Tonight's message is called Standing
in Christ. Standing in Christ. Now, you
hear a lot in the world, in the religious world, about going
forth and going, going, charging forth. But you know, we're called
to stand. We're called to stand, stand,
stand forth in Christ. And we only move when the Commander-in-Chief
moves. See those old Roman armies, remember
the old Roman armies? When they were in battle formation,
the general sometimes or a leader would be up front, and he would
lead them into the battleground. And they only move forward on
the general's command. And then once they got near,
the general would go right behind them, and he would issue commands
that would go through. And the soldiers, the legionnaire
soldiers, 6,000 to a legion, and they'd have multiple legions
stacked beside each other. They would only go forth where
the command came. They stood firm. They stood firm. And beloved, we are to stand
firm in Christ. And these Roman legionaries,
when they, and this happened during Peter's days, remember
to, the example that Paul gives of the armor of God, right, is
of a Roman soldier. But the armor of God we will
see tonight is not about the soldier. It's about Christ. Every piece of the armor of God
points to Christ. You know, when I was in religion,
it was all about, we need to put this on, we need to do this,
we need to, you know, but I remember Norm Wells telling me one time,
you know who puts the armor of God on us? It's Christ, right? It's God the Father puts on,
we put on Christ, but it's not us putting him on. We're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, aren't we? God equips us, doesn't
he, Brother Zane? We wouldn't have nothing if God
didn't equip us. And we'll see that later on. It's wonderful,
I'll tell you, it gives all the glory to Christ. So when the
Roman legions marched into battle, they would be side by side, again,
6,000 per legion, and they would be, what they would do, they'd
have ranks back, all the way back, They'd have ranks, and
they would be in a rectangle, and they would march forward.
So say Zane, you were in charge of one legion, it would march
forth here. And Brother Brian, if you were in charge of a legion,
it would march. And if I had the center one, they would all
march in unison, in unison. And you know what else they had?
They had their shields locked together, overlapping, overlapping. That way they could brace against
an enemy coming right at them real hard. They could actually
brace and hold. And they would put their foot
back, almost like a fighting stance in Taekwondo. They would
put their foot back and have their other foot forward and
they'd brace. So whatever foot was their lead foot, they would
brace like that. And the enemy would hit the shields.
And then the Romans had a small, short sword called a gladius.
That was the weapon of choice for every centurion. That's what
they were issued. And what they would do was when
the enemies hit like that, they would open up their shield just
a little bit, stab through, close the shield. It was amazing. They were the most efficient
fighting machine in ancient times. They were incredible. They could
take on armies. three or four times the size
of them and defeat them. Defeat them. It was absolutely
incredible. And when one man fell in the ranks, say, I fell,
brother, and you were behind me, you'd come up and take that
spot. Isn't that amazing? Oh, my. And they would march
forward if they had to. And what they do, that soldier
that fell, this is amazing too, he would be passed back through
the ranks. He wouldn't get stepped on, he'd be passed back through
the ranks so they could take him to the hospital part. Isn't
that incredible? Oh my. And they'd brace that
way. So when one of them fell from
the front lines, another would step in and replace him. Therefore,
there's no breach in the line, is there? See, we are just to
stand fast. You know who we stand fast in?
Christ, amen, brother. That's who we stand fast in. Oh my. Now let's, with that in
our minds, let's read 1 Peter, let's turn to 1 Peter, chapter
four. 1 Peter, chapter four. With that
in our minds. 1 Peter, chapter four, we're gonna
read verses one all the way to verse 11. 1 Peter 4, 1 to 11. For as much
then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind. So we're to have the mind of
Christ, scripture says. See, if our minds focused on
Christ, we won't be focused on things in the world, will we?
