Steeled For Suffering

Well, all those songs that we've sung this morning have set the table well for the text we're going to be looking at today. And we are going to be back in one Peter. So take your Bibles and turn there with me one Peter chapter four, and we are going to be looking at verses one through six today. And this is a passage that as I've been reading through one Peter periodically over and over again just to get the big picture in my mind as I continue to strive to clearly explain it, understand it myself first of all and then explain it to you. All this passage has stuck out to me whenever I get to chapter four. Just these first six verses have some very graphic words and some jarring statements that you just kind of have to slow down to take in. And so let's do that this morning, one Peter chapter four verse one. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer in the lust of men, but for the will of God for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you, but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead for the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. God, we thank you for your word. We know that it is our source of guidance and direction and food and sustenance. It is the weapon that you have given us to ward off the attacks of Satan. It's really everything to us. And so as we come to another text in your word today, I pray that your spirit, the same spirit who inspired Peter to write these words, would give us insight into what he meant by what he said and also to know how to apply it to our lives. And so we depend upon you now as we look to your word together desiring to change and to grow and to become more like your son Jesus, we pray this in his name. Amen.

Well, the many statements that Jesus uttered during his ministry years none is more repeated than the phrase follow me. It appears in the gospels close to 20 times. The first appearance is in Matthew four 19 when Jesus said to Peter and his brother, Andrew, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. This was the first of many times that Peter heard Jesus use this compelling phrase to call people to surrender their entire life to him. Turn back with me just for a moment to Luke the gospel of Luke. And Luke chose to emphasize this phrase, follow me more than any of the other gospel writers. And I want you to see with me just a few of the places where Jesus used this phrase. Follow me, Luke chapter nine, verse 23. Jesus was talking to his disciples and the crowds who had gathered to listen to him.

And in Luke chapter nine verse 23, it says, he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take of his cross daily and what? Follow me later in that chapter towards the end in verse 57, Luke records three interactions that Jesus had with three different people. Notice what he said to each of them. Verse 57, as they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nest. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But he said to him, allow the dead to bear their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Another also said, I'll follow you Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home. But Jesus said to him, no one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. And then flip over to Luke 18 where we find that familiar story of the rich young ruler who ran up to Jesus very eagerly wanting to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life.

And he was a moral young man, someone who in his mind had kept the commandments. And Jesus said to him in verse 22, 1 thing you still lack, so all that you possess and distribute to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come what? Follow me? But when he had heard these things, he became very sad for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

They heard it said then who can be saved? But he said, the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. One of those people who heard this was Peter and Peter became an advocate for the rest of the disciples here in verse 28, Peter said, behold we have left our homes and followed you. And he said to them, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come eternal life. So just based on these few references to following Christ, we realized that following Christ is a synonym or synonymous with being a Christian. And Jesus made it clear upfront that being a Christian is no easy road and he challenged people to carefully consider the cost before choosing to be one of his followers.

He demanded that they stop living for themselves and to never turn back to their old way of life. They had to be willing to hold nothing back to suffer and even die for him if need be. That's what he meant when he said, take up your cross. You need to be willing to be crucified along with me and of all Jesus's disciples, no one understood what was expected of a Christian more than Peter. Look with me at one more reference in John 21, John 21 verse 18. This is that familiar account when Jesus met the disciples at the sea of Galilee after he had rose from the dead and Jesus took the opportunity to restore Peter and ask him three times, do you love me? Yes, I love you. Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yes, I love you. Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yes I do. 10 my sheep.

But that wasn't the end of the interaction that Jesus had with Peter. Look at John 21 verse 18. Jesus said, truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished, but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this he said signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken thus he said to him, what? Follow me. Look at verse 20. Peter turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who would also lean back on his bosom at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? This was a reference to John, the author of this gospel, verse 21. So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man?

