blood-bought people, and we seek
to see Thy face through the preaching of Thy Word. O Lord, I pray that
You would give me boldness to proclaim Thy gospel, the gospel
of Thy free and sovereign grace, which is only in You, Lord Jesus. I pray that You would build up
Your people, and that we would be built up, and that the Holy
Spirit would teach us and guide us as we study the Scriptures,
and that our hearts again would be drawn to Thee. In Jesus' name. Amen. 1 Peter chapter 4, we'll
start chapter 4 today. Last time we met for our Sunday
school lesson, we finished chapter 3. And today we'll be looking
at chapter 4, and the name of the message is Armed and Standing
in Christ. armed and standing in Christ. Now tonight, today's message,
this one here in Sunday School and tonight's message and evening
have a theme of being soldiers in Christ, which is what we are
as believers. We're soldiers in Christ. And
here we see in our text, it says, for as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself likewise with the
same mind for he that has suffered in the flesh hath ceased from
sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in
the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 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, reviling, banqueting, and abominable iniquities, wherein
they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same
excess of riots, speaking evil of you. who shall give account
to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 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, which is love among yourselves.
For charity or love 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 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. So in our past studies,
we looked at how in verse 18 of chapter 3, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the just one, died in the place of his people, the
unjust sinners, God's elect, and he did this to bring us to
God. bring us to God. Look back one chapter, it says
in verse 18, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Now
again, remember Paul's writing to suffering saints. They're
going through various trials and tribulations, and it's a
reality that they are suffering. But he brings before them again,
he who suffered more than we will ever suffer. He who suffered
more than any other human being ever suffered. And he brings
forth that the just one, the sinless one, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who is absolutely sinless in thought, word, deed, he's
perfect. He's the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. And think upon this. His mission
was one of suffering. His mission was one of innocent
suffering. Innocent suffering, because he's
the just one again, the holy one, the righteous one, dying
for the unjust, which is sinners. So his mission, as the theologians
say, was one of vicarious suffering. Vicarious suffering. He suffered
on the account of the unrighteous sinners, his elect. And his mission
was One unconquered by suffering, being put to death in the flesh,
He was quickened in the Spirit. And so last time we looked at
this wonderful book, we were finishing up chapter 3, again
where we looked at how the Lord Jesus Christ is gone into heaven.
He's gone into heaven. Where the throne of our great
God and our great King is. Look at verse 22 of chapter 3.
Our covenant head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is now in the bosom of
the Father. He's at the fountainhead of love and grace. And He's there
on our behalf, beloved. He's there on our behalf. He
knows what we go through. He knows what we suffer. He knows. And He's there interceding for
us. Look, it says this, who has gone into heaven and is on the
right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being
made subject unto Him. Everything, everything. Do you
know that there's not one maverick molecule? Not one maverick molecule, beloved,
in this whole universe. Not one. It's all subject and
under the power of our great God. So when you think about
that, when you think of that dominion, that's an absolute
dominion. And it says here, who has gone
into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. Everything. And notice
in the latter part of verse 22 we see the fact that His dominion
is an absolute dominion. His rule is an absolute rule. See it says, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto Him. Now see the words,
note the words there, being made subject unto. In the Greek that's
one word. That's one word in the Greek.
And it means this, to arrange under. To subordinate. to subordinate, to subject, to
put in subjection. Everything is in subjection to
our Lord. Everything. To subject oneself to obey, to
submit to one's control. Our Savior, our Redeemer has
absolute control. Now think of how comforting that
would be And those he's writing to would speak Greek. They'd understand what that word
meant, beloved. They'd understand. That He is in absolute control.
So in the midst of their suffering, and their trials, and their tribulations,
they can draw great comfort knowing that God is in absolute control.
That the Savior is seated on the right hand of God. in full,
absolute control. It also means this, to obey,
to be subject. A Greek military term meaning
to arrange troop divisions in a military fashion under the
command of a leader. He is the commander in chief.
