This morning I invite you to turn with me to 1st Peter chapter 4 as we consider the first six verses. 1st Peter 4, the first six verses. In connection with that, we read together Romans chapter 6. Quite some time ago, you may recall, we considered together the first three chapters of 1st Peter. And now we take up our consideration again, beginning with chapter 4. Peter, you may recall, had been addressing God's people as elect pilgrims, those who are not at home in this life, those who are traveling through to a better home, a better place, but they are living among pagans. God's people are those who enjoy a living hope in Christ Jesus alone. They enjoy a salvation, an inheritance which is kept safe for them, reserved in heaven forever and ever. This is the fact of God's people. This is who you are. You are my people, saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. But then he also gives instruction, as you may remember, on how God's people are to live in this life. Again, be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Crave the pure milk of the Word of God. Crave the preaching of the Word of God. Live like those you are, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and so forth. And we recall that Peter had given instruction with regard to how God's people are to live, employees in relationship with employers and employers with employees, husbands and wives, even children and parents. Then he also says that God's people are going to suffer. They're going to suffer for doing what is right, suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ. And our example, our pattern for suffering is Jesus Christ himself. Now, I get a little uncomfortable when I consider especially the text for this morning and going back and considering what we've considered before with Peter because I don't feel like I suffer a whole lot. But yet God's people, the Bible says, will suffer for the faith. So this morning we are to be challenged as well with regard to suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ. We read together Romans 6, first of all. Paul says there, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey Him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey? Whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, So now offer them in slavery to righteousness, leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Again, turning over to 1 Peter 4, the first six verses. As I mentioned a moment ago, Christ had suffered for them. As Peter says in verse 21 of chapter 2, He had suffered for righteousness' sake. And then in verse 18 of chapter 3, Peter says, For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit. And now Peter picks up again in verse 1 of chapter 4. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his human life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the Gospel was preached, even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, But live according to God in regard to the Spirit. Shall we bow together and ask for God's blessing upon His Word? We do thank You, O Lord, for Your Word. Your Word of Scripture. Your Word which You give to us through Your preachers. And Father, we recognize, O Lord, that we depend upon the power of Your Holy Spirit to make this Word effective and powerful in our hearts and lives, and we pray that You would do that. Please bless this reading and preaching of Your Word to our hearts and lives. We pray, Father, that You would build each one of us up in the most holy faith. And may we give to You, without reservation, all praise and honor and glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen. A beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, I've shared with you before a question that I once heard as I was listening to a Christian radio program, which asks, if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Would you be found guilty? Would it be clear to anyone and everyone who looked at you and observed you and listened to you that you are a Christian. That you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're probably quick to say, at least most of us, yeah, I think so. I mean, I go to church on Sunday. I attend a Christian school. I don't use bad language or tell dirty jokes, at least not very often. I don't cheat at work. Yeah, I think the evidence is there. You know, this is a good question for each and every one of us to consider and to consider seriously. When you're at the beach, or sitting at Petco Park, or walking the mall, or even sitting in a dentist's chair, is the evidence clear? With the music that you listen to, with the concerts you attend, with regard to the clothes that you wear and the company you keep and the activities that you participate in, is the evidence clear? Peter teaches here that one way that you can know if the evidence is there is whether or not you are suffering. Suffering persecution because of your faith in and because of your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're talking about antithesis here, being the opposite of something. And in this case, being the opposite of the world that is without that living hope of Christ Jesus. But let's be honest. And here's where it gets difficult. We don't really like to stand out in the crowd. We like to fit in and not be alienated. We don't like to be different. We like to stay in the closet, if you will. But Peter makes it clear, you see, that Christians will be alienated from the