You are listening to the preaching ministry of Faith Baptist Church. And I'm very thankful that many of these songs we sung, by the way, often chosen by Brother Vlad, are right in line, right in step with what we're going to be talking about in the message. And I did want to read for you just the lyrics of the The second one particularly deals very well with what we're going to be talking about today. The second verse of that psalm reads, sustained by joy in trial and pain, I trust your wisdom and mercy. Through suffering that your love ordains, more like your son you will make me. For Christ embraced the promise that suffering lifts me to glory. that eventually suffering lifts me to glory. Suffering did that for Christ, and it will do the same for me. What a glorious truth, what a wonderful hope, that though I suffer and I often endure hardship in this life, it is for a greater purpose, it is leading me to exalted, glorified, higher ground. And that's really where I want to at least start us off and scorned. Though he walked that low path of shame and even death, he arose victorious over death, only to ascend to the Father's right hand and to declare his victory over all spiritual angelic powers. They have all been made subject to him. That is the path of victorious suffering Peter lays out for us. And really, I couldn't help but name this message the same thing. Because continuing on into chapter 4, Peter continues the thought. Peter keeps going. He lays out further more of this argument. Since Christ has suffered in this way, what is our response going to be as Christians, suffering as pilgrims? manifest itself in our lives today. Well, it's encouraging to know one day all evil, all oppression, it's all going to be gone. Jesus is going to deal with all of it. He will judge it and it will be eliminated from our world forever. But how does that help me if my family treats me like the black sheep because I'm a Christian? What does that do for me? How does that truth culture. These types of questions preoccupy the believers of the first century. They wonder the same thing. They're being passed out of their communities, they're being let go from their jobs, they have to move to new towns and cities, leave the country entirely. neighborhoods where there's a church in every corner, like in the American South. It just wasn't the reality they were living in. Yet Peter expects that they of Christ's final victory. As we explored last week, this idea of victorious suffering, we're really gonna look at the same theme. And I couldn't help again but repeat this idea. So Jesus has triumphed, he's ascended, he's arisen, and he has shown his victory to all spiritual powers. So now, since he is victorious, that motivates me as his child, as his follower, of Christ, and to showcase his defeat of evil and suffering by enduring hardness righteously for all the world to see. I hate to break it to us, but sometimes the chapters of Scripture, and even the verses, break up clear blocks of thought, clear paragraphs and sections where an author is trying to say something, and then, oh, chapter division, I guess I can wait for tomorrow to read that, or next week to read that. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just letting you know, if that's how you always read the Bible, you may miss the And we know that because he uses the word therefore. Right? That shows a connection between these units of thought. Since Jesus followed the low path of suffering in His life, and He was victorious in the flesh, I should expect to walk the same path as His child. In fact, I'm commanded to. He says, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, mind. Do you know that that word, that verb, arm yourselves, is the only command in this whole passage? Usually when there is a command in a passage of scripture, you give great attention to that command. Because God is trying to get What is it talking about? Well, Peter here is using a word with clear military connotation. It dealt with a military unit preparing for battle, arming themselves for the conflict to come. Peter here is preparing Christians for suffering, like troops, heading off to war. a willingness to endure. Notice here, Peter is not encouraging Christians to defend their rights, to fight for their God-given freedoms in their country. No, no, no. Rather, we must arm ourselves the right mindset. And the best way to prepare for suffering, to prepare for persecution, is to think like Jesus did about suffering. It's the same line that Peter's referencing here. He's talking about how did Jesus think of his own suffering? When he went through the cross, when he went through the triumph, when he went through the betrayal, agony on the road to Calvary, and how he faced that physical pain in the flesh, in his body, is our model for how we also endure suffering. So what did Jesus do in his own suffering that we can emulate? How did the cross impact him? that low road, he accepted his fate as it were, that he had to die unjustly for the sins of the world, but he knew where that would lead. He knew that the path eventually would take him to the resurrection, to new life, and finally to his ascension, where he left Earth and he left his disciples and went back to the Father in Heaven. And by ascending to Heaven, he that was promised to him. In the same way, I can expect that through my suffering, though as a Christian I embrace the path of hardship and difficulty, eventually it will bring me to a path of exaltation. Whether in this life, I don't know that for sure, but I know for certain in the next life, God raises his children up in glory and in a resurrection body. an unexpected way that Christ's sufferings affected him. Why don't you look at this verse with me, see if you find anything strange about it. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 8, though he, referring to Jesus, was a son, yet I thought he was the son of God. Why would he have to learn obedience? Did he have to become more obedient to the Father through everything he went through? the Savior's genuine submission and obedience to the Father. Through all of that, we see the Savior's obedience shining brightly. Like what heat does to gold, when you put it under enough pressure and under enough of that molten effect, where it brings out the beauty of the gold and the refinement of the gold, the suffering our Savior went through brings out the genuineness of His submission to the Father. And that it was real. Our Savior was obedient. Even when He was suffering, our Savior was submitted to His Father's will. We see it clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? He is praying in agony to the Father, saying, if it's possible, let this pass. But, not my will, but yours be done. His obedience to the Father. We see it even when He is being tried before these various political officials. He didn't speak a word. Though he was reviled, though he was maligned and his reputation was thrown to the ground, he spoke not a single word of his own defense. Even when he hung on the cross, friends, he was submitted and obedient to the Father. hearing him saying oh you know two good things he's crucified mocking him and saying oh why don't you call it to your father and ask him to bring you down even when all that was going on what was our Savior's response? He said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. That's what it looks like for us to suffer He went through all that agony and came out on the other side, having learned obedience and being exalted over his enemies. So here's the question for us. If Christ learned obedience through suffering, what do you think he might be trying to teach you through your own suffering? It's a powerful question. According to Keter, what needs to be the expected end of suffering? In our relationship with God, our walk with God, what does the end of suffering look like? How should I expect to grow as a Christian as I go through hard things here on earth? Well, he writes in verse 1, the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. In other words, our lives. Instead, when I suffer righteously, it should have a purging effect on my heart. God uses trials and tribulations to nurture and to build endurance, James 1, 2-4, right? The triumph of your faith works patience, it works endurance, and it also builds godly character, Romans 5. I suffer, it means I cease from sin entirely. That might be what it sounds like, but it's not saying that. Instead, we know that because this verb here, where he says, the one who has suffered has ceased, it's a perfect tense word. is going to refine you. Suffering is going to purge you. It's going to get rid of and eliminate the dross, the sinful behaviors in your life that God is trying to purge out of you. But it's not going to be an entire work the first time. In other words, the first trial you have, the second trial you have, the third trial you have, so on and so forth, God's not done with you. He keeps refining you. He keeps purging you until he's done. until the refining process is over and he comes to the Lord. God does that over and over and over again. We see clearly in the next phrase even, verse 2, right? He says that he no longer will live the rest of his time? No, no, no. And that he no longer should live the rest of his time. Yes, live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, for the will of God, verse 2. So the believer who has properly responded to suffering will not want to live the remainder of his life motivated by these evil, dark lusts. Suffering refined our desires so that they're renewed according to the new man, according to the new person that God has made us. So on the one hand, suffering is going to cause the believer to re-examine his future choices to make sure they're in step with God's plan for his life and not his own. we have on earth to live for God. You notice he talks about time twice. Very interesting. He says that he no longer, in verse two, he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the rest of man. So on the one hand, if I'm a Christian, I see my future as, wow, I've got this limited time to live for God, to follow in his ways, and when I suffer, that just makes me more conscious of that. When I go through hard things, it makes me realize time is so short. I don't have a lot of time left to live for God. But it also points me to the past a little bit, where I realize, wow, I have already spent this chunk of my life living for my own selfish pleasure. I need to abandon that. I need to forsake that so that I can keep going on in living the life of a disciple. where there's no institutional, systematic persecution of Christians. That's the case in a place like China, or in places like Saudi Arabia, But in a place like America, we lack the urgency that people in persecuted countries have. We don't have any fire, as it were, any passion to share the gospel with the lost, because we'll assume, hey, we live in a free country, they'll hear the gospel somehow or another. If not from me, then from somebody else, from a gospel track, from a Christian, from a radio station, whatever, they'll hear the gospel eventually. But in a persecuting country, in hostile anti-Christian cultures, believers are more motivated, not less, to share the good news with greater intensity and with passion. And that attitude consequently turns these believers away from their sinful past. So, in contrast, Peter reminds believers what used to motivate them, what used to energize determined what you did. Not the old guy, but the will of a godless, hostile, anti-Christian culture. Without Christ, our hearts would naturally bend toward that direction. Our hearts naturally incline themselves to We live in New York City. Apart from Christ, we feel like we've got to give in to the grind that's here. We've got to give in to the culture that's here in New York. And if I lived in rural Iowa, or if I lived in California, or if I lived in Texas, I might feel that pressure to conform myself to that culture. most naturally want to be that way. We