1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker: Well, there's no denying that we are a world at war right now. 2 00:00:05,370 --> 00:00:08,820 If you've not been aware, you clearly haven't picked up a phone or turned 3 00:00:08,820 --> 00:00:12,120 on a television or, or talked to another human being recently because 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:14,190 there's a lot going on internationally. 5 00:00:14,190 --> 00:00:16,860 In fact, we have one of our own that's back safely and soundly 6 00:00:16,860 --> 00:00:18,330 and we're thankful for that. 7 00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:24,690 Got caught up in Dubai of all places. 8 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:26,880 You don't think that that's gonna turn into a war zone 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,410 and, and that's just the thing. 10 00:00:28,410 --> 00:00:29,640 War changes things. 11 00:00:30,539 --> 00:00:33,929 Uh, if you think about the people that are in Iran right now, and, and you 12 00:00:33,929 --> 00:00:38,160 think about those that were going about their daily lives and, and now everything 13 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:41,759 that's happening there, they're, they're probably not as concerned about the things 14 00:00:41,759 --> 00:00:43,139 that they used to be concerned about. 15 00:00:44,220 --> 00:00:47,220 In fact, they're probably also not all that concerned about 16 00:00:47,220 --> 00:00:50,129 the sinful things that they used to be concerned with either. 17 00:00:51,599 --> 00:00:55,919 And part of the reason for that, I would like to believe is that mortality hangs in 18 00:00:55,919 --> 00:00:57,574 the balance when war is in your backyard. 19 00:00:58,830 --> 00:01:03,000 You are very keenly aware of the fact that I, I may not live to see another day. 20 00:01:04,110 --> 00:01:07,770 And when we have that perspective, when we have that mindset, it begins to change the 21 00:01:07,770 --> 00:01:10,020 way that we approach the world around us. 22 00:01:10,020 --> 00:01:12,210 It begins to change the things that we want to do, the things 23 00:01:12,210 --> 00:01:17,940 that we want to engage with in the world around us as Christians. 24 00:01:17,940 --> 00:01:19,470 And we talked about it last week. 25 00:01:19,530 --> 00:01:21,660 We have to have a wartime mentality. 26 00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:25,200 We have to have a wartime mentality because we are 27 00:01:25,230 --> 00:01:27,300 doing battle every single day. 28 00:01:27,300 --> 00:01:30,900 There's spiritual warfare that needs to happen, and that does happen every 29 00:01:30,900 --> 00:01:33,750 single day in the life of a believer, which is why Paul encourages us and tells 30 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:35,340 us to take up the full armor of God. 31 00:01:35,970 --> 00:01:39,030 But we also have to have a wartime mentality because the reality is for every 32 00:01:39,030 --> 00:01:42,870 single one of us in this room, mortality does hang in the basis every single day. 33 00:01:44,039 --> 00:01:46,920 You may sit here this morning feeling perfectly healthy. 34 00:01:47,220 --> 00:01:50,280 You may have just come off of a physical that gave you a clean bill of health. 35 00:01:51,134 --> 00:01:53,475 And yet the reality is you're an aneurysm away from standing 36 00:01:53,475 --> 00:01:54,555 in the presence of Jesus. 37 00:01:55,755 --> 00:01:58,785 You are a car wreck away from standing in the presence of Jesus. 38 00:01:59,685 --> 00:02:03,615 You're an encounter with an angry Texan, with a weapon in his car away 39 00:02:03,615 --> 00:02:05,805 from standing in the presence of Jesus. 40 00:02:06,675 --> 00:02:10,514 You're a missed cancer diagnosis away from standing in the presence of Jesus. 41 00:02:10,965 --> 00:02:13,605 You're a heart attack away from standing in the presence of Jesus. 42 00:02:14,865 --> 00:02:17,565 You're a tornado away from standing in the presence of Jesus. 43 00:02:19,125 --> 00:02:23,715 All of us need to have that mentality, that mentality that says, this could be my 44 00:02:23,715 --> 00:02:31,575 last day, and that should impact the way that we live as we engage with this world 45 00:02:31,575 --> 00:02:36,075 around us, as those that are not just here as exiles and strangers, but those that 46 00:02:36,075 --> 00:02:37,995 are here at war with the world around us. 47 00:02:39,015 --> 00:02:40,845 It's gonna change the way that we approach it. 48 00:02:40,845 --> 00:02:42,735 It's gonna change the way that we live. 49 00:02:42,735 --> 00:02:45,045 It's gonna change the decisions that we make and the things that we. 50 00:02:45,810 --> 00:02:47,070 Allowing our lives. 51 00:02:47,250 --> 00:02:50,790 And in that process, it's gonna cause us to stand out in this world. 52 00:02:51,570 --> 00:02:54,630 It's gonna cause the world to look at you as strange, to look at you 53 00:02:54,630 --> 00:02:56,130 as weird, to look at you as odd. 54 00:02:56,130 --> 00:03:01,500 And, and at the end of the day, it's okay because as we're gonna find out in our 55 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:04,060 text, it's better to be thought strange by the world than a stranger by God. 56 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,100 Peter's gonna give this for us in one Peter chapter four, 57 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:09,150 verses three through six. 58 00:03:09,150 --> 00:03:11,940 It's better to be thought strange by the world than a stranger by God. 59 00:03:11,940 --> 00:03:15,329 We pick up in one Peter, chapter four, verse three, where Peter says 60 00:03:15,329 --> 00:03:19,410 this, for the time that is passed, suffices for doing what the Gentiles 61 00:03:19,410 --> 00:03:24,090 want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, 62 00:03:24,090 --> 00:03:26,670 drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 63 00:03:27,355 --> 00:03:32,010 He says, the time that has passed suffices That phrase, the time that has passed is 64 00:03:32,010 --> 00:03:34,050 referring to the time before conversion. 65 00:03:34,815 --> 00:03:38,685 The time that you lived as an unbeliever, the time that you lived, 66 00:03:38,685 --> 00:03:40,935 as we were talking about earlier, even our scripture reading, as Paul 67 00:03:40,935 --> 00:03:45,195 describes it in Ephesians chapter five, in Darkness rather than in Light. 68 00:03:46,155 --> 00:03:49,035 And Peter is saying, the time that you lived as an unbeliever, 69 00:03:49,035 --> 00:03:51,375 it's enough, it's sufficient. 70 00:03:51,885 --> 00:03:56,385 It's you don't need more than what you've already spent doing What? 71 00:03:56,595 --> 00:04:01,065 Living for, doing what the Gentiles want to do or living in a way that 72 00:04:01,065 --> 00:04:03,435 the, the Gentiles want to live. 73 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,280 Uh, Peter is referring to Gentiles here, not in the same way that 74 00:04:08,549 --> 00:04:09,959 sometimes Paul refers to Gentiles. 75 00:04:09,959 --> 00:04:12,719 When Paul said, I'm, I'm turning from the Jews to now go to the Gentiles. 76 00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:16,709 Uh, Gentiles can be good, but here it's not meant to be read that way. 77 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,079 In fact, here it's meant to be read more the way that we read it in 78 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,500 Matthew 18, the church discipline passage when Jesus says, let them 79 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:24,180 be as a tax collector in a gentile. 80 00:04:24,180 --> 00:04:26,580 In other words, treat them as one outside of the community 81 00:04:26,580 --> 00:04:28,080 of, of the body of Christ. 82 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:29,310 Treat them as an unbeliever. 83 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,000 Peter has that in mind when he says, for doing what the Gentiles want. 84 00:04:33,070 --> 00:04:38,020 To do what they desire, what they lust after, what they crave doing. 85 00:04:38,710 --> 00:04:42,280 You've had enough time, in other words, to live as an unbeliever 86 00:04:42,310 --> 00:04:44,530 now that you are in Christ. 87 00:04:45,580 --> 00:04:48,700 What follows then is a, a list of vices. 88 00:04:48,969 --> 00:04:52,450 It's not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems 89 00:04:52,450 --> 00:04:55,750 to be a list of those particular vices and sins that were plaguing Peter's 90 00:04:55,750 --> 00:04:59,980 church and the, the, the audience that Peter was writing to in his day. 91 00:05:01,034 --> 00:05:03,675 And there's quite a bit of overlap in our culture today as well, at 92 00:05:03,675 --> 00:05:05,325 least if we're honest with ourselves. 93 00:05:06,165 --> 00:05:09,915 But he begins by saying, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, 94 00:05:09,915 --> 00:05:11,385 drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 95 00:05:11,385 --> 00:05:16,155 To live in these things is the idea of living a life characterized by them. 96 00:05:16,155 --> 00:05:17,295 That's the what the word means. 97 00:05:17,685 --> 00:05:21,855 It's the word that was used for going on a journey, following a path. 98 00:05:22,245 --> 00:05:25,455 So Peter is saying that the time that is passed suffices for you, following 99 00:05:25,455 --> 00:05:29,025 the path of worldliness for you, continuing to live a life that is 100 00:05:29,025 --> 00:05:33,795 characterized and patterned by these types of things for living in them. 101 00:05:34,424 --> 00:05:37,005 And his list begins with this term sensuality. 102 00:05:37,544 --> 00:05:43,755 Sensuality is a term that suggests a, a sinless abandon licentiousness. 103 00:05:44,715 --> 00:05:50,325 Uh, a lot of these terms you will find, suggest an uninhibited excess, and 104 00:05:50,325 --> 00:05:52,455 that's what sensuality is conveying here. 105 00:05:53,085 --> 00:05:57,705 Debauchery, it's used of Sodom and Gomorrah in two Peter two, seven. 106 00:05:58,305 --> 00:06:00,435 The inhabitants of, of Sodom and Gomorrah. 107 00:06:00,435 --> 00:06:03,135 If you know that story from the Old Testament, which was a time of 108 00:06:03,435 --> 00:06:06,854 severe judgment of God upon those two cities, the inhabitants of those 109 00:06:06,854 --> 00:06:09,585 cities were described as those that were characterized by sensuality. 110 00:06:10,695 --> 00:06:15,224 Paul describes lost human humankind, general fallen humanity in Ephesians 111 00:06:15,224 --> 00:06:20,655 four 19, as those that are marked by sensuality, it probably has a connotation 112 00:06:20,655 --> 00:06:23,115 of sexual excess in it as well. 113 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,530 Galatians five 19 pairs it with sexual immorality and impurity There. 114 00:06:29,925 --> 00:06:33,315 So living in, in sensuality, he goes on, he talks about now passions 115 00:06:33,315 --> 00:06:36,195 next and, and the passions is this is Epit Theia in the Greek. 