1 Peter #10
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Connection - PART 1
Radical Transformation leads to Devout Service which produces a Beautiful Community by the Grace of God.
Theme:
Life in Service to Christ and His Church
Need:
We need to be propelled by the Gospel to greater holiness in our daily life, and to greater service in our local church.
Purpose
To exhort the saints to flee from sin and live for the will of God; to comfort the saints in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and to stir the saints to fulfill the duties of church membership.
Read Text:
1 Peter 4:1-11 ESV
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
(1) Arm Yourself with the Mindset of the Death of Christ - v. 1-2.
(1) Arm Yourself with the Mindset of the Death of Christ - v. 1-2.
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,
In light of what we have seen in previous passages, that Jesus has suffered, that he died for our sins, that his precious blood was shed for our ransom and redemption—in light of all of this, Peter now turns our gaze to the response of the Christian life. You see the Gospel doesn’t just forgive us of our sins—it also empowers us to fight against them. The Gospel doesn’t just make us right with God—it also makes us like our God. The same blood that washes away our sins, is the same blood that sanctifies us to holiness and good works. We should never take our eyes off the cross—or like Peter we begin to sink. It is our gaze upon Jesus, and his sovereign grace within by the Spirit, it is here in this heart posture that the Christians find strength to serve our Lord, that we find strength to persevere through suffering, that we find strength to witness for Christ in a lost and dying and evil world. Since therefore, because of, in light of the suffering of Christ our Messiah, we must respond. With what? Peter continues:
arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,
The word used for arm yourselves here is a military word. Kistemaker writes:
The verb arm yourselves, which Peter uses to spur the believers to action, is a military term which refers to a soldier putting on his weapons to fight the enemy (see Rom. 13:12; 2 Cor. 6:7; 10:4; Eph. 6:11).
Are you arming yourself with the same way of thinking? What way of thinking? With the mindset of the death of Christ?
Are you not just trusting in the death of Christ for your salvation—but also taking up your cross, denying yourself, and following Him in suffering, in sin-defying obedience, and God-honouring perseverance? Are you putting on the armour of God? Are you filling your mind with the love of Christ that constrains us? Constrains us to what? To live a holy life, to witness to the world, and to compel lost souls to come to Jesus.
Dear Christian, if you do not put on this mindset by the Word and Spirit of God—then you are offenseless and defenseless in the Christian warfare. You are an easy target for the evil one and his flaming darts. If you are not yielding the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit—if you are not arming yourself with the mindset of the death of Christ for our salvation and the death of Christ for our victory over sin, then you are feeding your flesh, putting on the mindset of the evil one, walking in rebellion, and no wonder your joys are low—no wonder your holiness is low—no wonder your love is low—no wonder you are miserable and wretched—you are despising the means of grace, you are despising the will of God and his blessings of sanctification are weaned from you—you must put on the mindset of the death of Christ, or else we commit spiritual suicide in the warfare of the Great Commission of our Lord.
Peter continues are shows us what this mindset leads to:
for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
What is the mindset of the death of Christ? It is counting the cost, taking up our cross, even unto suffering and death and persecution and pain and pressure from the world—it is fixing our eyes on the eternal things of our God and not on the transient things of this world—it is to persevere through hardship and evil attacks—just as Jesus went willingly to the cross, he counted the cost of the suffering of the wrath of God on our behalf—he prayed, not my will but your will be done—he suffered in the flesh and defeated sin, death, Satan, and the powers of darkness.
To put on the mind of Christ is to suffer for Him in this present evil age, it is to cease living for the dominion and master of sin—it is to be transferred from the lordship of sin to the lordship of Christ as we seek first His Kingdom and Righteousness, as we are redeemed from sin’s tyranny and brought under the gracious reign and rule of King Jesus.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Notice that Paul and Peter doesn’t say that you need to cease from sin—you don’t need to be freed from sin—they both say in the past tense that those who belong to Jesus have ceased from sin—not in the sense of never sinning—but in the sense of no longer living habitually as a slave to sin—in Christ you have been set free from sins dominion, rule, and mastery. Yes you toil and battle and struggle and fight and fall and fail—but you repent, you renew your faith, you restore your joy, you revive your heart, and you press on in love—by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
Dear Christian—if you are in Christ, truly, truly, you are a new creation—sin is not your master, you have ceased from your unswerving obedience to sin—and just as Jesus conquered sin on the cross, when you were born again, by the grace of God, you conquered the mastery of sin by coming to Christ—as you were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son—you have been made obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you’ve been committed—to the standard of Christ the Lord!
So take heart, beloved!—if you are a believer, sin no longer has the final say—though it does often have the painful sting—but in Christ you are more than conquerers through him who loved us and gave himself for us!
