1 Peter 4, verse 1, the Bible says this,
And we're going to get into that because sometimes you're like,
Peter, what in the world are you talking about?
He says in verse 4,
Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excessive riots speaking evil of you.
Who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead?
For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead,
that they might be judged according to the men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the Spirit.
And verse 7 is not really part of our text, but it kind of ties in.
He says this in verse 7,
But the end of all things is at hand. Be there sober and watch unto prayer.
So Peter is just reminding them, hey, we're moving towards the end.
Sometimes in life, and maybe you've been there,
there's been weeks and there's been days, there's been hours where it feels like this is never going to end.
Anybody else ever been there?
It's like when you were in school.
You remember maybe you did this little trick?
I'm not going to look at the clock for the next 20 minutes.
Because you're trying to make it to the end of school,
and you feel like you're looking down for an hour,
and you look up, it's been three minutes.
Sometimes that's how life feels.
But Peter's reminding us over and over,
life's heart is difficult,
but we are moving towards a time we're going to see Jesus.
And all the things we're living for,
while we may be ridiculed for it now,
that's kind of what he's saying,
it's going to be worth it all when we see Jesus Christ.
So I want to preach a message entitled this tonight to help us.
Life without Jesus is a wasted life.
So let's go to him in prayer and ask him to help us this evening.
Father, thank you so much for the wonderful time to be in your house again,
and just the absolute privilege it is to open your word.
Lord, I'm so thankful that you use men like Peter,
and we see even the transformation in his life from a fisherman to just an apostle,
and how even his writings from so long ago still speak to us today.
And we're thankful the word of God still speaks,
that it's alive.
It's not an old antique book.
No, it's a timeless book that we can apply.
Lord, I pray you would help us tonight as we look at some difficult verses again,
but some very helpful verses.
I pray you'd give me clarity and just the ability to explain,
and I pray you would allow the Holy Spirit just to speak to our hearts,
that we would respond, and we ask all these things in Christ's name.
Amen.
Thank you so much for standing.
May be seated.
Speaking of time moving fast, there's moments in life,
you know, when you're younger, you feel like it's never going to get here.
I remember praying all the time,
and we'd hear a message about the Lord coming back,
and I'm a teenager, and I'd be like,
man, I really want the Lord to come back,
and then I'd pray real quietly after I get my driver's license.
You know, there's just things you want to do when you're younger.
You're like, if I can just get a driver's license, that would be really cool,
and then the Lord can come back.
But then there's moments as you get a little bit older,
you realize, man, life is moving super fast.
That as a teenager, it may have felt like it's 10 years until I get that,
but it's going to get here.
And I'm kind of there right now as I get a little bit older,
and now I have one almost about to drive,
and all of these things coming down there,
and I kind of look back and think, how did we get here?
How did it get here so fast?
And the older you get, the more you realize that you cannot get back yesterday.
You can't relive it.
You cannot rewrite it.
And you really cannot recover the time that has already passed.
But really the idea and the thought that Peter wants to bring to the forefront of our minds this evening
is why we may not be able to get some of the past back.
And there's things in the past that we wish we would have never done,
maybe decisions we wish we would have never made,
and we'd love to go back and kind of rewrite those chapters of our life.
And he says, listen, that's gone.
But what you can do is you can decide what you're going to do with the rest of the time that you have
and how you're going to live your life from this point forward.
And that's really the question is, what am I going to do with the rest of my life?
Because maybe even this week didn't go well,
but the wonderful thing is we're here tonight and we have another day,
and Lord willing we'll have another day tomorrow to serve him.
And just to give us a little bit of recap,
Peter has just shown us from last week the victory of Jesus Christ.
Because he's writing to these believers that are struggling and life is beating them down
and persecution is a real thing and suffering is something they're facing maybe every single day.
But he says, listen, suffering doesn't have the last word.
Jesus Christ suffered, but he suffered for our sins, but he's not in the grave anymore.
But he bore those sins on the cross and they buried him there.
But the third day he rose and he didn't just stand outside of the grave.
No, he ascended and he's at the right hand of the Father to this day.
And he reigns over all.
And he's writing that truth to the believers to say, listen, just be reminded what Christ has done.
But what he wants to do and what he takes him here in chapter 4 is he's saying,
don't just focus on what Christ has done for you.
That's wonderful, but it also should change how you live your life today.
Really the big idea of our text this evening is because you belong to Jesus,
if you know him as your savior, the rest of your life should be lived for the will of God.
That's really what he's wanting us to see.
So the question is, if you're taking notes, here's what we're going to answer.
How should following Jesus change the way that I spend the rest of my life?
How should following Jesus change the way I spend the rest of my life?
And see, the first thing I think Peter wants us to see in verse number 1 is this.
He begins with our attitude towards sin.
Because we belong to Jesus, we are finished living for sin.
