Verses, um, one through six. I think you'll find these verses quite interesting. First Peter chapter four, verse one. 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 you no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel is preached to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Guide us this morning, Father. When we come and open your word, we want the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. We have roaming minds. Sometimes our emotions are, are far from, from con- helping us concentrate, and we ask you this morning that the Holy Spirit will find his way in all of our hearts to minister to us as he sees our needs and sees fit. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you are going to give a title to First Peter, and there's many ways to title these books, but I suppose you could call it Christian Behavior in an Unbelieving World. The Apostle Peter knows that persecution is coming. He's living during the time of Nero, and, um, there would be persecution in Rome for the next two hundred and sixty years, more or less, there'll be a lot of persecution. And the vast majority of that would be because misunderstanding of conversion. People will be converted, they'll come to Christ, they'll look at their lives, they'll look at sin, they'll know that Jesus Christ wants them to live a certain way, and the world won't understand it. And the world will begin to persecute them. People lost their lives. In our day, we may not be losing our lives, but we might be losing opportunities. So it's, um, Christian behavior in an unbelieving world. And what Peter is doing in this book is he's exhorting the believers to live a certain way in a world that doesn't understand, and as he exhorts them to live a certain way, he gives a reason for everything he says. In other words, he just doesn't say live this way, he gives a reason why. Now, there may be other reasons to what he, what he says, but I'd like to go over some of these by way of review, and it's not going to take a lot of time. In chapter two, verses thirteen and fourteen, Peter talked about, um, being good citizens, and in two thirteen and fourteen, um, he mentioned to us that, uh, let me find this again. Okay, thirteen. Therefore, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it's the king supreme or the governors as those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you might put to silence the ignorance of foolish man. There's your reason. The reason there is we are to be good citizens. Why? We may, we may silence the ignorance of foolish men. That we may in such a way show the truth that people will really be enlightened to the truth, stop their criticism, and come to the gospel. And then in chapter two, verses eighteen to twenty one, he says, servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable because of good conscience toward God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. All right, so, um, he's asking the servants to obey, and he will mention also verse twenty one, for this to you are called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. The servants are asked, really, to submit to their masters because Christ submitted to die for us, and he's an example of submission to harsh things and things we don't agree with. But somehow, in submitting to them, as in, and Christ being our example, we are getting across to the world and demonstrating to them the practical reality of knowing Jesus Christ. Chapter three, verse one talks about wives. Be likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they may without a word be one to the conducts of the wives. He gives a reason here for unsaved wives, or sa- pardon me, saved wives submitting to their unsaved husband. Why? That they may win them to the Lord. See, almost everything Peter has in mind here is living in such a way that the world will take notice, and they will understand why we are living the kind of lives we're living. So the wife is told to submit, and that she might win this, this husband, this unbelieving husband. And then in verse, um, seven of chapter three, husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as a weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of God, that your prayers may not be hindered. Here's another reason why the man's relationship with the woman is to be in tenderness and understanding. Why? So your prayers will not be hindered. See, there's a reason for everything. So that when we go to pray, our relationship on this, this level is not strained with people that we've dealt with harshly, and our prayers would be answered, in particular here dealing with the wife. And then in chapter, um, three, verses eight and nine, he gives another reason. Verse Verse and nine, finally, be of one mind, having compassion for one another. All right? Here's what he's asking you to do. Have compassion for one another, being compassionate brothers and sisters. And he gives a reason. All right, verse nine, not returning evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Hm. The reason we want to treat