Let us turn in our Bibles this
evening to 1 Peter chapter 4. We want to look tonight at the
first six verses in this chapter, 1 Peter 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 hath 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. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excessive wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange
that you run not with them to the same excessive riot, speaking
evil of you, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge
the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel
preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged
according to man in the flesh, but live according to God in
the spirit. I think all of us would agree
that there are some verses here that are not that easy to understand. I think especially of verses
one and two 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 hath 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. And also verse six,
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. My prayer tonight is that I might
make in this message this clear to all of us and not make it
even more difficult to understand. Many of the commentators believe
that this was an unfortunate place for the chapter division
because they see verse 18 of chapter 3 dealing with this subject
of Christ's suffering for our sins. 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. And then the apostle speaks about
how that Christ, by His Spirit, preached to those who lived in
the days of Noah. And then he deals with the subject
of baptism as a type, or the flood, rather. Noah being in
the ark as a type of baptism, but then you see he comes back
to this matter of suffering. Verse 18 of chapter three, for
Christ also hath once suffered for sins. And then verse one,
for as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. It was interesting to me as I
looked at the word suffer, suffered and suffering. How many times
it is found in this first letter of Peter, and I believe it was
10 times that we have these three words, these three forms of the
same word, suffer. Surely that is the topic, that
is the message of this first letter, that believers, that
God's children may experience suffering in this world. And
we know that that is so, that many of us and many of God's
children do suffer for various reasons in this world. We're not of the world, we're
in the world. As I said, many of the writers
believe this was not maybe the best place to make the chapter
division. They would have taken chapter
three on down to verse 11 of chapter four. and have this as
the end of the chapter. If any man speak, let him speak
as 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. Now, the title of the message
tonight is ARM, A-R-M, ARM, yourself. You see that is taken from verse
one. For as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise. And that's my first point. Arm
yourselves. Peter's writing to believers.
He's writing to Christians. We understand that. And we know
the Christian life is a spiritual battle. And when men go to battle,
they go armed. They go armed with weapons. Arm
yourself, therefore. The Apostle Paul, of course,
tells us that our weapons, the weapons of our warfare, are not
carnal. They're not carnal. We don't
take M1s and tanks and F-16 fighter jets and things like that. The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are spiritual.
Arm yourselves, therefore. Just as in Ephesians 6, the apostle
Paul wrote to believers, to God's children, and he said, put on,
therefore, the whole armor of God. So Peter says, arm yourselves. This is something that the Christian
must do for himself. He must arm himself. He must
put on the whole armor of God because we are in a spiritual
battle as long as we are in this world. Now, I think this will help if
we take, and this is John Brown's exposition, but if we take the
mind of Christ. Notice it says, arm yourself
with what? For as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself likewise with the
same mind. That's the armor that we are
to put on, that we are to take, the same mind. But if we were to ask, What mind
are we talking about here? I think, just a casual reading,
because we know the scriptures teach us, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ, that we would naturally think,
well, the mind of Christ. Arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind, that is, with the mind of Christ. But as John
Brown said, there's nothing here in this this part of the letter
that speaks about his disposition, that is the disposition of Christ. The sufferings are spoken of,
their nature, their design, their results are particularly referred
to, but there's nothing here about our Lord's mind, about
his temper, about his disposition, not here. But if you look back
to chapter two, chapter two and verse 21, for even here unto
were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example that you should follow his steps, who did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was
reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self-bearer sins in his own body on the tree that
we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
you were healed." Now here was the place, here was the place
to put that this mind, if he's talking about the mind of Christ,
here's the place that he would have written, let this mind be
in you. Arm yourselves with this mind,
if he's talking about the mind of Christ. But the difficulty is made clear
when he pointed out that this word which is translated mind
here in our text, for as much then as Christ hath suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind."
It's not the word that's translated mind in Philippians when Paul
said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ. But
this word here actually literally means thought, thought. So it helped me at least to get
a better understanding of this passage of scripture, recognizing
that this should be thought. Let this thought arm yourselves
likewise with this thought, not the mind of Christ, but this
thought. And what is the thought? That's
my second point. What is the thought? Well, the
thought is, he that has suffered in the flesh hath ceased from
sin. Arm yourselves with this thought.
