Now may I encourage you to turn
with me in your own Bible to 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter
4, as we continue our consecutive expositions of this letter, 1
Peter chapter 4. I shall read in your hearing
the first 11 verses. Forasmuch then as Christ suffered
in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. For
he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that you
no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to
the lust of men, but to the will of God. For the time past may
suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have
walked in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-bippings, revelings, carousings,
and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you
run not with them into the same excessive riot, speaking evil
of you. Who shall give account to him
that is ready to judge the living and the dead? For unto this end
was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might
be judged in deed according to men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is
at hand. Therefore, be of a sound mind
and be sober unto prayer. above all things, being fervent
in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of
sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring, according
as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaks,
speaking as it were oracles of God, If any man ministers, ministering
as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory
and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Well, let us pray as we begin
our studies in this new chapter. that God by the Holy Spirit will
be present to instruct us and to cause us to feel, and I use
the word deliberately, to feel the impress of the word upon
our hearts as God enlightens our minds. If what happens to
you this morning stops between your ears, you've stopped eighteen
inches short. The avenue to the heart is the
mind, but it's never the terminus of God's intention in bringing
his word to us. God is not in the business of
swelling your noggin or mind with more knowledge about the
Bible. He's in the business of engaging your heart by means
of his truth that must first of all come by way of spirit-wrought
enlightenment to the mind. that God have mercy on us. If for one Lord's Day we're content
that the action stops here. That's the first step to apostasy. May God help us never to forget
it. I preach it to myself at my desk week by week by week. For many a preacher is gone from
the pulpit to hell because he began to traffic in the Bible
with his noggin and not be determined that his Bible would first of
all deal with his heart before he ever sought to bring it to
the minds and hearts of others. Let's pray that God will help
us. Our Father, we are sobered by
the horrible thought that what we do in the next hour could
only increase our damnation. Father, I am sobered that what
I do in this pulpit unless it is an expression of love to you
and results in my own progress in grace, could simply increase
my damnation. Have mercy upon me. Have mercy
upon us. We beg of you, our Father, that
not a one of us sitting here would be content with a mere
cerebral exercise this morning. Come to us, Lord. Invade our
hearts with truth. Lay hold of our hearts with truth. And in so doing, Lord, by your
grace, we will respond in faith and love and desire that you
would have more of us and that we would glorify you as we ought.
Speak to us then, we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to begin this morning
by asking a question, and I'd like you children to engage your
minds with that question as well. Do you know what a pantheon is?
That's not a kind of snake. The kind of snake is a python.
But do you know what a pantheon is? Well, a pantheon is a temple
built as a house to all of the gods. The word pantheon comes
from two Greek words, the word for all, and god. A pantheon
is a temple, a pagan temple built to house pagan gods. And I want you to imagine with
me two men who go to the local pantheon, where all of the representations
of the various gods are there, arranged in that pantheon. And the one man chooses the twelve
gods that are his special gods, and he renders to them whatever
the priests of the gods say devout worshipers should render to those
particular gods. Part of his worship might even
be consorting with a temple prostitute as an act of worship to one of
the gods. And his neighbor is there worshiping
his twelve favorite gods. And though they have differing
preferences and they don't worship the same dozen gods, each of
them worships his gods within the pantheon. They happen to
meet on the way out. And as they walk home, they're
discussing their worship experience. And the one speaks to the other
about his gods and why he's chosen them to be the peculiar objects
of his devotion. And the other expresses why he
worships his god. And they get on fabulously well,
as long as each of them is free to worship the gods of his own
choice. But now a preacher comes to town.
and begins to proclaim the gospel. A preacher, such as the Apostle
Paul, who came to such a town named Athens, a city, and found
an array of gods, not in a temple, but in an open place that was
dedicated to the worship of the gods. And one of these men is
marvelously converted. He comes through the preaching
of the Word to see that there is no God but the one true and
living God. And that God is spirit and has
no body, and that God is demanded that no one seek to make a representation
of Him out of wood or stone or any other material substance.
And he comes to discover that that one true God is savingly
revealed in Jesus Christ. and repudiating all that is called
God, and embracing the one true living God in his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, he is marvelously converted. And he meets his neighbor
the next day, and he says, Well, George, when are we going up
to the temple to do our thing? And George says, well, my friend,
I'm no longer going to the temple anymore to do my thing with you.
Oh, why not? You'll be disappointed in the
way the gods have treated you. Try my gods. They've treated
me well. He said, no. I've come to the
place where I realized that all that I did in that temple worship
was to support a worship that had behind it the very power
of the devil himself. I was blinded. I was duped. I
was deceived. And he gives his testimony. And
you know what happens? Suddenly his neighbor is no longer
kindly disposed to him. His neighbor feels a deep sense
of resentment that he's dared to insult his many gods. Because the thing that George
insists upon is that not only are those things they worship
no gods, but that there is only one true and living God, and
furthermore, that that God demands the worship of his neighbor.
