Let us turn in our Bibles to 1 Peter, the fourth chapter. Last week, we took a break to stress ascension in our Sunday morning service. And for churches that observe calendars, this Sunday would be Pentecost. And certainly, we're so very grateful to acknowledge that every Sunday is Pentecost Sunday as well, because the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the people of God by our Ascended Lord. Now, as we read this passage, 1 Peter 4, and come to this section, as we've been working our way through the book. You will find that there are two poles to which the Christian is pointed by the Apostle Peter, the cross and the return of Christ, the cross and the return of Christ. So keep that in mind as we read and as the exposition of God's word goes forward. Will you bow with me in prayer? O gracious God and Father in heaven, we contrast ourselves with thy majesty and humble ourselves before thy majestic presence, before the throne of grace through our great high priest Jesus Christ, and we acknowledge our need. We are in complete need of hearts that are teachable and the word of the Lord that is read and expounded, we confess we need. We need this light unto our path. We need this way to be shown to us that we may live godly lives in Christ Jesus. But Father, there may be also those among us today who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ at all, and we pray for them. That was all of us at one point, and yet there has been a transition from wrath to grace, and we pray that this morning, those who do not know Christ would leave this place with new hearts, having trusted in Christ alone for salvation by the powerful, effectual work of the Spirit of God. Hear our prayer. We are thankful for the word of the Lord. We live under its authority and may our hearts show that we do so in the way in which we take this word and live it out through the week and through the rest of our lives. In the name of Christ, our Redeemer, we pray. Amen. Please take your copy of God's word as we stand. First Peter chapter four. This is the word of God. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of the time, in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The Word of the Lord, please be seated. People of God, the only way we can live faithful Christian lives in a hostile world is to know in the heart, by faith, the love, the power, the forgiveness of the cross. and to know Christ this way more and more. And that's what Peter wants for the people of God to whom he writes, those who are being persecuted throughout Asia Minor, and that's what the Lord wants for us as well. We begin with this point, this is first. The Christian life is determined by the cross. The Christian life is determined by the cross. Verse one, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now the argument is simply this, that Christ in his death finished definitively his relation to our sin, our sin that was imputed to him for which he died. When he died, he died once for all, and there was a finality about it. He was done with our sin. Peter then is saying, since you are united to Christ in his death, and since his death was a definite breach with our sin, then you in him also have a definite breach with your sin. You have, in Christ, made a definite breach with sin. Sin has no place, therefore, in our lives. It doesn't belong in the Christian life. And with this truth, with this reality in your minds, Peter says, arm yourselves. because the only way in which you can do battle in this fallen world with sin and with the sin within, you see, we are justified by grace through faith in Christ, completely accepted, our guilt is removed, but morally speaking, we are still sinners, even though we have new hearts and we are growing in grace. and we have this battle with sin, with temptation and sin within, you are to arm yourselves with this simple but powerful reality. As John Brown of Edinburgh put it, the sanctifying efficacy of the atonement is exerted through the faith of the atonement. The more deeply we understand the significance of what Christ did for us on the cross, the more deeply will our lives overcome sin, the more wonderfully will we be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And so Christian, you can only overcome, morally speaking, sin in your life by being centered on the cross of Christ. The more you know that you are accepted by God, the more you understand that your sins are forgiven, your faith and your repentance will deepen, and doubts and bitterness and the weight of guilt go out. Why? Because the love of Christ comes in and it drives out all that is contrary to it. And so Peter is saying, go to the cross, meditate upon the cross, learn the truths and realities of the wondrous atonement of Jesus Christ. See him who died definitively that we might be saved from our sins so that within your heart, you also will understand there has been a definitive breach with sin and more and more in your life, you will see the reality of that lived out. The obligations of the Christian life then will become your delight when grounded in what God has done for us in his son. This was very beautifully and classically put by William Romaine, 18th century Anglican divine, evangelical leader in the evangelical awakening, in