Now this is wonderful instruction for us as believers, right? Because
we can all get carried away with different things. But here it
tells us, center yourself on Christ, right? For he that has
suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That he no longer should
live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men,
but to the will of God. Oh my. for the time passed of
our life that he should no longer live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the
will of God for the time passed of our life may suffice us to
have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness,
lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatry. See, that's where the Lord found
us, beloved. That's where he found us. Wherein
they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same
excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Oh, my, we'll look at that later
on tonight. Who shall give an account to him that is ready
to judge the quick and the dead? Who is that? That's God. That's
Christ. Who will those who have rejected
Christ stand before at that great day of judgment? It'll be Christ. The Father has put all judgment
into his hands, beloved. Oh my. For this cause was the
gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might
be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And above
all things have fervent charity, fervent love, that's the love
of God shed abroad in our hearts. For love, charity, shall cover
the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it to the ability which God giveth. That God in all things,
look at this. So what's the end? Is it for
man to glorify? No. And that's how you tell if a
man's preaching the gospel or not. Who gets the glory? Who
gets the glory? I was talking to Drew Dietz,
we were talking about this very thing. Him and I were talking about
this today. And we preach to glorify God. We preach Christ
to glorify God. Look at this. That God in all
things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To whom be praise
and dominion forever and ever, amen. Now, go back to chapter
three, and let's look at verse 18 of chapter three. And we see that the scriptures
declare that the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, called
the just one in scriptures, died for the unjust, thus you and
I. That's all the elect of all the ages. That's every sinner
topside of this earth, right? Whether the Lord saves them or
not, we are born into this world unjust. My oh my. Dead in trespasses and sins.
But look at this. He died to bring us to God. Could we come to God on our own,
Brian? We couldn't, could we? No. And so he dies. Christ Jesus dies to bring the
people that God the Father gave him unto God the Father. For Christ also hath once, now
look at that, once suffered. Only once. That was at Calvary's
Cross. Never to be repeated again. Never. The just, that means the just,
that means he's the sinless one. Who'd he die for? The unjust,
that's us, that's me, in my natural state. The only reason I'm called
one of the just ones now, and so are you, if you're a believer,
is because we're in Christ. We're not just by nature, are
we? Look at this. that he might, the just for the
unjust, look at this, I love this, that he might bring us
to God. There is no way we could be in God's presence except in
Christ and be clothed in his perfect, spotless righteousness. There's absolutely no way for
a sinner born upon this earth to stand before God outside of
Christ. No way. Because it's he who brings
us to God, isn't it? Remember in Ephesians, we that
were far off are bought nigh by the blood of Christ. Through
the blood of Christ, right? We're bought nigh. Close. My, this is a wonderful verse.
Look at this. How did he do it? Being put to
death in the flesh. He's God in the flesh. He's the
perfect one. He's the just one. The demons say he's the holy
one of God. They knew his title. They knew
who he was. They were terrified of him. It
says here, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the spirit. Same spirit that by God's power,
the same power that raised Christ from the grave is the same power
that raised us from our dead natural state, right, into spiritual
life. Oh my. And remember, Peter's
writing to suffering saints when we went through our study in
1 and 2 Peter. These saints are going through
it, man. They are being persecuted for their faith, so much so that
they've scattered all over the place. Look at chapter 1. Look at this. Look at verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Look what he calls them though
here. People hate the doctrine of election,
but it's in the Bible. Elect, that means chosen in the
Greek. Elect, according to what? The
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, in obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. You see,
God's done it all. There's no salvation without
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Praise God we're saved by the
blood of Christ, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? And it's
according to God's foreknowledge. In the Holy Spirit, he comes
to us, we're dead, he makes us alive. It's wonderful. Praise the name of Jesus. And
Peter brings forth here that their suffering, the suffering
he brings before them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit about Christ
here in verse 18, who suffered more than any other human being
on this earth. He had more sorrow than any of
us will ever have. He had more sadness than any
of us will ever have. And yet through it all, he's
sinless. spotless he suffered more than any other
human being will ever suffer remember he's bearing the weight
of the wrath of god due all the elect of all the ages we we can't
even fathom that can we brother zane we can't even we can't even
enter into what the We can't even enter into it. And you know
what Spurgeon said? I love this. He said, he took
the cup of God's wrath and he drank damnation dry. And he did
it with joy, brother. Amen. Drank damnation dry. So there's nothing left to damn
our souls. Nothing left to condemn our souls.
Yeah, and he said, the scripture says he went to the cross joyfully.