And George tells his neighbor that unless you repent of all
your idol worship and embrace my God as your God, you'll be
forever banished from the presence of the living God in the day
of judgment. and he begins to feel what it
is to bear reproach and suffering and mockery and possibly in some
pagan societies he will begin to feel social and economic pressure
because in the language of 1 Thessalonians 1 he has turned from the worship
of false gods to serve the living and the true God and to wait
for his son from heaven. Well, you say, Pastor, that's
an interesting little scenario, a little bit of let's pretend.
What's that say to us? Well, it says this. America has
its pantheon. I don't know of any physical
pantheons, but American culture is one vast pantheon. And American society worships
the gods of its choice. For some, it's the god of sensual
pleasure. Bacchus and Aphrodite are America's
gods. Anything to titillate the nerve
endings with anyone, anyway, so long as they are titillated,
that god will be worshipped. Others, the god of material possessions. His worship constantly being
forced upon us by consumer-driven pressures, creating need by the
sights flashed upon the eyeballs and the messages dinned in the
ear to say, we need more and more and more. Worship me and
I will bring you fulfillment. Then there is the horrible god
of spectator sports, before which millions of our fellow countrymen
will worship today. Why do they have the finals of
the men's in the U.S. Open on Sunday? Because that
God gets more worshippers on Sunday. Why do they have the
fourth round of all the golf tournaments on the Lord's Day?
Because that God knows He can get more worshippers on the day
that the true and living God is marked out for His worship. multitudes excited in checking
with their bookies and looking for that place in the newspaper
every day this week to see what the betting odds are as the NFL
season opens today. And dozens of millions of our
fellow countrymen will be worshiping the God of spectator sports today
on God's day. And so we could go on and on.
The God of physical beauty seeking her worshipers from the time
little girls get their first Barbie. And when they grow up
then and have their facelifts and their tummy tucks and their
silicone boots and their liposuction for their cellulite. Dear people,
our society is a massive pantheon. And just as surely as George,
repudiating the many gods in his literal pantheon, will feel
the pressure of the idol worshippers around him, here in polite, cultured
America, you and I, determined to worship the one true and living
God and, hear me carefully now, insist that every idol worshipper
around us ought to worship our God, we too. will feel the pressure
of suffering for Christ's sake. And we come back to my little
ditty. Even in our country, at one time or another, in one way
or another, to one degree or another, every true believer
will suffer for Christ's sake. And as we come to this section
of 1 Peter again, I trust there's not a one of us who says, well,
this would be fine if you were living in China, where the Christian
faith is officially banned by the state or in some Islamic
state where it is illegal to speak of Christ. But surely,
Pastor, all of this preaching about Peter's doctrine of suffering,
what relevance does it have to us? I tell you, if you're thinking
that way, I doubt you're a true Christian. For you have known,
sometimes subtle, sometimes not too subtle, what it is to suffer
for the sake of the Lord Jesus. And as I've emphasized continually
since beginning to expound chapter 3 and verse 11, we're in this
section that forms the heart of Peter's letter to those provinces
there in Asia Minor The heart of his burden is to enlighten,
to strengthen, and encourage the people of God in the light
of both present and future sufferings for the sake of Christ. Chapter
3, verses 11 to 17, is what I call Suffering 101. Peter lays out
some of the foundational perspectives of how a believer is to respond
to suffering for the sake of Christ. And then in verses 18
to 22, he sets before us Christ as the perfect sufferer. And
in a passage that has some very real difficulties, yet I trust
each of us now realizes has some rich instruction. Peter sets
forth the Lord Jesus in his person and in his work as the one to
whom believers are to look in the midst of their suffering.