wicked world. It can be no other way. Jesus said, No one can serve two masters. either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. And James says, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God? You see, beloved, Jesus Christ is not like some fire insurance policy that we tuck into our back pocket and we live like we want today, but on the day of judgment, we pull that policy out and say, see, I'm covered. No fire and smoke for me. God's love in saving us from all of our sins through His Son demands my soul, my life, and my all, even now today. And that will result in suffering, persecution, and trouble from the world, whether to a lesser degree or to a greater degree. And Peter teaches believers how we are to prepare for that by calling us to arm ourselves for Christ-like suffering. And he teaches us here that this suffering proves our complete identification with Christ. It pictures our clear demarcation or separation from the world. It plays out in our consequent opposition from the world. And finally, it points to the coming accountability before God. Peter again has been talking before about suffering for righteousness' sake. Suffering for doing good. And the prime example of that is Jesus Himself. And now He is returning to that theme and He says that those who follow Jesus Christ will suffer like Jesus Christ. We know that our suffering is not in the same degree. It's not for the same purpose, nor will it accomplish the same outcome. As Christ's suffering ultimately saves our souls, saves us for eternity. Yet, Peter calls us to arm ourselves. And we must understand that the idea here is being heavily armed versus being lightly armed. This points to Paul's command in Ephesians 6 to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Don't just hold the sword without the shield and without your head covered. Don't just have your head covered without your feet covered and no sword or shield in your hand. Full body covering. Beloved, this call to be heavily armed presupposes a battle which looks to the wicked world over which Satan is the prince. And just as our Lord Jesus Christ suffered in His body all the way to the pain and torment of the cross, those who follow Him by faith will also suffer in this life. And Peter says to arm ourselves with the same attitude as Him. When some consider Jesus, His capture, His trial, and His crucifixion, all they see is a poor, helpless man who was bound and beaten and put to death. But He was anything but helpless. He was armed with wisdom and insight. He orchestrated the entire path to the cross because He knew what was happening to Him as the Son of God and as the one and only substitute of His people. He bore the torment, the abuse, and the pain in His body and soul because of the goal that lay before Him. Indeed, keeping His eye on the goal of obtaining full redemption for His people, equipped Jesus to endure to the end. And we are to arm ourselves with the same attitude, the same mind as our Lord Jesus Christ, not because our suffering will result in the same goal, but because we understand by God's grace and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit we understand that victory which is ours only in Christ Jesus who endured until the end. We understand that without Jesus Christ there is only condemnation and eternal death. But for those who are in Him there is therefore now no condemnation. And armed with the attitude of Christ, beloved, We can sing in confidence, the body they may kill, but God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. And that Christ-like suffering proves our complete identification with Christ. Peter says, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. Now that doesn't mean that we are now sinless. We continue to struggle with sin each and every day. That's why we are called to examine ourselves before we come to partake at the Lord's table. And as I said earlier in the service, it's to be a daily activity. Daily considering our relationship with God, our sin and misery. The salvation which is ours in Christ Jesus. Daily examining ourselves to answer the question, do I desire or do I believe this? And do I desire to live according to the will of God? But also, beloved, when the believer suffers for Jesus' sake, that gives a wonderful testimony. It testifies to His perfect work and the Holy Spirit's application of that work in your life and my life. It gives testimony to the truth, as Paul says in Romans 6, that we died to sin. We read again, beginning at verse 6-14, for we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness, for sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but under grace. Suffering for Jesus' sake, beloved, is a beautiful testimony to the truth that we belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And suffering for Jesus' sake in this life, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally, is proof of the fact that one does not walk in sin. That one is no longer a slave to sin. Because as long as one walks in sin, as long as one walks in the way of the world in the same corruption as the world, they do not have to suffer at the world's hands. God's people suffer not only because they have the attitude of Christ in them, but because they demonstrate the attitude and the mind of Christ in their confession and in their walk. And maybe each one of us should take inventory of our lives. If you have never had eyebrows raised at