My, what a savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Think upon this. The just one, right? The sinless
one dies for the unjust, which is sinners. Think upon this. His mission
was one of suffering. He suffered in his life, and
he suffered in his death, didn't he? But he rose gloriously. He's not suffering anymore, is
he? No, he's seated at the right hand of the Father now. And think
of this, his whole mission being sent by God was to save his people
from their sins. So the innocent, the one who's
absolutely innocent is suffering, the just one is suffering for
the unjust, for sinners. We deserve that wrath, didn't
we? But he took it upon himself. It fell on him instead of falling
upon us. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise
his mighty name. And then his mission was one
of what's called vicarious suffering, which means he did it on the
account of unrighteous, ungodly sinners. He did it in their room
and place. He died in our room and place.
And he did that for the elect. He didn't do it for all the world.
Right? He died for his sheep, didn't
he? He died for his sheep. Oh my. And then think of this, his mission
was one unconquered by suffering. All the suffering he went through
couldn't conquer his mission. That's wonderful. Because why
did he come here? To save us from our sins. All
the suffering he went through in his whole life and all the
suffering he went through in his death could not conquer the
mission that he was sent to do, which was to save his people
from their sins by the shedding of his precious blood. And he
did it. I say it all the time. It is
finished. And he gave up the ghost, right?
Oh my, it's wonderful. Oh, and now our king, he's risen. He's in glory. He's reigning
supreme. And you know what? He's going
to come back again one day, too. We don't know when, but he's
coming back. Oh my. And right now he reigns
king of kings and lord of lords and has a vesture dipped with
blood. Says king of kings and lord of
lords. That's his blood, isn't it? Oh,
my. He's a great king. Our covenant
head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is now in the bosom of the Father,
beloved. He's back. He's back where he
came from. Remember our study in John 17? He prayed, Lord, give me the
glory that I had with you before the world was. And he's back,
isn't he? He rose victorious, and we rose
in him. He was raised for our justification,
which means for us to be able to stand in God's presence. We
saw that in verse 18, didn't we? It's wonderful. It just gets better and better
and better. This gospel gets more wonderful all the time.
Look at verse 22 of chapter 3. Look at where is he now? Look
at this. Who has gone into heaven and
is on the right hand of God. That's where he is right now.
Look at angels and authorities and powers being made subject
unto him. I was watching some fella today
spitting veminence out about God at a college university. Somebody went there to debate. And this fella, I'll tell you
what, I pray the Lord saved him because he just was so veminent
against Christ, so veminent against the gospel. And I thought, I
thought, well, there I was. Right? I may not have spoke like
he spoke, but in my heart I sure did the same thing. My sins were saying to God, I'm
your enemy. And yet he had mercy on us. You
know why? Because he's loved us with an everlasting love.
Praise God he chose us in Christ, right? And praise God He didn't
leave us where we were. And I'll tell you what, never
forget the pit the Lord took you out of. Never forget that. Never forget where we were when
He rescued us, He delivered us, didn't He? Never forget where
you were. My, oh my. And you'll just praise
His name when you start thinking about that. He saved my soul. I wasn't looking for Him, were
you? He found us, didn't He? Oh, He found us. Oh, my. Brought us under the sound of
the gospel, didn't He? In loving cords He drew us, it
says. Loving cords. Oh, my, what a
Savior. What a Redeemer. Notice in verse
22, we see here the fact of His absolute dominion, His absolute
kingship, his absolute sovereignty. Look, it says here, angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Now, note the words being made
subject. In the Greek, it's one word.
It means to arrange under, to subordinate, so everything's
subordinate to Christ. It also means to subject or put
in subjection, to subject one's self to obey, to submit to one's
control, to obey, be subject. It's used as a Greek military
term. I found this interesting, meaning
to arrange troops in divisions or legions even, to arrange them. He has total control. He has
total control, beloved. And the word is used to bring
forth the military, having them all arranged in order under one
supreme leader. All the angels are subject to
him. All the powers, spiritual wickedness in high places, they're
all subject to him. Satan's subject to him. All the
fallen angels are subject to him. All the world governments
are subject to him. All the insects we see and the insects we don't
see, the molecules we see and the molecules we don't see, well,
we don't see, but all that stuff, everything, every atom is subject
to our kin. Do you know there's not a bird
flying in the sky that doesn't fly according to the providence
of God? Isn't that amazing? And I still
marvel that even the very hairs on my head are numbered. I couldn't
number your hair, and you couldn't number mine, could you? We couldn't. But God knows his people so intimately
that even the very hairs of their head are numbered. That's incredible. That's incredible. I'll tell
you why. So angels and powers are all
subject to him. They nailed him to the cross,
but it was according to the foreknowledge of God, wasn't it? All powers are subject to him.
