Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Peter, Chapter 4. The name of the message is, Standing
in Christ. Standing in Christ. 1 Peter, Chapter 4. Now Roman
legions, when they marched into battle, they would march in such
a formation that it was easy for them to form up what was
called a shield wall. And this shield wall had layers.
There'd be the first rank of men, then there'd be several
layers behind them. And the one thing that the Romans
did that other armies didn't do was they would lock their
shields together. And there would be a little gap
that they could open up where they could stick their gladius
out and pull it back quickly and the gap would close. And
it was very hard for the enemy to strike at them. They would
hit this shield wall. They would press upon the shield
wall. Sometimes it would look like
it was going to bend, but it would never break. And if it
broke, then it was usually trouble for the legion. But they were
disciplined soldiers. They were, Brother Tom, he said
at one time, and it's true, they were like the first professional
army. These men signed to be as a legionnaire
for up to 20 years at a time. There's reports of legionnaires
living to be their 60s. Imagine how many battles they
fought in. And then they would retire. Three different times
they signed up. That's a long time to sign up
for, isn't it, brother? 20 years. That's a long time.
But they would brace. When the enemy come at them,
they would brace. They would lock their shields together.
And that army would come straight at them. And the force of them
coming again would have them bend a little bit. But what happened
to their enemies was they would follow up and literally crush
each other. The poor guys at the front didn't
have a chance, because they were easy pickings
for the Roman legionaries. But they stood. They stood their
ground. Beloved, we are to stand fast
in Christ. And the scripture uses, which
we'll look at, in a metaphor Roman soldier with
the armor of God. And we'll look at that today. So let's keep that in our minds.
Let's read 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 1 to 11. For as much then as
Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise
with the same mind. For he that has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin. So arm yourself like a soldier. Stand fast. That he should no
longer, 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. So we're
not to live our lives for the lust of the flesh. Now that's,
that means we are going to war against our flesh, aren't we?
And remember, we have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the
devil. And which one's the worst? I know which one's the worst
for me. It's my flesh. Yeah, he burned, brother, right
here. It's my flesh. My, oh, my. It says, for the
time of past, for the time past of our life may suffice us to
have wrought the will of the Gentiles When we walked in lasciviousness,
lust, excess of wine, revilings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries,
wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to
the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. I'll tell you what,
when the Lord saves one of his saints, they're friends from the past.
I've had this happen. I had that happen to me. They're
friends in the past. What happened to Boyd? What in
the world happened to him? He's gone to be one of them Jesus
freaks now. Oh yeah. You won't call me that,
that's fine. It doesn't bother me. He's my
king. He's my lord. But it's true,
they speak evil of you. And then they start to mock you. My oh my. Sometimes it's even
family members. That's what happened to me. It
was family members, my dad. He said, Wayne, I'd rather have
you back at the bar than in church. My dad said that to me. He said
a couple other things I won't say either, but he would have
rather had me drinking in a bar like I used to, right, living
a riotous life, than going to church. You know
why? Because he hated the gospel. He did. And you know what? I'm a product of him, right?
So when I was born, I hated the gospel too. I was saying to Vicki this week,
I might not have outrightly said I hated God, but by my sins,
I was saying that. But God saved me by His grace. That's what he did for all of
us, eh? Saved us out of that, beloved. Called us out of all
that deadness and sin. Now we're still sinners, but
now we're saved sinners. I had one of my cousins tell
me, he goes, I had to cut you off from Facebook. I said, why? And he goes, because you love
Jesus too much. Man, that was a badge of honor for me. Keep
telling me that. Put that on my tombstone. He
loved Jesus too much. I'll tell you, I don't love them
enough. My, oh my. So when I read this,
I'm staring myself in the face in my old ways. Wherein they
think it's strange that you run not with them. You don't, you
don't, you don't do the things you used to do with them anymore.