He is in charge of everything. Everything is subject to Him.
Angels, authorities, and powers are subject to Him who they nailed
to the cross. Powers and authorities are subject
to Him whom they wag their heads and cursed at while He hung upon
the cross. Wonder of wonders, beloved. Wonder
of wonders. So Peter is bringing forth before
the suffering saints that he's writing to the fact of the great
substitute suffering, and then when we think upon his sufferings,
it makes ours look small, doesn't it? When we think of what he
endured for us at Calvary's Cross, it makes our sufferings look
small. I remember someone telling me
years ago, they said, if you think you have it bad, just go
find someone else who's got it worse than you. It's true. And the man who told me that,
he had, cerebral palsy or some debilitating
disease. And he's the one who told me
that. He said, you just go find someone who's worse off than
you are. And you make you realize how
blessed you are by the Lord. And this man was a believer.
It's wonderful. Wonderful. What a great way to look at things.
Things look big in our eyes. The suffering that we go through
looks big in our eyes. But when we look to what the
Savior suffered for us, Oh my. He suffered unto death
for us. And notice, he comes back to
this in chapter 4, in verse 1. A lot of commentators believe
that the chapter break here would have been better after verse
11. Because the thought that Peter
has been writing about is continued here in this chapter. And we
know that the chapters aren't inspired, right? We know that.
We know the chapter breaks aren't there. They're put there by the
translators. The Greek text is where we look
at, it's the holy inspired word of God. But here, In this chapter,
a lot of commentators believe the break would have been better
in verse 11. So Peter is bringing forth that believers should patiently
bear all their sufferings and afflictions since Christ has
the government in his hands, since he's in control of all
things. And that's what Peter's contrasting. He's bringing forth
the fact that, yeah, you're going through things, but God's in
full control. God's in full control. He's watching
over you. He's keeping you. He's keeping
you. And it's wonderful for the believer
to see this. All things are subject to Him.
He rules over all things according to His will and purpose. He does
what He pleases when He pleases. And he alone, think of this too,
think of this, they're being persecuted for their faith, right?
They're being railed upon, some of them are being disowned by
their family members probably if they came out of Judaism. And he's bringing forth the absolute
dominion of our great God and Savior before them. bringing
before them that He alone can stop the rage and persecutions
that they're going through. He alone. He alone. So the apostles
bring it forth again. And it brings forth before those
whom He is writing to the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse one. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us
in the flesh, arm yourself likewise with the same mind. For he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. So Peter brings
forth again the fact of Christ's suffering. The eternal Son of
God, the Lord of glory, the holy one, the just one, suffered in
the room and place of sinners, facing the reproaches and persecutions
of men, facing the wrath of God for our sins. The just one, the
holy one, facing the wrath of God and the curse of the law
for our sins. the just one dying for the unjust,
and death itself, all in the place of his people, all the
pay what God demanded for us, his sheep, the elect of God,
those described in the beginning of the epistle as elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. It is for those he suffered.