116 00:06:36,195 --> 00:06:37,905 We talked about it a little bit last week. 117 00:06:38,265 --> 00:06:41,415 These are the sinful cravings and desires that we have. 118 00:06:41,625 --> 00:06:46,635 Our lusts, Peter warned us last week to have nothing to do with them. 119 00:06:46,635 --> 00:06:48,555 No longer live for the passions of the flesh. 120 00:06:48,555 --> 00:06:49,695 First Peter four, two. 121 00:06:50,295 --> 00:06:52,965 Back in chapter two, verse 11, Peter talked about the passions of the 122 00:06:52,965 --> 00:06:55,275 flesh waging war against our souls. 123 00:06:56,055 --> 00:06:57,975 And so Peter is saying Here, have nothing to do with this. 124 00:06:58,034 --> 00:07:01,875 The, the, the time that has passed suffices for living in being characterized 125 00:07:01,875 --> 00:07:07,395 by those sinful desires, those sinful lusts that you have in the flesh. 126 00:07:08,025 --> 00:07:10,065 Next he says, for living in drunkenness. 127 00:07:10,905 --> 00:07:11,415 Drunkenness. 128 00:07:11,415 --> 00:07:15,375 It's a compound word in the Greek that has to do with wine and your tongue. 129 00:07:15,405 --> 00:07:16,935 It's gossipy wine. 130 00:07:17,580 --> 00:07:20,280 Is the idea there and you can see it. 131 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:20,460 Why? 132 00:07:20,460 --> 00:07:22,619 Because what does drunkenness cause someone to do to, 133 00:07:22,619 --> 00:07:23,909 to lose their inhibitions? 134 00:07:23,909 --> 00:07:26,789 To lose their, their sense of, I probably shouldn't say this. 135 00:07:26,789 --> 00:07:28,109 The filter goes away. 136 00:07:28,739 --> 00:07:32,340 And it's that idea of a lack of self-control, specifically 137 00:07:32,340 --> 00:07:33,455 when it comes here to alcohol. 138 00:07:34,545 --> 00:07:37,605 So many of the sins in this list come back to that again. 139 00:07:37,665 --> 00:07:40,875 Uninhibited excess, a lack of self-control. 140 00:07:41,265 --> 00:07:45,165 And so drunkenness is one of those where it's characterized 141 00:07:45,165 --> 00:07:50,265 by staggering and poverty and hallucinations and sorrow and injury. 142 00:07:50,265 --> 00:07:54,045 And even as we're going to see in just a moment here, more sexual perversion. 143 00:07:55,125 --> 00:07:59,835 The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 23, 29 through 35, uh, 144 00:07:59,835 --> 00:08:01,305 some of the effects of drunkenness. 145 00:08:01,305 --> 00:08:03,345 He says this, who has woe? 146 00:08:04,065 --> 00:08:05,385 Who has sorrow? 147 00:08:05,835 --> 00:08:07,155 Who has strife? 148 00:08:07,515 --> 00:08:08,625 Who has complaining? 149 00:08:08,984 --> 00:08:11,234 Who has wounds without cause? 150 00:08:11,625 --> 00:08:13,094 Who has redness of eyes? 151 00:08:13,724 --> 00:08:15,765 Those who, Terry Long over wine. 152 00:08:16,215 --> 00:08:18,375 Those who go to try mixed wine. 153 00:08:18,734 --> 00:08:21,614 Do not look at the wine when it is red and when it sparkles in 154 00:08:21,614 --> 00:08:22,994 the cup and goes down smoothly. 155 00:08:22,994 --> 00:08:25,515 In other words, don't, don't look at it when it looks so appealing. 156 00:08:25,844 --> 00:08:27,734 Look at the backside, look at the after effects of it. 157 00:08:27,734 --> 00:08:28,215 He says. 158 00:08:28,650 --> 00:08:32,880 Because in the end, verse 32, it bites like a serpent and stings like an er. 159 00:08:33,090 --> 00:08:35,280 Your eyes will see strange things. 160 00:08:35,429 --> 00:08:37,320 Your heart will utter perverse things. 161 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:40,559 You'll be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one 162 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,419 who lies on the top of a mast. 163 00:08:42,750 --> 00:08:45,300 They struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt. 164 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,220 They beat me, but I didn't feel it. 165 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:48,630 When shall I awake? 166 00:08:48,630 --> 00:08:50,160 I must have another drink. 167 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,260 So the writer of Proverbs, chapter 23, there is depicting the drunkard. 168 00:08:56,130 --> 00:08:57,120 And it's not a pretty picture. 169 00:08:57,570 --> 00:08:59,760 It's not anything that we want in our lives. 170 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,530 And Peter's saying this is, is is in your past, the time that has passed 171 00:09:04,530 --> 00:09:06,120 suffices for living in these things. 172 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:08,610 The next on the list is orgies. 173 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,650 Uh, this is a, a term that that causes us to feel uncomfortable. 174 00:09:13,650 --> 00:09:16,470 I hope at least as a civilized society should cause us to 175 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:17,520 feel a little uncomfortable. 176 00:09:18,585 --> 00:09:21,495 And yet what he's talking about here, the, the word behind it was referring 177 00:09:21,495 --> 00:09:26,775 to these feasts that they would have to celebrate bachus and esis two of 178 00:09:26,775 --> 00:09:31,575 the, the gods that were characterized by excess in drinking and food. 179 00:09:31,935 --> 00:09:35,265 And so these were parties where people would get together and they would 180 00:09:35,265 --> 00:09:38,145 have gluttony there, they would have drunkenness, and then that would 181 00:09:38,145 --> 00:09:40,395 inevitably lead to sexual perversion. 182 00:09:41,625 --> 00:09:46,125 And so Peter is saying the time that has passed suffices for living this way. 183 00:09:47,730 --> 00:09:50,910 Again, the uninhibited excess, the lack of self-control. 184 00:09:51,090 --> 00:09:53,220 And then he goes on after that, drinking parties. 185 00:09:53,790 --> 00:09:57,750 Some believe that this is a parallel term to orgies, but this was less 186 00:09:57,750 --> 00:10:01,020 about the feast, less about the, the honoring of Bachus and Essis. 187 00:10:01,020 --> 00:10:03,780 Instead, this was just about, Hey, we're gonna get together and socially what 188 00:10:03,780 --> 00:10:07,350 we're gonna get together to do is just drink and we're gonna drink to excess, 189 00:10:07,350 --> 00:10:10,950 to the point that it's going to lead to drunkenness, that it's gonna lead to the 190 00:10:10,950 --> 00:10:12,720 immorality that he's been talking about. 191 00:10:13,620 --> 00:10:15,900 And then finally, he sums it up with lawless idolatry. 192 00:10:16,905 --> 00:10:17,595 The word lawless. 193 00:10:17,595 --> 00:10:20,775 It conveys the idea of disgust, filth. 194 00:10:22,035 --> 00:10:27,585 I says, the time has passed for this alcohol and sexual immorality. 195 00:10:27,585 --> 00:10:30,105 Isn't it such good news that our society has evolved to the point that 196 00:10:30,105 --> 00:10:31,365 that's not a problem anymore for us? 197 00:10:34,755 --> 00:10:35,685 Maybe it's not for you. 198 00:10:36,585 --> 00:10:37,245 Maybe it is. 199 00:10:38,025 --> 00:10:42,135 Maybe Peter has you squared in his sights this morning and 200 00:10:42,135 --> 00:10:44,325 you're going, yeah, that's me. 201 00:10:46,185 --> 00:10:48,885 Peter would say the time that has passed suffices for living that way. 202 00:10:50,445 --> 00:10:52,425 Maybe that's not you this morning and you're going, well, fine. 203 00:10:52,425 --> 00:10:53,085 I'm, I'm good. 204 00:10:53,325 --> 00:10:56,505 I get an ex excused absence from this sermon because I'm not 205 00:10:56,505 --> 00:10:57,855 struggling with any of that stuff. 206 00:10:59,385 --> 00:11:01,635 But can I suggest there's something that you are struggling with? 207 00:11:02,745 --> 00:11:04,845 There's something that pulls at you. 208 00:11:05,805 --> 00:11:09,225 There's something from your, your past, from your flesh that still beckons you. 209 00:11:10,350 --> 00:11:11,400 There's the, the lust. 210 00:11:11,430 --> 00:11:12,240 There's the craving. 211 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,650 There's something in your life that still lurks in the dark shadows that comes out 212 00:11:16,830 --> 00:11:22,890 from time to time and beckons you to come back and indulge whatever it is for you. 213 00:11:23,730 --> 00:11:25,950 Peter's point to his original readers and God's point to 214 00:11:25,950 --> 00:11:27,180 us this morning is the same. 215 00:11:27,180 --> 00:11:30,630 It's this, we need to leave worldliness in our past. 216 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:31,230 Point. 217 00:11:31,230 --> 00:11:33,840 Number one, leave worldliness in your past 218 00:11:36,750 --> 00:11:38,430 the time that has passed suffices. 219 00:11:40,350 --> 00:11:43,980 This implies that there is an expected change that a company's conversion. 220 00:11:46,110 --> 00:11:49,200 Sometimes you'll hear gospel messages that are all about just 221 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:50,850 come as you are and stay as you are. 222 00:11:50,850 --> 00:11:51,510 It's no big deal. 223 00:11:51,510 --> 00:11:56,280 As long as you have prayed the prayer, bow the, the head and, and raise the hand, and 224 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,410 you have have asked Jesus into your heart. 225 00:11:58,410 --> 00:12:00,840 And we use this kind of ambiguous language there. 226 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:02,700 And then there's, there's no requirements of you. 227 00:12:02,700 --> 00:12:06,750 As long as you've done that, go eat, drink and be merry for you will be in heaven. 228 00:12:06,750 --> 00:12:10,080 And I don't know that the Bible guarantees that you can have that confidence. 229 00:12:11,535 --> 00:12:12,825 Listen, let me be clear upfront. 230 00:12:12,825 --> 00:12:15,765 Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 231 00:12:15,765 --> 00:12:16,125 Amen. 232 00:12:16,340 --> 00:12:16,630 Amen. 233 00:12:16,875 --> 00:12:18,885 Okay, we're on the same page there. 234 00:12:18,885 --> 00:12:21,645 Yes, you do not earn your salvation. 235 00:12:21,855 --> 00:12:23,925 You cannot work for your salvation. 236 00:12:24,105 --> 00:12:27,525 But let me tell you this, salvation works okay. 237 00:12:28,395 --> 00:12:33,255 There is an expected change in transformation in your life if you are 238 00:12:33,255 --> 00:12:38,280 in Christ Peter's saying, the time that is past suffices for who you used to be. 239 00:12:39,375 --> 00:12:42,285 The implication from Peter is you should be something different now. 240 00:12:42,825 --> 00:12:43,785 And this isn't just Peter. 241 00:12:43,785 --> 00:12:45,375 What does Paul say in second Corinthians five? 242 00:12:45,375 --> 00:12:47,835 He says, if anyone is in Christ, they are A what? 243 00:12:48,555 --> 00:12:49,545 A new creation. 244 00:12:50,205 --> 00:12:52,275 The old his passed away. 245 00:12:52,605 --> 00:12:53,535 The new has come. 246 00:12:54,435 --> 00:12:55,725 We read it in Ephesians five. 247 00:12:55,965 --> 00:12:57,495 Don't walk his children of darkness. 248 00:12:57,495 --> 00:12:57,705 Why? 249 00:12:57,735 --> 00:13:03,615 Because you are in the light, the expectation for you and I as Christians. 250 00:13:04,230 --> 00:13:07,980 Is that an encounter with the saving grace of Jesus is going to produce 251 00:13:07,980 --> 00:13:09,840 a transformation in our lives. 