And now, beginning in chapter 4, Peter is going to move into
a section of that which is primarily exhortation based upon primarily
the teaching of verses 18 to 22 in the previous chapter. For
you see that chapter 4 begins with the word, therefore, the
little Greek particle, which is a connective. It is telling
us that what he's about to say is connected to what has gone
before. And here in these two paragraphs,
verses 1 to 6 and 7 to 11, which obviously ends this section because
Peter concludes it with an amen before moving into another area
of concern related to suffering. Basically, what he is doing is
this. In verses 1 to 6, he is telling these believers that
if they are to face their sufferings as they ought, they must be equipped
with a right attitude of mind toward those sufferings. For
as much, then, as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves
with the same mind." And that's the heart and soul of verses
1 to 6. And then the heart of verses
7 to 12 is this, while animated by hope that the end of all things
is at hand, they are to live fruitful Christian lives in the
fellowship of the Church in the midst of their sufferings. They
are not to retreat from one another. They are not to turn inward upon
themselves. But Peter says, in the midst
of your sufferings, armed and nerved with hope, the end of
all things is at hand. In God's scheme of redemption,
the next great event is the voice of the archangel and the trumpet
of God in the parting heavens. In the light of that reality,
spurred and nerved by hope, You are to live fruitful Christian
lives in the fellowship of the church. And so duties are laid
before us that have to do primarily with the fellowship of the church,
the people of God as the suffering community. Now, our focus this
morning will be just upon verses 1 and 2. Verses 1 and 2. which
I've entitled, The Mindset of Christ That Equips Us to Suffer
for Christ. The Mindset of Christ That Equips
Us to Suffer for Christ. Now as we seek to understand
and apply this section of the Word of God, note with me first
of all what I'm calling the foundational fact re-asserted. The foundational fact reasserted,
forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh. Now, some of you
may have a translation that says, suffered in the flesh for you,
some for us. There is some manuscript evidence
for the inclusion of the words for you, for us, but it is not
strong enough to warrant its inclusion. Probably a carryover,
one of the atopiest, seeing that terminology earlier in the letter,
Peter writes to these people for as much then as Christ suffered
in the flesh. He comes back to this foundational
fact, hence I've given this heading, the foundational fact reasserted. Peter has not grown weary of
focusing the attention of these believers upon the sufferings
of Christ. He did it, first of all, in chapter
1 in verse 11. Speaking of the Spirit of God
speaking through the prophets, he says, it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. Then in chapter 2 in verse 21,
addressing these house slaves and how they are to respond to
their unreasonable and godless masters, for hereunto will you
call, because Christ also suffered for you. And then again in chapter
3 and verse 18, because Christ also suffered for sins. And then he's going to do it
two more times. Chapter 4 and verse 13, inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's sufferings. Chapter 5 and verse 1, I am a
witness of the sufferings of Christ. You see, the very terminology,
the sufferings of Christ, was obviously a precious phrase to
Peter. Now think with me for a minute.
That's an amazing reality. Sufferings of Messiah. Who was the one who had nothing
to do with the idea of the suffering Messiah earlier in his life?
It was Peter. Remember? In Matthew 16, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter had no problem
with a Messiah who was God the Son. A Messiah Who would accomplish
God's messianic purposes? A Messiah who went on to say,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Peter had no problem with a Messiah
who was son of God, a Messiah who would have a conquering messianic
kingdom. No objection. But when the text
says from that time on, Jesus began to tell them how he must
suffer and die. Peter said, Lord, this will never
happen to you. suffering Messiah didn't enter his theology. But
now that the suffering Messiah has died and risen from the dead,
and the Spirit of God and the instruction of Christ has brought
Peter to see that it's only through his sufferings that Messiah accomplishes
his saving work in his people, Peter loves the terminology sufferings
of Christ, and so he reasserts this foundational fact at the
beginning of this section, for as much then as Christ suffered
in the flesh, that is, in a real, true humanity. He suffered in
the flesh. His suffering is not a notion
around which we gather theological concepts. His suffering was real
suffering in real flesh. This foundational fact is reasserted. But then notice, secondly, the
central exhortation issued. Having gone back and pointed
to that foundation, here now is the central exhortation issued
by the Apostle. It is this. For as much then
as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same
mind. This is the only imperative in
this paragraph. There is no other imperative
in verses 1 to 6. This is the central exhortation
given by the apostle. As we try to understand it, note
with me first the imagery employed and then the equipment needed.
What is the imagery in the word arm yourselves? Now it's another
one of those words that is found only here in the New Testament.
And I've had occasion to comment in expounding this letter. People
talk about an ignorant Galilean fisherman. Peter had a tremendously
rich vocabulary. He has any number of what are
called hapax lagominus. That means words found only once
in the New Testament. And this is one of them. And
when it was used in the secular world, it's the word that would
be used when someone told the soldier to strap on his armor. Or when a farmer was told to
take up and furnish himself with his tools or his implements for
farming. And while it would not be legitimate
to press the military imagery and say it is necessarily bound
up in the word, because of the analogy of faith and the dominance
of the military imagery in the letters of Paul, taking up the
whole armor of God, that we might be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil, most likely Peter is thinking in terms of
an imperative that has to do with taking up something that
will function in the spiritual realm as armor and weaponry functions
in the military realm. Peter is saying you're to be
prepared for suffering and for the spiritual conflict that it
entails by outfitting yourself with the right armor. That's
the imagery employed. Now what's the equipment needed?
He describes it as the same mind. Arm yourselves also with the
same mind. Now this word, mind, is found
only one other time in the New Testament. What does it mean?