It is no longer our master.
Verse number 1,
I think we've seen this in Peter's little epistle here,
is he keeps coming back to one thing over and over and over again, Jesus Christ.
He's wanting us to get our eyes off of life and the world and the difficulties,
not to pretend like they're not there.
He's not saying, hey, be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand.
But he's saying, listen, these are reality.
But the way you're going to make it through is to focus on Christ and to remember what he's done.
And we looked at that last week in verse number 18 of chapter 3,
where he says,
For Christ hath also once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
And so he's there and he's reminding us the same way just a few verses later.
That Jesus didn't accidentally stumble into suffering.
That the cross was not something that caught him by surprise.
That he willingly embraced it.
He did it in obedience to his Father.
He did it, the Bible tells us in Hebrews,
for the joy that was set before him.
Part of that joy is this, us.
Living with him in perfect fellowship,
the way that it was designed,
the way that it was in the garden before sin entered in the world.
And Peter is kind of bringing them to this realization once again.
I want you to arm yourself with that same mind.
With that same attitude.
When we look at suffering,
we can look at it differently because Jesus is victorious.
Because he's already conquered the greatest thing that we're going to face when it comes to death.
And that phrase, arm yourselves,
I think probably maybe when you read it as well,
it's a strong statement.
And it has the idea of preparing yourself for battle.
We're not to just kind of walk through life thinking,
well, whatever happens, happens.
Sometimes we live that way.
And I'm sure if you've lived that way and maybe decided,
you know, I'll just decide when it happens.
Generally doesn't go too well.
You know, winging it is not really what God has called us to do.
I mean, a soldier doesn't wait until the enemy prepares and says,
oh, there's the enemy.
Let me get dressed and get my gun out.
That's not how it happens.
No, when you sign up in the military,
they send you to boot camp and they do all this.
And they train you way before you ever see a battle.
So when the battle comes, you're prepared for it.
The soldier is ready to fight.
What Peter is saying here in this opening verse of chapter 4
is that Christians need to have the same type of settled determination in their life.
That we know it's coming.
We know the battle is here.
We know it's going to be difficult,
but we shouldn't be caught off guard by it.
And the thing that kind of stuck out to me
when I was looking at this verse initially
is Peter doesn't address their circumstances.
If you've kind of noticed here in this book,
he's writing it because of their circumstances,
but he's never really addressing the circumstance.
He's not saying,
hey, hone in on all the problems in your life.
No, he's saying this,
hone in on Jesus.
But one way that we do that
is instead of worrying about circumstances,
we worry about our mind.
He begins there.
See, following Jesus is going to require a mind
that's already decided before the battle comes,
I would rather suffer for obeying Christ
than return to a life where it just was easy
and maybe full of sin.
Because the reality is,
is sometimes we're going to look at our life
and we're going to try really hard
and we're going to try to do what the Bible says
and we're going to come to church
and we think to ourselves,
Lord, I'm doing all these things
and life is still really hard.
And I got that coworker
or I got that family member
and I got that friend
that cares nothing about God.
They're living like the devil
and it just seems like life's good.
And sometimes we're going to get in our mind
and in our life thinking,
you know what,
if I'm going to do all this
and nothing's going to happen,
I might as well just go do whatever I want to do.
And Peter says,
you got to prepare way before that time comes
because that's exactly how the devil works.
He said,
well, if the Lord really loved you,
why would he let that happen?
If the Lord really loved you,
why would he lay you off?
If the Lord really loved you,
then why would that health scare come up
and all these things?
You might as well just have fun
because your time's real short.
And Peter says,
no, no, no, no, no.
I want to remind you
that you're living for much more
than just today and tomorrow
and a fun time next week.
See,
long before obedience
shows up in our actions,
it has to be a settled conviction
in our heart
and in our mind.
That's why Paul tells us
in the book of Romans
that we're not to be conformed
to this world.
How do we avoid that?
By the transforming of our mind.
By the renewing of our mind.
Brother Colin preached
a really great message about that
about a month ago
and just winning the battle within.
It doesn't start with
all these other things.
It starts with settled
on the truth of the word of God.
Because there's just things in life
that you have to decide
before the pressure comes.
You can't say,
well, when the temptation comes,
I'll be ready.
Well, if you're not preparing for it,
you're not going to be ready for it.
Because it's going to look nice.
It's going to look fun.
I mean, the Bible says
that sin is pleasurable
for a season.
I mean, our flesh
is bent towards that.
And if we're not prepared
for the temptation,
we're probably going to
succumb to it.
And if we wait
until obedience becomes costly
to decide whether
following Christ is worth it,
we're not ready for that.
Because it's not going to feel
like it's worth
what we're being asked.
And so Peter tells us here
at the end of verse number one,
he gives us a little phrase
that can kind of be
weird at first,
kind of like we looked at last week
when he said,
baptism saves you,
which it doesn't.