252 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,620 We're not going to be who we used to be, nor are we going to be characterized 253 00:13:13,620 --> 00:13:15,210 by what we used to be characterized by. 254 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:20,010 I listened to an interview this week with Michael Jordan and the 255 00:13:20,010 --> 00:13:22,380 interviewer was asking him, so do you still play basketball? 256 00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:26,850 And he said, you know, I, I don't really play basketball much anymore at all. 257 00:13:26,970 --> 00:13:30,330 He said, in fact, it had been years since I'd picked up a basketball until recently, 258 00:13:30,330 --> 00:13:34,140 he was at a golf tournament and he rented a house and the owner of the house, 259 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,470 because it was Michael Jordan running his house, showed up to, to kind of greet 260 00:13:37,470 --> 00:13:38,790 him and to say, Hey, here's the house. 261 00:13:38,790 --> 00:13:40,860 And he brought his kids along with him because when, uh, when 262 00:13:40,860 --> 00:13:42,030 do you get to meet Michael Jordan? 263 00:13:42,090 --> 00:13:42,390 Right? 264 00:13:42,390 --> 00:13:44,160 The, the greatest basketball player of all time. 265 00:13:45,090 --> 00:13:46,590 And he's going through the house and everything else. 266 00:13:46,590 --> 00:13:49,320 And he, he takes him in where he has a gym and he shows him the 267 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,870 gym and he's like, Michael, will you shoot a free throw for me? 268 00:13:53,010 --> 00:13:56,940 Jordan said this was the most nervous that he had been in years. 269 00:13:57,960 --> 00:13:58,740 Think about that. 270 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:00,780 Mj, right? 271 00:14:01,020 --> 00:14:06,060 Nervous to shoot a single free throw in somebody's private house, gymnasium 272 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:07,560 in front of a dad and his kids. 273 00:14:08,370 --> 00:14:10,350 And the interviewer were like, you were nervous. 274 00:14:10,830 --> 00:14:12,150 He said, yeah, I was nervous. 275 00:14:12,630 --> 00:14:14,040 He said, because here's why. 276 00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:17,460 This dad had told his kids all about who I used to be. 277 00:14:18,495 --> 00:14:20,655 He had told him about Dunking from the free throw line. 278 00:14:20,655 --> 00:14:23,205 He had told him about hitting the game-winning shot for the, 279 00:14:23,205 --> 00:14:24,675 the, the bulls over the jazz. 280 00:14:24,675 --> 00:14:26,865 He had told him about all the rings that I've won. 281 00:14:26,865 --> 00:14:31,005 He had told him about who I used to be, and Jordan said, 282 00:14:31,005 --> 00:14:32,055 but I'm not that guy anymore. 283 00:14:33,675 --> 00:14:36,645 And so for, for me, when I'm picking up that ball, I'm not picking up that ball 284 00:14:36,645 --> 00:14:40,305 as that, that guy that was taking out from the free throw line, like it was nothing. 285 00:14:41,685 --> 00:14:43,000 He said I wasn't playing basketball anymore. 286 00:14:44,910 --> 00:14:48,810 Aren't those things characterized who I used to be, but but not who I am now. 287 00:14:50,070 --> 00:14:52,710 And so Jordan said he was super nervous to, to shoot the shot. 288 00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:55,020 I don't know if he made it or not, 289 00:14:58,230 --> 00:14:59,370 but y'all, here's the thing. 290 00:14:59,910 --> 00:15:03,630 We used to be known by those sins in our lives. 291 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,040 We used to be known by the, the passions and the desires that the 292 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,500 world held out to us and said, this is where you're gonna find joy. 293 00:15:11,460 --> 00:15:12,690 We used to be known. 294 00:15:13,230 --> 00:15:16,350 By our dependence on alcohol, our drunkenness, we used 295 00:15:16,350 --> 00:15:17,550 to be known by our lust. 296 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:19,560 We used to be known by our profanity. 297 00:15:19,950 --> 00:15:22,080 We used to be known by our slothfulness. 298 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,400 We used to be known by our covetousness and our greed and our stinginess. 299 00:15:27,210 --> 00:15:31,260 We used to be known by our anger and our short temper and our wrath. 300 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,480 We used to be known for all those things, but that's not who we are anymore. 301 00:15:37,590 --> 00:15:38,515 It's not who we are anymore. 302 00:15:39,750 --> 00:15:42,180 If you're in Christ and you're a new creation, then there is a 303 00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:45,270 severing that takes place between who you used to be and who you are. 304 00:15:45,270 --> 00:15:45,600 Now. 305 00:15:46,380 --> 00:15:48,180 That's the whole point of the Holy Spirit coming and taking 306 00:15:48,180 --> 00:15:49,350 up resonance in our lives. 307 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,650 Not only does he seal us for the day of redemption, but he begins to make 308 00:15:52,650 --> 00:15:54,150 us more like Jesus while we're here. 309 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:58,110 He begins to help us put off the old man and and to put on more of the new. 310 00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:02,880 And so whatever that sin is in your heart that still beckons you. 311 00:16:03,525 --> 00:16:07,545 This still pulls you back to who you used to be to leave that behind. 312 00:16:07,545 --> 00:16:08,415 What does that look like? 313 00:16:08,415 --> 00:16:10,605 How do I leave worldliness in my past? 314 00:16:10,605 --> 00:16:12,525 I wanna suggest a few things for us this morning. 315 00:16:12,525 --> 00:16:14,445 Number one, know yourself. 316 00:16:15,615 --> 00:16:16,935 You wanna leave worldliness behind. 317 00:16:16,935 --> 00:16:17,805 Know yourself. 318 00:16:18,495 --> 00:16:22,665 You have an enemy that is studying you, that knows your weakness. 319 00:16:22,695 --> 00:16:27,555 Peter's gonna say in, in chapter five, be alert because your enemy, 320 00:16:27,555 --> 00:16:30,675 the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 321 00:16:31,665 --> 00:16:33,645 Or you remember the story of Cain and Abel where God told, 322 00:16:34,395 --> 00:16:36,015 told, lemme get this right. 323 00:16:36,015 --> 00:16:36,720 I always Ms. 324 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:42,285 Cain where God told Cain, if you do well then you'll be fine. 325 00:16:42,465 --> 00:16:45,945 But if you don't, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you. 326 00:16:46,155 --> 00:16:49,335 You need to know the doors in your life and what sins are crouching, 327 00:16:49,545 --> 00:16:51,045 desiring to overpower you. 328 00:16:52,095 --> 00:16:53,145 You need to know yourself. 329 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:55,260 You need to know yourself. 330 00:16:56,190 --> 00:16:59,340 To know yourself is is going to involve asking the questions, 331 00:16:59,340 --> 00:17:00,660 what are my weaknesses? 332 00:17:00,660 --> 00:17:01,680 What are my weak spots? 333 00:17:02,340 --> 00:17:04,050 What are the temptations that I face? 334 00:17:05,339 --> 00:17:08,160 What are the worldly passions that still lurk in the corners of my life? 335 00:17:09,810 --> 00:17:14,609 And asking also, what are the triggers to them does, does being alone trigger one 336 00:17:14,609 --> 00:17:16,410 of your, your worldly passions, your lust? 337 00:17:17,638 --> 00:17:21,780 Driving by that same spot that you used to go to when you would drink or 338 00:17:21,780 --> 00:17:25,500 get get drunk, or get intoxicated or whatever, whatever it was in your life. 339 00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:29,790 Does that trigger something in you being wise about those things? 340 00:17:29,820 --> 00:17:34,169 You have to know yourself because you have an enemy that does know you, and 341 00:17:34,169 --> 00:17:37,740 if you're not knowing yourself, then you're gonna fall prey to his schemes 342 00:17:38,970 --> 00:17:40,590 to tempt you and lead you into sin. 343 00:17:41,820 --> 00:17:43,350 Maybe you're aware of two or three of those things. 344 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:45,960 You say, well, I know the, the two or three big things in my 345 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,330 life that I'm constantly fighting and that gets most of my energy. 346 00:17:48,420 --> 00:17:50,670 And I would say, good, but don't settle for that. 347 00:17:52,230 --> 00:17:56,220 Be like King David who prayed this in Psalm 1 39, 23 through 24. 348 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,550 King David said, search me oh God, and know my heart. 349 00:17:59,790 --> 00:18:01,560 Try me and know my thoughts. 350 00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:05,790 See if there'd be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 351 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:09,330 Th That needs to be our, our mentality. 352 00:18:09,330 --> 00:18:12,180 We need to pray with King David, that God would give us such a keen 353 00:18:12,180 --> 00:18:16,020 awareness of ourselves, that there won't be anything in our life that 354 00:18:16,020 --> 00:18:17,700 would be grievous in the sight of God. 355 00:18:18,990 --> 00:18:20,850 Know yourself to that extent. 356 00:18:22,140 --> 00:18:23,610 Know yourself second, know the world. 357 00:18:25,230 --> 00:18:27,720 You need to know the battlefield that you are stepping foot into every single 358 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,140 day, and you need to understand that one of the things that this world is 359 00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:34,380 gonna do is it's gonna take sin and it's gonna make sin less of a big deal. 360 00:18:35,745 --> 00:18:38,685 It's gonna take sin and it's gonna make sin a, a, a thing that is, 361 00:18:38,745 --> 00:18:42,555 is not as, as big of a deal as the Bible would say that it is. 362 00:18:43,845 --> 00:18:45,105 The world's doing that left and right. 363 00:18:45,105 --> 00:18:49,305 Right now there's a growing trend in the psychology world for microdosing. 364 00:18:49,305 --> 00:18:50,294 On psychedelics. 365 00:18:51,675 --> 00:18:54,195 We're talking about LSD, things like that. 366 00:18:54,195 --> 00:18:59,534 Shrooms that are now being given to patients who are dealing 367 00:18:59,534 --> 00:19:00,915 with anxiety and depression. 368 00:19:02,295 --> 00:19:03,585 To accommodate for that. 369 00:19:04,035 --> 00:19:06,075 And the argument is, well, it's such a minor dose. 370 00:19:06,075 --> 00:19:08,570 It's not, I'm not de developing an A. 371 00:19:08,575 --> 00:19:09,195 A dependence. 372 00:19:09,195 --> 00:19:13,965 I'm not hallucinating, I'm not, but there's so much unknown in this besides 373 00:19:13,965 --> 00:19:18,435 the fact that psychedelics are illegal and doctors aren't writing scripts for 374 00:19:18,435 --> 00:19:21,435 them, but we don't know about dependence. 