It's found in Hebrews 4.12. The word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing through the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts, and it's used in the plural, and the intents
of the heart. The thoughts and the intents
of the heart. So you see, it's more than just
the concept of a notion that's floating around in the cranium.
It refers to insights that have gelled into internal mental resolve. The Word of God discerns the
very thoughts and the intents, the mindset, the insights and
perceptions as they have gelled into purposes and resolutions
of the heart. And Peter is saying, in his central
exhortation, if you are to be prepared for suffering, you must
do something that is akin to what a soldier does when he straps
on his armor, and your armor is to be the same mind. That is, the same mind that was
manifested and operative in the Lord Jesus when he suffered in
the flesh. Now what was that mind of Christ
in the midst of his suffering? Well, surely it was this. As
the divinely appointed and anointed Messiah and Redeemer, Doing the
will of God was the obsession of our Lord's heart and mind
you remember in John 4 He said my meat is to do the will of
him that sent me and to finish his work Hebrews 10. No, I come
to do your will Oh God and that came to its most heightened focus. You remember in Gethsemane when
everything in the holy, sanctified humanity of Jesus had an aversion
to the drinking of the cup. And had Jesus not had an aversion
to the drinking of the cup, it would have shown that he was
not truly man, or that he was not truly in fear and dread of
his God. For the holy, sinless Son of
God to do anything other than tremble at the thought of being
abandoned by His Father would have been inhumanity or impiety. But bless God, neither of those
is true of Him. And in His true perfect humanity,
the thought of the shame and the pain and the agony that lay
before Him, and above all, the thought of being abandoned by
His Holy Father when sin is imputed to Him and He vicariously bears
our damnation. Everything in His holy humanity
recalls And he says, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Suffering is to reach its apex
at Golgotha. But what is the mindset of the
Lord Jesus? Here's his mindset. Nevertheless,
not my will be done, but thine. Not thy will be done upon me
as though I will passively submit, but thy will be done by me. by
me as incarnate deity, who in real holy humanity has an aversion
to the horrible suffering that awaits me. But in my holy humanity,
in the integrity of my person as the appointed Redeemer, thy
will be done by me, even if it means the horrible crucible of
forsakenness and abandonment and hell vicariously born. For as much, then, as Christ
suffered in the flesh. Arm yourself with the same mind. The insight that saw through
suffering there is salvation for my people. Through suffering
I come to my messianic throne and vindication. The will of
God is my obsession, though suffering of the intensest kind may be
my portion. No dread of suffering could derail
him from embracing from the heart the revealed will of God. That's
the mind that was in him. Now Peter says, for as much then
as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves, you saints there
in Asia Minor who've begun to feel the social pressure of your
former sinning buddies and girlfriends and companions and neighbors.
And I'm about to tell you that more is to come. A fiery trial
is coming upon you. What you need as you face suffering
is this above all else. You need to gird yourself. You
need to have as your armor this same mind. So the central exhortation is
this. Put on as armor the very mindset
that was operative in the Lord Jesus when he suffered. Before leaving this head, I want
to underscore that this exhortation calls for obedience. It is an
imperative. Arm yourselves with the same
mind. It calls for decisive obedience. The tense of the verb points
to obedience that is resolute and decisive. It is an aorist
imperative. Marshal all of your spiritual
faculties before this imperative and know that it demands a response
from you. And it is to be personal. It's
a middle voice. Put on for yourself. put on for
yourself, and the emphasis on you is placed forward in the
original. There's an abnormal construction.
You people there to whom I'm writing, you must decisively,
personally, as an act of obedience, you must furnish yourself with
the same mind. So we've looked at the foundational
fact reasserted. Christ suffered in the flesh. The central exhortation issued,
arm yourselves with the same mind. Now we come thirdly to
the underlying principle stated. For he that has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin. The underlying principle stated. Now I must tell you at the outset
that this is a very difficult part of the text. Very difficult. In the 20 commentaries that I've
consulted, they're just about evenly divided as to what Peter
means. Is he referring this to Christ? That is, is this a description,
a further amplification of the mind that they are to furnish
themselves with? Arm yourselves with the same
mind, that is, the mind Christ had, namely, that he who is suffered
or suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Or is it referring
primarily to the believer in general? Do this, arm yourself
with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin? Or is it a very distilled, almost
cryptic reference to the teaching fleshed out in full in Romans
chapter 6 in particular? of the union of the believer
with Christ, so that when Christ died, the believer died in him
and with him. And he is to reckon himself to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in union with
Christ. And I say, the commentators differ on precisely what Peter
is saying. But remember what we did in chapter
3 when we faced two of those difficult passages. We said three
things that we must constantly keep before us. No understanding
of the passage is the right one if it does violence to the language. Secondly, if it introduces novelties
not taught in the rest of the Bible, or if it is indifferent
or violates the context. And as I wrestled many hours
with this matter, not settled in my own mind, crying to God,
Lord, what did Peter mean? What was he saying? I found that
in terms of the first two tests, it was a toss-up, and I saw why
the commentators were just about evenly split. As far as the language
is concerned, one can go either way. As far as the rest of the
teaching of the Bible, no novel doctrine is imported. Some just
see in this a distillation of a doctrine fully taught in Romans
chapter 6. But it was the matter of context
that tipped the scales in my judgment. What is the context?