To the same excess of riot. Just, just wasting my life. That's what I was doing. And
they speak evil of you. Who shall give account to him
that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? Look at that. Can
any of us give account for our souls? No. Aren't you happy? When I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, my. Covered in the precious
blood of Christ. It says, for this cause, verse
6, for this cause was the gospel preached. Also to them that are
dead, they might be judged according to the man in the flesh, but
live according to the 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, which is love, among yourselves. For charity shall
cover what? A multitude of sins. If you see
your brother sinning, pick him up. You know, in religion, man, they
go over and they just hoof you. I experienced that too. They
do, religion. It's like that article I have
in here this week, and Spurgeon says, he says, the lost modem. And then he said his heart was
melted within him. But there's a point in this article
where he says, well, maybe if I just pick myself up and do
this, God will accept me. And he said, the law just smote
him even harder. Just beat him even harder, beloved.
And then one came beside him. Oh, that article's wonderful.
It's called Pardon. It's just a wonderful article.
Oh, my. Read it when you get home. It's
just wonderful, absolutely wonderful. And we're pardoned, beloved,
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, Paul, when he's writing
these words, Let's read verses, I skipped
verses 9 and 10. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging. Don't begrudge one another. Use
hospitality. 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 as of the ability which God giveth. That God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ. to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. Who gets all the glory? God gets it all. Yeah. I can't glory in anything I've
done, because I didn't do nothing. God saved me, like we saw in
Sunday school. God saved Paul, didn't he? God saved me. And if you're a believer, God
saved you. My. Look at verse 18, one chapter
over. Look at chapter 3, verse 18. Verse 18 declares that the Lord
Jesus Christ, the just one, he died in the place of unjust sinners,
which is us. God's elect. Why? To bring us
to God. Look at this. For Christ also
had once suffered for sins. He's sinless, right? But it says
he's suffering for sins. Our sins were imputed to him.
He's suffering for my sins. He's suffering for your sins,
brother. That's what he did at Calvary's Cross. Isn't that wonderful?
Hey, we couldn't pay it, could we? And he paid it all, man.
Oh my, he suffered. The just one, the perfect one
for the unjust, that's us. Isn't it funny? Isn't it funny
that before the Lord saves us, if somebody called us a sinner,
it was like, right? Call me a sinner? And here we
preachers, we get up, and we don't look, well, you never,
I hope you never hear me say, well, you're a sinner. We are
sinners. We. I'm a safe sinner, too. We. Religion, it was always,
you thought the preacher, he was perfect, and I don't know
how it happened, but he was incredible. But you find out, no, they're
just sinners like you and I, right? He died for our sins,
beloved. Our sins. He's the sinless one. He's the just one dying for the
unjust. It says right here, look at this.
This is marvelous. Christ also had once, not multiple
times, once, suffered once for sins. The just, the perfect one. That means the holy one, the
just one. The perfect one for the unjust, guilty sinners. That's me. I know you all put
your hands up too, right? That's all of us, isn't it? That's
all of us. Look at that. Why? Why did He
do that? Why did He do that? That He might
bring us to God. Look at that. We couldn't come
to God on our own. We couldn't. It was impossible.
God can't have any sin in His presence, can He? We have to
be made perfect. We have to be made holy. Now,
we marvel at this. We're sinners still on this earth,
and yet we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and
God doesn't see any sin in us. Because it's alien righteousness,
right? It's not our righteousness. It's His righteousness. That's
why the Scripture says He's the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah
Sekindim. The Lord our righteousness, beloved.
Oh, it's wonderful. But look at that. Why did he
die? Why did the sinless one die on Calvary's cross? That
he might bring us to God. That he might bring his people.
And he shall save his people, what? From their sins. To bring us to God. Oh, it's
marvelous. And that was all planned and
purposed, as we saw this morning, by God. And then, being put to death
in the flesh but quickened by the spirit. He's raised for our
justification. And remember, now when Peter's
writing this epistle, the basis of who he's writing to, these
saints are suffering for their faith. They're being persecuted.
