Arming Myself for the Battle Against Sin With the Amazing Weapon of Suffering
1 Peter 4:1-5
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes for young children to answer are throughout sermon)
Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Turn to 1 Peter 4:1. Our text this morning is 1 Peter 4:1-5. As we have been going through 1 Peter, we can not help but be struck with Peter's clear teachings concerning God's purpose for our lives. Whether it be in suffering for being a Christian, or suffering for living godly, we are to be reflections of Christ to those around us. Peter has been calling us to serve God as kingdom citizens of the royal priesthood. The life theme of our impact, is that we are like missionaries. When we recognize that we are ministers of the Lord as we sojourn through the world, we understand that our suffering is more than inconvenience. It feels like inconvenience, and in some sense, it is. But, suffering is also part of God's strategy in our service to Him. This reflects a principle that we find woven into the special calling of Paul in His apostleship. Let's think about how he referred to his own evangelistic missionary work. He said something that makes us pause to consider the depth of what he means. Paul said that he was
"filling up of what is lacking in Christ's afflictions," Colossians 1:24
Now think about that. Without spiritual insight, we would think that Paul had lost his mind. But, Paul knew the strong spiritual principle that is a powerful tool in God's hands for ministry. He also taught it to others. God's purpose is that the afflictions of Christ that purchased our salvation are imitated and demonstrated in our actions of both spreading, and living out, the gospel among the lost world culture. In other words, with Christ in us, (and us in Christ) we fill up what remains of the suffering that the Lord continues through the body of Christ. We also fill up the triumphs that Christ is accomplishing in the world through us too. This morning I want us to consider that there are many ways to manifest Christ out of ourselves; but this one rarely gets the attention that it needs. Amazingly, as a doctrine, the emerged church of the first generation learned this, lived this, and through God's grace, grew to love this painfully God glorifying principle. It is the same legacy of Paul encouraging his disciple Timothy to suffer as he carried on the great mission of manifesting Christ. Paul told him to,
"... not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the good news," 2 Timothy 1:8
"Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" 2 Timothy 2:3
"Endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist." 2 Timothy 4:5
Classic Christian doctrine has always taught that we are expected to suffer here on earth in our mission for Christ in reflecting Christ.
Then there is another aspect of suffering that we experience as Christians. It is the suffering that God is specifically using to daily mold us into the image of Christ. It is the temporary suffering of being disciplined by the Lord so that we may share in His holiness and yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness out of our lives. This is what the writer of Hebrews means when he speaks of that,
"5 ... exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.' 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Hebrews 12:5-11
@1 Our parents discipline us as they think is best. Our Father in heaven disciplines us for our ______________ so that we may share in His holiness. Hebrews 12:5-11
I am wanting us to think about all these elements of suffering. The reason I am wanting us to think about this, is because we are going to study something this morning that intimately ties in with the various reasons for suffering that God uses that I have just pointed out. More specifically it has to do with preparing ourselves for the arena of suffering in respect to the daily battle against sin while we sojourn among the lost world culture. Peter is touching upon this vital principle in our passage. Please read it with me now where I want to start back in 3:17-18 to get a key aspect of Peter's point into the flow,
"17 For it is better, if God should determine it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; ... 1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he [Christian person] who has suffered in the flesh [for doing what is right, cf. 3:17] has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God." 1 Peter 4:1-5 (with 3:17-18)
Prepare your mind to learn, along with me, from the preaching of God's word in this theme:
Arming Myself for the Battle Against Sin With the Amazing Weapon of Suffering
[prayer]
/1/
The first principle that I want us to glean from our text in respect to arming ourselves for the daily battle against sin, is that this awesome weapon of preparation finds its root in Christ Who is our example. Peter says,
"1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, ..."
