Sorry for being a little late running behind.
Sound system required a little bit of uh last minute surgery.
Mostly because somebody named Aaron decided to take it apart trying to fix something before services and it didn't work.
So.
All right, we're going to be picking up in 1 Peter chapter four and we'll get into that after we open with a word of prayer.
Let's bow our heads.
Gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne.
grateful for your many blessings for all that you do for us on a daily basis for your loving kindness your care and your concern that you shower upon us Lord we ask that you be
with us as we go through this period of study through this time that we have to Encourage one another provoke one another to love and the good works and pray that we might be
diligent to study your word to grow there by We ask that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory and all this we pray and ask in
Jesus' amen.
uh
Peter writes concerning Christ, who Peter says has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him.
As Peter closes out what we have in our English Bibles as the third chapter of 1 Peter.
He establishes that Christ has authority.
He establishes the same thing that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28, that all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth.
Peter describes it in a slightly different way to mean the same thing, that he is at the right hand of God and angels and authorities.
and powers are all made subject to Him.
Who is not subject to the authority of Christ?
God the Father.
The Hebrew writer, as we discussed on last Wednesday, uh the Hebrew writer makes it clear that the one who places all authority under the feet of Christ is excluded from being
under the authority of Jesus Christ by nature of the fact that he's the one who placed everything else under the authority of Jesus Christ.
And so the Godhead, God
God the Father, God the Spirit did not place themselves under the authority of Christ.
Yet, as you examine that, who then is left out other than God the Father and God the Spirit?
It's only sort of a trick question.
No one.
Now wait a minute.
Does that mean that Satan is under the authority of Jesus Christ?
Yes, it does.
Okay?
Does that mean that the worst ruler, the most atrocious and tyrannical leader who's ever lived on earth and sought to uh become a god and a deity in and of themselves is under the
authority of Jesus Christ?
Does that mean that elders who seek to lift themselves up and hold their own authority and draw away people after their own teachings are under the authority of Jesus Christ?
Does that mean that the atheist who does not believe that God even exists and that all that exists is this material world if, in fact, this material world even exists, and we're
not just all the figment of somebody's imagination, that they also are under the authority of Jesus Christ?
Let me ask it a different way.
Are all of those same people in the kingdom of Jesus Christ?
Now, careful.
What is Jesus by way of position and role?
He's the head of the church, king, what else?
Mediator, priest, high priest, prophet.
If he is the king, what is the extent of his rule?
All right, if he's the king and he is the king of kings and Lord of lords, then the extent of his kingdom, the extent of his rule is everything.
Otherwise, you would have those who are outside his authority.
True or false?
The President of China is outside of the rule and the authority of the President of the United States of America.
True.
Why?
Because the...
extent of influence of the United States may influence China.
It may have an impact on it, but it is not inside the border of, nor under the law of, nor under the rule of the United States of America.
So while the actions of one ruler may impact the territory of another, they are separate and distinct.
Is there a place in heaven or a place on earth, a place in this realm or any other known to us by way of scripture that Christ's authority does not go?
then is there a place of which he is not king?
Is there a place of which he has no reign and no rule?
Okay, here's why I bring that up.
There are times where well-meaning brethren will say, the church is the kingdom and the kingdom is the church.
And anywhere in the Bible that you see the word kingdom, you can write church.
And anywhere in the Bible you see church, you can write kingdom.
And what does that ignore when you say something like that?
that there are things that are outside of the church that are not outside of the rule and authority of Christ.
Okay, now hold on a minute.
Let's better establish what is appropriate to say when the context of a passage
is discussing the kingdom in the context of the kingdom that was established by Christ in which salvation is found.
The church is the kingdom and the kingdom is the church.
But if we say here's an English word and here's an English word and wherever you find this one you can substitute that one and wherever you find that one you can substitute this
one, you get a logical fallacy because the context dictates the definition and the meaning of a term, not the fact that a certain word is used.
How do I know that?
Because I know that we use the word love in a lot of different ways, don't we?
We could speak of love as in I love chocolate.
We could also say I love spring weather.
I could also say I love my wife.
Are we going to assume because I use the same word that all of the meanings are equivalent?
For the sake of my relationship with my wife, we better hope not.
If I say, love my brother, and I also say, I love my wife, should we assume that because I'm now talking about people, the definitions and the meanings are equal?
No.
So why should we open the Bible and assume that everywhere the word kingdom is used, it always means the exact same thing?
We shouldn't.
But by the way, we shouldn't do the same thing with the word church either.
For there's a place in the book of Acts where the term, the Greek word that is often translated church, ecclesia, isn't even talking about the church because the term meant
people called out of something.
