Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Words of Life" by Neal Pollard - Part 5

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"Words of Life" by Neal Pollard - Part 5 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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  So good evening, if you want to turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4, we are looking
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  at words of life from 1 Peter.
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  We have two more weeks in this epistle and then Hiram will begin teaching the epistles
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  of John and words of life that we find from there.
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  I appreciate Chris filling in on relatively short notice last week, did a fantastic job
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  as I had my foot elevated above my heart last week and sat in that recliner through the
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  hardest days of my life.
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  I heard Chris do such a fantastic job.
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  Just to, it's amazing how these things work.
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  I thought Eli's lesson tonight, fantastic for multiple reasons, but the subject that
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  he addressed fits very well with 1 Peter and that's the storms of life.
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  If you have been kind of tracking along in 1 Peter, this is definitely a time of storms
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  for the church in the first century and while there are some things they went through that
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  are a lot different than what we face in our current climate, and we'll talk a little about
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  that in chapter 4, there's a lot that we can relate to.
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  These folks are introduced to us as people who are scattered abroad because of their
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  faith.
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  They are able to survive their storms because of a living hope that they have through the
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  resurrection of Christ.
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  They are anticipating a reward that is to come.
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  They are living with faith in one that they haven't seen.
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  We think about the folks that 1 Peter's written to, they are like us.
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  They had not seen Jesus.
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  Now Peter had, who was writing to them, there are some that he is going to make mention
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  of that certainly may have seen Jesus, but the vast majority of them are able to hold
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  on during the storm by holding on to a faith that they'd heard from people like Peter who
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  had actually spent time with the Lord, but they themselves were living with eyes of faith
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  like we do.
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  And yet they were asked to do the same thing that we are, and that is to hold on through
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  the difficulties of life.
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  Now in chapter 1, we saw five imperatives.
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  They are kind of the backbone of 1 Peter, and Peter's just going to keep drawing on
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  those.
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  In chapter 4 tonight, he's going to still be drawing on these same imperatives, and
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  that is to fix your hope on grace.
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  When you're dealing with difficulties, you've got to fix your hope because what your circumstances
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  are right now may feel a little hopeless.
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  May not feel like it's going to come to an end.
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  It may feel intense in its nature.
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  You may feel like everybody's against you.
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  Whatever you're dealing with, he says to hang on during that difficulty, you've got to fix
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  your eyes on hope.
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  And that's a thing that you have seen throughout all the different chapters.
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  And then in verse 15, he's going to say, be holy as the one who has called you is holy.
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  What do you have to do when you're living in a world that doesn't share your values
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  that may be causing your storms, your difficulty?
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  You've got to live like the God who has called you.
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  To live distinct, to live separate, not in isolation, not cloistered off from the world,
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  but to live in a way that's different from the code and the lifestyle of the world.
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  And so he continues on in that.
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  And then in verse 17, you're to be of sober mind.
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  We're going to come back to that in chapter four tonight.
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  You're to practice brotherly love intensely, fervently love one another from the heart.
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  And then in chapter two is the fifth imperative.
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  He says that I want you to grow like sincere, like babes desire the pure milk of the word
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  that you may grow.
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  So as we've walked through chapter two, chapter three, we have seen him say that you have
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  left the world.
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  You are like new babes.
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  And so you grow, you're part of a spiritual house.
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  But the people who are around you, they have rejected the head of the corner.
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  But you are distinct.
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  You're a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people of God's own choosing, a people of
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  his own possession.
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  You're to abstain from fleshly lusts, that you're to have your behavior excellent.
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  You're to submit to the authorities in this world.
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  You're to follow the example of Jesus.
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  In chapter three, you're to conduct yourself with fear.
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  That's verse 17.
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  And you do that in all your different relationships.
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  And that brings us up to chapter four.
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  If you'll notice in first Peter chapter four in verse one, Peter begins by saying, therefore.
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  And what does that cue us to anytime we see that word?
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  What is it therefore?
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  What did you say, Kevin?
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  Look what's before.
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  Yeah.
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  Look what's before.
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  I like that too.
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  And so what's before that he's drawing on is not necessarily verse 22.
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  The thought begins in first Peter three in verse 18.
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  Peter has said that Christ died once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
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  us back to God being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit.
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  That's the thought that Peter is connecting to in first Peter chapter four in verse one.
