A Life Without Jesus is a Wasted Life

1 Peter 4, verse 1, the Bible says this,

1 Peter 4:1

And we're going to get into that because sometimes you're like,

Peter, what in the world are you talking about?

He says in verse 4,

Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excessive riots speaking evil of you.

Who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead?

For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead,

that they might be judged according to the men in the flesh,

but live according to God in the Spirit.

And verse 7 is not really part of our text, but it kind of ties in.

He says this in verse 7,

But the end of all things is at hand. Be there sober and watch unto prayer.

So Peter is just reminding them, hey, we're moving towards the end.

Sometimes in life, and maybe you've been there,

there's been weeks and there's been days, there's been hours where it feels like this is never going to end.

Anybody else ever been there?

It's like when you were in school.

You remember maybe you did this little trick?

I'm not going to look at the clock for the next 20 minutes.

Because you're trying to make it to the end of school,

and you feel like you're looking down for an hour,

and you look up, it's been three minutes.

Sometimes that's how life feels.

But Peter's reminding us over and over,

life's heart is difficult,

but we are moving towards a time we're going to see Jesus.

And all the things we're living for,

while we may be ridiculed for it now,

that's kind of what he's saying,

it's going to be worth it all when we see Jesus Christ.

So I want to preach a message entitled this tonight to help us.

Life without Jesus is a wasted life.

Life without Jesus is a wasted life.

So let's go to him in prayer and ask him to help us this evening.

Father, thank you so much for the wonderful time to be in your house again,

and just the absolute privilege it is to open your word.

Lord, I'm so thankful that you use men like Peter,

and we see even the transformation in his life from a fisherman to just an apostle,

and how even his writings from so long ago still speak to us today.

And we're thankful the word of God still speaks,

that it's alive.

It's not an old antique book.

No, it's a timeless book that we can apply.

Lord, I pray you would help us tonight as we look at some difficult verses again,

but some very helpful verses.

I pray you'd give me clarity and just the ability to explain,

and I pray you would allow the Holy Spirit just to speak to our hearts,

that we would respond, and we ask all these things in Christ's name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for standing.

May be seated.

Speaking of time moving fast, there's moments in life,

you know, when you're younger, you feel like it's never going to get here.

I remember praying all the time,

and we'd hear a message about the Lord coming back,

and I'm a teenager, and I'd be like,

man, I really want the Lord to come back,

and then I'd pray real quietly after I get my driver's license.

You know, there's just things you want to do when you're younger.

You're like, if I can just get a driver's license, that would be really cool,

and then the Lord can come back.

But then there's moments as you get a little bit older,

you realize, man, life is moving super fast.

That as a teenager, it may have felt like it's 10 years until I get that,

but it's going to get here.

And I'm kind of there right now as I get a little bit older,

and now I have one almost about to drive,

and all of these things coming down there,

and I kind of look back and think, how did we get here?

How did it get here so fast?

And the older you get, the more you realize that you cannot get back yesterday.

You can't relive it.

You cannot rewrite it.

And you really cannot recover the time that has already passed.

But really the idea and the thought that Peter wants to bring to the forefront of our minds this evening

is why we may not be able to get some of the past back.

And there's things in the past that we wish we would have never done,

maybe decisions we wish we would have never made,

and we'd love to go back and kind of rewrite those chapters of our life.

And he says, listen, that's gone.

But what you can do is you can decide what you're going to do with the rest of the time that you have

and how you're going to live your life from this point forward.

And that's really the question is, what am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Because maybe even this week didn't go well,

but the wonderful thing is we're here tonight and we have another day,

and Lord willing we'll have another day tomorrow to serve him.

And just to give us a little bit of recap,

Peter has just shown us from last week the victory of Jesus Christ.

Because he's writing to these believers that are struggling and life is beating them down

and persecution is a real thing and suffering is something they're facing maybe every single day.

But he says, listen, suffering doesn't have the last word.

Jesus Christ suffered, but he suffered for our sins, but he's not in the grave anymore.

But he bore those sins on the cross and they buried him there.

But the third day he rose and he didn't just stand outside of the grave.

No, he ascended and he's at the right hand of the Father to this day.

And he reigns over all.

And he's writing that truth to the believers to say, listen, just be reminded what Christ has done.

But what he wants to do and what he takes him here in chapter 4 is he's saying,

don't just focus on what Christ has done for you.

That's wonderful, but it also should change how you live your life today.

Really the big idea of our text this evening is because you belong to Jesus,

if you know him as your savior, the rest of your life should be lived for the will of God.

That's really what he's wanting us to see.

So the question is, if you're taking notes, here's what we're going to answer.

How should following Jesus change the way that I spend the rest of my life?

How should following Jesus change the way I spend the rest of my life?

And see, the first thing I think Peter wants us to see in verse number 1 is this.

He begins with our attitude towards sin.