And Jesus said to him, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? What follow me? Interesting that the first person that heard Jesus say Follow me was Peter. And the last one who heard Jesus say, follow me was Peter kind of was a bookend of his life with Christ and perhaps it was Christ's prophecy of Peter's martyrdom along with this double exhortation to follow me that was echoing in Peter's ears when he penned one Peter chapter four, one through six. And as we've learned in our study so far, this letter was written to believers that are scattered throughout Asia Minor. Peter was in Rome observing how persecution was intensifying and he knew it was only a matter of time before it spread throughout the entire Roman empire. And so he wanted to help prepare his readers for the coming storm so they wouldn't be caught off guard, but be ready to be equipped to stand firm amid suffering in a world that was becoming increasingly hostile toward Christianity.

And one commentator said it well, he said, quote, it is as if Peter has finally come to the place in the letter where he rises up to unashamedly, proclaim followers of Jesus, be prepared to embrace not only submission but suffering as an aspect of your calling. Get yourselves ready for suffering ring. And it was based on that comment on these verses that I chose to title today's message, steeled for suffering, steeled for suffering. I'm assuming you're familiar with that phrase, steal, which means to mentally prepare to do something or to face something difficult. It implies strength, it involves resolve, it involves firmness. We talk about people that have a person that has nerves of steel. And in these six verses, Peter wanted to help us get ready for the suffering and persecution that every true follower of Christ is bound to experience at some point in their life.

And so what I want us to see this morning from this text are four ways to steal ourselves for suffering, four ways to steal ourselves or prepare ourselves or ready ourselves for suffering. The first way is to embrace the mindset of Christ. The second is to resolve to be done with sin. The third is to expect to be misunderstood and maligned. And then fourthly, we need to anticipate the hope of eternal life. Let's look at these four ways to steal ourselves for suffering one at a time. Number one, we need to embrace the mindset of Christ. Notice how this chapter begins. He says therefore, which is an indication that what he's about to say is based on what he just said. And so there's a close connection between this section verses one through six and the previous section verses 18 through 22 in particular verse 18, for Christ also died for sins once for all, just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit talking about the resurrection of Christ, the end of verse 21 in verse 22 of chapter three, who is at the right hand of God having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.

And again the context there, Peter was using the example of Jesus's unjust suffering on the cross and his ultimate vindication to encourage his readers to persevere in the midst of their suffering. And the fact that Christ triumphed over the grave and was resurrected and exalted to the right hand of God in heaven, where he sits now as a sovereign Lord over all who oppose us and all who oppress us should reassure us when we get falsely accused, we are unfairly persecuted that our salvation is secure in Christ and we will experience the same glorious ending as Jesus experienced.

So he says, therefore, in light of that, since Christ has suffered in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same purpose. And again, if you remember I noted that that phrase suffered in the flesh is another word for died. Verse 18, for Christ also died for sins or suffered for sins having been put to death in the flesh. So when he says that Christ has suffered in the flesh, he's just talking about that Christ died on the cross and we're to arm ourselves with the same purpose that Jesus had when he suffered in the flesh, when he died on the cross. And this word arm here refers to a soldier putting on their armor like Paul mentioned in Ephesians six 13, right to put on the full armor of God. It's the same language there, and I think this is just a good reminder that we are not living on this earth as tourists.

We're not on a vacation where we are soldiers in the midst of a raging battle. I know that picture kind of looks like we're on some tour going somewhere. Maybe it would help if we had a gun slung over our shoulder or something just to know that we're in enemy territory and this is a strong call to courage and to resolve to arm yourself also with the same purpose. And Peter knew that it was human nature to take the path of least resistance to do whatever it takes to avoid pain and persecution. Suffering is never easy to deal with, but as followers of Christ, we need to adopt the same attitude or mindset or perspective that Jesus had in regards to pain and suffering. In other words, what Peter was saying is we should think about suffering like Jesus did you say, well, how did he think about suffering? Well, we've already learned that back in chapter two, verse 21, for you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth and while being reviled he did not revile the return while suffering yet or no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously.

