Defending Hope
Suffering for Doing Good      Part 2
1 Peter 3:15-16      1-5-2013 & 1-6-2013
Summary: Be ready to defend not mainly a body of doctrine, but the feeling of hope you have in you when you are abused (and focus most of your apologetic attention on the kind of people who ask about that). Be prepared (understand your hope), be gentle and humble before God when you give your defense, and keep a clear conscience so they will be put to shame, vindicating you, vindicating Christ, and possibly brining the person to salvation. 
Introduction
Defending Hope
Defend the Feeling of Hope
The Meaning of Hope
A Freeing Principle
A Scary Principle
Focus on the Interested
The Preparation of Your Defense
Reliability of the Witnesses
Jesus' Teaching
Evidences for the Resurrection
Fulfilled Prophecy
Resources
The Posture of Your Defense
Gentleness
Fear
The Power of Your Defense
Keeping a Clear Conscience
Putting Them to Shame
For your Vindication
Christ's Vindication
The Persecutor's Salvation
Conclusion
Announcements
1:25 Questions

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that when your good behavior in Christ is being slandered, the ones mistreating you may be put to shame.  

Introduction
We have spent the past nine months studying verse-by-verse through the book of 1 Peter, and ever since about the end of last summer Peter has been teaching us all about how to handle unfair treatment. When you are mistreated, mocked, made fun of, gossiped about, slandered, ridiculed, or abused, it is very important that you think about it in the right way, and that you respond in the right way, so Peter gives us some detailed teaching on this subject.
One of the prominent characteristics of the book of 1 Peter is how much attention he gives to our interaction with the world - almost half the book (48 out of the 105 verses discuss how we are to deal with the world and their treatment of us).
This is important to Peter because so much is at stake in our response to the world's hostility. The glory of God is at stake. When we respond the right way, Jesus Christ is honored and the lost are saved. And that is another major concern for Peter - evangelism - winning the lost to faith in Christ. 
1 Peter 3:1  Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over  
The world treats us poorly, we respond with humility, patience, and love, maintaining our joy and hope in the Lord, and some will see that and be saved, which means all the more worship and glory to Christ when He returns.
1 Peter 2:12  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 
So, we get mistreated and respond in a godly way, and the world takes notice, and Jesus Christ is glorified. And today Peter is going to give us three principles on how to make that happen. And it all revolves around one word.
15 Always be prepared to give a defense (answer)...
Defense is a better translation. The word means to provide an explanation for why something is valid. The Greek word is apologia - we get our word apologetics from it. If you buy a book on apologetics, it will be a book on how to defend the faith - how to prove Christianity. Every Christian is called to be ready, at a moment's notice, to prove the validity of Christianity. And Peter gives us three principles on how to make that defense. But before we look at those three principles, let's make sure we are clear on what it is we are defending.
Defending Hope
Defend the Feeling of Hope
What does it say we are to defend? Most people, if you ask them to define apologetics, will say, "Apologetics is defending the faith." And if you say, "How do you know we are supposed to do that?" they will take you to this verse. But look at verse 15 - Peter does not say anything about the faith. What is it, specifically, that we are to defend? Our hope. Now, some have suggested that Peter is not using the word hope in the normal sense - referring to an emotion in your heart. They say Peter using hope here as shorthand to refer to all the doctrines of Christianity, so that hope is just another way of referring to the Christian faith. But look again at the verse.
15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the defense for the hope that is in you. 
Not the body of doctrine that is in the Bible, but the feeling of hope that is in you. It is referring to the emotion.
The Meaning of Hope
Hope is happiness you feel now because of some wonderful thing you know for sure is going to happen in the future. When you are looking forward to something, and you are so sure that it is going to happen (and that you will like it) that you are already in a good mood and feel happiness just from the anticipation, even though it has not even happened yet - that good mood and feeling of happiness is hope.
The thing that will really capture the world's attention is usually not the consistency of our theological system, but rather the emotions we have when they mistreat us. Very often people think of apologetics in terms of providing some kind of scientific proof of various propositions in the Christian religion. But Peter does not say, "Be ready to defend the doctrines you believe." He said, "Be ready to defend the hope that you feel." So it is not so much that you have to be able to give an explanation for apparent contradictions in the Bible, or why a loving God would allow evil; as much as you have to be able to give an explanation when someone says, "You are being horribly mistreated - why is there a smile on your face?"
