Hello, everyone. Let's find our way to our seats, and then let's take a couple minutes to pray before we start worship. Father God, we just thank you again for the privilege that we have to come here to study your word together, to sing these songs to you. We pray, Lord God, that wherever we come from, that we would come here with focused minds and hearts.

Would you give us energy and strength if we're tired from a long day? I pray, Lord God, as we come here, that you'd allow us to have humble hearts, hearts that are teachable and moldable, that desire to learn more about who you are. I pray, Lord, that as we just go into a time of singing, that we would really be able to sing these lyrics to you as an act of worship.

And would you be pleased, God? So I thank you. Would you bless this night? In your name we pray, amen. We all stand for a time of worship. Teach me your ways, oh Lord. And I will walk in your truth. Show me your path, oh Lord. For I am devoted to you.

Purify my heart's desire. I long to be your servant. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. Give me an undivided heart. No other gods, no other love, no other gods before you. Teach me your ways, oh Lord. And I will walk in your truth. Show me your path, oh Lord.

For I am devoted to you. Purify my heart's desire. I long to be your servant. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. Give me an undivided heart. No other gods, no other love, no other gods before you. Lord, you're calling me to come and behold the wondrous cross to explore the depths of grace that came to me at such a cost.

Where your boundless love conquered my boundless sin. And mercy's arms were opened wide. My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary. With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me. Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary.

Sinners find eternal joy in the triumph of your works. By our Savior's crimson flow, holy wrath has been removed. And your saints below join with your saints above. Joy, sing in the risen lamb. My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary. With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me.

My heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary. With every breath, Lord, how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me. Lord, take me deeper into the glories of Calvary. You may be seated. All right. Can you join me in prayer, and then we'll start chapter 4.

Father, we come tonight just to study your word. And you've been so faithful to us just in the last four months. And as we are now in the latter two chapters, I pray that you would help us to be even more hungry to know your truth, but to be more zealous to apply these truths into our lives.

I pray that you would just help us discuss, help us to fellowship through the text, and help us to learn really what it means to live a life according to the will of God. And so we pray for just your help to discern your truth. And I pray that you would open our eyes so that we would see just the beauty of the things that are written in your holy scriptures.

And so we thank you, Lord. We entrust our time to you. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Let me just start off by reading chapter 4, verses 1 through 6. "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. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

In all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you. But they will 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 the Spirit according to the will of God." That's a lot of SAT words on here.

All right, so... Can you flip for me? Okay, so I'm going to just break you guys up into our discussion time as normal. That clock is wrong, and so right now it's 7.15, and at 8.20 we'll resume just with the wrap-up time. But the last part that I want you guys to focus on is there's a lot of purpose and will of God talk in this section, okay?

So just to think through for what purpose was the gospel preached? And that's something that after your discussion that I would think it would be beneficial for you guys to spend some time just discussing, all right? So 8.20 is when we'll resume, and then, yeah, just enjoy your time with your group.

- I'm gonna just grab all your, just get your attention up here real quick. All right, so this is how I start pretty much every Bible study on my end. I try to make it a little bit of an outline. Some are easier than others. This one I found to be a little bit difficult, maybe because I didn't take enough verses.

But this, it's just a process of doing this helps to kind of organize my thoughts. So this is not near perfect at all. This is probably the least happy I've been with an outline that I put up in the front, okay? So that's just kind of a disclaimer. But let me walk you through this.

So the main thing that I see is arm yourself. That's the only command. And some of you guys who've looked into it, nod your heads if you understood that that's like a military term, right? So arming yourself, that's the only command. And whenever there is a command in Scripture, those are usually where the important meaty parts, that's where you need to start.

That's the yellow. The red, the therefores are always important, the buts are always important. And as I was charting through this outline, I would have actually high-lit in red that because, right? Arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because. I was like, wait a minute, this, how you understand this because, changes some of your meaning.