We parse that out a little bit.
But he says this,
for he that hath suffered
in the flesh
hath ceased from sin.
I wish that when you got saved,
when you trusted Christ
as your Savior,
you didn't deal with sin anymore.
And maybe,
I don't know where you were
when you came to Christ,
but maybe you weren't
super, super knowledgeable
in the Word of God,
but you knew this,
that you were a sinner
and Jesus died for you.
You said,
I want that
and you trusted Him.
And then you went out
the next day
and you realized,
I still sin.
And it kind of shocked you.
You're like,
did I do something wrong?
Did I mess up?
He's not saying here,
he certainly does not mean
that once a Christian
can reach a place
of sinless perfection.
There are people
that believe that.
People that believe,
and I'm not really sure
where they get it
in the Word of God,
but you just start
being really good
and you just get to a place
where you don't sin anymore.
That is not what Peter is saying.
But he isn't saying
that once you suffer for Jesus,
then as long as you put in the time,
then everything's going to be good.
That's not the idea.
The rest of Scripture,
and I would imagine
your own experience,
makes that really,
really evident in your life.
But see,
here's what Peter is describing.
He's describing a divisive break
with the rule of sin in your life.
Here's the thought.
Before you knew Christ as your Savior,
you just lived life
however you wanted to live it.
If you wanted to do that,
you did that.
If it felt good,
sure, let's try that.
Everybody else doing it,
no big deal.
There was nothing kind of restraining,
but when a person comes to Christ,
when they know Him as their Savior,
and they realize those things
that didn't seem like a big deal back then
are actually the very things
that put Jesus Christ
on the cross of Calvary,
it's going to change
kind of how you live your life.
It's going to change
what you really are involved in,
and the person who is willing to suffer
rather than return to the old life
is demonstrating this,
that sin is no longer the master.
It doesn't mean we're not going to deal with it.
It doesn't mean that we're not going to have
these random things.
I'm sure you do,
and I'm thinking,
Lord, where did that come from?
You know, I'm trying to serve the Lord,
and you know,
have you ever been praying,
and maybe I'm the only one,
been praying,
and something out of left field
that has no business being in your mind,
that has no business being in your life,
in the middle of your prayer,
shows up.
Listen, we're going to deal with sin,
unfortunately,
until we see Jesus Christ face to face,
and I'm looking forward to that day.
I'm looking forward to that day
when Satan is there,
and he throws him in the lake of fire,
and sin is no longer,
but we're not there yet,
but what Peter is saying here
at the end of this verse
is because of what Christ has done,
and if he's changed your life,
and if you're trusting his finished work
on the cross of Calvary,
there should be a change of allegiance
in your life,
that sin is not the master anymore,
that Jesus is the master.
See, before Christ,
sin ruled your life.
Your desires ruled what you want to do.
We just lived according to what we wanted to do,
but Jesus changed that.
Jesus changed our desires.
Yes, we're going to still battle sin.
Yes, you're going to face temptation this week.
Yes, you're still going to stumble,
but sin no longer has the right
to rule over our life.
Praise the Lord for that.
I mean, read Romans 6.
That's exactly what Paul is saying.
And really, while Peter says it in different ways
that we may not use the same verbiage today,
he's just simply reminding us,
following Jesus doesn't mean
I never struggle with sin,
but it means that I can no longer
be at peace with sin in my life.
You shouldn't be able to get to a place
where you can just sin,
and it doesn't even bother you.
It should bother you.
Sometimes, I mean, we should be able to,
we should run to Christ
because we realize that sin
is what put him on the cross.
And see, there's a difference.
A believer can struggle with sin,
and a believer, we may have to confess
the same weakness over and over and over again.
I get frustrated in my own life.
It's almost like,
Lord, it's me again.
I'm so sorry about that.
Lord, would you forgive me?
But the idea is,
is there ought to be something inside of us
that just every time that comes,
thinking, I don't want to live there anymore.
And here's what Peter says,
you don't have to.
That's not your address anymore.
Why?
Because you belong to Christ.
See, the wasted life of being enslaved to sin,
it has been broken.
Those chains no longer have a hold on us,
and Christ died to bring us to God,
and he rose victorious,
and now we belong to him.
That's what he told us in chapter three,
and he's saying,
because of that,
hey, you're a new person.
Paul said,
all things are passed away,
and behold,
all things become new.
And so here's what Peter's saying in this verse.
First, arm yourself with that.
Make sure that's settled in your mind,
that you understand
that you don't have to live this way anymore.
It doesn't mean the battle's over,
but here's what it does mean.
You know what side you're on.
I'm thankful that I'm on the winning side.
I'm thankful for the day
that when we see Christ in the air,
we shall be like him,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I know I'm on the winning side.