He that has suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. Now, if
we ask the question, well, who suffered for sin? Who suffered
in the flesh for sin? We would all, I'm sure, say the
same thing. Christ did. And we know he did. The scriptures that we read there
in chapter two tells us that he suffered for us, for our sins
in the flesh. But look at verse two, that he
no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh. That
cannot be speaking of Christ because he never lived any of
his time in this world. according to the lust, the flesh
to the lust of man. He was holy, he was harmless,
he was undefiled, he was separate from sinners. And certainly,
he always lived to the will of God. You see that? So how can
this be speaking of Christ? That thought, that this thought,
arm yourselves with this thought, that he which has suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin, that in order that he no longer
should live, or yes, the rest of his time in the flesh to the
lust of men, but to the will of God. Arm yourselves with this
thought. And it serves this thought, being
armed with this thought serves these two purposes. Number one,
he that is armed with this thought should no longer live the rest
of his time in the flesh to the lust of man, but he that is armed
with this thought should live to the will of God. Well, as
I said, the question then is, who is it? that has suffered
in the flesh has ceased from sin. And we all would say, well,
Christ, he suffered in the flesh for sins. But here's the point. All of God's children were in
Christ. He's speaking about the union
that exists between Christ and his people. Yes, Christ suffered
for sins. So in Hebrews chapter Now in
verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,
and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation. He will never suffer for sin
again. Yes, he did suffer for sins in
his flesh one time, but he conquered And he answered the law of God,
and now he is set down on the right hand of God. Well then,
how do we explain verse two? It cannot be speaking of Christ.
He never lived a life in the lust of his flesh. He always
lived to the will of God. Believers, God's children, we
must recognize our union with Christ. that we were in Him. When He suffered, if you're a
child of God tonight, when your Lord, Jesus Christ, when He suffered
in His flesh for sin, you suffered in Him. When He died, you died. When He was buried, you were
buried. And when He was raised, you were raised. And when he
ascended on high, you ascended on high. Arm yourselves with
this thought, that you have suffered in your head in Christ for sins,
that you should not live the rest of your time in the flesh
to the lust of men, excuse me, but to the will of
God. Believers must recognize our
union with Christ. Arm yourselves with this thought,
that in your head you have ceased from sin. You have ceased from
sin. In Him, in our union with Him,
we have ceased from sin in order that we may avoid living according to the lust of our
flesh. that we may live to the will of God. I think this must
be taken along with the Apostle Paul's statements in Romans chapter
six and chapter seven. For instance, he said, how shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? How are we dead to sin? How's
a believer dead to sin? We're dead to sin because in
our head we died when he died. Then he went on to say, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, we were crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. Believers, God's children, we're
not to serve sin. Then he said, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lust thereof. And in chapter 7 of Romans, he said, wherefore,
my brethren, you have become dead to the law by the body of
Christ. As a child of God, we are dead
to the law, we are dead to sin. Remember in Galatians 2 and verse
20, the apostle said, I am crucified with Christ. You were crucified with Christ.
Every believer was crucified with Christ, our head. Nevertheless,
the life I live, I live in the flesh by the faith of the Son
of God. Turn with me, if you will, to
2 Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Verse
15 and 16. And that he died for all. that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know
we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. This is
one of those verses that those who teach what they call a universal
atonement love, love to quote. And they say, you see there,
Christ died for all men. But that's not what it says.
It's not what it says, is it? And that he died for all. Doesn't
say all men. It says he died for all. He died
for all his sheep, those who were given to him. He died for
all those who are members of his mystical body. the church
that he loved and gave himself for. But the point is here, those
for whom he died, he also was raised. Notice in the last part
of the verse, but unto him which died for them and rose again. Now he rose again for our justification. Hey, thank you. If you say that and believe that
He died for all in the sense of all men, then you would have
to say also that He was raised for all men, that all men are
justified by His resurrection. But that's not true. We know
that. We know that all men are not saved, are not justified.
But all for whom He died, He was raised for our justification. But the point I wanted to make
here, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we
no man after the flesh, though we have known Christ after the
flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. We which live should not henceforth
live unto ourselves, but unto him which died for them. I wanna go back, I believe I
need verse 14. Yeah, verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, now notice,
then we're all dead. Now, we know in Ephesians 2,
the scripture said, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. All men are dead in trespasses
and sins when we come into this world. We're depraved creatures. We're fallen creatures. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. But that's not what he's saying
here. That is the truth. But what the apostle says is,
for the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that
if one died for all, then all died. All died. All for whom he died, we all
died. We died in our head, in Christ,
because of the union which exists between us and him. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? That is what the apostle Peter
is saying here in our text tonight, if you go back with me to I Peter. For as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
this same thought. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin. We suffered in our head. In our
union with Christ, we have ceased from sin. That doesn't mean that
we still do not sin. Doesn't mean that we're still
not, that we're not tempted to sin. But it does mean that sin
does not have dominion over us. That sin cannot condemn us. Because in our head, we died
with him and we died for sin and we were buried and we was
raised with him to walk in newness of life. Let this, arm yourself
with this thought, you're dead to sin. Believer, child of God. In Romans 6, the apostles said,
reckon. Let's look there if I can find
that verse in Romans chapter 6. Verse 11, likewise, well let's
look at verse 10, read verse 10 too. For in that he died,
he died unto sin once. That's what Peter is saying,
isn't it? He died unto sin once, he'll never die for sin again.
