Well, in a sense I'm going to be speaking a little bit about what Ed and Phil talked about, because we're going to be dealing with 1 Peter chapter 4, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 11 the next couple weeks, and these are Peter is remarking about the changes that are made in us as we identify with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. The old ways of life are replaced by a new life that is lived according to the reality of who we are in Christ. Now, we've already seen a lot of that over our study in the first section of this letter in which Peter describes those realities. In summary, the believer is chosen by God, sanctified by the Spirit, and cleansed by Jesus. The believer is born again by God's mercy and redeemed by Christ's blood to become a living stone being built into a spiritual house as part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people for God's own possession which makes us aliens and strangers in this world and slaves of Christ and as slaves of Christ We live in submission to God and the lines of authority that extend from Him in civil institutions, in the workplace, and the home. But because our submission is to God first, it also puts a limit on any other authority. We submit to them as long as it's in keeping with God has commanded in His Word. Whenever that's out of a line, we submit to God first. and respectfully disobey the other lines of authority because they're out of line. God is always our priority. But in making that our priority, we find that we can also find that there will be times when we can be persecuted and suffer because of that. Now, most people are going to treat you well if you pursue what is good. Peter points that out. But there are those who are evil. They want you to bend to their will. and so they will make life miserable for you if you do not now such evil people are not to be feared we are not to be intimidated by them or we're not even to allow them to agitate us we're instead to fear the lord and we demonstrate that proper fear and respect of him by sanctifying the lord in our heart by giving a proper defense, a reasoned explanation of the hope that is within us, and we do so with in a respectful manner, in a gentle manner. Anyone who asks any question, we should be ready to respond to them with that kind of humility. But again, it's the Lord who's first. That's who we fear, not man. Now, Jesus went through a lot of suffering, and Peter pointed that out at the end of chapter three. but all that he went through was according to the will of God and in doing so he secured the victory over sin and death God takes what man means for evil and he turns it into what he wants it to be and that is for good Jesus now has attained the seat of authority at the right hand of the father he's preparing a place for us that know him and one day he'll return for us that's our hope Now this next passage, as we begin chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4, Peter is going to apply these truths into daily life. Our identity in Christ, including his suffering according to the will of God, should result in us living in a very different manner than the rest of the world around us. The Christian is given a different purpose in life and it centers on God's will instead of self-will resulting in godliness instead of worldliness even if we should have to suffer at the hands of the ungodly. Now follow along as I read. I'm going to read verses 1 through 11. We're going to be looking at 1 through 6 this morning and then 7 through 11 next week. Therefore Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. The time already passed is sufficient to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. And in all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you. But they shall give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in spirit according to God. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another, without complaint, as each one has received a special gift employed in serving one another as good stewards in the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks as it were, the utterances of God, whoever serves, so as by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Now this passage has eight sentences in two paragraphs directed by the imperative to arm yourself with the same way of thinking that Jesus had as he suffered in the flesh. So that encompasses both ceasing from sin and living in righteousness as you pursue living according to the will of God. Our focus this morning is on that first paragraph. The therefore, which begins verse one, points you back to Peter's premise back in chapter three, verse 17. That is better to suffer according to the will of God for doing good than for evil. and Jesus being the example of that truth in verses 18 through 22. The suffering which Jesus endured in becoming a man, which includes everything from his incarnation, because he left the glories of heaven to become a man, living among sinful people, being betrayed by friends, being illegally tried, beaten and then scourged and crucified, resulted in his victory over sin and death when he rose from the grave, then commissioned the apostles and ascended to heaven, where again, as I mentioned earlier, he is preparing a place for all who have place their faith in Him. He is at the right hand of the Father. He is interceding for us. And one day He's returning to take us to be with Him forever. That's our hope. That's a confidence assurance we have. It's not just a wish. It is a confidence assurance we base our lives on it. Now, Peter refers to all of that