THE FIGHT IS FIXED, BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO FIGHT

1 Peter 4:1-6 (ESV) 1 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, 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. 3 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. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.

INTRODUCTION

For the child of God, it is important to remember that Christianity is not a casual walk down an even path. Being a Christian in this hateful hostile world is no picnic. We have a battle on our hands.

Peter has carefully and consistently pointed out to us the reality and inevitability of our suffering as the Children of God. It is important for us to be cognizant that we are in a battle, a cosmic conflict and a supernatural struggle.

Somebody ought to feel this when I tell you we have an enemy in this world. He is cold and cruel, pitiless and ruthless. He wants to defeat the purpose of God in our lives. He wants to discredit us, disgrace us and disqualify us. We have an enemy, an enemy!

One of the weapons the devil uses against us is unjust and unfair suffering. He attempts to get us to back up, let up and give up by throwing trouble our way. He knows that there are those who will give up if they have to suffer especially when they suffer for doing what is right.

In the text before us Peter cautions us as soldiers in the army of the Lord to be prepared for battle. He tells us we have to be armed and ready to fight. The good news is for those of us who are hard fighting soldiers in the army of the Lord is our victory is not uncertain, and the outcome of the conflict is not unclear.

Even though the outcome of the conflict is certain Peter does not want us to be careless. After all the devil and his army are still out there fighting. If devil won’t give up we can’t let up. Yes the fight is fixed but we still have to fight. That’s Peter’s message to us this morning.

As we unpack the passage to uncover the principles there are three truths threaded into the tapestry of this text. They form the substance of the sermon and offers the homiletical hinges on which this message swings. Notice, THE REALITY WE MUST FACE, THE MENTALITY WE MUST FIGHT, THE TRANQUILITY WE MUST FIND.

I. THE REALITY WE MUST FACE (V.1)

Everything from the previous verses (3:8-22), leading up to this passage, has focused on these scattered saints suffering persecution from the world, and even facing the possibility of death. Suffering unjustly for being righteous is also on Peter's mind in 1:6-9; 2:19-23; 4:14-19; 5:6-10. Knowing how to face such trials is critical to Christians' growth and joy.

In this section, Peter calls for believers to be willing to face persecution for righteousness' sake. His call is a call to strength, to resolve, to unwavering, unyielding, unbending and unending firmness like a soldier entering battle.

A. THE EXAMPLE- “Forasmuch” points us back to what Peter has just shared about the sufferings of the Savior. At the cross Christ endured His greatest suffering, dying under divine judgment as the just for the unjust; yet there He also accomplished for believers His greatest triumph over sin and its condemning power, over the forces of hell, and over the power of death. The cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate proof that suffering can lead to victory over the forces of evil. Christ triumphed over all:

· The hell the devil threw at Him

· Curses and jeers from the hard hearted and hard headed crowd

· The pain, agony and shame of being brutalized in public as an open spectacle

· The heart break of being betrayed by a friend

· The hurt of being denied and forsaken by His followers

Peter’s point is that just like Jesus, we can not only survive our suffering, we can thrive. We can triumph over every trouble and advance through every adversity.

Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of how to handle hardship and how to succeed even through your suffering. Christ was able to deal with every difficulty because He never lost sight of the Father’s presence and purpose. Heb 12:2

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NKJV

Jesus was able to triumph over trouble, tragedy, and trials because He never lost sight of what His purpose was. He never lost focus of what awaited Him on the other side of his trials.

I think I ought to tell you that is also the secret to our success through all of our suffering. We must follow the Lord’s example. We can’t ever forget that the Lord has promised never to leave us alone. The Lord has promised to reward our faithfulness. Rev 1:10

10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

NKJV

Oh my brothers and sisters the reason we can hang on and hold on through all of our trials is because we know that;

· After the pain come the prize

· After the cross comes the crown

· After the trial comes the triumph

· After the burdens comes the blessing

B. THE EXHORTATION- The key verb in this whole paragraph is the command to “arm yourselves”, out of which springs all the motivations to obey the command. The verb, used only here in the New Testament, is from hoplizo , It is a aorist middle imperative, meaning literally, "to arm oneself with weapons" or "to put on an armor." The noun form hoplon means "weapons" and is used in John 18:3; 2 Cor 6:7; 10 . The picture is of preparation for battle.

How are we to prepare for battle? Peter says it is by arming ourselves with the mindset of our Master. Paul had the same exhortation; Phil 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

NKJV

Arm yourself with the mind of Christ. What does this mean? First, it means to die to self; to deny oneself. Jesus Christ denied Himself to the ultimate degree: He suffered for us in the flesh. Jesus Christ lived a pure and righteous life and men persecuted Him for it. But He bore the humiliation, ridicule, mockery, beatings, and even death in order to please God and to save men. In the flesh He did not want to suffer. He had a flesh just like ours, the flesh of humanity; therefore, His flesh wanted and desired to escape the abuse of men (cp. Hebrews 2:14-15). But Jesus Christ denied Himself and went ahead and did the will of God. The exhortation is strong:

"Now, you do the same thing. Arm yourself with the mind of Christ. You are in a warfare with the desires and lusts of the flesh and they are going to destroy you unless you conquer them. Therefore, you must arm yourself; you must put on the armor that will protect you. What is that armor?

