Our text tonight comes from 1 Peter 4. You can turn there in your pew Bible to page 901. 1 Peter 4, verses 1 through 11. Hear now God's holy, infallible Word. 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 earthly 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's 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. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, you should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 7 of our text, Peter writes that the end is near. This may have surprised some of you. Some of you may have been surprised to hear these words because you realize Peter spoke them or wrote them some 2,000 years ago. And since the end has not yet come, apparently Peter was mistaken. We know, however, that Peter, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, wrote by the inspiration of the Spirit. So it is for us Christians a given that he was absolutely correct in writing these words and that we'll simply have to do a little work to find out what he means, how he isn't mistaken or even exaggerating. On the other hand, others of you may have been surprised to hear these words of Peter that the end of all things is near for a different reason. You may be surprised because you've forgotten this very true, important doctrine of our faith that indeed, the end of all things is near. The return of Christ is at hand. It is imminent. It can happen at any moment. You perhaps have forgotten that the Christian perspective in this life is one of eagerly anticipating and expecting for this present age to be finally and decisively brought to a close by the return of our Savior. But friends, this was our Lord's very clear teaching about the end. Don't get me wrong, the doctrine about the end is not the simplest of doctrines in the Bible, although it would be far simpler, I'm sure, if we were not surrounded by such poor teaching on the subject. But still, Christ clearly does teach us this much in Matthew 24. He says, No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. And then Christ says a couple of verses later, Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. See, Christ promised that He was coming back in glory and power, and that His return would itself surprise everyone, as did the flood. This is why Peter can say, the end of all things is near. For, beloved, since Christ Jesus' ascension, all that is left for Him to do is to return. This is why the whole New Testament can tell us that we must be ready. We don't know when He will come. It can happen at any moment. Peter didn't say the end of all things was near because he was mistakenly thinking that the Lord would actually return in a week or in a month. He said this because with Christ rising, The end of the age had begun. The beginning of the next had dawned. Christ's death and resurrection, you'll remember, were not only His redemptive acts to reconcile His people to God, they were also His judgment of Satan and the kingdom of darkness. In other words, His death and resurrection, beloved, were in a very real sense the beginning of the great judgment. And in addition to this, his resurrection was not some isolated event that had nothing to do with the general resurrection of believers. For he was raised as our head. So his resurrection was in a very real sense the beginning of the age to come, of the great resurrection. Christ's rising was the start of that age to come. This is why the writers of the New Testament so often write that we are in the last days, that we're in the end already. The great consummation is not yet, of course, but it is near because amazingly, it has its foundation and beginning in Christ's first coming, His resurrection, His ascension. This evening, then, I'd like to draw your attention to this text, 1 Peter 4, and look at it through this perspective. It's commended to us throughout all the New Testament that we, the redeemed body of Christ, are to live with our eyes heavenward. If we lack this eager expectation for the return of Christ, the end of all things, then we're not living in accordance with the identity that Christ has granted us of His grace. Brothers and sisters, we are citizens of heaven. If this is so, then we are precisely for this very reason strangers in this present evil age. We belong to the age to come. The first question we want to think about tonight is this. What causes Christians to live as strangers while the end is near? We find the first answer to this question in verses 1 and 2 of our text tonight. Apostle Peter writes, Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves 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 earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Beloved, the first cause of our living as strangers while the end is at hand is just this, our union to Christ Jesus. The one about whom we read in verse 1 and 2 of chapter 4, from beginning to end, is Christ and we in Him. We're taught here that since Christ suffered, He's done with sin. This isn't to say that Christ was a sinner or that He was suffering for His own sin on the cross. We know that Christ's suffering and death were not for Himself. He was innocent, but He died for us, for our transgressions, as our mediator and our head. As Peter tells us in chapter 2, Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. Our Lord suffered for us that we would be cleansed and forgiven. And when He