in verse 1 with a simple statement. Christ has suffered in the flesh. It's an action that occurred in the past which is a completed work. Peter states that in 3.18, Christ also died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. Now many of you come from Roman Catholic backgrounds. If you understand the doctrine of the mass, you understand that every time they perform one, it is a re-sacrificing of Christ. This is contrary to that. That doctrine is heresy. It's actually an abomination. Christ died once for sins. That's it. It's a completed work. It's not something that keeps doing over and over and over again. Once for all time. Hebrews 10, 12 is very direct on this point. He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of the Father. You don't sit down until the work is done. It's done. It's completed. Now Peter points to Jesus suffering as the example for believers to follow in obeying the command that is given to arm yourselves also with the same purpose. The word translated arm here, hablidzo, is from a Greek word used for the actions of a soldier putting on his armor and taking up his weapons. If you're a student of history, you know that a Greek soldier was actually called a haplite. It comes from the same word. So that's the idea that's here. There is a war that is going on. And there's nothing passive about this, nothing casual about it. It is a purposeful action taken to be prepared both defensively and offensively for the battle you are about to enter. That's the picture Peter is painting. That is the mindset Christians should have as we live in this sin-cursed world. Paul warns about this as well. Flip over quickly Ephesians chapter six, starting in verse 10. We need to remember we are in spiritual war and we have an adversary and Paul explains that in more detail and describes how to be prepared for it. starting in verse 10 finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for a struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm Sam, firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert, with all perseverance, petition for all the saints." Then he continues on for a personal prayer for himself. Peter's talking about the same thing. Arm yourselves, this is a spiritual battle we are in. Now, Peter gives several ways in which we are to arm ourselves. And that begins with verse one, in having the same purpose or the same mind, the same manner of thinking, depending on your translation. That's what the word's referring to. It's this manner of thinking that he had that enabled him to leave the glories of heaven, become a man, and go through everything he had culminating in his death on the cross. What was his mindset? Now, we don't have to guess at it, because Jesus is very direct about it, over and over and over again. Let me give you a couple verses on this. John 4, 34, Jesus said, his food was to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. That was his purpose. In John 7, 16, Jesus states, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. In John 8, 28, I do nothing of my own initiative. I speak these things as the Father taught me. This is Jesus' mindset. I'm here to do what God has given me to do. John 50 verse 30 and John 6 38 said, he did not come to seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. That was even his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane as he has faced imminent arrest and then crucifixion. Not as I will, but as thy will. Now that's the same purpose the men are thinking we are to have as Christians. Not your own will. God's will. We pursue that of our Creator and our Father. And Peter confirms this is what he means by that last phrase in verse 2, that we are to live the rest of the time in the flesh for what purpose? For the will of God. That's the first way to arm yourself. Have the same mindset, have the same purpose as Christ. The second way Peter points out to arm yourself for spiritual battle is to remember that saving faith in Jesus Christ results in a very radical change in your identity and therefore your purpose in life. Peter states there at the end of verse one, because he who has suffered in the flesh has seized from sin. This is not a reference to some kind of penance in which physical suffering cleanses you from sin. That doesn't happen. Nor is it any kind of pious idea that physical suffering will keep you from sin. It won't. The only way to be cleansed from sin is through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary. That faith is reckoned to you as righteousness so that when God looks at you, He sees you as He would Christ. not in the filth that we actually are currently as we walk in this world. He sees you and He imputes to you that righteousness so that is your standing before God and He continues to change you so that your life becomes more and more like what that righteousness is. Eventually, you are either going to be with Christ because He returns, I'm kind of holding out for that one myself, or I will die. and then I will be with him either way I finally reach full sanctification and my righteousness and my position will match we're looking forward to that that's the only way you can be cleansed faith in Christ Now people throughout the centuries have tried some means of physical suffering to purge themselves from sinful desires. It has never worked. And it never will work because as Jesus pointed out in Mark 7 21, it is from within. It is out of the heart of man that proceed the evil thoughts that direct us and the evil actions that come from them. So physical suffering is not going to keep you from that. You'll