Now, making a defense for our hope involves defending the doctrines of Scripture because our hope comes from those doctrines. But it is the hope itself that is the focus.
A Freeing Principle
For some of you that might be a wonderfully freeing principle, and for others it might be a scary principle. For those of you who are afraid to share your faith because you are not an academic type, this can be a great encouragement. You say, "I haven't read all the books and I don't have all the answers, but telling you why there is a smile on my face - that I can do." You do not have to be a rocket scientist to do that.
A Scary Principle
In fact, rocket scientists might actually struggle somewhat with that. Some people are great at giving philosophical or scientific arguments, but talking about joy or hope – that is scary. It is scary, in some cases, because they do not have much joy and hope. No one is asking them about their hope and joy.
Focus on the Interested
But whichever kind of person you are, I think it is significant that the passage that instructs us to give a defense for Christianity specifies that we are to give that defense to those who ask for a reason for our hope, because that tells us something about who is asking for this defense. It does not say to give a defense to those who mock our beliefs. The kind of people who ask about your hope are the kind of people who really want an answer. The picture here is not of some atheist railing against Christianity and you step in and defend it. This is a person asking you - he genuinely wants to know how you can maintain your joy even when you are being abused.
We proclaim the gospel to everyone, but when it comes to giving a defense - providing evidences and arguments and proofs for the faith, keep that for the people who are genuinely interested. Do not get into arguments with people who do not have any intention of listening to you. 
Ruth Siemens wrote an interesting article on evangelism titled "Workplace Evangelism: How to Fish out the Seekers." I think a more accurate subtitle would be, "How to Fish out the Interested," because that is really the point she ends up making. Her thesis is this - when we try to win the lost, it is more effective to go fishing than hunting. Hunting is when you get your sights on someone and go after them. Fishing is when you put bait out there and see who bites. Just continually send out clues in the way you talk and live that you know God, and when someone asks you about it, that is the type of person who is likely to receive the message. I put a trimmed-down version of her article on TreasuringGod.com, and I would definitely recommend it to you, because it fits what Peter is saying here - give a defense to those who ask you about your hope. Focus on the interested. Do not waste your time wrangling with the belligerent. 
One exception to this may be if you have an audience. If others are listening in, and they might be interested, then it may be worthwhile to have the debate. But even then, be very careful, because if the person you are talking to is belligerent or arrogant, the tendency will be for you to answer in kind, and be that way yourself, and that would spoil your testimony. If someone just wants to argue – do not be drawn in to that.
Proverbs 26:4  Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.
So those people who are throwing out all these objections about - a loving God would never do this, or - the Bible cannot be trusted because of that, or - what about radiometric decay dating techniques and the age of the earth, etc. - those people usually are not the ones who are interested or open no matter how good your arguments are. Usually they are just throwing out their favorite excuse for disobeying God. They want to continue in their sin, and they watched the Divinci Code or read some book or picked up some rhetoric from a professor in college - somehow they picked up some talking points, and that is their excuse they lean on so they do not have to give up their favorite sins and become answerable to God. So even if you shoot down all their arguments, they will just go back and find some other ones, but they are not going to even consider bowing the knee to Christ.
OK, so Peter is calling us to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is inside us. And there are three things we need to know in order to make that defense. First, the preparation.
The Preparation of Your Defense
15 Always be prepared to give an answer 
Now, does that contradict what Jesus said?
Luke 12:11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12  for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.
Some people read that and say, "I don't need to concern myself with this. I don't need to give any thought or study to this. When the time comes, the Holy Spirit will give me the right words." But then Peter tells us to always be prepared. So how do we reconcile that contradiction?
The answer is, there is no contradiction. Jesus did not say do not prepare - He said do not worry. Do not be afraid. Do not have anxiety about it. And the way to not have anxiety about it is to be prepared. Will the Holy Spirit help you? Yes, but do not ever use the Holy Spirit as an excuse not to prepare. The more you prepare, the more He helps you. But if you disobey in the area of preparation, you provoke Him to withdraw His help. If I just sat around and watched soap operas all day, and did not do any study, what do you think my sermons would be like? Would the Holy Spirit still speak through them? I think the Holy Spirit would probably speak to all of you and say, "Go find another church."