When they wagged their heads and cursed while he hung upon
the cross, wonder of wonders, our God was in full control.
What does he have to do for men to do that? Just leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Oh my. So Peter's bringing forth, before
the suffering saints that he's writing to, the fact that our
great substitute suffered even more. Suffered even more. And when we think about his suffering,
it makes ours awful small, doesn't it? Even though it's real to
us, it's big in our eyes. And it's real. I'm not downplaying
that our sufferings aren't real, because they are. But in light
of what Christ went through, there are light afflictions,
as Paul wrote, didn't he? And you're talking about a guy
who was 39 stripes, what? How many times? I think it was five times. I
think it was five times. And that killed a normal man.
The Lord preserved him, didn't he? Oh my. Oh my. And notice he comes back to this
in chapter 4. A lot of commentators say that
the chapter break should have been at verse 11. Because sometimes
we read these chapters, and the chapter break, you're like, well,
why did he? Because he continues his thought, right? So a lot
of commentators think that the chapter break should have been
at verse 11. But nevertheless, it's where
it is, right? It's where it is. I just thought
that was interesting because the thought of Peter continues
right down that vein, the same vein. So Peter's bringing forth
that believers should patiently bear our sufferings and our afflictions.
Since Christ has the government in his hands and all things are
subject unto him. Remember Brother Zane, we were
talking one time and Zane brought forth that God sends these things
our way. And a lot of times, they're there
to have us grow in grace and cling to Him more. Because when
our health starts to decline or when we get sick, the first
person we cry out to is God, isn't it? It is. Oh, my. But when we're feeling
good, we're not always crying out to Him, are we? So he has us go through things
to keep us close to him. Because we're prone to wander,
as we sang in that song, aren't we? We're prone to leave the
God we love. Oh my. I'm so thankful for providence
that restrains us. I was listening to that Spurgeon
sermon I was telling you about, Brian, and one thing he brought out
that I thought was just marvelous, he said, he said, not only does
God restrain us from our sins, but a temptation will come Right? That we would normally cave into.
And he gives us, he by his providence restrains us from falling into
that sin. Isn't that amazing? And turns
us praising him and glorifying him. Sometimes we go right into
it, don't we? But sometimes he restrains us,
right? Remember that king that wanted to take Sarah and be his
wife or his concubine? And he said, why didn't you tell
me she was your wife, Abraham? I saw in a dream. Well, I think
it was a dream he saw. And he said, don't touch that
woman. God told him, don't touch that
woman. My, oh, my. Oh, my. So He restrains us. So we should bear all sufferings
and afflictions, knowing that Christ is sovereign. You know,
He alone can put a stop to the rage of man. God and God alone
is the only one who can put a stop to persecution and the rage of
man. He's the only one, and he will
do it in his time. Let's read verse 1 here again,
chapter 4. And remember, these saints are
suffering for their faith. That's why they're suffering.
They're suffering because they believe on Christ. For as much
then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, remember continuing
the vein from verse 18, how he died for us, arm yourself likewise
with the same mind. For he that has suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin. So Peter again brings forth the
fact of Christ's suffering. The eternal son of God suffered
in our room and place. The holy one of God, the just
one of God, suffered in the room and place of sinners. The ungodly,
his elect, born into this world dead in trespasses and sins. And he faced reproaches, didn't
he? He faced persecution. He faced affliction. And he faced
the wrath of God that was due us. Oh, my. The curses of the law. Death itself. He died in our
room and place before God's justice and law so that we might what? Stand in God's presence. It's
wondrous. That blood. That blood. When
I see that blood, I'll pass over you. It's wonderful. God says,
when I see that blood, I'll pass over you. Oh my. Notice the word suffered in the
flesh there. Those tie in with verse 18, which proclaims that
Christ suffered for sins. And in verse 18 of chapter 3,
the fact that our Lord was put to death with respect to the
flesh is brought forth here again. Look, for as much as Christ also
has suffered for us in the flesh, He was a real man. He was a real
man. He was God in the flesh, beloved.