just find a new way to sin. The reference here is to death, but that is the same phrase Peter used in reference to Jesus. For the Christian, physical death will mean complete sanctification, so we can look forward to it. It's not something we have to fear, it's actually a culmination for us. The world is now behind us, but that's not what Peter's talking about here. Peter is not talking about physical death as demonstrated by his immediate reference to living the rest of your time in the flesh. Okay? You can't be physically dead and physically alive at the same time. The word cease here, pauo, pauo, conveys the idea that temptation has lost its appeal and power over the believer. You combine these things, we find this is a reference to the believer's identification with Jesus' death, which is what frees us from the bondage of sin, as Peter already had pointed out in 224. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. Why? So that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Now this is a concept Paul talks about a lot as well. In fact for himself he stated it this way in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me in the life I now live. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. He made that very personal. We saw earlier in the reading of Colossians chapter 3 verses 2 through 5. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. Turn over to Romans 6. This is the passage that is probably the best parallel. Remember that Peter had talked about baptism in chapter 3 verse 21 in reference to salvation. Paul deals with both issues in Romans 6. So it's an appropriate passage. In fact, it's the, I think, the perfect parallel passage in explaining the purpose of baptism, its relationship to sin and death and dying to sin. Follow along as I read. Romans 6. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? That's his premise. How can you, Romans, still think that you can continue on sinning? You can't. And now he's gonna explain why. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. That's the picture of water baptism. I have died with Christ, I am buried, I push you under the water, the old life is dead, and then I raise you up out of the water to walk in newness of life. That's the picture. It is a identification with Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection. Verse 5, For if we become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer has master over him. Verse 10. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's the mindset we're supposed to have. Whatever your old life was, it's to be dead to you. It's a different kind of life. he continues on verse 12, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God for sin shall not be master over you but for you are not under the law but under grace What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from these things, of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, the outcome eternal life. The wage of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." There's the picture of baptism, identification with Christ's death. and a resurrection to newness of life. And that's what Peter's talking about here. We have died to our old selves. And being dead, we are freed from sin. It's no longer to have the attraction, the hold on you, persuasive of you. And if you've walked with Christ any length of time, you recognize that in your own life. The things you used to be interested in, they don't interest you. They're not attractive anymore. In fact, some of them are just downright disgusting. And you're like, how could I have ever been involved with that? Well, it's because you're a sinner. A pig likes to wallow in the mud. And so you were doing what was natural. But you're no longer a pig. Okay? You're a new creature in Christ. You don't want to be in the slop. You want to walk in righteousness. And so we continue on. Now, as long as we're in these bodies of flesh, there's going to be an attraction to it. And we fight it, and that's why all these passages put it directly. Consider the members, your aspects of your life as dead to sin. Consider them dead. Mortify them, as the old King James says. Put them to death. That is the second aspect of arming ourselves. Whatever time you have remaining in this life, and none of us know whether it's a long time or a short time, you may not even make it home today. You may live to be a hundred. That's up to God, isn't it? But whatever that time it is, Peter states here, live it in pursuit of the will of God, just as Jesus did, instead of in the strong desires of worldly-minded men, which Peter will now detail in the next two verses. So in verses three and four, Peter gives the next way to arm yourself, and that is to recognize you are not to continue in your sinful former ways of life, even when that causes your friends to reject you. Verse three, for the time already, for the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation and they malign you. Now, the main thought in this compound sentence is actually the surprise of the heathen that the Christian will no longer join them in their sinful pursuits. Now, by the particular vices Peter lists, it's obvious he's writing to those who are converted as adults after living in the manner of pagans. desire here, Bilema, denotes the will as plan, project, purpose, goal, intention, or tendency. The Gentile culture put a lot of persuasive pressure toward a host of vices Each of those listed here by Peter is plural, meaning it's not just once they do it, it's continually being done. And it's also, without the article, emphasizing it's a qualitative