It is for those he died. the sinless one dying for sinners,
the just one dying for the unjust. And note the words suffered for
us in the flesh and tie this in with verse 18 of chapter 3,
which proclaims Christ suffered for sins. So we see in verse
18, of chapter three, the fact that our Lord was put to death
with respect to the flesh, and here the fact that he suffered
in our place and that his sufferings were vicarious, the fact that
he was a real man, he really suffered. The innocent one, the just one,
died on behalf of the guilt. And our sufferings are not vicarious,
they're merely a consequence upon our own profession of Christ
and the response of the world in hating us. But Christ died,
the sinless one, for sinners. And note that after Peter brings
forth the suffering of Christ before the saints, he's writing
And he exhorts believers to arm yourselves likewise with the
same mind. Peter exhorts the saints to arm
themselves with the same mind that Christ had regarding an
unjust punishment. What was our Lord's attitude
toward unjust suffering? Look at verse 17 of chapter 3. For it is better if the will
of God be so that she suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. We know from our previous studies
that well-doing there is believing in Christ, professing Him in
His gospel, giving a free and open reason for doing so and
exercising a good conscience and trying to live a godly life
before our King. And this is something that the
world hates. The world hates. And believers
are persecuted unjustly for this. Now note the, it says arm yourselves
here. The Greek word here was used
of a soldier putting on his armor and taking his weapon. Weiss,
the Greek scholar, brings forth that the noun of the same root
was used of a heavily armed foot soldier who carried a pike and
a large shield. So imagine a soldier of ancient
times just fully armed with a pike and a large shield
and just ready for battle. Just ready. the Holy Spirit of God, as Peter
used the Greek word here, which brings forth that the Christian
needs the heaviest armor he can get to withstand the attacks
of the enemy of his soul. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians,
chapter 6, and the attacks of the world and the flesh. Now,
we are fully armed as Christian soldiers, beloved, but we're
armed in Christ Jesus. We're armed in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Because who does the whole armor of God point to? And you know the believers are
already equipped with this armor. We're already equipped with it. It's wonderful. Fully armed as
Christian soldiers. And let us never forget that
we have a spiritual conflict in this world. Ephesians chapter
6, starting in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole
armor of God that you should 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 in the evil
day, and heaven done all to stand. See, we're just commanded to
stand, beloved. Just stand. Stand. Don't run back. Don't run ahead. Just stand. Just stand. Stand therefore, heaven, your
loins girt about with truth and heaven on the breastplate of
righteousness. Who's our righteousness? The
Lord, our righteousness. Who's the truth? Christ is the
truth. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. Who's the gospel all about? Christ
and Christ alone. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, who is the object of our faith? Christ, and Christ
alone. And she should be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation,
who's our salvation, beloved? Christ is our salvation. and the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. Who does this book proclaim? Christ, in Christ alone, beloved. Praying always with prayer and
supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints. 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
in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Oh my. Let's go back to 1 Peter
chapter 4. And we'll note the latter part
of the verse. It says, for he that hath suffered in the flesh
hath seethed from sin. Now I'm going to read what Brother
Henry wrote about this, because I thought he worded it really
well. He said two implications are
given here. Christ, the sinless sacrifice
who bore our sins in his body and suffered for them and died
for them, is now clear of those sins. The sins imputed to him
for which he made satisfaction are gone. In Christ we are justified
and freed from the charge of sin, the condemnation of sin,
and the curse of the sin. We stand in God's sight as if
we'd never sinned." That's just spectacular. That's just amazing. And then number two, he said,
the person who is crucified with Christ, which is the believer,
buried with Christ, and risen with Christ, has ceased to be
the servant of sin, self, and the world. He has not ceased
from the burden of it, because we still have it, don't we? We
still struggle with it. nor continue war with it, and
boy, we can attest to that, but he has ceased from the servitude
and dominion of sin through divine grace and is a bond slave of
Christ. This is just precious truth,
beloved. Absolutely precious truth that we have set here before
us by Peter, and it's all under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. And truly, God's preachers have wonderful news, don't we?
Wonderful news. Our ministry, as Brother Gary
and I were talking with Norm, and Gary brought out how our
ministry is the ministry of reconciliation. We have wonderful news! Sinners can be reconciled or
are reconciled through Christ with God. It's absolutely wonderful
news. Now let's look at verse two.
It says, 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. So Peter's
bringing forth here that we who are the sons of God, we who are
saved by grace, we're still in this world. And we have time
left to spend here until God calls us home. But that the believer
should no longer live the rest of his earthly life in the sphere
of the cravings or lusts of men. We're to live our life in submission
to the will of God, being ruled by the will of God, desiring
to live righteously. And we desire that, don't we?
We desire that. We desire to live soberly and
godly in this world. And how are we motivated? How are we motivated in our service?