But maybe some of you here this morning are deceived. You aren’t living for Jesus. You haven’t ceased from sin. You aren’t born again. You think that singing a prayer card was all that was needed—you think that saying the sinners prayer has got you covered—you think that being in the pews once a week gets you into heaven! God forbid this kind of thinking! You must be born again! You must trust in Jesus from the heart! You must run to Him as your only hope in life and death! You must cling to his precious blood to forgive you—you must be clothed in his righteousness to cover you on the day of judgment—and you must rest in Him to be made a child of God even this day, to be saved, to be made right with God, to cease from sin and to walk with Christ out of love and gratitude for all of your days.
And what is the result of this ceasing from sin? Is it just an innocent and neutral and half-hearted coasting through life? By no means! It is a resilient pursuit of living for the glory of our triune God. Peter says:
2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
To put on the mindset of the death of Christ is the suffer for Christ, to remember that we have been set free from the tyranny of sin (though not the presence of sin), and it is to put on the armour of God, yielding the Word and Prayer, and to walk in Christ in his Resurrection Power, Life, Joy, Strength, Peace, Happiness, and Holiness! It is to live for the rest of our days no longer for our human passions, our evil desire, our lustful cravings, our selfish ambitions, our weak appetites! But it is to live for the will of God! What does it mean to live for the will of God?
To live for the will of God means to, by the grace of the Spirit, in the power of Christ, to obey the moral law and commandments of God as we walk with our God in delightful communion, tasting that He is good, enjoying His beauty and glory, and doing all of this for his glory alone!
This means that we honour him in our thinking.
We think great and glorious thoughts of our God. We adore Him. We worship Him. We think pure thoughts. We fill our mind with beautiful things. With the things of Christ. With the Word of God. With holy meditation on our blessed Messiah. With careful discernment of the leading of the Holy Spirit.
This means that we honour him in our desires.
We have great estimation of the things of the Spirit. We cherish and delight in the Trinity. We enjoy His pleasures forevermore. We joyfully embrace and abide in Jesus. We happily and blessedly long for more of the power and presence of the Spirit. We seek to love our neighbours, serve our church, witness to the lost, care for the poor, and submit to our King in all of life.
This means that we honour him in our choices.
We have the great purpose of turning away from evil and doing good. Not just desiring good—but actually walking in the good. We choose to be in the Word. We choose to persist in prayer. We choose to love our spouse. We choose to lead our kids. We choose to walk in meekness and humility. We choose to crush our sin, flee from unrighteousness, leave behind our lusts. We choose to deny ourselves and love Jesus with all our heart.
Once again—Peter doesn’t say that this is something that you must do that you aren’t doing already. He says whoever has suffered in the flesh, whoever has suffered for Christ and has persevered in the faith, has shown that they no longer have their hearts set on sin as their ultimate goal in life—but it shows that their hearts are set on Christ as their ultimate goal in life. So Christian, repent and return to the newness of life that is already yours in Jesus.
To live for the will of God is to walk in the newness of life as we follow Jesus in his newness of life. Just as Jesus died (defeated sin), then rose again (leaving sin in the grave), and walked in resurrection life (in the Holy Spirit’s beauty and holiness)—so too must we die to sin, leave it behind, and walk in the Spirit of Christ—in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. God help us. God help us to seek God truly and fully in every single area of life—Christ is Lord over all—and Christ deserves our submission in all.
(1) Arm Yourself with the Mindset of the Death of Christ - v. 1-2.
This leads us to our second point:
(2) Prepare Yourself for Mockery and Maligning from the World - v. 3-6.
(2) Prepare Yourself for Mockery and Maligning from the World - v. 3-6.
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
In the past, Peter says, you Gentiles walked in unrepentant and habitual sin, making it your ultimate allegiance to please self and honour the evil one. But that time is past. You are born again. You are a new creature in Christ. You are redeemed. You are forgiven. You have been credited the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You have been adopted into the everlasting family of God. You are being sanctified, and you will be glorified and resurrected physically one day. Because of what Jesus has done for us, because of what the Spirit is doing in us—the time of unrepentant sin is past. What sins? Peter gives us a list:
living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
The time of sensuality is past—pleasing ones flesh with sexual immorality.
The time of passions are past—living for our lustful and selfish cravings.
The time of drunkenness is past—walking in unrepentant alcoholism.
The time of orgies are past—wild and animal like sexual immorality.
The time of drinking parties are past—fellowshipping around worldliness and abuse of substances.
The time of lawless idolatry is past—living for false gods and idols of heart as our chief purpose.
Peter says—yes you might still wrestle with some of these sins, you might still battle against the passions of our flesh which wage war against your souls, you might stumble in many of these ways—but if you’re a Christian, you no longer desire to make a practice of such sins in habitual unrepentance. And if you do, your Father will discipline you and strike you to your knees so you will return like the prodigal son to a restored walk with your covenant God of grace and mercy, and to be a partaker of his holiness—without which no man shall see the Lord.