The mind of Christ. The same mind that:

· Chose sacrifice over selfishness

· Purity over profanity

· The abstract turned into the concrete.

· The eternal became external.

· The superior got involved with the inferior.

· The Holy entered the common place.

· The Spiritual embraced the carnal.

· Perfect peace clothed itself in the human

· struggle for liberation.

· Thought was changed into action.

· Principle became person.

· Law was turned into love

· Justice was turned into law

· Peace was turned into reality

· Transcendence was turned into intimacy

· The word was made flesh

· God was made a human

· God became man in order to transform us, redeem us, and set us free

If you arm yourself with the mind of Christ, that would puncture pride, halt haughtiness and arrest arrogance. You would be willing to go where God sends and do what God says.

II. THE MENTALITY WE MUST FIGHT (V.2-5)

When we arm ourselves with the mind of Christ we gain victory over our old way of thinking. We are in enemy territory. We cannot expect to get through unscathed. We can expect to get through victoriously.

A. OUR REPUDIATION- Note that the phrase "lusts of men" is plural. It is the picture of the believer being pulled every which way by different persons or groups. The believer is being pulled to live like the world lives, fulfilling the desires and lusts of the flesh.

God's will is for believers to live pure and righteous lives and to focus upon proclaiming the gospel of eternal life to a lost and dying world. Genuine believers do this. They do not make the lusts and desires of men the rule of their lives. The rule of their lives is God. And note the Scripture: they have commited the rest of their days to the will of God. This is what the mind of Christ means: just as Christ was totally committed to the will of God, so we are totally committed to the will of God. Just as His thoughts were consumed with God's will, so our thoughts are to be consumed with God's will. We arm ourselves with the very mind of Christ: we become consumed in mind and thought with the will of God, not with the lusts of men. We focus and concentrate upon living righteous lives and upon carrying the gospel to every person in the world.

This phrase is literally "the having passed away time" (pareleluthos chronos) meaning chronological time. It is perfect tense, as are the two following verbs, have carried out (from katergazomai , "to produce") and having pursued (from poreuomai , "to conduct one's life"). Each building on the other, these three perfect tense verbs make the point that, for the believer, the sinful past is a closed book and its saga of sin is over.

Our former disposition pursued a course; it conducted life's affairs along a specific path of behavior, and Peter described that for his readers with six terms. First, sensuality (aselgeia) describes those who engage in unbridled, unrestrained vice of all sorts (cf. Rom 13:13). It could also be translated "debauchery," an excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure. Many unregenerate people live lawlessly, flaunting their vices in open defiance of God's law, others are less obvious. Lusts (epithumia ) are the sinful passions that drive people into such indulgence. It is an inordinate desire to fulfill a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. Drunkenness (oinophlugia ) literally means "wine bubbling up" and refers to habitual intoxication. This term can also refer to the effects of narcotic use. Carousing (komos) refers to participating in wild parties or orgies. In one extrabiblical Greek source, the term described a band of drunken people that sang loudly and staggered wildly through the streets, causing a major public disturbance. The apostle completed his list of terms with two more expressions that fit this picture of uncontrolled conduct, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Potos (drinking parties) were sessions people engaged in just for the sake of becoming inebriated. Abominable idolatries denotes the immoral, debauched worship of false gods (such as Dionysius or Bacchus, the Greek god of wine) that accompanied carousing and drinking parties.

Peter is saying we know what that life style is like, we know it is empty and void, enough is enough. Look at somebody and tell them enough is enough:

· We have spent enough time in the dark it’s time to walk in the light

· We have spent enough time being dominated by the devil it’s time to walk in liberty

· We have spent enough time being defeated by our sins it’s time to walk in victory

· We have spent enough time living in the bitter cold of selfishness, its time to walk in the engaging warmth of sharing

· We have spent enough time in brooding dark night of faithlessness, its time to walk in the bright day of faithfulness

B. THEIR REACTION- Peter says that there will be those who will have a strange reaction to the change in your lifestyle when you decide to give your life to Christ. Such sins had been so much a way of life for Peter's readers that when they abandoned them their fellow sinners, still unregenerate, were surprised (xenizo ), meaning "astonished," or "shocked," with the connotation of taking offense or being resentful. Sin was such a normal lifestyle for the unbelievers (cf. Ps 64:5; John 8:34; 2 Peter 2:14) that they were not only amazed that the Christians' lives had changed so totally, they even resented the fact that the new believers no longer went with them into the same excesses of dissipation. That expression vividly pictures a large melee of people madly racing forward, what one commentator described as "a euphoric stampede of pleasure seekers." Excesses (anachusis ) pictures waters coming together and pouring out in excess or overflowing. Dissipation (asotia ) is that state in which a person's mind is so corrupt that he thinks about nothing but evil and how he might indulge his sinful passions. Needless to say, Christians no longer desire such mindless pursuit of the passions that throw people into a state of over-the-top debauchery.