375 00:19:21,495 --> 00:19:24,855 We don't know about how microdosing then becomes medium dosing, 376 00:19:24,855 --> 00:19:25,875 then becomes macro dosing. 377 00:19:29,985 --> 00:19:34,065 There's also other things that are out there that the world is substituting, zen. 378 00:19:36,075 --> 00:19:39,315 Those little pouches that you stick between your, your, your gum line 379 00:19:39,315 --> 00:19:42,075 and your cheek, and people are going, well, it's not, it's not 380 00:19:42,075 --> 00:19:45,495 tobacco, it's not, it doesn't have carcinogens in it, so it's fine. 381 00:19:45,495 --> 00:19:49,455 And yet what they are is they're still just as addictive as the cigarettes are. 382 00:19:50,294 --> 00:19:51,645 The nicotine is still there. 383 00:19:51,645 --> 00:19:54,825 It's still cosing through your veins, just like it does in the cigarettes. 384 00:19:55,575 --> 00:19:57,345 But it's not as, it is not as big of a deal. 385 00:19:59,715 --> 00:20:02,925 Probiotics, there's one that's out there that you can take before 386 00:20:02,925 --> 00:20:06,195 you go out drinking to lessen the effects of alcohol the next morning. 387 00:20:07,905 --> 00:20:10,725 The world has invented a way for you to have your hangover be lessened so that 388 00:20:10,725 --> 00:20:13,485 you can go out and get just as drunk as you want to get without having to fear the 389 00:20:13,485 --> 00:20:14,955 physical consequences the next morning. 390 00:20:18,285 --> 00:20:19,485 How about online chat rooms? 391 00:20:21,465 --> 00:20:24,195 Logging in talking with somebody that's not your spouse and you think, but 392 00:20:24,195 --> 00:20:27,225 it's fine because it's, it's not, it's not in person, it's not a, it's not 393 00:20:27,225 --> 00:20:28,665 an actual relationship, so it's okay. 394 00:20:30,465 --> 00:20:31,485 Emotional affairs 395 00:20:33,705 --> 00:20:34,755 cheating on our taxes. 396 00:20:36,045 --> 00:20:36,945 It's not that big of a deal. 397 00:20:36,945 --> 00:20:39,105 We don't wanna support that government anyways because look at all the 398 00:20:39,105 --> 00:20:40,095 ways that they're spending our money 399 00:20:42,855 --> 00:20:48,825 using AI to cheat, using AI to not have to do the hard work. 400 00:20:52,035 --> 00:20:54,645 So when I say know the world, I'm not asking you to go and indulge in the world. 401 00:20:55,635 --> 00:20:59,415 I'm asking you to be aware of the world's schemes and to be armed against their 402 00:20:59,415 --> 00:21:01,695 ways of substituting darkness for light. 403 00:21:03,705 --> 00:21:04,365 Know the world. 404 00:21:04,695 --> 00:21:07,605 Well, once you know yourself and you know the world, if you're gonna be effective 405 00:21:07,605 --> 00:21:11,295 in those fights against the world and against your weaknesses, you have to 406 00:21:11,295 --> 00:21:13,695 third know the word, know the word. 407 00:21:15,525 --> 00:21:16,455 This is foundational. 408 00:21:17,550 --> 00:21:20,580 If you wanna be armed for whatever the world is gonna bring at you, lob at you. 409 00:21:20,580 --> 00:21:24,270 If you wanna be discerning enough to know the, the way to navigate the 410 00:21:24,270 --> 00:21:26,610 temptations that exist out there, you have to know the word of God. 411 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:29,010 And you might say, well, but pastor, the, the word doesn't 412 00:21:29,010 --> 00:21:30,090 say anything about microdosing. 413 00:21:30,780 --> 00:21:31,110 Okay. 414 00:21:31,620 --> 00:21:33,360 But it does speak to sober mindedness. 415 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:33,810 Yes. 416 00:21:34,740 --> 00:21:37,260 It it does speak to the sufficiency of scripture. 417 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,840 Yes, right. 418 00:21:40,410 --> 00:21:41,730 It does speak to addiction. 419 00:21:42,540 --> 00:21:44,160 It does speak to dependence issues. 420 00:21:44,805 --> 00:21:47,265 It does speak to being wise stewards of our body, right? 421 00:21:48,135 --> 00:21:50,715 God's word does address things like that, that help us then make 422 00:21:50,715 --> 00:21:52,935 a wise decision with something like that, that the world is saying. 423 00:21:52,935 --> 00:21:53,685 It's no big deal. 424 00:21:54,825 --> 00:21:57,165 And we can, if we know the word of God, go to the Word of God and say, 425 00:21:57,165 --> 00:22:02,115 actually, I think it might be, oh, the Bible doesn't address online chat rooms. 426 00:22:02,115 --> 00:22:02,265 Okay? 427 00:22:02,265 --> 00:22:05,295 But it does address the heart as the seat of adultery, doesn't it? 428 00:22:07,755 --> 00:22:11,925 The Bible may not speak to ai, but it does address integrity. 429 00:22:12,930 --> 00:22:16,140 It addresses, it addresses having a, a, a strong work ethic. 430 00:22:16,140 --> 00:22:19,110 It addresses the dangers of sloth and laziness and taking shortcuts. 431 00:22:19,650 --> 00:22:23,010 It speaks to the importance of, of not lying and speaking the truth, right? 432 00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:26,070 The word does that. 433 00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:31,080 This is why we want y'all in the Bible every single day. 434 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,260 This is why we encourage the Daily Bible Reading program. 435 00:22:34,260 --> 00:22:36,660 This is why we encourage you to, to jump on the Bible 436 00:22:36,660 --> 00:22:38,100 Reading Podcast train with us. 437 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,710 It it's not just because we want a, a church that's smarter. 438 00:22:41,879 --> 00:22:44,850 We would love to have a church that is, is more biblically lit, literate 439 00:22:44,850 --> 00:22:45,930 than any church in the world. 440 00:22:45,930 --> 00:22:48,210 I, I will unapologetically say I want our church to be more 441 00:22:48,210 --> 00:22:49,680 biblically literate than anyone else. 442 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:51,990 'cause I want you in your Bible every single day. 443 00:22:52,860 --> 00:22:53,879 But that's not my ultimate goal. 444 00:22:53,879 --> 00:22:55,590 My ultimate goal is that the word of God will have the 445 00:22:55,590 --> 00:22:57,060 intended impact in your life. 446 00:22:57,060 --> 00:22:59,490 That the Spirit would take it and help you apply it to your life so 447 00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:00,810 that you will be more like Jesus. 448 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,200 That's why you need to be in the Word every single day. 449 00:23:05,070 --> 00:23:05,760 You need to know yourself. 450 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:06,540 You need to know the world. 451 00:23:06,540 --> 00:23:07,260 You need to know the word. 452 00:23:07,260 --> 00:23:09,000 And then finally, you need to practice self-control. 453 00:23:09,915 --> 00:23:12,165 This is the, the, the, the kicker in the end. 454 00:23:12,165 --> 00:23:14,265 This takes all the other three components and then acts on it. 455 00:23:15,975 --> 00:23:18,525 If we're not gonna do that, if we're not gonna discipline ourselves, if 456 00:23:18,525 --> 00:23:21,255 we're not gonna say no to our desires of the temptations of the world in 457 00:23:21,255 --> 00:23:25,515 order to obey Christ, then none of our knowledge matters in the end. 458 00:23:25,515 --> 00:23:31,995 After all, one Corinthians 9 27, Paul said, I discipline my body, I discipline 459 00:23:31,995 --> 00:23:33,495 my body, and I keep it under control. 460 00:23:33,495 --> 00:23:35,445 Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. 461 00:23:36,630 --> 00:23:38,640 Again, the dangers of lack of self-control. 462 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,060 Proverbs 25, 28, Proverbs 25, 28. 463 00:23:42,090 --> 00:23:45,960 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without 464 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,100 walls, defenseless, vulnerable. 465 00:23:51,510 --> 00:23:54,570 This is where you can have as much accountability as you want in your 466 00:23:54,570 --> 00:23:59,820 life, but if you're not willing to deny yourself by practicing self-control, 467 00:23:59,820 --> 00:24:01,200 which is a fruit of the spirit, right? 468 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,380 If you're not willing to deny yourself and practice self-control to say no to 469 00:24:07,380 --> 00:24:10,560 what the world tells you, you should have, no one else can do it for you. 470 00:24:11,820 --> 00:24:12,990 No one else can do it for you. 471 00:24:14,460 --> 00:24:17,010 And what's more is we're about to see the world in which we live is 472 00:24:17,010 --> 00:24:18,120 not gonna make it easy for you. 473 00:24:20,220 --> 00:24:22,560 In fact, the world in which we live, when they see you resistant, 474 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,470 they're gonna do everything they can to work against that resistance. 475 00:24:25,905 --> 00:24:27,525 They're gonna make it feel even harder. 476 00:24:27,525 --> 00:24:28,485 And that's what Peter addresses. 477 00:24:28,485 --> 00:24:30,075 Next look down at verses four and five. 478 00:24:30,825 --> 00:24:33,855 Peter says, with respect to this, now this is the abstention. 479 00:24:33,915 --> 00:24:36,915 This is you not doing everything that the world is, is saying you should do. 480 00:24:36,915 --> 00:24:40,125 This is you saying the time that is passed suffices, and 481 00:24:40,125 --> 00:24:42,495 I'm done with respect to this. 482 00:24:42,525 --> 00:24:45,945 They, the world that is are surprised when you do not join them in the same 483 00:24:45,945 --> 00:24:48,165 flood of debauchery and them malign you. 484 00:24:48,345 --> 00:24:52,245 But they will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead. 485 00:24:53,835 --> 00:24:54,075 All right. 486 00:24:54,075 --> 00:24:57,195 As we we get into this, they are surprised. 487 00:24:57,855 --> 00:24:59,745 What that means is they receive it as strange. 488 00:25:00,375 --> 00:25:01,455 It seems foreign. 489 00:25:01,815 --> 00:25:06,315 It seems weird to them that you don't join with them. 490 00:25:06,345 --> 00:25:08,775 It's a word that means to run with them in the same flood of debauchery. 491 00:25:09,345 --> 00:25:13,365 See, it comes so naturally to the world to to pursue sin, to eat, 492 00:25:13,365 --> 00:25:14,475 drink, and be merry for tomorrow. 493 00:25:14,475 --> 00:25:15,015 We die. 494 00:25:15,435 --> 00:25:19,815 That when they see you saying no, they look at you like you're from outer space. 495 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:21,900 It's worse than that. 496 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,300 It's not just that they look at you as though you're from outer space. 497 00:25:24,300 --> 00:25:27,570 They're going to actually go for further than that and they're going to malign you. 498 00:25:28,410 --> 00:25:30,240 It's the word in the Greek four blaspheme. 499 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:32,370 They're going to attack you. 500 00:25:32,940 --> 00:25:33,930 They're gonna slander you. 501 00:25:33,930 --> 00:25:35,310 They're gonna come after your character. 