So I would have made that red. There's a lot of suffer in the flesh talk. You guys notice that? I just put that in the purple. A lot of like physical death stuff, I would put that in the purple. And then all the activity of the Gentiles, I underlined.

And I try to put it in the same column. So I'm seeing like lusts of men, Gentiles, sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, abominable idolatries, surprise, excesses of dissipation, malign. Okay, so those are, so my eyes will go there. These are all things that I don't want in my life, right?

The blue, this is where I started getting a little bit like, ah, I don't know if this is a highlight worthy. The same purpose talk, because that's kind of related, but I noticed that the word for same purpose, the first blue and the second blue are different. So it's probably not right to highlight it in blue.

So if I stare at this another day, I'll probably change it up a little bit. Same thing for the will of God. There is a lot of will of God talk in 1 Peter, but in verse six, the will actually is an added word. That's not in the original language.

So I'm like, ah, so I loosely highlighted it. But the reason this is helpful is it kind of hones my attention on what's important for me to remember and understand from this passage. The first big thing is arm yourself. Okay, so we're gonna look at that. Okay, this is the only time this word is used in the entire New Testament.

It's this word haplizo, to arm yourself with weapons or to put on armor. Okay, so to gear up basically. And anytime this is used as a noun, it's always in reference to a weapon. Okay, so our weapon for the Christian life is the suffering of Christ. Eek, okay. And this is mentioned starting from chapter two all the way here, right?

That our main weapon, our weapons are not of this world. Okay, in fact, they have spiritual power to demolish strongholds. Those are our weapons. So the main command here is to arm me. So I'm gonna rephrase this first verse like this. Therefore, since all that you just saw, okay, about Jesus having all authorities and powers subjected to him, him suffering in the flesh, because of all of that, haplizo, with the same purpose.

Because sin no longer has dominion over those who have been united with Christ with suffering and his death. And going back from what we looked at last week, okay? So the worst thing that could happen to you is you just go to eternity early. You go home early. That is the worst thing that can happen to you.

And sometimes God will ordain that. But he's in control over all things. We're not supposed to fear those who can only kill the body. We need to fear the one who has control over the body and the soul. He's in control, he's standing on our behalf, but he ordains suffering in the midst of a wicked world.

So arm yourself, gear up, okay? So that's kind of the main takeaway is to arm myself. And then with what? The same purpose. Now if you guys noticed, all five translations that I put up here, it's translated a little bit differently. And when you're doing a comparative Bible study and the translations are all a little bit different, what that tells you is the original word is a little bit difficult to translate because there are different nuances, okay?

So if we're supposed to arm ourselves with what? Well, so it's a little bit more complicated, right? So we're supposed to arm ourselves with the same annoyah. And basically the way you can understand that is just a willingness to suffer and to die. That was in chapter two, that was in chapter three, and now it's also mentioned again in chapter four.

Nod your heads if you've noticed, we've been in suffering a lot in 1 Peter. Yeah, so just get ready, all right? Be prepared is the encouragement. And so I found just an interesting thought on this just by John MacArthur, and I just wanted to read this 'cause it really was well put.

Thousands of martyrs throughout church history have been willing to die because they armed themselves with the same purpose Jesus Christ had, to be faithful to the Father, no matter what, knowing that the cross precedes the crown. The greater the righteous suffering, the greater is the reward, and history's martyrs realize that there is the greatest triumph of all in death because believers who have died have ceased from sin.

The perfect tense verb emphasizes a permanent condition free from sin. So the challenge for you and me, though, is we're living in a society where Christianity is kind of accepted. Right? And it's difficult for me to, I have risked my life, and I have put my life in danger for gospel-related work, but on a day-to-day, my life is not threatened.

If anything, people just consider me snooty or they don't like me, and I don't like not being liked, but why does persecution and opposition come? Usually because even if I don't say anything, if someone really disagrees with how I live, sometimes they might be hostile, right? So this is nowhere near persecution, but let me just give you an example of my college days and something that happened to me, all right, where I was persecuted for my faith, all right?

