Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

If i could summarize the last section that we looked at together in 1 Peter it would be

The suffering of our Lord was the pathway to His victory and exaltation.

Chapter 4 is the continuing of the argument that he has been developing in chapter 3, we see this in that he uses the word therefore.

I want us to look at a few points as we consider this passage.

But before we do I would like to state the main point here in this passage.

What we see is that we are to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ so that we can put sin to death.

In his rich book called The Plague of Plagues, written in 1669, a godly man by the name of Ralph Venning wrote this paragraph about sin, listen to it.

“In general, sin is the worst of evils, the evil of evil and indeed the only evil.

Nothing is so evil as sin, nothing is evil but sin.

As the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, so neither the sufferings of this life nor of that to come are worthy to be compared as evil with the evil of sin.

No evil is displeasing to God or destructive to man but the evil of sin.

Sin is worse than affliction, than death, than the devil, than hell.

Affliction is not so afflictive, death is not so deadly, the devil is not so devilish, hell is not so hellish as sin is.

This will help to fill up the charge against its sinfulness especially as it is contrary to and against the good of man.”

Then he says, “The four evils I have just named are truly terrible and from all of them everyone is ready to say, ‘Good Lord, deliver us.’

Yet none of these nor all of them together are as bad as sin.

Therefore our prayers should be more to be delivered from sin and if God hear no prayer else, yet as to this we should say.

‘We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord,’ ”

Remember who Peter is writing to, he is writing to a group of Christians that are suffering because of their faith in Christ and one of the things that He is doing here is teaching them that suffering for Christ can be one of the gracious means that the Lord uses to sanctify us.

Four things

I. Remember Jesus’ suffering lead to victory

In the first part of v.1 Peter reminds us of the suffering of Christ that lead to victory and exaltation.

Christ’s victory over hostile powers by virtue of his death and resurrection is what is pointed to here.

The connection between the two sections is this

Since Christ’s suffering is the pathway to glory, believers should also prepare themselves to suffer, knowing that suffering is the prelude to victory and exaltation.

Our Lord suffered for righteousness sake, He suffered because He did not live like the world, He did not fit in with the world, He was light in the midst of darkness.

He opposed sin and the world loved sin

Because of that He was hated, because of that He was rejected, because of that He was ultimately killed by those who could not endure His teaching and His godliness.

His will was to do the will of the Father and not to fit in with the world and its ways

And of course John tells us what the worlds reaction to Jesus ministry will be early on in the gospel

John 3.

But again even though He was hated by the world, even though He suffered He was victorious

The Resurrection right?

and 22 speaks of His resurrection and exaltation

And of course i think of

II.

Arm yourselves in order to fight sin

After pointing us to Christ we are commanded in v.1

Arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.

Arm yourselves has military connotations and in other texts the Christian life is compared to the life of a warrior

2 Cor.

This language reminds us that the Christian life is a life of discipline, it takes grit particularly in view of the suffering believers encounter.

What is part of this armor that we must wear?

same way of thinking

with the same mind

with the same intention, attitude, thought, knowledge

I think what is being said is that we need to know, we must have the mindset that the world will hate us and that there will be suffering and difficulty and that is part of the life as God’s people.

We must look back over redemptive history and see that the people of God have suffered and they have been hated by the world

We must look especially at the life of our Lord and know that this is the case

And that part of being God’s people, part of being a follower of Christ is walking away from everything that the world says life is about

It is even like Moses,

Heb.

11

What does Jesus say to us?

The Christian life should be a life of dying everyday to self, of dying to the world

2 Cor. 4.

But the mindset does not stop there.

It is not a defeatist mindset ultimately.

It is a mindset that understands that the cross comes before the crown.

That the cross is today but the crown is tomorrow.

Listen to what what Paul goes on to say

2 Cor. 4.

I think what Paul means in the rest of v.1 is simply this,

This mindset will help you put sin to death

III.

Remember what is coming for the Gentiles

IV.

Remember what is promised to God’s people