502 00:25:35,460 --> 00:25:36,450 They're gonna belittle you. 503 00:25:36,690 --> 00:25:37,980 They're gonna call you judgmental. 504 00:25:38,370 --> 00:25:40,740 They're gonna say that you think that you're holier than they, 505 00:25:41,670 --> 00:25:43,260 they're going to come after you. 506 00:25:43,770 --> 00:25:45,030 They're gonna cut you outta their lives. 507 00:25:45,030 --> 00:25:46,415 They're gonna say, I don't wanna be around you anymore. 508 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,350 All of that may feel like a lot in the moment, and it can be. 509 00:25:53,910 --> 00:25:57,210 You may lose relationships with your blood family because 510 00:25:57,210 --> 00:25:58,590 of your allegiance to Christ 511 00:26:00,630 --> 00:26:04,950 because they don't understand, because they're surprised when you won't run with 512 00:26:04,950 --> 00:26:06,840 them in the same flood of debauchery. 513 00:26:08,775 --> 00:26:11,505 And so it may cost you immensely to the point that you're 514 00:26:11,505 --> 00:26:13,125 saying, is it really worth it? 515 00:26:13,125 --> 00:26:16,545 And I think that's why Peter goes right away to verse five, where he says, 516 00:26:16,545 --> 00:26:19,275 but he says they're gonna malign you. 517 00:26:20,175 --> 00:26:21,615 So he's acknowledging this is gonna hurt. 518 00:26:21,615 --> 00:26:26,355 This may be painful, this may be difficult for you, but they will 519 00:26:26,925 --> 00:26:29,985 give an account to him who's ready to judge the living in the dead. 520 00:26:31,455 --> 00:26:33,855 That phrase, to judge the living in the dead, that that's everybody. 521 00:26:35,250 --> 00:26:39,510 Everybody that eventually Christ is going to, to bring an end to all of this, and 522 00:26:39,510 --> 00:26:41,010 those that are alive are gonna be judged. 523 00:26:41,010 --> 00:26:42,510 Those that are dead, they're, they're gonna be judged. 524 00:26:42,540 --> 00:26:43,650 He's the judge of all. 525 00:26:45,270 --> 00:26:48,330 And he says that those that are going to malign you for your godliness, your 526 00:26:48,330 --> 00:26:51,570 holiness being done with those things that once characterize you, they're gonna 527 00:26:51,570 --> 00:26:55,320 give an account to him who's to judge the living in the dead to give an account. 528 00:26:55,380 --> 00:26:58,860 It, it's to, uh, to, to provide a, a, a message. 529 00:26:59,220 --> 00:27:00,835 Logos is the word there. 530 00:27:02,655 --> 00:27:05,715 And they're gonna give an account to Jesus in this context. 531 00:27:05,715 --> 00:27:07,305 I believe He's the one that is gonna be there. 532 00:27:07,575 --> 00:27:11,415 A a and, and so for the believer and the unbeliever alike, every single person 533 00:27:11,415 --> 00:27:14,325 on the face of the planet that's ever lived has an appointment with Jesus. 534 00:27:15,435 --> 00:27:17,895 The believer has an appointment with Jesus that as what we know 535 00:27:17,895 --> 00:27:19,395 as the the beam seed of Christ. 536 00:27:20,340 --> 00:27:22,470 That's where the rewards will be assessed. 537 00:27:22,770 --> 00:27:25,410 And so we as Christians will stand before Christ and give an 538 00:27:25,410 --> 00:27:28,260 account for what we've done in the body, whether good or evil, okay? 539 00:27:28,650 --> 00:27:32,010 And that's where our work passes through the fire and, and what is 540 00:27:32,010 --> 00:27:35,400 done for good will come through as precious stones and gems that will re 541 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,820 down to the glory of Christ and those other things that we've done in the 542 00:27:38,820 --> 00:27:41,130 flesh that have been for, for evil. 543 00:27:41,310 --> 00:27:42,900 That's what burns up at that point. 544 00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:44,310 So this is our divine assessment. 545 00:27:44,310 --> 00:27:46,050 That's the beam, a seed of Christ that's for believers. 546 00:27:47,145 --> 00:27:49,455 But then there's another category, there's another judgment, and that's 547 00:27:49,455 --> 00:27:51,285 what happens in Revelation chapter 20. 548 00:27:52,035 --> 00:27:53,895 And this is the great white throne. 549 00:27:54,465 --> 00:27:57,315 And this is where all of the, the remaining dead who have not been raised 550 00:27:57,315 --> 00:28:00,225 to life with the, the church at the return of Christ, the resurrection, 551 00:28:00,225 --> 00:28:03,165 the rapture there, all of the dead that are left, they're going to 552 00:28:03,165 --> 00:28:04,935 appear before the great white throne. 553 00:28:05,625 --> 00:28:07,455 And it says that there are gonna be books that are open. 554 00:28:07,455 --> 00:28:10,185 One of the books that's open is The Book of Life and the Dead are gonna be judged 555 00:28:10,185 --> 00:28:12,735 according to what is written in the books, according to what they have done. 556 00:28:13,005 --> 00:28:15,345 That's the assessment that Peter is referring to here. 557 00:28:15,525 --> 00:28:19,755 They will have to give an account before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 558 00:28:19,755 --> 00:28:21,165 who ultimately they are slandering. 559 00:28:21,165 --> 00:28:24,195 When they slander you, they're gonna have to answer for how 560 00:28:24,195 --> 00:28:26,775 they malign you before Jesus. 561 00:28:27,945 --> 00:28:30,255 And so Peter is saying to the church. 562 00:28:31,004 --> 00:28:38,355 In anticipating that don't give in the world is going to come after you. 563 00:28:38,985 --> 00:28:40,155 They're gonna use your flesh. 564 00:28:40,155 --> 00:28:43,575 They're gonna appeal to your sense of pride by trying to make you 565 00:28:43,575 --> 00:28:46,245 feel dumb, trying to make you feel like you're backwards, like you're 566 00:28:46,245 --> 00:28:50,534 intolerant, like you're, you're just somebody that, that's a Bible thumper. 567 00:28:50,595 --> 00:28:53,054 Like you, you take God's word too seriously. 568 00:28:53,925 --> 00:28:55,304 They're gonna make you feel weird. 569 00:28:56,595 --> 00:28:58,905 And they're gonna call you to compromise on your convictions. 570 00:28:58,935 --> 00:29:00,255 And Peter's saying, don't do it. 571 00:29:00,375 --> 00:29:03,345 Stay the course and remember the outcome of those who give in. 572 00:29:03,585 --> 00:29:05,595 There are consequences for compromise. 573 00:29:06,915 --> 00:29:09,195 And Peter's warning against yielding to those. 574 00:29:10,065 --> 00:29:13,455 So our second point this morning is this, fear consequences more than sacrifices. 575 00:29:14,655 --> 00:29:18,090 Fear, consequences, more than sacrifices for every single 576 00:29:18,090 --> 00:29:19,010 person that follows Christ. 577 00:29:19,410 --> 00:29:20,050 Sacrifice will be involved. 578 00:29:20,865 --> 00:29:24,225 You are gonna have to sacrifice some of the things the world wants to do. 579 00:29:24,345 --> 00:29:26,925 Listen, let's just be honest with each other this morning. 580 00:29:27,015 --> 00:29:28,005 Sin is fun. 581 00:29:29,295 --> 00:29:30,255 It's, it's appealing. 582 00:29:30,615 --> 00:29:32,295 It does offer some sort of pleasure. 583 00:29:32,295 --> 00:29:33,705 That's why people sin. 584 00:29:34,845 --> 00:29:38,655 So as a believer, you are going to have to sacrifice some earthly enjoyment 585 00:29:38,655 --> 00:29:45,495 here that is going to cost you, but that sacrifice is far more worth it than the 586 00:29:45,495 --> 00:29:48,975 consequence that comes if you give into the world and find yourself outside. 587 00:29:49,710 --> 00:29:50,790 Of eternity with Christ. 588 00:29:52,590 --> 00:29:55,080 And this is where I would encourage and, and I wanna speak to you this 589 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,889 morning to say that the Bible is clear, that it is good and right 590 00:29:58,889 --> 00:30:01,889 for you to examine yourself to see whether or not you are truly in Christ. 591 00:30:04,260 --> 00:30:07,650 Paul Washer was at the Shepherd's Conference this last week, and he 592 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:12,690 recounted his last interaction with John MacArthur, where he went to Dr. 593 00:30:12,690 --> 00:30:16,350 MacArthur in his last interaction with him and pressed Dr. 594 00:30:16,350 --> 00:30:18,360 MacArthur on whether or not he truly felt like he was. 595 00:30:18,810 --> 00:30:22,890 Really in Christ and washers gotten blowback from that. 596 00:30:22,890 --> 00:30:25,230 How could you ever question MacArthur's salvation? 597 00:30:27,300 --> 00:30:30,030 And I think rightly people are, are coming out and saying, I hope I have friends 598 00:30:30,030 --> 00:30:31,440 that are doing that for me on my deathbed. 599 00:30:32,910 --> 00:30:35,520 Christian, it's good for you to check to see whether or not you're truly in 600 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:41,250 Christ because self-deception happens and, and self-deception can be marked 601 00:30:41,250 --> 00:30:43,980 by the fact that you really don't feel the tension with the world around you. 602 00:30:45,135 --> 00:30:47,745 You're gonna profess to be a believer because you've grown up in the church. 603 00:30:47,745 --> 00:30:50,475 You're gonna be pro profess to be a believer because mom and dad brought you 604 00:30:50,475 --> 00:30:53,295 to church when you were a baby and got you baptized in this church or that church. 605 00:30:53,805 --> 00:30:56,325 You're gonna profess to be a believer because you're, you're a better person 606 00:30:56,325 --> 00:30:59,325 morally than your neighbor is, but you're not gonna profess to be a 607 00:30:59,325 --> 00:31:02,325 believer because you've surrendered your life in full dependence on the 608 00:31:02,325 --> 00:31:05,625 lordship and salvation offered by Jesus Christ through faith and repentance. 609 00:31:06,345 --> 00:31:07,125 You're not there. 610 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,980 And if you're not there, when you die and you stand before the Lord and 611 00:31:10,980 --> 00:31:13,650 you expect entrance to heaven, what you're gonna hear is depart from me. 612 00:31:13,650 --> 00:31:14,400 I never knew you. 613 00:31:17,070 --> 00:31:21,450 And you're appealing to being a better person than this person you're appealing 614 00:31:21,450 --> 00:31:23,220 to, to, well, I went to church. 615 00:31:23,820 --> 00:31:26,190 You're appealing to I, I I was baptized as a baby. 616 00:31:27,540 --> 00:31:29,790 It's not gonna get you anywhere before the King of Kings and Lord of 617 00:31:29,790 --> 00:31:33,810 Lords 'cause It's not about whether or not you profess to know him. 618 00:31:33,810 --> 00:31:35,220 It's about whether he knows you. 619 00:31:36,375 --> 00:31:39,195 And the only way that he knows you is through you surrendering your 620 00:31:39,195 --> 00:31:40,695 life to him in faith and repentance. 621 00:31:40,695 --> 00:31:43,635 And when you do that, as I've been saying, as Peter's been laying 622 00:31:43,635 --> 00:31:46,575 out for us in the text, there's a transformation that takes place. 