Christ Jesus suffered in His flesh for a reason. In the context, Peter says that Christ's was suffering for the "unrighteous." Why? To bring us to God, 1 Peter 3:17-18. Christ is like a saving ark that was bashed, and tossed, by the waves, yet He resurrected out of the storm. Christ is the great ark that carries you to eternal safety. He always carries His people home in safety. He is the one that makes them righteous by enveloping them in Himself. He is the one that makes you savable. In setting out to accomplish His plans to accomplish all of this, Christ humbled Himself greatly. He considered suffering to the point of death to be what it means to live for the will of God. Death for sin, in atonement, is to live for the will of God in the task that accomplishes righteousness for the elect forever. This is Christ's work. At the fundamental level, I am wanting us to recognize the strong principle here that we see in Christ and His work. Essentially:
Righteousness was not produced for us, and is not produced out of us, without suffering.
Christ knew the principle. He invented it. So, in His plan, Christ fulfilled the necessity of suffering for us (the sinful ones) to make us the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is the foundational example for our own suffering to manifest Him. This fact is so important, for our Christian lives, that Peter has pressed it so many ways. Peter mentioned the same example of Christ, and His suffering, and righteousness, back in chapter 2,
"21 Because you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:21-24
@2 Jesus bore our ______________ on the cross, so that we would die to sin, and live to righteousness. 1 Peter 2:24
Then in 3:17-18, Christ and His suffering is referred to again in respect to our own lives. This is why I read this with our passage. Look at what Peter says,
"17 For it is better, if God should determine it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;" 1 Peter 3:17-18
The purpose of Christ's suffering was for righteousness both now and forever for the elect. Our Lord's example gives us a pattern to apply to our lives. What is the pattern? You and I are to be suffering for righteousness in the legacy of Christ, and we are to do so in hope of experiencing our ultimate, everlasting, glorious future. When we suffer in this way, think about what we are doing. We are manifesting the indwelling Christ out of ourselves. Before we leave this point, I want us to remember Peter's baptism symbolism that he just described. Remember, Christ is the like figure of the ark that saved Noah and His family from the deadly water. To be baptized into Christ--not water--is to be inside the perfect ark of salvation. In Him, we are completely cleansed from sin,
"that he might bring us to God," 1 Peter 3:18
Our allegiance, and trust in Him, is our response to God because of a righteous mind that comes from the previous suffering of Jesus Christ. This is what brings us to God, like an ark that withstands the storms as it brings the elect family safely through the floods of God's wrath. In all of this, we can see the three tenses of our one salvation:
A) We recognize our spiritual salvation that we have right now. We received it already in faith.
B) We also recognize our salvation daily in its practical outworking.
C) And then finally we will recognize our salvation in that future hope of glory in an amazing transformation. Someday we will leave this in between stage behind to live forever in a changed, pure, glorified, state.
Right now, we rest inside the ark as we await the arrival. Christ is our Sabbath rest. But this is what I want us to consider. Though spiritually safe inside the ark in our initial salvation, suffering was required. Noah and His family were mocked, ridiculed, and rejected, while building the Ark. They were maligned. They underwent a very lengthy time of testing in their faith. They were ridiculed by the multitudes of people in the pre-flood world whose thoughts were continually wicked. As the torrents of wrath-water poured down to bring a deadly baptism over the evil world, the walls of that great ship had to endure the wind and waves of destruction that destroyed all those on the outside. The Ark floated, yet God's wrath touched it, and tossed it, until, weather beaten, it found rest on the Mountains of Ararat. The Ark suffered, but salvation was secured in the Ark. The life within was finally released to live in the world, and beyond, in great multiplication. This gives us a picture of our salvation in Christ. He suffered as the righteous for the unrighteous, having been put through suffering death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. In all of His task He secured our salvation for all time, bringing us to God in Himself both now and forever. We enter Jesus Christ by faith according to God's effectual call, and are saved from the sin of our past, where the nature of the first Adam is positionally crucified with Christ. And so, the bitter sweet fact is that your sins are washed away through the suffering of your Lord. You are regenerated in a new conception, and you are born again to come out of the womb. Christ experienced the labor pains for you that makes you spiritually righteous, and He did it so that you would live. In all these things, we see that suffering is what brings our righteousness. Christ bore your sins in His body on the cross, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness, 1 Peter 2:24.
/2/
This leads to the next principle that we need to glean from this text in respect to arming ourselves for the daily battle against sin. It has to do with that unique armament of Christ. It is where we volitionally make it our own,
"1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he [yourselves] who has suffered in the flesh [for doing what is right, cf. 3:17] has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."