So do not worry, but do prepare. I said a minute ago that some people find this principle scary because they do not have much in the way of joy and hope. Others will find it scary for another reason. They find it scary because even if they do have a smile, they do not really know why. And they are afraid to look into it because they think, What if I think that one through and find that my hope in Him is groundless? What if there is no good explanation? I just believe in Him because I was taught to believe in Him. Or I just believe because I want to believe. What if my reasons turn out to be lame reasons?” That thought is really scary, because then not only do you look like a fool in front of the person you are talking to, but now you have to question your whole belief system. Maybe you should not even hang on to Christianity. Maybe you should look into other religions.
Just because you have hope and have joy does not necessarily mean you will be able to give a good explanation for it. That is why Peter tells us to be prepared.
And the implication is that there is a good basis for our hope. The Christian faith is not just a subjective lifestyle preference. It has a rational grounded in objective truth that can be communicated to someone else.
So it is not enough for us to just have hope in Christ. We must also have a clear understanding of that hope - clear enough so that we could explain it to someone else.
And to do that you need to prepare. So how do you prepare? Just go out and buy The Big Book on Defending your Faith, or Apologetics for Dummies or something? Well, it may require some study, but before you hit the books, start where Peter tells us to start - with your own heart. Why do you have joy in the Lord? Just whisper a prayer to God right now even as you re listening to this sermon, and ask Him, "God, why should I continue to believe in You? Why should I put my hope in You? Why should a person who belongs to You still have a smile on his face even when he is abused by people?" This should be a personal thing. What are the reasons for your hope? Start there, and then you can go ahead and read books to see how God has answered that question for other people. Usually it is something along these lines:
Reliability of the Witnesses
First, the reliability of the witnesses. Almost everything we believe we believe based on reliable testimony, right? Whether it is something from history or science or on the news or anything else - most things you believe not because you observed it with your own eyes, but because some reliable source said it was so.
Now, how reliable are the writers of the New Testament? There are people who have devoted their lives to studying the reliability of testimony - how to know when someone is telling the truth or not telling the truth. And some of those experts have applied those principles to the writers of the New Testament. One of them was Sir Edward Clarke. Here is what he said: “As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter day. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. Inference follows on evidence, and a truthful witness is always artless and disdains effect...” That means he does not seem to care how what he is saying sounds – he just says it like it happened...  There are no embellishments, not a lot of superlatives and adverbs added for effect – just a recitation of the facts. And that is how the New Testament reads. They do not sound like someone trying hard to convince you of a made up story. They just report what they saw - even when in some cases it does not really seem to support what they are teaching. Clark continues: “…The Gospel evidence for the resurrection is of this class, and as a lawyer I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts they were able to substantiate.” Simon Greenleaf  (professor of law at Harvard) is considered even today to be the foremost authority on legal evidences (evidences that are admissible in court). Greenleaf was an atheist and was goaded by his students into checking into the evidence for the resurrection. He did so and at the end he was no longer an atheist. Here is what he concluded:  “There is no unbiased jury in the world that would not accept the resurrection."
Now, maybe you have not made a lifelong study of legal evidences, but you do make determinations numerous times every day on how reliable someone is or is not. Every one of us does that. So maybe the answer for you is something like this: Someone asks you, "How can you have such hope? How can you be so sure that those promises are all true?" And you say, "I just read Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, and those guys just do not strike me as liars. I have dealt with liars, and I have heard people who are making up stories, and these men don't sound like that. They sound like trustworthy, reliable witnesses. They even include details that make them look bad sometimes. They died for their belief in the resurrection. People do not die for what they know to be false. I trust them."
Jesus' Teaching
That is one direction it might go. Or you might point to the teachings of Jesus and say, "I can't read the teachings of Jesus and conclude that they are just human ideas. Jesus claimed to be God, and to claim that, if it is not true, you would have to be a lunatic or a liar, and I cannot read His words and conclude that He is either one. His words are profound and life-changing and they have the ring of truth. They feed my soul. They comfort and sooth my heart when nothing else in the world can."