Jesus was totally innocent. He lived a perfectly righteous life. He didn't deserve to suffer. He didn't deserve to die, but he willingly endured the unjust suffering of wicked men and was nailed to a cross for doing the right thing. Why? Because he was committed to accomplishing God's will rather than his own will. We're going to see that in the next verse when he says that we are to no longer live the rest of our lives for the lust of men, but for the will of God. Jesus. Jesus' unwavering goal in life was to do the will of his father even if it meant having to die. Matthew chapter six, verse 10, Jesus taught us to pray like this, your kingdom come, your will be done, your will, your will be done. Not my will, your will be done on earth as is in heaven. I love John 4 34. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. John five 30, Jesus said, I seek not to please myself but him who sent me John 8 29. I always do the things that are pleasing to him. And this commitment to the will of God above his own will really climaxed in the garden in Matthew 26, verse 39 when he said, my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.

So we need to arm ourselves with this same mindset, the same perspective, the same attitude that we as followers of Christ need to be committed to doing the will of God above all else, even if it means experience, pain, experiencing pain and hardship for doing the right thing. And what this demonstrates, what this proves, what this shows to the watching world is that obeying God is more important to us than not being persecuted or getting killed for Christ. Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. Paul said that everyone who strives to live a godly life will be persecuted. So we all have a choice. We can either live like everyone else in the world in order to avoid being persecuted by them. I mean, if you just go with the flow and do what everybody else does and acts like everybody else acts, you're not going to get persecuted for that. Or we can live a pure and holy life like Christ did and willingly bear the reproach of Christ and suffer at the hands of the wicked like he did.

So we have to arm ourselves or embrace the mindset of Christ in regards to suffering. Secondly, we need to resolve to be done with sin. We need to be resolved or resolved to be done with sin. Notice he says therefore, since crisis suffered in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. And immediately a question should come to your mind. What does he mean by that? What does he mean having ceased from sin? Well, again, in this context, suffered in the flesh means died, right? That's what we said it meant for Christ death on the cross, he was suffered in the flesh has ceased to sin. So Peter May have been referring to those perhaps who were martyred for their faith in Christ and as a result are finally and fully transformed into his image and experienced freedom from sin in their glorified state. In other words, they paid the ultimate price for Christ and now they're in heaven sinless.

But I think it seems more likely that Peter was talking about ceasing from sin here on this earth in the sense that based on our union with Christ and his death, we are freed from slavery to sin and we are now given a choice whether or not to sin. I think it's similar to what Paul said in Romans chapter six. Turn over there for a moment. This is a longer cross-reference here. Romans chapter six verse three, a familiar passage about how believers are dead to sin and alive to God. Romans chapter six, verse three, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

I think that's the idea here of ceasing from sin. You're no longer living a life of sin, but you're walking in newness of life. Verse five, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slave to sin. For he who has died is free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him for the death he died. He died to sin once for all but the life that he lives, he lives to God even so yourselves. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So because we as believers have died with Christ, sin no longer is our master. We don't have to do what sin tells us to do. We don't have to give into its demands. Now that doesn't mean we don't sin anymore or that we don't struggle with sin and temptation. It simply means that Christ died for sin so we could die to sin. Christ died for sin so we could die to sin. That's what Peter has already said in chapter 2 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

So Christ died not only to take away the penalty of sin, but also to break the power of sin in our lives so that we could make a break with sin and live a life of obedience to God. We could live holy and righteous lives and the cross of Christ makes that possible. One commentator said it very simply, to be joined to the one who died for sins is to have given up sin as a way of life. I think that's what Peter meant when he said he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. In other words, you've given up sin as a way of life, as a pattern of living. In other words, we're no longer controlled by our fleshly desires, but we're compelled to do the will of God. And again, I think this all makes sense based on the next verse, because he was suffered in the flesh as ceased for sin so as to live the rest of his time not in heaven, right? This is not a guy died and went to heaven and now he's sinless. No, this is you ceasing from your life of sin so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lust of men, but for the will of God.

Peter has already referred to these lusts back in chapter one, verse 14, in his initial exhortation for us to live a holy life. He said, as obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance. Chapter two verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust, which wages war against the soul. Now he's saying it again so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lust of men, but for the will of God. Listen, when a person comes to Christ in repentance and faith, they are committing from that moment on to live the rest of their lives honoring and obeying God and his word rather than satisfying their sinful appetites. I'm not sure you understood that. I don't know what you understood at the moment of your salvation, but that's what Jesus meant when he said, follow me. You make a break with your old life. You stop living the way you used to live and you start living as a new creature in Christ and really is there only two ways to live? You can either do what you want or you do what God wants and that's it. That's life in a nutshell. You're either living for yourself or you're living for God. You're either seeking to gratify yourself or you're seeking to glorify God. Well, what describes your life this morning? Are you seeking to gratify yourself or are you seeking to glorify God?