one another compassionately and tenderly and understandingly, because there's blessings for us when we give ourselves. So Peter is calling for Christian behavior in an unbelieving world, and he's asking for us to live certain ways that, um, and there'd be certain results. Now, when we get to chapter four, Peter starts out in verse four by using the word therefore, and of course the word therefore has to point back to some particular things. He's talked in verse eighteen of chapter three. For Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And, uh, he has also mentioned on an other occasion that Christ has suffered for sin, right? And that, uh, in suffering for sin, he became an example. Chapter two verse twenty one, to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. So keeping that in mind, that in Christ's earthly life, he suffered and he died and dealt with the problem of sin. We are to keep in mind that when you and I deal with sin in our lives, when Jesus Christ comes into our lives and begins to take the sin out of our lives, we may suffer for it. So the context here in First Peter one to six is suffering, not just in the physical, it may be because many people lost their lives, but suffering because we live in such a way, and the world doesn't understand that they might misinterpret what is taking place, and there'll be repercussions for it. So Peter points back, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh. Um, one of the key phrases I like to point out as I get going is found in verse two. And this is the phrase, if I would title this sermon, I would title this, that you should no longer live the, no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, for the will of God. I suppose if I were to title it, we'd call it live the rest of your time. Peter's thinking here of a lifestyle change, and he's thinking of the time we have left in our lives, and he's going to explain here, as he goes on, particular things about our past life, and he's going to urge us to live lives, use the rest of our time for the will of God. Peter says a lot in this book about the will of God. Six times he uses the phrase the will of God, and one real important one is found in chapter one, verse seventeen. If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear or reverence. So conducting ourselves, our conduct, with the rest of the time in our lives and a sense of reverence for God. So he uses this phrase, the will of God, several times. And by the way, I would say this to young people, those of you who talk about, uh, seeking the will of God. If you read these verses, you'll find that it doesn't talk about a place. Should I be a missionary? Should I go to Columbia? Should I join a team next summer in Los Angeles? And talking about what we are, where we are, the will of God, certain moral characteristics, certain spiritual characteristics, wherever you are. It is the will of God that you live a certain way, no matter what your life is, and he will lead you, and he will guide you in, in, uh, whatever his plan is. Peter thinks of time too in second Peter, in second Peter chapter one, he talks about, uh, the time of my departure is at hand, the folding up of my tent, the moving on. So Peter sees that his life is coming slowly to an end. I think the difference between these two books is probably no more than two or three years. And when he wrote second Peter, he was pretty sure that his days were numbered. He could see it. He was a leader, and he knew that one way you persecute people is go after the leaders and find the leaders and kill the leaders. And the Roman government tried that very often, killing the leaders, but they found out that more leaders were raised up, and more leaders were raised up. So Peter knew his days were numbered, so he saw he had little time left, a few years perhaps. So Peter has this in mind. I'd like to ask a question, uh, as I go into this. Do you believe in eternity? In chapter one, Peter talked about an inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven. He also talks about us being reserved and kept for the inheritance. And he talks about the world, and he says this world will be passing away, but now we have an inheritance, and it's guaranteed in Jesus Christ, and we will share in that inheritance. Right now, we're devoted servants. Right now, our job is to do our duty. We come in from the fields, and we're tired, and the master says, I still want you to keep serving me. I don't ask you to sit down at the table and have a meal. I want you to keep serving. And, and then when this service is all done, I want you to know that you've you've done your duty. But one day in heaven, he prepares a banquet, and he says in Luke, he will serve us and take care of us. Meanwhile, today we are serving him, and no matter what we've done, we've done our duty. So Christians have this responsibility. Do you believe in eternity? Um, are you convinced that he's coming? Do you believe, uh, verse seven, when I get to there, we will talk about it, but do you believe he's coming? Do you