Fully God and fully man. And the fact, this brings forth
the fact of his vicarious sufferings for us, which means he died in
our room and place. The just one for the unjust.
The innocent one died on behalf of the guilty. And we can all
say that, don't we? We now take sides with God. We're
the offending party. We're the sinners. Oh my. Henry used to say, the
only thing we bring is our sin before God. We can't bring any
works, because they're like filthy rags. We don't have any righteousness. We're not good. Nobody seeks
God unless God the Holy Spirit's drawn us. So we give him all
the praise for that, don't we? But the only thing we bring to
the table is our sin. Oh, my. I'll tell you. And now we know, we read in verse
18, Christ suffered for our sins, the just one for the unjust,
the sinless one, the innocent one, for the guilty. What a Savior! What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ,
our Lord. How did He redeem us? By His
precious, precious blood. Right? Shed on our behalf, glory
to His name. And Peter's bringing forth, again,
the suffering of Christ before these saints. Look at 1 Peter
3, 17. Look at this. And Peter exhorting
the saints to arm themselves with the same mind that Christ
had, in verse 1 there, regarding unjust punishment. And what was
our Lord's attitude toward unjust suffering? Look at this. For
it is better the will of God to be so that you suffer for
well-doing than for evil-doing. Now, Christ was accused of many
things, right? He was unjustly accused of things. They took an innocent man and
hung him upon the cross, but he knew this was his mission.
He knew he had to die. in order to save us from our
sins. So he was silent as a lamb, right? Quiet as a lamb. My, oh my. My, oh my. Notice in verse 1
there it says, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. In the Greek word arm yourself
was used of a Greek soldier putting on his armor and taking his weapons. Turn if you would to Ephesians
chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Weiss brings forth that the
noun of the same root was used of a heavy armored foot soldier
who carried a pike and a large shield. So this is what's called
heavy infantry that's being brought forth here. The Roman legionaries
were heavy infantry. They had a shield and they were
fully protected. My oh my. Now look at this in
Ephesians chapter 6, and the Holy Spirit, as Peter used that
Greek word, which brings forth that the Christian needs the
heaviest armor, the heaviest armor, the most protection, because
otherwise we can't withstand the attacks of the enemy of our
soul, and the attacks of the world, and the attacks of the
flesh. So how are we fully armed as Christian soldiers? Only in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Again, the whole armor of God
that we're gonna read about here points to Christ. Points to Christ. And God puts this armor on us.
Okay? And we're in a spiritual conflict
in this world, aren't we? But watch and see what God arms
us. How he protects us. Look at this.
Look at verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong,
here's the key, in the Lord. And in the power of his might,
see, I'm reminded of John 15, 5, where Christ says, without
me you can do nothing. Can't do anything. Put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood. but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto
you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand the
evil day, and having done all, to stand." Now this is where
I got the message name from. Stand. Don't go forward. Don't go backwards. Just stand.
Right? And we don't go forward until
the king goes forward, until the general goes forward, right? Well, just stand. Stand in this
world. I'll tell you, it's hard to stand in this world. But we
can only do it by the power and might of Christ. Oh my. Look at this. Wherefore take
unto you the whole honor of God that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore. Again, he repeats it twice now
for us. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Who's the truth? Christ is the
truth. He's the way, the truth, and
the life, right? Okay, so girt yourself with the truth. Girt
yourself with Christ, right? In heaven on the breastplate
of righteousness. Who's our righteousness? Christ
is our righteousness. Right? That's what the breastplate
represents. It represents Christ. Oh, and your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. Who does the gospel speak
of? Christ. It doesn't speak of no one else,
does it? It speaks of the wondrous mercy of God in Christ to sinners. Oh, this is marvelous. Above
all, taking the shield of faith. Okay, who is the object of our
faith? Christ, that's it, right? Christ
is the object of our faith. Oh my, wherefore ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take
the helmet of salvation. Well, who's our salvation in? It's in Christ. It's in Christ
alone. He's the believer's salvation,
right? And look at this, the sword of
the spirit, which is the word of God. Who does this word testify
of? Who did Christ say the law and
the prophets, they testify of what? Me, he said, right? This
is a H-I-M book. Him. Christ. It's all about Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So we see
then, the whole honor of God is all Christ. It's all Him. It's all Him. And look at this.