And Peter turns up the heat here in verse three. He says, for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles. Peter was writing to people who had been saved out of a pagan past. In fact, chapter one verse 18, he says, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers. So these recipients of this letter had lived without restraint and participated in all sorts of sinful practices before their conversion. I mean, they were perfect pagans. They did what Pagans do. And Peter told them here, Hey, enough already you've had plenty of time to pursue the things of this world. Now that you're a follower of Christ, you need to abandon your life of sin and the remaining years of your life need to be devoted to God. Your life belongs to God from here on out. By the way it always did. You just didn't know it. But now that you know it, live like it.

I don't know how you respond to that first phrase in verse three, for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles. I think it should make all of us wince a bit. We think about all the time we wasted living like our pleasure was all that mattered in life. And even now all the time, we still waste even as Christians selfishly indulging our flesh. Peter went on to list six sins that characterize the lives of unbelievers. And this list is similar to the list of sins that Paul gave in his letters. Romans 1313, Paul said, let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts.

Another one of Paul's sinless is in Galatians chapter five, verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality and purity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you just as I fore warn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, if any of these things are characteristic of your life, they are patterns in your life, you are not saved. I know that's a shocking statement, but what does it mean that you'll not inherit the kingdom of God? It means you're not a Christian. But the key word here is practice. Those who practice such things will not inherit the game of God. Say, well, I've done some of those things. I'm guilty of some of those things. I do those every once in a while. Well, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about that's the pattern of your life. That's how you live your life. They characterize your life.

Look at what he says in one Peter again, this list number one, he says, having pursued a course of sensuality, you've had plenty of time to live an unbridled indulgence doing whatever you want, whenever you want with whoever you want. You've had plenty of time to fulfill your lusts. Again, a reference to the sinful desires of our hearts, whether they be the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. I think Peter was primarily referring to sexual sin here. The third sin on the list is drunkenness. You've had plenty of time to pursue drinking too much, getting drunk, becoming intoxicated, being under the influence or control of alcohol. Number five, four is carousing, which is a word to describe wild partying, often involving orgies, drinking parties, binge drinking, bar hopping, playing games like beer pong and you name it. That's what unbelievers do at all their parties. They'd play all these drinking games, and that's what he's saying, you've had plenty of time to do that.

You need to be done with that stuff. And then he ends with kind of a catchall phrase here he says, an abominable idolatries, which covers a litany of other sins that are abominable in God's eyes. They're revolting to God, they're disgusting to God, mainly because they're an attempt to satisfy ourselves apart from God. And that's what an idol is. It's a substitute for God. It's any one or anything in which we seek pleasure or comfort or refuge in besides God. And it's appalling to God and it should be appalling to us when we consider that. And that was what the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter two. It is appalling to think that you are standing in front of the fountain of living water and you said Nah. And then you go over and you make these little pots with cracks in them that can't even hold water. They're leaky and you're trying to satisfy yourself unsuccessfully because you fill up these pots and you try to satisfy. But guess what? You got to fill up that pot again because it leaks. It's ultimately not satisfying. And so you basically dishonor and disrespect the fountain of living water. You have everything you need in God, and yet you go to other places to meet your needs.

If you're familiar with ancient pagan worship, this list of sins would be the bulletin of the Sunday morning worship service. What I mean by that is going to the pagan temples. This was all part of what it looked like in those days to worship these wicked vices were part of the worship ceremony in pagan religions. I mean, you would go to the temple and get drunk and have sex. That was how you worshiped your God. And these recipients again of this letter had been saved out of this pagan worship. And he says, for the time already passed is sufficient for you've carried out the desire of the Gentiles. You've had plenty of time to do this.