Because we belong to Jesus, we are finished living for sin.

It is no longer our master.

Verse number 1,

I think we've seen this in Peter's little epistle here,

is he keeps coming back to one thing over and over and over again, Jesus Christ.

He's wanting us to get our eyes off of life and the world and the difficulties,

not to pretend like they're not there.

He's not saying, hey, be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand.

But he's saying, listen, these are reality.

But the way you're going to make it through is to focus on Christ and to remember what he's done.

And we looked at that last week in verse number 18 of chapter 3,

where he says,

For Christ hath also once suffered for sins,

the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

And so he's there and he's reminding us the same way just a few verses later.

That Jesus didn't accidentally stumble into suffering.

That the cross was not something that caught him by surprise.

That he willingly embraced it.

He did it in obedience to his Father.

He did it, the Bible tells us in Hebrews,

for the joy that was set before him.

Part of that joy is this, us.

Living with him in perfect fellowship,

the way that it was designed,

the way that it was in the garden before sin entered in the world.

And Peter is kind of bringing them to this realization once again.

I want you to arm yourself with that same mind.

With that same attitude.

When we look at suffering,

we can look at it differently because Jesus is victorious.

Because he's already conquered the greatest thing that we're going to face when it comes to death.

And that phrase, arm yourselves,

I think probably maybe when you read it as well,

it's a strong statement.

And it has the idea of preparing yourself for battle.

We're not to just kind of walk through life thinking,

well, whatever happens, happens.

Sometimes we live that way.

And I'm sure if you've lived that way and maybe decided,

you know, I'll just decide when it happens.

Generally doesn't go too well.

You know, winging it is not really what God has called us to do.

I mean, a soldier doesn't wait until the enemy prepares and says,

oh, there's the enemy.

Let me get dressed and get my gun out.

That's not how it happens.

No, when you sign up in the military,

they send you to boot camp and they do all this.

And they train you way before you ever see a battle.

So when the battle comes, you're prepared for it.

The soldier is ready to fight.

What Peter is saying here in this opening verse of chapter 4

is that Christians need to have the same type of settled determination in their life.

That we know it's coming.

We know the battle is here.

We know it's going to be difficult,

but we shouldn't be caught off guard by it.

And the thing that kind of stuck out to me

when I was looking at this verse initially

is Peter doesn't address their circumstances.

If you've kind of noticed here in this book,

he's writing it because of their circumstances,

but he's never really addressing the circumstance.

He's not saying,

hey, hone in on all the problems in your life.

No, he's saying this,

hone in on Jesus.

But one way that we do that

is instead of worrying about circumstances,

we worry about our mind.

He begins there.

See, following Jesus is going to require a mind

that's already decided before the battle comes,

I would rather suffer for obeying Christ

than return to a life where it just was easy

and maybe full of sin.

Because the reality is,

is sometimes we're going to look at our life

and we're going to try really hard

and we're going to try to do what the Bible says

and we're going to come to church

and we think to ourselves,

Lord, I'm doing all these things

and life is still really hard.

And I got that coworker

or I got that family member

and I got that friend

that cares nothing about God.

They're living like the devil

and it just seems like life's good.

And sometimes we're going to get in our mind

and in our life thinking,

you know what,

if I'm going to do all this

and nothing's going to happen,

I might as well just go do whatever I want to do.

And Peter says,

you got to prepare way before that time comes

because that's exactly how the devil works.

He said,

well, if the Lord really loved you,

why would he let that happen?

If the Lord really loved you,

why would he lay you off?

If the Lord really loved you,

then why would that health scare come up

and all these things?

You might as well just have fun

because your time's real short.

And Peter says,

no, no, no, no, no.

I want to remind you

that you're living for much more

than just today and tomorrow

and a fun time next week.

See,

long before obedience

shows up in our actions,

it has to be a settled conviction

in our heart

and in our mind.

That's why Paul tells us

in the book of Romans

that we're not to be conformed

to this world.

How do we avoid that?

By the transforming of our mind.

By the renewing of our mind.

Brother Colin preached

a really great message about that

about a month ago

and just winning the battle within.

It doesn't start with

all these other things.

It starts with settled

on the truth of the word of God.

Because there's just things in life

that you have to decide

before the pressure comes.

You can't say,

well, when the temptation comes,

I'll be ready.

Well, if you're not preparing for it,

you're not going to be ready for it.

Because it's going to look nice.

It's going to look fun.

I mean, the Bible says

that sin is pleasurable

for a season.

I mean, our flesh

is bent towards that.

And if we're not prepared

for the temptation,

we're probably going to

succumb to it.

And if we wait

until obedience becomes costly

to decide whether

following Christ is worth it,

we're not ready for that.

Because it's not going to feel

like it's worth

what we're being asked.