believe there's a time when he will come and this world will end and he will take us to be with himself? If we believe in eternity and we're convinced of his coming, then what he's asking us in this portion is to prepare our lives, to prepare to live a certain way. Now, the first thing I have to say is that there may be some here this morning who don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior. You haven't come to him, you haven't confessed your sins, you haven't confessed you're a sinner, and you don't know redemption. Well, that's the thing you have to do to prepare yourself for eternity. You have to come and confess your sin and recognize that you cannot save yourself. Recognize you're a sinner and that Jesus Christ has died the just for the unjust to bring us to God. And if you don't know Christ, you have to prepare yourself by knowing eternal life. And you might say, well, I don't believe some of these things about sin and other things, and I'm not convinced some things are sin, but you're always dealing with sin. Sure you are. When something goes wrong, you want to find out if it's inherited, if it's psychological, if it's in my genes, right? You're always dealing with sin. And the new polls years ago, sixty eight point five percent thought this thing was wrong. Now only forty seven percent think it's wrong, therefore it's okay. The world is always thinking about sin and adjusting to sin. You know, and I know, that sin's in the world and you're a sinner. So therefore, let's put it this way, if you don't know Christ, you must come to Christ, and that's how you would prepare your life to know him. But if you're a believer, Peter's laying out for us a new determination to live for Jesus Christ, starting now. Maybe you could title this instead of the rest of your life, the rest of your time, you could title the sermon from now on. But see what Peter is saying. Peter's saying something very, very important here in regards to our time. The rest of our time for the will of God means living the rest of our time with eternit- eternity's values in view, living for Jesus Christ that way. So, let's look at verse one. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, he suffered for sin, and when he suffered for sin, he paid the penalty. And now Peter says, arm yourselves also with the same mind. Now, it's interesting. You know what Peter's talking about? Warfare. Peter anticipates a conflict. Peter has a, says we should have a militant attitude towards sin. When he says arm yourself, he's talking about the gun rack you have in your basement, or the spear rack, or the bow and arrow rack, or the swords. I want you to go up, and I want you to take the weapon of warfare. That's exactly what he's saying. Arm yourself, right? This is a battle, and the weapon you'll use this time is your thinking, your minds. Now, the sword of the Spirit is a weapon. It's the word of God. We're told in Ephesians to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, but remember the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is not given to us to chop people up and maim, maim them and kill them. It's more like the surgeon's knife, um, following the dotted line and taking out the gallstones or the tumor for healing. Even using the Word as a sword of the Spirit, it's not going to damage people and kill them, but it to, to cut through the hardness of their hearts so that they respond to sin in their lives. So Peter is asking us to have a militant attitude towards sin, and he's saying it's the mind, our thoughts. Now, attacks come from without, which means that they come from opposition, they come from false accusations. Peter says in his book, they speak evil of us as evildoers. They malign us. He mentioned this phrase, evildoers, a couple of times. He says here, they think it's strange, they don't understand, so the conflicts come from without. But the conflict Peter's talking about here is the one that comes from within. It's more subtle. Sin, you know, deceives. And when people say I'm not convicted about something, it's best to say, well, maybe you're so comfortable with it, there's no way you could be convicted of it. You're so used to it, you're so at home with it. It is so easy, it is so second nature to you. No wonder you don't feel anything. See? And so this is very rather important to understand. It's a subtle warfare with sin. Subtle. Sinful attitudes, sinful lifestyles, things that have come into our lives and, and we no longer have a good conscience toward those things. So we're comfortable. We're at home with it. We're at rest. And we need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit would do in our lives. So what Peter is saying here then, let's get to this, is that our attitudes are weapons. He's already said that in chapter one, verse thirteen. I spoke about that a long time ago. He says, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and rest your hope fully on the grace that you brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, right? Gird up the loins of your mind. Let your