The point that Peter is conveying has a military sense to it. When he says to arm yourself with the same purpose, this means that the Spirit is telling us to be battle ready. The question is:
Be battle ready for what?
For suffering in the flesh for doing what is right.
Christ armed Himself with the expectation of this purpose. Christ was prepared since way before the foundation of the world, when He determined all the events that would take place in coming to earth as a human. He had prepared Himself to live in the cursed world of discomfort. He was ready to grow up in condescension. He armed Himself beforehand with the recognition that He must suffer, be rejected, be maligned, be tortured; and finally crucified. He knew that through His suffering He would set the elect, among sinners, free to become the righteousness of God in Himself. Whenever we set apart Christ as Master in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15) then we are operating in battle mode according to the same power, the same strategy, and the same purpose of righteousness, as our great Commander. But it is not our armament that we create. We are using His armament as our own for our readiness to live out His righteousness that is inside us. Something that we need to understand about the way God is operating, is that God has already been telling us, all through this epistle, and all through the rest of the New Testament, that suffering is to be expected for simply being a Christian and living out the fruits of the Spirit among the lost world culture. So now what God is doing is explaining to us a strategy for dealing with it as we await our future glory. This is God expressing His love for us. But there is more, and this is what I am getting at here. It is something that is hard for some Christians to understand. Your suffering, my suffering, and the suffering of all Christians for righteousness (no matter what the level of irritation and even horror) is part of your calling as you follow in the footsteps of Christ in His continual ministry that He is doing in the world through the body of Christ. And all of us are individually members of Christ's body. In the same way as the work of Christ, our armament is expressing that righteousness does not exist without suffering. Do you see the principle? Follow me, because I don't want to be misunderstood; You are already positionally the righteousness of God in Christ. It is your spiritual state of being. I am talking about another principle that comes from that one. Now suffering exists in the body of Christ in our experience. All who partake in the experience, are only those who are saved. This describes all Christians. Christ the righteous one is now our master in salvation. This is why we suffer for righteousness. Remember the words of Paul that express a universal truth. He was urging Timothy to be equipped with the armament:
"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2 Timothy 3:12
Now that we have been saved from our past futile life that was in bondage to sin, we daily identify with Christ by preparing to suffer in our bodies too. This is our own experiential identification with the preparation of the Ark. It is part of the way that we walk in the steps of the Ark's ministry. It is how the Ark lives out His life in us in our baptism into Him. In a sense, you can think of yourself, back when you were lost, as floating along through the sea of this world as if you were in one giant graveyard of derelict boats. We all started out as one of those derelicts. We were broken. We were like all the others. Instead of suffering for righteousness, we suffered the consequences of the curse of sin and death in lostness. That is exactly what the selfishness of sin does to us. It makes us lost, though we were floating in the midst of billions of other lost shells. In lostness, we come into the great ocean this way. In the end, we sink in the same way--lost. Everyone starts out barely floating--waiting to sink as they grow old and decay and can no longer stay afloat in their temporal life any longer. One by one they creek, and bob aimlessly toward their destruction. They are full of pride, ambition, and futile goals. In lostness, ultimately the dark waters of death, find their way in. It is only a matter of time, and the ocean has plenty of time. Spiritually lost people are finally overcome with death. They sink into the dark deepness of a bottomless ocean of sorrow to die in their sins. But all that changes when God saves us by grace through faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. He implements His miraculous salvaging project that changes us into something new and different. Inside the hulk of a dead vessel that we once were, He gives us life. He gives us power. He is our engine. There is newness. The life of Christ sustains us and makes us float. But while you and I are still on this earth in this stage of our rescue, there is a