Embracing Suffering: Our Christian Heritage and Hope

Peter says in verse one the if you want to look there Peter says that suffering is our heritage it's our heritage that if you follow in the feet of Jesus as we talked about last week this is your heritage as a Christian it is to stand up and take the hit says there since therefore Christ suffered In the Flesh and he did didn't he he did his feet his head had Thorns mashed on him his his feet and His Hands had Nails driven through them his back was wit his beard was plucked and his his face was spit upon Christ to to come and get you he he gave up his very body his very life it was like you being out there I said last week like you being on the battlefield and you're out there and you're you're hurt on the Battlefield and Christ came up out of the trench and put himself In Harm's Way to come and get you and he did that and the disciples said this shall never happen to you Jesus don't do this thing and he did it anyway and he did it for you and he did it for me he gave his body up and in verse one it says there arm El with the same way of thinking meaning let this be your attitude as well as you go out to battle in this world that you are fighting a spiritual battle and you need to have the attitude of Christ [00:35:17]

and so sometimes we have to have this we've got to come to this notion that as a believer in Christ you despise your own life for the sake of the Gospel that that you are willing to suffer you are to arm yourself with the same purpose that Jesus Christ armed himself with and if you think about it this is when we uh all of us but especially the men in the room this is when we really feel most alive it's when we're a part of something that is that is much bigger than us something that we can throw our lives away for Robert El Lee said one time it's a good thing that God condemns Warfare otherwise we would love it so it is when men are most alive when we give our lives away for something that is bigger than us that we can lay our lives down for a cause and so it is with the with the gospel according to this text that we lay down our very lives like Christ did that we lay aside our own safety to bring others to Christ so are you with me so far Christ suffered and gave his body up and you and I are to carry that attitude and fight the spiritual battle out there in this world [00:38:06]

for whoever has suffered in the flesh who has been willing to die has ceased from sin now that obviously doesn't talk about sinless perfection right there what it does mean verse two is that the Christian who is willing to die has now ceased from living a sinful lifestyle that if he is willing to die as Christ was willing to die if he is willing to die his life is now obviously consecrated to live for Christ look at verse two it says there so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God that this person has become a Living Sacrifice he has taken up his cross there are no holds bar hard any longer his life is completely devoted to God every once in a while you might see the strange anomaly of a Christian who is willing to suffer for his faith and yet in his private life he lives in moral compromise and that's an anomaly that is an aberration it's a strange thing generally speaking men and women who are patriots of the cause of Christ who are committed to the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ their private life proves proves to be evidence of their commitment to the gospel spreading they are no longer seeking the approval of men they have one ear that always Longs for the approval and the Delight of God [00:39:58]

it means for the Christian that our faith is not something that we just add to a sinful life are you with me it's not that we have this sinful life and we trust Christ and we just add him to our present sinfulness when we come to know Christ Our sinful life is in the past it is gone the time that we have spent on that it is done it is over it's like the end of a Thanksgiving meal when somebody comes to and says would you like more and you so no I'm done I'm finished I'm stuffed get get it away from me as good as that I thought that that was I can do no more Peter says that that sinfulness and faith in Christ they they don't mix you are you are done with sinful living Paul put it like this in Roman Romans 6: 21 and 22 what benefit were you deriving from the things which you are now ashamed the outcome of those things is death but now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God you derive your fruit resulting in Holiness and the end eternal life so we are to be ashamed of our past life we are new the old is gone and the new has come [00:42:25]

what Peter is saying here is that a Christian that lives a life of immorality that lives a life of drunkenness and the accompanying lifestyle it is in congruous it does not go together they must not coexist Hebrews 12 put it like this there can be no immoral or profane man among you Paul said this you know is certain no immoral person nor impure man or Covetous man has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ in God therefore don't be partakers with them that we don't become Christians and then just add Christ to launder our present lives that's not how this works so what does that mean for our church it means that in our Church to those that name Jesus Christ there not should be one person of us not one single person that is engaged in premarital sex there should not be one married person in this room that is involved in pornography or an extra marital Affair that should not happen there should not be one crooked businessman that names the name of Christ in this church you can be crooked and be a pagan or you can be a Christian and conse ated and set apart but you cannot be a crooked Christian the time passed is done Peter tells us to put it behind us that there should not be one drunkard in our congregation not one man or woman that names the name of Christ takes communion and goes out and follows the course of the Lost out there in this world you can be a drunkard and be a pagan or you can be a Christian that is consecrated and set apart but you are not to be a drunk Christian and it sounds simple it's not rocket science but a lot of times we miss this very thing [00:44:32]

