cross. And it was the Holy Spirit that raised him from the dead. And we will come back to that later on in the next chapter. Verse 19, “…by whom also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” Now, this has been a misunderstood passage of Scripture. Now, the important word in this entire incident that’s recorded is verse 20 in the little word when. Who at one time were disobedient. Now, he went and preached to the spirits in prison. When did he speak to them? All right, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, in which few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. Now, the spirits of those who were destroyed in the flood were in prison. They had gone into Sheol. They were waiting for judgment. They were lost. But Christ did not go down and preach to him when he died on the cross. He preached through Noah when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. For 120 years, this man Noah preached the Word of God. He saved his family, but no one else. They wouldn’t believe him, you see. And that’s when the Spirit of Christ was preaching through Noah. And that’s interesting to know, that it was the Spirit of Christ who spoke through Noah. And it was in Noah’s day. But at the time Christ died, those were in prison. And the thought is that Christ’s death meant nothing to them, just as it means nothing to a great many people today, which means they’ll come into judgment. Now, verse 21, “…the like figure unto which even baptism doth also now save us.” Now, what baptism is that? Not water baptism. This is the Spirit’s baptism. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is real baptism. And the water baptism is ritual baptism. Now, I believe in water baptism. I believe in immersion, by the way. And I was an ordained Presbyterian minister for many years. But I immerse more people than I’ve ever sprinkled, I can assure you that. But the important thing here is to see that it’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That’s what puts you in the body of believers. the like figure under which even baptism doth also now save us.” Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, not just water, that won’t put away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is a faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that brought the work of the Holy Spirit into your life and regenerated you. Now it says, speaking of Christ who’s gone into heaven, he’s on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. And you and I, little sinners down here, can come to him, accept him and receive him. and join that great company of the redeemed, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ because he’s raised from the dead and is at God’s right hand today. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
Is it possible for a Christian to stop sinning? Well, we’ll explore that question next time in our study of 1 Peter 4. Until then, if you’d like to get in touch, call us, 1-800-65-Bible is the number, or visit ttb.org. Or leave us a quick note in the feedback section of our app. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll be here saving you a seat as the Bible bus rolls along.
SPEAKER 03 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