thinking be ready for action. Let your thinking be ready for hard work, for hard labor. So the weapon we have here is our thinking. Now, you and I know weak or wrong attitudes lead to defeat. Attitudes that aren't from the scriptures. Weak or wrong attitudes lead to defeat, and trials come in many forms. So the way we think, Peter talks about mind also in Philippians two five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And in that portion, oh, that portion's something else. That cuts to my heart. It's talking about conceit among Christians, it's talking about pride among Christians, and putting the other Christian down because they don't agree with you or see your convictions. Let this mind thinking, thinking is important. So the weapon we take off the wrap, rack in our basement where we have all our weapons is good, solid, strong, biblical thinking. And the thinking in this portion is about sin and the rest of the time we have in our lives. So this is quite important. We are faced then with two possibilities, aren't we? We can either sin and go on sinning, and Peter says, as he said before here, um, verse three, we spent enough time doing the will of the Gentiles, the will of the nations, the will of the world, or we can put away sin and suffer. And by the suffering here, he mentioned in two twelve that they call us evildoers. So we have these alternatives. We can go on and live in sin, or we can suffer for it. Now, Peter says something at the end of verse one that is hard. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That is difficult. But really, it's only difficult because of the English wording of this. Many, you know, many cults, many wrong ideas come from the English versions, where we misinterpret words and don't understand what words may mean. Now, if you and I choose to live like the unsaved, sharing their sinful pleasures, we can avoid persecution. That's Peter saying, if you would just live like the world, they'll ignore us. They won't care about us. But if we live in godliness, then we should expect to bear the reproach of Christ. Now, when a believer deliberately chooses to suffer persecution as a Christian, rather than to live the way the world lives, that Christian is ceased from sin. Now, ceased from sin is not some spiritual experience that will purge you and cleanse you from the old sin nature. Ceasing from sin is not some spiritual gymnastics or rigmarole, I know no other words to use, that will involve you deeply in trying to purge yourself from sin so you never feel it. Darby translates it this way, and most of the paraphrases and translations do this. Darby says, be done with sin. And the internet, uh, the Amplified Bible says, this person who has suffered has, has been done with sin, and then they put in brackets, intentional. Given the idea that it's not their lifestyle to seek to live in sin, even though we sin. Now, I'm not one, in all the years I've been teaching, who believes that we can be purged from the old sin nature. We can put sin to death, sinful practices. So here's what Peter seems to be saying, is that when we deal with sin in our lives and we suffer persecution, it's an indication that we are ceasing from intentional sin, that we are done with seeking to live a lifestyle in sin. And that's what he explains in verse three. And of course, we haven't got to verse three yet, but that's what he explains in verse three. He's going to go back and say, this is how we lived before, and we should be done with it. So, the person who, who suffers ridicule, reproach, misunderstanding, even speaking, the uncomfortableness we're facing in our days should be a result, not just of our political views, should be a result because we are living godly lives in front of the world, and they just don't understand. I am sick and tired the last number of months of reading articles in the Milwaukee Journal and elsewhere, written by people who don't understand about how the right-wing evangelical movement is taking over American politics, and we're... Every time I pick the stinking journal, I want to throw it in the garbage can right away, except I like to read the box scores and see how the Brewers are doing. But I'm, I'm sick and tired of hearing about the red state, the blue state, say. Oh, some of it may be true, but boy, it's a great misunderstanding. And when we take a different stand on moral issues, the labels and things they say, and right now we, according to some, are the biggest danger America could face. Wow. Not in paper all of the time. Now let's think, for example, if we're going to have the same mind of Christ, he suffered in the flesh. Why did he suffer? Of course, that's the next logical question. He suffered for sin, chapter two twenty one, Um, he mentions that, uh, this we are called because Christ suffered for us, leaving his example, we should follow his steps, Three eighteen, he mentioned Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. He suffered for sin. Now, when he came to the world, he came to deal with sin. Of course, he came to die on the cross