you, or been made fun of, or laughed at, because of your different walk, your different talk, your different styles, your different habits, your different work ethic from the world, then you must ask, am I different? Do they know I'm a Christian? Is there enough evidence, or is there any evidence at all to convict me? We can only arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ and fight in His name if the joy of the Lord is our strength. If we have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and with His attitude and in His strength then, as Peter says in verse 2, the believer does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Living for the will of God. Desiring His will as the rule that shapes my life is a part of that proof of being completely identified with Christ. That's part of having the same attitude, the same mind of Christ. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. And in Matthew 12, verse 50, Jesus said, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Our Lord, through His Spirit, breaks the power of canceled sin so that the Christian should no longer live the rest of his earthly life seeking to fulfill the evil human desires, but to live in the sphere of the will of God. Again, it doesn't mean that we never sin. We know that. We struggle with that daily, but no longer slaves to sin. In Christ Jesus, we enjoy a new way of thinking. Thinking God's thoughts after Him. a new way of feeling, a new way of willing, desiring to do that which is pleasing to Him. Boys and girls, we serve a new Master. We are a part of a glorious kingdom. And we seek to live according to a new standard of righteousness. And therefore, sin in will, sin in habit, and sin in disposition is to be put off. Peter makes it clear that the child of God undergoes a complete life change so that our Christ-like suffering also pictures our clear demarcation or separation from the world. Verse 3, For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. Peter here, in a sense, breaks down what he called in verse 2, evil human desires. You see, beloved, it cannot be both and. It must be either or. Either you live for the will of God, or you are still living according to the evil human desires, enslaved to that. And Peter, in essence, is saying that living according to the evil human desires is a waste of time. It's good for nothing. It's an empty way of life, as he said in chapter 1, verse 18, and it will only lead to your eternal destruction. And we are to understand Peter is making the point that when he says, for you have spent enough time in the past, he is saying you have wasted enough time living that way, but that chapter is closed. That part of the story of your life is over, it is done with. the Christian has died with Christ and has been raised to newness of life. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. The old habits, the old friends, the old practices, the old places, the old amusements, the old attitudes, everything of the old life which is not in agreement with the Word of God should be taboo in the Christian's life. We should not want anything to do with it. We should not want to touch it or come near it. And of course, that's what brings about suffering for Christ, right? Because when one no longer tolerates sin, that one is no longer tolerated by those who desire to live in sin. Maybe some of you have experienced that on the job site or in the office when you have expressed your opinion concerning dirty jokes or filthy language that is used. And right away you could tell there was an attitude shift toward you. And maybe these things, maybe they're still said, but they're said, you know, behind your back. Clearly behind your back. You've experienced it. And what a list of old habits, evil human desires. Basically, what Peter is doing here is describing the old way of life in terms of alcohol abuse and social obscenity and indecency. And this is even to the point of doing things so disgusting that they shock even the standards of the public. But we know, beloved, that even in our lifetime, we know that alcohol and sexual promiscuity and filthy language have become so common and a part of life that society doesn't see them as sin. Television, the movie screen, comedians, make drunkenness and public sexual immorality and filthy language as something funny and even normal. And the result is that those who refuse to participate in these things because they seek to do the will of God are the ones who are viewed as being disruptive to society and intolerant of social freedoms. When we break with sin by God's grace, That makes a clear demarcation between believers and the world. A clear line of separation. And God's people become alienated from unbelieving neighbors and co-workers and friends. As Dr. Nelson Klosterman, who preached last Sunday evening, says in his Bible study in 1 Peter, deviant behavior gets redefined. It used to be defined as conduct violating God's law. But under the influence of paganism, deviance is anything that violates social standards accepted by the majority in society. Now, beloved, we might say, well, I've never lived like this. Again, Peter says, for you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do. I've never lived like that. Sounds terrible. I don't even remember participating in those kinds of things. And it's true that many of us grew up in Christian homes where we were taught by our parents from a young age