They're being persecuted for their faith. If you read this
whole book, you'll find out that they are going through various
trials. They are being persecuted for what they believe. And there
are the elect scattered all abroad. We see that in chapter 1. Look at this. It says, verse
1 and 2, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia. Look at this, elect, chosen,
elect. That's who this is written to.
elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, that's just being made holy, that's to be born
again, of the Spirit, it's the Spirit's work, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses
us from all our sin, right? Grace unto you, and peace be
multiplied. My, oh my. So he's writing to
suffering saints. These saints are suffering in
Cappadocia, in Galatia, they're suffering for their faith. And this suffering is a reality. And Peter's not downplaying their
suffering, but we're going to see a contrast to suffering.
He's going to set before them the suffering of Christ. And
what will that do? That'll make our suffering look
like nothing, won't it? But don't forget, our suffering's
real, though. It's real. We really do feel it. It really
does happen to us. But in light of what Christ suffered,
Scripture says this is but light affliction for us. My, oh my. My, oh my. And Peter brings forth the fact
that they are suffering, but he brings before them again by
inspiration. And remember, this is by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. He brings forth before them he
who suffered in their place. And he's done that, hasn't he?
In verse 18 of chapter 3. You know, think upon this, the
Lord Jesus Christ had a mission, didn't he? Remember, he's the
captain of the Lord's house. He had a mission. He was on a
mission. What's his mission? To save his people from their
sins. But in order to do that, he has to live the perfect life,
doesn't he? Well, he's sinless. So he fulfills the law in every
jot and tittle in his life. And then the scripture says,
the soul that sinneth, it must die. He's sinless. So our sins
are imputed to him, and he willingly gives up the ghost. Scripture says that, doesn't
it? Spurgeon said he could have hung
on that cross for as long as he wanted to. He could have commanded
a legion of angels. He said that. 6,000 angels. You've heard me say before, one
angel killed 100,000 men. 6,000 wiped the whole world out,
beloved. One legion of angels. How many
does he have at his command? Basically, he's saying, I could
wipe out the whole world, but what does he do? Nevertheless,
not my will, Father, but thy will be done. It was God, the
Father's will that he goes to the cross, right? To redeem us
from our sins. And we see here who he is, the
just one. The just one was on a mission
to bring us to God, to save us from our sins. And his one was,
his mission was one of vicarious suffering, which means he's a
substitute. He doesn't deserve to suffer,
does he? He, he's not sinned at all. He's not offended anyone.
Now, self-righteous men may have been offended on this earth,
but God, God looked at Christ and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. And think of that, the one who
said that sent him to die. How great is the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit's love for us? How great is their love for
us? Again, you can't measure his
grace, can you? You can't measure his love either
for his people. My, oh my. And think of this,
his mission was one unconquered by suffering. He suffered more
than anyone, and yet he wasn't conquered by that suffering,
was he? He completed his mission, didn't he? And where'd he go? Back home. He came down from heaven. He stooped low to save us from
our sins. And he was put to death in the
flesh, but he was quickened in the spirit. And where's our king
now, beloved? He's risen. Oh, he's in glory. He's on the right hand of the
Father right now, isn't he? And you know what he has? All power. You mean he has absolute power?
Yep. You mean he can do whatever he
pleases? Yep. I hear you say that none can
stay his hand, none can stop him. That's right. That's my king. Is he yours? Rejoice, beloved. Rejoice. Look at this. Look at 1 Peter
3, verse 22. Look at this. Who has gone into
heaven. That's where he is right now,
right? That's where he is. Our dear brother and sister who
departed from this world are right now beholden Christ. And
they have been from the moment they breathe their last breath.
They're in the presence of the Lord. Oh my. Isn't that wonderful? Look at this. He's gone into
heaven. He's on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. Look at that. Angels, authorities, and powers.
What? Subject unto him. Now notice in the latter part
of verse 22, again we see here the absolute dominion and authority
of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him. Now note the words there being
made subject unto. There's another one where four
words are one word in the Greek. Four words in English are one
word in the Greek. You know what that one word means?
To arrange under. To arrange under. To be subordinate. To be subordinate. To subject. To put in subjection. He's put
them in subjection. They are all in subjection to
him. It also means this. To subject
oneself. To obey. to submit to one's control. Remember those demons when they
saw Christ? One of my favorite narratives,
the Gadarene demoniac. And those demons said, we know
who you are, thou holy one of God. The devils believe in tremble,
don't they? You know why? Because they're
subject to them. They knew he is king. And he
said, art thou come to cast us into the deep, which is the abyss,
before the time? They know their end is soon.