his book, The Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith. And this is what Romaine said. No sin can be crucified, either in heart or life, unless it first be pardoned in conscience. because there will be a lack of faith to receive the strength of Jesus, by whom alone it can be crucified. If it be not mortified in its guilt, it cannot be subdued in its power. If the believer does not see his perfect deadness to sin in Jesus, he will open a wide door to unbelief. And if he be not persuaded of his completeness in Christ, he gives room for the attacks of self-righteousness. But more clearly and steadfastly he believes this, as the apostle did, I am crucified with Christ, in proportion will he cleave to Christ and receive from him greater power to crucify sin. This believing view of his absolute mortification in Christ is the true gospel method of mortifying sin in our persons. So it could very well be that some of you have been struggling with temptation and sin and you've not been able to overcome or make progress because you are trying to do so in your own strength and you are not drawing upon the power of the cross and you're not filling your minds with what Christ did and you are not reckoning yourselves dead to sin as the apostle Paul put it and Peter is saying to us essentially here. The gospel method of killing sin in our lives is to draw from the fruit of the cross of Jesus Christ who died for us. You cannot do it in the power of the flesh. So that's first, the Christian life is determined by the cross. And I hope that you see how crucial this is for your Christian living. But then secondly, the cross sets us free to live for God. The cross sets us free to live for God, and Peter gives to us five ways in which we have been set free by Jesus' work on the cross to live now for God, five ways. The first is this, you are free to live for God's will. Verse two, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. This, of course, means when he says no longer, that there has now been a change, something is different. I wonder, has that change happened within your heart and life? Have you been regenerated by the spirit of God? You must be born again. Have you been born again? You then are free to begin to live for the will of God. It means that we are alive to God, we are free to live for God, that our wills, which once opposed God and hated God, have now been changed. And because in Christ we died to sin, we are now free to learn to forsake sin. We now have a new desire, we have new cravings. The powerful love of the cross now dominates in our lives. Let me illustrate it this way. A Christian who cannot seem to overcome anger, he's concerned and disturbed because he cannot seem to control it. It doesn't change. But then he begins to meditate upon the cross. His mind and heart are filled with the power of the cross. Day in and day out, he goes to the cross, he learns from the cross, and he says to himself, I'm learning that God is gracious to me. that He's merciful to me, that He abounds in steadfast love to me, that He punished my anger on the cross, that He gave me a new heart. Why then do I want to hold on to the very thing that nailed my best divine friend on the cross? And thinking this way, you will begin to want God's will more and more, and you will find yourself more and more free from those things that otherwise would dominate you. And notice in verse two that it says, for the rest of the time. In other words, he's saying, we've had enough of that old way of life. for the rest of our lives, for the rest of the time that God gives us, we want to live for Him. Do you want that, people of God? I'm tired of that old way of life. I want to live for the rest of my time in a way that shows that my will has been changed. Well, as we move along in this passage, we also find that the cross sets us free to live for God in a second way. We are free from the old masters, the old overlords, the old masters. And so we read in verse three. For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. Now, we could have spent this morning going through each of the words found here, and it would have illumined even more what he is after. But just to say this morning, the old masters that he's referencing, and there are other old masters than these, but the ones that he's referencing are alcohol abuse and lewdness. Certainly, as we see our own culture, we understand that this is the case, and we also see it unhappily, often in professing believers in Jesus. But enough of my life was spent under their domain. He said that also in chapter one, verses 14 and following, you might remember. When a sinner is converted, he is revolted by his past heart's commitments. Just as Paul the Apostle said, I persecuted the Church of God. He was revolted by what he had been. But now, there is love, not lust. Sobriety, not drunkenness. Worship of God, not idolatry. Their grip was great. Had it been up to me, I would never have been converted because their grip was so great, because that's what my heart, because of original sin, wanted. He broke in pieces my self-sufficiency. He has given to me new desires, and unbelievers cannot begin to understand it. And so he tells us in verse four, with respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. That