Why, because he satisfied God, he paid the sin debt. But in
that he liveth, he liveth unto God, likewise, believer, child
of God, Reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Count it to be so. You say, well,
I don't feel it. No, I'm still tempted to sin. Yes. Reckon it to be so. Arm yourself with this thought
that you are dead to sin. He's not saying that we can live
a sinless life. I understand that. But if you
turn back to the text here in 1 Peter, that we should no longer
live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lust of men.
That's not the way we should live. Why? Because we're dead
to sin. We're dead to sin. Sin cannot
condemn us. And then he says, for the time
past of our life may suffice us If you were saved when you
were six years old, or if you were saved when you were 10 years
old, or if you were saved when you were 20 years old, if you
were saved when you were 30 years old, if you're saved when you're
50 years old, 60, 80, 90, and yes, God does save people even
in their 90s. But notice what he says, for
the time past of our life may suffice us. That was enough. If it was six years, 10 years,
20 years, 50 years, 90 years, that may suffice us. That's all
we need. That's all we need to live that
kind of life. the life that he describes here
as the will of the Gentiles, of those who did not know God.
They lived, he said, in lasciviousness, lust, excessive wine, revelings,
banquets, abominable idolatries. However long we lived in a lost
estate, that was enough. You get the point? That was enough. That was enough. However long
you lived in a lost state, a lost condition, and so naturally you
lived according to the flesh, that was enough. You don't need
that anymore. You don't need to go down that
road any longer. That was enough. Now, he's obviously talking about
adults here because here's some people who love to banquet and
revel and get drunk and all the things that lost people, the
flesh loves to do. And then when God saved them,
they became dead to sin. began to live unto God. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are
passed away. Behold, all things become new.
And what happens? Well, those people that you used
to run with, your friends, so-called, well, they see the change in
you, and it makes them afraid, really. It makes them afraid. Why? Because they know what they're
doing, the way they're living, is not right. Therefore, they
think it's strange. They think it's strange that
you don't enjoy these things that you used to enjoy, that
we still love to do, and you don't enjoy these things anymore.
You'd rather go and hear the gospel preached. They think it's strange that
you run not with them to the same excessive riot. And so they
begin to speak evil of you. begin to call you Holy Joe, Holy
Moe, you know, whatever term they may come up with, you know,
self-righteous. Well, you think you're better
than us. No. If a lost person only knew, right?
If a lost person only knew that no child of God could ever think
that he's better than anyone else. because he realizes what
a debtor he is to the grace of God. That's all that makes a
difference, isn't it? Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. Any sin that you read about or
hear about or know about that someone else is guilty of, just
know this, the seed for that same sin is in your flesh. You're no different. except God
has made the difference. And so these people, they think
it's strange. You don't run to the same excess
with them. But the point I wanted to really
make is, however long it was you lived like that, that was
enough. You've got a new life. It's a
better life. It's a glorious life. It's a
wonderful life, the Christian life, right? That doesn't mean
you're not going to have trials and difficulties and troubles. But oh, if you can identify with
any of these things tonight, if you can look back and see,
that's the way I used to live. That's the way I used to act
when God found me, when the Lord Jesus found me and saved me. And I sure don't want to go back
to that life. However long it was, that was
enough. Now we want to live for Christ. And the way to do that is to
arm ourselves with this thought that we've suffered for sin and
we've ceased from sin. We're dead to sin. And the motive here is to live
a new life. A new life. Who shall give account to him
that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? There is coming
a judgment, isn't there? For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. And I know these men, they try
to divide these judgments up and say this judgment's for this
group and this judgment's for that group. No, when Christ comes
or when we go to meet him, we'll all stand before the judge. And those who have done good,
the apostle John tells us in John chapter five, and every
child of God does good, shall be raised to a resurrection
of life, to happiness, to joy. And those that have done evil
and every lost person does evil. The plowing of the wicked is
sin, the scripture says. You say, well, how could that
be? A man goes out there and he plows the field and wants
to feed his family, that's commendable. Yes, it is, but he doesn't do
it for the glory of God. He doesn't do it for the glory
of God. It's sin. Whatsoever you do, the Apostle
Paul said, whether you eat or drink, whatsoever you do, do
all for the glory of God. I'm going to stop here. And as
I said at the beginning, I hope I didn't make this more unclear
than it reads. But the main lesson for all of
us, I believe, is to recognize our union with Christ. That when
he died, we died. And when he was buried, we were
buried. And we're seated tonight with him. That's what the apostle
tells us, isn't it, in Ephesians? We're seated tonight in the heavenlies
in Christ. He's there. We're there. Just as sure as Christ is there,
we'll be there with him one day. I pray the Lord will bless these
words. Amen.