nature. Not just one specific thing, they're marked by this stuff. Sensualities. So Ligaya describes behavior completely lacking in moral restraint, usually with an implication of sexual licentiousness. Lust, epiphany, is a strong desire which in this context is an evil desire in wanting what belongs to someone else and or to engage in activity that is morally wrong. Drunkenness, that's a compound word. I know Lugias, it combines wine with bubble up in the sense that it's overflowing. It describes the consumption of a lot of alcohol. Okay, it's an excessive amount. The Greeks, the next one, carousing, komos, refers to all that goes with drinking parties, and that's why in some of your translations it's revelries or orgies. The Greeks use this to describe drunken youths parading through the streets and causing mayhem. Drinking parties, patas, refers to the act of drinking, and this context is probably related to religious rites that included drinking in their idol worship. Because this is immediately followed by abominable idolatries, which refers to the abominations that were part of the worship of idols. The worship of idols itself is an abomination to God. But all the stuff that's associated with it, But whether a sinful lifestyle has been practiced for a long time or a short time, whether its vices are those of adults, such as those listed here, or the simple ones of children who do not obey their parents, that's also a vice. The time to stop it is already past. Hopefully you never get into it, but if it is occurring, it's already past time to stop. That's Peter's point here. Now certainly that's easier, the earlier a person becomes a Christian. A child is not as entrenched in sin. They're still sinful, they're not as entrenched in it. Their sins are not as flagrantly rebellious as those who get older. And the peer pressure is not on them like it will be as they enter their teens and twenties. But whether it's adults or children, there's still a lot of pressure there. So a lot of those around that will seek to try to get you to join them in their sin. As kids you may remember, at least this is true for boys, I'm sure it's true for girls, some kid wants to dare you to do something and you stupidly take up the dare. Hopefully as you wise up you don't do that anymore, but you can see how peer pressure works. It gets worse in your teens and twenties. In fact, the current wave of gender dysphoria is directly linked to pressure from peers and those they look up to as authority figures. That's why it's skyrocketing. Young adults face very strong peer pressure due to what all the other young adults are doing, or they risk being excluded from the group. That's the effectiveness of so-called cancel culture. I don't want to be canceled. I'm sorry, you can't cancel me. You know why? Because God has me in His hands. And He's not going to cancel me. He'd just move me to something else. And anything that I do is up to God, not anybody else. So even though, yes, our website has been canceled a lot of ways, instead of hitting a million and a half hits per year, we're down to around 300,000. And it's not competition because it goes, and then flattens out and down. It's their algorithms. You know what? The people who need to see and read those sermons are still seeing and reading them. Even though Google doesn't like us, please don't use Google for your search engine. Use something else. Okay? They don't like us. You're not going to get what you want. If you can't find us, then they're probably not a good place. We're way down there. There are other search engines. I saw something interesting the other day, and this was really intriguing me. The number one search engine that month that was pointing to our website was a Catholic one in in Great Britain. Guess what? They need to hear what I was preaching. I'll leave that up to God. But if you are in your teens, or you're in your early twenties, being canceled by your friends, that's huge. And that's why social media is so dangerous for our young people. It's dangerous for our older people too. We allow ourselves to be pressured, to be affected, and that's what Paul's talking about here. This desire of the Gentiles, this pressure, cultural pressure, this persuasion, peer pressure. A couple things really help that. With children, especially a strong family identity. So that they're more concerned of being like mom and dad than they are about what their friends are like, period. Had that in my own family growing up. We had still that in my own children. That's why Jonathan ended up wearing a cowboy hat around here for quite a while. That's dad's fault, okay? You want to be like dad. That's why they ended up liking country music. Dad liked it. And I like bluegrass. So David picked up a banjo. Yeah. I miss the banjo. I got the banjo over, it's right there. It's right over there. You need to take it home, Robbie, and learn to play it, okay? All right. Everybody's seen it. I just gave Robbie the banjo, okay? We need some bluegrass again. All right. But you get the idea. It's a strong family identity will help the children. But even more so, a strong identity in being involved in church, with other believers, the family of God, being involved with people who know you well enough to hold you accountable, to encourage you when you need it because you're down, or to admonish you when you need it because, well, you're doing stupid things. All right? And you need a kick. And there's someone there that loves you enough to do so. That helps tremendously with the peer pressure, the culture pressure that's out there in this world. We