Two weeks ago in 1Peter 3:18-22, we learned about the Victory we have in and through Jesus Christ! Everyone who repents of their sins, trusting in God’s Son to save them, is granted forgiveness for all their sins and eternal life.

God’s Word tells us that we are all sinners, and because of sin, we are unacceptable to God. The Book of Romans states the problem, describes its severity, and then declares the cure:

Romans 3:10,
“There is none righteous, not even none.”

Romans 3:12,
“There is none who does good, there is not even one.”

Romans 3:23-24,
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 5:8,
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 6:23,
“The wages of sin [what we deserve for being sinners] is death, [however] the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:1,
“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

We must be saved from our sinful nature, this salvation comes from outside of ourselves , as Paul tells us

(Ephesians 1:13) that in Christ,
“you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

God’s Spirit helps believers be conformed to the character of Christ, seeking to please God

(Galatians 5:16-17),
“I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.”

Those who reject Christ

(Romans 8:8)
“those who are in the flesh,” i.e., without the Spirit of God, can do nothing to please God, for they are enemies of God.

Read 1Peter 4:1-6… In the human body of Jesus, God the Son took our suffering and paid the ultimate penalty for our sins, dying in our place. Jesus Christ is the ultimate proof that suffering can lead to victory.

See again 1Peter 4:1a…
“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh,” what does that mean? Jesus bled and He died for us; but He did much more than that (Galatians 3:13), “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written [Deuteronomy 21:23], ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”

See again 1Peter 4:1b… We all bleed and we will all die, just as Jesus did, therefore we are to “arm ourselves with the same purpose” [motive, attitude] as that of Christ. What was His purpose? Jesus knew that death produces the greatest victory; from mortality to immortality

(see Philippians 2:1-8).

We must be willing to suffer for Christ, even to the point of death, if necessary.

2Timothy 1:8-10,
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the 1 power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

Think about it, Jesus conquered death, His spirit went into the deepest hell to proclaim His victory, and then He rose from the tomb in a glorified body on Sunday morning; just like all those who trust in Him by faith have already defeated death

(John 11:25-26,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life; and that everyone who lives and believes in Him will live even after they die, for everyone who lives and believes in Christ will live forever. If you don’t believe that, you are not going to be able to suffer for the name of Christ.

See again 1Peter 4:1c…

But if you were to suffer to the point of death because you are a Christian, you will be perfected, never able to sin again “because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Dead men can’t sin!

As a Christian, to be physically dead, at the moment your spirit leaves your fleshly body, you are present with the Lord, never again able to do anything dishonoring or displeasing to God, but only that which honors Him.

1Corinthians 15:54-57,
“When this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

See again 1Peter 4:2…

Christ died to set us free from sin’s control, corruption, and condemnation, and so, we ought to be seeking to know and do God’s Will, allowing God’s Spirit to conform us to God’s character.

Romans 12:1,
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

God desires living servants who are dead to sin, not dead sacrifices burning on an alter.

Romans 12:2,
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

If we are genuinely born again by God’s Spirit, as children of God, we will seek to do that which pleases God

(Galatians 2:20),
“ I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

We cannot continue to live like unbelievers if we confess Christ as Lord, 2 believing in Him for salvation
(cf. 2Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:1-5; Romans 6:8-12).

See again 1Peter 4:3…

All of us were dead in our sins, living like fools (cf. Psalm 14:1), before we came to God through Christ (cf. John 1:12-13). We should not continue to live like unbelievers while confessing Christ and believing in Him for salvation (cf. 2Corinthians 5:17).

See Ephesians 2:1-3;

Romans 6:8-15.

1Corinthians 6:9-11,
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Christians are sinners who have come out of every kind of sinful lifestyle; we must put on Christ and put away our sinful way of life.

Ephesians 4:20-25,
“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

See again 1Peter 4:4-5…

Sinning was a way of life for us before we came to Christ, but now we are to live for Him, and those we associated with before we we’re saved are going to be surprised [astonished, shocked] we don’t do these things anymore, and this will cause some of those unbelieving friends to speak evil of us, because we aren’t joining in their godlessness; but we can rest assured that they will have to give an account to God, because of Christ.

2Thessalonians 1:6,
“For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you.”

See again 1Peter 4:6…

We must arm ourselves with the hope of the saving and affirming gospel of forgiveness for sins and eternal life through Christ the Lord. All those who have heard the gospel of salvation and believed, even though they may have physically died, they are eternally alive in the presence of God.

John 11:23-25,
Jesus said to [Martha], “Your brother will rise again.” she said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus is talking about eternal life. For those of us who believe in God’s Son, even physical death is victorious, for dead men cannot sin, i.e., when we physically die, our spirit is brought into everlasting life in heaven with God, to see, hear, and experience things that cannot be understood.

1Corinthians 2:9,
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

2Corinthians 5:6-8,
“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

Romans 8:31-39,
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2Corinthians 4:16-18,
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man [our flesh] is decaying, yet our inner man [our spirit] is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Jesus told His followers they would be hated on account of Him; but He also told them

(John 14:1-3),
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Just as Jesus was persecuted by God’s enemies, even to the point of death on a cross; He was then made alive in the spirit and raised from the dead; and although God’s enemies may insult us and unjustly persecute us, even to the point of death, nothing can take away the victory we have in Christ; for we shall live in the presence and the glory of God forever!

Pastor Mike

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Pastor Mike
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