And in one place in the Greek language, it's used to refer to just an assembly of people in a city.
Just because a word is used doesn't mean that it always means the same thing unless it's using the same context, okay?
So let's bring all of this together so that we can appreciate something.
Is the President of China accountable to the laws of the United States of America on banking?
No, why not?
He doesn't live under the authority and under the jurisdiction of those laws.
Is Satan accountable to the law of Christ?
Is he accountable to the rule of Christ?
that it means he's inside the jurisdiction of Christ's reign.
The jurisdiction of the reign of Christ is his kingdom.
Therefore, the extent of Christ's kingdom extends by terms of authority, rule, and jurisdiction to everything that excludes God the Father and God the Spirit.
Otherwise, they would have no authority over those things.
Otherwise, those things would not be under his feet.
They would not be under his rule.
They would not be under his authority.
Therefore, he would not be able to judge them.
Let's step back one more time.
The New Testament says that hell was created as a place for who and his what.
the devil and his angels.
On the final day, when the day of judgment occurs, who does the New Testament tell us will sit as judge on that day of judgment?
Jesus.
If the devil and his angels are going to be cast into hell as an eternal punishment, who
He has the authority to put them there according to Scripture.
The judge.
That means they're under his rule, they're under his authority, and they're under his jurisdiction.
Therefore, they're in his kingdom.
In the term, in the sense of the extent of his authority.
This is important because there are times where we will encounter the term kingdom in the Old Testament prophetically.
and the New Testament where it doesn't match the terminology of the church, those who are saved and called out of the world and redeemed by Christ.
And yet, it does match the extent of his authority and reign over all things that exist.
Okay?
And when we stop and see a passage like 1 Peter chapter three verse 22, we can use this to help appreciate these other passages.
because they established that there's two different contexts in which the kingdom, the term kingdom, is used.
And one has to do with the church, the kingdom of God, the redeemed of his people, or the redeemed, those who make up his people.
and the kingdom the extent of his authority.
And in both scenarios, we are quite certain that Christ is ruler over all.
In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my what?
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and then he turns to the disciples specifically to Peter and he says to Peter and the disciples and I give unto you
the keys of the kingdom
True or false, Jesus is handing the apostles the keys by which when they use them to open the door, because that's what keys go to, that they're granting access to life in this
world and the outside, the physical and the spiritual world, that they just now have the keys to all life.
No, no, that wouldn't make any sense at all.
there are two different senses to the word kingdom.
This one is parallel with the context, which he just said was the church.
So as we open scripture, this is always our reminder, as we open scripture and we see a word and our brain goes, look, I recognize that word, I'm going to give it a meaning, we
should be careful to read the context, to understand the meaning of the word.
because the context is going to give clarity to, definition to the extent of a word's meaning.
And in Matthew chapter 16, the extent of the meaning is the church.
How do I know?
Number one, church is used in reference.
Number two, the gates of Hades.
shall not prevail against it.
So whatever this kingdom is, it is something that death, that the grave, and that the evil in this world would love to destroy.
It is an entity.
And yet, it will be unable to.
You go back to Daniel chapter two.
And Daniel chapter 2 speaks of God setting up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.
this actually helps us.
This isn't talking about God's rule, God's universal authority.
It's talking about an entity.
It is talking about something that God is establishing in the days of those kings.
Well, all rule, all authority, all humanity and all things that have existed outside of humanity have always existed.
That's not new.
But the kingdom that Jesus established.
and came to build was.
So now we have even a stronger argument that Daniel chapter two and Isaiah chapter two and Joel chapter two are all talking about Acts chapter two where Christ sets up his kingdom,
the church.
Because now we're talking about the entity, not the extent of his rule.
One last point on this.
In Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, when Jesus had resurrected from the grave and had not yet ascended to the Father, did Jesus say all authority has past tense or will future tense be
given unto me in heaven and on earth?
Has past tense.
yet the kingdom wouldn't be established until Acts chapter two.
As a matter of fact, he tells his disciples to stay in Jerusalem because there were actions that were going to take place regarding the establishment of his kingdom.
All authority already existed.
That's one use of the term kingdom, his reign, his rule.
But his kingdom, the church,
was not yet established, it was about to be, and they were about to use those keys, the gospel, and unlock the doors to that kingdom, okay?
Always, always, always read the context and benefit from that reading.
Chapter four, verse one, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves with the same mind for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in the doing of the will of Gentiles.
When we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and the abominable idolatries.
In regards to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.
So as you look at this, as he opens up chapter 4 verse 1, he draws a conclusion.