And so Peter tells us here

at the end of verse number one,

he gives us a little phrase

that can kind of be

weird at first,

kind of like we looked at last week

when he said,

baptism saves you,

which it doesn't.

We parse that out a little bit.

But he says this,

for he that hath suffered

in the flesh

hath ceased from sin.

I wish that when you got saved,

when you trusted Christ

as your Savior,

you didn't deal with sin anymore.

And maybe,

I don't know where you were

when you came to Christ,

but maybe you weren't

super, super knowledgeable

in the Word of God,

but you knew this,

that you were a sinner

and Jesus died for you.

You said,

I want that

and you trusted Him.

And then you went out

the next day

and you realized,

I still sin.

And it kind of shocked you.

You're like,

did I do something wrong?

Did I mess up?

He's not saying here,

he certainly does not mean

that once a Christian

can reach a place

of sinless perfection.

There are people

that believe that.

People that believe,

and I'm not really sure

where they get it

in the Word of God,

but you just start

being really good

and you just get to a place

where you don't sin anymore.

That is not what Peter is saying.

But he isn't saying

that once you suffer for Jesus,

then as long as you put in the time,

then everything's going to be good.

That's not the idea.

The rest of Scripture,

and I would imagine

your own experience,

makes that really,

really evident in your life.

But see,

here's what Peter is describing.

He's describing a divisive break

with the rule of sin in your life.

Here's the thought.

Before you knew Christ as your Savior,

you just lived life

however you wanted to live it.

If you wanted to do that,

you did that.

If it felt good,

sure, let's try that.

Everybody else doing it,

no big deal.

There was nothing kind of restraining,

but when a person comes to Christ,

when they know Him as their Savior,

and they realize those things

that didn't seem like a big deal back then

are actually the very things

that put Jesus Christ

on the cross of Calvary,

it's going to change

kind of how you live your life.

It's going to change

what you really are involved in,

and the person who is willing to suffer

rather than return to the old life

is demonstrating this,

that sin is no longer the master.

It doesn't mean we're not going to deal with it.

It doesn't mean that we're not going to have

these random things.

I'm sure you do,

and I'm thinking,

Lord, where did that come from?

You know, I'm trying to serve the Lord,

and you know,

have you ever been praying,

and maybe I'm the only one,

been praying,

and something out of left field

that has no business being in your mind,

that has no business being in your life,

in the middle of your prayer,

shows up.

Listen, we're going to deal with sin,

unfortunately,

until we see Jesus Christ face to face,

and I'm looking forward to that day.

I'm looking forward to that day

when Satan is there,

and he throws him in the lake of fire,

and sin is no longer,

but we're not there yet,

but what Peter is saying here

at the end of this verse

is because of what Christ has done,

and if he's changed your life,

and if you're trusting his finished work

on the cross of Calvary,

there should be a change of allegiance

in your life,

that sin is not the master anymore,

that Jesus is the master.

See, before Christ,

sin ruled your life.

Your desires ruled what you want to do.

We just lived according to what we wanted to do,

but Jesus changed that.

Jesus changed our desires.

Yes, we're going to still battle sin.

Yes, you're going to face temptation this week.

Yes, you're still going to stumble,

but sin no longer has the right

to rule over our life.

Praise the Lord for that.

I mean, read Romans 6.

That's exactly what Paul is saying.

And really, while Peter says it in different ways

that we may not use the same verbiage today,

he's just simply reminding us,

following Jesus doesn't mean

I never struggle with sin,

but it means that I can no longer

be at peace with sin in my life.

You shouldn't be able to get to a place

where you can just sin,

and it doesn't even bother you.

It should bother you.

Sometimes, I mean, we should be able to,

we should run to Christ

because we realize that sin

is what put him on the cross.

And see, there's a difference.

A believer can struggle with sin,

and a believer, we may have to confess

the same weakness over and over and over again.

I get frustrated in my own life.

It's almost like,

Lord, it's me again.

I'm so sorry about that.

Lord, would you forgive me?

But the idea is,

is there ought to be something inside of us

that just every time that comes,

thinking, I don't want to live there anymore.

And here's what Peter says,

you don't have to.

That's not your address anymore.

Why?

Because you belong to Christ.

See, the wasted life of being enslaved to sin,

it has been broken.

Those chains no longer have a hold on us,

and Christ died to bring us to God,

and he rose victorious,

and now we belong to him.

That's what he told us in chapter three,

and he's saying,

because of that,

hey, you're a new person.

Paul said,

all things are passed away,

and behold,

all things become new.

And so here's what Peter's saying in this verse.

First, arm yourself with that.

Make sure that's settled in your mind,

that you understand

that you don't have to live this way anymore.

It doesn't mean the battle's over,

but here's what it does mean.

You know what side you're on.

I'm thankful that I'm on the winning side.

I'm thankful for the day

that when we see Christ in the air,

we shall be like him,

and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

I know I'm on the winning side.