So at Berkeley, there's a thing called, they used to have a thing called black lightning notes, which basically someone gets paid to sit in a lecture class and type the lecture verbatim, and they print that out so that I can subscribe to it, I can get it, and so, I mean, I should still go to class, but I could have these notes so I could read the professor's lecture.

Anybody else have those at school? Dang. See, Berkeley, we're all ahead of the game. Big cheaters. No, anyway, it was totally legal. The thing that you were not supposed to do was we were not supposed to print them and Xerox these notes, 'cause this is how other college students made money, right?

So it actually said, "Copyright, do not print, do not copy," but a bunch of my church people, my class, my freshman class, they actually were in the habit of one person buys a black lightning note subscription, and they make copies of it, and they give it to all the same poor college students in the class, and I remember I didn't feel comfortable with this.

I had a tender conscience as a freshman in college, and I kind of said, "You know what? "I'm not gonna do that. "I'll just buy my own," but that hurt my friendship. I won't say the name, but that hurt my friendship with a dude, and I didn't say anything except, "I'm not gonna do this "because I just don't feel comfortable with it," but the three people that were the biggest culprits in this, they started not liking me.

Again, this is the first world version of persecution. They started distancing themselves from me because they did not agree with what I did, even though what they did was in the wrong, mainly not because I pointed anything out, but mainly because I was doing something that they knew was the right behavior, but they didn't like that, and so they started heaping their abuses on me, right?

I'm just kidding. So this is a silly illustration, but a lot of the persecution happens in our Christian lives simply because we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, hopefully, and the non-Christian world, and even the churched people look at that, and they'll scoff and scorn and say, "You are legalistic.

"You are self-righteous," and they will heap their abuse on you, and then this next list is what is described here, okay? So whenever we, this is another series of lists. We've had a few in 1 Peter, and what I like to do is when I go through an epistle and there are lists of qualities, I just compile them, okay?

And so on my notes here, there's a list of all the details thus far that have been used to describe the Gentiles, all right? Ignorant, malicious, deceitful, hypocritical, envious, slanderous, disobedient, they're in darkness, they're fleshly and lustful, drunkenness, idolatrous, and excessive, okay? And obviously, I might have missed some, and then I go to the right, and I just said, "Okay, these are the Gentiles' behavior "toward either Christ or Christians," and I noticed fiery trials, rejection, slander, reviling as evildoers, treating unreasonably, abusively, and there's even almost like a provoked offense, okay?

So I make this list, all right? And it's interesting, this list that we looked at today, it mentions alcohol twice, sexuality three times, and some kind of pagan idolatrous practice. Did you guys notice that? 'Cause I was like, what's the difference between sensuality and lusts, okay? So I actually did a little bit of research.

This is just one example of some of the pagan idolatries, okay, I don't think this is related to the Korean drink, bakkas, the energy drink, all right? But there is a word, if you study it, like for SATs, like bakkanalian, which means just kind of indulging in excess partying, right?

But I found this very interesting, okay? Bakkas has a divine mission, okay, he's a god, and that is his role of liberator. During his drunken frenzies, bakkas loosens the tongues of those who partake of wine and other beverages, and it allows people the freedom to say and do what they wish.

In mid-March, secret rituals were held on Rome's Aventine Hill to worship him. These rites were attended by women only and were part of a mystery religion built up around bakkas. Bakkas is a god of the theatrical arts, aka entertainment. In his earlier incarnation as the Greek Dionysus, he had a theater named for him in Athens.

He is often portrayed as a slightly effeminate figure, prone to good humor and general bawdiness. So they celebrated this party animal god, okay? And that was part of the Roman Empire and the world, okay? And so perhaps Christians refused to engage in this kind of behavior. Then I look at the list again, and there were many, many, many more qualities about those who have ceased from sin, all right?