The context is not general teaching on the Christian life. It is
specific exhortation for saints who are facing suffering. And
as I sought to let the pressure of context be felt in my own
mind, the scales tipped in my mind to about 52% for the understanding
that I'm going to propose. I don't propose it dogmatically.
I don't say, if you pick up one of those commentators who takes
a position differing from my own, that you should write him
off as being heretics or unsafe guides. No, not at all. I offer
this explanation. And we start with what obviously
it can't mean. Look at the text. As this underlying
principle is stated, it has a logical connection to what precedes,
for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. What
does it not mean? What it cannot mean? Well, it
certainly does not mean that all suffering in the flesh results
in sanctifying the sufferer. It can't mean that. Why? Because
the Bible in human experience shows us that some people suffer
in the flesh and they sin all the more. If you doubt this,
just read Revelation chapter 16. You have the description
of God pouring out plagues upon men in their flesh, and what
do they do? Rather than ceasing from sin,
they augment their sin. And the fifth poured out his
bowl, Revelation 16, 10, upon the throne of the beast, and
his kingdom was darkened, and they gnawed their tongues for
pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, and they repented not of their works."
Ah, but Peter says, he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin. Then the Bible must be full of contradictions, no?
The text does not mean that suffering in the flesh of any kind under
any circumstances results in the cessation of sin. Nor does
it mean that suffering in the flesh among true Christians results
in the eradication of sin. Some would take the text and
say, well, it says, he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin. And they'd look up the word in
the lexicons and in the concordances and say, well, this word, cease,
means cease. After Jesus rebukes the winds
and the waves, and there is a calm, all of the tumult ceases. It was done, finished, over with.
So the text is saying, he that suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin. It says it, it must mean it.
Well, that's the question. It says that, but what does it
mean when it says that? And we know from the general
teaching of the Bible that it cannot mean that all suffering
in the flesh results in a sanctifying influence, or that all true Christians,
through suffering, will have sin eradicated. Well, what does
it mean? Let me be more modest and say
what it appears to me, according to my present light, to me. All
right? This is what it appears to me
that it means. And this does no violence to
the specific words in the original, nor to the grammar, nor to the
analogy of scripture, nor to the context. This is what I believe
Peter is saying. Here he's just told these believers
to consider afresh Christ as the great sufferer, for as much
then as Christ suffered in the flesh. Furnish yourself with
the same mind for, and here's a principle, Peter says, I want
you to understand that will help motivate you to embrace this
directive, to see the wisdom of God in it, and to give yourselves
to doing the very thing I'm commanding you to do. And here is the principle. The one who, as a professing
Christian, endures a specific situation of suffering for righteousness'
sake, makes it evident in that endurance of that suffering that
the dominion of sin has been broken in his life. And without
giving you a Greek lesson, that's the only way I can understand
the text to do justice to the heiress participle, he that is
suffered. He has experienced a specific
experience of suffering, and as a result, it is clear that
he has ceased from sin a perfect of this verb. The only time it's
used in a perfect, something has happened and the consequences
continue, and it's most likely a perfect passive. He has been
brought to cease from sin. In other words, his suffering
and his triumphant endurance of that suffering, the one who
has suffered, who has entered a set of circumstances where
he either had to choose suffering, which is contrary to all the
inclination of the flesh, either had to endure suffering or he
had to choose sin. The only way to choose righteousness
was to go down into a crucible of suffering. Now he who has
thus suffered and triumphed demonstrates he's free from the dominion of
sin. He is Christ, free man. Sin's
domination has been broken in his life. His attachment to Christ
is no phony attachment. It is real. It's been thrown
into the fiery crucible of temptation and opposition and persecution,
and it's come out as the pure gold of the real thing. As Hebert states so helpfully,
I quote him, He who in loyalty to Christ and in the power of
Christ has steadfastly endured persecution, rather than join
in the wicked practices of the pagan world, has demonstrated
that the pursuit of sin in his life has been ended. And it's
interesting, Peter says, he that has suffered has ceased not from
sins, plural, but from sin. sin generically, sin as Lord,
sin as Master. And that fits the whole teaching
of the Bible, that in every true believer, sin's dominion has
been broken. That's Romans 6. You were the
slaves of sin, but having been made free from sin, you have
your fruit unto holiness in the end everlasting life. Romans
6.22. It's what Peter had already affirmed in chapter 2. Look at
it, verse 24, "...who his own self bore our sins in his own
body on the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto
righteousness." Peter's already asserted this truth. Now he is
saying, when you have faced suffering, and you have endured suffering
rather than sinning, you make it evident. This is not how you
become a Christian. This is what manifests that you
are indeed a true child of God. Since Christ suffered in the
flesh, Peter says you're not alone in your suffering. Look
away to him as the great sufferer. And as you look at him, what
will you see? You will see that as he suffered, he was governed
by a mindset. It was a mindset that chose suffering
rather than disobedience to his Father. Put on as your armor
the same iron, where you are determined with Christ in your
eye and in the strength of Christ that no matter what suffering
comes in the way of obedience, You will be furnished with the
mind that says, Oh God, is it all possible? Not this. Nevertheless, there's something
more important than my comfort. It's your glory manifested in
my obedience, out of love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Am I making sense or am I talking
to myself? Now I offer that as an explanation that is true to
the language, that doesn't introduce a doctrine that isn't taught
elsewhere and that to me is far more compatible with the context.