And here's what Peter's saying.

You don't have to wait

to be on the winning side

until heaven.

I think sometimes Christianity,

we think,

oh, well,

when we get to heaven one day,

it'll be all good.

No, it's gonna be perfect there,

but we can live like

we're citizens of heaven right now.

Read the end of Philippians chapter three.

Paul says,

our citizenship,

he's talking about

how our life is,

is in heaven.

So we're already there with Christ.

Why don't we just live like it right now?

And that's kind of the same idea

that we find here.

So here in verses two and three,

Peter's about to take it

one step further.

Because if we're finished

living for sin,

if sin no longer has control

of our life,

what am I gonna live for now?

We see this number two.

Because we belong to Jesus,

we live the rest of our time

for God.

We live the rest of our time

for God.

Verse number two,

that he no longer should live

the rest of his time

in the flesh,

to the lust of men,

but to the will of God.

I love how Peter

kind of words that

the rest of his time.

And it really stops,

it should stop us in our track

and remind us something

we're kind of prone to forget.

That our time here

is limited.

Because sometimes we do think

it's never gonna end.

I mean,

it just seems like,

I mean,

the bills keep coming

and these keep coming

and all these things coming

and it's just,

you know,

we just kind of can get,

even as Christians,

no one in heaven's our home,

but we're just kind of living

like this is always gonna be.

And Peter just says,

hey,

I just wanna remind you,

you don't have much time.

The older you get,

you realize that

it's just coming faster

and faster and faster.

And while our time is limited,

he's saying,

we need to make what time

we have left matter.

Our life now,

as opposed to living for self

and living for sin,

here's what we live for now,

eternity.

That God has placed people

in your life.

That he's given you

a sphere of influence.

He's given you that work.

He's given you that family.

He's given you people

that you love,

that you have relationships with.

And it's not just

to hang out all the time.

I'm thankful we can

just spend time together.

I'm looking forward

to happy sips and dip.

I just wanna eat ice cream

with my friends.

Come on.

But that's not all

that life's about.

I'm thankful we can

gather together

and open the word of God

and we can realize,

hey,

we're living for something

much greater than ourself.

We're living for something

much greater than

Central Baptist Church,

just this building.

No,

we're ambassadors for Christ.

Christ.

And our life should

point others to him.

And what Peter does here

in verses two and three

is he kinda draws

a very clear line

between how we used

to live before we knew

Christ

and the way we're called

to live now.

He says that we're no longer,

we don't have,

no longer do we have to live

to the lust of men

but to the will of God.

He's saying,

I just wanna remind you,

priorities have changed

in your life.

I mean,

think about before

you knew Christ.

Think about before

you knew that heaven

was your home

and it changed

the way you lived.

Here's the question

that you usually

just ask yourself,

what do I wanna do?

And we're not talking

about just awful sinful things

but that's just

the question you ask.

If you wanna do it,

that's what you're gonna do.

But the closer

we get to Christ

and the more that his word

is working in our life,

the question quickly becomes,

God,

what do you want me

to do here?

God,

how would you have me

handle this situation?

Lord,

you know this is really

bothering me

and I don't know

how to handle this.

Lord,

I need wisdom

and it begins

to push us

that direction.

And really,

that's one of the

fundamental changes

that salvation

brings to our life.

Before salvation,

it was,

I'm gonna live

for whatever

I wanna live for

and now he says,

here's what you live for,

the will of God.

That is what God

has placed in your life.

Peter doesn't say

anything about

recovering the wasted time.

We can't do that.

We wish that we could.

And listen,

there may be years

behind you

that you wish

you could have back.

You thought,

man,

if I could go back

to this moment in time

and not make that decision,

my life would be

totally different.

But I just wanna encourage you,

you're here tonight

and God is working

in your life

and there might be,

we've all made bad decisions

and sometimes we had

to pay the consequences

but I'm so thankful

that all things

work together for good

to them that love God,

to those who are called

according to your purpose

and God takes our

awful decisions

and terrible mistakes

and can use them

for the glory of God.

I'm thankful for that.

I mean,

there's gonna be decisions

no doubt that I would

make differently.

There's opportunities

that I completely missed

that I'd love to have back.

There's people that I

should've talked to

when I was in school

and shared the gospel with

that I'll never see them again.

I mean,

the time maybe

that we spent pursuing things

that now we look at our life

and they weren't bad things

but they really don't matter

in the grand scheme

of eternity.

But Peter doesn't tell us,

hey,

you know what,

you just need to kind of

look backwards

and think on those things.

No,

he says,

stop looking back

and why don't you live

for the rest of the time?

Why don't you make

a decision right now?

Here's a line in the sand,

let's live for the Lord

right now.

Look at verse number three,

he says,

for the time past

of our life

may suffice

us to rot

the will

of the Gentiles.