can help each other thwart the culture pressure to join in sinful vices. Now Peter makes the observation, gives the warning, that the heathen are surprised when someone who becomes a Christian stops participating in the same behaviors as they do. Their excesses of dissipation, Otias Anna Kusin, refers to a flood of behaviors that shows a lack of concern or even thought about the consequences of their sinful actions. They live for the pleasure of the moment. And we've all seen this. Are drunks concerned about the hangover the next morning as they're busy drinking the night before? Not at all. They aren't concerned about becoming a alcoholic who loses their job or loses their family until after the damage is already done. They don't think about the consequences. The same thing is true with drug addicts. It's just to get the next fix. Reckless drivers do not consider the wrecks, carnage, and deaths they may cause. The sexually immoral consider neither the physical consequences of a whole host of diseases they may incur and pass along, nor the emotional damage caused by multiple broken relationships. Just whatever's for the moment. Instead, sinners think, you're strange. So strange, it's like you're a foreigner. You're an alien living among them. And guess what? It's true. We are new creatures in Christ. We are aliens and strangers in this world. We are very different than them. But they cannot understand why you won't join them any longer in doing what they do. It doesn't make sense to them. They don't comprehend it. Why? We're told in Scripture they're blinded by the God of this world. In Romans 1 we see there is a descending into moral depravity which becomes a mental depravity. They can't comprehend it anymore. And that's the society we live in. They cannot comprehend right and wrong, and they think you're the weird one for standing up and saying, a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. Is there something hard about this? Well, for some, it seems like it is. They're confused. And as I said before, we now have a Supreme Court judge who can't tell the difference, can't define what a woman is, and the majority of the United States Senate voted for her. They're mentally depraved. And so they don't understand you. And Peter gives a warning here that they are going to end up turning on you. The bewilderment becomes hostility. They malign you. The actual word there is blasphemy. They blaspheme you. That's a word that speaks in which you speak against someone to cause them harm and injure your reputation. It will include slander and lying. Whatever they can, they turn on you. And since these actions are directly related to obeying God instead of following his sinful desires, the blasphemy is against God's commands and hence God as well. Now that's a very common experience for those who become Christians and adults. That's what happens with their friends. I had a co-worker when I worked for the Agriculture Department of the County of Los Angeles. He used to always go to the bars with his friends and get drunk. He wouldn't do it anymore. But he wanted to be with his friends, so he wanted to go and drink a soda with them. They turned on him. They did not want him there if he wasn't going to get drunk with them. And they ended the relationship with him. He didn't. He still wanted to try and be a friend. But he didn't want it. Many of you have had similar experiences. And if you're a new Christian, expect it. It will happen. Your friends who do not want to turn from their sin are going to look at you as some kind of odd creature, and they will abandon the relationship because you won't do the sin with them. The next way to arm yourself is to remember the judgment that is to come. Peter gives a stern warning in verse 5 that heathens should give careful consideration of the consequences of their excessive dissipation and all their sins. Why? Because they shall give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. To give account is a word borrowed from accounting, from bookkeeping. It refers to being held responsible for everything they have done. Revelation 20 verse 12 describes the books being opened and judgment being made by what is written in the books about each individual's works. That warning is made multiple times in both the Hebrew and the Greek scriptures. For example, Jeremiah 1710, I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. Matthew 16 27 Jesus said for the son of man is going to come in the glory of his father with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds Jesus even warned in Matthew 12 36 that every careless word that people speak they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment that sobering isn't it careless words Ecclesiastes 12, 14 states, for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil, and Romans 14, 12, that each one of us will give an account of himself to God. However, God has given that judgment to the Son, as stated that way in John 5.22. Peter actually said that himself in Acts 10.42 as he's preaching to Cornelius and the Gentiles with him. The one who has been appointed, or he's referring to Jesus, the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Now the phrase living and dead was a very common phrase, it simply indicated all people past and present, so the entirety of humanity. Now understand that even Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5.10, but it is not a judgment of condemnation, Romans 8.1 is clear on that point, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Instead, as 1 Corinthians 3, 12 through 15 explains, our works will be