Those who are now of the faith, chosen, sanctified, protected, joyful, they love God, love man, believe, trust in God, suffer for righteousness, and that's mentioned in almost every chapter, sober, sound, gentle, quiet in spirit, they're future-focused, holy in behavior, they live life fearing God, there's a longing and a hunger for milk, they're in the light, they live in freedom, and these are Christian attitudes toward all people, Christian, non-Christian, okay?

Good conduct despite accusations, there's a submissive, gentle, quiet humbleness, Christians are to honor all people, Christians are not to return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, they are chaste, they don't make threats, they give blessing, they seek peace, they live with purpose, they live in the will of God, they're understanding and sympathetic, they're engaged and responsive in sharing.

Now I make those two lists, and I did a little, just I put it together, okay? (pages rustling) But you know the thought that I have today is like, you know, there's a lot of people that go to church that are actually more in line with the top. Would you guys agree?

So after I made this list, there was a little bit of a discomfort, like there's a lot of church people that I could characterize closely more with the top than with the bottom. Which means there's a lot of people who claim the name of Christ who have not armed themselves to suffer for the sake of righteousness, but have armed themselves to indulge.

And that's what this passage is speaking against. So just take a look at the top and look at the bottom. Because the more your life is like the qualities you see on the top, you're gonna avoid suffering to the best of your ability, and you're gonna twist your theology to make it seem like comfort is the goal of the Christian faith.

Are you guys tracking? If my chief goal is to finish this Netflix series, and then to go on to the next Netflix series, and to just indulge my flesh, finish this video game in 120 hours, just enjoy this life, my spiritual senses are not gonna be keen to pursuing people's souls or evangelizing.

And then over time, I just start becoming more and more just like a fat, out-of-shape soldier who is no good for fighting anything. So when I look at this list, I'm rebuked and challenged that like, man, there's a lot of the bottom that I am not like. And in some ways, it's just a discouraging thing to think about.

So the natural question for me is, in what way do I need to actually better arm myself? Because yeah, the lusts of men, that's supposed to be in my past. How am I supposed to make adjustments in my life so that the bottom is more characteristic of me than the top?

And it's all kind of connected. Have you guys ever, if you guys work out, like if you get into that stretch of a week or two of just working out hardcore, does it change your diet as well? Oh, for sure. Nobody goes, dude, I ran 10 miles today, so I'm gonna eat a pizza.

No one does that, okay? Some people, like they'll work out hardcore, and then they're like, I gotta maximize my hydration. They'll drink, drink, they'll stop drinking soda. Then they'll maximize their food, right? But when you let yourself go with disciplines, you kind of let yourself go with all of them.

That's just human nature, right? So which side are you? Which are you pursuing more of in terms of arming yourself? Because the more you're like the top, the less you will arm yourself with the same attitude as that of Christ. Now, that discourages me, okay? Because 1 Peter 4, 2 says, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lust of men, but for the will of God.

And then I ask myself, man, what is wrong with me? And I wanna leave you with a visual, okay? This was a long, long, long time ago. In my younger days at a retreat site in Yucaipa, I saw a lizard sunbathing against the curb. And in the interest of science, 'cause I've always heard that if you hit a lizard in the tail, the tail starts to go crazy.

Did you guys know this? Yeah, you guys know that, right? So the lizard was sunbathing. It was at 7.30 in the morning, and I was 23 at the time, okay? I wasn't like seven, but I was 23. So I kicked the lizard just in the interest of science. And the tail broke.

It was about this much of the tail. And that thing started going nuts. It started flailing and going (imitates tail flailing) Right? And then I was thinking, this is a fascinating, and I was a youth pastor already at the time, so I was like, this is a good illustration, right?

So I asked the kids, hey, is this tail dead or alive? Like, ew, Pastor Peter, that's so gross. But I was like, is this dead or alive, right? But the answer really is, it's dead, because it's disconnected from the body, but it's still dying, right? And so that's something, if anything for all of us, when you look at the two lists, and you see yourself and you feel yourself, man, I feel so condemned.