Here's kind of

what he's saying.

Peter,

what does that mean?

I'll tell you what it means,

enough.

That's what it means.

He said,

you lived that life before,

sin was your master,

you kind of live

for your selfish desires,

enough.

There's no reason

to live that way anymore.

That's not how

God wants you to live.

We've given sin

enough of our lives already,

we've spent enough

of our lives

living for ourselves,

we've wasted enough time

chasing things

that cannot satisfy.

The only thing

that's ever going to

satisfy your life

is Jesus Christ.

And that's what Peter's

bringing to the forefront.

And I don't think

we really need to say

much more than what

Peter is saying here,

but the idea is

he's saying

there comes a point

in our lives

where we have to look

at the old life

and when it tries

to creep back up

just say,

enough,

I'm done with that.

I don't have to live

there anymore.

Not because sin

hasn't stopped

becoming appealing,

I wish it did.

I wish it was like

vegetables

and it's just like,

ugh,

I don't want that at all.

You know,

there's certain things

you could put on a plate

and it wouldn't

entice you at all.

But that's not

how sin operates.

But the closer

we get to Christ,

it starts feeling that way.

Those things that just,

I mean,

it was just,

it was a habit,

it was second nature.

Now it comes up

and we're thinking,

ugh,

that's growth.

That's moving

towards Christ.

And it's not

that temptation disappears.

I mean,

it shows up,

it shows up

in random places

all the time.

But we're not drawn

to it anymore.

Why?

Because Jesus is worthy

of whatever time

I have left.

And the things

that he describes

here in verse number three,

he characterizes

what the old life

looks like.

We walked in

lasciviousness,

lust,

excess of wine,

revelings,

banquetings,

abominable idolatries.

We're going to take time

to go into these,

but here's basically

what he's saying.

These sins,

they describe a life

that is controlled

by just a sinful appetite.

Paul says

that the world

is given into

the lust of their belly.

They just want

and want

and want

whatever they feel like.

These things

are saying,

hey,

before you knew Christ,

your life was governed

by the flesh.

And just like

here in this room

tonight,

some of Peter's

first readers

would have said,

you know what,

that's what my life

used to be.

But praise the Lord,

he saved me from that.

Praise the Lord,

he changed my life.

And he's reminding

there's no reason

to go back.

That's what he's saying

here in verse number three.

His point is

they got to stop thinking,

you know what,

what could have been?

Well,

if I wouldn't have done that,

then maybe my life

would be better today.

And if I wouldn't have

done that back then,

then maybe I wouldn't

have this issue.

He's saying,

listen,

you can't change that,

but you can make sure

you don't go back there.

You can make sure

that when sin rears

its ugly head

that you're not

trying to run back

to it.

He's just saying

that there's nothing

back there.

There's nothing

that Jesus Christ

saved you from

that's worth

trading your life again.

It's not.

It's not.

It's a horrible deal.

And that's a great reminder

to us,

I think,

today.

because the enemy

has a great way

of making the old life

look much better

from a distance

than it ever did

when you were actually

living in it.

And we,

I'm sure you deal with it

and you see something,

you see an advertisement,

you see something

and it kind of triggers

something in your mind

and you're thinking,

man,

you know,

that wasn't that bad.

But Peter's saying,

no,

no,

it was worse

than you realize it

because you know

what it did?

It brought death

in your life.

It brought guilt.

It brought shame.

It brought all of these things

and kind of the thought,

I loved how one commentator

said it.

He says,

don't romanticize

what Jesus rescued from.

Man,

I love that.

Because the world

has a really good way

of making everything

looking appealing.

The Bible says

that the devil

can even come

as an angel of light

and everything looks great

and everything looks like,

hey,

it's all that's cracked up to be.

It's not.

Sin always promises you

more than it gives

and it takes much more

than you ever intended to lose.

And Peter's just telling us

here in verse 3,

don't go back.

It's not worth it.

And so Peter says,

leave the past

where it belongs

and give God

the time

that you have left.

It doesn't matter

if you wasted

your teen years

or your 20s

or your 30s.

You're here.

Go forward for Christ

and that's what Peter's saying.

But when you stop

living the way

that you used to live,

when you stop living

the way the world

wants you to live

and expects you to live,

Peter wants us

to understand this.

Don't expect everybody

to understand that.

And here's what he reminds us

in verse number 4,

that because we belong to Christ,

we don't need

the world's approval.

We don't need

their approval.

Look what he says

in verse 4.

Wherein they think

it's strange

that you run not with them

to the same excess of riot,

speaking evil of you.

Peter was saying,

listen,

you're probably dealing

with some of this right now.

He said,

because the way you live,

there's going to be people

that are surprised.

You know why?

Because they used to know you.

You ran in the same circles.

You went to the same places.

You were involved

in the same lifestyle.