They know their days are numbered. This term is also, I found this
interesting, uses a Greek military term meaning to arrange troop
divisions. Get them in order. You better be in order. And they're
not one of them out of place, beloved. That's not under his
power. We see now why he's the captain of the Lord's host, don't
we? But he's not just the captain of the Lord's host. He's over
all angels, authorities, and powers, all being made subject
unto him. In full submission to him. They can't do nothing unless
he allows them to. Angels, authorities, powers,
think it, all the stuff we see going on in the world, the governments,
they're all under God's subjection. That'll give us peace, won't
it? To know that things are playing
out according to God's will and sovereignty. We don't understand
it. Oftentimes we don't understand
it. But I'll tell you, I do know something that we're gonna look
back in a few years and know why it all happened. Or we'll
see a point in it. Maybe the Lord's bringing Ukrainians
over to the EU that they might hear the gospel. Maybe there'll be a stirring
in Russia. You never know. People might
rise up against Putin. You don't know. We don't know.
No one knows. And maybe it'll open that culture
for the gospel even more. We don't know. See, we don't
know. But we know that everyone's subjected
to the Lord. We know that. We know that Everything is under
his domain. That gives me peace as a believer.
I don't understand what he's doing and frankly, it's not for
me to understand. It's not for me to question what
God does. I'm just amazed that he saved me by his grace. I'm amazed that I was included
in that number. And I get to be with the Lord's
people. Like I said to Marcus, I wrote
Marcus, I said, woo-hoo, it's Sunday. I love Sunday. I love
getting together with you all. This is the highlight of our
week, for Vicki and I, to be with the Lord's people. It's
wonderful. So Peter, think of this, too.
These saints, they're suffering. They're being persecuted for
their faith. And what does Peter do? He brings before them God's
in control. And remember that verse we saw
on Sunday School? I'll not forget you. That burned in my soul this
morning. I'll tell you what, that's beautiful.
He's never gonna forget us. So they're suffering through
stuff, and he's got his eye on them. His eyes never left them. Here's an illustration. There was a man who walked into
a goldsmith in the 1800s. He walks into a smithing place.
And the goldsmith there has got a pot there and with gold you
put it in and you have to heat it up to a certain point and
you have to take the dross off it. And he said, he's watching
them do his thing there and the young man who had walked in said
to the goldsmith, he says, when do you know when it's done? He says, when I can see my reflection. conformed to the image of the
sun. There's a reason why we go through
certain things, isn't there? We're being conformed to the
image of the sun, beloved. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So, remember, when we're going
through fires of suffering or trials, He's in full control. And there's a reason why we're
going through those, even though we don't understand it. But his will will be accomplished
in our lives, won't it? And so Paul, or Peter, I keep
saying Paul because we're doing Galatians in Sunday school. Peter
is bringing forth then to the suffering saints that he's writing
to the fact of our great substitute's ever-present help, and the fact
that he died for us. He died for our sins. And again,
our sufferings and the things we go through, they seem really
big in our eyes. And they do. I'm not going to
negate that. There's some huge mountains that come in our lives.
We've all faced them, haven't we? And the Lord trims them right
down, doesn't he? Or he carries us right over the mountains.
You know, you ever seen that thing, footprints in the sand?
You've heard me mention this before. I'm going to say it again.
Footprints in the sand, right? You read that thing and you think,
oh, that's okay. But first it says there's two
sets of footprints. You know, there've never been
two sets of footprints in my life. My footprints in the sand be
one set of footprints and me being carried by the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what it means. He carries
us through this life, doesn't he? He takes care of us, doesn't
he? He's the one who gets all the glory. Now, Peter will come
back to chapter 4 here, and let's look at verse 1 here. A lot of commentators believe that
there shouldn't have been a break here, that the break should have
been to verse 11, where we went. Sometimes the chapter breaks are not always good. And that's
put in there by man, that's put in there by, originally these
were letters. And so the flow of what he's
writing about in verse 18, 22, the latter part of chapter 3,
flows right into 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 1 to 11. And remember, the Lord and him
alone can put a stop to man's raging and persecution. And this
is what the apostle is going to bring forth here. Look at
verse 1 of chapter 4. For as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin. So Peter here again brings forth
the fact of Christ's suffering, of his suffering. The eternal
Son of God, the Lord of glory, the holy one and just one of
God suffered for our sins, beloved. And he's bringing that forth.
