This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day two of our look through 1st Peter chapter 4. In this fourth
chapter, we are talking about the fact that we are different in the way that we
think about and face suffering in this world. It's one of the major differences
that comes into our lives when we come to Christ.

And yesterday we began by talking about the fact that we are different in our
attitude. We see that Jesus' suffering on the cross was necessary for our
forgiveness and our faithfulness. And because of that cross, there's an impact
on our lives.

First, we talked about yesterday the fact that we are done with sin because
Jesus has paid for our sin. Sin no longer has a hold on you. You might still
struggle with sin, but you're done with sin.

It no longer has a hold on you because Jesus' death on the cross was final. He
paid the necessary price for your sin. Now in verses 4 to 6, we see Peter begin
to talk about a second truth in your life because of the cross.

First in verse 4, he says, "They think it's strange that you do not plunge with
them into the same flood of dissipation. And they," he's talking about
unbelievers here, "heap abuse on you. " So a second truth because of the cross
is you are persecuted by others.

You're persecuted by others because you believe in the cross of Christ. As they
abused Jesus, they're going to abuse you. We suffer not because of who we are,
but because of who he is.

They heap abuse on you, he says here. But let me remind you, don't take it
personally. It's because of who you're following.

Jesus said to his disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated
me first. " Don't take it personally. It's not you.

It's not that you didn't use deodorant this morning. It's not that they didn't
like the school that you went to. It's got nothing to do with your family.

It has to do with your relationship with Jesus Christ. I've found that if I take
rejection personally, I start to build up anger towards the person who's
rejecting me. I start to build bitterness toward that other person, or I might
just start to build up a pride in my own life.

Look at me. I must be a great Christian. I'm being persecuted.

But if I focus on Jesus instead, I realize that the reason this is happening is
because Jesus Christ is real. He's real in my life. And even though I am an
imperfect human being, I'm struggling at times to live the Christian life.

He is still shining his light through me. He's shining his light through you.
And that should humble you.

That challenges your faith instead of resulting in anger or pride. Jesus said,
"When you face persecution, anywhere along the scale of persecution, when you
face some kind of persecution, some kind of rejection for your faith, don't take
it personally. " Now, I know how you feel when you face a persecution, or even
more when somebody you love or some believer even across the world faces a sharp
persecution in their lives.

You think, "How can they get away with that? " Those that are doing the
persecuting, and these scriptures tell us they cannot get away with that.
Someday, they're going to have to give an account for that.

You should always feel more sorry for the person who's doing the persecuting
than the one who's being persecuted for following Jesus Christ, because the one
doing the persecuting is going to have to give an account to God for that one
day. This leads us to a third thing that's true about you because of the cross.
The third thing that's true about you is you are confident in facing God's
judgment.

Because Jesus paid the price for you already on the cross, you can be confident
in facing God's judgment. Peter talks about this in verses 5 and 6. First, he
talks about those who are doing the persecuting, and he says, "For they will
have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead,
so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live
according to God in regard to the Spirit. " Just broadly, before we get into the
specifics of these verses, in the last judgment, you do not want to be judged
according to your works. You want to be judged according to what Jesus did for
you on the cross.

You do not want to have to depend on an account of what you have done. You want
to depend on your trust in what he's done. And so he talks at the beginning of
these verses about those who did not trust in what he has done, and all they've
got to depend on is their good works, and it's not enough in front of a holy
God.

Then in verse 6, he talks about the gospel being preached to those who are now
dead. Some as they read this phrase want to attach this back to what we talked
about earlier to the days of Noah, but I think that's entirely missing the point
here. Some who had heard the good news in the day of Peter, some who had been
part of the church, they'd already died.

But Peter's saying here, that doesn't mean the good news isn't true. The fact
that they've already died doesn't mean that you believe that somehow they don't
have life in Christ. No, they have eternal life still in him.

He says in regard to the body, the way that human beings judge things, they're
gone. They're dead, but according to God, they live in regard to the Spirit. Now
there's a question behind this.

Which judgment most controls your life? According to the body, according to
physical things, spiritual things, judge according to spiritual things, or do
you judge according to physical things? Depending on which way you judge, you're
going to make different kinds of decisions in life.

So as he talks here about a new way of living, a new way of focusing, he's
telling us that because you have confidence in God's judgment, you can have
confidence in the way that you live your life. God sees the spiritual. People
see the temporary.

God sees the eternal. People see just those things that will not last sometimes
more than a day. God's judgment is final.

And you can have confidence in that day, and that confidence that you have, that
you know when you stand in God's presence, you're going to be judged, not based
on what you've done, but judged based on what Jesus did for you. You can stand
in his presence with confidence. That confidence should make a daily difference
in your life.

In fact, right now, I want to spend a moment praying together for that
confidence, praying together that our focus on the cross will make all the
difference in our day. Jesus says we focus again on the cross. We remind
ourselves that because you faced persecution, we also are going to face
persecution at times.

And Lord, instead of taking it personally, help us to recognize that it's
because we love you and are following you. And help us to love even those who
are our enemies, because that's what you did. And Jesus, when we think about
judgment, help us to recall the truth that we've already passed out of judgment
into life because of what you did for Jesus.

There's not going to be a day of us standing in your presence worried about
whether we're getting into heaven. It's already settled. It was settled at the
cross.

It was settled in the resurrection. So let us live life with the confidence that
we know you, that one day we're going to stand before you, and we're going to be
judged righteous. We're going to be judged holy because of what you've done for
us.

And for all of eternity, we're going to serve with you, Jesus. We're going to
serve you and serve with you. Lord, let that confidence mark our lives today, we
pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well make sure to join us tomorrow. We're going to talk
about the truth that suffering will not last.