And because you're a Christian now,

you're not running

with them anymore

and they're thinking,

hey, what happened to you, man?

Why are you so much different?

And Peter in verse number 4,

he's not describing

that every time

somebody becomes a Christian,

you just stand on a street corner

and condemn everybody else

for how you're living.

That's not the idea

that we find

in verse number 4.

Really, the idea is this.

A changed life,

it just creates

the contrast

by itself.

That when Jesus changes you

and you don't run

with the crowd,

when you don't participate,

people are going to notice.

Because they're going to realize

that every time

they call you,

you say, no,

I'm not going to do that.

I'm not going to go there.

And sometimes,

the people that knew

the old version of you

are going to have

a very hard time

understanding

the new version of you.

Because they don't understand

that you were dead,

but now you're alive.

That you were on your way

to hell

and now you're on your way

to heaven.

They're not going to understand that

and they'll say things like,

what happened to you?

Why don't you come anymore?

Why don't you come,

after work,

why don't you come

to the restaurant with us?

Why don't you come

the bar with us?

Why don't you just

loosen up a little bit, man?

You used to do

all this stuff with us.

Are you better than us now?

That's exactly

what Peter is saying.

Because not only

are they going to be surprised,

but they're surprised

once they realize

you're not going to do

those things anymore.

It turns to

something much stronger.

The Bible says this,

that they begin

speaking evil of you.

They begin to

criticize

and to slander.

Because a changed life

many times

is going to make

people uncomfortable

because it confronts them

without ever saying a word.

I read a story

from R.C. Sproul.

He's a commentator

and he was telling

a story about

Billy Graham.

And Billy Graham

got invited to play golf

with President Ford

and a couple

professional golfers.

And so he goes out there

and they play

this round of golf

and after the round

one of the professional

golfers stormed away.

And he went into

the locker room

and he was complaining

that Billy Graham,

he doesn't need him

and he's just

stuffing religion

down his throat

the whole time.

And another golfer

that was there

on the property

walked in and said,

hey, what did

Pastor Graham say?

Was he preaching

to you the whole time?

And the embarrassed

golfer kind of said,

you know what,

he didn't talk

one thing about religion.

He was just there.

He didn't preach to him,

he didn't confront him.

But the idea was this,

and this is what

R.C. Sproul said,

that his presence

was enough

to make the man

uncomfortable.

That Billy Graham

was so associated

with the Bible

and with God

and the gospel,

just him being there

on the tee box

with him

made this man

feel uncomfortable.

And that's kind of

what the thought

that Peter is saying

right here.

He said,

you don't have to

preach to him.

You don't have to,

every time you see him,

like, hey,

let me read a Bible verse

to you.

No, you just live

faithfully for Christ.

People are going to notice.

And they may not like it.

But we're not living

for their approval,

and that's what happens

even still today.

We talked about it

this morning.

God doesn't call us

to be self-righteous.

We're not trying

to be some holy roller

that's holier-than-thou

kind of person.

No, we just need

to be consistently

living for Christ.

And when we live

faithfully for him,

the contrast

is going to speak

for itself.

That's what Peter says.

And when it does,

they're going to speak

evil of you.

And that hurts.

That hurts a lot.

I'm sure you've dealt

with it.

I remember when the Lord

really got a hold

of my life

and youth camp

between my junior

and senior year

and I made some decisions.

You know what?

Some guys that I used

to run with

and play basketball with,

I mean,

it was so much,

the Lord got a hold

of my life

and I just quit basketball.

And I love basketball.

But I just knew

that it was not

where God wanted me to be.

And you know what?

They weren't real happy

about it.

And every time they saw me,

they'd make fun of me.

And they'd do that

and they'd call me

the preacher.

And I used to think

that was like an insult.

Now I'm like,

I like that.

I like when people

call me the preacher

because that's what I am.

But it was one

of those things.

They meant it

to be mean

and it was people

that I was very,

very close with.

And it hurt.

I mean,

even thinking of it today,

it still kind of hurts.

I wish they would have understood

and I tried to explain to them.

I tried to invite them

to our Wednesday night programs

that we had at our church

and our youth group

and different things like that.

But the thing is,

is we have to understand

that their approval

cannot determine

how we live our life.

Because I made a decision

at camp that year,

I'm going to obey God

and here's what God

wants me to do.

He wants me to live for Him

and it might cost me

some friendships.

But if we need

the world's applause,

eventually we're

going to have to compromise

to get it.

And Peter is saying,

you don't need that anymore.

That's not the life

that God has called you to live.

Following Jesus

means that you would rather

have God's approval

than the world's acceptance.

You can't have both.

Peter is saying,

which one do you want?

Which one really makes

a difference in your life?

Because sometimes

the people that applaud you

the very next day,

they're going to say,

crucify Him.

We already saw that.

Jesus is our example.

