Changed Lifestyle (Part A)

I thought that they were called to the Promised Land. They would be above these things. The Shekinah went before them.

Joshua would lead them in. Why are we getting these laws? Because sin is serious business. It has infected humanity. It will not be found in heaven, but it is everywhere here. And a difficult thing about dealing with sin is that you can give no quarter to it, no mercy, no tolerance. Yet, we're all sinners.

We all fall short of the glory of God. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1st Peter.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1st Peter chapter 4 as he begins his message, Changed Lifestyle. 1st Peter chapter 4. We will take verses 1 through 6. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his life in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God. We have spent enough of our past time, past lifetime, in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drunken parties, and abominable idolatries.

In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Now, for those of you who may not be aware or need a reminder, Peter is writing to Christians who are being persecuted. This is the first persecution by the state of Rome or the Roman Empire, a state persecution on the Christians, and it's really in its early stages. It's going to get a lot worse.

It's going to get so bad that Peter himself will be executed along with the apostle Paul and many other Christians. They don't know it's going and how far it's going. They're not aware of that.

They know right now they are under pressure. And so he is writing to them about facing these things as believers. He is saying to the Christians, you said you were believers, so then set your course. Set your life to live as believers.

Believers. Now, if you read in Exodus the chapters right after the giving of the Ten Commandments, you will find God giving through Moses a series of civil laws to govern the people of God by. And in these laws, he says to them, if there is a murderer, if there is a thief, if there is a kidnapper, if there are those that commit rape, and you say, wait a minute, these are the people of God.

Why are these things showing up? I thought that they were called to the promised land. They would be above these things. The Shekinah went before them.

Joshua would lead them in. Why are we getting these laws? Because sin is serious business. It has infected humanity. It will not be found in heaven, but it is everywhere here. And a difficult thing about dealing with sin is that you can give no quarter to it, no mercy, no tolerance, yet we're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God.

And so how do we handle this? Well, in the assembly, in penitent sin, we just can't handle it. It's the sinner that comes alongside, I'm messing up, I'm struggling.

We can work with that one, but with the one that is defiant, can't work with it. Because that attitude of sin is so, James says it this way, he says, and sin, when it is full-grown, it brings forth death. Here, Peter, dealing with Christians, is addressing sin in the lives of those who, albeit persecuted, they claim to be Christ, and yet he's still dealing with these things.

The church is no different than Israel out of Egypt, than Israel through the wilderness, then Israel into the Promised Land, Israel into Babylon, and Israel back to the Promised Land. Sin is everywhere, yet there is that remnant that has changed course, that is determined to resist their own sin as best they can. And those are the righteous, according to God. Sin is missing the mark. God has said, here's the target, I don't want you to do anything harmful to yourself, anyone else, or me. And we miss, we miss the target, and that's sin. We do things that are harmful to ourselves, to others, and to the glory of God. And so the whole Bible is about dealing with the fall of man, to take this fallen man and get him to heaven in spite of the sin. But there are rules, and there are good rules, and they are sensible, that's what makes them good. And they come from the hand of God.

And when men start guessing about it, they just create more problems. And so let's look at what Peter is saying to these persecuted Christians as he's reminding them, you've changed your course in life, stay on that course. To come to Christ is to change directions. Verse 1, he says, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That therefore, at the beginning, the therefores of the Bible are like stepping stones, they lead to a destination, but there's a progression.

It's linked, they're linked, they're joined together. And Peter is joining what he is saying now with what he said earlier, particularly look at verse 18 of chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, where Peter says, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. And so he builds on that, and then he links it, he comes back to it, and he says, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, that he might bring us to God.

God is holy, and it is his prerogative to dictate the terms. He does not have to make a way back for sinners, but because God is indeed love, which this life clouds often, he is not no less a God of love, he has made a way back, and so we suffer that we might bring souls to God, we endure, we take it, love never fails, love is kind, does not parade itself, there's so many features about love that we struggle to have, but God says, these are the things that it takes to bring people to me. We suffer ridicule as Christians, and persecution, even death, for not agreeing with those who disagree with Christ, not all the time, of course, but there are those times when evil is exalted, and the righteous suffer. And so he says, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, now he points out, in the flesh, what is going to increase in Christianity in these days is this Gnostic teaching, that one element of it was, well, Christ really wasn't a human being, he was more of a ghost, kind of a phantom thing, and John will deal with that more in his letters, but Peter makes it clear, he was in the flesh, there's no ghost, he suffered, and he prevailed, and he sits as the son of God, on the throne of God, beside his father, he has prevailed. 700 years earlier, the prophet Isaiah, prophesying about what Jesus would go through, said, he shall see the labor of his soul, and be satisfied by his knowledge, my righteous servant, shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities, when that's what he did on the cross, he took our sin. But where he says, he sees, he shall see the labor of his soul, Christ knew what he would have to go through to bring us to God, and he faced it willfully. He went out, as mentioned in the last session in Peter, he went out from the upper room, crossed the brook Kidron singing hymns, knowing that soon, he would be betrayed, what a strike to the heart, to be betrayed, by someone that you've done so much for, that you've loved, that you worked to bring to God, to be stabbed in the back, by such a one, that alone was painful, and of course he was betrayed that night, spat upon, scourged, abused, and ultimately crucified. He did not have to do any of it, but he did, because he was satisfied with the result, and we have to remember that, as we struggle without sin, we have to understand he's dealt with this for me, and this, I have never met a spirit-filled Christian that thought lowly of, thought highly of sin, or dismissed it, or called it other than what it was.