and deal with the penalty of sin, deal with the curse of sin, deal with the power of sin. But one of the things he had to do is he had to enlighten the crowds. You read through the gospels, and he had to enlighten the crowds about the real nature of sin. And this world he was living in had a, a lot of false ideas about sin. Of course, we read what he said to the Pharisees, and we see how he's exposing their hypocrisy. We read what he said to other people, and he's constantly turning things upside down, topsy turvy, showing people what the nature of sin. So he came in the world to deal with sin. He came into the world to conquer it forever, right? He dealt with the ignorance of sin by teaching the truth about sin and living it before man. And one of the things is, for example, they said he sat with publicans and sinners. How interesting that they never accused him of doing what publicans and sinners did. But they were irritated that he would reach out to those people. There's nothing wrong with being with people in this world who are really in sin. We are there to bring the light, but he didn't live that. They never said, Lord, he does what they do. They just simply said, he's eating with them. He's friends of them. He cares for them. Ah, that's right. So he came to deal with sin, right? And he came to deal the final blow to sin, and dealing the final blow to sin meant suffering in the flesh. And he died on the cross, right? So our, our goal here is to cease from sin, to yield to sin, to go along with sin is not to suffer. But when we resist the pressures of the world, and uh, that means suffering, and that means we are practically dealing with sin in our lives. Let's say we have moral issues, and we, we say, no, this, the Bible says this. I'm going to take care of this problem in my marriage, and I'm going to take care of these wandering mo- mind, and I'm going to take care of this mind polluted by pornography, and I'm going to do what God says, and what, what the world says, what? What? Say. Say. That's what he's talking about. That's what Peter's talking about. That's the idea he has. And of course, he talks here about the rest of the time. Now, verse two, he says, you should no longer live, um, should, should live the rest of his time in the f- flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God. So Peter's calling for a decision, even life of believers. Remember, we are to live the rest of our time in the flesh for the will of God, and you'll find a contrast here. Verse three talks about the will of the Gentile. That simply means the will of the nations, the will of the world, the world of the, the thoughts, the ever flowing thoughts that change and flow. So he's talking about the will of God, or what the word, word dictates. And he's asking the believers here to live the rest of their time for the will of God. And the will of God means using our time, adjusting our lives, bringing things in focus with God's word. Bringing them in focus. So the will of God here, to do the will of God, is to invest the rest of our time in that which is lasting. The rest of our time in eternal values. And Peter uses the will of God several times in his book too, and he almost always uses these in this book, having something to do with our conscience, our lifestyle, doing the will of God. So Peter's calling for a decision. We should live the rest of our time, the rest of our time on earth. Time that's been wasted can't be recovered, and we have to face that. Even we as believers understand that we've wasted some times. We've wasted some opportunities. They're gone. They're finished. But God is asking us for the rest of our lives to live for him. Now we remember why Christ came into the world, didn't we? He came in the world to deal with sin. Go back, verse three, listen what he says. For you have spent enough of your past lifetime doing the will of the Gentiles. Go back, and he th- says, and think of your past life. Go back and think. Why did you come to Christ? Well, I came to Christ because I saw this TV program, if I believe I'll, my business will prosper, and I'll own one of the Cadillacs and a Thousand Hills, or something like this, say, or cattle, whatever it is. If I come to Christ, I'll be healthy. Uh, if I come to Christ, there's a methodology for raising my kids and building a business. Or did you come to Christ because you were sick of sin? Say, this is the idea. The idea then is living the rest of our time. Remember what you were before you came to Christ, Peter is saying. Go back and think. What led you to come to Christ? My spiritual need, my emptiness, my bankruptcy, my frustration with my religion. I was a frustrated Roman Catholic, and I was only nineteen. I was frustrated with it. I was frustrated with the years of prayer and the altar boy stuff and the rosary and the indulgences, and I was frustrated. And when the news of the gospel came to me, it was good news. Boy, was it good news. Whoa, see? It was good news. So, Peter says, go back, think of your lifestyle. Why did you come to Christ? Because we