Sin is dead in you. You have ceased from sin. But there is still the flesh kicking and screaming, not wanting to die. And so sin is dead in you, but it's still dying. And that's a visual that I wanted to leave you with so that we're not feeling like completely condemned, hopeless, and lost.

This is my 22nd year as a pastor, 28th year as a Christian, and I can tell you for a fact, there have been some changes in the last 28 years. One, my view of God has increased. He is so much more holy, so much more powerful, so much more good than I thought of him at 15 years old.

He is a God who really is worthy to be praised. And at the same time, my view of self has gotten very low. At 15, I thought I was God's gift of Christendom. Now I'm like, I am a dirty man. I have very little confidence in me. I have very little trust in me.

So my view of God has increased. My view of self has totally decreased. And I'm a lot more aware of my dirtiness and my filthiness, but strangely enough, I have a lot more compassion and love than I did when I was 15 or in my first year of ministry.

So sometimes the examination of my heart through passages like this is very helpful also just to track how far I've come in my faith. But until we're on the other side of eternity, this struggle to put sin to death is gonna be an ongoing one. So arm yourself with the same attitude.

And sometimes the suffering that God ordains is actually very good for our spiritual condition. It sobers you up real fast. I wanna just read four, one through six again, and then I wanna look at one 17 to 19 'cause it's similar in theme. 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. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you. But they will 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 the spirit according to the will of God.

So how are we to live our lives as believers? Verse 17 of chapter one is a reminder from what we studied about two months ago. If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of the lamb, unblemished and spotless.

So a couple themes in 1 Peter. Suffering is a big one. But fear of God is another. Okay, and I'm gonna end with just a reading from C.S. Lewis's, you guys ever read "Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"? Do you guys remember who Lucy is? Okay, she's the baby, okay?

And the name of the lion that represents God, his name is Aslan. You guys know the story? So I wanna read a little excerpt. So this is in Narnia, and the children, they meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and they're describing to them for the first time this mighty lion, okay?

"Is he a man?" asked Lucy. "Aslan, a man?" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. "I tell you, he is king of the wood "and the son of the great emperor beyond the sea. "Don't you know who is the king of the beasts? "Aslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion." "Ooh," said Susan.

"I thought he is a man. "Is he quite safe? "I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan "without their knees knocking, "they're either braver than most or else just silly." "Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? "Who said anything about safe? "Course he isn't safe, but he's good. "He's the king, I tell you." And that's from "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." And I share that all to say it by saying we need to fear God in this life.

We need to live our life trembling, but approaching the throne of grace with a supernatural confidence that doesn't come from our worth, but from what Christ did and who he is. And when we are called to suffer, know that he's ordained it, know that it's on purpose, and be sober enough to take advantage of the opportunities to give him glory.

And that's our passage for today, all right? So this is for next week, verses seven through 11. It's just five verses. And then the last question that I want you guys to prepare is what is a gift? What gifts are you using to build up the church? Okay, so I'm gonna post this on Facebook so you don't need to scramble to write this down.

And this is for today. For the remainder of the time, what is the purpose of your life? With what have you been arming yourself in fulfilling that purpose? Second question, are believers or unbelievers more surprised? Are believers or unbelievers more surprised by how you live your life? And third, what are some ways the members of your group can pray for you and help keep you accountable in applying the truths we see in 1 Peter 4, 1 through 6?

Okay, let me pray for us and then we'll dismiss into our small group time. Lord, help us to walk in obedience and in fear, not fear of our circumstances, not fear of the persecution and the suffering that can happen as we live our godly lives here, but help us to walk in fear of you, for you are holy, holy, holy God.

And Lord, help us to arm ourselves really with this same mindset that we would be able to respond in all circumstances that come our way in worship, in faithfulness and in obedience. We pray all of these things in Jesus' name.