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  And by the way, there are three therefore statements in chapter four.
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  They're conclusions that Peter is drawing.
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  If you want to make note of this, verse one, verse seven, and verse 19, he is going to
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  say, therefore, here's a conclusion.
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  And so we're going to divide this chapter into kind of around those therefore statements.
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  So with Peter says, and we'll notice, we're going to read the verses in just a moment.
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  If he says in verse one, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with
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  the same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
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  What conclusion is Peter drawing here?
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  What's the conclusion?
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  What's the therefore?
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  Therefore.
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  Okay, Mike kind of danced around that, and it's logical, it makes sense.
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  We don't necessarily want to say it out loud because of the implications of the statement.
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  The therefore is, since Christ suffered in the flesh, he died, then you also arm yourselves
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  for the same purpose.
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  Now why did Christ suffer?
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  Christ suffered according to chapter three, verse 18, to bring us back to God.
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  But I want you to remember that the story doesn't end at the tomb.
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  Verse 18 says that Christ died once for all, the just for the unjust.
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  But what else happens?
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  What happens in first Peter three, verse 21?
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  Usually when we look at verse 21, we're focused on baptism.
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  It is one of the great passages of the New Testament that shows us that baptism is a
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  part of God's saving plan.
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  But what else does it say besides that?
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  By the resurrection, it takes us all the way back to chapter one and verse three.
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  Our living hope is because Jesus didn't stay in the tomb, he came out of the tomb.
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  Now it doesn't even end there.
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  It says that we appeal to God out of a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus
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  Christ.
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  Then what else does he say?
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  All right, so it didn't end on Sunday.
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  He spends 40 days with the disciples, and then he ultimately goes to heaven, and where
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  is he right now?
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  He's at the right hand of God.
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  But not just that, what else is occurring?
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  Verse 22, everything is in subjection under his feet.
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  He has authority over everything.
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  Why would Peter say this to the Christians in chapter four and verse one?
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  What's the message of hope for them?
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  The story doesn't end in your storm, in the difficulty that you're going through right
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  now.
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  When you are struggling, when you're suffering, you may feel like this is it.
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  This is the end.
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  There's no vindication, it's going to end this way.
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  I'm going to be the loser, I'm going to end up having lost everything for my faith in
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  Christ.
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  Apparently, as we go deeper into the chapter, this is a struggle that they are having based
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  on how they're being treated by the world, and how are they to regard their Christian
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  loved ones who have died faithful to Christ?
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  Here's the message of hope.
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  You may have to go through some difficulties, sacrifices, suffering for your faith.
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  You may have to be in the difficulty of this storm right now, but it doesn't end here.
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  You will triumph.
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  You're going to notice the word glory show up a lot in first Peter chapter four.
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  That's the ultimate outcome.
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  We're going to focus on some words that are very important in first Peter chapter four
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  that are some words of life.
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  Let me ask you this question before we get there.
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  Does the idea of suffering for faith seem foreign to us?
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  I see a lot of yeses.
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  Why does it seem foreign to us, the idea of it?
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  Do we have it easy in this country, in this life, in this generation?
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  Yeah, we do.
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  The fact that we're here tonight tells us that we don't have some of the same circumstances
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  that people in other ages, and even in some places in the world right now face.
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  I think most of us haven't done what a Christian or had to suffer in any part of faith.
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  Especially, we try to remind ourselves there's folks who are listening at home and can't
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  be here.
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  A lot of you heard Dale, but what he's saying is basically, is it possible that we're not
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  suffering because we've not really lived in such a way as to have our faith challenged
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  and to find ourselves in the place that these...
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  Let me ask this way, if we behave like Peter's telling these folks to behave, could it be
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  different for us right now in this country?
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  I don't know.
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  I mean, we don't have a crystal ball.
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  I don't know that for sure.
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  Let me ask it a different way.
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  Do we suffer for our faith today?
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  The more you invest, the more you put into something, typically, the more you get out
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  of that.
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  I think that's true.
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  I agree with that.
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  That's I think the challenge.
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  That was my challenge coming into this class is, take something that's not happening to
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  us right now and make application to our lives as we live in it.
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  Let me ask my question I asked a moment ago.
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  Do we suffer for our faith today?
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  If so, do you think that we suffer for our faith?
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  Comparatively speaking, do we suffer like Peter?
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  Do we suffer like Paul?