problem. This is the big point, so pay attention: We have not yet entered into our glorious future where another more perfect change will come in a glorified state. Our future is the time when our whole being will be changed into perfection. Right now, though we are saved, we are an ongoing salvaging project of the Spirit. The Spirit is still working out various remnants of the junk of the past that we carry with us. Yes, you have died to it already in a spiritual sense of reconception. But something about that old derelict past still lingers, clutters, and stains, you. So what God requires is shaping and molding as we pass through the world in our new state. The remnant pieces of left over junk are being pulled away. They are being replaced with everything that looks more and more like Christ. This means that we are undergoing a growing process in our redemption. We are learning line upon line, and precept upon precept. We are learning to rest in God's grace place. At the same time, we are girding up our loins to run, repent, and even seek the spiritual rescue of others. We also build one another up in our journey. We also need to arm ourselves with readiness to endure the suffering. We are following our Lord in allegiance. In the process, a stable manifestation of our newness is being worked out. It is where we begin to look more and more like the great Ark of our salvation. We are being sanded, cleansed, and painted, as we daily raise up His flag of our salvation in Christ to shine forth His glory more and more. The point is that the winds, waves, and weathering of the world, are tools in God's sovereign hand that He uses to mold you. What God is doing is creating a recognizable, and effective, missionary boat that passes through the floating graveyard. As we are being molded into the image of the Ark, what is happening? We lead other derelicts to Christ. It is part of the mission. Other derelicts will either be drawn to Christ by His Spirit using our lives; or they will continue to be repulsed by Him, and by our new selves. In the miraculous salvaging work, Christ changes the hearts of those others whom He elects by giving them a new heart. He floats them, and He carries them too. But, in the midst of all of this is where suffering takes place in everyone's identification with Christ. Putting off remnant pieces of left over junk is sometimes a hurtful, and painful, process. Now think about this: Being sanded more and more into His image means laying aside the Old man doesn't it? (cf. Ephesians 4:22) But there is something I know about myself. I hold on to some of those things I used to be part of. Think about how there is still a sense of familiarity there. I also know that laying some of those things aside is not always a feel-good experience. Everyone here knows exactly what I mean. But, God is taking away our selfishness. He is cutting away our pride. He is smashing our self-reliance. He is forming us more and more into the image of Christ. What is going on in the process, is that you have already broken with the sinful life so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. Positionally, that suffering you already experienced was the death of the old you--which is death to sins dominion. In the rest of your saved life, this suffering is part of God's renovation project. God is conforming you into the image of Christ in His resurrected glory. In this process, God convicts you through His word. He guides you by His Spirit. He molds you through your circumstances which is our theme. It is also here that we serve Him as missionaries in the midst of suffering persecution. And the big point in the context of the teaching this morning, is that when you, and I, arm ourselves with this truth about suffering in the flesh for Christ as Christians, then we not only demonstrate to the world that we have finished from sin and death of our past spiritual lostness, but also that we are living the rest of the time in our bodies no longer for the lusts of selfish sinful human desires, but for the will of God. We are saying, "Christ bore my sins in His body on the cross, so that I might die to sin and live to righteousness." The lesson is that if you do not arm yourself to suffer for what is right, then you will choose the comfortable route. And folks, the comfortable route is to do sinful things. On the other hand, when you have prepared yourself to suffer for what is right, you are showing that you hate the sinful desires of men even though they feel good and are tempting; and instead of succumbing to the easy route of sin that is fun for a season, you have embraced the will of God as the more excellent way no matter what.
/3/
This leads to the next principle in respect to arming ourselves for the daily battle against sin. It is to recognize the bondage that we have been delivered from in contrast to our freedom in Christ,
"3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries."