We face it, this is what it is. His mission was to rescue us from its consequences, and so in Luke chapter 19 verse 10, we hear Jesus say, why he has come to earth in the flesh. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

He has invested himself, he invested himself in us, instead of just scrubbing the planet and starting over again. He says, Peter does, arm yourselves, in other words, be ready, since Christ suffered you, you get your weapons weapons ready. Satan looks for sinners to devour them, but he also looks for those who are saved, who live in a sword-free zone.

They're not armed. Satan, he looks for Christians who are unarmed, who have not the word of God, accompanied by the love of Christ. This is why it's so disappointing to come across abrasive, rude, loveless Christians who feel they don't mind hurling insults, saying nasty things and walking away cowardly.

May we work to not have that be the case with us. Arm yourselves when you have your private study time, when you leave church. Are you armed, or do you just gallop off, unmindful of the things that you're called to do as a believer? I'm speaking to believers now. Are you armed with the truth about God in this present darkness?

This life certainly ain't heaven. There's a lot of work for us as believers. Are we armed with love to God and the love of others, no matter who they might be? That's going to take a lot, and you can't do it just once and get away with it.

It must be sustained. You know, in that law of Moses, there's one clause right after, again, the Ten Commandments are given, and Moses lists the civil laws, and there's a law that if you see your enemy's donkey overloaded, weighed down, weighed down, not moving, you're supposed to help that donkey, even though it's your enemy's. See, even in the law, God is saying, listen, listen to me. Evil atop of evil only brings more evil. And when Jesus said, you pray for your enemies, and he doesn't mean, of course, you pray for their destruction. You pray that somehow, some way, the light will penetrate the darkness and Christ will prevail in their hearts because he is real, and they don't believe he is. And so is it acceptable to come to church, and once the service is over, we leave as though we never went to church?

I don't know about you, but I know about me. There are things that the Spirit brings to my mind from the morning sermons, sometimes just the verses read, that cause me to think about them. I'm not going to toss my ammunition away if I can help it.

Well, the enemy would just pick it up and use it against you. There, I went to church, someone might say, the flesh might say, please let me be. The Holy Spirit, for his zealous souls, he won't let them be.

He will continue to minister through and to them. Paul said this to Timothy, meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.

Think about these things, Timothy, meditate, focus on them. Give yourself entirely to them, because that's what it's going to take. Now, when I first became a Christian, I thought I was going to give everything to Jesus. I tried.

The song he tried, but he couldn't do it. So I give him as much as I can, and he's never browbeaten me for that, but I would like to give more. But I've learned my limitations are greater than what I thought.

And yet I don't regret that I made an effort and still am making an effort to give him more and more. How will I go out of this life? I hope with my faith blazing like a shining sword.

I hope I go out of this life preaching the gospel, leaving a testimony behind. And so consider what you agree with when the word is ministered to you, more than what you disagree with. You know, we Christians, we are susceptible to being stumbled by a pebble. You know, Jesus put it this way, swallow camels and gag on gnats. If we concentrate more on the things that are right, we'll be more effective.

It takes time to learn that. He says, also with the same mind, be armed also with the same mind. As Christ thought, we are supposed to think. We are supposed to have his view. When he says this is right, we're supposed to agree with him.

When he says this is wrong, we're supposed to agree with him. John's gospel, chapter 8, Jesus speaking, and he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. Well, if I can't fulfill that, I will certainly be much better off trying to fulfill it. Just trying to fulfill it will make me stronger. 1 Peter, chapter 1, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you.

That is what we do. We think about that day when we are going to see Christ Jesus as he is, no more this life, no more pain and suffering, no more getting set to others or being afraid of this or that. And so in chapter 3, as I mentioned earlier, that Peter connected his therefore to, Peter spoke of the sufferings of the Lord as our example under unjust treatment.

And 1 Peter 3.17, I like reading these verses. For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. What makes your suffering count?

It doesn't count. If you've done wrong and you've suffered, if you've done nothing and you've suffered, it doesn't count. But if in the interest of the kingdom, in overcoming sin and your own personal sin, whether you succeed in knocking it out or not, the fact that you fought the fight, that you fought the fight is what God accepts. Peter's own cross was never out of sight for him. He knew he was going to die a violent death.