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  No, of course not.
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  Do we suffer like some folks in places around the world where Christianity is illegal?
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  They face a set of circumstances that produces perhaps its own benefits and blessings, but
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  I don't think there's any of us lining up and saying, I'm ready to change places with
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  you.
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  I'd like to have your circumstances for the rest of my life or for a year.
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  Not necessarily that we want that, but do we suffer for our faith?
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  If so, how?
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  First Peter 2.9 says we're a peculiar people.
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  That means that people for God's own possession were set apart, but people sometimes look
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  at the values of God's word and see it as strange.
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  We're going to see that in First Peter chapter four, by the way.
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  We might say the results of self-denial can show itself in suffering.
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  The results of self-denial may put us in the very positions that we're going to be talking
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  about what Brother Levi was just saying.
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  Possible to feel or to endure some shame, some humiliation, some lost relationships,
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  some strained, some changed relationships as the result of living out your faith on
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  a daily basis.
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  Passed over for job promotions or for recognition, for standing up for what's right.
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  Sometimes what happens, we've talked about the freedoms that we enjoy in our nation right
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  now, but sometimes those things are kind of encroached upon very slowly and we find
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  ourselves in a place to where to stand up for some of the things we could have stood
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  up for 10, 15, 20 years ago, it's a lot harder than it used to be.
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  I think I've mentioned this before.
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  There are some subjects that it used to be something that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow
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  20 years ago about, but you preach about it now, you stand to get a lot more of an adverse
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  reaction to.
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  The same thing happens in one-on-one conversations.
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  So as we think about, yes sir, go ahead Denver.
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  That's right.
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  Yeah, I think what Jesus said, if all men speak well of you, and so sometimes just for
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  telling people what they need to hear, that's going to draw opposition and maybe criticism,
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  that's good.
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  Yeah, that's right.
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  And there's a lot of encouragement in 1 Peter chapter four, and I want to get into that
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  because I'm watching that clock and I know that I always, I have a pace problem, so I
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  want to get going here.
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  There are some important words of life in this chapter that I want us to look at in
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  the context of what Peter begins with, arming yourself with the same purpose.
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  What does that involve?
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  Chapter one, it seems to me, and this is the first seven verses in the chapter, you
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  have your Bible, so if you can't read that on the board, you can read it in your Bibles.
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  Peter tells us that there is a flesh to control.
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  So the flesh is the first word I want us to focus on.
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  It's not necessarily a word of life, but it's a key word in this epistle that I want us
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  to look at.
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  You're going to notice in this section that Peter puts a great emphasis on the flesh.
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  Notice it as I read it aloud.
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  Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,
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  for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
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  So as to live the rest of our time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for
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  the will of God, for the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want
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  to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
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  With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of
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  debauchery and they malign you.
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  But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
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  For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged
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  in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
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  The end of all things is at hand.
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  Now how does Peter talk about the flesh here?
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  What does he mean?
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  How does he make use of that term in these first seven verses?
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  What does it mean?
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  In our body.
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  That's the baseline that Peter is speaking from because he says Christ suffered in the
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  flesh.
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  All that means is he suffered in the body.
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  He says you've got to spend the rest of your time in the flesh.
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  He said that back in chapter one.
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  So we're here for whatever length of time in the flesh.
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  That's a neutral commodity.
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  It's a reality.
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  It's already happened.
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  We're here.
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  But there is a flesh to control and that's what Peter wants us to focus on.
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  And it's the first reason why we've got to arm ourselves because there are people all
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  around us.
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  I'm not telling you anything you don't already know who are living for their flesh, who are
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  not controlling their flesh.
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  And when you have those two forces come into conflict with one another, there's going to
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  be difficulty.
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  If everybody lives according to their flesh and they're controlled by their flesh, we
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  have basically Noah's day.
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  We have the period of the judges.
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  We have the low lights of society where it's about to fall apart.
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  But sprinkled in the midst of that, God has lights on a hill.
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  He has people who are striving to their very best and perfectly as we are to control our
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  flesh and it's going to create conflict.
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  It may not be somebody taking you out at your job tomorrow outside of Bowling Green and
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  stoning you to death.
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  But it's going to create conflict and directly or indirectly it's going to create suffering
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  in your life or the potential for that.
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  So Peter says there's a flesh to control.
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  He refers to Jesus' humanity when he suffered in the flesh and then he makes this point
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  about controlling our flesh.