Praying always with prayer and supplication in the spirit. Who
do we pray to? We pray to Christ. We pray to
God in the name of Christ. Watching down too with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints. We pray for all our brethren.
For me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open
my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Please
pray that for me. Please pray that for me, that
God would give me utterance in the community here. That God
would give me utterance to be able to speak the wondrous mystery
of the gospel, which is Christ Jesus. And pray that for one
another too, that God would give you utterance too. I'll pray
that for you too. And for me, that utterance may be given unto
me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel. for which I am an ambassador,
every believer. We're all ambassadors, beloved.
In bonds, now he was in bonds during this time, that therein
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Look at that. Isn't
that wonderful? See how Christ-centered that
is? And where to stand? Who are we
to stand in? Christ. Stand in Christ. In religion,
you've got to go, do this, do this, do this. Stand. I'm just
going to stand in Christ. Right? In Galatians, Paul writes,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand. Stand
fast. He's done it all. Let us rest
and trust in him, beloved. My. And two implications are
given here. That Christ, the sinless sacrifice,
bore our sins in his body and suffered for them and died for
them. And now our sins are gone, beloved.
Our sins are gone. We see that. We see that there. Let's read verse 1 again of chapter
4. For as much, then, as Christ
has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. For thee, he that has suffered
in the flesh, has ceased from sin, that he no longer should
live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lust of man,
but to the will of God. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of Gentiles when we
walked in lasciviousness, lost excess of wine, revelings, banquetings,
and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it not strange that
ye run not with them, till the same excess of riot speak evil
of you. My, oh, my! Look at verse 2 again. That he
no longer should live the rest of his time to the lust of the
flesh, but to the will of God. My, oh my. Now we've not ceased
from the burden of sin, or the continual war with sin that we
will have until the day we die. But we've ceased from the servitude
to sin, haven't we? It doesn't have the dominion
over us it once had. Now we're still sinners, but
now we know we're sinners. Now we understand what sin is
a little bit. Right? Now we hate sin and ourselves
more than anywhere else. But we thank God for the grace
and the pardoning grace of the forgiveness of all our sins.
I was thinking about that as I was walking today. Heaven forgive
you all trespasses and sins. Paul writes in Colossians chapter
2 to the Colossians, blotting out the handwriting of the word
that was against us, that was contrary to us. He took it, nailing
it to his cross. It's gone, beloved. There's no condemnation now for
those in Christ Jesus. None. It's wondrous. Wondrous. So now we should no
longer live our life for the lust of the flesh. Now we desire, look at this,
but to the will of God, verse two. Now we desire to live for
Christ. We didn't at one time. Oh, we
desire to live soberly and godly in this world. And we're motivated
and constrained from sin by the love of God in Christ. The word lust in the Greek speaks
of any strong craving. It's not necessarily just a sexual
craving. It's any strong craving. An evil craving. We should be dead to that. We
should be dead to that. Oh, my. We no longer ought to
live the rest of our time in the flesh, in the sinful lusts
and corrupt desires of the carnal, wicked heart. But we ought to
confirm ourselves to the revealed will of God and rest and trust
in Christ and Him alone. Again, that's the hardest thing
for us to do, isn't it? Just rest in Christ. Just stand fast.
Oh my. Look at verses three and four.
For the time of our life may suffice us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts,
excess of wine, revilings, banqueting, and abominable idolatries, wherein
they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same
excess of riot. Now look at that, look at verse
four, look at that. This is incredible. Things that
are now a shame to us were once a delight to us. And we have no cause to judge
and condemn those who exploit the flesh because we were there. We were there. We ourselves were
in the same darkness. Look what it says in verse four,
wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them to
the same excess of riots speaking evil of you. We used to do that. And now our friends and family
think, what has happened to them? They no longer want to do the
things we used to do. See the words that you run not
with? Weiss brings forth that in the
Greek that means to run in company with. Run in our old circles, it's
a good way to put it. We don't want to run in the circles
we once ran in before. And he continues, it means here
to run in a troop with others like a band of revelers, a bunch
of rebels. That's where God saved me from. Oh, my. And the word excess is
a translation of the Greek word meaning literally a pouring forth
or an overflowing. So wherein they think it's strange
that you not run with them to the same excess of riot, overflowing
riot, speaking evil of you. We don't desire that anymore.