And here's what Peter's saying.
You don't have to wait
to be on the winning side
until heaven.
I think sometimes Christianity,
we think,
oh, well,
when we get to heaven one day,
it'll be all good.
No, it's gonna be perfect there,
but we can live like
we're citizens of heaven right now.
Read the end of Philippians chapter three.
Paul says,
our citizenship,
he's talking about
how our life is,
is in heaven.
So we're already there with Christ.
Why don't we just live like it right now?
And that's kind of the same idea
that we find here.
So here in verses two and three,
Peter's about to take it
one step further.
Because if we're finished
living for sin,
if sin no longer has control
of our life,
what am I gonna live for now?
We see this number two.
Because we belong to Jesus,
we live the rest of our time
for God.
We live the rest of our time
for God.
Verse number two,
that he no longer should live
the rest of his time
in the flesh,
to the lust of men,
but to the will of God.
I love how Peter
kind of words that
the rest of his time.
And it really stops,
it should stop us in our track
and remind us something
we're kind of prone to forget.
That our time here
is limited.
Because sometimes we do think
it's never gonna end.
I mean,
it just seems like,
I mean,
the bills keep coming
and these keep coming
and all these things coming
and it's just,
you know,
we just kind of can get,
even as Christians,
no one in heaven's our home,
but we're just kind of living
like this is always gonna be.
And Peter just says,
hey,
I just wanna remind you,
you don't have much time.
The older you get,
you realize that
it's just coming faster
and faster and faster.
And while our time is limited,
he's saying,
we need to make what time
we have left matter.
Our life now,
as opposed to living for self
and living for sin,
here's what we live for now,
eternity.
That God has placed people
in your life.
That he's given you
a sphere of influence.
He's given you that work.
He's given you that family.
He's given you people
that you love,
that you have relationships with.
And it's not just
to hang out all the time.
I'm thankful we can
just spend time together.
I'm looking forward
to happy sips and dip.
I just wanna eat ice cream
with my friends.
Come on.
But that's not all
that life's about.
I'm thankful we can
gather together
and open the word of God
and we can realize,
hey,
we're living for something
much greater than ourself.
We're living for something
much greater than
Central Baptist Church,
just this building.
No,
we're ambassadors for Christ.
Christ.
And our life should
point others to him.
And what Peter does here
in verses two and three
is he kinda draws
a very clear line
between how we used
to live before we knew
Christ
and the way we're called
to live now.
He says that we're no longer,
we don't have,
no longer do we have to live
to the lust of men
but to the will of God.
He's saying,
I just wanna remind you,
priorities have changed
in your life.
I mean,
think about before
you knew Christ.
Think about before
you knew that heaven
was your home
and it changed
the way you lived.
Here's the question
that you usually
just ask yourself,
what do I wanna do?
And we're not talking
about just awful sinful things
but that's just
the question you ask.
If you wanna do it,
that's what you're gonna do.
But the closer
we get to Christ
and the more that his word
is working in our life,
the question quickly becomes,
God,
what do you want me
to do here?
God,
how would you have me
handle this situation?
Lord,
you know this is really
bothering me
and I don't know
how to handle this.
Lord,
I need wisdom
and it begins
to push us
that direction.
And really,
that's one of the
fundamental changes
that salvation
brings to our life.
Before salvation,
it was,
I'm gonna live
for whatever
I wanna live for
and now he says,
here's what you live for,
the will of God.
That is what God
has placed in your life.
Peter doesn't say
anything about
recovering the wasted time.
We can't do that.
We wish that we could.
And listen,
there may be years
behind you
that you wish
you could have back.
You thought,
man,
if I could go back
to this moment in time
and not make that decision,
my life would be
totally different.
But I just wanna encourage you,
you're here tonight
and God is working
in your life
and there might be,
we've all made bad decisions
and sometimes we had
to pay the consequences
but I'm so thankful
that all things
work together for good
to them that love God,
to those who are called
according to your purpose
and God takes our
awful decisions
and terrible mistakes
and can use them
for the glory of God.
I'm thankful for that.
I mean,
there's gonna be decisions
no doubt that I would
make differently.
There's opportunities
that I completely missed
that I'd love to have back.
There's people that I
should've talked to
when I was in school
and shared the gospel with
that I'll never see them again.
I mean,
the time maybe
that we spent pursuing things
that now we look at our life
and they weren't bad things
but they really don't matter
in the grand scheme
of eternity.
But Peter doesn't tell us,
hey,
you know what,
you just need to kind of
look backwards
and think on those things.
No,
he says,
stop looking back
and why don't you live
for the rest of the time?
Why don't you make
a decision right now?
Here's a line in the sand,
let's live for the Lord
right now.
Look at verse number three,
he says,
for the time past
of our life
may suffice
us to rot
the will
of the Gentiles.
Here's kind of
what he's saying.