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh...
his emphasis about Christ's suffering because he's been emphasizing it in chapter one, in chapter two, chapter three, now chapter four.
All throughout the book of 1 Peter, Peter is saying, Christians, you're gonna suffer.
Christians, remember Christ already suffered.
Christians, you're going to go through difficult times.
Just remember Christ showed you how.
He's establishing here in chapter four and verse one that Christ suffered in the flesh.
Why does that matter to us?
Because we do too.
What if?
God had sent his son to be born of a woman, born under the law, born in the flesh.
He lived his entire life, never suffered in the flesh, yet told us and established that after he returned to being a spirit, he suffered.
Would that be a whole lot of help to us?
No, because that's not how we suffer, is it?
The book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14, points out that Christ was tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
That helps us because it helps us to know that Christ went through all the same things we go through, all the same temptations we go through.
all the difficulties that we go through, all the physical difficulties that we go through, and yet he never gave in to temptation.
He was born.
He was sinless.
He died.
And Peter says, since he suffered in the flesh, since he suffered the same way we do, when Jesus got to the well in Samaria, the way we've been talking about on Sunday mornings in
the sermons, he was wearied.
Raise your hand if you've ever been tired.
So was Jesus.
Raise your hand if you ever got exasperated with people when you were tired.
So did Jesus.
There are times that His disciples wore on Him.
Go read all the passages where Jesus says to His disciples, "'O ye of little faith!'
Jesus suffered in the flesh.
And since He did, Peter says, arm yourselves also with the same mind.
Peter is pointing out that Jesus overcame temptation though He suffered in the flesh.
Jesus overcame that suffering though He suffered in the flesh.
How did he do it?
He trained his mind to overcome his flesh.
When Satan came against Jesus with those three temptations that we see in Matthew chapter four and Luke chapter four, did Jesus perform some miracle to escape the temptation?
No, what did he do?
Quoted scripture.
He defended himself with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
He didn't call upon the miraculous to get him out of a temptation with Satan.
As a matter of fact, he didn't use the miraculous to get himself out of suffering in the flesh, which was the very first temptation.
I could give you that as an argument, except that the text, without going too far down that rabbit hole, the text indicates that as a child.
And as a young person, he had to learn and educate himself on the scriptures because as he became flesh, he emptied himself of that divine knowledge, okay?
And that that did not change until after his baptism, okay?
We can go into that very much theological and philosophical discussion on another time, but the point is, when he was tempted, after 40 days of,
No food?
It was his mind that defeated the temptations of Satan.
And it was the scriptures that he had placed in his mind that he used as the tool.
So Peter says, arm yourselves also with the same mind.
For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
We talked about this briefly last week, but this passage is not saying, if you suffer enough, you don't have any guilt, no matter if you sin or not.
It also doesn't mean if you suffer enough, you'll never be tempted.
That's not it.
It is that if you have applied to your mind the desire to be obedient to God to the extent that you are willing to suffer and are going through suffering, at that moment, temptation
loses its hold on you.
Because you're already going through the suffering because you're faithful.
And you're not about to turn around for some...
measly appreciation of the flesh.
If you're already going through the suffering, you're not turning around for someone or some desire, you're focused.
Right.
Yeah, so as you picture what Peter's doing here, he's saying, listen, Christians, build up your defenses.
Use the mind of Christ.
Do what he did.
Arm.
yourselves.
He's not saying go get picks, shovels, swords, bazookas.
He's saying open up the Word of God and store it in your mind.
Psalmist writer says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
He says that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh.
for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." See, notice what Peter's talking about, the direction of this individual who's suffering, the direction of this Christian who's
going through suffering and realizes that the suffering of this world has no comparison to the glory that waits in heaven.
The argument that Paul made over and over and over again was that he was willing to go through all of the suffering that he did.
He was willing to be beaten.
He was willing to be stoned.
He was willing to be shipwrecked.
He was willing to do all of those things because he knew that it didn't compare to what God had waiting for those who love him.
As he went through suffering, it did not deter him.
As a matter of fact, it strengthened his resolve.
He I'm not going anywhere but heaven, and I'll go through whatever it takes to get there.
Peter says, the person who's going through this suffering in the flesh, he's ceased from sin.
Why?
Because he's already determined he will no longer live the rest of his life in the flesh for the less of men, but rather for the will of God.
And then he takes a moment and he says, listen, this is where we've all been.
This is what we all look back at our lives and go,
Yep, that's what I was.
We all look back and say, that's me.
He says, for we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles.
Now, primarily, if you remember, this book is primarily written to Jewish Christians.
That's a little bit of a dig right there, don't you think?
You Jewish Christians, you've spent enough of your past lifetime living for the lust of the Gentiles.