He's trying to furnish these believers to face the fire. And
what better way than to say the fire will simply validate you're
the real thing. Isn't that what Jesus taught
in the parable of the soils? Remember the stony ground here?
Jesus interprets it. He said the person blossoms up,
seems to be the real thing. But the sun rises and withers
the plant, and it dries up. He said, these are they who receive
the word with joy. But when what? Tribulation or
persecution arises because of the word, they fall away. He who refuses to suffer in the
flesh, but would rather sin than provoke the frowns of his buddies,
or lose his job, or have a few tee-hees and ha-ha's, that person
shows that the root of the matter was never in him. Blessed is
the man who endures temptation, for when he has tried, he shall
receive the crown of life. Untried profession of Christ
is worthless, because it may well be bogus. But that which
is thrown into the fire and comes out is gold. is precious, the
trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that
perishes. That's the underlying principle
stated. Now we come very quickly to the goal of this exhortation
described, verse 2. We've looked at the foundational
fact, reasserted, for as much as Christ suffered in the flesh,
the central exhortation issued, arm yourselves with the same
mind, The undergirding principle stated, he who has suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin, now the goal of the exhortation
described. In order that, or that, you should
no longer live to the rest, the rest of your time in the flesh
to the lust of men, but to the will of God. You have a construction
that points to a purpose clause. Ais tau would be infinitive for
you Greek students. It points to purpose. And it's
my judgment, shared by most of the expositors, that this second
verse should be connected with the first half of verse one.
And regard the principle, he that is suffered in the flesh
is ceased from sin, as a parenthesis. Notice how it reads. Forasmuch
then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with
the same mind that you no longer should live the rest of your
time in the flesh to the lust of men. but to the will of God."
Peter said, you want to know the goal of my exhortation that
you arm yourself with the same mind, the mindset that Christ
had in his suffering? Here's the goal. That you no
longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh, that
is, in your present human experience to the lust of men, but to the
will of God. In other words, Peter said, my
goal in exhorting you to arm yourself with this mind is both
negative and positive. We see that again and again in
the biblical structure. Negatively, no longer live the
rest of your time, that is, your allotted time on earth in the
flesh, not in the flesh as a moral and ethical thing, but in real
human experience as Christ suffered in the flesh, that is, in His
real human experience. So in your real human experience,
whatever time is yet before you, I'm telling you, arm yourself
with this mind that no longer do you live to what? You no longer
live to the lusts of men. That is, allowing your life to
be shaped and molded by the cravings of sinful humanity. It does not
necessarily mean here the grosser forms of those lusts. He will
identify those in the next verse. And he uses six words that underscore
the grossest manifestations of the lusts of the flesh. But this
is more generic. It is the lust, the desires of
men, that is unregenerate men, as those desires come to expression,
covertly and patently and subtly and not so patently, wherever
they are. This admonition, Peter says,
I have given to you to this end, that your life might not be shaped
and molded in any way according to the lust of men, but positively
that you would live the rest of your time in the flesh to
the will of God. To the will of God. Now, what
aspect of the will of God? In our adult class, there is
the will of God's decrees. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. That's the will of His decrees.
His will known only to Him, and apart from that which finds expression
in clear prophecy, where what God has decreed, He has pre-informed
us in prophecy, the decrees of God are none of our business.