This is what Peter means when he says that all who are saved have ceased from sin. Peter does not mean that we are sinless now that we are saved. He does not mean that you will never ever sin again while in this world. Peter means that the old life that we had is gone. The point is that if we trust God enough to suffer for doing what is right, as Peter said in 3:17, then obviously we have made a decision to break with the sin affinity that comes from the lostness of the world. There is a kind of friendly poetic sarcasm here when Peter says that there was enough time for you Christians to act like the unsaved when you were unsaved. In that realm of lostness, you sinned by seeking to live according to the dark heartedness of the futility of the Gentile mind, Ephesians 4:17. It is was your spiritually dead nature's sole disposition. Now you are a new creation--a brand-new vessel passing through the oceans of this world--a holy nation--a royal priesthood. So when we are armed with preparation to suffer in manifesting Christ we are enabled to turn our back on reflecting the sinful image of the lost world culture. You recognize those things for what they are as you are tempted by them in your saved journey. What are some of those things? Notice that the Spirit is showing us in verse 3, that when we were lost, our affinity was to pursue a course of sensuality. The enticing thing about the sins that we are finished with because of salvation, is that they feel good. I want us to notice that Peter does not list the sins that are fearful and dangerous to us to such an extent that they make us feel uncomfortable to do them. Think about it. Lying, murder, stealing, and things like that are dangerous and can be harmful to our flesh. But pursuing a course of sensuality is to pursue what feels good to you. These are the really tempting ones, aren't they? Pornography falls into this enticing category. Pornography is a strong course of sensuality that a lot of Christians are pursuing now-a-days. I just read an article by Al Mohler this week where he quotes scientific research concerning this sin. Evidently, pornography actually changes the way the brain works in a physical way. The bizarre fact is that it alters the brain to where pornography becomes like an addiction in much the same way drugs are addicting. Fornication of any kind comes under the category of pursuing a course of sensuality. There is a progression to sensuality. It starts out with the sin to seek the sin of the world to begin with. So, it starts with sinfully pursuing immorality. It can be pornography, or it may be pursuing various kinds of physical relationships to appease erotic desires. In the case of pornography, once the pornography is found, the sinful acts of the lost world culture are viewed. Now from the sin of pornography seeking, the sin of the lost world culture has been discovered, and it has been learned from for sinful sensual satisfaction. Then what happens next is that the sin of the world has tainted the Christian's mind to think in terms of the deviancy of the pornography. Next, the sinning person accepts the perversion as part of their means of satisfying their urges. In respect to a spouse, the spouse brings this sin into the marriage which is a marriage that is supposed to be a picture of Christ and His spotless bride. Now the marriage bed has become defiled with the pornographic fornication of the lost world culture. A porn induced taint has been interjected into the relationship. The infected mind may even try to justify itself by saying that it is simply showing natural sexual desire. But the desire is not naturally the way God would have it develop aside from the ungodly influence of the pornography of the lost. So, there is a devastating confusion that occurs. The sexual standards that have now been brought into the mind of the single Christian, or into the marriage covenant, are those standards of the old lost life that Peter is referring to. The time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the lost. To pursue deceitfulness, cheating, sordid gain, gossip and all these kinds of things, that are not in Peter's sin and vice list, result in the same thing. The point is that the lost life was the time when these things were more than sufficient to be fulfilled. The Spirit is saying that there should be no time now for any of that junk.
In seeking to fulfill them now, where has the armament gone?
Suffering for righteousness has been put aside which means that the armament has been left in the closet somewhere.
Without the armament, then unrighteousness is soon accomplished. Why? Because you are not going to suffer for righteousness unless you arm yourself to do so. The point is that we are new creations who have been designed to operate according to new, pure, precious, principles of virtuousness of the Spirit. The lusts of the flesh are at war against it. Then Peter mentions drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. What this means is that this is the fellowship of the world in all its perversions of what is supposed to matter. This is the church meeting of the whole world--drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. The fellowship of the Spirit is different than all of this fellowship of sin. We need to be sober and ready. We do not need to party with the world anymore. We need to set ourselves apart and be different as the body of Christ. The point is that when you do, you will suffer for your stance, but you must do it with the mindset that it is your armament.
/4/
This leads to the next principle. It is the most prominent form of this kind of suffering that the Spirit is pressing in this context,
4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
The world does not understand the moral standards of Christians. When you get maligned for trying to live a holy life, then what is going on? You are suffering for Christ. The world will call you names. Even false religions will persecute you. They may share some of the same elements of moral manifestations that we do, but they will persecute you because of one important point in the list that Peter gives. All false religions are idolatries, and so because of this one fact alone, they malign God's true children for the true faith. The question is:
Are you doing what it takes, knowing that this will happen?
It is the only way you are going to be able to withstand being ridiculed. It is the only way you will walk through the fire when it is so easy to walk down the road of what feels good, like sensual sins, and like drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. I am talking about the arming yourselves for the purpose of suffering.