see this most evidently played out in the school year, right? In a classroom setting, in a school setting. Among other children, a boy or girl just wants to fit in. We all remember what that was like in elementary school, in our teen years. We just wanted to fit in. We wanted to dress the same way our friends did. We wanted to be picked for all sports teams. We wanted to be close to the most popular We want to be social creatures that are in with the right people, as it were. Almost no child, naturally, wants to be an outsider, or feel like he's not part of the established social structures around him. This is discipleship that is going to set you apart from the culture of the world, from the radical depravity of the culture around us. The world is depraved in all kinds of horrible ways. You are called to be a revolutionary in a culture that is hostile to God. You are called to radical discipleship. Before salvation, our sinful choices only revealed that we were part of that radical capacity. Our choices revealed that we were living in sin, in lust, in the lust of our flesh. Peter is now going to list out for us, what did this life look like? What behaviors, what attitudes, what activities used to characterize our past lives of sin? This list here is representing how the world expects us to live. The world wants us to live in verse 3. All those patterns of behavior you see in verse 3, that's how the world wants us to live. So the expectation is that believers will no longer think of these behaviors as acceptable, right? To all the things that Peter lists there in verse 3, Christian, those behaviors are no longer acceptable to you. They're out of bounds. They don't represent an alternative lifestyle. that, oh, I can just appeal to my personal freedom, my political freedoms as an American. I can live however I want. Well, that might be true as an American. It's not true as a Christian. You're called to live differently. These activities are abominable. They are abhorrent to God, an affront to his holiness and his salvation that he's so freely given you. So if we're saved from these immoral walk away from it entirely. Because you know the destruction and the shame it can bring. Let's consider these sinful behaviors one by one. Peter lists six of them. The first one, he says, so we've spent enough of our time, past lifetime, in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked, past tense, right? When we walked. This shouldn't characterize your life now. Here's what it used to look like, though. When we walked in lewdness. This means loose living, a lack of self-constraint, which leads to behavior that is outside the bounds of what is acceptable, what is appropriate. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, the King James word is licentiousness. The idea is a life, a license to sin. This is a person, a lewd person, is someone who feels like they have an unbeliever, can look at our culture and say, oh, but all these things are acceptable now. It used to not be acceptable to be homosexual, now it is. It used to not be acceptable to transition to another gender, now it is. It used to not be acceptable to have relationships with more than one person at one time. Polyamory and this sort of thing, now it's acceptable. What is respectable, what is out of bounds, is in regards to the scriptures, in regards to what the Bible says. And a life of license to sin is a life that is anti-Christian, anti-God. Lusts refers to inordinate desire, an intense craving for what is sinful or what is forbidden, particularly in the sexual realm. I don't actually have a good need, an intense passion for a good thing. But a lot of times, it means a passionate desire for something out of balance. Something you know you shouldn't have. Drunkenness. I think it's pretty clear what that's talking about, right? Drinking alcohol to excess. Until your inhibitions and your restraints are all desensitized. Christian in the past, you know what that's like. You know the consequences of what that kind of life will lead to. orgies, what we would call today the party scene, the party life. It tends to be coupled with other terms of reckless behavior in a social setting. You can look at Romans 13, Galatians 5, 21. These are passages where it's the same word, carousing, revelries. It's in the context of drinking, of having immoral sexual relationships, because this was the culture people lived in in that day. where alcohol and inappropriate relationships were all part of these social settings. People got together to have a good time. This is what was usually involved. Again, getting together in the wrong sense. the drinking to reckless abandon, to the point where you were drunk and you lost your inhibitions, that was the expectation. You came to this party for that purpose. You came to this club, to this event, to this activity, for the purpose of wasting yourself entirely. It was common in Greco-Roman culture for social elites, the high class, to have these kinds of parties. Now, the party was typically framed as And then they came to the party, they might talk for a little while, but eventually opened the case. And we got to the real point of the party, which was to drink ourselves to waste. Now Peter may not be thinking of these social elites, he's not talking to a bunch of rich Christians necessarily. But still, whatever class of people you are, when people got together, this was often the case. false gods. Emphasis here on the lawless, right? The word abominable means lawless. It means forbidden. This is not something Christians should be engaged in. Giving any attention, giving any credence to an idol, to a false deity. Especially as Christians, we have this walk with God. We don't give any credence to another god. Only the God of the Bible. in a Greco-Roman culture like these Christians are living in. Because idolatry was in just about every setting that you can think of. In your worship, in the religion that you were a part of, it was a part of social gatherings, political gatherings. Idolatry