word malign is from the word blasphemeo, to blaspheme. Selwyn says in his commentary blasphemy consisted in calling good evil and evil good and surely we see that in our culture don't we calling good evil and evil good so they look at the believer you're not following along with us and what he calls in verse 3 lawlessness lawless idolatry because remember Christ sends us to the law, doesn't He? The law sends us to Christ for our justification. Christ sends us to the law to frame our way of life, not without His help and assistance in the power of the Spirit, but we no longer are lawless as once we were. Blasphemy. They look at you. Why aren't you participating with us? Do you think you're self-righteous? Do you think you're better than we are? But no, they don't understand what's happened. The change of heart in the believer. Believer, why ever do you wish to return to grovel before such old masters as these? from which the cross of Jesus Christ, the precious blood of Christ has set you free. Don't return there, don't grovel before those old masters, because we are free from them, though the world around us is still in the grip of these things. But also, there's a third way in which he shows the cross sets us free to live for God. We are free from the wrath to come. Because he says in verse 5 concerning those Gentiles, but they, noted as they, not us, they, not us because of grace alone, they will give account to him who is ready to be judged, to judge the living and the dead. And what an awesome day it will be. What an account the unbeliever will give on that day, unclothed, no righteousness of Christ, naked to the judgment of God, to the all-piercing eye of Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead. Jesus ascribes to himself the position of judge on that last day. Now, people of God, the Lord is doing a great work in this congregation. Have you not seen it? Have you not noticed it? He's working in many a heart. He's transforming many a life. And I don't want you, whoever you may be, I don't want you to miss out by unbelief of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because the day of wrath is coming. The day of judgment is ahead. You know that within your own conscience. You know that within your own heart. The believer can contemplate the return of Jesus Christ and the day of judgment with peace. But if you're an unbeliever, you have no right to that peace. That peace comes only when you know Christ. The believer is free from the wrath to come. You are under the wrath of God if you do not know Christ, even at this moment. Jesus says that in John 3.18. Pardon me if I say something very personal. You know I'm careful about that. I'm here to preach Christ and not myself, and yet from time to time when I think it will assist our understanding of the truth, I will mention something very personal. I was privileged with other board members at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary just recently to charge graduating students And when I was looking over those students and their families, and it was my opportunity to charge, I was completely overwhelmed. I began weeping, and I wept through the whole thing. I could hardly get my words out. They probably wondered, who is this guy? I hope he doesn't preach that way. Well, maybe from time to time I should. That is to say, it's in my heart. That's what I want you to see, it's in my heart. I spoke to them, you see, of eternity. I spoke with them about the reality that all to whom they will preach will spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. I spoke to them of the urgency of the gospel that they will preach. And my heart was simply overwhelmed by those realities. And don't you think that there are too few tears over the lost? Don't you think that maybe Psalm 126 6 has some application to this? He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him. Shouldn't we care? So I ask you this question from the depths of my soul because even though I believe I am preaching to those most of whom have come to know Jesus Christ, surely some of you have not, are you free from the wrath to come? Is it possible that others will weep for you but you will not weep for yourself? You do not see the gravity of it, the seriousness of it, you do not feel the weight of it. And you will not unless the Holy Spirit address your heart savingly. But he uses his word for that. Well, there is another way in this text that we are taught the cross sets us free to live for God. A fourth way, and it is we are free to receive the comfort of the gospel. Verses five and six together, but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that is to say it was preached and they died. It is not saying he preaches to those who are dead, but even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. Frankly, I like the authorized version better here, you can go, and read it, but here the judgment of sinners is contrasted with the acceptance of God. The profane may judge us now, but the Christian who has died lives in the Spirit before God, that is, they have eternal life. And this is our only comfort in life and in death, that we belong to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. This one who went to a cross and shed his blood