It had been prophesied. He lived all these years under the shadow of a persecuted death. Instead of shaking his way through his Christian experience, he faced it head on. That's our flagship verse. This is what I'm about to read, our flagship verse for our study through 1 and 2 Peter, letters of a martyr to be. He's not martyred yet, though he has suffered for the faith some, but not fully as far as his portion goes.

2 Peter 1.14, he says, knowing that shortly I must put off this tent, that's his body, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. He didn't say, well, you know, it's been years now since he's over 30 years at the time of writing this. He said, ah, it hasn't come to pass yet. He never lost sight of it.

He knew it was going to happen. Regardless of how nice it might seem, one day he knew the day would come where he would honor Christ by not backing down from his confession of faith. Gives us something to shoot for at the water cooler, at the place where we may be suffering ridicule because we are Christians and want to back down and not stand up and say, no, I am a Christian, that's right, and I'm unashamed.

I'm unashamed of being one. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know better than you, but on that day, on that judgment day, I will be far better off lest you join me. For he who has suffered, he says here in verse 1, for he who has suffered in the flesh. Now, not the suffering of the flesh is he talking about here, but the physical flesh. Not all suffering, again, in this life is to be meaningless. Paul the Apostle, in writing to the Philippians from jail, now remember, Peter's going to be executed for his love for Christ.

Paul suffered stonings, scourges, jail time, being stalked, all the things, so many things. Why did these two men do this? They saw the risen Lord. You and I have not done that.

Not with our eyeballs. We've seen him in our heart, we see him by faith. These men were suffering for Christ because they saw him alive after he was crucified and killed and entombed.

Men don't suffer such things for fantasy. This St. Paul writing to Christians, while Paul is in jail, doesn't know how it's going to turn out for him, but he is confident the Lord is going to deliver him at this point. This was his first imprisonment. In Philippians he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. In that, in those two verses, verses 10, 11 of Philippians 3, he gives us the ABCs of our faith. A, acceptance of his sovereignty. You have to accept that Christ is sovereign. He's not God applying for the job. He is God.

It's a done deal. He is God Almighty. That's A, you accept the sovereignty of God in Christ. B, is the blessing of his salvation, or else his sovereignty just terrifies me. Why would I be? What else could I do if he was just sovereign?

What does he think about me? Does he have any interest in my existence and my well-being, my eternal well-being? Yeah, it's the love of God. He's very much into this. God is into this. So invested is Christ into each one of us that he died on the cross. Now some want him to die for each generation and for him on television so everybody can see it and believe, but that's not going to be the case.

There's enough evidence to believe by faith. C, is the character of his sufferings. So where he says the power of his resurrection, the power, that's the sovereignty, the fellowship of his sufferings, that is the character, that's the C, the character of his sufferings, we being like Christ, is what the word Christian is supposed to mean. And of course, where he says the fellowship of his sufferings, that's the blessing of our salvation.

And so the ABCs of our faith, acceptance of his sovereignty, blessings of his salvation, the character of his sufferings. It's been said, and well said, God has one son, one child, and only one without sin, but none without pain. There have been no boots on the ground without pain because of the sin that is in this world. There's no way, no other way to account for the wickedness that we face.

Many try to muster up various forms of courage to face it. We are determined to trust God. He says that he has ceased from sin.

Now let's look at that first verse one again. Therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now Peter does not mean that we sin no more.

That would be out of context and that would not be realistic. In the sense of the will's desire to pursue sin, we have stopped. There is no born again Christian that pursues sin and couldn't care less about it.

Yeah, it's okay, it's fine, I like it, I'm gonna do it again, you should do it with me. I don't know if you're a believer. Now there are Christians that say I can't stop this, I keep trying, it's just the urge comes up or I get provoked or whatever it may be. God can work with that one because the will is right, but when the will is disinterested in the will of God, what is left? And so when Christians suffer because we refuse sin, we're no longer controlled by the will of the flesh, the will of the Spirit. This is characterized for us in our verses, Romans 12 one, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so all of us know that we are to be gracious to those who are dealing with their sin because we want them to be gracious with us. Maybe you've lost your temper with someone and you're ashamed of your behavior, that's the mark of the Christian because you've gone against your Lord and you've hurt someone else and you want that moment back but you can't get it and hopefully you repent and the person forgives you. It says part of what when Peter said how often should I forgive my brother?

Seven times seventy he thought he was being very spiritual. Forgiveness most of the time hurts. It hurts to forgive. I don't know about most of the time but some of the time for sure it hurts to forgive. I forgive you. I don't want to forgive you. My flesh wants to retaliate but I know the Lord Jesus Christ and he knows me.

Who am I to bear grudge when he does not bear one against me? We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1st Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia and we're blessed to bring you God's Word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.