Peter,
what does that mean?
I'll tell you what it means,
enough.
That's what it means.
He said,
you lived that life before,
sin was your master,
you kind of live
for your selfish desires,
enough.
There's no reason
to live that way anymore.
That's not how
God wants you to live.
We've given sin
enough of our lives already,
we've spent enough
of our lives
living for ourselves,
we've wasted enough time
chasing things
that cannot satisfy.
The only thing
that's ever going to
satisfy your life
is Jesus Christ.
And that's what Peter's
bringing to the forefront.
And I don't think
we really need to say
much more than what
Peter is saying here,
but the idea is
he's saying
there comes a point
in our lives
where we have to look
at the old life
and when it tries
to creep back up
just say,
enough,
I'm done with that.
I don't have to live
there anymore.
Not because sin
hasn't stopped
becoming appealing,
I wish it did.
I wish it was like
vegetables
and it's just like,
ugh,
I don't want that at all.
You know,
there's certain things
you could put on a plate
and it wouldn't
entice you at all.
But that's not
how sin operates.
But the closer
we get to Christ,
it starts feeling that way.
Those things that just,
I mean,
it was just,
it was a habit,
it was second nature.
Now it comes up
and we're thinking,
ugh,
that's growth.
That's moving
towards Christ.
And it's not
that temptation disappears.
I mean,
it shows up,
it shows up
in random places
all the time.
But we're not drawn
to it anymore.
Why?
Because Jesus is worthy
of whatever time
I have left.
And the things
that he describes
here in verse number three,
he characterizes
what the old life
looks like.
We walked in
lasciviousness,
lust,
excess of wine,
revelings,
banquetings,
abominable idolatries.
We're going to take time
to go into these,
but here's basically
what he's saying.
These sins,
they describe a life
that is controlled
by just a sinful appetite.
Paul says
that the world
is given into
the lust of their belly.
They just want
and want
whatever they feel like.
These things
are saying,
hey,
before you knew Christ,
your life was governed
by the flesh.
And just like
here in this room
tonight,
some of Peter's
first readers
would have said,
you know what,
that's what my life
used to be.
But praise the Lord,
he saved me from that.
Praise the Lord,
he changed my life.
And he's reminding
there's no reason
to go back.
That's what he's saying
here in verse number three.
His point is
they got to stop thinking,
you know what,
what could have been?
Well,
if I wouldn't have done that,
then maybe my life
would be better today.
And if I wouldn't have
done that back then,
then maybe I wouldn't
have this issue.
He's saying,
listen,
you can't change that,
but you can make sure
you don't go back there.
You can make sure
that when sin rears
its ugly head
that you're not
trying to run back
to it.
He's just saying
that there's nothing
back there.
There's nothing
that Jesus Christ
saved you from
that's worth
trading your life again.
It's not.
It's a horrible deal.
And that's a great reminder
to us,
I think,
today.
because the enemy
has a great way
of making the old life
look much better
from a distance
than it ever did
when you were actually
living in it.
And we,
I'm sure you deal with it
and you see something,
you see an advertisement,
you see something
and it kind of triggers
something in your mind
and you're thinking,
man,
you know,
that wasn't that bad.
But Peter's saying,
no,
it was worse
than you realize it
because you know
what it did?
It brought death
in your life.
It brought guilt.
It brought shame.
It brought all of these things
and kind of the thought,
I loved how one commentator
said it.
He says,
don't romanticize
what Jesus rescued from.
Man,
I love that.
Because the world
has a really good way
of making everything
looking appealing.
The Bible says
that the devil
can even come
as an angel of light
and everything looks great
and everything looks like,
hey,
it's all that's cracked up to be.
It's not.
Sin always promises you
more than it gives
and it takes much more
than you ever intended to lose.
And Peter's just telling us
here in verse 3,
don't go back.
It's not worth it.
And so Peter says,
leave the past
where it belongs
and give God
the time
that you have left.
It doesn't matter
if you wasted
your teen years
or your 20s
or your 30s.
You're here.
Go forward for Christ
and that's what Peter's saying.
But when you stop
living the way
that you used to live,
when you stop living
the way the world
wants you to live
and expects you to live,
Peter wants us
to understand this.
Don't expect everybody
to understand that.
And here's what he reminds us
in verse number 4,
that because we belong to Christ,
we don't need
the world's approval.
We don't need
their approval.
Look what he says
in verse 4.
Wherein they think
it's strange
that you run not with them
to the same excess of riot,
speaking evil of you.
Peter was saying,
listen,
you're probably dealing
with some of this right now.
He said,
because the way you live,
there's going to be people
that are surprised.
You know why?
Because they used to know you.
You ran in the same circles.
You went to the same places.
You were involved
in the same lifestyle.
And because you're a Christian now,
you're not running
with them anymore
and they're thinking,
hey, what happened to you, man?