Evidences for the Resurrection
Or maybe you will point to evidences for the resurrection. Even secular, non-Christian scholars who do not believe in the resurrection will admit this much:
•	Jesus died on a cross and was buried in a wealthy man’s tomb
•	The tomb was found empty on the third day
•	Jesus’ followers, who did not expect a resurrection, at first did not believe it but then because so convinced that they saw the resurrected Christ that they were willing to die for it.
•	The reports of the resurrection were honest reports by men who fully believed the events they describe happened.
•	The records we have of these events have been accurately preserved to this day.
If I decided to become a non-Christian, I would constantly have nagging doubts about my non-Christian beliefs because how could I explain all that away?
Fulfilled Prophecy
Or maybe for you the answer will be connected to fulfilled prophecy. You look at Old Testament prophecies and see how they were so specific, even naming names, and were fulfilled with perfect accuracy hundreds of years later.
Resources 
If you find that you are fuzzy on the question of why you should continue to hope in Jesus Christ, there are some wonderful resources that can help with that. A real simple, basic one is the little book Know Why You Believe by Paul Little. A more detailed book is The Case for Christ by Lee Stroble. You may also want to check out the sermon "Sequel to The Passion" (4/11/2004), or the sermon "More Convincing than an Empty Tomb" (3/27/2005). 
The Posture of Your Defense 
OK, so now we are prepared to give our defense to anyone who asks about our hope. But preparation is not enough. Peter is going to give us a second principle.
15 ...But do this with gentleness and respect
Let's call this the posture of our defense. When the time comes to make your defense, that defense must be made with a certain attitude. We must respond in a posture of gentleness and respect. 
Gentleness 
Gentleness (sometimes translated meekness), basically means to be non-threatening. When you give your defense for Christianity, the person you are talking to should not feel threatened or intimidated by the way you talk.
Boy, are there ever a lot of Christians who need to underline that line in their Bible. Most people who are interested in apologetics, and who like to defend the faith, tend to be aggressive and intimidating. All too often they are the types who just want to win the argument at all costs, and sometimes even slip into tactics of mocking or belittling the other person, raising their voice, etc. They like to argue, and if you talk to them about gentleness they will just start an argument about the meaning of gentleness. But Peter is clear - we need to be gentle and non-threatening, because the goal is not to win the argument - it is to win the soul. Many times in my life I have won an argument and the result was the person's heart turned against me even more than it was before. I creamed the person in the debate and all it did was make them even more resolved to reject what I was saying. If your attitude or speech causes people to be biased against you in their heart, then no matter how the argument goes they will not want to embrace your religion. But if they are favorable toward you, they are more likely to be open to embracing what you embrace. This is that same gentle, quiet spirit that the women have back in verse 4, and it is of great worth in the eyes of the Lord. If the point is to save someone's soul from the fires of eternal hell for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, why would we do it in a way that makes them more likely to be defensive and argumentative? 
So we are to be non-threatening, and what better way to do that than to talk about your hope? If you argue doctrines with intimidating intellect, that will turn most hearts away. But if you display a joyful, radiant hope, and defend it with humble, winsome meekness - that will win souls. Talk to people about how they can have joy in the midst of sorrow and hardship. Talk to them about the unfulfilled longings of their soul, and the emptiness or restlessness they feel, or the fact that there are desires they have that nothing in this world seems to really satisfy. Then explain how nearness to God's presence is the only thing that can satisfy those cravings. If they have a legitimate hangup about the age of the earth or some apparent contradiction in the Bible, fine, go look up the answer and come back and give it to them, but as quickly as possible turn the discussion back to hope, because that is the real issue.
Fear
The second word the NIV translates respect. But it is actually the word fear. And I am convinced it is referring to fear of God. So the idea is that when you give your defense for your hope, do it with meekness and humility toward that person, and do it with fear and trembling toward God.
Any time we speak for God, that is something to take very, very seriously, because misrepresenting Him in some way is a grave evil. There is absolutely no place for cockiness in apologetics. Sometimes when a person has done a lot of reading, or has been to Bible college or seminary, there is a tendency to talk down to people, like he is the authority and they are the student. And without even realizing it they portray a condescending attitude. A person like that lacks fear of God.
Martin Luther commented on this passage and said we should speak as though we were standing before the tribunal of God. Think about the last time you were in an argument, and you were just shooting from the hip, saying whatever you could to win, maybe trying to make the other person look bad, or trying to look smarter. Now imagine yourself standing before the throne of God. And the Almighty asks you to give a defense for your hope. How would you talk then? What sort of attitude would you have if the whole conversation were taking place before the high court of God in heaven? Peter says, "That is how you need to talk to unbelievers when you are giving a defense for your hope."