Christ suffered for us in the flesh. He was bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. He suffered for us. He died as
our substitute. He came to pay all that God demanded
to ransom our souls. And what was the cost? The shedding
of His precious, precious blood. My. And note the word suffered
for us in the flesh and tie this in with verse 18 of chapter 3
which proclaims Christ suffered for sins. Well, he suffered for
us. He's sinless. He's suffering for my sins and
for the sins of all the elect of God. And that's what Peter
brings forth here in verse 1, for as much then as Christ has
suffered for us. And remember, he's writing to
the elect of God. He's not writing to the whole world. He's writing
to God's elect that are spread abroad in Cappadocia, in Galatia,
and in the various places. And he sets before them the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he sets before them the fact
that he was really a man in the flesh. He was a real man. You can look at a Jewish historian
called Josephus. Josephus. I always mess his name
up. But you can look up him, and
he actually mentions Christ in his historical book. So he was
a real figure. He was in the flesh. My oh my. Here he is, the innocent one,
dying on behalf of the guilty. And Peter, brings forth the suffering
of Christ again before the saints that he's writing to. He's exhorting
themselves to arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.
We're only here for a short time, beloved. Our life is like a vapor. And Peter exhorts the saints
to arm themselves with the same mind that Christ had regarding
unjust punishment. And our Lord suffered unjust
punishment, didn't he? More so than any man. Turn, if
you would, to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. And in verse 17 of 1 Peter 3,
it says, for it is better if the will of God be so that you
suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. And the well-doing
there is believing in Christ, believing the Messiah, professing
Him. in his gospel, given a free and
open reason for doing so. Why? Because he saved me by his
grace. Saved me from all my sins. My, and the world hates it. And
that's why believers are persecuted, because the world hates the gospel. They hate Christ. They might
not say it, but they do. And the word, arm yourselves,
was a word translated and was used of a Greek soldier, putting
on his armor. Putting on his armor. Back there
in 1 Peter chapter 4. In the Holy Spirit of God, as
Peter used the Greek word, which brings forth the Christian needs
the heaviest armor. We're like heavy infantry. The
Roman legions were considered to be heavy infantry. Heavy infantry. We're in the best armor, you
know that? We got the best armor on. I ask
you, do we put it on? Or does God put it on us? I remember one time listening
to a sermon by a young man with Norm Wells. This young man said,
well, you need to put that armor of God on. He said, can you stop
that message for a second? I said, sure. And Norm said,
God puts that armor on us, Wayne. We don't put it on. It's all
right. It's put on by God. And you know
what? We're all soldiers. We're soldiers in Christ. We're soldiers. In Christ Jesus,
our Lord. And we're fully armed as Christians. Do you know that? God totally
equips us. We're fully armed as Christian
soldiers. How are we totally armed? Only
in Christ. We're going to look here. We're
going to see this whole armor points to one person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at this. Ephesians 6. verses 10 to 20. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. Now what does the devil seek
to do? Destroy God's elect. He seeks to destroy them. For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Oh my. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God. I picture us just dressed up
like a Roman legionnaire, fully armored. And Paul's actually
gonna give us a view of a soldier that way. Why should we have the armor
of God on and praise God He equips us in it? That ye may be able
to withstand in the evil day and having done all to what?
