A Daily Walk

John Randall: Pastor John says, "Prepare for war in your daily walk." The Christian life, it's a battleground. It's not a playground. The Lord never promised that he would carry us to heaven on flowery beds of comfort. In fact, the opposite is true.

When you got saved, it's not like the Lord gave you a colorful brochure that offered great health plans, prosperity, and a wide acceptable popularity within this world and a long life here on earth if you just accept Christ. He didn't promise that. But he did promise our sins would be forgiven.

He did promise that we would have the hope of heaven. He did promise a new body. He did promise that we would experience glory forever. And in that I rejoice. But here, until we get there, yeah, praise God for that. But until then, we're in the midst of a spiritual conflict. This is a full-on war.

Guest (Male): Hey, welcome to A Daily Walk, where you never have to walk alone. Today, our pastor and teacher John Randall enters 1 Peter chapter 4. Now, the believers Peter is writing to were undergoing the worst persecution imaginable. And so he wanted to encourage and exhort them and remind them of a few things, too. These are words to cling to for the difficult times we're bound to face. Here is Pastor John. Today's message is called "Embrace Your Calling."

John Randall: Let's open up our Bibles now. 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 in the New Testament. If you're joining us for the first time, God bless you. We're so glad you're here. We're going through this epistle that was written by the apostle Peter to believers who were dispersed and scattered in every direction because of the suffering that was due to persecution.

And so Peter's writing this letter to both encourage, to remind, and to exhort these believers. And so we pick up now in chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."

"For we've spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you don't run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

The apostle Peter reminded the persecuted and scattered believers that they were not alone in their suffering. He shared with them that Jesus also had suffered unjust treatment. That he was despised and rejected. That he was maligned and misrepresented. That he was scourged. That he was crucified.

Yet following his suffering, Jesus rose from the grave and proclaimed his victory over death and over the devil. And since Jesus had suffered in that way, Peter, as he continues to write, uses this conjunction, the word "therefore," which means in light of everything that I've told you already in this letter about the suffering of Christ and what he accomplished and what he endured, therefore, this is how you're to live. This is how you will be able to endure.

And there are several exhortations that Peter gives to the church. The first is that they needed to be spiritually prepared. That's the first thing found in verse 1 when he says, "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind." Peter is exhorting the believers, "You need to be prepared."

Preparation isn't something that happens in the moment. It happens before the moment arrives. And in light of the physical suffering that Jesus endured, the believers also needed to be spiritually prepared for potential suffering in their identifying with Jesus. Remember earlier Peter talked about preparation in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15, when he said, "Be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that's within you." There's this emphasis on, "This is coming, so be prepared for it."

Jesus in his ministry sought to prepare his disciples for this very thing. In John chapter 15, you remember Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they'll keep your word also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because they don't know him who sent me."

Jesus seeking to prepare his disciples—because you identify with me, because you are a follower of mine, this is what they did to me, Jesus said. They crucified him. They persecuted him. And so he's seeking to prepare his disciples: don't be surprised if this happens to you as well.

Peter exhorts the believers to arm themselves. And the word that he uses is actually a military term. And it refers to a soldier that would take up weapons in preparation for battle. And the Greek word that he uses doesn't imply light armor, but actually the heavy artillery, the heavy armor.

The apostle Paul actually used the same exact word in writing to the Romans in chapter 13 when he referred to us putting on the armor of light. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he talked about being ready for battle. When he wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians, twice he used the same word that Peter uses here when he talked about the weapons of righteousness and the weapons of spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 6 as well as 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

The point is this, folks: the Christian life, it's a battleground. It's not a playground. The Lord never promised that he would carry us to heaven on flowery beds of comfort. In fact, the opposite is true. When you got saved, it's not like the Lord gave you a colorful brochure that offered great health plans, prosperity, and a wide acceptable popularity within this world and a long life here on earth if you just accept Christ.

He didn't promise that. But he did promise our sins would be forgiven. He did promise that we would have the hope of heaven. He did promise a new body. He did promise that we would experience glory forever. And in that I rejoice. But here, until we get there, yeah, praise God for that.

But until then, we're in the midst of a spiritual conflict. This is a full-on war. And where it's a cosmic war, it's between heaven and hell and we're caught in the middle of it. It's ongoing. It's all around us. Sometimes we don't even recognize that it is taking place.

You remember when Paul wrote to Timothy in his pastoral epistle, 1 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 18? He said, "This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may be able to wage the good warfare." He's telling Timothy, "this thing you're involved with, this is warfare."

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 6, oh, he exhorted the believers, "Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore."

It's a fight. It's a war. And being armed for the spiritual battle equips us and prepares us for several things. One of which is to overcome the sinful nature. If you look once again, it says, "Arm yourself with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." Notice verse 2, "that he"—that is the person who is armed now—"no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."

Before a person is saved—that is, they have a relationship with God, before they are born again—you're not in a battle with the flesh or the sinful life because that's the life that you live. You're actually in bondage. You're a captive to that life. But when you get saved—that is, when you give your life to Christ, when you respond to the gospel—you are then liberated, set free, and now equipped to overcome that which once defeated you and made you its slave.