Why are you so much different?
And Peter in verse number 4,
he's not describing
that every time
somebody becomes a Christian,
you just stand on a street corner
and condemn everybody else
for how you're living.
That's not the idea
that we find
in verse number 4.
Really, the idea is this.
A changed life,
it just creates
the contrast
by itself.
That when Jesus changes you
and you don't run
with the crowd,
when you don't participate,
people are going to notice.
Because they're going to realize
that every time
they call you,
you say, no,
I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to go there.
And sometimes,
the people that knew
the old version of you
are going to have
a very hard time
understanding
the new version of you.
Because they don't understand
that you were dead,
but now you're alive.
That you were on your way
to hell
and now you're on your way
to heaven.
They're not going to understand that
and they'll say things like,
what happened to you?
Why don't you come anymore?
Why don't you come,
after work,
why don't you come
to the restaurant with us?
Why don't you come
the bar with us?
Why don't you just
loosen up a little bit, man?
You used to do
all this stuff with us.
Are you better than us now?
That's exactly
what Peter is saying.
Because not only
are they going to be surprised,
but they're surprised
once they realize
you're not going to do
those things anymore.
It turns to
something much stronger.
The Bible says this,
that they begin
speaking evil of you.
They begin to
criticize
and to slander.
Because a changed life
many times
is going to make
people uncomfortable
because it confronts them
without ever saying a word.
I read a story
from R.C. Sproul.
He's a commentator
and he was telling
a story about
Billy Graham.
And Billy Graham
got invited to play golf
with President Ford
and a couple
professional golfers.
And so he goes out there
and they play
this round of golf
and after the round
one of the professional
golfers stormed away.
And he went into
the locker room
and he was complaining
that Billy Graham,
he doesn't need him
and he's just
stuffing religion
down his throat
the whole time.
And another golfer
that was there
on the property
walked in and said,
hey, what did
Pastor Graham say?
Was he preaching
to you the whole time?
And the embarrassed
golfer kind of said,
you know what,
he didn't talk
one thing about religion.
He was just there.
He didn't preach to him,
he didn't confront him.
But the idea was this,
and this is what
R.C. Sproul said,
that his presence
was enough
to make the man
uncomfortable.
That Billy Graham
was so associated
with the Bible
and with God
and the gospel,
just him being there
on the tee box
with him
made this man
feel uncomfortable.
And that's kind of
what the thought
that Peter is saying
right here.
He said,
you don't have to
preach to him.
You don't have to,
every time you see him,
like, hey,
let me read a Bible verse
to you.
No, you just live
faithfully for Christ.
People are going to notice.
And they may not like it.
But we're not living
for their approval,
and that's what happens
even still today.
We talked about it
this morning.
God doesn't call us
to be self-righteous.
We're not trying
to be some holy roller
that's holier-than-thou
kind of person.
No, we just need
to be consistently
living for Christ.
And when we live
faithfully for him,
the contrast
is going to speak
for itself.
That's what Peter says.
And when it does,
they're going to speak
evil of you.
And that hurts.
That hurts a lot.
I'm sure you've dealt
with it.
I remember when the Lord
really got a hold
of my life
and youth camp
between my junior
and senior year
and I made some decisions.
You know what?
Some guys that I used
to run with
and play basketball with,
I mean,
it was so much,
the Lord got a hold
of my life
and I just quit basketball.
And I love basketball.
But I just knew
that it was not
where God wanted me to be.
And you know what?
They weren't real happy
about it.
And every time they saw me,
they'd make fun of me.
And they'd do that
and they'd call me
the preacher.
And I used to think
that was like an insult.
Now I'm like,
I like that.
I like when people
call me the preacher
because that's what I am.
But it was one
of those things.
They meant it
to be mean
and it was people
that I was very,
very close with.
And it hurt.
I mean,
even thinking of it today,
it still kind of hurts.
I wish they would have understood
and I tried to explain to them.
I tried to invite them
to our Wednesday night programs
that we had at our church
and our youth group
and different things like that.
But the thing is,
is we have to understand
that their approval
cannot determine
how we live our life.
Because I made a decision
at camp that year,
I'm going to obey God
and here's what God
wants me to do.
He wants me to live for Him
and it might cost me
some friendships.
But if we need
the world's applause,
eventually we're
going to have to compromise
to get it.
And Peter is saying,
you don't need that anymore.
That's not the life
that God has called you to live.
Following Jesus
means that you would rather
have God's approval
than the world's acceptance.
You can't have both.
Peter is saying,
which one do you want?
Which one really makes
a difference in your life?
Because sometimes
the people that applaud you
the very next day,
they're going to say,
crucify Him.
We already saw that.
Jesus is our example.
As we come to verse 5 and 6,
our closing verses here,
Peter tells us why
we can and should live
the way that he calls us to,
that we should live for Christ.