had enough of that kind of life. We had enough of it. We wanted God to take our sins away, but also many of us came to Christ because we knew he would give us a new life. I did. I've told you so many times about my, my alcoholic father and stuff, and I was fed up with it. And I know he came because I, I wanted my sins forgiven, and knowing that I would have peace with God, but I desired, had a strong desire to live a different kind of life. And in Jesus Christ, I knew it could be done. So Peter says, go back and think when you lived in sin. The memory of the past, the bondage of sin, what we did in the past, and all of these pleasures of sin sometimes should stay fresh in our minds. Sometimes it should stay fresh. Now, I know that some things need to be forgotten. Paul said, um, you know, forgetting those things which are behind. But notice what he didn't forget. I think what he meant by that is I forget all the merit I tried to do to gain God's favor. I'm forgetting all the time I invested to have God pay attention to me and save me. But he never forgot, and he repeated more than once how he hurt the church, and people were actually killed because of him. He never forgot that. But he said, I forget those things, all this merit making, all this stuff I tried to do to please him, that's gone. But in one sense, he never forgot the sin. So don't forget the bondage of sin that we were under. And of course, when Israel was in Egypt, they came out of Egypt, and they cried for delivery, and they wanted delivery, and they got an e- in the wilderness, tough things got tough, and they said, oh, if we could only be back in Egypt, see. And all they could remember about Egypt is they got three lousy meals a day with some vegetables, but they thought that was great, see. And they forgot the power of sin, but they begged to be free. So sin here is mentioned, and Peter's asking us, verse three, to live the rest of our time to do the will of God. Now, the past sometimes discourages us, and we have to put it out of mind. But many times God brings up the past in order to move us and urge us to live godly lives. And I think this is, is important to recall the past, even though it's humbling, and sometimes it hurts us, become beneficial. Let me, let me quote from Oswald Chambers. I, I read Oswald Chambers every morning. He's kind of a hard buddy to understand, but I hang with him, and I like him. April third, Oswald Chambers says, never be afraid when God brings up the past. Let your memory have its way. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you, but God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson for growth for the future. Oswald Chambers understood that very clearly, that God will use these opportunities. Paul in First Timothy one twelve talked to Timothy, I was a blasphemer, persecutor, an insolent man. And Isaiah says it's good for us to, to think, Isaiah fifty one one, of the, the pit that we've been dug from, the hole, the pit we've been taken from. So, in doing this, it's rather important to see that thinking back, think of all the time wasted. Those who get converted later in life, life are in a hurry to catch up because so much was lost. What is gone? But we live the rest of our lives, and for Christians also, who might be indulging in some sin, who might be careless about some things, Peter's calling for us to bring things together, understanding what Christ did for sin, and live the rest of our lives for Jesus Christ. Verse three, he lists some sins. Now, I'm not going to talk about those sins in detail, but I would like to say this to young people. Some of these sins here are sexual perversions. Remember this, young people, that there's really no harm in many natural appetites. There's no harm in a lot of appetite. Considered in themselves, they're not wrong. Here's the point. These appetites have been given to us by God for the preservation of the, the human race, for pleasure, for blessings. But here's what happened. Sin entered into the world. The fall spoiled these appetites, right? They were disturbed by sin, so they did not work as God intended. They became almost independent. And I think young people need to understand, when we say stay pure, we're not saying get rid of desires, but stay pure. See? And the, the desire for intimacy is not wrong, but do it biblically, do it right. Do it under God's will. F. B. Meyer, and I would quote him, and I quote people and make myself clear. F. B. Meyer says this, and if you haven't read F. B. Meyer, learn to love him, read it. F. B. Meyer says, when man fell, appetites broke from the grasp of the will and began to seek after its own gratification, irrespective of those necessary uses and legitimate bonds which had been assigned by God's love and wisdom. So when sin came into the world, these desires were not created when sin came into the world. They were given by God before sin came in the world. Right? But when sin came into the world, irrespective of legitimate bond, irrespective of proper use, they almost took on a will of their own. So we