By the love of Christ. by the love of Christ. It's what
guides us and motivates us and constrains us, isn't it? It's
the love of Christ. Now the word lust here in the
Greek speaks of any strong craving here, an evil craving. And note
that the apostle here explains what he means by being dead to
sin and ceasing from sin, both negatively and positively. Negatively,
a Christian ought to no longer live the rest of his time in
the flesh. to the sinful lusts and corrupt desires of carnal
wicked men, but positively he ought to conform himself to the
revealed will of God in our lives. Let's read verses 3 and 4 together
now. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable iniquities, wherein they They think it strange
that ye run not with them, to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you." Again, Peter's writing to God's
born-again blood-bought people. They're not the same people they
were. They're born again. They have new desires. And Peter
brings forth that before we had Christ revealed to us, Before
we were born again by the Spirit, we lived like heathens. We did. I can attest to that. I know Brother Donnie and I have
had many talks about that, how we were before. We lived riotous lives, and Paul
brings forth the same thing. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
2. Paul brings forth the same thing, the same truth. that Peter's
bringing forth here that before we were saved we lived as heathens
and pagans. And Paul brings forth the same
truth before the Ephesian believers. And God's people, we amen that,
don't we? Because we know what God saved
us out of. We know how we thought. My we
were dead in trespasses and sins look at Ephesians chapter 2 and
so with that in mind look at what what Paul's writing here
Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 5 and you have the quicken that
you're born again who were dead and Trespasses and sins and we
know what that means that means we had no ability to come to
God We're in times past now. He's going to tell us what we
were like Where in times past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in
the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. You couldn't tell one of God's elect who is not regenerated
from the lost. You couldn't tell. That's why
we preach the gospel to everyone. God does the saving, doesn't
he? He does the regenerating. Among whom also we all had our
conversations in times past in the lust of our flesh, again
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and whereby
nature, the children of wrath, even as others. Underline this
if you could. But God. There's a mountaintop. But God. In every believer's life, there's
a time, but God. When you heard the gospel, and
when the Holy Spirit made it effectual, and when you're born
again, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith
he loved us, how long has he loved us? in eternity. This love is an
eternal love. For His great love, and what
great love that is, the love of God for His people, wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, so even before
we were saved, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
ye are saved. God's love for His people, for
His elect, is an eternal great But see, Paul brings forth our
natural state, doesn't he? And the same thing Peter's doing
over in 1 Peter. So think upon this, the things
that we now hate, we once loved. And the things that we once hated,
now we love. It's flipped all back around,
isn't it? The things that are now shame to us, we once delighted
in. And we have no cause to judge
or condemn those who exploit the flesh, for we ourselves were
in that same darkness. So we ought not to ever look
at someone and think, I'm better than them. No. The only thing
that's made us to differ from anyone in the world is the grace
of God in Christ. That's it. That's the only thing. Who made you to differ? God.
God's made me. When I was out west, some guy,
Norm works in a gun shop part time, and a guy came in and he
didn't know who Norm and I was, of course, and we just got talking
with him. We were just jazzing away with the guy. And he says,
I'd like to ask you guys a question. And he said, if you could stand
before God and ask him any question, what would it be? And I was quiet,
because I'm going to let Norm answer this, because he's the
elder here, and I'm going to just sit and listen. And I already
knew what I was going to say. Well, he popped off the same
thing I said. Why me? Why me? My. So we have no cause to judge
and condemn those Because we were in the same,
we're cut out of the same rock, beloved. We were in the same
darkness. And it's only God who's made
us to differ. 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. Let's
go back to verse four. It says, wherein they think it
strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot,
speaking evil of you. Note the words here that ye run
not with. Weiss brings out in the Greek
that that means to run in company with. And he continues to comment,
it means here to run in a troop with others, like a band of revelers. And the word excess is the translation
of a Greek word meaning literally a pouring forth or an overflowing. And it was used in classical
Greek of the tides which fill the hollows. So the world thinks
it's strange that believers do not enjoy and take part in their
evil, in their sinfulness, in their excess. And they do not
understand why we hate that which we once loved. They don't understand
it. And we've all experienced that,
haven't we, when we get together with our families and things?
