So we'll read verses 1-6 of chapter 4, but notice there's a therefore, that's really the second word in what we'll be reading, and it really refers to summarizing what's gone on before how the previous chapters ended. It's talking about suffering, Christ's suffering, and sometimes believers are called to suffer for the sake of righteousness, So it's making a point, drawing a conclusion, and so this is the conclusion based on that. Read the first six verses. 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 an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel is 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. There is a sermon outline in the Vulcan. Quite a number of years ago, I had an uncle who was diagnosed with lung cancer. And as you might guess, he had been a spoker most of his life, his wife as well. And that had contributed greatly to his having lung cancer. And perhaps in his case, at least his wife thought so, it was complicated by the fact that he was also a cook most of his adult life. And so he would spend eight hours a day over a hot stove. And it often gave off different types of fumes. So not only was he breathing the smoke, inhaling the smoke from cigarettes, but also maybe some harmful fumes from a stove. And so as he went and visited the doctor, the doctor told him he should immediately stop. Stop that dangerous lifestyle that was harmful to his health. Now by the time he was diagnosed, he had already retired and quit working. He had done that a few months beforehand and so that wasn't a problem. But making a clean break with smoking, he found much more difficult. There was a mix in there. that was hard to break. And too often he would try to sneak outside and get a cigarette when he thought no one was looking and no one would notice. And of course that fooled no one. Least of all his wife. She knew what he was doing and she would get very frustrated and irritated with him and be a source of arguments. She knew. It was not good for him. Every time he went outside, he was doing more damage to his lungs. He knew it as well. He knew it wasn't good for him. Yet he had a very hard time breaking free. Well, this section of 1 Peter is talking to us really in those same terms, not about some physical ailment that harms us, but about a spiritual ailment that harms us and tells us we need to break free. And the thing that is so spiritually dangerous to us is our past sinful lifestyle. These verses are saying to us, we're to break free of how we lived. Break free of sin. and being trapped by sin and being enslaved by sin if we're to be spiritually healthy. It's a dangerous behavior that only can lead to harm, just like my Uncle Smokey could only lead to greater harm. And with God's help, every one of us can break free of our past sins. And so the first point as you look at verses 1 and 2 is we need to realize that if we're Christians, when we suffer, it's an indication we've made a clear break with sin. If we suffer, we're making a clear break with sin. It says, whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now we need to not misunderstand what this verse is saying. Because some would take it to mean that we live perfectly this life, that we could reach some sort of state of perfection in this life, or some sort of state of sinlessness. But that's not the idea. Rather, it's the idea, when you suffer, you're making a clear break with sin. Sin has lost its grip on you. And how does it happen? Well, go back to verse 1. It begins with a mindset. Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. And it's referring to the thinking of Christ, who is willing to suffer, willing to do what was right, and pay the cost for doing what was right. The emphasis is on His willingness to suffer for the sake of God, for the sake of God's people, just as we ought to be willing to suffer to avoid sin. Notice it says, arm yourselves. It's our conspiracy, the warfare going on, and what are we to do? What weapon do we have at our disposal? Well, it's our minds. Our minds that are lined up with Christ's thinking, so that we think the same way He thinks. The same way He thinks about suffering. That He'd rather suffer than avoid suffering and sin. He could have avoided any suffering. But he would have avoided the cross. He would have avoided doing the will of God. And Jesus Christ was not willing to do that. His mindset of paramount importance was doing God's will. And nothing would dissuade him from that. How different that is from some of the teaching today that says if you're doing the will of God, everything is going to go well with you. Your life will be great. Such preachers are disarming their listeners. Peter says, arm yourselves with the same sort of thinking that Jesus had, who was willing to do the will of God, even though he knew it meant suffering, and even dying on the cross. The cost of being a follower of Jesus Christ is too rarely mentioned in churches today. But it's a real cost. And what this verse is saying to you is, when you look at that, when you realize what the cost is and you accept it, it's an indication that you're choosing to follow God, to do the will of God, rather than choosing sin. When you avoid suffering, That's part of the will of God. When you choose to not do right and suffer for it, but choose to do something wrong, then you're choosing sin. And so when you're consciously saying, I would rather be slandered, I would rather be fired at my job, than go along with the crowd and follow that order from my boss that I know is wrong, I won't lie to the government or whatever it is. I will not do something morally wrong. Then it's an indication you've broken free from the power of sin. You're no longer held under its sway. Now an example in reverse is in Peter's life. What did he do? when he betrayed Jesus Christ three times. Well, he had a choice of suffering perhaps for the sake of Christ or not. And he lied. And he sinned. And he chose the wrong path. That this type of commitment to follow the will of God, no matter what, will strengthen you. It will cause you to grow stronger in your faith. Perhaps the first time you are called upon to do so, it will be hard. But the more you do it, the easier it will be. to break free and to say, I would rather suffer for the sake of righteousness than avoid it and be avoiding the will of