What’s the solution for the unbeliever? Run to Jesus. What’s the solution for the believer who is backsliding? Run to Jesus. What’s the plan for the believer who is walking in holiness? Stay with Jesus. And as you are walking morally beautiful lives as you follow Jesus as his beloved and elect exiles in this fallen world—you will be mocked and maligned. You must prepare yourself with the holy fear of God. Peter says:
4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
Because of your light, because of your holiness, becuase of your love, because of your walking in faith and repentance, in obedience and communion with Christ—the evil, wicked, dark, fallen, blind, enslaved, wretched, poor, and rebellious world will be surprised when you say no to ungodliness and yes to holiness.
They will mock and malign you because you do not join them in the flood of sin and debauchery. Which is ironic. Peter just alluded to Noah’s flood. And now he calls the sins of the world a flood of debauchery—because the sins of the world end with being flooded by God’s wrath and justice and everlasting damnation. Why don’t we remember that when we are tempted to sin? Sin is lawlessness which brings wrath and judgement—to partake in this is to partake of the thing that led God to flood and destroy the world—but even moreso, for the Christian, it is the very thing that nailed your Jesus to the tree. Why would you indulge in that which Jesus had to suffer the wrath of God to save you from?
Do not be surprised, when the world is surprised that you won’t enjoy the things that it so highly esteems. One pastor writes:
The commitment to ease and pleasure is the source of so much sin. A faith that endures suffering is done with that. The vices of Peter’s day have parallels today. We spend enough time satisfying our greed and lusts, getting drunk or stoned, and following newer deities. Peter exhorts us that it’s time to change, to stop wasting our lives. Yet when people do change, it might displease old friends. They “are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you” (1 Peter 4:4 esv). Old friends notice that the believer no p 165 longer (literally) “runs” or “travels with” them. The believer has a new crowd, and the old crowd doesn’t like it. It upsets the equilibrium. The woman who lives for her lusts feels threatened or judged by the woman who lives differently. The secular man is baffled. Why doesn’t his friend want to have fun? Change is unsettling, and that includes constructive moral reform. The secular person attacks. The church is still maligned for its moral positions. When a culture abandons biblical standards, when extramarital sex, cohabitation, and birth outside of marriage become normal, people attack the church for its moral snobbery and judgmentalism. While the church might deserve criticism if it constantly scolds, we surely invite reproach if we commit the very sins we condemn and if we blast one sin and tolerate another. Still, there is a time to stand up and say, “That’s wrong.” Peter warns us that if we do take a stand, we need to expect slander, not applause.
A good question to ask us is this? Are we living so delightfully in holiness that the world does mock and malign us, that it does slander and shame us, that it does laugh and scoff at us? Or are our levels of holiness in our Christian walk so low that the unbeliever can barely even tell that you have been made a new creature in Christ? Are we standing up for truth? Or compromising before our unbelieving neighbors and friends? Are we “tolerating” this pride month? Or “protesting” this pride month by praying and preaching the Law and the Gospel.
God help us to let our light shine before this dark world, to witness for Christ, and to suffer in the flesh, knowing that we are saved by the Light and Lamb of the World—and that he is returning as King and Judge. Peter says:
5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
When Jesus returns on that final day, on the great day of the general resurrection of the just and the unjust, when we meet him in the clouds as he is descending to bring wrath on the wicked and to save his church by bringing it into the new heavens and new earth—on that great day, all both great and small, righteous and wicked, all will stand before the judge of the living and the dead. All souls who have lived from the days of Adam, to the days of Noah, to the days of Abraham, to the days of Elijah, to the days of Malachi, to the days of Jesus, to the days of the Apostolic Fathers, to the days of the Medieval Church, to the days of the Reformation, to the days of the Modern Church, and to the days of the future—all souls will rise from the dust with resurrected bodies, the righteous unto honour, and the unrighteous unto dishonour—and we shall all be judged by King Jesus.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Oh what a day of joy and freedom, of excitement and peace, of reward and safety, of happiness and blessing—but also a reverence and holy fear, of awe and trembling, of majesty and glory.
On that great day of judgment the saints will be vindicated, they will be saved, they will come safely through the judgment becuase they are one with Jesus Christ in his life, death, and resurrection, they are forgiven and credited righteous—and they have lived righteously which evidences that they have been made right with God. Even more than this, they will then be examined as we give an account to God for how we stewarded his gifts and graces—and we shall enter into the joy of our Master by the sovereign grace of our covenant keeping God. In fact, our sentence is already given—we will not come into judgement of condemnation because we have already passed from death to life, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But we will come under the judgment of examination. We must live holy lives to the glory of our Father—we want to be found faithful and fruitful in this life on that final day. By the grace of God.