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  He says that whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
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  What does that mean?
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  Okay.
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  Okay, so that's a very key point and it's really going to be at the foundation of this
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  entire paragraph.
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  That you are being judged, right or wrong, each and every day in the flesh, in your body,
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  but also the idea being that people around you who may not be controlling their flesh,
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  they're judging you.
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  You might not be doing anything wrong.
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  You may be trying to live in the way the Bible is telling you to.
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  You may be trying to practice the fruit of the spirit.
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  You're trying to put other people's interest above your own and yet in doing that, there
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  are people who are going to feel judged by that and they're going to unfairly judge you
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  as they look at your life.
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  They may be looking for the least little thing that they can point out and say, oh, that's
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  what Christianity is about.
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  Or some person that pushes and pushes and pushes and pushes.
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  Have you ever seen two kids fighting and the older brother comes along and he starts slapping
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  and biting and whatever else and the little kid's taking it, taking it, taking it.
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  All of a sudden, the second born bites him.
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  I'm not sympathetic to the second born for any reason, but the second born bites him
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  back.
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  Then what's the older one do?
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  Mama, he bit me.
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  None of this other stuff that took place before that, but that's what's being reported.
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  That's what the world does.
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  They're like pushing and they're pushing and they're trying to see if they can't get
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  you to have some cracks in the armor of your spiritual armor and then they have something
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  that they can say against you.
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  So that's the challenge that we're facing each and every day.
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  But Chuck is right.
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  The idea is that it's not that you'll never commit another sin.
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  He's saying that this idea of ceasing in verse two, bring to an end, a willing succession
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  means that when we adopt the spirit of Christ and we dedicate our lives to following the
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  will of God rather than human passions, that in other words, the flesh, we have adopted
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  a radical and different way of living than they do.
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  We're playing by different rules.
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  One of the basic ways that we fall prey to the flesh is by living for the wrong things.
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  And so Peter is urging them to arm yourselves with the purpose of Christ and don't live
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  for the things, the same things that people who are living according to their flesh are
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  living for.
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  Go on.
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  Yes.
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  In fact, I'm going to dedicate the last part of class to verse 12 through 19 where that
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  whole section is talking about suffering, but he's going to contrast what kind of suffering
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  there in the two verses that you mentioned.
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  If you go back in your mind to the beginning of this letter, Peter shows us that most are
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  living for this world, but that we should not feel at home in this world.
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  From the very beginning, when he talks about those who are scattered abroad, your version
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  may say scattered aliens in chapter one in verse one.
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  He's not speaking mainly geographically, even though they were.
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  He's speaking spiritually.
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  And you think in chapter two in verse 11, he says, I urge you, brethren, as aliens and
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  strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul.
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  He's saying you're living for something different.
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  You're not living for perishable things like gold and silver, chapter one, verse seven
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  and verse 18.
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  You're not living for self.
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  You're not living for glory.
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  First Peter chapter two, well, one, verse 24, and you're not living for fleshly lusts
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  that war against the soul, chapter two in verse 11.
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  But Paul makes the point in Romans eight, five and six, that we're all living for something.
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  The one that sets their mind on the flesh seeks the things of the flesh.
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  The one that sets their mind on the spirit, the things of the spirit, but the mindset
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  on the flesh is death.
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  So Peter says, don't live for your flesh.
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  That means don't live for the world and worldly people, verse three through five.
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  For a lot of us, that's the way that we used to live.
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  Do we have co-workers or classmates or friends or family who see life as one long party that's
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  interrupted just long enough to go to work and earn enough to go back to the party?
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  Peter is saying that you have people like that in your life.
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  It may be subtle.
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  It may be more extreme like that.
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  But what he calls it is carrying out the will of the Gentiles.
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  And then he defines what that is there in verse three.
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  He says they're pursuing a course.
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  It's a specific point of departure.
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  It's a specific destination.
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  If you have the ESV, you're living in the new American standard, the new King James,
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  I think pursuing a course.
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  It's the same word that Jesus uses in the parable of the soils in Luke chapter eight
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  and verse 14.
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  And he talks about those on the thorny soil.
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  He says as they go on their way, they're choked by riches and worries and the pleasures of
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  this life.
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  And he uses the same word to say that most people are on the way that ends where?
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  In destruction.
