We'll turn to the book of First Peter. First Peter, and we'll be in chapter four, mostly. And First Peter is a great opportunity for us to study what it is like and how we are encouraged being strangers in a strange land. Suffering due to the faith that we have, due to persecution, and while many people may think that is something foreign to our culture here, having been so rooted in a Christian heritage it's easy to actually see it taking place as you really truly live out your life for Jesus Christ we do encounter difficulties we do encounter resistance and ridicule and sometimes yes even persecution because of it but we know that just as the disciples the apostles ministered in the ancient world in the Roman Empire and from time to time and place to place persecution would break out. We know this to be true. That where the gospel is preached among the unregenerate, among those who are lost, it will meet resistance. And there's one thing we can understand about persecution is that if we are not currently experiencing it, we will eventually experience it. It's so important for us to understand this truth. Because many who have gone before us have felt that, well, we're in a place of peace. It's easy to be a Christian. We're culturally Christian people. We don't have to worry about it. And so they did not prepare future generations to endure difficulty. And for that reason, many have fallen away very easily. While we're reading Peter's letter here, and he is giving us what we need to endure anything. And what he is doing is he's doing it by putting our focus on Jesus Christ, putting our focus on his finished work, and putting our focus on the position that he has given us through that work as the chosen people of God, a royal priesthood. Now here in chapter 4, as we begin chapter 4, he's going to command us to arm ourselves with the attitude that Jesus Christ had. In order to understand this, I want to read a couple verses from chapter 3 first. I want to read chapter 3, verse 18, and then verse 22. In chapter 3, verse 18 says this, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he may bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. And then verse 22 says this, He has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to Him. And so here we see Jesus, and He is set forth as our example over and over again in this letter, and He willfully humbled Himself, put His focus upon completing the work that the Father had sent Him to do. And it is that very attitude which we are to have Now, let's read in chapter four, verses one through six. And it comes right out of what we just read. He said, 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. 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're 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 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. Let's look at this a couple at a time. First of all, these first two verses comes the imperative. And what follows here is a whole bunch of imperatives. Peter has turned now from all the focus being on Christ and who he is and what he's done to now, therefore, then live this way. And we see that same pattern in many of the epistles You see it notably in the book of Ephesians, where Paul reveals what this mystery is, this church that God is making out of both Jews and Gentiles, this new thing that was unforeseen. And this work that he's accomplishing in his people, though it was planned before the ages, long before the world was even made, he foreknew what he was going to do and who he was going to do it with. And Paul talks about that those kind of things for three chapters and then all of a sudden he says, therefore, walk in a manner worthy of the calling that you've received. See, it always comes first that we dwell upon God, that we know Jesus Christ before we can do anything in his name. The human habit is to get it backwards, to try to do things, to get into the good graces of God when the scripture clearly tells us that is impossible. And so we've put the focus on Christ and now he turns and he's beginning to give us the imperatives. This is the practical, this is how to, but this must come after beholding Christ. It has to come after that. He introduces a section of the commands with this first one saying, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking as Christ. What does he mean by that? Well, as we saw in chapter three, he was described as suffering but then as being highly exalted. And this idea of having ceased from sin, it says for whoever suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Does that mean if you suffer for the cause of Christ you won't sin anymore? No, what it's saying is that those who have suffered, that in the example of Jesus it's given, he paid the price for sin once for all on the cross. and never again would have to suffer for it. When he hung upon the cross, he said, it is finished. He paid it all at that time. Our entire debt was settled. He does not suffer again and again. If you belong to a tradition that believes that that Jesus is present with the body and the blood during the communion of the saints, Well, then you are believing that his body is broken again and again every week as you take communion. Well, he told us that was a memorial. He told us to do this in remembrance of him, not that it's something that we do in order to make that breaking of his body work for us, because that breaking of his body, the Bible declares, was once for all. Once for all, he no longer is hanging upon that cross. He is risen and he is highly exalted at the right hand of the Father. Well, that's what this means for Jesus, right? He has ceased from sin. What does it mean for us? For the believer, once you have suffered for Christ, you've proven something. You have shown that you are no longer prioritizing your human passions. That you have set aside your own comfort. That you have willingly embraced the suffering because whenever there is suffering there is a choice. We have the choice to deny Him. We have the choice to turn away and do things the world's way. So that when we have suffered we are proving that we are no longer living for human passions. And in that way we have ceased from sin and that it is no longer sin that is our priority. That's what this verse means. When it says whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin means if you are to the point in your Christian walk that you are choosing suffering over