and died for us and who has promised that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's his point in verse six. We now are free to receive this gospel comfort. Yes, in view of the holiness of God. Yes, in view of the wrath to come. Yes, in view of the day of judgment. We, the people of God, have the privilege. Yes, we have been given the right by grace to live in peace and to live in comfort. To live in assurance of faith. But also, there is another way in which the fruit of the cross has set us free. We are free, in light of these things recently said here, we are free to anticipate with joy the return of Christ. And so we read in verse seven, the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. The goal of this verse, look at it again, the end of all things is at hand. The goal is to keep you living on tiptoe, Looking up, waiting for the return of your Savior, Jesus Christ. It's the nearness here is eschatological nearness. God's book of redemptive history, so to speak, has an epilogue. And since Christ ascended and until he returns, we live in that period that we might call the epilogue. The epilogue of God's work of redemption. All is epilogue since the cross and resurrection. The next great event on God's eschatological clock, if I may change the metaphor, is the return of Jesus Christ when it strikes 12. Now that's what he's saying to us. When you look ahead, you look back to the cross, you look ahead to the return of Christ, then you're going to be people who have a goal. And people who have a goal are clear-headed people. Do you know when you're most muddled? It's when you go through your day and you don't have a plan. It's when you go through life and you don't have a purpose. I mean, the purpose of the Lord, but you don't have a purpose to reach that next goal. Well, that's the point here. Having a goal clears the mind. So I go into my study in the morning and I look to the end of my day and then I sort out my priorities and I try to determine, even though God is in control, things can change, nonetheless, I need a plan, I need a purpose, I try to determine how I'm going to reach the goal of the end of the day. Actually, I often plan it the night before. So I wake up and I have a clear idea of where I'm going that day and what I need to try and accomplish, bar emergencies. Well, this is the freedom that flows from the cross, that when you look to the second coming of Jesus Christ, you're living as people that have a goal. And it's going to affect how you live in your everyday life, and how you love your husbands and wives, and how you teach your children, and how you relate to your neighbors, and how you live life, how you deal with temptation and sin. And that's why he says, if you do this, you'll be sober. Look again, verse seven, the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. You're not going to be debauched. You're not going to be like the Gentiles living under the influence of alcohol. You're going to be sober-minded people. As Calvin put it, we must remember this principle that from the time when Christ once appeared, there is nothing left for the faithful except always to look forward to his second coming with minds absent. So I illustrate it this way. Think there's this young lady. And she's been slipping in her time with the Lord and her devotions, perhaps in her public worship. She used to be there morning, evening, Wednesday night, now you rarely see. Maybe on Sunday mornings she's beginning to slip. And she decides, or is tempted to decide, that she's going to live for glamour. and she's going to live a lascivious life. She's tempted that way. And the Holy Spirit begins to convict her. And she begins to meditate again on the cross, on the precious blood of Jesus. And she says, you know, I'm bought with a price. I don't belong to myself. My body does not belong to me. It belongs to Jesus. My soul, I belong to Jesus Christ. And she begins to remember how she used to look ahead to the return of Christ and what a difference it made. So she begins to look ahead to the return of Jesus Christ. And that causes her to have a different set of priorities because she has a different goal than the world would give to her. And she becomes so reminded and she becomes self-controlled and an alert individual again. You see? I give you that example, you apply it to your life. And when that happens, when you are anticipating the return of Christ, Peter says it helps you to pray. Verse 7, the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Because if you're looking ahead to the return of Christ, it's going to make you thoughtful in your prayer, sober in your prayer, clear-minded, fervent, alert, aware, rather than immersing yourself in the world. We will begin to do what Jesus taught us in Mark 13. We will watch and we will pray. A Dutch commentator, his name is Huyllega, made the statement, praying at regular times prevents us from losing track of time, God's and ours. Listen to that again. Praying at regular times prevents us from losing track of time, God's time, this epilogue, and ours living within this epilogue. You remember the statement of Christopher Love that cold praying invites God to deny them? But I ask you, can you pray cold prayers if your heart is filled with the cross of