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  Matthew chapter seven and verse 13.
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  And so Peter here is talking about that same principle.
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  And he's going to show us what the road of giving into the flesh is made up of.
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  It was pretty interesting.
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  I didn't realize this was going to happen.
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  Got to work yesterday.
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  I was going to go park in the office in the little carport.
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  And there was a string and some poles up.
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  They resurfaced back there.
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  Looks really nice.
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  And you think about that's made of something.
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  There's folks in this room that could tell us all the composite of that and what ingredients
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  are in that.
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  Pretty easy at 328 Motley Lane, it's gravel.
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  And it probably needs more gravel.
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  But the road is made of something.
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  Peter's saying this road of letting your flesh control your life, the folks that we're dealing
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  with and trying to arm ourselves with the purpose of Christ, that road is made of specific
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  materials.
• 22:59
  What is that road made of according to verse 3?
• 23:04
  What are the ingredients of the road where folks are living according to the flesh?
• 23:10
  Okay, in a general sense, that's it.
• 23:13
  Now Peter chooses to be more specific than that.
• 23:17
  What sin does he focus on?
• 23:20
  Should be a list.
• 23:22
  Yep, let's start with the first ingredient.
• 23:25
  First ingredient, my version says sensuality.
• 23:28
  Do you have something different?
• 23:31
  Licentiousness, lewdness, all right.
• 23:35
  So this isn't just fornication and adultery.
• 23:38
  It's not primarily that.
• 23:39
  It's words, it's dress, it's actions that are meant to tease and entice and attract.
• 23:45
  If you think of it this way, if immorality is the fire, then sensuality is the kindling
• 23:52
  that creates the fire.
• 23:54
  The next ingredient that makes up this road is lusts.
• 23:58
  What does that mean?
• 24:00
  Do you have lusts or what do you have?
• 24:01
  Is that a different word?
• 24:02
  Lusts?
• 24:03
  Passions?
• 24:04
  All right, it means to strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else.
• 24:10
  Law of Moses had a term for that.
• 24:13
  What was that?
• 24:14
  It's the 10th commandment.
• 24:16
  You shall not covet, right, to desire what belongs to someone else.
• 24:20
  It involves more than just the sexual.
• 24:23
  It seems like Peter is dealing in some kind of buckets of terms here.
• 24:27
  So you have sensuality and you have lusts.
• 24:31
  It's more than the sexual, but to keep with that mindset in the context, as married people,
• 24:38
  it's flirtation at work.
• 24:40
  It's inappropriate texts or messages.
• 24:43
  As unmarried people, it's feeding and fueling desires that we can't righteously quench.
• 24:50
  So Peter says that these individuals, that doing what the Gentiles want to do, it's made
• 24:57
  up of, this road is made up of sensuality, it's made up of passions or lusts.
• 25:03
  And then it's made up of, I'm going to put those three together, drunkenness, carousing,
• 25:08
  and drinking parties.
• 25:09
  And all you need to know is that these are all different stages and different degrees
• 25:13
  of alcohol consumption.
• 25:15
  It's events that center around or that feature drinking.
• 25:20
  It's a lifestyle that revolves people around alcohol.
• 25:24
  It's drawn to that.
• 25:27
  And it's easy for us in 21st century America, Western culture, to see why Peter would pay
• 25:33
  a little attention to that.
• 25:35
  It's really hard to find any kind of environment where folks who are paving their road in this
• 25:41
  way don't get alcohol into the picture somehow.
• 25:46
  How would that relate to us potentially suffering or paving a road that leads to destruction?
• 25:56
  Let me ask you this way.
• 25:59
  Why does Peter mention this?
• 26:02
  Why does Peter mention three terms about alcoholic consumption to say, be careful, these folks
• 26:11
  are going to make your life as Christians hard?
• 26:16
  He said, okay, it's a real danger with consequences.
• 26:19
  It is, it's everywhere.
• 26:24
  He's not saying, he said, this is the way you used to live.
• 26:26
  He's not saying, he's not getting on to them and saying, don't y'all go out and do this.
• 26:31
  He's saying the people around you are doing this and it's going to affect your life.
• 26:35
  How is it going to affect your life as Christians?
• 26:39
  And that's something that you're looking forward to doing, isn't it?
• 26:43
  A friend of mine was an elder in another congregation, was a powerful individual who
• 26:54
  was on multiple occasions the CEO of a company.