623 00:31:47,895 --> 00:31:52,035 And so if you are not sacrificing on this earth, the things that the world 624 00:31:52,035 --> 00:31:55,545 would hold out to you as pleasurable and desirable, if you're just giving 625 00:31:55,545 --> 00:31:59,505 yourself over to those things, then can I just warn you this morning 626 00:31:59,745 --> 00:32:02,655 to do some work to examine whether or not you're truly in Christ? 627 00:32:04,665 --> 00:32:06,915 Because if you are, there should be sacrifices here. 628 00:32:08,055 --> 00:32:10,905 But those sacrifices are far more worth it than the consequences of ending 629 00:32:10,905 --> 00:32:15,435 up standing there saying, Lord, Lord, it's me to hear him say depart from me. 630 00:32:15,435 --> 00:32:15,975 I never knew you. 631 00:32:18,075 --> 00:32:20,925 I read a story this week of a woman who was on a ski lift and she 632 00:32:20,925 --> 00:32:24,105 thought it would be funny to prank her friends to lower herself down 633 00:32:24,285 --> 00:32:25,545 and, and hang from the ski lift. 634 00:32:25,545 --> 00:32:29,415 I don't know what she, she was thinking because she thought she 635 00:32:29,415 --> 00:32:30,615 would be able to pull herself back up. 636 00:32:30,615 --> 00:32:32,025 Well, it turns out that she couldn't. 637 00:32:32,865 --> 00:32:35,895 She got down there and she's hanging from the ski lift and the skis were too heavy 638 00:32:35,895 --> 00:32:37,695 for herself to, to be pulled back up. 639 00:32:37,935 --> 00:32:41,805 So now she's 65 feet above the air on this chairlift that's 640 00:32:41,805 --> 00:32:43,155 going up the side of a mountain. 641 00:32:43,305 --> 00:32:46,245 And as she's going up the side of the mountain, 65 feet in the air, her 642 00:32:46,245 --> 00:32:48,255 grip is, is struggling to hold on. 643 00:32:48,255 --> 00:32:49,035 So her friends. 644 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:51,950 Thankfully she had friends on the chairlift with her, are holding onto 645 00:32:51,950 --> 00:32:56,960 her arms as she's dangling there, and her arms are screaming at her right 646 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,500 now because her full body weight plus the skis are just being suspended 647 00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:01,940 there, held there by her friends. 648 00:33:02,180 --> 00:33:06,770 So great was the pain of her trying to hold on and be held by her friends 649 00:33:06,980 --> 00:33:09,950 that at one point she just started begging her friends to just let her 650 00:33:09,950 --> 00:33:13,070 drop, let me go, let me go, let me go. 651 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:15,860 And thankfully her friends didn't. 652 00:33:16,980 --> 00:33:21,990 Because what she lacked was the foresight to know what was temporary relief, 653 00:33:22,740 --> 00:33:26,370 what would be pleasurable for the moment, and being let go from having 654 00:33:26,370 --> 00:33:30,270 her arms taxed so much by the weight of her body was gonna result in a far 655 00:33:30,270 --> 00:33:34,050 greater pain when she hit the ground and ended up with at minimum broken 656 00:33:34,050 --> 00:33:35,700 bones, if not loss of life or paralysis. 657 00:33:37,665 --> 00:33:41,835 She was in that moment, so focused on the, the, the pain of the arms that 658 00:33:41,835 --> 00:33:46,665 she was willing to sacrifice her body and her health, and even potentially 659 00:33:46,665 --> 00:33:50,685 her life just to get the brief moment of peace that she fell through the air 660 00:33:50,865 --> 00:33:52,575 because her arms didn't hurt her anymore. 661 00:33:54,165 --> 00:33:58,065 Christian, it is sometimes hard for us to resist the temptations of the world. 662 00:33:58,245 --> 00:33:59,955 It's painful, it's exhausting. 663 00:34:01,365 --> 00:34:05,505 And we want to just, our, our flesh is screaming at us and we want 664 00:34:05,505 --> 00:34:06,885 to be able to say, okay, fine. 665 00:34:06,945 --> 00:34:10,125 I'll give in just to get the momentary relief, the momentary pleasure, the 666 00:34:10,125 --> 00:34:13,335 momentary peace from this tension I feel of having to resist this. 667 00:34:13,545 --> 00:34:17,355 And it's such a shortsighted decision because we are sacrificing 668 00:34:17,534 --> 00:34:19,304 so much for that moment. 669 00:34:21,284 --> 00:34:23,745 If you're in Christ, you, you, you're sacrificing reward. 670 00:34:24,405 --> 00:34:26,145 You're sacrificing intimacy with the Lord. 671 00:34:26,145 --> 00:34:27,525 You're sacrificing closeness. 672 00:34:27,975 --> 00:34:31,065 You're sacrificing closeness to the relationships on earth that you have here. 673 00:34:31,275 --> 00:34:32,594 You're sacrificing confidence. 674 00:34:32,775 --> 00:34:35,655 You're sacrificing all of these things for that brief time of 675 00:34:35,655 --> 00:34:37,125 giving into your sinful impulses. 676 00:34:38,985 --> 00:34:42,705 If you're self-deceived and you've just got a pattern of sacrificing over and 677 00:34:42,705 --> 00:34:48,525 over and over again in your life, giving in what you're giving up is you're giving 678 00:34:48,525 --> 00:34:51,100 it up an eternity in the presence of the Lord where there's fullness of joy. 679 00:34:51,915 --> 00:34:55,094 For an eternity under the full wrath of God and the fires of hell. 680 00:34:57,375 --> 00:34:59,895 I guarantee you, there's not gonna be anything this world offers you 681 00:34:59,895 --> 00:35:04,335 in that moment that you're gonna say it was worth it, and so please 682 00:35:04,365 --> 00:35:06,375 examine your heart right now. 683 00:35:07,305 --> 00:35:11,745 I had somebody in college tell me, PJ don't sacrifice eternity 684 00:35:11,745 --> 00:35:12,855 on the altar of the immediate. 685 00:35:15,255 --> 00:35:18,285 It's, it's like if you go fishing, you take the the lure and you 686 00:35:18,285 --> 00:35:19,485 cast it out into the water. 687 00:35:19,875 --> 00:35:23,805 And that large mouth bass sees the lure, hit the water, and it looks appealing. 688 00:35:24,675 --> 00:35:28,365 It looks shiny, it looks multicolored, and it, the way it moves through 689 00:35:28,365 --> 00:35:30,675 the water, it's like, man, this is gonna be a delicious meal. 690 00:35:30,675 --> 00:35:33,135 And that bass comes out, strikes that lure. 691 00:35:33,135 --> 00:35:33,825 And what happens? 692 00:35:33,825 --> 00:35:38,085 The hook that the lure conceals sets in the bass and that bass is done. 693 00:35:39,105 --> 00:35:40,245 That's sin. 694 00:35:41,295 --> 00:35:42,075 It looks good. 695 00:35:42,465 --> 00:35:43,305 It looks appealing. 696 00:35:44,235 --> 00:35:47,925 You want it, but you have to remember what you know to be true, 697 00:35:47,925 --> 00:35:49,005 that it's concealing the hook. 698 00:35:49,904 --> 00:35:50,504 Resist it. 699 00:35:52,455 --> 00:35:54,375 Radio Hord said this in his book on Heaven. 700 00:35:54,375 --> 00:35:57,254 He said, for Christians this present life is the closest they will come to hell. 701 00:35:58,754 --> 00:36:01,605 For Christians, this present life, the pain that you have to go through as 702 00:36:01,605 --> 00:36:04,305 you sacrifice some of the pleasures in this world, the pain that you have 703 00:36:04,305 --> 00:36:07,004 to go through in this world through suffering, through persecution, 704 00:36:07,004 --> 00:36:08,234 through them, be maligning you. 705 00:36:08,234 --> 00:36:10,845 Everything else, that's as close to hell as you will ever get. 706 00:36:12,105 --> 00:36:15,375 But then he says, the inverse is true as well for unbelievers. 707 00:36:15,375 --> 00:36:16,785 This is the closest they will come to heaven. 708 00:36:17,940 --> 00:36:20,400 The pleasures that they indulge in on this side of eternity is the 709 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:21,540 closest they will ever get to heaven. 710 00:36:21,750 --> 00:36:23,790 And that's why they don't get it. 711 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:25,890 When you don't join them. 712 00:36:25,890 --> 00:36:28,170 When you don't run after the same things with them. 713 00:36:28,170 --> 00:36:30,660 When you don't come with you, they think it's weird. 714 00:36:30,660 --> 00:36:32,220 They're like, you are bizarre. 715 00:36:32,220 --> 00:36:33,450 Why aren't you doing this? 716 00:36:33,450 --> 00:36:34,350 What's wrong with you? 717 00:36:35,670 --> 00:36:38,130 But not only that, it draws their eye because I think two things 718 00:36:38,130 --> 00:36:39,299 are happening at the same time. 719 00:36:40,230 --> 00:36:43,590 Number one, they look at you and they think about you and they 720 00:36:43,590 --> 00:36:46,020 think, man, you think you've got something better than what I have. 721 00:36:47,550 --> 00:36:48,390 And the answer is yes. 722 00:36:50,070 --> 00:36:52,410 And then the second thing is they look at you and they realize that 723 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:56,400 the life that you are living in your godliness is, is causing them to feel 724 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,620 shame that they don't like to feel. 725 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:00,960 And that's the conscience. 726 00:37:01,530 --> 00:37:04,230 That's what Paul talks about in Romans two, that they show that the work of 727 00:37:04,230 --> 00:37:05,730 the law is written on their hearts. 728 00:37:06,510 --> 00:37:11,730 And so rather than responding to say, how do I get what you have so often 729 00:37:11,730 --> 00:37:14,130 they're gonna come after you, they're gonna malign you, they're gonna 730 00:37:14,130 --> 00:37:15,300 slander you, they're gonna attack you. 731 00:37:17,250 --> 00:37:19,320 But if you do it charitably, they may come to you and say, 732 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:20,250 how do I have what you have? 733 00:37:21,390 --> 00:37:21,930 I want to know. 734 00:37:22,529 --> 00:37:23,730 So don't yield church. 735 00:37:24,509 --> 00:37:26,550 Don't give in, and lemme just encourage you too. 736 00:37:26,730 --> 00:37:29,730 This is not just saying that that life as a Christian on earth is miserable. 737 00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:33,540 It's not the joy, the peace, the confidence, the contentment that 738 00:37:33,540 --> 00:37:36,480 comes with a clean conscience that you can have as a believer, as 739 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:38,250 a follower of Jesus is so sweet. 740 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,290 It's so sweet and it's so much better than the shame. 741 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,490 The guilt that you carry when you give into temptation. 742 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,379 So church one, you're tempted identify the lie that reveal, 743 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:53,700 that conceals the enemy's hook. 744 00:37:54,930 --> 00:38:00,540 When, when you're tempted to, to not consider the consequences to, to think 745 00:38:00,540 --> 00:38:02,310 that the sacrifice is too much for you. 746 00:38:02,850 --> 00:38:05,040 Consider the lie that conceals the enemy's hook. 747 00:38:06,029 --> 00:38:10,495 Counter it with the truth of God's word, what you know to be true. 748 00:38:11,895 --> 00:38:16,575 Rehearse the promises of God that await for rejecting the world to choose him. 749 00:38:18,225 --> 00:38:21,825 And remember the consequences that await for rejecting him to choose the world, 750 00:38:23,925 --> 00:38:24,735 the enemy, the world. 