I appreciate how Chuck Wenda applied this. He said, what is so liberating about a relationship with Christ is that he fills the void in our life, which we once tried to fill with all that garbage, with the void filled, the gnawing emptiness that went with it is gone too. And with the emptiness gone, we no longer crave the things we used to crave. Amen. So we must resolve to be done with sin and not be like the dog that returns to the vomit or like a pig returning to wallow in the mud. Peter was the one who said that. By the way, look over in second Peter chapter two, just a couple pages to the right. Second Peter, chapter two, verse 22.

I'm sure you've heard that phrase before, but if you're wondering where it came from, here it is. Second Peter chapter two, verse 22. It has happened to them talking about the false teachers who reject the gospel and reject Christ. It has happened to them according to the true proverb. And he quotes here from Proverbs 26 11, A dog returns to his own vomit and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire. I mean, if you have a dog, you've seen this and it's disgusting. You're like, ah. I mean, it's like how could you do that? That's disgusting. And if our dog could interact with us on the same level, he would probably think the same thing when he sees us going back to some sin that we said we were never going to do again.

Then we prayed and asked the Lord to forgive us and said, Lord, help me never do that again. And then 30 minutes later, three days later, three months later, you're back doing the same thing. You're like a dog returning to your vomit. You're like a pig that got pulled out of the muck, all cleaned up and just went right back into the mud again. So if we need to be steel for suffering, we need to resolve to be done with sin. Number three, we need to expect to be misunderstood and maligned. We need to expect to be misunderstood and maligned. Notice verse four, in all of this, they're surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you.

So when we choose to run hard after Christ and no longer pursue a life of sin, it exposes our running buddies, whoever they might be, whether it's your family member, an unsafe family member or an unsafe friend or coworker or classmates who still is running hard after sin, they just still love their sin. Well, guess what? Your relationship immediately got awkward. And your transformation not only made them uncomfortable at times, perhaps it even made them angry. One of my favorite books I've ever read is The Holiness of God by RC Sproul. That's a book you got to read before you go to heaven. Okay? You'll appreciate the holiness of God in heaven better if you read that book, the Holiness of God. But Sproul, and I don't know if you know this, he was a scratch golfer, and so I think he had a particular love for the game of golf, and he included an illustration in that book.

I'll never forget it, reading it, it goes like this. A well-known professional golfer was playing in a tournament with President Gerald Ford, fellow Pro, Jack Nicholas and Billy Graham after the round was over, one of the other pros on the tour asked, Hey, what was it like playing with the president? And Billy Graham, the pro said, we disgust. I don't need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat. With that, he headed for the practice tee. His friend followed and after the golfer had pounded out his fury on a bucket of golf balls, he asked, was Billy A. Little rough on you out there, the pro side and said with embarrassment, no, he didn't even mention religion. Astonishingly Spro writes, Billy Graham had said nothing about God, Jesus or religion. Yet the pro stomped away after the game accusing Billy of trying to ram religion down his throat. What had happened, Sproul asked. The evangelist had so reflected Christ's likeness that he was convicted about his sin and need for Christ in the life of Billy Graham. The lost pro had sensed the presence of our holy God.

That's what people should sense when they're in your presence, that there's something about you that is different, that is set apart, that does make them a bit uncomfortable. And unfortunately, that will sometimes provoke hostility from those who reject the gospel. Because when a person gets saved and no longer goes along with the crowd, but begins to live differently or counter culturally, old acquaintances become adversaries. They become persecutor. Your friends think you're crazy for not going along with them. Your coworkers don't understand why you won't go with them after work to where you used to always go with them after work, and they accuse you of being a religious fanatic or being a stuffy killjoy. And so they laugh at you, they mock you, they poke fun at you, and they say all sorts of slanderous things about you to try to justify their sinful lifestyle so they don't feel so bad.

And I think they're also testing your resolve to see how committed you really are to Christ. And if you'll eventually give into sin, if they keep pressing you, they keep harassing you, they keep belittling you. So we need to expect to be misunderstood and maligned. And then lastly, number four, we need to anticipate the hope of eternal life. We need to anticipate the hope of eternal life, verse five, but they being those who malign you will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Even though we may have to endure being maligned or made fun of by unbelievers during our sojourn here on earth, they will have to give an account for every word indeed at the great right throne judgment. Matthew chapter 12, verse 36, Jesus said, I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for in the day of judgment, for by your words, you'll be justified, and by your words, you'll be condemned.