See, the people that speak
evil of you,
the people that ridicule you
and criticize you
for following Christ,
here's what they don't get,
the last word.
You know who gets
the last word?
God.
Everybody's going to stand
before Him.
They're not going to be able
to plead their case.
No, He has the last word.
God.
And He's the final judge
and that changes everything.
And because we belong to Christ,
lastly,
we live in the light
of the final judgment.
Peter's brought this up
over and over again,
but look at verse 5.
We'll read verse 5 and 6 again.
Who shall give an account
to him that is ready
to judge the quick and the dead?
For, for this cause
was the gospel preached
also to them that are dead,
that they might be judged
according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God
in the Spirit.
So really, Peter's kind of
shifting our attention
from what people are saying
about us
to what ultimately
God will say about everyone.
That the world may look at us
as Christians
and those that follow Christ
and those that refuse
to run with the world anymore
and they'll think this,
man, what a waste.
They are wasting their life.
I mean, they bought into
this fairy tale.
I mean, this is a crutch
for the weak-minded.
I mean, we used to have
so much fun
and now look at them.
I mean, they're going to church
on a Sunday night.
What a weirdo.
You may have heard that.
But Peter reminds us,
not only they will,
but you will.
We're all going to stand
before God
and that everybody's
going to have an account.
And God's ready.
He's not going to throw God off.
No, everything in this world
is working on his timetable.
And the Bible says
he is ready to judge
the quick and the dead.
I mean, the idea is this.
Nobody escapes it.
It's all-encompassing.
The living will give an account.
The dead will give an account.
Those who follow Christ
will stand before him.
Those who reject Christ,
at some point,
we are all going to stand
before the Lord.
In the book of Revelation,
there's different judgments.
There's one where Christians stand
and give an account
for how we lived.
But there's also
the great white throne judgment
where everybody's going to stand
before the Lord
and give an account
and realize it.
And really,
the idea in verse number five
is this life
is not all there is.
We're not living
for the here and now.
Because the ones that run
and do all these things
and maybe the things
we used to do,
here's the mindset.
Eat, drink, and be merry
for tomorrow we die.
We've already seen that
in Luke's gospel.
And here's what God says,
thou fool.
There's much more to life
than just the 75, 80, 90 years
that we might have.
See, the world can look at us
and think,
I can't believe
they would do that.
But Peter says,
why don't we just wait
until eternity
before you decide
whose life was wasted?
Because at times,
it does.
Even as Christians,
even knowing it,
we look around
and we think,
am I doing the right thing?
I mean,
read the book of Psalms.
I mean,
if you've had those thoughts,
it's okay.
Because the psalmist says,
I look around
and how long
is the heathen going to rage?
How long are they going
to have everything they want?
I'm over here
trying to serve the Lord
and David's living in a cave.
He's supposed to be
the king of Israel
and he's on the run
for his life.
How long are the wicked
going to prosper, Lord?
And we begin to look
at the same thing.
Peter's saying,
I know it feels like that sometimes,
but just settle in your mind.
Arm yourselves
with the truth
that God is coming again
and that we are going
to stand before him.
And because a life
lived for pleasure
and acceptance
and possessions
and self,
it might look
super successful right now.
It might look like
they got the whole world
at their hands,
but if it's lived
without Christ,
what happens
to that person
when he stands
before God?
Jesus said it like this,
what shall it profit
a man
if he gains
the whole world
and loses
his own soul?
I mean,
it's not he
with the most toys
wins when they die.
No, it's who knows
Jesus Christ.
And then we come
to verse number six
and Peter just,
I guess he just likes,
he's going to throw
these verses in
for the rest of this book.
We look at it
and we're like,
what is he talking about?
For this cause
was the gospel
also preached
to them that are dead
that they might be judged
according to men
in the flesh
but live according
to God in the spirit.
We kind of mentioned
a little bit of this,
he dealt with a little bit
last week.
Peter is not teaching
that people receive
another opportunity
to hear the gospel
and to repent
after they die.
We already saw that
with the rich man
and Lazarus.
That Jesus was there
but there was
a great goal fixed.
The time has passed.
But what he is saying
is the gospel,
it was preached.
It was preached
to these people
while they were alive
and they heard the gospel
and particularly
in this one,
they believed the gospel
and since then
they've died.
And that raised
a very real question
for these suffering believers.
You have to remember
the New Testament,
the Bible has not
been completed
at this point.
They don't have
all these books
in the New Testament
to cross reference
and they're hearing
all of these things.
Well, if you die
before Jesus comes back
then you're going
to miss them.
That's why Paul
had to write
in 1 Thessalonians
that he didn't want
us to be ignorant
of those that were asleep.
Those that are asleep
they're not going to miss
when Jesus comes back.