As we come to verse 5 and 6,

our closing verses here,

Peter tells us why

we can and should live

the way that he calls us to,

that we should live for Christ.

See, the people that speak

evil of you,

the people that ridicule you

and criticize you

for following Christ,

here's what they don't get,

the last word.

You know who gets

the last word?

God.

Everybody's going to stand

before Him.

They're not going to be able

to plead their case.

No, He has the last word.

God.

And He's the final judge

and that changes everything.

And because we belong to Christ,

lastly,

we live in the light

of the final judgment.

Peter's brought this up

over and over again,

but look at verse 5.

We'll read verse 5 and 6 again.

Who shall give an account

to him that is ready

to judge the quick and the dead?

For, for this cause

was the gospel preached

also to them that are dead,

that they might be judged

according to men in the flesh,

but live according to God

in the Spirit.

So really, Peter's kind of

shifting our attention

from what people are saying

about us

to what ultimately

God will say about everyone.

That the world may look at us

as Christians

and those that follow Christ

and those that refuse

to run with the world anymore

and they'll think this,

man, what a waste.

They are wasting their life.

I mean, they bought into

this fairy tale.

I mean, this is a crutch

for the weak-minded.

I mean, we used to have

so much fun

and now look at them.

I mean, they're going to church

on a Sunday night.

What a weirdo.

You may have heard that.

But Peter reminds us,

not only they will,

but you will.

We're all going to stand

before God

and that everybody's

going to have an account.

And God's ready.

He's not going to throw God off.

No, everything in this world

is working on his timetable.

And the Bible says

he is ready to judge

the quick and the dead.

I mean, the idea is this.

Nobody escapes it.

It's all-encompassing.

The living will give an account.

The dead will give an account.

Those who follow Christ

will stand before him.

Those who reject Christ,

at some point,

we are all going to stand

before the Lord.

In the book of Revelation,

there's different judgments.

There's one where Christians stand

and give an account

for how we lived.

But there's also

the great white throne judgment

where everybody's going to stand

before the Lord

and give an account

and realize it.

And really,

the idea in verse number five

is this life

is not all there is.

We're not living

for the here and now.

Because the ones that run

and do all these things

and maybe the things

we used to do,

here's the mindset.

Eat, drink, and be merry

for tomorrow we die.

We've already seen that

in Luke's gospel.

And here's what God says,

thou fool.

There's much more to life

than just the 75, 80, 90 years

that we might have.

See, the world can look at us

and think,

I can't believe

they would do that.

But Peter says,

why don't we just wait

until eternity

before you decide

whose life was wasted?

Because at times,

it does.

Even as Christians,

even knowing it,

we look around

and we think,

am I doing the right thing?

I mean,

read the book of Psalms.

I mean,

if you've had those thoughts,

it's okay.

Because the psalmist says,

I look around

and how long

is the heathen going to rage?

How long are they going

to have everything they want?

I'm over here

trying to serve the Lord

and David's living in a cave.

He's supposed to be

the king of Israel

and he's on the run

for his life.

How long are the wicked

going to prosper, Lord?

And we begin to look

at the same thing.

Peter's saying,

I know it feels like that sometimes,

but just settle in your mind.

Arm yourselves

with the truth

that God is coming again

and that we are going

to stand before him.

And because a life

lived for pleasure

and acceptance

and possessions

and self,

it might look

super successful right now.

It might look like

they got the whole world

at their hands,

but if it's lived

without Christ,

what happens

to that person

when he stands

before God?

Jesus said it like this,

what shall it profit

a man

if he gains

the whole world

and loses

his own soul?

I mean,

it's not he

with the most toys

wins when they die.

No, it's who knows

Jesus Christ.

And then we come

to verse number six

and Peter just,

I guess he just likes,

he's going to throw

these verses in

for the rest of this book.

We look at it

and we're like,

what is he talking about?

For this cause

was the gospel

also preached

to them that are dead

that they might be judged

according to men

in the flesh

but live according

to God in the spirit.

We kind of mentioned

a little bit of this,

he dealt with a little bit

last week.

Peter is not teaching

that people receive

another opportunity

to hear the gospel

and to repent

after they die.

We already saw that

with the rich man

and Lazarus.

That Jesus was there

but there was

a great goal fixed.

The time has passed.

But what he is saying

is the gospel,

it was preached.

It was preached

to these people

while they were alive

and they heard the gospel

and particularly

in this one,

they believed the gospel

and since then

they've died.

And that raised

a very real question

for these suffering believers.

You have to remember

the New Testament,

the Bible has not

been completed

at this point.

They don't have

all these books

in the New Testament

to cross reference

and they're hearing

all of these things.

Well, if you die

before Jesus comes back

then you're going

to miss them.

That's why Paul

had to write

in 1 Thessalonians

that he didn't want

us to be ignorant

of those that were asleep.

Those that are asleep

they're not going to miss

when Jesus comes back.