had made full payment for our sins to the justice of God, He finished His involvement with sin. He was removed from that state of humility and He was given exaltation to the right hand of the Father. Peter tells those in the church to arm themselves with this same mind because Christ suffered and died as our head. So that if He suffered and was afterward done with sin, so also this is a reality for those He represented, for His body, the church. The apostle doesn't mean that the church should simply imagine that this is true because it will help them to overcome their sin. He doesn't ask them to imagine that it is true because if they do, someday it will be. Not at all. He teaches us, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we are to think this way because it is a reality, beloved. Christ our head suffered and died and rose again. This work on our behalf, when applied to us by his Spirit, is reality for us, whom he represented. We are dead to sin, but alive to righteousness in Christ. Paul teaches us the very same thing in Romans 6, of course. He says, we were 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. This is exactly what Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 4, verses 1 and 2. In verse 1, he's talking about Christ especially. In Verse 2, he applies this to the body of Christ, us sinners. He writes, as a result, he, the sinner now, does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. You see, since Christ, our head, bore our sins, died and rose and was thereby finished with sin, so also His body, the church, have done, have been done with sin as we are united with our head, Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. Beloved, if we have been united to Christ and we have been if we believe in Him, then we're no longer members of this present evil age. Our citizenship is in heaven from where we eagerly await a Savior. If this is true of you, then you have all the reason in the world to live here as a stranger, as an alien. But our text gives us a second cause for living here as strangers while the end is at hand. Verse 3, Peter says that the church has spent enough time in the past doing what pagans do. And then in verses 4 to 6, he writes this, They, the pagans, think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they'll 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. The second cause then of our living as strangers is this. Christ the great judge is ready to come in judgment. Now it is true, Peter writes verses 4 to 6, to encourage the church, to comfort them, not to lose heart as they witness other brothers in the faith die and as they are persecuted for their faith. He encourages them with the reality of our Lord's coming, His coming wrath against their persecutors. These unbelievers who heap abuse on the church will be swiftly and truly condemned. This is a comforting fact for us to hold to when we suffer for the name of Christ. But we must acknowledge that there is a very important inference for us to take from this text. Yes, for those who are strangers in this world, for those who are at home in the church, Christ's return in judgment is a comfort. But for those who do not live as strangers here in this present evil age, his imminent return is a terribly frightening thing. for those who live as strangers to God but at home in the world, this text is a sober reminder that there's a great judge and he's ready to come in judgment. Those who plunge in the same flood of dissipation that Peter speaks of in verse 3 will have to give account for their living when the judge comes. They'll not get off the hook. They will pay eternally. However, as Peter says in verse 6, for those who die in the faith, it may appear that they have received their judgment to the eyes of men, to the eyes of unbelief. Unbelievers, of course, see Christians die and with one accord they say, some salvation for the Christians. But beloved, this is only a judgment by men, so it's no true judgment at all. For those who die in the faith, those who've received the gospel, Because of the blood and righteousness of Christ alone, they die in the body only to go on immediately to live with the Lord forever. So in these verses 4 to 6, we see that for those who have been redeemed, the reality of the judge's coming is a great comfort. For those who haven't been engrafted into Christ, to receive all his benefits by grace alone, through faith alone, The coming of the Judge is a cause of great fear. And if it strikes fear into any of you this evening, please repent of your sins and believe in Christ Jesus tonight. Don't wait. For He is coming. And He'll recognize as His own only those who are strangers in the world, but children of God. These, beloved, are the two causes for us to live as strangers. in this world while the end is at hand. Our union with Christ and the imminency of his judgment. But tonight we should secondly consider this question. What is the character of these strangers? In short, the character is one of being a stranger in the world, of course. But the apostle gives us two concrete examples of how this character expresses itself. First, we're taught that Christians show themselves to be strangers in the world by living for service to God and to neighbor, not for self-fulfillment. In verse 3, Peter describes the pagan lifestyle of self-fulfillment. He says to the church, you've spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. The terms he uses here are too plain to require any explanation. Suffice it to say, the pagan lifestyle, beloved, is a lifestyle of total godlessness. Unbelievers have no concern whatever for holiness and goodness. Well, someone says, that's a huge overstatement. There are plenty of unbelievers, plenty who are not Christians, who are not described one bit by that list of terms that Peter uses there. And it's true, there are many unbelievers, many lost. but nevertheless participate in virtually none of this that Peter describes. Peter holds all pagans guilty of these sins just the same, for he knows the heart of man is desperately wicked above all things. Sure, many unbelievers go all their life without a single episode of a drunken stupor, without a single episode of sexual promiscuity, without any of this outward wickedness. But God's law, beloved, as you know, convicts the heart of its perpetual tendency towards such self-fulfillment. And to lust after these things or anything opposed to God with the heart is a sin against the same infinitely good and holy God. So we find that God's Word does indeed condemn all those outside of Christ for these same sins, whether they be on the heart or outward sins. But the Apostle Peter doesn't stop with the negative side of the picture. He doesn't simply say that Christians are not to do these things. He goes on to state positively what it is that Christians are to do as strangers. This is almost always the practice of men who wrote Holy Scripture. For we are truly at our root, such dark and lowly sinners, that if God's Word were to stop with these prohibitions, We would be lost as to what it is that we were to do in the way of righteousness. And so we find in verses 7 to 11, Peter shows us what God's will is for our lives as His children, as strangers in this world. In short, it can be summarized as service to God and to neighbor. And as Peter says in verse 7, it starts with a mind that is ready for and engaged in prayer. He writes, The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. If that pagan frame of mind were to be seen in the light of Christ's imminent return, beloved, we'd have to say that it is an oblivious, a careless frame of mind. The unbelievers will indeed be caught very much off guard when Christ returns in judgment. But Peter says this mustn't be so for the church. We know that the Lord is coming. The result of this knowledge is that we live with a different frame of mind, one that is ready for Christ's return because we are alert, looking heavenward, eagerly expecting the Savior. And a mind that is so focused on heavenly things, one that is engaged in prayer, is one that is ready for Christ and talking to Him often. It's a mind that not only is aware of Christ's return, but also longing for the day to come. And it's a mind that prepares for that day by constant reliance on the Lord's grace through prayer. Tonight, brothers and sisters, God's Word asks you to examine yourself. Are you so focused on heavenly things, on the coming of our Lord, that you find yourself in prayer watching for His coming? We're strangers here, friends. And it is only fitting for us strangers that we are not caught off guard when the Lord returns, but rather caught in watchfulness, alert, ready when He comes. But of course, such service to God also expresses itself in love to our neighbors, to one another in the church. Peter says in verse 8, Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. It's a resounding note of the Bible, of course, that above all things, God's people are to love one another and Him. As pilgrims and strangers on our way to a heavenly country, it's essential that we love each other. For how else will we exist in a world that does not accept us? Strangers, aliens. Some would have us believe that Peter doesn't mean to command heartfelt love here between members of the church. Only acts of love since, of course, love, the feeling of love can't be commanded. It should be clear from this very verse that this isn't so. Peter says to love deeply or strenuously. Regardless, in 1 Peter 1, verse 22, the apostle writes, Now that you've purified your hearts by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, Love one another deeply from the heart. It can't get any clearer than this, friends. Christians are not only to act lovingly toward one another. They're really supposed to love genuinely from the heart. And Peter makes it clear what sort of love this is. It's not a love that's returned to someone for love. It's not a love given to someone who is inherently lovable. And it's not a love that's given for anything in return. It's a love that expresses itself in this way, that when your brother or sister sins against you, instead of returning evil for evil, you seek reconciliation with willingness, readiness to forgive the offender. What Peter writes here is really no different from what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, love keeps no record of wrongs. But this love is exercised in other ways. Peter lists them for us here, ways that especially highlight the character of Christians as a character of service to God and to neighbor. For Peter says in verse 9, In the first century, it's certain that the church depended very much upon hospitality for traveling ministers, teachers, evangelists, preachers, and