But think about it, what did Paul accuse the church at Rome and the Jews in Rome of being?
He accused them of being those who judged the Gentiles as those who were evil doers and did the same things.
Peter comes along and says, don't you think that we've spent enough time fulfilling these lusts that belong to the pagans, that belong to those who do not know God, that belong to
those who have no association with God?
Don't you think we've done that long enough?
Isn't it time to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ?
He says, we've spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, in lusts, in drunkenness, in revelries, in drinking parties, and
abominable idolatries.
Peter says, you want to know how the world lives?
Here it is.
This is what they do.
True or false, a lot has changed since Peter's day.
A lot about what the world is all about has changed since Peter's day.
No.
What was the saying?
When in Rome?
Do as they do in Rome?
What's the saying now?
What happens in Vegas?
Stays in Vegas?
Nothing's changed.
I don't know that it has.
Go read a little history of Rome.
You'd be hard pressed to say it's gotten worse if you do enough reading about Grecian and Roman history.
And yet Peter says, this is what the world's going to do.
This is what the world always has done.
You go back to the days of Noah, this is what the world did.
You go back to the days of the descendants of Cain, this is what the world did.
This is the world.
But if we, the people of God, try to hold on to God's salvation over here and try and reach out and get just enough of the lust of the flesh over here to satisfy ourselves,
Jesus said you cannot serve two masters because you're going to let go one or the other because you can't hold on to both.
He says, in regards to these, verse four, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
This is probably best.
pictured by thinking about how Hollywood characterizes any time there's a person of upstanding morality in any show or movie.
They're always the weirdo.
They're always this far away from insane asylum.
Or...
They're perfectly normal and they're actually a hypocrite.
They're really doing all of the things the world does just in secret.
The only time they get pictured as normal is when they're that.
But don't worry, it'll be all perfectly accepted by the world in the outcome of the show.
But if they're actually moral, upright, and in opposition to culture and its morality, they're the weirdo.
They're the strange person.
They're the oddball.
There's exactly one of them in the entire show, and that's it.
You see, even the world knows this isn't normal.
one of the biggest struggles that young Christians have.
is they don't get to be normal anymore.
They have to go back into their daily lives.
They have to go back into the world.
And they have to struggle being surrounded by the fact that they're no longer normal.
They're no longer, say what?
Set apart.
Yeah, they're set apart.
It's exactly, it's almost like the term for church means you don't get to be normal anymore.
But it is a struggle.
There's a lot of peer pressure to go back to doing the things that you always did.
To go back to being a part of the associations that you were always a part of.
To go back to participating in the things that you always participated in.
And yet Peter says, don't do it.
He says, regards to these things, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.
They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
They think it's strange that you don't do it because they do not understand the judgment of God.
and you must.
You must look at the actions and the lifestyle and the activities of the world and you must judge them not with the world's glasses, but with the judgment of God as the view
through which you view those things.
You must look at the activities of the world and go, you know what?
It doesn't matter how appeasing it is.
doesn't matter how pleasurable it is.
It doesn't matter how well I can argue for doing this thing that I know is wrong and I can convince myself that it'll be okay and it'll be alright and it won't be that bad.
Because one day I know I'm going to stand in judgment before Jesus Christ.
And when I do, I will give an account for the things done in my body.
Peter says, for this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
How do dead people become alive again?
in what very normal biblical New Testament context do dead people become alive again?
They're dead in their sins.
m
Turn back to Romans chapter 5.
This terminology should not surprise us at all.
Romans chapter 5.
from wrath through him.
For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Turn to chapter 6 verse 1.
What should we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not.
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Or did you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?
Though we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life?
True or false?
If you remember from Rob's training, we bury living people?
True or false?
False.
You don't bury living people.
You bury dead people.
If you start burying living people, they're going to arrest you and put you in prison.
You don't bury living people.
Now the denominations teach that you do.
They teach that you are saved by faith and a prayer that at that moment in time, you are alive in Christ and then sometimes later, they bury you in baptism.
They bury living people.
It's not what we do.
We bury dead people.
and then they're resurrected in the watery grave of baptism and they come out of that watery grave of baptism a new creature.
Peter says the gospel was preached to the dead.
so that they wouldn't stay dead.
So that rather, through the obedience to the Gospel, they would have newness of life.
He said, you used to be dead.
You were having a whole lot of fun.
You were fulfilling all those fleshly lust and desires.
You were just spending every day in pleasure and you were dead.
But then you heard the gospel.
and you went from dead to alive by putting away those old fleshly desires and putting on Christ.
All right, thank you for your attention.
We'll put a peg in it right there.
uh