what it is that God requires of us, and praise God for that. But we must be honest, too, that even many unbelievers, by the restraining hand of God, don't openly live this way. Many do, many don't. But we must confess that this is what's in the natural heart. As Jesus preached, to hate one from the heart is to murder that one. To look at a woman lustfully is to commit adultery. Yet we must put our lives under a microscope, as it were, and see what kind of compromise has taken place in us over time. The truth is that many people, even many people in the church, act just like those outside of the church, only in subtle ways. How many of God's people participate in internet pornography or any kind of pornography, whether hardcore or softcore, in the privacy of their own homes? How many commit adultery in the privacy of their own hearts? How many do participate in drunkenness because it has become so socially acceptable? How many employ the work habits and philosophies that walk side by side with the world driven by selfishness and greed instead of service and value? After all, if it's not hurting anybody, what's the big deal? The truth is, beloved, we are not shocked anymore by things that used to shock us. We are less troubled by these sins and less concerned with correcting the offenders than we ought to be. When Paul says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. When he says that, he's talking about your whole self, your whole body, your whole life. But the problem is that we often, young people, you know this, we often treat our life like a tithe. Think about that. God gets just 10% of my life as a living sacrifice. But the other 90% is up to me to do with what I want. But in Christ, we break with sin. And through sanctification, we are progressively enabled to live unto righteousness. And Peter reminds us here of the need to break with our sinful past and be willing to show this change in our willingness to suffer for doing God's will. rather than to do evil in order to avoid pain. And that Christ-like suffering then plays out in our consequent opposition from the world. Verse 4, They think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. In other words, to put it in our language, the world doesn't get it. The world doesn't get it. The Christian life doesn't make sense to the world. And I think we can understand this a little bit. Just like being a suicide bomber doesn't make sense to a Christian. Just like kidnapping, sexually abusing, and then murdering a young child is beyond our comprehension. Just like living a life of prostitution is unimaginable for you and me. Not enjoying the evil human desires is too much for the world to handle. It just doesn't make sense. How can we sit here today, they say, to give up one of only possibly two days of freedom in the week? Give up a whole day to honor God, to worship Him. How can we sacrifice so many thousands of dollars to pay for tuition for the Christian school when we can get, well, what seems to be free education down the street. And even more than that, as a congregation, to take offerings to help each other. That's weird. How can we be content with our lot in life, especially when that lot is suffering physical problems, death, maybe bankruptcy, or you name it. How can we begin to be content? It doesn't make sense. How can we give up enjoying all the pleasures of the world, like give up going to certain movies, clubs, participating in certain social activities? On the other hand, it doesn't make sense to them how Christians can live selflessly, giving themselves in service to the Lord by serving others. The world doesn't realize, beloved, that the believer's totally depraved nature which before salvation had given them a love for sinful things, now had its power over them broken and that another nature had been given to them as their new motivating principle of life. And the result is that the believer now hates the things he once loved and loves the things he once hated. But just as light exposes darkness, the truth and the righteousness of the believer exposes the lie and the unrighteousness of the wicked unbeliever. And the result makes sense, doesn't it? The world is offended because the life of a Christian doesn't fit the pattern of evil human desires which makes the world feel at home. And the world is not afraid to let you and me know it. We read about it in the newspapers and magazines and we hear about it in the news every day. Our Christian values and beliefs are constantly being attacked and undermined. And the pressure to compromise what we believe, the pressure to compromise living according to the will of God in all things, that pressure is so very great. Satan sees to it that his sons and daughters have nothing but hatred for the things of God. So that when Peter speaks of the same flood of dissipation, The idea is that just as floodwaters fill every nook and cranny and every space between the rocks on the beach and every cave, there's not one part of the life of an unbeliever that is free from wickedness. Beloved, we must understand that the antithesis between the church, God's people, and the world must be clear. There is such a difference. They are complete opposites, like black and white, so different that unless we compromise the faith, it will be seen. And we will feel the abuse of the world. But that should not worry us. But instead cause us to rejoice, because through that we have the assurance