so forth. Beloved, of course, we have a vast array of hotels, motels nowadays. This doesn't alleviate us from the responsibility, the duty that we have to show hospitality to one another. It's not so much a necessity because of travel as it is because of our need simply to be with one another as strangers in this land. If we are to together strangers in this world, it only makes sense that we should be hospitable to one another. The principle that Peter is driving at here is that Christians should use whatever they have for the benefit of others. He says in verse 10, And each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. This is really the principle that's to guide all of our love for one another in the church of Christ. Whatever someone has should be used to help and benefit others in the body. Peter says gift here, but this doesn't mean that because you're not a teacher, because you're not a leader of some sort in the church, that you have no gifts from Christ. God's Word teaches us clearly that Christ has gifted all in some way, either at birth or at rebirth. some talent, some resource, some strength that must be used for the benefit, for the good of others in the church. Paul says in Romans 12 that there's a gift simply of being able to contribute to the needs of others and that those with such a gift should give generously. Beloved, don't think that because you're not ordained to some office in the church that you have no gifts. All of us have something to give. others who are in need. And if we love our brothers and sisters who are strangers with us in this world, we will give of our gifts generously. This is the very purpose for which we've been gifted by God. We're to be stewards of these things He's given us and using them for others. God gave these gifts to us, as Peter says, that we might bless the rest of the body of Christ with them, not hoarding them for ourselves. So service to God and to neighbor. This is the first thing the text teaches us about the character of Christians who are strangers to the world. But Peter gives a second way that Christians, their character is strange. Christians are strange because they serve God and His church in complete dependence on God, not in self-reliance. In verse 11 we read, Peter writes these words, If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speak in the very words of God. Here it sounds on the surface that Peter would have all Christians make sure that if they were ever to speak, that they speak only what God himself would say. Of course, this isn't the point at all. Peter had just mentioned gifts in the prior verse. It's true that there he was speaking about gifts in general. Here he turns to those who have the most vital gift in the church, namely the gift of preaching or teaching God's Word. That's what he means by the word speaking in this verse. It should be clear from the fact that only those men who are ordained to expound the Word of God to the church are speaking as representatives of Christ. And so these men are to make certain in the use of their gift that they are completely dependent on God's Word and Spirit and the use of it. As strangers and aliens in this world, beloved, Christians are fed and guided, strengthened, sanctified by the preached Word of God. Without it, they are surely to wander, even to be lost if that were possible. But God provides in the preaching of His Word a way that they be brought securely to their heavenly home. And so ministers dare not speak from their own authority and wisdom, but only from the authority and wisdom of God's word. In this way, they faithfully execute their office as Christ's representatives. Peter also says here, if anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. Now he turns then to all those who serve in other ways in the church. Though he may have elders and deacons in mind particularly, but the point is that no matter how we serve, God and neighbor in the church, it must be done not in a spirit of self-reliance, but in complete dependence on God's Holy Spirit. In these last days, friends, when the age to come is dawned, it is absolutely essential that those who serve in the church labor in God's strength. This too is the character that Christians are to have as strangers while the end is at hand. And this mentality is strange indeed for the world. for the unbelieving world is all about self-sufficiency, self-reliance. Its way of thinking all around us has sadly made its way even into the church. We see it in the so-called progressive or contemporary worship and preaching of the Word. There are many who serve in the church who go about with the mind that they are working in their own little corner of the kingdom, their own little project. They're like Christian entrepreneurs. They have their own slice of the kingdom. They struggle, they strive, they labor in their own power. We must have none of this, friends. The kingdom is God's kingdom. Those who serve in it have no business being entrepreneurs or anything else. We must serve God's purpose or we don't really serve Him at all. We must serve in His strength or we can't serve at all. So for our second question, this is the answer we find. The character of Christians who are strangers in the world is one of service to God and neighbor, service in the strength that God provides. Lastly, we should briefly look to our text to answer this