751 00:38:24,735 --> 00:38:27,945 They're gonna do everything they can to get you to take your mind off 752 00:38:27,945 --> 00:38:30,075 eternity and get it on the here and now. 753 00:38:32,115 --> 00:38:34,785 But remembering the consequences is gonna help you be willing 754 00:38:34,785 --> 00:38:36,015 to make the sacrifices. 755 00:38:38,085 --> 00:38:40,905 It's not just the negative side of eternity though that Peter uses here. 756 00:38:40,905 --> 00:38:43,095 It's also the positive side that keeps us going. 757 00:38:43,095 --> 00:38:44,265 Look down again. 758 00:38:44,265 --> 00:38:44,985 Verse six. 759 00:38:45,045 --> 00:38:49,605 He says, for this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead. 760 00:38:49,935 --> 00:38:52,485 This is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead. 761 00:38:52,875 --> 00:38:56,685 Alright, who are the dead ones that Peter's talking about here? 762 00:38:57,225 --> 00:38:58,845 Well, I think there's three options for us. 763 00:38:58,905 --> 00:39:01,005 Option number one that he's talking about spiritually dead. 764 00:39:01,620 --> 00:39:02,220 Spiritually dead. 765 00:39:02,220 --> 00:39:03,240 This is what Paul does. 766 00:39:03,270 --> 00:39:06,900 In Ephesians chapter two, he says, for you are dead in your trespasses and sins. 767 00:39:07,470 --> 00:39:11,009 So Peter's saying, this is why the gospels preached to the spiritual, uh, those 768 00:39:11,009 --> 00:39:14,280 that are spiritually dead to sinners, so that there would be hope that though they 769 00:39:14,430 --> 00:39:15,750 are judged in the flesh away, men are. 770 00:39:15,750 --> 00:39:16,950 We'll talk about that in just a second. 771 00:39:17,220 --> 00:39:18,750 They can live eternally with God. 772 00:39:19,125 --> 00:39:19,425 Okay. 773 00:39:20,025 --> 00:39:22,575 The problem is that's reading Pauline Theology into Peter. 774 00:39:22,575 --> 00:39:25,305 Initially when I came to this passage, I was like, yeah, I think that makes sense. 775 00:39:25,305 --> 00:39:26,655 This is, is spiritually dead. 776 00:39:27,015 --> 00:39:28,875 But that's reading Paul back into Peter. 777 00:39:29,145 --> 00:39:32,565 Peter doesn't use the term dead to refer to those that are spiritually dead. 778 00:39:33,255 --> 00:39:36,975 He, when he uses the term dead, he's, he's referring to those that are actually dead. 779 00:39:37,425 --> 00:39:38,055 Physically dead. 780 00:39:38,745 --> 00:39:41,595 So it's probably not the spiritually dead there. 781 00:39:41,895 --> 00:39:44,205 So the second option would be that these, these are the Old Testament 782 00:39:44,205 --> 00:39:47,445 saints or these are, are people who died without hearing the gospel. 783 00:39:47,445 --> 00:39:50,085 Some people have suggested that too, that Christ is going back 784 00:39:50,085 --> 00:39:52,305 to preach the gospel to the dead. 785 00:39:52,335 --> 00:39:53,235 Those that are already dead. 786 00:39:53,775 --> 00:39:54,595 Couple of problems with dad. 787 00:39:55,845 --> 00:40:00,315 Number one, uh, this word to preach the, the gospel here from Yuan Gozo, 788 00:40:00,705 --> 00:40:03,855 which is to, to proclaim the good news, the gospel, uh, when it's used 789 00:40:03,855 --> 00:40:07,125 in the epistles, is only used of human beings preaching the gospel. 790 00:40:07,695 --> 00:40:09,525 It's not used of Jesus preaching the gospel. 791 00:40:10,365 --> 00:40:14,535 And, and so this would be, uh, an, an albatross for Peter to be using in, in 792 00:40:14,535 --> 00:40:17,655 a way to refer to Christ, going back to preach the gospel to those that are dead. 793 00:40:18,375 --> 00:40:18,675 Second. 794 00:40:20,685 --> 00:40:24,195 The idea of preaching the gospel to those that never got a chance to hear it. 795 00:40:24,345 --> 00:40:27,315 We don't find that concept anywhere else in the scripture, 796 00:40:28,605 --> 00:40:29,745 and we don't find it here even. 797 00:40:30,015 --> 00:40:34,455 We're implying that we're reading into it, and so we're putting something 798 00:40:34,455 --> 00:40:36,775 on the text that's not, that's not there, that's not in the text. 799 00:40:38,085 --> 00:40:42,015 Third, when we talked about earlier, Christ declaring to the spirits in prison. 800 00:40:42,045 --> 00:40:44,685 Some wanna make the connection here between those two passages. 801 00:40:45,375 --> 00:40:48,825 That was not the, the word zo or the verb form of it. 802 00:40:48,825 --> 00:40:51,855 That was the word for proclaim and proclaiming victory. 803 00:40:51,855 --> 00:40:53,295 And we talked about that in that passage. 804 00:40:53,295 --> 00:40:54,255 The spirits in prison there. 805 00:40:54,945 --> 00:40:56,805 So rather this seems to be something else. 806 00:40:56,805 --> 00:40:57,975 Well, what's the third option? 807 00:40:58,245 --> 00:41:01,035 The third option, and I think this is the, the option that is, is preferable 808 00:41:01,035 --> 00:41:04,035 here, is that this is the dead are those believers who have died. 809 00:41:04,185 --> 00:41:05,655 And here's what I think Peter's doing. 810 00:41:06,210 --> 00:41:08,250 So Peter's talking to a group that's saying, we're not gonna 811 00:41:08,250 --> 00:41:09,150 live like we used to live. 812 00:41:09,150 --> 00:41:10,080 We're gonna live differently. 813 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,780 The world is gonna hate them for that and malign them for that. 814 00:41:12,990 --> 00:41:17,400 I think Peter's anticipating an objection from the world, and it's this, the world 815 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,150 is gonna look at the Christian and the unbeliever, and they're gonna say the 816 00:41:21,150 --> 00:41:25,950 same thing that King Solomon concluded in Ecclesiastes, that that death is 817 00:41:25,950 --> 00:41:27,390 batting a thousand for both of them. 818 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,600 So the world is gonna look at the Christian and the non-Christian 819 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,660 alike and be like, why would I choose to live my life? 820 00:41:34,305 --> 00:41:37,875 Sacrificing all of the pleasures that, that I have in my life right now. 821 00:41:38,685 --> 00:41:41,384 When in the end you die and I die. 822 00:41:42,345 --> 00:41:42,975 What's the point? 823 00:41:43,575 --> 00:41:45,645 Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow. 824 00:41:45,645 --> 00:41:46,395 We all die. 825 00:41:47,025 --> 00:41:50,174 In fact, you can even see the unbeliever who has lived a longer life than the 826 00:41:50,174 --> 00:41:51,435 believer going, look at that believer. 827 00:41:51,435 --> 00:41:53,805 That believer died and their their twenties. 828 00:41:53,805 --> 00:41:56,985 And I'm here in my forties and, and I'm doing much better than they are. 829 00:41:57,045 --> 00:41:58,935 And so look at how much I'm enjoying my life. 830 00:41:58,935 --> 00:41:59,955 They had to give up so much. 831 00:41:59,955 --> 00:42:00,825 Was it really worth it? 832 00:42:02,925 --> 00:42:05,235 I think that's why Peter says this is why the gospel was preached to 833 00:42:05,235 --> 00:42:09,795 those who are dead, though judged in the flesh the way men are. 834 00:42:10,155 --> 00:42:10,995 Here's the thing, y'all. 835 00:42:11,085 --> 00:42:13,515 The gospel doesn't free you from physical death. 836 00:42:14,775 --> 00:42:18,585 We are all going to die unless we fly, depending on what happens, right? 837 00:42:19,125 --> 00:42:20,440 Jesus comes back first, then we'll fly. 838 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:21,105 We won't die. 839 00:42:21,315 --> 00:42:23,895 But if he doesn't, we're all gonna die. 840 00:42:24,825 --> 00:42:27,165 That here's a cheery message for you this morning. 841 00:42:27,525 --> 00:42:28,245 Everybody's gonna die. 842 00:42:29,895 --> 00:42:33,345 It is the brick wall into which every human being runs at some point in their 843 00:42:33,345 --> 00:42:36,045 life, and there's not a philosophy. 844 00:42:36,165 --> 00:42:37,965 There's not a religion out there. 845 00:42:38,055 --> 00:42:40,575 Save Christianity that can overcome the brick wall. 846 00:42:41,895 --> 00:42:45,405 You will run splat into the brick wall of death and be done. 847 00:42:46,365 --> 00:42:49,335 Your body will be finished, you'll be put six feet under. 848 00:42:51,525 --> 00:42:52,935 The question is what happens after that? 849 00:42:54,495 --> 00:42:55,545 That's where the gospel matters. 850 00:42:56,445 --> 00:42:58,155 This is why the gospel was preached to those who are dead. 851 00:42:58,305 --> 00:43:00,495 That though judged in the flesh the way that men are. 852 00:43:00,585 --> 00:43:01,755 In other words, they're gonna die. 853 00:43:02,025 --> 00:43:02,865 Everybody dies. 854 00:43:03,015 --> 00:43:04,095 Peter's conceding that point. 855 00:43:04,635 --> 00:43:06,825 They will live in the spirit the way that God does. 856 00:43:07,799 --> 00:43:11,549 See Christian, what sustains our hope, what continues to 857 00:43:11,549 --> 00:43:13,319 further our hope in this life? 858 00:43:13,319 --> 00:43:17,670 As we sacrifice, as we continually say, I'm not who I used to be. 859 00:43:17,819 --> 00:43:19,710 I'm now this person in Christ. 860 00:43:19,710 --> 00:43:24,150 As we give up, as we suffer from the world, as we are maligned, as we are 861 00:43:24,150 --> 00:43:27,660 cursed, what sustains our hope is not that things are gonna get better here. 862 00:43:27,660 --> 00:43:30,480 They may never get better here, but that they will be better 863 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,325 there when we're with him. 864 00:43:33,299 --> 00:43:35,339 Our final point this morning towards that end is this, allow 865 00:43:35,339 --> 00:43:36,990 the gospel to sustain your hope. 866 00:43:38,069 --> 00:43:39,480 Allow the gospel to sustain your hope. 867 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:41,520 Peter's saying, this is why the gospel was preached to those who are 868 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:46,890 dead, because their hope was not in the here and now like it is for all 869 00:43:46,890 --> 00:43:49,319 the people that are running after all the debauchery of the world. 870 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:51,060 That's why. 871 00:43:51,870 --> 00:43:53,370 That's why they go after the alcohol. 872 00:43:53,370 --> 00:43:54,660 That's why they go after the sex. 873 00:43:54,660 --> 00:43:55,890 That's why they go after the drugs. 874 00:43:55,890 --> 00:43:58,320 That's why they go after the, the wealth because they're trying to 875 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,320 dole their senses into not having to think about the fact that someday 876 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:02,759 the timer's gonna run out for them. 877 00:44:02,820 --> 00:44:03,750 And then what? 878 00:44:04,830 --> 00:44:06,840 And maybe that's you here in the the room this morning. 879 00:44:08,130 --> 00:44:12,300 Maybe you've been living your life just trying to keep your mind off the fact 880 00:44:12,300 --> 00:44:13,950 that one day your heart will stop pumping. 