• 26:58
  And you can imagine in that culture, in that environment, the pressure that was there.
• 27:03
  Now I don't have a fault with this way of doing it.
• 27:07
  He didn't get up and preach a sermon on temperance every time that he was at a business meeting.
• 27:11
  But what he did was he took his wine glass and he turned it upside down.
• 27:16
  And he made, he didn't like put on a sign that said, you know, to be self-righteous.
• 27:23
  But he said, and if somebody asked him, he would very politely, he'd say, I just don't
• 27:28
  do that.
• 27:29
  And he would, depending on the circumstances, he wasn't ashamed to say it.
• 27:33
  He wasn't a guy that was really embarrassed.
• 27:36
  He had done this enough that he had thickened his skin and maybe that's what we have to
• 27:40
  do.
• 27:41
  But guys, that can be very hard to be in an environment where everybody around us is doing
• 27:46
  that.
• 27:47
  And if we stand up and say that we're going to the beat of a different drummer, would
• 27:53
  that make life hard for us?
• 27:55
  Could that, could that, could that bring suffering?
• 27:58
  Not going to take you out and lash you, beat you, but it still is a means of suffering.
• 28:07
  It's so easy just to bend and conform.
• 28:11
  Now, when he says lawless idolatry, let me catch that one real quick.
• 28:14
  These were things that were done by Gentiles as part of an unholy lifestyle.
• 28:17
  If you think about idolatry, it was different.
• 28:19
  You don't just imagine people going into a temple and bowing down in front of idols.
• 28:24
  There was all kind of immorality that was associated with that.
• 28:28
  You can read in the first century in the Roman empire, there was reveling, there was sexual
• 28:34
  immorality, there were unwholesome songs, there were unwholesome activities.
• 28:38
  So if you want to think, if you've ever been anywhere around Mardi Gras festivities at
• 28:44
  that particular period of time, just think about, certainly not, maybe by experience,
• 28:49
  I don't know, your past, but being at Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street during that particular
• 28:55
  time, you can imagine the picture being painted or being on Sunset Strip at a particular time
• 29:01
  and in particular circumstances.
• 29:04
  Peter's saying all of these things are the materials that make up the road that a lot
• 29:10
  of folks, that broad way that leads to destruction, that's what it's made of.
• 29:14
  And then he contrasts that with the fact that you're living according to the will of God,
• 29:18
  verse two.
• 29:19
  You no longer live for human passions, that's another way of saying the flesh, but you're
• 29:23
  living for the will of God.
• 29:26
  We know that we're not supposed to live like the world.
• 29:29
  And when you avoid these sins, you're going to be maligned, Peter says, evil spoken of
• 29:34
  by the people who do those very things, verse four.
• 29:37
  They can't believe that you would draw a line in the sand and say no to their lifestyle.
• 29:43
  Now here's what Peter says, those who don't control the flesh will still give an account
• 29:48
  to God, verse five.
• 29:51
  Doesn't seem like it, but we're still in the here and now.
• 29:56
  And it is to come that that's going to take place.
• 29:59
  So Peter focuses on the flesh, while we're in this flesh and we're trying to live in
• 30:03
  this life and negotiate the different relationships that we're trying to do, trying to be an influence
• 30:08
  in this world, and we're trying to lift people up.
• 30:12
  In the midst of all of that, we're going to come into conflict with people whose values
• 30:16
  are different.
• 30:17
  And when we stand up for what God wants us to, there is going to be difficulty sometimes.
• 30:23
  Any thoughts on that before we move to a second word that's important?
• 30:26
  He kind of segues into it.
• 30:28
  Yes, sir.
• 30:29
  That's it.
• 30:30
  That's right.
• 30:31
  Yep.
• 30:32
  And Peter shows us what happens when the carnal minded don't like the behavior of those whose
• 30:43
  lifestyle is, spiritual lifestyle is life and peace.
• 30:46
  All right.
• 30:47
  Number two, he says there is a judgment to prepare for.
• 30:50
  That's verse seven through 11.
• 30:53
  So to kind of go back over some of that ground, he says they will give an account, these folks
• 30:57
  we've just talked about, to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
• 31:00
  For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who were dead, that though judged
• 31:04
  in the flesh the way people are, that they might live in the spirit the way God does,
• 31:08
  the end of all things is at hand.