One-time friends become enemies and often malign those who do not run with them into sinful behavior. Malign (blasphemeo ) literally means "to blaspheme," "to slander or defame someone," or "to speak evil of them." Ancient sources, both Christian and non-Christian, provide ample evidence that it was Christians' reluctance to participate in many conventionally accepted amusements and ungodly civic ceremonies, and their refusal to engage in idolatrous, immoral functions that caused unbelievers to hate and revile them. Which led to unjust persecution and suffering for righteousness' sake.

I think I ought to tell you when you turn your life around there will be your former friends who won’t be able to understand why you don’t hang out like you used too. They won’t understand the change in your behavior. Just tell them, it’s a Christ thing:

· When they don’t understand how your steps can now be straight

· When they don’t understand how you can now control your temper

· When they don’t understand how you can now not give in to temptation

· When they don’t understand how you can now forgive those who hurt you

· When they don’t understand how you can love your enemies

· When they don’t understand why your at church while they are at the club

III. THE TRANQUILITY WE MUST FIND (V.5-6)

Finally, believers are to arm themselves with the genuine hope of the reality of eternal life. God has promised them that through death they will overcome sin, escape final judgment, and enter eternal heaven in holy perfection. Peter thus reminds his readers that the gospel (the saving message of Christ) has for this purpose been preached (announced) even to those who are dead (those who had heard and believed the gospel but had died by the time he wrote). Some who read this letter would have known them and realized that some of the dead saints were martyrs. Though some of the dead believers were judged in the flesh as men (physically put to death), they were triumphantly alive in the spirit according to the will of God (cf. Heb 12:23). Peter's point is that believers, even under unjust treatment—including death—should be willing and unafraid to suffer, knowing that all death can do is triumphantly bring their eternal spirits into everlasting life in heaven.

No pressure from enemies of the gospel and no unjust persecution by an ungodly world can steal believers' victory; rather, all their suffering for righteousness' sake has a perfecting power, increases their spiritual strength, humbles them, drives them to prayer, enriches their reward, and, in the event the enemies of Christ take their lives, they have reached their ultimate goal and God's eternal purpose—they have forever "ceased from sin." Paul understood this when he wrote:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Conclusion

I remember when a young, brash boxer name Casius Clay challenged Sonny Liston. Sonny was mean, and bad, he was thought to have mob connections. The brother was not to be played with. Young Casious did just that. He hit Liston with what the time was called a phatom punch because people at ring side couldn’t see it. Sonny Liston went down. Word went out that the fight had been fixed. Well I don’t think that fight was fixed, I think that Liston got his head beat in. However I think I ought to tell you I do know a fight that has been fixed. Our fight with Satan, suffering and sin has been fixed. The devil won’t win, in fact he can’t win. Out on Calvary Christ fixed the fight. Look at someone and tell them THE FIGHT IS FIXED:

· MY SORROWS CAN’T STOP ME

· PAIN CAN’T PREVENT ME

· HARDSHIPS CAN’T HALT ME

· BURDENS CAN’T BEAT ME

· TROUBLE CAN’T TRIUMPH OVER ME

· DIFFICULTIES CAN’T DISRUPT ME

· EVEN DEATH CAN’T DEFEAT ME

· I CAN OVERCOME MY OBSTACLES

· I CAN HANDLE MY HURT

· I CAN WIN OVER EVERY WORRY

· GOD IS FOR ME

· CHRIST IS WITH ME

· THE HOLY SPIRIT IS IN ME

· NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER

· GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE ME OR FORSAKE ME

· THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE OVER THE RIGHTEOUS AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYERS

· GREATER IS HE IN ME THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD

· CHRIST IS MY REFUGE

· CHRIST IS MY HIGH TOWER

· CHRIST HOLDS MY HAND AND GUIDES MY FEET

· I KNOW THE DEVIL WILL TRY ME BUT HE CAN’T TRAP ME

· I KNOW HE WILL ENTICE ME BUT HE CAN’T ENSLAVE ME

· I KNOW THE DEVIL CAN KNOCK ME DOWN BUT HE CAN’T HOLD ME DOWN

THE FIGHT IS FIXED, IT’S FIXED, HALLELUJAH THE FIGHT IS FIXED!