/5/
This leads to the last principle: Those who persecute us now are judged, and will be judged. Even those who have died, will be judged according to the gospel.
"5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." 1 Peter 4:5
@3 Everyone who does not follow Jesus as Lord and Savior will give an account to God who is ready to ________________ them. 1 Peter 4:5
Notice that Peter says that "God is ready" in respect to judging both the living and the dead. Something we must remember is that the apostles were anticipating the eminent return of Christ in their own generation. Christ's return is described as a terrible time of judgment--as the days of vengeance that all things which are written will be fulfilled, Luke 21:22. Any suffering that Christians experience for righteousness can not be compared to the suffering of those who malign them because of their righteousness. To be alive at the time that it takes place, and to be in rejection of Messiah, and His people, is not good. Paul made a similar warning in 2 Thessalonians 1:4-10. The point is that God will repay with affliction those who afflict you, when Christ deals out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of Christ in which they will experience eternal destruction. The first generation saw vengeance upon apostate Israel in AD 70. We may see vengeance now upon those who do us evil too; but then again, maybe we won't,
"Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord," Romans 12:19
This is true. Even if we do not see the repayment in this life span, there is one thing we can be assured of: God will have His ultimate judgment; and all who malign Christ and all who malign you, me, and all His people, will be judged as lost. They will reap the dooming consequences forever (aionios). I also want us to notice that Peter says God is ready to judge both the living and also the dead. The writer of Hebrews says,
"It is appointed to men to die once and after that comes the judgment," Hebrews 9:27
@4 God has appointed to people to die once and after that death comes the _____________________. Those who are in Christ are judged saved and righteousness. Those who are outside of Christ are judged lost. Hebrews 9:27
But Peter reminds you of the good news. The Spirit wants to encourage you when you suffer for righteousness. God wants to lift you up when you find it is difficult to avoid all sins that feel good. He wants to give you encouragement in the midst of the attracting seduction. The judgment that awaits the unbeliever is doom. But the judgment that awaits all who have received Christ, by grace through faith, is wonderful life in blessing that never ends. This is why Paul said,
"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us," Romans 8:16-18
This is the good news of salvation through Christ. It is preached to people who have died. It is being preached to people who are alive now.
Let's recap what we have just gone over: We have been learning about a principle that has to do with arming ourselves for the daily battle against sin. The amazing weapon is found in our example from Christ. Since Christ suffered in the flesh for righteousness, we need to arm ourselves also with the same purpose. We are to be ready to suffer for righteousness as we manifest Christ out of ourselves. We will be mocked and slandered in the world. We will experience what Noah and his family experienced. But through it all, suffering brings the righteous result. Let's be considering that we are arming ourselves also with the same purpose that our Savior had in mind. Righteousness is what we are looking for. When we have suffered in the flesh, we have ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. This is what we are looking for in the midst of the confusion of suffering. This is what brings clarity in what God is doing in the midst of it all. Be remembering the bondage that you used to be lost in. See how it contrasts to your freedom in Christ. The time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. None of those things is worth suffering for. But in the contrast, our freedom in Christ, which is a freedom that has us serving our Great Master, is worth the suffering. The lost world culture is not going to understand, so they are going to malign you. As they do, recognize that they are the true sufferers as they seek to harm you. Finally, always remember that those who persecute you now are judged; and they will be judged, according to the gospel. Everyone will ultimately give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. We hope we will see Christ come again. But, even if Christ does not come again in your lifetime, we still all have one sure hope that will be revealed. We will live forever in a wonderful place where suffering will be gone;
"and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." Revelation 21:4
Amen.
@1 Our parents discipline us as they think is best. Our Father in heaven disciplines us for our ______________ so that we may share in His holiness. Hebrews 12:5-11
@2 Jesus bore our ______________ on the cross, so that we would die to sin, and live to righteousness. 1 Peter 2:24
@3 Everyone who does not follow Jesus as Lord and Savior will give an account to God who is ready to ________________ them. 1 Peter 4:5
@4 God has appointed to people to die once and after that death comes the _____________________. Those who are in Christ are judged saved and righteousness. Those who are outside of Christ are judged lost. Hebrews 9:27