God. Realize that this is something that may have to go on several times in your life. Perhaps when you become a Christian, you'll make that decision. Yes, I need to follow Christ, even though it means my friends are going to ridicule and mock me. for being so religious. Perhaps it will come up again when you get a promotion and a big salary and you need to decide, what will I do with that money that God has given to me? Will I spend it on my passage? Will I use it to please myself or will I use it for the kingdom of God? Maybe it comes about when you are ready to retire. And you have time on your hands. And what will you do with that time? Will you use that time simply to please yourself? Or do you use it to honor Christ? And think about the ones in Iraq with the choices, convert to Muslim or die. Suffer for the sake of righteousness. Doing the will of God. staying faithful, or avoiding it and sinning. And to do these things, we need to think like Christ thinks. We need to have the mind of Christ. And that's why it says, arm yourselves with the thinking that we see in Christ. And the question is, how do you do that? How can you develop the mind of Christ? Well, the main answer, the way to truly know the mind of Christ, is to immerse yourself in Scripture. Because the Scriptures are what reveals Christ to us. Some of us are now reading the book Jesus on every page that goes through, and the focal point is how Jesus Christ is the focus of the Old Testament, just as He's the focus of the New Testament. And as we do that, as we understand that, as we read the Old Testament and see that it's speaking to us about Jesus Christ, as we read the New Testament, it's speaking to us about Jesus Christ. We're learning about Christ, about His thinking, about who He is, about His mind. And we're able to arm ourselves the better we understand and know Christ. That we see Jesus Christ in Genesis and Exodus and the Psalms and the Prophets and the Gospels and Acts and Revelation. And the more we know all the Scripture, the more we know the mind of Christ, we learn it is a servant leader. And so those who are called to lead are called also to be servant leaders. He looks out for the needs of others. We need to be developing a mindset that looks out for the needs of others. Sadly, I think we're living in perhaps the most anti-intellectual period in Christian history. There are those, I see them all around us and on TV and other places, who dismiss the need to read the Word of God, let alone to study it, to meditate on it, to memorize it. There's whole portions of the Word of God that they never even touch. And some go so far as to despise any who would. Say, that's unspiritual. Well, what do they substitute? They substitute feelings. Things that they think God should be like, you know, my God would never do that. If He says in the Scripture He will do it, He will do it. Or some even have a superstitious approach to the Word of God. I think of a young woman wanting to be married. So, you know, how did she find the direction for the Word of God? Well, she'd open it and she would flip and she came to Zechariah 9. A wonderful verse talking about the Messiah coming on the call of the donkey. fulfilled when Christ came a week before His death and resurrection into Jerusalem, His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But how did she take it? Well, she took it that she was going to surely meet her Prince Charming. Her Prince Charming was on her way to meet her. And of course, Two weeks later, she meets Prince Charming and quickly marries him. Only to find out that he wasn't maybe so much of a Prince Charming as she thought. Thus, we're to develop a Christ-like mind by getting into the Bible. The second point is found in verse 3. For the Christian, you have no more time No more time to sin as you have in the past. It says, for the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. Why, as a Christian, shouldn't you follow what the Gentiles want to do? Because life is short. You've already spent too much time, too much energy, too much money on things that don't last. On things that let you away from God. You suffer too much emotional turmoil and distress. And it's really saying, don't make it any worse. You may have misspent your first 15, 20, 25, 30 years. and wrong living, don't add more to it. The time is over for unrestrained sin. Well, what's it like to live the way the Gentiles like to do? Well, it goes through and mentions the types of things that are popular with those who have no thoughts of God, whether it be the college students We'll be coming back in a few weeks for Hollywood and what it portrays on TV and movies, or what goes on in average suburbs in America. And so the sins are listed. Sensuality, or licentiousness, it's living without any restraint. And it has usually a sense of either sexual immorality or violence. No restraint in those areas. Passions are those sinful human desires that cause us to live in wrong ways. More like brood animals than somebody who consciously thinks about the will of God. Drunkenness. Drunkenness is a sin. You often see it portrayed as funny, as okay, as something that everybody does. And drinking parties are mentioned a little farther on. How many does that describe their lives? They live for the weekends where they can get drunk. Orgies are feasts and festivities given over to the worst kind of immorality. and lawless idolatry. And notice that word lawless. Now, all idolatry is wrong. It's a breaking of the first commandment. But there's a lawless one that even goes against the laws of man. It transcends the law of God, but it also breaks the laws of men. It goes against what men would see as moral. Think today of what's happening in Iraq. of genocide done under the guise of serving God. Or in the Old Testament, the child sacrifices that were done. Some, they became Christians when they're young and don't have much there to remember from those days before they were Christians, and that's great. But others of us can remember vividly our pre-Christian days, and we need to mourn and weep and consider what a waste, and make every moment count that we have now as we live in the newness of life. Third point of verses 4 and 5, there is a coming day of judgment for those who continue in sin. Verses begin to say, they'll be those who are