The Power of Your Defense
What is it that will make your defense really have an impact on the person's heart? Sometimes you share your faith and your words accomplish very little. Other times they are powerful and have a big impact. What is it that makes them powerful? The answer is in verse 16. 
Keeping a Clear Conscience
16 keeping a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
When will your defense have the power to put the mockers to shame? When you maintain a good conscience. How do you do that? By following all the principles we have been learning in chapters 2 and 3 – by not getting angry, not getting upset, not retaliating, not getting frustrated or irritated and aggravated. But instead repaying their insults with blessings and kindness and humility and love. That is how you maintain a clear conscience in a conflict.
Putting Them to Shame
And the goal of that is to put them to shame. The NIV says they will be ashamed, but put to shame is a little better translation because when we think of the word ashamed, we tend to think mainly of an emotion - you feel ashamed of yourself - remorse, regret, etc. But this word speaks not to how you feel, but rather to your social status in the sight of others. So maybe a better translation would be disgraced. One scholar defines the word this way: to be put to shame means to be overthrown and left at the mercy of one's enemies. If someone is put to shame it means he lost, people can see he lost, and he is now at the mercy of the one who defeated him. And that is what will happen to the mockers when you keep a clear conscience and respond with humility and love. It will be clear to all that they lost and you won.
When you have a conflict with someone, onlookers are not going to know all the details of the conflict. They are not going to know all that you know, and so they will mostly just decide who is right or wrong based on what they observe during the conflict. And if the other person is being hostile and belligerent, and you are responding with gracious, patient, humble kindness, most onlookers will assume you are in the right and the other person will be disgraced. And ultimately he will be disgraced on Judgment Day when God sets all wrongs right. But only if you maintain a clear conscience before God. If you sin in your response, then it is you who will be disgraced. 
Why do you want him to be disgraced? Three reasons.
For your Vindication
First, so that you can be vindicated so your hope is not destroyed. Your hope and joy are so important, they must remain intact. But if you do not have a clear conscience, so that you are put to shame rather than the other person, then you will lose your hope and joy. I have had times in my life when I was under attack, accused of wrongdoing, everyone turned against me, I lost my job - and after the whole ordeal was over, I still had joy because my conscience was clear. I knew I was right before God, and that I had followed His Word, and even though I was facing some hardships, I had no fear in my heart, and nothing happened to my joy or my hope. But I have had other times when I got into a conflict with someone, and at first I was in the right, but then as the conflict went on I did and said some things that came from the flesh and that were not godly. And so I did not have a clear conscience. And that did a great deal of harm to my joy and hope, because now I am facing the possibility that these hardships are the chastening hand of God. I can handle everyone around me hating me as long as I know God is pleased with me. But what I cannot handle is the possibility that God is displeased with me. You cannot have intimacy with God as long as you think He is displeased with you. And so it is vital that you be vindicated so that you can have intimacy with God, knowing that He is pleased with you.
Psalm 41:11  I know that you are pleased with me because my enemy does not triumph over me.
If someone is against me, I need to be vindicated - not because my reputation is all that important, not so I can puff myself up with pride, not so I can rub it in that the other person was wrong - I need to be vindicated so that I can know God is pleased with me.
Now, we understand that the vindication does not always come right away. In some cases you might have to wait until Judgment Day. But generally speaking, the more you maintain a clear conscience the more it will tend to be obvious to onlookers that you are the one who is in the right, and that other person will be the one who is put to shame in the eyes of others.
Christ's Vindication
It is important that the other person be put to shame so that Christ will be vindicated. Look again at verse 15. The reason the person is mistreating you is because of your good behavior in Christ. It is not really you they hate; it is Christ in you. And so when they slander behavior that was commanded by Christ Himself, and that reflects that nature of Jesus Christ, that is a reproach upon our Lord. And so one of two things can happen - Jesus can look bad or that person can look bad. So for the sake of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ we want all who revile Christ-likeness to be disgraced.
