Scripture referenced 15 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Peter 3:8-9 quoted as the lead-up to the 'therefore' of chapter four, calling believers to be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble, not returning evil for insult
8 Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
9 not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing.
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Keep this verse
1 Peter 3:13
quoted to ask who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good
13 Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good?
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1 Peter 3:14-16
quoted on suffering for righteousness, sanctifying Christ as Lord, being ready to give a defense, and keeping a good conscience
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.”
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
16 having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
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1 Peter 3:18
quoted on Christ dying for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit
18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
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1 Peter 3:22
quoted on Christ at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subjected to him
22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
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1 Peter 4:1
central text of the sermon, arm yourselves with the same purpose as Christ who suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin
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;
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1 Peter 4:2
quoted as the explanation of verse one, to live no longer for the lust of men but for the will of God
2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
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1 Peter 4:3
quoted on having spent enough time in the past carrying out the desires of the Gentiles, sensuality, lust, drunkenness, and idolatry
3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
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1 Peter 4:4-5
quoted on outsiders being surprised you no longer run with them, maligning you, but giving account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead
4 They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:
5 who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
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1 Peter 4:6
quoted on the gospel being preached to those now dead so that though judged in the flesh they may live in the spirit according to the will of God
6 For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
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Philippians 2
referenced on Christ humbling himself to death on the cross and God then exalting him
1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
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Galatians 2:20-21
quoted on being crucified with Christ
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That 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.
21 I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
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Romans 6:1-6
quoted on not continuing in sin, being baptized into Christ's death, buried with him, and the old self crucified so we are no longer slaves to sin
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
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Matthew 11:28-30
quoted on coming to Christ, his burden being light, and giving rest to the weary
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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Matthew 12:34-36
quoted on the mouth speaking what fills the heart and every careless word being accounted for on the day of judgment
34 You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
35 The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
36 I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message, from 1 Peter 4:1-6, was about what Peter calls the Christian's break with sin, grounded in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Pastor Tony traced the thread of suffering and vindication that runs through the letter and brought it to a pointed call to holiness. The sermon closed with a reminder that Christ came as Savior and is returning as Judge, and that the gospel was preached precisely because that judgment is coming.
What was said
Pastor Tony started by backing up to the end of chapter three to show why chapter four opens with "therefore." Peter had been telling Christians in the Roman Empire that unjust earthly suffering is followed by divine vindication, just as it was for Christ and for Noah. That pattern is the foundation everything else builds on.
From there he moved to verse one: "Arm yourselves with the same purpose." The phrase "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" drew the most attention, because on the surface it looks like it is teaching sinless perfection. Pastor Tony worked through the NASB, NIV, ESV, and NLT renderings and was straightforward about the ambiguity in the Greek, including the question of whether the subject is Christ or the believer.
He settled on reading it as pointing primarily to Christ. The one who suffered physically and died has finished with sin entirely. Christ on the cross said "it is finished," and as Tony put it, Christ completed his involvement with our sin there. He paid for sin, past, present, and future, and that is a strong call to holiness rather than an excuse to coast.
Verse two then clarified verse one: to live "no longer for the lust of men but for the will of God." He brought in Romans 6 to show that baptism pictures a death to sin and a rising to walk in newness of life, and he connected that directly to the baptism the congregation had witnessed the week before. The point was that being "done with sin" is not about achieving perfection but about reckoning yourself dead to sin through what Christ has already accomplished.
Peter then names the specific sins the readers had already spent enough time on: sensuality, lust, drunkenness, and wild parties. Their former companions are surprised and speak against them for no longer joining in. Pastor Tony noted the word Peter uses is "blaspheme," meaning their maligning of the believer is ultimately directed at God. His response to that was not indignation but something closer to sorrow, quoting Jesus on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
That led to the judgment section. Those who malign believers will give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Pastor Tony was clear that this judgment is universal, there are only two states of being, living and dead, and Christ will judge all of them. He described it as a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God with sin that has not been dealt with.
The final verse about the gospel being preached "to those who are now dead" he read as referring to believers who received the gospel, suffered for it, and in some cases were killed for it. The gospel was preached to them for exactly this reason: so that even though they were judged harshly by men in this life, they may now be living in the spirit according to the will of God. His summary was plain: every human soul will either be justly condemned or mercifully forgiven, and the mercy is there because Jesus absorbed the condemnation.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Mark referenced 1 Peter 3:8-9 and the call to give a blessing instead of returning evil for evil or insult for insult. Where do you find that hardest to do, and what makes it so difficult?
- The sermon walked through several translations of verse one and landed on the idea that Christ, through His suffering and death, is the one who is truly 'done with sin.' How does understanding that the cross was Christ finishing with your sin, past, present, and future, change the way you think about your own struggle with sin?
and 3 more questions in the guide