was woven into the lives of every ordinary person. No, no, no. If you're a good citizen of the Roman Empire, you were expected to fall down before the emperor because he's a god. The cult of emperor worship was alive and well during this time. And unbelievers around you, the pagan people around you, would be incensed, they would be outraged at the thought of this Christian, if he's so high and mighty, why is he not bowing down before the emperor? Why is he not giving in to the idolatry around him? pledging allegiance. People have different opinions about that, but it would be odd, if you're an American citizen, not to do that. Because it's just, you're pledging allegiance to your country, to the country you're born in, you're a part of. While Peter's readers probably were not facing necessarily torture or imprisonment quite yet, they were definitely being labeled social outcasts, because they were not running with the culture. They were not giving in to the idolatry around them, and they're suffering for it. And here's helping them realize, guys, that was a part of your past life. Don't dig into that again. This verse, verse three, is a sobering reminder of what our culture deems acceptable. The church today tends to have a rose-colored view of what cultures in the past used to think. Oh man, you know, 100, 200, 500 years ago, the world was so much better. The culture has never been this bad before. Oh, friends, that's not true. Not at all. Every culture, from Babylon to Rome to America, has a depraved culture. And it's based on sin. And it's based on selfishness. And it is tolerant of evil. The party scene that's being described here in this list, it's the world's way of entertaining itself. It's its feeble attempt is a wonderful testimony of just how far many of you have come. Now, I was raised in a Christian home, praise God. My parents were Catholics at first, but they were already coming here by the time I was a young kid. I was just a few years older than Rafi was when my family started coming, so I was basically raised in a church, and I praise God for that. I didn't have to live with a drunken father engaged in the party life, engaged in these kinds of activities. Maybe not to the same extent, but this is what your life used to be. How many of us were participants of that life? How many of us lived for the weekend just to party it up and have fun with our friends at the bar, at the club? To turn from the glint and glimmer of that lifestyle It's a testament to the glorious grace of God. During my college years, I had the privilege of being part of a church planting initiative where we would drive two hours to northern Wisconsin and we'd help the church planter there. We would do outreach, we would help with services on Sundays. One Sunday, this young man named Mike came to Sunday school and showed up and no one had witnessed him, no one had talked to him before from the church. But he said, I came because I got a flyer in the mail about the church, and God told me I needed to come today. Now, his backstory was absolutely fascinating. He was a young man who, in his teen years, had fallen in with the wrong crowd. A lot of what's being described here, right? Drinking, drugs, and other things. And after graduation, that's kind of what he gave himself over to. And then suddenly, as he's enjoying the party with all his friends, he hears a voice speaking to him a Bible verse. He'd be sober. He'd be vigilant. 1 Peter 5. To this day, he has no idea why it was that particular verse. But he's looking around. Nobody's talking to him. Nobody that he can see. But he hears the voice again. He's sober. He's vigilant. the part of seeing his life all together. It was only a few weeks later, he got the flyer in the mail, he came to the church there in Wisconsin, and he got gloriously saved. It's amazing what God can do to wrestle us out of that kind of lifestyle. Maybe some of you, or maybe you know someone who had to go through a much harder experience before they left what Peter is describing here. Past tense. Such were some of you. Not you are today. No. You were this way. But you were washed, and you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Oh, what a glorious transformation His grace can do. So that I no longer have to live my life this way. I can live it for His glory. We used to walk that way, but now we chart a different course. Unfortunately, our determination to be different as followers of Jesus is only going to put us more at odds with the world. So you see, the world is going to look at you and think you're strange. Because you don't live this way. Because your lifestyle doesn't look like this. in the same flood of dissipation. What is he saying? Well, our culture is obviously backwards in this regard, right? What should be unacceptable behavior, what should be totally inappropriate, out of the bounds of polite society, is instead tolerated and accepted and even encouraged by our current culture. You're being genuine. You're living out your truth. This is normal. It's celebrated, because this is what the world expects of us. The world is confused, because the very people that used to attend their parties, and that used to indulge every sensual pleasure, they no longer live this way. They no longer run in those circles. As Peter puts it, they don't run in the flood of dissipation. The idea is they're not carried along, they're not swept along by the lies of You're no longer blinded by the facade of reckless living. You know it's just a deception, a dangerous one. The world is not just confused, friends, they are also offended. They're offended. How do I know that? Because Peter writes there in verse 4, They will speak ill of you. They will make up lies and stories about your character and about your reputation. They will besmirch you, demean you in every possible way before your peers. Why? Why would they do all of that? Because your righteous testimony is an offense. know to respond with, well, you're going to get what's coming to you, Christian. As