third and last question. What are the consequences of living as strangers? The first consequence we should note is quite obvious. Unbelievers will malign and scorn the name of Christians. For living as strangers in the world and not doing the things that pagans do. This comes from verse 4. After Peter describes the pagan lifestyle in verse 3, he says in verse 4, they think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you. Friends, if we abandon godlessness, unholiness in this world, the indulgent lifestyle of unbelief, and live instead for righteousness, for Christ, for the service of others in the church. We will not mix well with unbelievers. These two lifestyles are as different as night and day. If we live like strangers that we are in Christ, the world won't accept us and will inevitably suffer some form of persecution. There are believers all around this world, of course, in other countries who live as strangers because they're Christians. They receive imprisonment, even death. We, on the other hand, live in a country of great freedom. These extreme forms of persecution, they seem rather foreign to us at times, to us who have not experienced them firsthand. Plus, many of us who live and breathe church, surrounded always by believers, might find it difficult to empathize with those who suffer. And we may not appreciate this fact that we too will one day suffer. But we mustn't kid ourselves. We all live amongst unbelief and godlessness in some shape or another. And it is inevitable, friends. If you haven't suffered yet in some way, for being a Christian, you sooner or later will. This should not trouble us, of course. It shouldn't trouble us greatly, anyway. For two reasons. First, Peter tells us if you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Suffering for belonging to Christ and not to this world is a blessing indeed. It assures us that we belong to our Lord Jesus. And there's another reason for our suffering not being such a great trouble to us. Peter says in chapter 2, Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. God's Word teaches us that He may use our godly walk to win others to Christ. This should certainly motivate us to faithfulness, to good works, to live as strangers here so that as a result, we might not only be assured of our identity when we are persecuted for the sake of Christ, but also be instrumental in bringing others by God's providence to Christ. Lastly, Peter says at the end of our passage that living as strangers in the world in service to God and to His church will have the ultimate consequence of bringing glory and praise to our God. Verse 11 ends with these words, So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and power forever and ever. Loved ones, if we are strangers in the world, we are ultimately strange to it because our lives are directed toward this ultimate goal, that God be praised and glorified through all that we do as the possession of Christ Jesus. Life that is so oriented will be strange to this world. It may be met with persecution or with repentance of unbelievers. But if we live for the will of God, for righteousness, we can be sure our God will be glorified in our lives. Friends, how can we live for anything less than His glory? Since He's already given us citizenship in the age to come by the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Please pray with me. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we do thank this evening the great calling that you've given us in this world as the possession of Christ, the church he bought with his blood, the church for whom he merited eternal salvation, everlasting life by his perfect righteousness. We're reminded this evening that because he died and rose and ascended to live a life unto God, that we as body, cleansed, justified, united to Him by Your Holy Spirit, are also dead to sin and alive to righteousness, that we should also live a life sanctified unto God, for we are strangers, we are citizens of Your kingdom. So, Lord, as we labor, as we strive in this world, as strangers in it, as persecutions come, as unbelievers malign our name, try to bring shame to us, persecute us, make fun of us for being Christians, for doing good. Lord, give us Your Spirit in great measure that we might not buckle under the pressure of this world. Our hearts are prone, Lord, to wander. They're prone to loosen our hold on this great calling that You've given us. we pray for your grace, your Holy Spirit, to sustain us in this world, that we may continually live godly lives that would glorify you, that would even cause unbelievers to question our hope, that they might find a reason for repentance, for belief in Christ Jesus by your grace alone. Lord, we do thank you for this great calling, for the great salvation that you've made ours, You seal to us with Your Spirit. We ask that we might go from this place and please You with godly lives, that we might tell others with great joy, with great expectancy, that the Lord Jesus is coming. A kingdom, a paradise, utopia so far more grand than any possible imagination of man. that we should indeed rejoice at the hearing of this great heavenly reward that we have in the kingdom of God. Lord, give us boldness to stand for Christ and forgive us for we have failed to do so adequately and according to your grace. Help us, we pray this, for the sake of Jesus. Amen. Thank you.