Peter is going to say that if you pursue this this verse one this Christlike path this this verse two this path that Rebels against the world if we are going to follow this this what can be a lonely path you can expect verse four to happen Peter doesn't speak of it as something that might happen this is not something that is a possibility he says that this is indeed going to happen to you if you live Godly in Christ this is your Li it is it is not a possibility it will happen it says here with respect to this they are surprised let me tell you what that word surprised means it's the the Greek word zenos and it means strange and I tell you the Greek word to to draw it back to you English xenophobia is the fear of speaking in public in front of strangers and he says in all of this they are zenos that that you stand as strange that you are unique in their sight I've mentioned to you uh the the softball teams that I've played on and the the the Hunt Club that I used to part of and I would I would live out my faith in front of those guys and they would hear me speak of God's word and what I believe there and they would see how I treated my family and how I treated my my wife my children and they would look at that and it was strange to them they didn't see that out there in the world and they would ask me questions about about Sin is this sin is this not sin I'm my my my marriage is on the rocks how do I deal with this and they would speak to me about these things because I was uh I was different from them and Peter says that if you do this you can expect this sometimes times in a positive way like I just mentioned sometimes in a negative way you're not going to be in the majority out there in the world you're going to be singled out for your faith and that's the norm that's the norm for the believer to be strange is the norm it is going to happen to you [00:48:28]

not only will they see you as strange but they will malign you that they will curse you that no man will readily receive a belief system that condemns him and so they will seek to Discount you as true they'll try to turn out your light where the gospel is concerned I mean have you ever had a non-Christian come up to you and ask you you're one of those Christians aren't you do you do you really believe in that book do you really believe what the Bible says what do you say what is your response to that I do hold to the notion of God himself being revealed in the Bible Christ in the Bible being the object of that Revelation and Sal ation through faith is what it teaches yes yes I believe what that book says and what do they say to you I thought you were smarter than that I thought you were brighter than that to get hooked into believing this this archaic Book of Rules I thought you were smarter they malign you and it's rampant out there in the world if you live out your faith now folks this verse here it's given grammatically is a fact that this is going to happen what do you think can you handle this new Union this is a hit that we have to take this is what the price is this is the way incidentally that you tell a Christian Life who is a genuine believer and not a phony see once the altar call is over once prayers have been prayed you can't tell the difference between a real believer and a phony yet but when the fire comes when trial comes when hardship comes because of their faith if they are willing to suffer for it it shows the real believer it proves you worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering 2 Thessalonians 1:5 [00:51:03]

Peter concludes with two Comforts here one is about them it says there but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead the living are those that when Christ returns they are living on the earth the dead is at the end of this Millennial Kingdom when they are raised and stand before him and he will gather the wheat into his barn and the chaff he will burn off with unquenchable fire and so Peter lets you know you may take persecution but those that persecute you those that deny Christ their day is coming they said at the end of World War II they found 8 million names on the German Nazi party list those people that were so arrogant during the war War to be on that list to condescend on everyone else who was not on the list and after the war the very name on that list that they were proud of it became their condemnation it would became the most horrible thing that they had ever seen or experienced and so it will be in the final judgment won't it when the books are and those actions that that non-believers that they took so much delight in it'll rise up and condemn them and then you look to the Lamb's Book of Life containing the names of the saved and the one that they so condemn the lost so condemned they would give everything that they ever had that they ever did to switch places with a person that knows Christ the thing that that they love they now despise the one that they despise they now long for but it's too late and they pass into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and it is a judgment that is so horrific that your senses reel from it and so their day will come and so you rest in that oh persecuted ones [00:56:25]

and in verse six the second Comfort is for you that your day will come it says for this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead those are Christian Martyrs that have died with the knowledge of the Gospel that it says there that though judged In the Flesh the way people are and that's how they were judged that in the Roman Empire they saw them as a danger to the Empire and so they beat them they executed them Nero crucified them doused their bodies with oil put them on stakes and burn their bodies to light his garden parties they are judged In the Flesh as men but he said because of the gospel because of the Gospel verse 6 they might live in the spirit the way God does the you will be with me in Paradise you to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord and they those that believe those that belong to Christ they will be with him and so you take your hit and as the Martyr said you let your spirit fly away to him who gave it that it is a comfort to you that you suffer well because one day you will be with Christ [00:59:06]

this is our stance this is our heritage that we follow in the footsteps of Christ and we will win like he does this is our example in Christ this is our lot in life that we suffer well that is what we do and this is our future that we will be with Christ in Paradise here I stand I can do no other this morning you may be considering maybe the fact that you haven't suffered like I've talked about this morning and maybe the reason that you haven't suffered is because people don't know who you are that they don't know that you belong to Christ that maybe you haven't been outward about your faith maybe you haven't been sharing the gospel as you should and if that is you this morning then maybe you need to pray and really do some business with God that maybe you need to recommit yourself to the reason why you exist and that is to share the gospel in a world that desperately needs to hear it maybe the reason that you have never suffered like this for the sake of Christ is because you don't know him you haven't been equipped with a spiritual gift upon salvation that you go out and serve and and share the gospel in the world maybe it is that you don't know Christ this morning maybe you've heard this this morning and it's like reading a letter that was addressed to somebody else because the Bible is for God's children for those that belong to Christ and maybe this morning you don't belong to him and that's why you don't know anything of this suffering I'm not sure which it is but if you haven't suffered maybe one of those two is the case but if you are suffering this is this is the encouragement to the Purple Heart Suffer Well o Saint Suffer Well because their day is coming and so is yours [01:03:30]