The Persecutor's Salvation 
So it is important that they be disgraced so your joy remains strong, and so Christ's name can be vindicated. And a third reason is so that your opponent can be saved. The pangs of conscience can bring that person to repentance, but if you sin against him in your response, you get in the way of that process. When you are in a conflict with someone, and that person is speaking to you and treating you in unloving, ungodly ways - after it is all over he is going to have to deal with his conscience. You should not have spoken that way, you should not have acted that way, it was wrong for you to treat him that way, etc. And what are they going to be doing? They are going to argue with their conscience and try to justify themselves.
 I know that because that is how it works in my heart. I speak in a sinful way to my wife, the pangs of conscience hit, and I am arguing up a storm. This is the way fallen human beings naturally respond to conviction of sin. We try to justify ourselves. So, after you have a conflict with someone they are going to be going through that wrestling match afterward with their conscience. And what is going to determine whether they deceive themselves into self-justification, or give in and admit they were wrong? One huge factor is whether or not you sinned against them during the conflict. If at some point in the conflict you let some ungodly words fly, or slandered them, or sinned against them in some way - you know what is going to happen. They are going to latch on to that or fix their attention on that and that will divert their attention away from their own guilt. But if you kept a clear conscience through the whole thing and refrained from the normal, sinful responses, it is a lot more likely that they will finally lose the wrestling match with their conscience and admit, "Yes, he was right; I was wrong." And if they admit that in a small matter, that attitude might catch on in their heart in bigger matters until finally they repent before God and embrace Jesus Christ in saving faith.
Do not expect this to always work instantly. Obviously, the fact that you were doing good and keeping a clear conscience was not enough to prevent them from slandering you in the first place. But the day will come when their eyes will be opened, and they will see that you were in the right and they were in the wrong. That will for sure happen on Judgment Day. But in many cases it will happen even before Judgment Day.
Psalm 37:6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, and the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
There will be times when they will see your good behavior in Christ, slander you for it, but then when you respond to that with gracious humility and meekness and non-retaliation, in many cases that will be enough to make them finally realize they are wrong to be against you, and they will feel shame.
And the day they finally feel that shame - if it happens before the Second Coming, could very well be the day of that person's conversion.
1 Peter 2:12  Live such good lives among the gentiles that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
If they are glorifying God at the Second Coming that means they are saved. And that phrase accuse you of doing wrong – that is katalaleo (to speak against) - the same word translated speak maliciously here in 3:16. This is how many people come to faith - they slander Christians, the Christians respond in a gracious way, and that brings them shame, which can result in true repentance and salvation.
Conclusion
How can you put all this into practice? The obvious way is to work on becoming prepared to give an defense for the hope that is in you. Do some thinking, praying, reading, studying, asking - make sure the ground of your hope is clear enough in your mind so you can clearly and persuasively communicate it to others.
Second, work on the posture and power of your defense. Fight hard against anger, pride, argumentativeness, or anything else that would take away your clear conscience when you give your defense. Those would be excellent ways to be obedient to this text. But let me suggest two others that may not be as obvious. First, hope in God! Put your hope in Him alone. All of this starts when they ask you to give a reason for your hope, and they will not do that unless your hope is obvious enough to them that they can see it. Always be striving to increase your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And second, go out of here rejoicing over the fact that we serve a God who is worthy of that hope.
Psalm 25:3  No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame 
Everything the world hopes in will eventually disappoint, but God will never disappoint. He is always enough. We can stand before anyone - scholars, kings, presidents - anyone, and boldly proclaim the ground of our hope because there is zero possibility that someone will ever be able to prove this hope false. God is worthy of this hope, and God has graciously provided us with adequate grounds for that hope. He has given us proof in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, so we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is true. Let's go out of this place rejoicing that we serve a God like that.

Benediction: Psalm 25:20 Guard our lives and rescue us; do not let us be put to shame, for we take refuge in you. 21  May integrity and uprightness protect us, because our hope, LORD, is in you.

1:25 Questions
1.	Of all the various proofs we have for the validity of our hope, which is most precious to you? And which aspects of your hope do you find most difficult to defend? (Resolve to study in that area)
2.	What sorts of things tend to push you into sinful responses in a debate? Describe what a humble, non-threatening, God-fearing response would look like.
3.	What competitors tempt you to find your hope in them rather than God (things in the future you look forward to when you need to lift your spirits)?