dismayed. You're changed when you come and become Christians and you don't continue doing the same things. You don't go out to the bar and go drinking and trying to pick up somebody. You say, well, I don't do that anymore. Verse 4 says, it's a surprise that you don't continue to do that. Some people think that change is impossible. What you are, you're always going to be. So if this is what you were like in college, well, surely that can't change. But the Gospel is all about changing people, transforming people from those who are enslaved to sins to those who have broken free from sin. But the result is, when they see that you don't go along, They malign you. And that has the idea of speaking ill of, defaming, of injuring your reputation. Those who are unbelievers can't understand why you're backing away from what you're doing. And in doing so, you're really condemning them. Your lifestyle is saying there is a better way to live. There's a more honorable way to live. There's a higher standard that we are to live to. And even though all you may do is basically silently say, well, I'm not going to participate. I don't want to do that. It does perk their conscience. In some ways it does condemn them. You know, think about it. If somebody were to ask you and say, you know, you want to go bowling? You say, well, no, I'm not interested. I'm not a very good bowler and I don't like it. They don't blind you. They don't say, what a horrible person you are because you won't go bowling. But if you say, hey, you want to go to the bar with me? Then they might blind you. They might get after you. What's gotten into your life that you're no longer willing to associate with me? And so even though what you're doing is the same, they know what they're doing is wrong, and so they react against it. And so we shouldn't be surprised when that happens, or it shouldn't get us down. And the other thing we need to realize is that they, in verse 5, will have to give an account. The unbeliever who blinds you, who is encouraging you to sin, to get back on the old lifestyle, they are going to be judged. And it says whether they're living or dead. It's comprehensive. Whoever they are. They. Each one. No one escapes judgment. And how many people today walk around thinking, well, I'm okay. You know, I'm not perfect, but really do I need to worry about that? And we as a society seem to believe in justification by death. It doesn't matter what you do when you die, everything's okay and you're going to be with God in heaven. But that's not what Scripture teaches. So note that word ready. It suggests the possibility that judgment could come upon that person suddenly, without warning. It's only due to God's long suffering that it already hasn't happened. The fourth and final point from verse 6. As we think about this, as we think about the judgment that's coming upon all men, the solution is gospel preaching. In verse 6, there's a number of understandings and a number of explanations of what is being said there, because it seems a little quaint and a little hard to understand. But I think most of them are making it too difficult. Because the point that's being made, I think, is that Gospel has been preached so that men and women can be saved out of that judgment of condemnation. Those who believe are spiritually alive even if they undergo physical death. And so his physical death is a judgment that came on the world with Adam's sin and continues to reign until the second coming of Christ. What's important is that people can be saved from the second death, from eternal judgment, from being cut off from God through the gospel. And so whether it's a person that lived in the early first century that died by the time Peter writes, or somebody who's receiving the letter that Peter writes, or somebody who's living today and still is alive today, the solution for those who've lived like the Gentiles, who have sinned, is the Gospel. The only hope is the message of Jesus Christ. That He's able to take us and safely deliver us out of our sins into the Kingdom of God. And so we're called upon to proclaim it and help people understand and respond to it. That is why the church exists. The church worldwide, that is why we exist as a congregation. is so that men and women would know the only hope, would know Jesus Christ, who gave His life as a ransom for many. Two applications this morning. First, it's a call to arm yourselves with the mind of Christ. It means a clean break with sin. Not that you'll never sin again, but it won't control you. It will be uppermost in your thinking and in your heart. And as you develop that mind of Christ, you'll be thinking more and more about the will of God. How do I do the will of God? How do I choose to do what is right in each and every circumstance, no matter what the cost? No matter what it means in terms of my maybe having to suffer for the sake of Christ. And second, as we know, there's a coming judgment. And it's going to be comprehensive. The living and the dead. No one is going to escape. The only hope is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to be those who have hope that point men and women around us, that the solution that they need to their problem of sin is by believing in the Savior. To repent, to be sorrowful for their sins, and to seek the Savior, Jesus Christ. That's the only solution to their problems. And we have the answer. And we need to let them know what it is. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this portion of the Word of God and for what it teaches us. And we can have a clear break with sin. Because we have that same attitude that we see in Christ of doing your will, of doing your will no matter what, what the cost. Help us, each one, to do that day by day. And sometimes the challenges will be little and will be subtle, and sometimes they'll be big and so enormous that we can't miss them. And yet help us, each one, to be, in your Word, developing a Christ-like thinking, so that we know what your will is. So we're not guessing at it. We're not basing it upon our feelings, but we're basing it upon what we know is true. And help us then, as men and women around us are in darkness, to be those who point them to the only hope that's found in Jesus Christ. Help us to be bold and pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.