that we are in Christ Jesus, and we have God's promise that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of what Christ has done, we not only can be different, but we must be different in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Do we truly believe that we have not spent enough time in the pagan things of the world? Do we desire to indulge just a little in the world's pleasures? Young people, Dr. Klosterman touched on this last week in his sermon and it's worthwhile. What kind of music do you listen to? What kind of concerts do you attend? Is it music, and are they groups that make you a slave to darkness and death and try to rob you of your life in Christ Jesus and the joy of that life? Are you a slave to styles and the fashions of the world? Some are okay, but most have no business in the Christian life, and we don't need them. Let's be honest, parents, if our children are enslaved to these things, we are to blame. Congregation, the things that lead us to eternal condemnation, the evil human desires, are precisely what Christ's work has saved us from. And you know, as far as suffering for the faith is concerned, we don't have to go out and look for suffering and persecution. There's no need to go out and invite it. That's not what Peter is saying we ought to do. Because for those who are truly living in Christ Jesus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of their life, that suffering and that persecution will find you at some time, in some way. Simply being who we are in Christ, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Simply being who we are in Christ will invite that suffering. And that Christ-like suffering then briefly points to the coming accountability before God. Verses 5 and 6. But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached, even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the Spirit. Now each one of us will be held accountable before God for every idle word and thought. That's what the Bible teaches. For the believer, our living hope is in Christ Jesus who has stood as our substitute and has paid for all of our sins. Believers who have already died and gone to be with the Lord have already been delivered from this body of death. They have already been delivered from the attack and the abuse and the judgment of this world of wickedness. And they enjoy the glory of heaven already now. That's what we look forward to. Unbelievers will also stand before the Almighty Judge one day and they will have to give a reason for why they blasphemed and persecuted Christians. But they will have nothing to say. They will not have a leg to stand on. They will have no Savior by their side. And they will hear those dreadful words from Jesus, Depart from me. But for those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Those who turn from sin to the Savior, theirs is a living hope. That inheritance guaranteed, both now and forever, for you, for me. Beloved, this is a call for us to stand firm in the faith. A call to avoid compromise like the plague. A call to uphold the name of Jesus and the will of God in all things at all times. It's a call to consciously and conscientiously live the Christian life. This is a call to be openly identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what that means? That means that we will be a stumbling block to the world. But that's not to be our concern. Our concern is to be the glory of God. This is a call to wage war against the life of the wicked world simply by living as redeemed kingdom citizens in the joy of the living hope. And I must confess, as I said before, this makes me uncomfortable. I'm scared to do this. I am a coward. I am weak. But I know that He is strong. And His grace, beloved, is sufficient for me. And our further encouragement is to be that God has blessed us with each other. The communion of the saints in whom the Holy Spirit lives. And this communion of believers is to be so precious to us that we might encourage one another, strengthen and help each other as the Holy Spirit helps us to stand firm as a community of believers. And may our prayer be, My gracious Master and my God, Oh, help me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honor of Thy name. Beloved, may it be our desire that the Lord would make each of us sensitive to and so disgusted by wickedness that our every desire would be to flee from that which offends God and desire to live more and more to the glory and the honor of His name. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we pray, O Lord, that You would apply this, Your Word, to our hearts and to our lives. That the truth of Your Word would become visible in our lives. That it would become audible through our speech. That You would help us, O Lord, to put away our fear of being rejected or tormented or our fear of suffering for the faith at the hands of the world. And instead, fill us with that glorious hope, the confidence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the attitude of our Savior, desiring that Your will be the only will that shapes our lives. Father, we confess that we are weak, but You are strong. We cannot live wholly in and of ourselves, but only by the power of your Holy Spirit working in us. We thank you for new life in Christ Jesus. Life that is not temporary. Life that will not fade away. But life that enjoys a living hope, both now and forevermore. In the name of Jesus, we pray these things. Amen.