So it can't mean living according to the will of his decrees. Then
there is the will of his providence. Providence is the exegesis of
God's decrees in the affairs of life, in its particulars.
We have nothing to do to order that. We're to simply embrace
it as it unfolds. All things are working together
for good, and everything seems to be working together for evil.
In the midst of it, I say, God, I believe it. I don't have a
clue how it's true, but you said it's true. I embrace the will
of your providence. But Peter's not talking about
the will of God's decree or the will of His providence. He's
talking about the will of His precepts. That's God's will revealed in
His Word. That's God's will unfolded in
the scriptures. And Peter says the goal of this
exhortation, that you furnish yourself with this same mind
that Christ had as he faced his sufferings, is this. Negatively,
no longer live your life in any way shaped by the lust of men,
but conversely, positively, in every facet of life, shaped and
molded and governed by the will of God. So that in everything,
you're able to ask these two simple questions. And I found
this in one of the commentators, and I've said to myself more
times in preparation, you dummy, why didn't you ever see it and
state it so clearly? Not the commentator, I said to
myself, you dummy. Didn't call him a dummy. Two
simple questions we ask. Question number one, when I'm
contemplating doing anything, going anywhere, associating with
anyone, watching a given TV program, indulging in a certain entertainment,
appetite, etc. Simple question. May I do this? May I do this? Does God's revealed
will and his word permit me to do it? If not, I don't need to
pray about it, I don't need to seek counsel about it, I don't
need to think about it, I need to know it's out of bounds for
me. Does the revealed will of God
permit it? If the revealed will of God does
not permit it, I'm not even to contemplate, may I do it. You
need never sit and ponder and pray about whether you should
commit adultery, or whether you should murder, or whether you
should steal. God's revealed will forbids it. And a host of
other things. You need never pray, Lord, should
I indulge in this gossip today on the phone? No, because God
forbids gossip. So you ask the simple question,
may I do this? Does the revealed will of God
permit it? Second question is, ought I to
do this? Does the revealed will of God
demand it? Ought I to do this? That is, does the revealed will
of God demand it? Ought I to love you? Yeah, because
the Bible says, I'm to love my neighbor as myself. Ought I always
to be patient and forbearing with you? Yes, because love is
patient, kind, not easily provoked. Ought I always to be ready to
forgive anyone who comes asking my forgiveness? Yes, because
the word of God says, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one.
You see what I'm doing? Two simple questions. May I do
this? That question is resolved by
this issue. Does the will of God revealed
in Scripture permit it? If not, it's out of bounds. Ought I to do this? Does the
revealed will of God demand it? Then I ought and I must do it. And Peter is saying to these
saints in the context of present and future sufferings, arm yourself
with this mind that was in Christ Jesus. The mindset that said
suffering will not deter me from the will of God. If the will
of God leads into the deepest crucible and fiery furnace of
affliction and suffering, I'm committed to doing the will of
God and not to sinning. Armed with that mindset, with
Christ as my example and Christ as my strength, this is the practical
result that will be secured. I'll no longer be the little
lackey of the desires and standards and perspectives of godless men
all around me. I will be Christ's free man to
do His will to His glory. Blessed freedom. Blessed freedom. Blessed freedom, what miserable
bondage to be a slave of every passing fad, intellectual, social,
fashion fads. What a horrible misery that when
somebody at the citadels of dictating fashion says you've got to widen
your tie a quarter of an inch or you're out of step, to stick
your tongue out and says, who are you to tell me what I've
got to do? And when it's fashionable to
prove you're cool. Kids, please. God's given us
a rich language. Don't get into the cool to death
mentality. I'm so sick and tired of cool,
cool. I thought cool was something
the opposite of hot. Didn't you? Everything cool,
cool, cool, cool. We've got a wonderful, rich language.
Don't fall prey to verbal fads. God's a communicating God. You
don't pick up his Bible and he says, it's cool, man, cool, man,
do this. And it's cool, man, cool, man, do that. And it's
cool, man, cool. God speaks in richness in his
word. Be like God. You can be worldly
in your patterns of speech. Yes, you can. And know why some
of you do it? Because you don't want to bear
any reproach. Society has said, you've got
to talk in cool language and dress cool to be cool. I want
to rear back in my hind legs and says, who says cool is going
to be my God? I've got a different God. And
he doesn't tell me being cool is what he wants me to be. He
wants me to stand erect as a noble man. He wants me to stand erect
as a noble woman. and reflect God's image in how
I dress, and how I speak, and how I relate to people. And I
don't reflect God's image shuffling around my head, down my hands,
in my pocket, my britches falling off my butt, mumbling, cool man,
cool. What a horrible thing to be so
enslaved. It's wonderful to be free. To
be free. Isn't it? Are you free? No longer
living the rest of your time in the flesh to the lust of men,
but to the will of God. And what is that will? It's good
and acceptable and it's perfect. It's liberating. Some of you
sit there and say, a crazy old man actually believes what he's
saying. You bet your boots I don't. And I've proven it for 47 years.