My, oh, my. This Greek word there about the
overflowing was used in classical Greek when the tides come in
and fill the hollows, it filled them to excess. That's what that
means. Filled to excess. That's where
we were. And God saved our eternal souls. 2,000 years ago by the shedding of
his blood. We didn't even know it. And then the Holy Spirit
comes into our hearts. Now, being born again of the
Spirit and given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
cry, I'm a father. Praise your name, Father. Praise
your name for your mercy and your goodness. And the world
thinks it's strange, beloved. Why aren't you going out and
doing these things we loved? You used to love being with us.
You used to hang with us. What's going on? I don't want
to do that no more. I don't find pleasure in that
anymore. It doesn't have the same appeal it once had to me. Only God can do that, let me
tell you. Only God can do that, can change
a man or a woman like that. And we don't enjoy taking part
in the evil that we once did, in the sinfulness that we once
did. And they do not understand that we now hate sin. They do
not understand it. And they wonder how we find no
pleasure in sin, how they find pleasure in sin, and how you
don't find pleasure in sin? Nope, not anymore. I hate it
now. Do you sin more than you want
to? I know I always ask that, but
it's true, isn't it? We sin more than we want to, don't we? It's
going to be amazing when we never sin again in glory. We will never
be plagued by sin again. It almost makes us envious of
our brothers and sisters who went home to be with the Lord,
doesn't it? They are not struggling with sin anymore, beloved. That's why we have that yearning
to go home. And Paul, I love what Paul said. He said, I have a desire to depart,
but it's better for me to be here with you. Right? So any believer, we have a desire
to depart and be with the Lord. But until the Lord takes us home,
it's better for us to be here. We edify one another. We encourage
one another. And that's what Paul was saying.
He understood the providence of God and saying, well, he saw
the third heaven, right? So he saw a lot more than we've
ever seen. And he wanted to go home. But
he knew, it's better for me to stay here until that time when
God takes me home. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. And we who are saved sinners,
we've had Christ revealed to us now. And we who are as born
again blood-washed people, we marvel at the fact that the Lord
has saved us from our sins. It's amazing. He saved us. He delivered us. He rescued us,
beloved, from all our sins. How? by the shedding of his precious,
precious blood, the redeeming blood of Christ. And God sees
that blood, and he passes over us, because the price has already
been paid for our souls. The demands of God's justice
have already been satisfied. The wrath of God against our
sins has been extinguished. And we cry, praise your mighty
name, Lord. This is amazing. Truly amazing
grace, isn't it? It's amazing, amazing grace.
They call us fools and fanatics. They call us holy rollers. They
call us do-gooders. But they don't understand that
we who are God's elect, we understand that we're even worse than they
are. And God saved our souls. That's
why we marvel. That's why we marvel that God
saved us. We've been washed in the precious
blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been shown grace
in the eyes of God. And it's only him who's made
us to differ from anyone else in this world. Let's close with
verse five. Look at this. Who shall give
an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead?
Those who speak evil of God's people and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom we worship, will one day give an account of themselves
before the very one we worship, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
he who, when he comes, who is ready to judge the living and
the dead. And to those who are in Christ, there's no judgment.
But to all those who die in their sins, they'll be judged justly
and fairly according to their works. And it's God himself that
the ungodly will give an account to, account of all the blasphemy
spoken by them against God and against Christ and against the
gospel, and they will receive their just punishment. Peter
brings this forth to calm the minds of God's people who are
going through suffering, being persecuted by ungodly people.
And he's telling them, they're going to be judged. You just stand fast. You stand
fast in Christ. Oh my. And commit yourself. Let us commit ourselves to He
to he who judges righteously. In his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. To God be the glory. Great things
he hath done. Brother Zane, can you close us
in prayer?