And here's what he's saying
essentially in verse number 6.
If they believed the gospel
and they still died,
the thought of the day was
what did the gospel accomplish?
If they lived their whole life
and they didn't live
in sin and wickedness
and they still died
then what's the point of it?
What's going to happen?
And Peter's just saying this
in verse number 6.
Death didn't win.
Because when we see death
even today,
even knowing it sometimes,
we look and think
death won.
Well, death thought it won
until somebody walked out
of a grave after three days.
And death lost.
That's why in the book
of Revelation he says
I have the keys to death,
hell, and the grave.
That our greatest enemy
is no longer an enemy.
It's under the subjection
of Jesus Christ.
And because of his victory,
if we know him
and we're in Christ,
we have that victory
in our life.
And he's saying,
listen, I know you have
loved ones that have
gone on before
and it seems like,
man, they just wasted
their life.
They didn't.
They're going to stand
before the Lord one day
and they're going to be
rewarded for that.
And there's a crown of life
for those that are
looking for that.
And they may have been
judged according to men
in the flesh.
But here's what they are.
They're alive to God
in the spirit.
The world looked at them
and looked at their suffering
and even in their death
and they concluded,
see, I told you,
Jesus wasn't worth it.
I mean, that poor person,
they didn't do anything.
They didn't have any fun
in life and now they're dead.
What a waste of a life.
But God says right here,
no, that's a life well lived.
God says otherwise.
And this would have been
deeply encouraging
to Peter's readers.
many of them
would have been suffering.
Probably many or more
would suffer even more.
The Roman government
is only increasing
its persecution
on the Christians
at this time.
And some that might have
read this letter
in the early church
might have died
just because they belong
to Jesus.
And he says,
listen, I just want
to remind you,
if that happens,
it's still worth it.
Your life's not wasted.
The death doesn't get
the last word.
The world doesn't get
the last word.
Your critics don't get
the last word.
God gets the last word.
That's what he's saying
here in verse number six.
And for the person
who belongs to Jesus Christ,
that means we have
nothing to fear.
We don't have to fear death.
That's why Jesus says,
don't fear them
that can kill the body.
Fear him that can
kill the soul.
Fear him that has
the last word.
That's what Jesus
is talking about.
But because Jesus suffered
and he's risen
and he's conquered
and we belong to him,
our story doesn't end
in a grave.
It doesn't end
in a casket.
No, no, we're going home
to our heavenly father.
And if he's gone
to prepare a place for us,
he will come again.
Let not your heart
be troubled.
That's what Peter is saying.
That's what he's reminding them.
And Peter began this passage
by saying, hey,
arm yourselves
with this truth.
Because following Jesus,
you know what it's going
to cost you?
It's going to cost you greatly.
Living differently
is going to cause people
to misunderstand you.
I'd imagine most of us
have had that
in some form or fashion.
They don't understand
why we take it so seriously.
Obedience to Jesus,
it might mean
leaving behind things
you once enjoyed.
It might be separating
from people
that you once ran with.
And it's going to be hard
because that was your life.
But none of that
changes the fact,
the question Peter
puts before us,
what are you doing
with the rest of your time?
Because you're not
a slave to sin anymore.
You don't have to stop
looking back
and wishing you
made better decisions.
Live for Christ today.
Decide tonight
that, hey,
tomorrow at school
I'm taking a stand
for Christ.
Tomorrow at school
when they're talking
about things in the locker room
and they're using
the language they shouldn't,
I'm going to take
a stand for Christ
instead of just
shrinking to the background.
And that's not just
in the locker room.
I imagine it's
at your workplace too.
That we're around
people all the time.
It doesn't mean
that we're just
pushing the gospel
down everybody's throat.
No, but we're living
a life that shows,
hey, I belong to Christ.
Christ.
And it's going to
create some situations
in our life.
Because there's just
two parts of everybody's life.
The time in the past
and the time remaining.
That's really what
Peter draws out
in these verses.
Maybe there are
things that you wish
you could change
but you can't.
Times that you wish
you could have back
but you're not
going to get them back.
I mean,
maybe sin took
more of your life
than you ever
intended to give it.
But praise the Lord
as the book
of Lamentations tells us,
His mercies are new
every morning.
That you have today.
And if you wake up
tomorrow breathing,
you have tomorrow.
That we need to make
the most of the time
that we have remaining.
Leave you with this thought.
You can't change the past
but you can give God
the rest.
And a life lived
for Christ
is never wasted.
Would we get a hold
of that truth
and take it home with us,
take it to school with us,
take it to work with us
and realize,
I'm living for Christ.
I'm not living
for the world's applause
or their approval.
I'm not trying to meet
their standards.
No, I'm just pressing
towards the mark
that's Jesus Christ.
And would He help us
to live that way?
Would we stand
with our heads bowed in?
Thank you.