Now, that doesn't mean that we're still not going to struggle from time to time or fall short of the glory of God. But it does imply that we have effectively broken with the life that we used to live that was dominated by sin. There is a difference now. And when we are suited up in the armor that has been provided for us, we have the necessary artillery to overcome the flesh—that is, that part of the fallen nature. So I don't have to live that life any longer.

And this opens my eyes, as Peter says here, "I'm not going to live any longer the rest of my time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God." Every temptation that we will face—and we will face them, we face temptation—as a believer, my response is to be "no longer." That's my response. No longer. I don't do that any longer. That's not a part of my life anymore. It used to be very much a part of my life. No longer. Peter says, "No longer should live the rest of his time for the lusts of men."

You have to come to this decision that: will you have your sins and go to hell, or will you give them up and go to heaven? I'm going to give them up. I want to go to heaven. And this was the reality, this was the mindset that he had which brought him to salvation. There is no other alternative.

And so if one equips themselves and arms themselves with the mindset of Christ, the result will be you won't live according to the evil desires of an unsaved person any longer. That's not going to be your pursuit. You'll be living, notice these words right here, "the rest of your time here" not for the lust of the flesh, not for your own will, but for the will of God.

"The rest of your time here." That's a very interesting phrase, "the rest of your time here." The older we get, we can look further back than we can ahead. Time is short. It is precious, but it can easily be wasted. It can be taken for granted. And life is too short to treat it carelessly. The psalmist declared in Psalm 90, verse 12, he said, "Lord, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Again, Paul writing to the Ephesians concerning the importance of time. He said in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15 and 16, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," doing what? "Redeeming the time because the days are evil." You know what it means to redeem the time? It means to buy it back. To buy it back. Not to waste time any longer. Someone said, "Don't just count your days, make your days count."

As a Christian, when you begin to make your days count for Christ and you start living for the will of God instead of living for the lust of the flesh, not everybody's going to understand it. In fact, some people, they're going to be surprised at it. For notice what he says in verse 4, "In regard to these"—that is, you no longer living for the lust of the flesh, but now living for the will of God—"in regard to that," he said, "they think it strange that you don't run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you."

The "they." The those that you used to run with. That used to also pursue those things. When you're born again and you're not doing those things anymore, people take notice. There's something different about you. And there should be. There's a change in your speech, your disposition, your habit, your manner of living. There's just something that has changed about you. You're now redeeming the time instead of wasting it. You're running from sin instead of pursuing it.

And so those that observe you, they're going to be—he uses the word "surprised." It means "astonished." They think it's strange. It's another way of saying they're going to be shocked and maybe even be resentful of the fact that you're not who you used to be. "I liked you better when you were high. I liked you better when you were intoxicated. You were way more fun. I liked you better when you were whatever you were. What's wrong with you? What happened to you?"

Let me ask you, has that ever happened to you? Have you ever run into somebody who knew you before and then they saw you after—that is, after Jesus got a hold of your life? Has anyone ever been shocked? "So what are you doing? You look different. You look great. What happened to you? Why? I remember you were the" fill in the blank what you were. Yeah, I'm definitely embarrassed by that and I'm definitely not. "Dude, I remember that one time we" yeah, I try to forget about that. Thank you for bringing that up. That was BC, before Christ.

Listen, it's happened to me. I've run into people before and people were surprised as I was. "You do what? For what? At a church? Like people come to you are a pastor? Why? How did that happen?" Miracles, you know, miracles. People just don't, they think it's strange. You show up at the family gathering and they haven't seen you in a season and you're saved and it's like, "Hey, are you already intoxicated? What's wrong with you? Why do you look different?" No, no, I am on Jesus. It's really good. You should try him. He'll change your life. There's no high like the Most High, they say, right?

Nobody says that. I don't know who says that. That's not even in here. I don't know why that just came out. God's still working in me, still working in me. But they're surprised. And this surprise that they have, sometimes they take offense and they may become resentful of you. Because now you stand out. Now you're a light. Now you're different. Now they take notice. They might even be convicted by the fact that you don't want to do with them what you used to do before. And so they might speak bad about you. They probably will. They'll probably say some things. They'll probably spread the word. "Have you seen what happened to John? He, oh my goodness, what a loser."

Yep, lost some things, but you should see what I gained. Like what I've gained can't even be compared to what I've lost. And although they're surprised at you for not living the way you once did, Peter says, "You know something? There's even a greater surprise that they're not prepared for." And he tells us what that is in verse 5. He says, "They"—that is those that are surprised at you, who speak evil of you—"they will give an account to him"—that is to Jesus—"who is ready to judge the living and the dead."

What many people fail to realize is that one day they will have to stand before the Judge of the universe and give an account for their life. And who is the Judge? Jesus Christ will be the Judge. We've often said you can receive him as Savior now, or you can stand before him as Judge then. They're not prepared.