People, different people maybe we grew up with, we've experienced
that. They think, what happened? Why don't you love to do the
things that we once did? They think it's strange that
believers do not enjoy to partake in the sinfulness. They wonder
how we do not find sin a pleasure and a delight. And some of them
remember again how we were before the Lord saved us. And they wonder
how we can enjoy the Lord and the wonders of His salvation.
It's because we're new creatures in Christ. We still have the
same body, don't we? But we're born again. We're new
creatures. We don't desire the things we
once desired. We battle sin every day now.
We struggle. We hate the things we once loved. Well, we who are saved sinners,
we have had Christ revealed to us, we're born again. We're His
blood-washed people. And we spend our time here on
earth marveling in the fact. I ask you this, do you not marvel?
Do you not marvel in the fact the Lord saved you? Sometimes
I just sit and marvel. Me? We marvel in the fact that the
Lord saved us from all our sins. We marvel in the fact that we're
clothed in His perfect righteousness. Because we know we don't deserve
this, do we? That just leaves us in awe. They call us fools and fanatics
and the do-gooders, even though they don't know we're not do-gooders
at all, are we? I remember John, that one guy
came in and said, a bunch of good people here. And John said,
I don't know who you're talking about. Because we know what we
are. Oh, my. We know what we are. But we understand them, don't
we? because we were once like them. But we've been washed in the
blood of the Lamb, beloved. And again, we know it's only
the grace of God in Christ that's made us to differ. Let's look
at verse 5 to close. We're closed with verse 5. Who
shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick
and dead? Now those who speak evil of God's
people and of Christ The Christ whom we worship will one day
give an account of themselves to Christ, who is God Himself. It is He who, when He comes,
is ready to judge the living and the dead. And those who are in Christ,
for those who are in Christ, here's wonderful news. And I
mean this is wonderful news. There's no judgment. I was talking to a young man
out west and he had remembered a conversation that I had had
with him two years before when we just left. And he kept thinking
that he was going to be bought before and given account for
his sins. And I said, look, just look to
Christ. If you look to Christ, you'll
never be bought into judgment. If you look to yourself and your
own sin and your own... and your supposed well-doing,
you'll perish in your sins. But for those who are in Christ
Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. Remember that
in Romans 8, verse 1? That word condemnation in the
Greek means judgment. That is wonderful news for God's
people. Absolutely wonderful news. But for those who die in their
sins, they shall be judged justly and fairly according to their
works. And note, who shall give account
to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. They're
going to give an account to God himself. The ungodly will give an account
of all their blasphemy spoken by them against God, against
Christ, against the gospel, and against his people. And they shall receive their
just punishment. And Peter brings this forth to
calm the minds of God's people. calm the minds of God's people
and make them sit easy under all the seasons of life, whether
it is times of persecution or times of reproach. And He brings
forth that they are not to think of avenging themselves, not at
all, but they commit themselves to Him that will judge righteously. In His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ, their Savior and their Redeemer. Now don't forget, We
as believers, this wonderful, precious truth, all our sins
have been judged. All our sins have been paid for
by the great substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we get
what we don't deserve, mercy. Oh, what wonderful news the gospel
preacher has. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank thee for this time together. Pray that you'd be glorified
and magnified, Lord Jesus. Pray that you'd be with us in
the morning service to come and the evening service, Lord Jesus.
Oh, we pray that thy gospel would go forth. We know that thy word
will not return unto thee void, and so we pray that if it's your
will, that you might draw one of your lost sheep to thee. either
through the preaching or through someone hearing it later on.
We just seek to glorify you and magnify you in all things. And
we love you, Lord, because you first loved us. In Jesus' name,
amen.