881 00:44:13,950 --> 00:44:14,520 Well, guess what? 882 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:18,810 Your heart is going to stop pumping and none of the money that 883 00:44:18,810 --> 00:44:19,830 you have in your bank account. 884 00:44:21,165 --> 00:44:24,195 None of the, the, the res, you don't take a resume to heaven with you. 885 00:44:26,924 --> 00:44:30,045 Nobody's gotten into heaven based on the zip code that they live in, the car 886 00:44:30,045 --> 00:44:32,535 they drive, how pretty their spouse was. 887 00:44:34,935 --> 00:44:36,765 None of it's gonna matter for you when you get there. 888 00:44:37,995 --> 00:44:41,445 And you'll have a sobering reality that you wasted your life trying to avoid 889 00:44:41,445 --> 00:44:45,915 the stark reality that you cannot avoid anymore as you stand before a holy God. 890 00:44:46,935 --> 00:44:48,549 And he says, why should I let you into my heaven? 891 00:44:49,410 --> 00:44:53,609 All you can say is, I wasn't as bad as that person over there. 892 00:44:55,259 --> 00:44:58,919 Listen, if that's you this morning, come to faith in Jesus Christ this morning. 893 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:00,779 Repent from your sins. 894 00:45:01,049 --> 00:45:04,200 Give up trying to avoid the reality that you're going to die. 895 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:05,160 You're going to die. 896 00:45:07,710 --> 00:45:08,940 Give up trying to avoid it. 897 00:45:08,940 --> 00:45:09,480 Give up. 898 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:11,160 Trying to take your mind off things. 899 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:11,640 Give up. 900 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:16,319 Trying to not have to, to deal with the reality that you are a temporal being. 901 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,400 And come to faith in the one who has provided the solution for you. 902 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:23,940 Repent from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ that he 903 00:45:23,940 --> 00:45:25,285 died on the cross for your sins. 904 00:45:26,279 --> 00:45:27,720 So that your sins can be forgiven. 905 00:45:27,870 --> 00:45:31,649 He paid the penalty that you could not pay, and that he rose from 906 00:45:31,649 --> 00:45:34,140 the dead three days later so that you will live with him forever. 907 00:45:34,379 --> 00:45:38,040 Trust in the one that took your sin and gave you his righteousness. 908 00:45:38,339 --> 00:45:41,759 That's the only way that you will have an answer sufficient when you 909 00:45:41,759 --> 00:45:44,549 die and stand before a holy God who says, why should I let you into heaven? 910 00:45:44,940 --> 00:45:47,460 All you can do at that point is point to him and say, because 911 00:45:47,460 --> 00:45:49,379 he died for me and Rose again. 912 00:45:50,970 --> 00:45:53,174 If you haven't done that, do that this morning. 913 00:45:54,750 --> 00:45:55,650 Do that this morning. 914 00:45:55,830 --> 00:45:59,520 Leave off the world that you've been living for and whatever you've done 915 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,130 to this point, you are not beyond the saving reach of the grace of God. 916 00:46:03,030 --> 00:46:05,520 If you're here this morning thinking, okay, but I can't because I've done 917 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:09,240 all of these things, the Lord Jesus Christ died to a tone for those things. 918 00:46:09,300 --> 00:46:10,890 He died to pay for those things. 919 00:46:11,070 --> 00:46:12,360 Come to him in faith this morning. 920 00:46:13,620 --> 00:46:15,120 No more excuses this morning. 921 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:19,650 Lay them down and surrender your life to Jesus in faith 922 00:46:19,650 --> 00:46:20,520 and repentance this morning. 923 00:46:24,255 --> 00:46:25,065 If you've done that, 924 00:46:27,375 --> 00:46:32,175 the writer of Hebrews warns us against drifting from our hope and his solution 925 00:46:32,175 --> 00:46:34,725 is this, in Hebrews 12, one through two, he says, therefore, since we 926 00:46:34,725 --> 00:46:37,815 are surrounded by so greater a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every 927 00:46:37,815 --> 00:46:41,565 weight and sin, which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race 928 00:46:41,565 --> 00:46:44,565 that is set before us looking to Jesus. 929 00:46:45,885 --> 00:46:48,675 If you're in Christ this morning, keep your eyes on Jesus. 930 00:46:48,855 --> 00:46:50,505 Keep looking to Jesus. 931 00:46:50,745 --> 00:46:52,815 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 932 00:46:53,625 --> 00:46:57,915 That hymn was written by a woman who shortly after she got married, was struck 933 00:46:57,915 --> 00:47:01,935 with an illness that caused her to go blind, and her husband didn't want to 934 00:47:01,935 --> 00:47:02,970 care for a blind wife, so he left her. 935 00:47:04,770 --> 00:47:09,600 In that moment of despair, in that moment of wondering what in the world 936 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:14,040 was going on in the trial and the doubts and the questions, she came across 937 00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:18,390 these words from a missionary to Algeria who said this, how do we bring things 938 00:47:18,390 --> 00:47:20,190 to a focus in the world of optics? 939 00:47:21,180 --> 00:47:25,110 Not by looking at the things to be dropped, but by looking at the one 940 00:47:25,110 --> 00:47:26,550 point that is to be brought out. 941 00:47:27,450 --> 00:47:32,700 Turn full your soul's vision to Jesus and look. 942 00:47:33,255 --> 00:47:36,645 Look at him and a strange dimness will come over. 943 00:47:36,645 --> 00:47:38,505 All that is apart from him. 944 00:47:40,125 --> 00:47:41,325 That's the chorus of that him. 945 00:47:42,795 --> 00:47:48,435 The things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. 946 00:47:51,105 --> 00:47:53,205 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 947 00:47:54,405 --> 00:47:56,505 If you're in Christ this morning, death is gonna come for you. 948 00:47:56,505 --> 00:47:57,825 Just like it's gonna come from Me too. 949 00:47:59,100 --> 00:48:01,680 If you're in Christ this morning, that death is not the end, but 950 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:03,480 simply a doorway into true life. 951 00:48:04,650 --> 00:48:08,640 If you'll keep your eyes fixed there, you will be able to stay the course. 952 00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,279 I promise you to help with that. 953 00:48:11,279 --> 00:48:12,299 Lemme suggest a few things. 954 00:48:12,299 --> 00:48:13,500 Read Gospely books. 955 00:48:15,089 --> 00:48:21,600 Read sing gospely songs, memorize gospely passages, and surround 956 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:22,770 yourself with gospely people. 957 00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:27,000 I know gospely is not a word if you're going, he doesn't know how to spell. 958 00:48:27,390 --> 00:48:32,700 Sometimes I do have spelling errors on my, this one's on purpose, man. 959 00:48:32,700 --> 00:48:35,100 Find those things that make you think about Jesus. 960 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:37,470 Find the people that make you think about ge. 961 00:48:37,470 --> 00:48:41,640 Get into a community group here and be in relationships with people that 962 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:43,050 are gonna make you love Jesus more. 963 00:48:44,580 --> 00:48:47,310 Find that church 'cause you need it. 964 00:48:47,850 --> 00:48:49,740 That's why Paul wrote in one Corinthians chapter 15 verse 965 00:48:49,740 --> 00:48:53,310 one, I remind you of the gospel. 966 00:48:54,630 --> 00:48:55,530 I remind you of the gospel. 967 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:01,110 Allow the gospel to sustain your hope. 968 00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:06,450 Y'all different isn't always a bad thing when you live different 969 00:49:06,450 --> 00:49:07,500 from what the world expects. 970 00:49:07,500 --> 00:49:08,790 That's not a bad thing at all. 971 00:49:09,150 --> 00:49:12,270 In fact, it's another sign that you belong to Jesus. 972 00:49:13,620 --> 00:49:17,730 Following Jesus is gonna cause you to look weird, and that's okay because 973 00:49:17,730 --> 00:49:20,520 it's better to be thought strange by the world than a stranger by God. 974 00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:21,690 Let's pray. 975 00:49:25,155 --> 00:49:28,695 Father, it's overwhelming that you made a way for us to have 976 00:49:30,945 --> 00:49:33,045 peace with you and not just peace with you. 977 00:49:33,705 --> 00:49:36,945 That you made a way for us not to be strangers to you, but friends 978 00:49:37,575 --> 00:49:41,445 with you, that you made a way for us, not just to be friends with you, 979 00:49:41,505 --> 00:49:43,905 but to be sons and daughters of you. 980 00:49:45,210 --> 00:49:46,680 What a glorious reality that is. 981 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:48,870 It's one that we take for granted. 982 00:49:48,870 --> 00:49:52,890 It's one that we maybe initially are overwhelmed by as we come to faith, 983 00:49:52,890 --> 00:49:55,680 but then it, it quickly becomes the background noise to our lives 984 00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:58,230 of thinking, well, of course I'm a Christian because Jesus died for me. 985 00:49:59,010 --> 00:50:01,230 When may we never lose sight of the significance of that? 986 00:50:01,230 --> 00:50:03,030 May we always hold fast to that hope. 987 00:50:03,030 --> 00:50:06,960 May we always live ready to be in your presence knowing that we are, but a, 988 00:50:07,350 --> 00:50:13,620 a a, a hair trigger away from standing before our savior, God, we wanna live. 989 00:50:14,340 --> 00:50:21,270 Weird in the world's eyes and be okay with that because it's not strange 990 00:50:21,270 --> 00:50:24,690 to you because we are your sons and your daughters if we are in Christ. 991 00:50:25,590 --> 00:50:28,920 But I pray this morning for anyone who may be here who has not 992 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:30,300 made the decision to trust you. 993 00:50:31,170 --> 00:50:34,170 I pray this morning that you would impress upon them the urgency of 994 00:50:34,170 --> 00:50:38,100 the need to do business with you, that they wouldn't delay that today 995 00:50:38,100 --> 00:50:39,030 would be the day of salvation. 996 00:50:40,365 --> 00:50:43,575 That they would receive your free offer of salvation through faith 997 00:50:43,575 --> 00:50:44,865 and repentance in Jesus Christ. 998 00:50:46,275 --> 00:50:47,565 Lord, may you do that today. 999 00:50:47,595 --> 00:50:49,365 May you add more to your kingdom today. 1000 00:50:50,445 --> 00:50:50,925 We love you. 1001 00:50:50,925 --> 00:50:51,255 Father. 1002 00:50:51,255 --> 00:50:52,545 We're so thankful for this morning. 1003 00:50:52,545 --> 00:50:53,685 We pray this all in Jesus' name.