In fact, when Paul there in Acts chapter 17 and in verse 31, it says, "Because he has appointed a day in which he"—that is Jesus—"will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance to this by raising him from the dead." Jesus is the one that's going to be judging the living and the dead.

Again, in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1, Paul exhorts Timothy and he says to him, "I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." Do you realize that? Do you realize that that's a fact? That you're going to stand before Almighty God and give an account for your life? The life that you've lived? What you did with the gospel, or whether or not you received it or rejected it? Do you understand how incredibly important that information is? I don't want anybody here to be surprised. I want you to be prepared.

These people were not prepared. They scoff at you, they laugh at you, they think it's a joke that you're a Christian, that you're in church on a Sunday. "What are you doing on Sunday? Don't you' why would you go there?" They don't know that they're going to stand before God.

In Revelation chapter 20, it gives us an actual picture of what that standing before God looks like. And I'm telling you something, it's a frightening picture. And the Bible puts it in there for a reason. It says in Revelation chapter 20: I saw—John is in the heavenly scene—I saw a great white throne and him—that is Jesus—who sat on it, whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things that were written in the books.

John goes on to say in Revelation 20: "And anyone whose name was not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels." Listen, let me ask you something, real important question, the most important one that you'll probably ever have to answer: is your name in the Book of Life? Is it?

You say, "Well, how do I know if it's in there?" By accepting Christ as your Savior and you can know and have assurance when you get there. Oh, there he is, John. Thank you, Jesus. I'm in there. Your name's written in the Book of Life.

It's because of this fact that Jesus would judge the living and the dead, Peter emphasized the importance of preaching the gospel. In the very next verse, in verse 6, he said, "For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

The word gospel—you know this, I hope by now—it means "good news." Good news! This is the good news. Now, in order to appreciate the good news, you got to know what the bad news is. And the bad news is we've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And without Christ, not responding to the gospel is to perish—to be separated from God for eternity in a real place called hell. That's the bad news. That is terrible news.

But here's the great news. That's why Jesus came. That's why he died. That's why he rose from the dead. That's why he offers salvation to anyone who would believe so that you can have the hope of heaven. That's the gospel. That's the good news. Not you earning it, not you being a good person and making your way there. It's responding to the grace of God by faith in the finished work of Christ. That is great news. Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself, and by believing that I can be saved.

Peter said this gospel, in light of the Judge of the living and the dead, this gospel was preached to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but alive according to God in the spirit. Now, that's a very interesting passage, some confusion for some. But basically what Peter is saying is he's reminding his readers of the importance of preaching the gospel even though some of the believers had suffered martyrdom. They had died. They'd been judged in the flesh by men, physically put to death.

But Peter said, "Listen, they are alive in the spirit. They are alive. They have known the gospel." He points—the point is that believers under unjust treatment, including death, will be willing to be unafraid even if they had to suffer. Because what's the worst thing that can happen?

Again, the context is many of them were preparing to die. Persecution was so severe. But Peter said, "Even if that happens, what's next? What's next? I'm in glory with the Lord forever." What's the worst thing a person can do to me? Take my life? And then what? I'm with Jesus.

So Peter is seeking to inspire those who were literally questioning whether they're going to say "Jesus is Lord" or "Caesar is Lord" and determining on what they say whether they live or die. But Peter says, "You're going to live forever." So the believers were to be spiritually prepared. Arm yourself. This is a real thing. This is a spiritual conflict. Arm yourself. Put on the whole armor of God. It's a battle. It's a fight. And maybe you're in the thick of the fight right now. You're not alone. Everybody is. Everybody is. We're all at different fronts in this battle. We're all fighting. The battle you fight, I'm fighting in some form. We're all fighting this together. We lock shields. We go forward. We are the army of the Lord. One day we're going to lay our weapons down. But until then, we're involved, we're engaged.

Guest (Male): Yes, the Christian life is a battleground, and the war gets intense very often. But it helps to remember, even if we are persecuted unto death, heaven awaits. We've been getting prepared for that battle today on A Daily Walk through a study of 1 Peter from Pastor John Randall.

You can listen to our recent programs on our website at adailywalk.org or at oneplace.com. Look for us wherever you get your podcasts, too. And I should also mention our free mobile app. Do a search for Calvary South OC.

Jesus chose 12 ordinary men to be his disciples—fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots—and the Master shaped these disciples for greatness. He wants to do the same with you and me. In his book, *12 Ordinary Men*, John MacArthur draws helpful principles from Christ's careful hands-on training of the original disciples, applying it to today's modern disciple. That's you and me. You can get this special book today at adailywalk.org for the cost of $12. We can also take your request if you call us at 877-242-0828.

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And we're very grateful to the Lord when we hear back from our listeners. Write to Pastor John today by email at adailywalk@gmail.com. He loves to read listener letters and emails. Let him know what's going on in your life and how we can pray for you at adailywalk@gmail.com. Maybe you're one of our new listeners. Let us know what you think of A Daily Walk when you write to us at adailywalk@gmail.com.

Well, that'll do it for this edition of A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall. May God richly bless you and strengthen you in your daily walk. Join us next time as we continue our journey through the Bible.