Stand. It doesn't say go forward or go backwards. It says just
to stand, doesn't it? You know why? Because Christ
goes before us. The battle's His blood. We're
to stand. We're to stand like soldiers. Roman legions with
our shields locked, beloved. Oh my. Stand therefore having your loins
burnt about with truth. I ask you, who's the way, the
truth, and the life? Christ, amen. In heaven on the
breastplate of righteousness, I ask you, who's our righteousness? Christ. Two things here so far
pointed right to Christ. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. Who's the gospel of peace all
about? Christ. Stand therefore, having, or,
oh, I missed a verse there. Above all, take in the shield
of faith. Oh, what, the shield is so important to a soldier
back in those days, because they could hide behind that shield.
That's why the Romans had such success, because the enemies
couldn't penetrate their shield wall. And then they'd go into the tortoise,
when they were firing arrows at them, they'd go into a tortoise,
and they would just put the shields on top, shields on the side,
there were no arrows going through there. Now the odd one might
go through and strike someone, but not very many. They'd just
bounce off them shields. Now look at this. Babal taking
the shield of faith. Who's the object of our faith?
Who's the one object? Christ. He's the one object of
our faith. We don't have anyone else we worship, do we? Christ. Wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet
of salvation. Who's our salvation in? Christ,
having the mind of Christ, right? My. and the sword of the spirit. What's the sword of the spirit? The word of God. Who does this
word proclaim? Christ! Do you see? His armor of God, it's all Christ. It's all Him. Having the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit. Who do we pray to? Christ. Watching there unto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints. We pray for each
other, don't we? And for me, I love this. Pray
for the God's preachers that utterance may be given unto me. Pray for us when we're stepping
in the pulpit. Pray for us when we're studying. Oh my. Why? That I may open my mouth
boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. See, the gospel
is hid until God reveals it to us. It was hid from us at one time. Brian, you driving home? The veil came off, man. My, oh my. I believe. Incredible. To make known the mystery of
the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds. Every believer
is an ambassador. Every believer is an ambassador
for Christ. We tell about a far country, don't we? We tell about
the one who rules a far country. We tell about the one who rules
over all. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. that therein I may speak
boldly as I ought to speak." Now let's go back to 1 Peter
chapter 4, and note the latter part of verse
1. It says, for he that has suffered
in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now two implications are
given here, that Christ, the sinless sacrifice, who bore our
sins in his body, suffered for them in our room and place, died
for them is now risen up into glory and
our sins are gone. They're gone. How can they be gone? Because
God don't remember them no more. Because Christ fully satisfied
God's law and justice in our place. He did that which we could
never do. Why? To bring us to God. To bring
us to God. And the sins imputed to him for
which he made satisfaction are gone. They're bought and paid
for. They're gone. They're paid in full. We are justified, beloved. We are set free by the grace
and mercy of God. So set free that no charge of
sin can be bought against us. But Wayne, I'm a sinner to the
top of my head, to the bottom of my feet. So am I. But I'm saved by the mercy and
grace of God. And I pray God do it so for you
if you don't know him. Oh, that he save your soul. And
the person who is crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and
risen with Christ has ceased to be the servant of sin. Sin
doesn't have the dominion over us now that we're born again.
We still sin. We still struggle with sin. Don't
get me wrong, because we do. Somebody says they don't, they're
lying to you. But it doesn't have the dominion. It doesn't
have the hold it once had on us. We've not ceased from the burden
of it, nor continue a war with it, but we've ceased from being
servants of sin. We don't serve our sin anymore. And we know that all our sins
are bought and paid for by the precious, precious blood of Christ. And Peter, under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, Brings us forth. Look at verse 2 of
1 Peter chapter 4. He says, 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. Now we seek to serve God, don't
we? We seek to do His will. You know, I never even thought
of God's will before the Lord saved me. If you had to talk
to me about God's will, I would have went, what are you talking
about, God's will? I wouldn't even have understood what you're
talking about. God had no clue. But I know now that God saved
me by his will and purpose, and I just rejoice to you. Oh, it's
wonderful. Peter's bringing forth here that
we who are the sons of God, we who are saved by his grace, we're
still in the world, and we're gonna have time to spend here,
but the believer no longer lives the rest of his earthly life
in the sphere of the cravings of man. Now we still struggle
with sin just like everyone else, but again, we're not servants
of it anymore. What happens when the Holy Spirit
convicts us of our sin? We cry out to God, don't we?