• 31:10
  Therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers.
• 31:15
  Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.
• 31:20
  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
• 31:23
  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful
• 31:26
  stewards of God's grace in its various forms.
• 31:29
  If anyone speaks, they should do so as the one who speaks the very words of God.
• 31:32
  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength that God provides so that in all
• 31:36
  things God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to him be the glory and the power forever
• 31:40
  and ever.
• 31:41
  Amen.
• 31:42
  Now, what Peter has done in verses 1-6 is he has appealed to the negative to help us
• 31:53
  prepare for the judgment.
• 31:54
  Here's what I mean by that.
• 31:58
  The Lord is going to judge the people who are living according to their flesh.
• 32:02
  You used to live that way, but you have a different purpose now.
• 32:05
  You now live according to the will of God.
• 32:08
  So here is the negative motivation.
• 32:15
  We don't want the end that those who have paved their road that way are going to have.
• 32:20
  What's really interesting is that after he does that, Peter also spends as much time
• 32:25
  talking about the positive motivation, that what is going to help us to prepare ourselves
• 32:31
  for the judgment is not just what happens to those who live immorally.
• 32:37
  But just as importantly, what are the resources that God has given us to help us to prepare
• 32:42
  for the judgment?
• 32:43
  Now, I want you to look at verse 7-11 and what are the positive, helpful resources he
• 32:50
  gives us to help us to be ready for the judgment?
• 32:54
  Okay, so one of those things is love.
• 33:00
  What's the first thing?
• 33:01
  Prayer.
• 33:02
  He's going to say in verse 7, be alert and be of sober mind.
• 33:07
  Again, if you go through and study and see those five imperatives in chapter 1 and see
• 33:13
  how many times Peter's going to draw back on that to make different points.
• 33:18
  Here he is going back to that fix your hope on the certainty of God's grace and his coming.
• 33:25
  He's saying, I want you to stay sober and be alert so that you may pray.
• 33:30
  That's the new international version up there.
• 33:32
  I think it conveys the meaning quite well.
• 33:36
  Some of you may have something different.
• 33:37
  Somebody read in a different version.
• 33:38
  What does verse 7 say?
• 33:42
  Say it again.
• 33:44
  Be watchful in your prayers.
• 33:46
  Read the whole verse, Kelly, if you don't mind.
• 33:48
  All right, be serious and watchful in your prayers.
• 33:51
  I know somebody has the ESV.
• 33:53
  What does it say?
• 33:55
  For the sake of your prayers.
• 33:57
  So what's Peter's point?
• 34:01
  He's saying by being sober, by being alert, how?
• 34:08
  Now next week in chapter 5 we're going to see the call at the end of the letter to be
• 34:12
  sober and be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion and walks about
• 34:16
  seeking whom he may devour.
• 34:19
  So how does sobriety and alertness connect to pray?
• 34:23
  He says so that you may pray.
• 34:25
  So what's he suggesting?
• 34:27
  All right.
• 34:29
  Do you ever struggle with prayer?
• 34:33
  Do you ever find that you're not faithful in prayer?
• 34:39
  Ever go stretches where you're going, I can't remember what day it was I prayed the last
• 34:48
  time.
• 34:49
  I imagine there's some in this room.
• 34:52
  Here's my theory.
• 34:53
  I could be wrong.
• 34:54
  My theory is that all of us struggle in one end of this or another.
• 34:58
  And if you don't struggle with either one, that's wonderful.
• 35:01
  But perhaps we struggle more in the area of prayer or we struggle more in the area of
• 35:07
  studying God's word.
• 35:09
  Typically, it's just been my experience and that may not be, I'm going to be frank with
• 35:15
  you.
• 35:16
  I have had greater struggles with faithfulness in prayer than I have with studying God's
• 35:24
  word.
• 35:26
  Now some of that may be that I preach and I can't spend a lot of time away from the
• 35:31
  word.
• 35:33
  But when I think about when I haven't been faithful in prayer, it's not necessarily that
• 35:41
  I'm out here doing that stuff in verses one through six.
• 35:45
  Why do good people fall off in their prayer life?
• 35:55
  And you think that that causes you to cease being faithful because you can't measure it.
• 36:15
  So it could be a change.
• 36:16
  It's a change in lifestyle and difference.
• 36:19
  Now here's a question I have.