discouraging as that may sound, here is one simple way to counteract this evil speech of people who persecute Christians, who hate you because of your faith. Just double down on living a value life. continue to follow Jesus. And you keep a healthy distance between yourself and these ungodly activities that used to characterize how you lived. They, meaning the unsaved persecutors, those who harm us, those who oppress us, they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God as a spirit. So, the lost world, unsaved people, they will ostracize us, they will slander us. In other words, friends, God's justice is not going to end when you die. For lost people who persecute and hate believers, God's justice is not done at the grave. There's a final reckoning coming. That's a sobering thought. For everyone who lived without restraint or control in their sinful passions, justice is going to be served on that Judgment Day. For all people who persecuted the Church, who had a hand in turning over Christians to authorities, And we don't need to fear their reprisals in this fight. We don't even need to take revenge on them at all. Because the Lord says, vengeance is mine. And I will repay it satisfactorily. of Christians who are no longer here with us. See, because it feels like to these Christians, to these first century believers, our friends, our brothers and sisters in the Lord, they have suffered. They have even died. They have given their lives for the sake of Christ. And it sure looks like from our vantage point today in this life that our persecutors have won. They're killing us off. They're keeping the gospel from being preached. They're shutting down churches. They're persecuting our leaders. It sure looks like they're winning. the gospel was preached also to those who are dead. What's he talking about? Preaching to people who are dead? He's not talking about giving the gospel to anyone post-mortem. No, no, no. He's saying, for Christians who have passed on, for believers who are victims of persecution and oppression, those people, the gospel was given to them It might seem like the enemies of the cross have won, but here's Peter's answer, and it's both realistic and hopeful. He says it's true, end of verse 6, right? They might be judged according to men in the flesh. So here on earth, you might feel like, as I'm according to men of the flesh. So unbelievers, they will revile us, they will incriminate us unjustly, and yes, for many Christians in the world, and maybe even for us at some point soon, they will even kill Christians for their faith. They will do so See, because life isn't over for you once you die, whether it's by persecution or by other means. No, you are ushered into the presence of God. And while you're with God, enjoying paradise with Him, you await His glorious resurrection, when your renewed, glorified, resurrected body is going to join to your spirit again. But until then, we wait in the Spirit for God to make everything right. Friends, this is the path of victorious suffering. While trials and persecutions plague us in this life, there is an eternity of blessing and reward that awaits us. So, like Jesus, we walk this hard road of suffering, but we know there's exaltation to come. Like Jesus, our enemies will also receive their just deserts. Now, we don't hope for that. We wish, we desire that many would come to Christ, even those who are persecuted. And you know what, that's okay, because that's all in God's justice and sovereignty. Unbelievers can continue in their sinful, depraved lives, but they will have to face the judge someday. And he has won the victory over them, too. I mentioned briefly, my friend Mike became deprised by receiving that flyer in the mail and getting rescued out of that party scene. It really seemed like he had a strong walk with God. And he even started attending a Bible college in hopes of going into the ministry, being a pastor or something like that. It sure seemed like following Jesus had led Mike to great blessing, prosperity. But then, in the middle of his freshman year, Mike started getting these bad migraine headaches that he went to the doctors and they diagnosed him with leukemia. And as a result, he went through, for a year, just a battery of chemo treatments and other things. And it was a terrible ordeal for him. Unfortunately, within a short time, I want to say in less than a year, the cancer that had been dealt with by Now, since then, Mike's been doing much better, but his immune system is just totally out of whack, totally not the same. He's healthy, he's living a good life, but his immunity is basically like that of a toddler's, where he gets sick very easily, anything he catches. And he works as an EMT of all things. Now, despite all of that, even got married to a godly Christian girl, and he continues to follow Christ in his life. He's gone through so much suffering. That's not persecution, I know that, but if there's anyone that I know Will it be a victorious and righteous suffering like our Savior? Because that is His will for you. Thank you for tuning in to the preaching ministry of Faith Baptist Church. We are conveniently located in Corona, New York City, and are devoted to loving God and making disciples. For more resources and helpful information about our church, visit StudyGodsWord.com. We'd also like to extend a personal invitation for you and your family to join us on Sundays at 9.30 in the morning. for a time of interactive Bible study for young people and adults, followed by an 11 o'clock worship and preaching service. If you have young children, they will really enjoy our exciting Bible-based children's ministries in both the morning Bible study hour and worship service. If you have any questions about the church or would like to learn how to have a personal relationship with God, please give us a call or leave some feedback at StudyGodsWord.com. We would be thrilled to meet you in person and show you firsthand what God is doing at Faith Baptist Church. Until next time, may God richly bless you.