continuing in the way of the world and compromising with the world and caving in, that means that you have reached a point where sin is no longer your boss. Indeed, that's what the Bible declares of us, that we are dead. We share in the sufferings of Christ, according to the scripture. And everything that we have, and every difficulty we have, and every strength that we have, when we are in Christ, all those things are His. He said, come to me, you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He will take His burdens upon Himself. He will take our burdens upon Himself. He will give us, then, great gifts. To do what? To do His will. And so all that we have is His, all our sins were given at His expense, all our joy then is to His credit. And all our suffering is to accomplish His purposes in us and in this world. He starts here in chapter four with all these imperatives, this one being first, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking as Jesus Christ. In verses three to five, He tells us something else that's very important. The time for sin has passed for us. That time is over. It says here in chapter three, the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. In other words, the time before we knew Jesus Christ, that was our time to do all those things of the world, that's over now. Because the believers in Jesus Christ will make that decision. They will turn from those things to the things that he has for us to do. We had our time for fulfilling those passions, but now it's gone. It's behind you now as one who is willing to prioritize God, even to the point of suffering for it. Our attitude is that we're dead to sin. When you read the book of Romans, Paul drives this point home very strongly to its climax in chapter six. The fact that we are dead to sin, and he makes the argument How can we who died to sin then still be found in it? He announces that we have been set free from it. In the book of Galatians, he puts it this way. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The Bible takes this death very seriously, very literally. It takes this death of a believer. When a believer is reborn, In Jesus Christ, there is a death that takes place. Jesus said, you must be born again. And Jesus came declaring eternal life. He came declaring that he is the life and that he gives life to those who believe in him. We cannot live two lives. We can but live one. And so for it to be reborn in Jesus Christ, there must have been a death. That life has to be over. Here's what it says in Colossians, it says, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. It goes on to say, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. We were born again, we cannot live two lives, so our mindset must be that the old ways are dead to us. There are no other options open. That was the mind of Christ. When Satan came and tempted him in the wilderness and the Holy Spirit led him out there by the way, when the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tested and he fasted all those times to put him in the weakest possible position to endure these temptations brought by Satan, Satan's ultimate goal was to offer him a shortcut around the cross. to get out of the suffering. And he didn't. He set his face like flint, it says, toward Jerusalem, unwaveringly headed toward the cross. And he didn't give in to the temptations of the devil. We're to have that mindset in us. The mindset in which he knelt in the garden and wept and prayed wept as like blood of tears. Father, if there's any other way, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done, he said. When Peter says to arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, he means that all the other paths, all the other options are dead to us. The bridge has been burned. There's no turning back, as the song says. So we move forward. We live that life that God has laid out for us from this point forward. As those around you who have not stopped those things, those lists of things, the drunkenness and the sensuality and these things, As they don't stop doing those things and they begin to revile you, this will happen. They will revile you. They will malign you. That means they will say bad things about you because you don't join with them in these things anymore. But we're to remember, as Peter points out here, even though they're surprised when we don't join them, even though they say rotten things about us because we don't join them in the things they do, the things of this world, they, in verse five, will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. They will be judged for it. They will pay the price for those sins themselves if they are not found in Jesus Christ. See, this is how it works with the world. When you read Romans chapter one, there's this fantastic insight into the thinking of man. And it's important as you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you first and foremost above anything, you become a student of God. You need to know him. He is your major. But you have to minor in man. You have to understand man and what makes him work. to reflect honestly upon yourself and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but also to understand those to whom you minister, those whom you live among who are perishing, unless God saves them. Romans chapter one, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God. In it, the righteousness of God's revealed. And then he begins to reveal his gospel. And he says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, even his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so that they are without excuse. Now listen to verse 21. A lot of people when they think in terms of sin, they think in terms of the list that Peter put out here. You know, all kinds of drunkenness and sexual immorality and all these terrible things that people are doing. No. Listen to how Paul describes the start of this downward slide in Romans chapter 1. When you start at verse 21 all the way to the end of the chapter, you see a downward spiral of sin and listen to where it starts. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. It started that simple. We like to think we're okay as long as we're not doing those terrible things that Peter talked about, as long as we're faithful to our wife and as long as we don't curse and as long as we don't get drunk and become brawlers and we don't spread gossip and we don't lie about things, we're okay. Not so according to the Bible. According to the Bible, the downward spiral begins this, we did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. So how do we understand that? That means anytime anything happens in our lives and we fail to give God the credit, he's due. That's a sin. So we can clean our lives up a lot, but it's pretty hard to, as Paul says, take every thought captive. That's why the Bible can wholeheartedly declare no one seeks God, no one's righteous. We have to have the righteousness of Christ. But then this downward spiral, it says, you know, they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Futile in their thinking, their foolish hearts darkened, in other words, turning away from God that initial I'm not going to acknowledge him for things actually does something to the mind to where we no longer can think straight and we go deeper in the sin it lists some deeper sins there and then in verse 26 it says for this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions it gets worse and worse and it talks about more sins and stuff but here's what I want to draw you to to make Great understanding of what Peter's saying in chapter four is the last verse of this chapter. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. The end of the list is not only do they do all these terrible things, But then they look at their neighbor who's also doing them with approval. That means they've given up even recognizing that what they're doing is wrong. They've given up even turning to their neighbor and say, you know, I know I do that too, but we really shouldn't do that. That's gone. And that's why we can look at 1 Peter 4 and we say, they're surprised when we don't join them and they begin to malign us. They begin, as he said in a previous chapter, to revile us, to make fun of us, to spread false rumors, to say hateful things about us, who choose not to do those things because we have the Spirit of Christ in us. The time for sin has passed, and we will be reviled. That begins an ever-darkening thinking, and they seek approval The old adage is very true, which says misery loves company. When somebody wants to do something wrong, the first thing they want to do is let's enlist someone else on this. Let's get someone else, because if someone else is doing it with them, it's almost like an approval. And it's almost a justification while he's doing it. Must be okay, can't be that bad, because surely he's not as bad as me and he's doing it. This is true, you can see this in our time with the progression of the mainstreaming of homosexuality. It wasn't enough for us to say, you know what, that's your life choice, you can go do that. That wasn't enough. Now they demand that we not only allow them their liberty to go and do the things that they want, we have to put up with it without saying a word. Or even more, we should celebrate it. And now it's held up as something courageous. Have you noticed that? That, oh, he's so courageous for having come out. And the Christian believer says, courageous for having come out? No, he's weak for having given in and given up. But we can't say that. That's hateful, they say. They attempt to pass laws against saying such things. Why? Because they desire approval. Well, I've got news for them and for you. Approval won't be enough. Celebration won't be enough. They will never be comfortable if every word is squashed that comes out against their sin, they still will not be content in their sin. Because the law of God is written on their hearts and their conscience bears witness to the truth, no matter how far down the road they get, that's the voice that will never be totally silenced. This is what happens when we're strangers in a strange land. That the behavior around us goes on and they look at us, and why aren't you doing these things? What's the matter with you? You're just a hater. Living out Christ in this world will sooner or later bring upon difficulty. And you can be rest assured of this, even if it doesn't get very bad in your lifetime, we need to be about the business of preparing our children for it. You want to know what's happened to the church in the last 30, 40 years? We were comfortable. We had a Christian America, so we thought. So it looked like on the outside in the post-war America. It was easy to be a Christian. And everyone was. It was the social club of the neighborhood. But yet generation after generation grew up that did not behold God enough, that did not have that relationship with Him strong enough to be able to resist the difficulty when it came. So when people begin to say, well, you just hate because you don't, you know, you don't like the homosexuals, you don't like their behavior, you're just a hater, they give in and say, no, no, no, no, we're not haters. Bible says God is love, so we love them, so come on in. And the compromise in the church happens. because they weren't prepared with what Peter showed. They weren't prepared by beholding Jesus Christ, looking upon him and what his character is like and what he has done for us and the position that he gives to his people. If they had been beholding those things, they would have taken the advice of chapter 4, they would have had the mind of Christ and said, I don't care what you say about me. I don't care what you even do to me. I'm going to hold fast to Christ because that's the way. There's no other option for me. Do you see how Jesus saw there was no other option and how we're instructed to do the same? Do you see how compromise happened in the church? When they came to a fork in the road, they saw one of them as an option. We can compromise on this. No, no, no. Let's embrace their sins and we don't have to do them but let's just say it's okay if they do them just so that we can bring them in. And then they lost their saltiness to the world. Their light dimmed because they were no longer showing the world a holy God. They were showing the world a weak and pandering God. A God who doesn't love them so much to deliver them from sins, but a God who's more like a boy who has a crush on them and follows them around. That's not the God presented by the Bible. He does not have this hurting crush on every human being and he follows them around compromising their everything just so he can be with them. He is the God that must crush those who will come before him. The entry into glory, the knowing of God is always preceded by a great humbling. You have to stoop low to get through that gate. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. And so now we have an interest in stopping those things. And we begin, as believers, as we grow in Christ, we begin to prioritize His will over indulging the desires of the flesh or entertaining the passions and desires of those around us. Our love for Christ, our new desire to glorify Him with our lives takes over. And that is how we cease from sin. This is the new life that we walk in. Walking to please Him, walking in the Spirit. The time for sin has passed. Now let's look at this last verse here, verse six. Verse six is a difficult verse. I spent more time on this verse this week than any of the other verses. And I read many commentaries and many people who disagree about the meaning of it, but I think I figured it out. But those guys did too, so we'll see. But verse six says this, 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 reason the gospel is preached to us in in this life although we are spiritually dead when it meets us and we're suffering in the flesh by the gospel we can live in the spirit while still in the flesh the way that God does the way Jesus did when he walked upon the earth though he was as a man in the flesh he was always walking in the Spirit. Now the difficulty in this verse comes in two identities here. The first one is, who are the dead that he's talking about? The gospel was preached even to those who are dead. And then the second question is, what is the judgment that's being talked about here? It says that though judged in the flesh, the way people are. Well, here's how I identify the dead. Who is this that the gospel is preached to? Those who are dead. The translation would be well-suited to say, those who are now dead. And in the context, Peter is writing to believers, and he's writing to believers who are suffering for their faith. And so in the context, it demands that we take these who are dead as those believers who have already passed on. In other words, he's saying that's why the gospel has been preached to those of us who have already passed on. so that while they were still in the flesh, they could live according to the Spirit. The second one is, what is this judgment that's talking about? Is this a judgment of God or a judgment of man? When you study this word, it's used in both ways in the Bible. It's very often used of a judgment of a man. He decided this, he judged that, and it's used very often of God. God has judged this or judged that. And so this judgment is either of God or men. If we take this as being of God, we could interpret this as saying that the gospel is preached to us while we're still in the flesh and under this judgment of God. And that would be a fair way to take it because we are still suffering the effects, even though we're saved believers, even though our names are written in the book of life, even though we've been born again, we still suffer the effects of the fall. the judgment of God upon this earth, the sickness and the death that comes to all people. And all of us will die. Life is the leading cause of death, I've been told. But all of us will die unless the Lord comes back first. And so it could mean that, but I don't think that's primarily what Peter meant. I believe this to be a judgment of men because the context here in chapter 4 He's talking about being maligned or insulted or made fun of by men. And so if it's speaking of us as being in this world and being in the flesh and receiving the good news of gospel, we are in essence being judged according to men. They revile us according to other parts of Peter. They slander us. And even though now we're suffering their judgment, it doesn't matter. Because God has given the possibility of being alive in the Spirit. And so I take this judgment as not necessarily judged in the flesh the way people are. This could equally be translated as judged in the flesh according to men. Judged by men. Even though we're suffering that, the gospel has been preached to us so that we can live in the Spirit. That makes chapter 3 verse 18 a perfect parallel to this when it says of Christ that he suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he may bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit is what this means. That's why the gospel has been preached. The gospel was preached to those who are now dead while they're still in this life so that even though we suffer in the flesh by the judging of men, we can live in the spirit as God does. That's us. The gospel has been preached to us. Jesus brought us from death into life. So even if we face persecution of men, even if we face the judgment of men, we can live in the spirit as God does, just as Jesus did when he walked upon the earth. And that's so that we may live in the Spirit, continually having the mind of Christ as regards our time here in the flesh. So we must be armed then, according to Peter, with this attitude of Christ, humbly seeking the will of God, who set his face toward Jerusalem like flint, unwavering and hard and sharp. He took the cup, he paid the price. Why? Why did Jesus do that? How was it that he did that and got through all that? Well, he was God in the flesh. But listen to the book of Hebrews, a commentary on this in chapter 12, right after it talks about the importance of faith and all those who please God can only do it through faith. Here's what it says in chapter 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, that is all those faithful people who have passed before us in the faith, Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. How do we do that? It goes on in verse two. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Now listen to why he did it. One of the reasons. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. I'll give you another cross reference, that's Isaiah chapter 50 that we read at the beginning. But look at that, because of the joy set before him, Jesus knew what was beyond the cross. And he looked out into the future and he looked at your face and my face. And he went through it. Because what was before him was joy. What was on the other side was wondrous and amazing. And here's what we need to understand as a people of God. If we're to have this mindset that Jesus had, we're to get through things now knowing what God has for us in the future. See, He's laid it out for us. He's told us that we are co-heirs with Him. He has told us that we will receive a resurrection as He did. We are told that we will forever be with him. That is the joy set before us. Have you ever noticed how God, and I was speaking with Henry last night down at Asbury, and he had a close friend of his lose his mother just the night before. And we were talking about all kinds of things as we often do. And he said to me, he said, have you ever noticed how God tends to work things out through opposites? God tends to work things out through opposites. Think about this. He goes from low to high. Jesus humbled himself, according to Philippians chapter two, to the point of death on a cross, the lowest possible service that he could do for someone else because he was doing it on our behalf. But now he occupies the highest place that there possibly is. He is exalted at the right hand of the Father. There's no higher place in the universe. There's no higher authority to which to turn. No one has given Him counsel. No one has told Him how to do anything. He is at the right hand of the Father. He does the same with His people. He says, you must be as little children to enter into the kingdom of heaven. In other words, we must humble ourselves to the point where we're gullible. Yes, gullible. that you'll fall for this God thing, that you'll believe this Jesus thing. We have to humble ourselves and take aside and push aside any thought, any idea that I'm going to do this my way, that I'm going to earn my right to be in front of God, that I'm going to make it my own way. We've got to shove all that aside and say, my way doesn't work. My way falls so short that it can't even be seen from heaven. And we must shove all that aside. And he says, when we do that, the last shall become first. And the first shall become last. God deals in opposites all the time. He took Thomas from doubt to great faith. He took his servant Jesus from suffering to great glory. He promises his people that suffer for his name's sake, that they will receive great glory. You open up the book of Revelation and those who are beheaded for the cause of Christ are closest to His throne. Let's let that sit on you for a moment, because it's happening. Right now today, our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering for the sake of Christ, some of them to the point of being beheaded, being killed for their faith. Where are they? We may not know their faces, but when we're in heaven, we'll see the back of their heads. And so have a closer seat. God works things out through opposites. He goes from the death of Christ to eternal life for all who would believe. He goes from persecution to blessing. And although he tends to work through opposites, the difficult thing is always first. It's always the suffering. It's always the death. It's always the doubt. that comes first, but then comes the joy. And just look through the Bible, the great cloud of witnesses talked about in the book of Hebrews. Look at chapter 11 and read about those who went before us. How about Abram? He was no particular guy. And we read his story and we find out he had some flaws. He had some imperfections. He was weak, but it was him that God chose. To bring forth the Christ, to ever change humanity, to save many. Look at the story of Joseph, who became a great faithful person. His story starts out low. He starts out in the bottom of a well, his brothers having sold him out. And yet he comes to rule over Egypt and ends up being the one who actually saves his family. He saves the line of Abraham because of his faithfulness to God. How about King David, who became the greatest king over Israel? He started off as a shepherd boy. He started off with a couple decades of running around away from the current king. And doing crazy things just to stay alive. How about the nation Israel as a whole when you read their account in the Old Testament? It's a history like no other nation in the world because it's honest. They came through a mess. At every turn it seemed that they were trying to thwart the plans of God by their own disobedience. But nevertheless, it is through that little nation that God has brought forth Christ, that He has saved so many. Look at the disciples that Jesus chose, fishermen, unlearned men. And yet, they were described as turning the world upside down. How about Paul, a Pharisee, a self-righteous individual, a persecutor of the Christians, turned around by God, to write most of our New Testament letters, to do wondrous things, to think thoughts never thought before, to take us to great heights in understanding God. What about you? What about you? You think, little old me, I'm just in the middle of nowhere. I'm just, you know, this little person. I'm unknown. Even if you're not yet a believer, you may think, I'm not worthy of this. Jesus can't want me. I've got this thing in my past, this ugly thing I did. Yeah, great. So did David. So did Abram. So did all the others. Every human being who's ever become anything for the cross of Christ was once a wretched soul, lost every bit as much as the worst sinner on the face of the earth. They're all the same. He starts with one thing and he drives it to its opposite. And my encouragement for you today, if you are not found in Jesus Christ is this, put the difficult thing first. Humble yourself. That means just admit there's nothing I can do to save myself. My works aren't going to do it. I'm never going to be able to get myself in a condition that is worthy to be before a holy God that was obedient to the point of suffering death on a cross and is now highly exalted before every other thing. No matter how much I clean up my life, it's not going to be worthy for that guy. That's your first step and that's the hardest part. To lay it all down, to give up and surrender to God. If you're a believer hearing this message this day, understand this. Suffering may be necessary for you for a while. That's what Peter says. Peter says that earlier in the letter, even though it may be necessary for you to endure these trials. Endure it by having the mind of Christ. who looked ahead for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. And so do we, we will endure whatever it is. For the joy set before us, Christ beholding His face, being conformed to His likeness. It's not a goal that Christians have to be like Christ. It's not a goal that Christians have to get to the end so that we can see Him. It's a destiny. And if you understand that difference, it'll make the journey so much easier.