don't have to go around denying that we're beings that desire intimacy. We don't have to go around denying that God created us as sexual beings with desires. What the Apostle Peter is speaking about here is bringing this to him and sanctifying them, finding their legitimate use. You cannot eradicate them. You can't eradicate them. When you eradicate, try to eradicate them, you put God under a terrible burden. What do you mean by putting God under burden? It makes it impossible for him to do it, and the burden on God is to get you past that, to live for him in a proper way. You put a big burden on God, asking him for something that he wants to sanctify. So here's what we are to do. Instead of trying to eradicate them, they are to be cleansed, they are to be sanctified, and they are to be controlled. Is it possible? Sure it is. So don't live in denial, and when we teach our young people, let's teach them carefully enough not to live in denial. They need to be cleansed, sanctified, and controlled. So let me review. What is the weapon of the mind we have here? Now, this is the weapon we have, right? The weapon we have. Well, here's what we are to do. First of all, suffering in the flesh is not, as the world counts it, an evil. To the believer, suffering in the flesh may be an indication that we are learning to deal with sin, and as he says in verse four, people don't understand it. What, what, what kind of lifestyle is that? Be faithful there and just divorce and get on with it. Say, you mean you're gonna live apart till you get married? What, what? Don't you need time to learn to know each other? I say. Well, that's what the world thinks. That's what the world thinks. Don't spoil what God has given to you. Another thing about the sufferings is Christ's sufferings were dominated by one supreme thought, one all-controlling purpose, and what was that? I come into the do will to world to do your will, Father. Not my will, but yours. And that's one of the things. Then contemplate the cross. Its reasons will show us exactly what God thinks about sin. Why the cross? To deal with sin. To deal with the penalty. Its power. To deal with sin. And then, uh, even the thought of my identification with Christ, Romans six one to four, I've died with Christ, and I'm identified with him. Now, verses four to six, quickly, he says, they think it's strange that, that, uh, you do not run with them, verse four, with the same flood of dissipation in speaking of you. Now, when he says they think it's strange, he means just that. Means they don't really understand. It isn't so much that they understand and remark it. It means I'm so comfortable with sin, I'm so used to doing it. How could anybody change? I don't understand this. They think it's strange. The world becomes comfortable. Their conscience doesn't respond. Comfortableness regarding to sin means nothing. Just means you're comfortable. Just means you're comfortable. So they think it's strange. They look and they say, how could you do that? Well, with me it was, I was rebelling against my parents because of alcoholism, so I was coming to Christ to show my parents I could be independent, and eventually I would grow out of it. And when I was staying in the middle of the jungles in Colombia, my mother began to believe it. It was no longer a fad. She began, whoa. And there's many ways of explaining it. There's a, a matter of wonderment to the ungodly when they see a life transformed by God's grace, a matter of wonderment. See, what manner of man is this, they said about Christ? What manner of man is this? What kind of man is this? Where'd he come from? Now, what's interesting is they don't think it's strange when people wreck their lives and their bodies. Right? They don't think that. See, let them wreck their lives, but let's take a big part of the budget so we can rehabilitate them. It's all right to, we need more money to rehabilitate. Let's build the casinos, but don't forget to put millions away for rehabilitation. Mm-hmm. Or sexual sin, the AIDS and whatever else. They don't think it's strange when people wreck their bodies. They don't think it's strange when people destroy their homes and walk out. Right? They don't think it's strange, uh, when people run from one sin to the other. They don't think it's strange. But they think it's strange that we want to change. Okay? They've grown comfortable with sin. They've redefined it. That's how the world deals with sin. The continual redefinition of sin. See, changing all the time. But it's dealing with sin. So, it's a matter of wonderment when Paul was before Festus, they said, Festus said to Paul, Acts twenty six twenty four, Paul, you're out of your mind. When Jesus Christ was going through the countryside, Mark three twenty one, it says his family came, and what did they say? He was out of his mind. See? Even Mary, who contemplated in her heart, son, what are you doing? You know, the guys in the synagogue are ticked off at what are you doing? So it's kind of interesting, isn't it? Um, funny, they think it's strange, and yet they don't