But oh for the unbeliever the day of judgment will be one of dreadful fear, terrible terror, incredible pain, rising shame, infinite guilt, and absolute despair because they are one with the devil and Adam. They have rebelled and sinned and lived in unrepentance, unbelief, lawless idolatry, wicked sin and evil, absolute ugliness and persistent selfishness with human autonomous foolishness. They will be declared guilty, the wrath of God will be poured out, they will be sent into the everlasting torments of hell and separation from the gracious presence of Christ, as they suffer the wrath of the Lamb, eternal death, are thrown into the lake of fire, and are condemned for all eternity.
Oh run to Jesus! he is the only way to escape the wrath to come! And he is more than able and willing to wave all those who cast themselves on His sufficient Gospel, on his blood and righteousness. Trust in Him now, before it is too late.
Peter says: do not join them in their sin. Do not worry about them mocking or maligning you. Fear God and trust in Jesus. They will give an account to God and God will judge them with perfect righteousness and justice—wrath will be melted out on this dreadful day.
6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead,
Here Peter says that the Gospel was preached to those who had physically died already. These were possibly believers in the church who had been martyred or just died of old age—regardless—Peter assures the saints that the power of the Gospel remains the same for all who believe—it is the power of God unto salvation and sanctification. Some think that this is the same event being referred to as the descent of Christ into Hades and that Jesus gave some second-chance option for those who previously died in unbelief. But no where in the Scriptures do we see such a thing. When someone dies without faith in Jesus—they are lost forever. Rather, what is going on here, is not referring to Christ preaching in Hades—but Christians preaching the Gospel to humans on earth who have physically died. One scholar says:
This preaching is therefore not connected to the preaching “to the spirits in prison,” mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19. Although English translations often use preach for both verses, the Greek of 3:19 is kērussō, which means that Jesus made a proclamation, while 1 Peter 4:6 uses euaggelizomai, which means that Jesus preached the good news. Further, 3:19 says that Christ made a proclamation; 4:6 says that “the gospel was preached.” Acts and many of Paul’s epistles show that the apostles and their coworkers did this preaching.
The Gospel, the Good news of Jesus Christ, was proclaimed by the Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers, Members and Laymen—and those who trust in the living Hope of Jesus were saved from the wrath to come, given the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they too could walk in holiness. Peter continues and says:
that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Though they had died, though they were judged by the wicked world merely by outward appearance—their soul returned to God who gave it, their spirit was made righteous in the Holy Spirit so that they could live in the way God does—without sin, in truth, beauty, goodness, holiness, justice, and righteousness. The Scripture tells us that when a Christian dies, because of the work of Christ in opening the gates of Paradise and Crushing the Gates of Hades—all saints who die go to be with the Lord, their soul is made perfect in glory, and they live in the power of the Holy Spirit as they reign from the throne of God above with Jesus, as they wait for the resurrection of their bodies on that great day. Just as Jesus died but lived in his soul by the power of the Holy Spirit—so too when believers die, they live in their souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. And just as Jesus rose again from the dead with a perfected body, so too we will rise again from the dead with a perfect body—when he returns to make all things new. Jesus is our Living Hope—in every good, beautiful, and lovely sense of the term.
And as we live now in the flesh for the will of God, by the Spirit of God—we get a foretaste of what it will be lived to be perfected by the Spirit in holiness. All the joys and loves and peace and happiness and unity and bounty of living in holiness with God’s people—magnify that by a trillion—and that is the hope that we look forward to—live with the Lord, and with his People, in perfect holiness and happiness, in the City of God, world without end.
So we will be mocked and maligned—don’t let that beat you up. Fear God. Trust in Jesus. Walk in the Spirit. And look forward to life in the New Jersualem when all such mocking will be gone, forever and ever. Pray for those who mock you—pray that they too might come to Jesus and experience new birth, and everlasting life with Jesus and the people of God.
(2) Prepare Yourself for Mockery and Maligning from the World - v. 3-6.
This leads us to our third point:
(3) Control Yourself for the sake of your Prayers and Love - v. 7-9.
(3) Control Yourself for the sake of your Prayers and Love - v. 7-9.
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
7 The end of all things is at hand;
therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
(4) Engage Yourself in Spiritual Service with your Spiritual Gifts - v. 10-11.
(4) Engage Yourself in Spiritual Service with your Spiritual Gifts - v. 10-11.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God;
whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—
in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
(C) Life in Service to Christ and His Church is the Will of God for His People—by His Grace, and for His Glory.
(C) Life in Service to Christ and His Church is the Will of God for His People—by His Grace, and for His Glory.
(C) Life in Service to Christ and His Church is the Will of God for His People—by His Grace, and for His Glory.
(C) Life in Service to Christ and His Church is the Will of God for His People—by His Grace, and for His Glory.
Amen, let’s pray.