And here's what he's saying

essentially in verse number 6.

If they believed the gospel

and they still died,

the thought of the day was

what did the gospel accomplish?

If they lived their whole life

and they didn't live

in sin and wickedness

and they still died

then what's the point of it?

What's going to happen?

And Peter's just saying this

in verse number 6.

Death didn't win.

Because when we see death

even today,

even knowing it sometimes,

we look and think

death won.

Well, death thought it won

until somebody walked out

of a grave after three days.

And death lost.

That's why in the book

of Revelation he says

I have the keys to death,

hell, and the grave.

That our greatest enemy

is no longer an enemy.

It's under the subjection

of Jesus Christ.

And because of his victory,

if we know him

and we're in Christ,

we have that victory

in our life.

And he's saying,

listen, I know you have

loved ones that have

gone on before

and it seems like,

man, they just wasted

their life.

They didn't.

They're going to stand

before the Lord one day

and they're going to be

rewarded for that.

And there's a crown of life

for those that are

looking for that.

And they may have been

judged according to men

in the flesh.

But here's what they are.

They're alive to God

in the spirit.

The world looked at them

and looked at their suffering

and even in their death

and they concluded,

see, I told you,

Jesus wasn't worth it.

I mean, that poor person,

they didn't do anything.

They didn't have any fun

in life and now they're dead.

What a waste of a life.

But God says right here,

no, that's a life well lived.

God says otherwise.

And this would have been

deeply encouraging

to Peter's readers.

many of them

would have been suffering.

Probably many or more

would suffer even more.

The Roman government

is only increasing

its persecution

on the Christians

at this time.

And some that might have

read this letter

in the early church

might have died

just because they belong

to Jesus.

And he says,

listen, I just want

to remind you,

if that happens,

it's still worth it.

Your life's not wasted.

The death doesn't get

the last word.

The world doesn't get

the last word.

Your critics don't get

the last word.

God gets the last word.

That's what he's saying

here in verse number six.

And for the person

who belongs to Jesus Christ,

that means we have

nothing to fear.

We don't have to fear death.

That's why Jesus says,

don't fear them

that can kill the body.

Fear him that can

kill the soul.

Fear him that has

the last word.

That's what Jesus

is talking about.

But because Jesus suffered

and he's risen

and he's conquered

and we belong to him,

our story doesn't end

in a grave.

It doesn't end

in a casket.

No, no, we're going home

to our heavenly father.

And if he's gone

to prepare a place for us,

he will come again.

Let not your heart

be troubled.

That's what Peter is saying.

That's what he's reminding them.

And Peter began this passage

by saying, hey,

arm yourselves

with this truth.

Because following Jesus,

you know what it's going

to cost you?

It's going to cost you greatly.

Living differently

is going to cause people

to misunderstand you.

I'd imagine most of us

have had that

in some form or fashion.

They don't understand

why we take it so seriously.

Obedience to Jesus,

it might mean

leaving behind things

you once enjoyed.

It might be separating

from people

that you once ran with.

And it's going to be hard

because that was your life.

But none of that

changes the fact,

the question Peter

puts before us,

what are you doing

with the rest of your time?

Because you're not

a slave to sin anymore.

You don't have to stop

looking back

and wishing you

made better decisions.

Live for Christ today.

Decide tonight

that, hey,

tomorrow at school

I'm taking a stand

for Christ.

Tomorrow at school

when they're talking

about things in the locker room

and they're using

the language they shouldn't,

I'm going to take

a stand for Christ

instead of just

shrinking to the background.

And that's not just

in the locker room.

I imagine it's

at your workplace too.

That we're around

people all the time.

It doesn't mean

that we're just

pushing the gospel

down everybody's throat.

No, but we're living

a life that shows,

hey, I belong to Christ.

Christ.

And it's going to

create some situations

in our life.

Because there's just

two parts of everybody's life.

The time in the past

and the time remaining.

That's really what

Peter draws out

in these verses.

Maybe there are

things that you wish

you could change

but you can't.

Times that you wish

you could have back

but you're not

going to get them back.

I mean,

maybe sin took

more of your life

than you ever

intended to give it.

But praise the Lord

as the book

of Lamentations tells us,

His mercies are new

every morning.

That you have today.

And if you wake up

tomorrow breathing,

you have tomorrow.

That we need to make

the most of the time

that we have remaining.

Leave you with this thought.

You can't change the past

but you can give God

the rest.

And a life lived

for Christ

is never wasted.

Would we get a hold

of that truth

and take it home with us,

take it to school with us,

take it to work with us

and realize,

I'm living for Christ.

I'm not living

for the world's applause

or their approval.

I'm not trying to meet

their standards.

No, I'm just pressing

towards the mark

that's Jesus Christ.

And would He help us

to live that way?

Would we stand

with our heads bowed in?

Thank you.