Three or four times longer than some of you breathe God's air.
and everything God promises to be to his people, he understated
it. It's more glorious than even
what his word says. That's the purpose, the goal
of the exhortation. The rest of our time spent in
the flesh, not to the lust of man, but to the will of God. Well, I'd hoped to bring four
lines of observation and application. They're too crucial to just pass
over them and give you the heads. So I'll either have to preach
them next week or bump them to tonight, I don't know. I'll have
to make a decision. That's the mystery of this matter of preaching.
Usually four pages of closely handwritten notes is an hour's
preaching, but not always. I trust that just the exposition
has had sufficient application that it's caused you to see how
good and kind and gracious God is. Not simply to say, be willing
to suffer for my name's sake, And he draws near to us, and
after pointing to Christ, beginning in verse 18 of chapter 3, Christ
also suffered, showing him as the great sufferer, as the one
who in the uniqueness of his sufferings has died for us. The
Christ who is the Christ of his people, in all of their circumstances,
now draws near and says, for as much as he suffered in the
flesh, arm yourselves with that same mind. For he that has suffered
in the flesh has ceased from sin. You should no longer spend
the rest of your time in the flesh to the lust of men, but
to the will of God. Let me ask you, have you ceased
from sin? In the sense of this text, has
sin's dominion been broken in your life? In the faith of the
Christ crucified, and in union with that Christ by the Holy
Spirit, have you ceased from sin? Has sin's dominion been
broken? I'm not asking you to sin every
day and you need forgiveness every day. If you said no, John
says you're a liar and the truth is not in you. But if sin your
master, if it is my friend, there's no way to get out from under
that horrible tyranny, but to go to the one who said, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to open the
prison to those that are bound, to set at liberty to captives.
What a wonderful thing to be set free by Christ. If you're
not free, go to Christ, clanking with your chains and telling,
Oh Lord Jesus, my life is shaped and molded by the lust of man.
That is the desires of unregenerate, Christ-denying, God-rejecting
men. It's what they say about what's
important, what music I ought to listen to, what ought to govern
my appetites and passions and goals and ambitions. I'm tired
of being a slave. Set me free into the ocean of
the freedom of being a liberated child of God." And He'll set
you free. You go to Him. Whom the Son sets
free is free indeed. Pentecostals used to sing a chorus. My mother reminded of it to me
this week when I called her. And I'm not a Pentecostal, and
I don't sing choruses, not in church. I sing them at home in
my devotions. And he goes like this, Brother, are you free?
Brother, are you free? Brother, are you free? Ask the
question. Then goes on to assert that Christ
can set you free. Christ can set you free. Christ
can set you free. Shouting Hallelujah. Christ can
set you free. If you're bound, Christ can set
you free. And if you're free, so that studying
this portion this morning, everything in your renewed being rises up
to the word beyond the mere head that says, oh yeah, I'll buy
that. That sounds good. That was nice. Pastor opened
up the passage. That's good. Friend, have you gotten beyond
that? Have you gotten beyond that? I ask you, have you gotten
beyond it? I'm not spending myself for that. There are more important things
in life to do than that. Has your heart risen up and said,
Oh, Lord Jesus, that's what I want. Wherever I'm living according
to the lust of men, Lord, show me. That isn't what you saved
me for. That isn't why you went before
me in the path of suffering with a mindset that said the will
of God, no matter what the cost, anything but sin, Holy Father,
that's what I want. Then you fix Christ in your eyes.
feed upon Him, pray that by the power of the Spirit you be transformed
more and more into His likeness. Let's pray. Our Father, how we earnestly
pray that these things will indeed go beyond the mere shelf draws
and categories of our minds and that our hearts would coalesce
with the truth, that we'd find our hearts yielding to the impressive
truth, even to him who is the truth, the Lord Jesus. We thank
you for this portion of your word and pray that as we meditate
and reflect upon it, It would have its desired effect upon
all of our lives. We pray for those who sit here
this morning in the horrible, miserable slavery of the lusts
of men whose lives are shaped by what men say they ought to
do and be and think and desire to be and think and do. Lord,
you know, if we could, we'd come and we'd cut them loose from
their slavery. but we cannot, but you are able.
Oh God, make them jealous to know what it is to be free, to
cease from sin as their vicious master. Oh God, may they come
under the yoke of him whose yoke is easy and his burden is light. Seal your word, we pray, that
it may bear eternal fruit in every heart for our good and
for your glory. Amen.