And we know because scripture says this on multiple occasions throughout the New Testament that the judge that everyone must stand before is Christ himself. God has entrusted the final judgment to his son who rose from the dead and whom he exalted to his right hand and given authority over all things. Paul very vividly and grimly described this final judgment that will take place when Christ returns two Thessalonians chapter one, verse six, again, he's writing to encourage believers here. He says, for after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, those who malign you, those who make fun of you, those who poke fun at you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well. When the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his might, mighty angels inflaming fire, talking about the return of Christ, dealing out retribution to those who do not obey, do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

So even though it seems like those who malign Christ and his followers have the upper hand right now, Christ will have the last word. Notice verse six, for the gospel, has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as meant that they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. Again, we already mentioned this a couple of weeks ago when we looked at chapter three verse 19, when it talks about that when Jesus was made alive in the spirit, he went and made proclamation to the spirits. Now in prison, we made it clear that Peter was not saying that after Jesus, Roche from the dead, he preached to people in hell to give them a second chance at salvation. That's a heretical concept that is absolutely no scriptural support. In fact, it contradicts scripture.

Hebrews 9 27 is appointed for men to die once and after this comes a judgment. In other words, death is final and is followed by only one of two destinies, either heaven or hell. And so if you reject the gospel during your lifetime, there is no hope for salvation. After you die moment you die, you, your doom is sealed forever, and that's why we need to get right with God. Now, while we still have time, look at verse seven, just taking a peek at the next text. The end of all things is near. Jesus could come back at any time, and that's the message that we get to share with unbelievers. That's the goal of evangelism, is to prepare people for that day that they will stand before God and have to give an account for their life, and we want them to know how they can be confident that their sins will be forgiven. They'll live forever with God.

What Peter was saying here when he said for the gospel, has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead. He was saying that those who heard and received the gospel during their lifetime have a totally different future in store for them. Rather than being judged by Christ, they'll experience an internal reward for violently suffering, for the truth, and perhaps for even being martyred, for refusing to deny the truth. He says, though they're judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. Peter May have been referring to believers who had lost their lives for the cause of Christ.

You know that the early church had concerns about loved ones who died before the return of Christ. That's why Paul took so much time and First Thessalonians to instruct them on what happens to those who die before Christ returns. One Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13, we do not want you to be uninformed brethren about those who are asleep so that you'll not grieve as the rest who have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this, we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not proceed. Those who have fallen asleep for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead end Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. I think that's what Peter intended for this last verse, verse six was to comfort and sustain believers who were experiencing suffering and persecution.

His point is this, believers die physically. There's no way around that. We're just like everyone else. We are under the curse of death that sin is brought upon all mankind, but believers do escape God's wrath against sin. Why? Because Christ endured God's wrath for all the sins of all those who would repent and believe so we could have eternal life in heaven, and because we've turned from our sin and our trusting in Christ alone for our salvation, we may be condemned by men here on this earth, but we will be vindicated by God in heaven. We may get killed by earthly judges for our commitment to Christ, but we will be made alive by the heavenly judge, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the way, it pays to know the judge.

Do you know the judge? Do you have a personal relationship with the judge? Do Jesus Christ? One commentator summarized this text with a very simple sentence. He said, true believers must pay a price, but in light of eternity, it is worth the cost. True believers must pay a price, but in light of eternity, it is worth the cost. I was thinking about Moses and how he exemplified all four of these ways to steal ourselves for suffering. Just listen to the short description of his life. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24, by faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward.

Father, thank you for the example of Moses. Thank you for the example of Jesus. I pray you'd help us, grant us grace to follow their example, to arm ourselves with the same purpose, the same mindset, the same perspective, the same attitude, knowing that whatever we bear for you here on this earth is nothing compared to what we will share with you in heaven. Help us to put away sin, to mortify it, to not be the dog that goes back to its vomit, that we would turn our back on our old way of life, keep it in our rear view mirror, and press on towards what lies ahead, striving to live for you, to glorify you and accomplish your will. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.