• 36:22
  I don't know how many of you were at the bar six months ago living in that scene.
• 36:28
  You maybe have been in Christ for a good long time as I look out over this group.
• 36:33
  Why does it happen to us who it's not a distinct change but we've kind of fallen off in prayer
• 36:39
  life?
• 36:43
  I will say I have never had a drop off in my prayer life when I was in a severe crisis.
• 36:51
  Spiritual fatigue.
• 36:52
  I can't see how this is going to resolve.
• 36:55
  I've been going to the spiritual well of life and yet it's still burdening me.
• 37:01
  I think we get distracted.
• 37:03
  I think we get busy.
• 37:04
  I think we're so involved in trying to do things.
• 37:06
  I mean I think there's a lot of different reasons but he says you've got to keep your
• 37:08
  mind clear.
• 37:10
  This is important.
• 37:11
  This is a strategy that you need if you're going to survive the difficulty that you're
• 37:17
  facing.
• 37:19
  So prayer is one of the disciplines you need to help prepare you for the end of all things,
• 37:26
  for the judgment.
• 37:28
  And so it can't be something that we lapse in for a long period of time because our own
• 37:32
  faithfulness is at stake.
• 37:33
  Number two, fervently love one another.
• 37:37
  This is a strategy.
• 37:38
  This is in the view of the end of all things.
• 37:40
  What's going to help us to be ready for the judgment is to love each other.
• 37:44
  And what's interesting is he says love, fervently love one another for love hides a multitude
• 37:50
  of sins.
• 37:51
  We may come to that, we may say well what does that mean?
• 37:52
  It doesn't mean we ignore, we gloss over, we bury, we indulge sins.
• 37:57
  It's saying that we're eager to forgive and forget.
• 37:59
  That we want to help each other to overcome and we're quick to bury it, not to bring it
• 38:06
  back up.
• 38:07
  We want everybody to make it.
• 38:10
  And so you don't have to worry that 18 months from now I'm going to pull out of my back
• 38:13
  pocket that you did this back then, I know you've repented of it, but love covers it.
• 38:19
  We want to go the other way and say what sin?
• 38:22
  I really can't remember.
• 38:23
  I don't know if I ever told you this before.
• 38:27
  When I was in college I had a particularly, I had something I considered to be a sinful
• 38:33
  habit and after I graduated, Wendell Winkler who was head of the Bible department came
• 38:40
  and held a gospel meeting where I was and when he came right before Sunday morning Bible
• 38:45
  class I pulled him into my office and I said, I don't know if you know this or not, but
• 38:50
  when I was a student and I told him.
• 38:53
  And he said, yeah I guess I'd heard that, but I let that go in one ear and out the other.
• 38:58
  I was 22 years old and I thought, man that is a lesson I need to remember.
• 39:05
  It has, it has stayed with me that as we love one another and we violate God's will, maybe
• 39:16
  it's not against you, but if it's against you, whatever it is, that we need to develop
• 39:20
  that kind of attitude because if I will take that attitude with you and help you to put
• 39:25
  that behind you, it's going to be a whole lot easier for you to go to heaven than if
• 39:29
  I'm beating you over the head with it, using that as a club and humbling you, but I'm going
• 39:34
  to put that away.
• 39:36
  That's one of those disciplines.
• 39:37
  There's two others that I just want you to take notice of.
• 39:40
  One is hospitality.
• 39:41
  One of the ways God prepares us for eternity to help us prepare one another is by practicing
• 39:46
  hospitality and he says to do this without grumbling, I wish I had time just to ask,
• 39:52
  why would we grumble?
• 39:53
  Well, we know ladies, why would you grumble in hospitality?
• 39:58
  All the fuss, all the time, all the, you know, whatever else, there's all kinds of things.
• 40:02
  Somebody broke my dish or you know, whatever it is, I don't know what it is, but we don't,
• 40:06
  we don't complain if we're keeping the end in mind and we serve one another.
• 40:11
  If we will dedicate ourselves to serving one another, then we will help one another to
• 40:16
  go to heaven.
• 40:17
  Chris, I've left the suffering for you if you want to deal with that next week and then
• 40:21
  chapter five because you only got 14 verses in chapter five, so I was trying to think
• 40:24
  of you.
• 40:25
  All right.
• 40:26
  Well guys, appreciate your attention tonight and we'll continue next week in first Peter
• 40:29
  five.