Jesus? Can you pray cold prayers when your mind is focused on the return of Jesus Christ? With Christ's return in your eye by faith? According to Peter, this also helps us to love one another. Verse eight, above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. I read that Xenophon, I've not read this in Xenophon myself, but Xenophon uses this verb, this word earnestly or fervently to describe a horse that was at full gallop. It's a beautiful picture for us, I think, our love for one another when we look to the cross, when we look to the return of Christ, will more and more become powerful and fervent love. Looking to Christ's return, I quickly put away all that hinders love. It covers a multitude of sins. And whether he means here God's love covers the multitude of my sins, or whether he means, which I think that he is saying, that my love for others will cover a multitude of their sins. That is to say, I'm going to love them no matter how they are living or what their need may be. It comes to the same. I'm going to put away all that hinders love. And if we are looking to the return of Christ, it helps us to serve one another, which is the point of verses nine through 11. Let's read them again. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus. Christ. So he enumerates various gifts. You're looking to the return of Christ. It's going to influence how you live with the people of God. You're going to be a hospitable people. This probably had in mind the missionaries and even the apostles who went from place to place. Missions spread throughout the early church because people opened their homes to them. Otherwise it would not have happened. They would have had nowhere to stay and to achieve and accomplish their work. Or perhaps the church actually meeting in homes because they did not have buildings such as we have now, but they had open hearts one to another. Preaching, he seems to reference, diaconal ministry. But the point is, people of God, if you live out of the fruit of the cross with Jesus coming in mind, serve each other. Roll up your sleeves, find something to do, use your gift in the church and serve the people of God. You can pray, can't you? Pray for one another, all kinds of ways. Serve each other in the church. And all of this helps us to praise. So he ends verse 11 with, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. because what life is all about is learning from our hearts to cast our crowns at Jesus' feet and to acknowledge his lordship and to look to him for grace. So all of this as a result of the cross and looking ahead to the return of Christ, my unbelieving friend, For every believer in Jesus, the promise of the return of Christ is a living and certain hope. And I am not your enemy if I tell you that according to the word of God, for those who do not know Christ, it will be a day of doom. Listen to the words of J.C. Ryle, evangelical Anglican 19th century, wonderful man of God. Many of our men read J.C. Ryle. Ryle says, the world is not yet done with Christ. Myriads talk and think of him as one who did his work in the world and passed on to his own place like some statesman or philosopher leaving nothing but his memory behind him. The world will be fearfully undeceived one day. That same Jesus who came 18 centuries ago in lowliness and poverty to be despised and crucified shall come again one day in power and glory to raise the dead and change the living and to reward every man according to his works. The wicked shall see that Savior whom they despised but too late and shall call on the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb. Those solemn words which Jesus addressed to the high priest the night before his crucifixion shall at length be fulfilled. Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. The godly shall see the Savior whom they have read of, heard of, and believed, and find like the Queen of Sheba, the half of His goodness had not been known. They shall find that sight is far better than faith, and that in Christ's actual presence is fullness of joy. Let's bring this to conclusion. Believer, all of these freedoms are at once fruits of the cross and arguments from holiness. They are fruits of the cross. Richard Baxter, consider well of the office, the bloodshed, and the holy life of Christ. His office is to expiate sin and to destroy it. Love Christ, and thou will hate that which caused his death. Love him, and thou will be made more like him. The fruit of the cross, the coming of Christ, we just sang it this morning, brothers, This Lord Jesus shall return again with His Father's glory, with His angel train, for all wreaths of empire meet upon His brow, and our hearts confess Him King of glory now. That's our call, confessing Him King of glory not only then, now, now, on Monday, when you go to work, when you're getting the children ready for school, on Tuesday, when they come home with a bad grade, on Wednesday, when they're so disobedient, on Thursday, when you're tempted to chuck it all, on Friday, when maybe you're saying, Not thank God it's Friday, but thank God the first day of the week is not far and we're going to worship together and anticipate the return of Jesus together. You crown Him, confess Him, King of glory now. And God's people said, Amen.