judged as to what their quality is, and if they are of the proper quality, it'll be assessing what rewards we'll receive because of them. So there are rewards for Christians as we walk with Christ. That's our judgment. That's very different. So Peter's announcement of judgment, a very stern warning for all non-Christians, but that same judgment is a hope for the Christians, as Peter explains in the next verse. This is the last way Peter mentions in this section of how to arm yourself. Remember the promise of eternal life that is part of the gospel, the good news of Christ. All who place their faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the Spirit according to the will of God. Now some have taken Peter's wording here, combined with the statement in 318 that Jesus made a proclamation to the spirits now held in prison, that the gospel will be preached to the dead, giving them a second chance for salvation. Now certainly that would be a nice comforting thought for all of us who have loved ones who've resisted Christ all through their life and died without Him. I'd love to hold that view, but it's not true. I pointed out last, the last term of this series, there is no second chance after death. Hebrews 9.27 is blunt. It declares it's appointed for men to die once and after this judgment. The explanation of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, 1931 illustrates that very reality. The rich man is separated from Lazarus, the gulf, and he can't do anything to be able to even give a warning to his brothers, much less find some means by which he can get out of there. You have this life only to repent. Now the verbs preach and judge are also eras passive. That signifies this is something that already took place, which eliminates the idea of Clement of Alexandria, who proposed that this is a reference to those who are spiritually dead. If that was true, this would require a present active verb to include people who are physically alive at the present, but spiritually dead who are being preached to. But that's not what is stated in the verse. Well, what's Peter talking about then? This is confusing. He's referring to those that had heard the gospel and believed and physically died, some of whom were martyrs, as indicated by that next phrase, regarding being judged in the flesh according to men. And yet, according to God's judgment, they will live in the Spirit. The verb for may live is a present active indicative signifying this is a present reality. So those who had died, including those who have been martyred, the present reality is because of what God has done and His judgment of them based on what Christ has done and applying to them as they live. Dead physically, alive spiritually with Christ. This is a case where a more wooden translation might be a little helpful. Here's one I put together. For because of this also to the dead the gospel was proclaimed so that they may be judged on one hand according to men in flesh, but on the other hand live according to God in spirit. So these who are now dead, they had had the gospel proclaimed in the past. They're now physically dead. Some of these had become martyrs. They became martyrs because men judged them not worthy of life and murdered them. But even so, they're alive with Christ. That's our hope, isn't it? That's our hope, whether we're martyred or not. We have a hope in the gospel of eternal life. That transcends the stuff of this life. And that gives us a confidence to be able to live a different way than the rest of the world. Take to heart, because these same promises belong to us. Understand, we are in a spiritual battle. It's not theoretical, it's real. You may not be able to see that, maybe once in a while you perceive a little of it, but this is daily life for us. We have an adversary and he would desire to move us away from God in any way possible. You don't have to become a Satan worshiper for him to win. All he needs to do is skew you away from the proper worship of God, to believe a false gospel. or as a Christian, not to act upon that true gospel and live like the rest of the world and destroy your testimony and effectiveness in serving Christ. That is a daily battle. So we need to be well prepared and equipped for fight against sin and to be able to live according to the will of God in righteousness. So arm yourself. To summarize then what Peter has said here, number one, follow the example of Jesus Christ and live according to the purpose and mindset and living for the will of God. Just like Christ did. Two, no longer live according to sinful manner of life you used to have, but instead according to the will of God. Three, be prepared to lose friends and even be blaspheming because you will not join them in their sinful pursuits. Don't join them. Four, remember that God will judge everyone according to their deeds. That's condemnation to the unrighteous and hope for the righteous. We receive rewards, they receive condemnation. And five, take to heart the promise of the gospel, that death is only a transition for us into eternal life with Christ, so that even the threat of martyrdom is not a cause of fear. Father, thank you for this passage. Powerful passage that gives us such hope and good direction in how we are to live. A completely radically different way than the world is new creatures in Christ. Thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit who does change us, who brings us to conviction of our sin that we may turn and believe, and then continue to change us that we may be conformed to the image of Christ. More like Him every day. In Jesus' name, amen.