think it's strange that people in our world are constantly ruining their lives under sin. They don't think it's strange at all. They just want more money to combat it, to find cures. Doesn't it irritate you sometimes? It irritates me. A little bit. See? So Peter's saying, use the rest of your time. Now, in verse five, and I know we're a little late, but the potluck will be there, and that's why I'm going over. No packers, no potluck. See. But notice in verse five, these very people who think it's not, uh, it's strange that we don't run with them, who judge us. What does verse five say? They will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead. Notice the judge is ready. You know, Christ isn't letting the world go on so we can find more evidence against us. Say, oh, I've got to balance it out to good and evil. We need a little bit more evil, and I'll, I'll come when... Nah. It's ready. It's ready. All right? The day is appointed. There's a day that's appointed, and he is ready, and the place is appointed is a great white throne, and at the great white throne the books will be open, and the evidence will be there, and it's clear that the world is under judgment. So he said, while they're judging you because you don't run with them, he says, I want you to know that God is keeping account of everything. There's a time, there's a place, there's a when, there's a reason, right? And God's taking care of all of that. They're not really getting away with much, because after this world, there's an eternity. Right? For us, there is reserved in heaven a hope and an inheritance. For them, a place of judgment. And you and I know it, the great white throne, Revelation twelve twenty, when the books are open, they're all found guilty. So judgment's ready. The evidence is already entered in the books. And he says that's what, what happened in verse six. For this reason, the gospel was preached to those who are now dead. It wasn't preached to the dead. It is not talking about Christ went down and preached to the dead. I don't see that at all. These people who are now dead once believed the gospel, and Peter's saying some have already lost their lives. Right? They've already lost their lives, but they, I've been judged according to men in the flesh, and men took their lives and killed them, but they live according to God in the spirit, and they are with him. So there's a call in this portion. When you and I deal with sin in this world, Peter's coming up with something that we need to re- remember, that it's very possible the world will ridicule us and in some form persecute us. Maybe miss the promotion that has come, maybe see us not worthy of giving a job. I know a man who was looking for a job as a teacher, and he was looking in a small town in Wisconsin, and they're not supposed to ask religious questions, and he knew very well the way the questions were phrased, and he didn't get the job. He says, I would have a hard time proving in a court of law, but that's exactly what it was. He stirred the conversation around, and as soon as I answered a couple things, I knew I wasn't going to get the job. See? And it was all done nicely. Very nicely, very clearly. So what is Peter asking for us? Simple. Use the rest of your time. What's past is past. You missed an opportunity, you can't get it back. Have you looked back and said, I wish I could do that ag- again, I never got to do it? You can't do it again, but you can live the rest of your life. And in my forty years, I can't believe I'm saying forty years of full-time service. I've had a lot of people come up to me, here, there, and everywhere, and say, you know, when I was younger, God pressed me to make a decision, and I didn't do it. That's the worst thing I ever did. It's still affecting my life today, and I know he loves me, and he's led me, and I'm actually doing some good things. But it was lost. It's been lost. Especially when I was a young man. I couldn't tell you how many people came up to me individually, when nobody else was around, and said, I made a decision, want to be a missionary. And here's the decision I made after that. You go on. Don't turn your back on it. It would be a long list of people. Apparently, they never shared it with anybody else because they came to me alone, pulled me aside. You have time. Our gifts aren't the same, our opportunities aren't the same, but we have, we have the same amount of time. Father, thank you for this portion of scripture. It's powerful. Peter's dealing in the practical. He's dealing in a, in what Christ has done for us. We think back to why we came to Christ. We think back to all the wasted time, and he says, from now on, the rest of your life, the rest of your time, from now on, I will do the will of God. Every, it makes no difference what anybody says, whether they think it's weird or strange, I will live for you because Christ came to break the penalty and the power of cancelled sin, to set us free, that we might do his will in this world. We ask you to help us to understand this and guide us in Jesus' name. Amen.