WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.079 So I'm talking about suffering today. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.800 So everybody, turn to 1 Peter. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:35.039 And I'm going to tell you right now that the passage we're looking at is very, very difficult. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:40.479 It's so difficult that Martin Luther said, I don't understand what Peter's talking about here. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:42.240 And he was a theologian. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:44.000 So we're going to do the best that we can. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:48.000 We're going to navigate a few verses that are kind of obscure. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:01:00.560 And one of the beauties of going verse by verse through books of the Bible, like we do at the road, is that you're going to get the breadth of the teaching, in this case, of suffering, which is not popular today. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.280 You know, today we like to talk about victory. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.920 We like to talk about the miracles of Christ, and we should, and we do here. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:13.680 But part and parcel with life is also hardship, pain, and suffering. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:20.480 And if we don't understand that, we're not going to do very well in this life because you are going to go through hardship. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:27.439 And in our passage, Peter is navigating how to prevail through suffering. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:29.840 The entire book is on that. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:35.359 But I want you to look at verse 18 of chapter 3. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:43.120 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.480 Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:52.480 Now hop down to chapter 4, verse 1. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:03.439 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:15.919 So where he's going with our passage today is that he's going to present to us the power of Christ's suffering and how Christ suffered for our sins that we might be forgiven. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:27.919 But then he's going to say, arm yourselves with the same kind of attitude, bringing the sufferings of Christ into your suffering that you're going through. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:30.719 So let me give you four biblical truths about suffering. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:34.000 Let me give you four biblical truths about suffering. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:43.840 Number one, Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice through his suffering and death on the cross. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:03:00.400 In other words, we cannot have a better substitute than one who is without sin, who went to the cross and became the legal sacrifice from God for us through his death on the cross. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:08.960 Men and women, there's no other way for the forgiveness of sins but through Jesus Christ. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:19.759 Number two, and this is important, by our own personal suffering, we cannot add to or subtract from Christ's suffering. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.199 Now, why do I say that? 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:41.919 Because it's important to understand that in Roman Catholic theology, as well as in certain aspects of Reformed theology, there has been a theology that when you go through suffering, you're adding to your redemption of forgiveness of sins in your life. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:44.319 I don't believe that that's accurate. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.719 I understand the passages it comes from. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:55.680 And as we move down, as we look through the passage, we'll understand where that has come from, but also why that's not what's happening here. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.360 So you're you everybody's gonna go through suffering. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:03.439 Some of you have been through horrendous suffering. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:13.120 You have been through the loss of a spouse, you've been through an ugly divorce, you've gone through abuse in your life, and it's and it's not fair. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:14.240 Just hear what I'm saying. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:16.319 That's completely not fair. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:24.639 But yet, in the midst of the mystery of our sufferings, Christ wants to meet us there. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:32.399 God wants to be invited into that, that his power might flow through us through the suffering that we go through. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:43.759 Number three, when we go through times of suffering, and we all do, it is comforting to realize that Christ has also suffered and can identify with our pain. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.079 Like no one else, by the way. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:54.079 Christ understands our suffering, he identifies with our suffering, and he wants to come alongside you in your suffering. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:05.120 And then number four, suffering, trials, and tribulations perfect us as we invite the power of Christ into our suffering. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:06.160 Let me read that again. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:06.959 It's really important. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.839 This is the theme of today's message. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:18.480 Suffering, trials, and tribulations perfect us as we invite the power of Christ into our suffering. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:33.279 In other words, if you don't invite the power of Christ into your suffering and allow him working in your life as you identify with his suffering as you go through suffering, then you can miss the whole point. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.240 And by the way, all of us have done that. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:50.480 And let me just say this up front that going through the pain of suffering, going through the misery of suffering, even being angry about your suffering is fine and okay. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.759 It's don't stay there though. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:00.959 So, in other words, you can have a camp out with your suffering, but don't build a tent. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.000 In other words, invite Christ into the campfire and say, Christ, I don't get it. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:10.319 I don't feel your presence, I don't understand why this has happened. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:18.879 But somehow in the work of your kingdom, I'm going to get the victory. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.839 I am going to be an overcomer. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.759 And it may not happen right now, and that's okay, men and women, because sometimes distance is the healer. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.800 We need some distance from our pain. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:33.439 And so don't hurry it up. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:39.600 Rather, embrace it with honesty and authenticity in your life. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:59.680 And here's what James says My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:01.600 Now that's what the scriptures say. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:08.399 Church, that there's a perfection that's happening through suffering. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:13.839 And I was just recently talking to someone who's been through great loss. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:17.519 Who I went over to her house. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:19.439 Her and her husband are close friends of mine. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:27.360 I was over at their house with the family, and someone else was with the family who had just gone through tremendous loss. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:41.199 And I thought this is the perfect place for this individual to be because there's empathy, there's a sense of love because one who had been through great loss was comforting one who had just gone through great loss. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:46.000 And Christ is in the midst of that kind of family, that kind of relationship. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.720 So I'm calling this today the power of Christ's suffering. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:59.120 And I'm going to challenge you, church, the road, that you would invite the power of Christ's suffering into your suffering. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.040 And if you're not going through it right now, praise God, but you will. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.879 And some of you are here today and you're carrying deep stuff. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.439 It's been there for a long time. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:22.720 And because you haven't processed it yet, it holds you back from all that God wants you to be and to do. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.279 In other words, you do out of being. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:28.959 What we do is who we are. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.440 And who we are is in our heart the work of Christ in transforming us. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.480 Everybody here is on a journey. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:43.279 It's not about the arrival, it's actually about the journey. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:45.919 That's why we call ourselves the road. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:48.240 It's the road less traveled. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:53.679 It's not the destination is Christ, but that's a lifelong journey. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:55.039 Does that make sense? 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.120 So we're going to invite Christ into our suffering. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:02.159 For Christ also suffered once for sins. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:12.639 Verse 18, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.399 The key phrase here is once for sins. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:21.360 So we go through suffering, we're not adding to the redemption of Christ. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.919 We're not adding to salvation. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:24.799 Now write this down. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:30.159 If you're a note taker, I want you to write what I'm about to say down, because this is my thesis today. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.279 We aren't more holy through suffering. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.279 We aren't more holy through suffering. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:43.200 But we can become more holy and mature by how we handle suffering. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:52.559 We aren't more holy through suffering, but we can become more holy and mature by how we process our suffering. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:10:12.960 And I would say that what Peter seems to be getting to here, and this is not an easy passage, but I think what he's going to say here is that suffering has a redemptive effect if we allow the power of Christ's suffering into our suffering. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:27.759 In other words, we invite the cross in and we go, and this is not glib, pie in the sky, everything works together for good, sort of glibly making those statements, even though that's true. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:39.519 But it's processing our grief in the midst of suffering by inviting Jesus into that suffering and saying, Christ, I don't get it. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:41.840 I don't have to get it. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:44.320 I certainly don't feel it. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:50.000 But you, Jesus, I've got to have you here. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:52.639 I invite you in. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:57.759 You understand like nobody else what I'm going through. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:04.559 And so it becomes the cry of our heart for the fellowship of his suffering in our lives. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:12.879 Now, I do not know why, but under the inspiration of Scripture, Peter now goes into verse 19. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:14.639 It's like crazy. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:18.879 But that follow me now in what he says next. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:25.600 By whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:27.200 Really easy passage here. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:42.559 Who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.679 What is he talking about? 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:51.120 So Martin Luther, the great theologian, said this about this passage. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.399 Quote, a wonderful text is this. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:59.519 And a more obscure passage, perhaps, than any other in the New Testament. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:05.200 So that I do not know for certainty just what Peter means. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:08.399 So there's a lot of different perspectives on this. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:15.039 When I was reading a commentary on 1 Peter by Wayne Grudham, he had, he gave five or five or six interpretations passage. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.480 I'm going to give you mine based in my understanding of the cosmic world. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:27.120 And I talked a little bit about this in the Cosmic War series, which was back at the beginning a few months ago. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:28.879 You can go back and look it up. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:13:01.120 But we're talking about the time of Noah and one of the most unique times in biblical and world history, by which, in Genesis 6, if you recall, spirits, cosmic spirits, left their abode in heaven and came down to the earth and had relations with the daughters of men, and then had a progeny of giants in the land called Nephilim. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.080 And so these Nephilim were giants in the land. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.759 We have archaeological evidence of these Nephilim. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:14.960 In the Gaza Strip, they found beds that are 10 feet long in archaeological discoveries. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:19.600 So I don't understand what was happening, and even a lot of different theologians don't understand. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:30.720 I know Luther probably was clueless on this particular issue because it's really come later through the level of archaeology that we have today in understanding this. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:36.399 But these Nephilim, these giants, were sort of half demon, half human. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.080 And if you're like spooking out right now, I totally get it. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.039 I don't usually talk about this every week, so come next week. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.200 I'm just telling you what I think he's saying. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:53.440 So, in some mysterious way, these spirits left their abode, came down to the earth. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:55.360 Some say the Nephilim are still on the earth. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:56.720 Now I'm not going to go there with that. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:13.440 But the reality is that when you look at Joshua, especially the first six chapters of Joshua, when God instructs Joshua to take out the tribes in the promised land, certain tribes, he tells them to completely wipe them out. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.320 Man, woman, child, everything, wipe them out. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.159 And then another one, he doesn't say that. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:34.480 And many believe that there were vestiges still of the Nephilim in the land, these giants in the land, and it's referred to in Joshua, there were giants, the sons of Anak were there, that still needed to be wiped out. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:51.840 So because of the uniqueness of that time in history where Satan working, leaving through cosmic spirits and came down to the earth, it appears to me that what we have is Jesus descending into Hades or descending into hell. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:53.679 That's what we say in the Apostles' Creed. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.000 That Christ descended into hell. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:04.559 He came down and he preached the gospel, which had not been preached before, though Noah was a type. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:09.840 So Noah is a type of Christ during the flood. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:23.919 And in that, this abode of these spirits that are now bound in a prison, a special prison in Hades, were preached the gospel as Christ died on the cross. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:33.200 Now listen, this is important because there's different perspectives, especially more in the health and wealth kind of gospel, that Christ suffered in hell. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.559 That is not scriptural. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:36.879 When I say Christ went to hell, he's not suffering. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:41.440 He's already suffered once and for all for all of our sins on the cross. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:55.440 He went down into hell and he preached the gospel to these demonic spirits that are imprisoned, as well as those spirits which had followed these demonic spirits. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:56.720 So here's what it says. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:57.600 It's interesting. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:09.759 Genesis 6.5 says, God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of his heart was only evil continually. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:16.960 So then he then brought the flood to cleanse the earth of that evil. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:38.480 And then for some mystery, we don't understand it all, Christ went down, he preached the gospel to those demonic spirits in Hades that are in that abode, that left their abode, and those who were so evil on the face of the earth at that time that every intent of their heart was only evil continually. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:47.600 It's probably the most impactful verse in all of the Bible about the evilness of man. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:55.840 It was so bad at that time that the entire earth, except for eight souls, were full of the evil of God. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:10.960 And then he says in verse 21, there is also an antity which now saves us, baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:15.759 So Jesus went down, and this is what I believe. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:26.240 I believe the first spirits, the first souls that encountered the resurrected Christ were not on the earth. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.160 They were actually in Hades. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:45.599 And if you recall of Lazarus and the rich man, that story, there's a story told of Lazarus being a beggar who's in the bosom of Abraham, a precursor to heaven, and then a gap. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:18:06.000 It speaks of a gap, and then there was the sons that are in Hades, suffering and experiencing what would ever be that pre-prophetic location of hell called Hades. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.920 So I believe that's where he went and he preached the gospel there. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:14.559 They saw the resurrected Christ before we did, before people on the earth. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:31.279 That's why, when you read the story of the resurrection, it says, soon as Christ died, remember, he's exhausted, he gives up his spirit to the Lord, and then it says there was an earthquake, and then the saints of old were resurrected. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:32.000 Remember that part? 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:33.680 Like, what is he talking about? 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.680 Well, that's because immediately, I believe, he went down, he announced it. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:47.759 And those that were on the side of paradise, which it's called, some of them were resurrected as an anti-type, a type of resurrection of Christ. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:52.160 Well, then three days later, we experience the resurrection of Christ. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.319 Now I know that sounds weird. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.119 And it's okay if you don't believe it all. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:58.720 Just get this point. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:00.559 Jesus rose from the grace. 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.160 Okay, that's what you gotta get. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:02.480 Okay. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:06.160 Now, why does he call it about, why does he mention the part about baptism? 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.519 Because he's making and type an anti-type. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:10.559 It's a typology. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.400 And what do I mean by that? 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:22.160 Okay, a type is when you use a person or a thing to be prophetic for the real thing. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:30.960 So he's saying that the flood is like unto the antitype, which is baptism. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.279 Now, this is really important because some of you come out of backgrounds. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:39.440 I know you come out of backgrounds where you've been taught baptism saves you. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:42.000 That's exactly what he doesn't say. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:20:04.000 He's saying that not the rinsing of the filth of the skin, in other words, not the physical act of baptism, but the baptism by which we go under the water, which is the cross and the death of Christ, working his work in our flesh. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:09.279 Then we come out of the water resurrected like Christ was resurrected. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.119 Because remember, it's important. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:17.839 Noah was not saved by the flood, he was saved by the ark. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:28.079 Okay, so the flood took out evil, but the ark saved Noah and his family. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.720 Christ is the ark. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:42.000 Okay, so when you when you publicly proclaim, and this reason I believe in immersion baptism, that you are gonna follow Christ from now on. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.359 You're gonna you're gonna be a Jesus follower. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.599 So we encourage you, get baptized. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.359 You go under the water. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:57.359 That's symbolic of, but it's also spiritual power of Christ's death on the cross, and then you're raised up. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:01.920 As in the resurrection of Christ. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:07.839 So the point here is that Christ suffered for our sins. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.079 He then died. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:11.039 He really died. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:15.440 He didn't swoon, he didn't sort of die, he died. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:19.440 And then he went down into Hades, proving that he had died. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:28.720 He proclaimed the gospel to these spirits on the Hades side of things, but also those in paradise, some of them were resurrected. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:34.559 Then he's resurrected, and so he's going back, he's taking us back to the worst time, church. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:37.200 It must have been the worst of times. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:47.440 Way worse than anything we're going through today during the time of Noah, so bad that God had to wipe out the earth except for eight souls. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:58.720 And I think his point is this that if Christ rose from the grave in those worst of times and that he can preach the gospel in the worst place. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.079 How much more does he understand your suffering? 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:11.440 How much more does he love you and he's with you and he's gonna be there for you? 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:17.839 Because he's gonna go some places next in this verse that is just astounding. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.480 Circle verse 22. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:25.759 Underline verse 22, highlight verse 22, because this is where this is going. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:41.519 Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.279 That's why I believe what I just said. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:54.480 That in other words, he was proclaiming to those spirits, the worst of spirits, high-level demons, man, that had come and infiltrated the whole earth. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:56.720 It had to be a flood to wipe them out. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:20.640 There were so many of them, and they were so evil, evil continually, that if Christ can go down into the worst place with the worst demons and the worst powers and the worst authorities, and tell them, I've risen from the grave, how much more is Christ there for you over every principality and power that's harassing you? 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:22.720 And they do harass us. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.400 He's a king of kings. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.240 He's the Lord of Lords. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:39.200 He's a king over every president. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.480 He's a king over every prime minister. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:43.680 He is king. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:45.440 He's not up for re-election. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:46.720 He's a king. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.000 He has a kingdom. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:49.839 You're a citizen of the kingdom. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:24:01.519 And by being a citizen of the kingdom, you reverence and you worship and you follow him, and he stays on that throne until all of his enemies are subject to him. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:03.599 And guess what? 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:05.920 They are becoming subject to him. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.119 Islam will be subject to him. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.839 Buddhism will be subject to him. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:14.160 Atheists will be subject to him. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:17.920 The church will be subject to him. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:25.599 With all the crazy stuff happening in the pastorate right now, and all the weird stuff happening in church right now, you know why that's happening? 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:35.519 And we're going to talk about that in two weeks, is that the work of God, the repentance of God, starts in the church. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.559 God is cleansing his house. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:40.880 He is cleansing his church. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:48.799 That a beautiful bride would grow forth and come forth that will take over the earth. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:57.200 That even the like as the waters cover the sea, so will the glory of God flow all over the earth. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.359 And you get to be a part of it. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:01.519 That's good news, man. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.119 You can clap on that one. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:13.119 So now he says, he's built all this up to now say, therefore. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.640 And the reason he says therefore is because it's therefore something. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:20.319 It's therefore. 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:30.559 Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mentality, the same mind. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:35.039 For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.359 Radical statement, man. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:38.960 Radical statement. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:46.000 He's saying that, like the idea here in the Greek, this is the only time this is ever used in the New Testament. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:47.279 Arm yourselves this way. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.079 This verse, the way this is used, not used anywhere else. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:52.160 He's like, put on the armor. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:53.839 This is what I'm doing today. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.039 I'm helping you do that. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.119 Put on the armor and think. 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:04.960 Realize suffering is coming your way, but arm yourselves for battle. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:06.960 Get ready. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:08.240 It's coming. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:19.119 And are you just going to succumb to it like everybody else does and get angry and quit the church and quit Jesus and all that because everything didn't go perfectly for you? 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.240 Or are you going to be one of those men and women that armed yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:34.880 I'm going to invite Christ and the power of his resurrection and the power of his suffering into my pain. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:36.160 I don't get it. 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:37.279 I don't understand it. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:38.480 It doesn't seem fair. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.319 By the way, that's okay. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:42.400 Please do that. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:45.119 It's unhealthy not to do that. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:58.799 But then you've got a river, you've got a Rubicon, you have to cross over at some point where you say, I don't understand everything, I don't have all the answers, but Christ come. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:01.759 Be my friend. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.640 Love me as I love you. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:13.839 And you start hanging out with people who have empathy, people who've also gone through suffering. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:20.079 And you avoid like the plague the people who say, everything's gonna be fine. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:23.440 All things work together for for good. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:24.799 Well, that's true. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:26.640 Timing sucks. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:32.240 And you and you should say that. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:36.880 But if you don't feel it, what I'm saying is that's okay, because you will. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:38.240 You will. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:39.519 It takes time. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:53.599 It's amazing the human spirit, the God image spirit that's able to heal itself, even with the power of God working in coordination with how God's made our minds and spirits. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:55.680 God does bring healing. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:13.839 Victor Frankel, one of the great writers on suffering, who went through the concentration camps, said, quote, if there's a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:19.599 Suffering is an irredactable part of life. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:23.039 Even as faith and death. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:27.119 Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:35.119 He continues, we must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:49.759 For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:54.480 So Frankel here is not blithely saying everything happens for a reason. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:29:07.839 I believe that to be true, but I'm saying blithely saying that, or that we should deny our anger or the rage that we may feel, but rather that God has something meaningful in our suffering. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:16.880 That we can learn and we can grow, and even as James said, we're perfected through suffering. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:20.720 So prepare your mind for suffering. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:43.680 It's interesting that all the studies on suffering, there's so many, but reading and researching suffering is that we find this to be true that the men and women who've been through the deepest suffering that processed it, that it had a meaning and a purpose for their lives, are those that are the most mature. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:47.920 They have depth to their lives. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:54.319 And so suffering is a work of God, a deep work of God in our lives. 00:29:54.559 --> 00:30:06.079 Hebrews, we read, for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are so tempted. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.440 So Christ identifies with your pain. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:22.559 Philippians, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:34.559 In other words, church, what Paul had discovered is that he could not really fully understand the power of the resurrection without going through the fellowship of his suffering. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:39.920 So, in other words, there's a cross and then there's a resurrection. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:42.960 And the resurrection, here's what he's saying. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:47.759 The resurrection has meaning because you had a cross. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:31:05.119 That's why when we're preaching the gospel, we're sharing our faith with someone, if they don't understand that they are sinful and separated from God, and we just jump right over to the resurrection, we jump right over to the abundant life, we're somehow producing an incomplete salvation. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:14.400 In other words, to understand what Christ did at the cross, and then to allow ourselves to go to that cross. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:17.279 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:24.240 It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who was delivered up for me. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:26.960 That's right here on my pulpit. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:28.240 It's my life verse. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:38.400 So we're crucified with Christ, that by which we understand now the power of his resurrection in our lives. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:42.480 And so suffering in Christ has a cleansing effect. 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:52.480 Suffering in Christ, redemptive suffering, redeems us not for salvation, but for our own sanctification. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:32:02.720 And when your flesh suffers and you receive it in Christ, somehow, men and women, it does have a cleansing effect within us. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:11.039 Verse 2, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lust of men, but for the will of God. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:24.240 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lustness, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:32.880 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:38.079 They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:42.640 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:45.039 He's going back to the previous verse. 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:52.880 That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but to live according to God in the spirit. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:56.960 Men and women, don't waste your life. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:02.960 The power of Christ's suffering becomes our power in suffering. 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:06.480 The power of Christ's suffering becomes our power in suffering. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:08.319 You're gonna suffer. 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:15.920 And if it's the revelries of drinking parties, learn to hug the toilet. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:29.039 If it's having sex with everybody that you're attracted to, live with the deep sense of guilt that you wake up with in the morning wondering, what did I just do? 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:36.240 If you're embezzling money and you're not sure if you got caught, if people know it, was there a camera when you did that? 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:40.319 So you live with this feeling like, I wonder if I'm gonna get it caught on this. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:41.920 You're suffering. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:46.960 So there's spirit-filled suffering and there's stupid suffering. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:48.079 That's what he's saying. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:49.920 It's gonna be a judgment day. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:52.640 So why not suffer in Christ? 00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:54.319 Because you're gonna suffer. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:34:01.519 Because if you do, it's redemptive, it redeems us, it makes us better people. 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:09.440 The best people on the face of the earth have suffered greatly if they've processed it in Christ. 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:11.280 Those are my favorite people. 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:13.840 Those are bloodstained allies. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:17.840 Because when I share something with them, they totally get it. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:21.519 Because they've been there, they know that kind of pain. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:24.159 Those are the kind of friends that you need to have. 00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:30.960 That's why the church is here, is because we need those people in our lives. 00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:37.280 So we look around us and we see that everyone suffers in this life. 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:40.159 Even the Jesus follower suffers. 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:52.480 But the difference is the actualization of our suffering by identifying with the sufferings of Christ, knowing that Christ is with us in the valley of the shadow of death. 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:55.199 So we grow in our faith. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:00.800 The power of Christ's suffering becomes our power in suffering. 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:08.480 Thank you for listening to the Born for War podcast. 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:12.079 We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:18.079 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org. 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:18.960 God bless.