Even though we know it's forgiven, we still cry out to God. What
happens when we do something that we've done before? We sin,
and we've sinned like that before. What happens? Lord, please help
me with this. Help me overcome this. I can
only overcome it by thy grace and thy mercy. Look at verses 3 and 4 here. And the apostle brings forth
here what it means to be dead in sin. And a Christian ought no longer
to live the rest of his life or time in the flesh. We just
ought not to. To fulfill the sinful lusts and corrupt desires
of carnal, wicked men. But we ought to conform ourselves,
right, to the revealed will of God. Lord, if this is your will. Look at verses three and four.
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought
the will of The Gentiles. So in our old nature, we were
dead in trespasses and sins. We walked according to the course
of this world, according to the scripture says in Ephesians 2,
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience. And we had our conversations
among those who are dead in trespasses and sins. and the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of our flesh and of the mind. We are by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. You couldn't tell one
of God's elect from a goat in our natural state. But God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. So look
at this. For the time passing your life,
It suffices 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 you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you." So Peter again is bringing forth here what we
were before the Lord saved us. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. And think upon this. The things,
again, that we once hated, now we love. How do you do that? How can anyone explain that? How can God take one who hates
the gospel and turn him into a lover of the gospel? By his
power, can't he? By his mercy, by his grace. Because
we can't do it on our own. You know? We can't do it on our
own. Not at all. My oh my. Things that are now
shame to us were once our delight, once we delighted in these things. And we have no cause, we have
absolutely no cause to judge those people in the world, do
we? I can't judge anyone in the world. I was there. And I'm still a sinner, but I'm
saved by grace. Note this too, verse four. Wherein they think that it's
strange that ye run not with them. They think it's strange.
You don't go off with them anymore. To the same excess of riot speaking
evil of you. Note the words there, that ye
run not with. Weiss brings out, Greek scholar
brings out, that in the Greek that means to run in company. Well, that fits right in with
Ephesians chapter 2, which says, among whom also we had our conversations
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. My, oh my. We were right there,
but God, who is rich in mercy, Isn't that wonderful? It's music
to our ears, isn't it? God, he's rich in mercy. He saved
us. He saved us. For his great love,
wherewith he loved us. Oh, and eternal, everlasting
love. My, oh my. And so, those who
we used to run in company with, they wonder what happened to
us. Why don't they run with us anymore? In Greek, it means to run in
a troop with others like a band of revilers. What happens when a bunch of
guys get together and they start to stir trouble up? I know what happens. We just
feed off each other, don't we? Getting a little frenzy there. My oh my. Now we don't want to
run with the pack anymore, do we? And the word excess in the
text, when it says excess of riot, is a translation of the
Greek word which means literally a pouring forth or an overflowing. We were overflowing in our sin.
That's where we were. In the classical Greek, it brings
forth when waves come in with the tides and fill the hollows,
just overflows all that. So the world thinks it's strange
that believers do not enjoy and take part in their evil and their
sinfulness. Well, why do we not do that anymore?
Because the love of Christ now constrains us from sin. Why do you get convicted? Why
do I get convicted when I sin? Why do you get convicted when
you sin? Because the Holy Spirit's in us. In us. And he points us to Christ. And we remember that all our
sins, all our sins were against God. But praise be to God. He's had mercy on his people
in Christ. And we can leave this place today,
beloved of God, rejoicing in that wonderful truth that I'm
forgiven, that I'm complete in Christ.
And that's a station right now, not when we get to glory. Paul
wrote to the Colossian believers, he said, you're complete in Christ. Let's just live in that moment.
Let's live in that church, beloved. I was talking to Sister Diane
about the promises of God, and Spurgeon used to say, he said,
if you find the promises of God, which we find all through the
scriptures, you know what he said? Pray them back to God. God, you promised
this. And it's not a name it and claim
it thing at all. He didn't mean that. We don't
even come entertain that stuff. But he's saying these are promises
from God to we who are God's people. And remember, how do
we know that? Because the scripture declares
that all the promises of God are what? Yea and amen in Christ. And that's for us.