An Encouragement, Prohibition, Directive

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon, setting the context in 1 Peter 4:12-19. He then reviews the previous week's sermon on verses 12-13, highlighting the gracious introduction…

A quote from an unnamed servant of God commenting on 1 Peter 4, stating that suffering for Christ leads to and tastes of glory, and gives glory to God.

Because of the name of Christ, you are rejoiced. Then first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And, if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? Wherefore, let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful creator. One of God's servants, commenting on this section of the word of God, has written, Suffering for Christ leads to glory and tastes of glory. It also gives glory to God. When believers suffer because they are Christians, God is glorified.

1:06 - 2:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon, setting the context in 1 Peter 4:12-19. He then reviews the previous week's sermon on verses 12-13, highlighting the gracious introduction…

The example of Job is used to show how suffering believers glorify God and vindicate Him against Satan's accusations, even more so with Christian understanding.

Satan's accusations against God and Job were proven false. God was vindicated. Christians are given an understanding not granted to Job. All the more are they to glorify God.

2:26 - 2:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon, setting the context in 1 Peter 4:12-19. He then reviews the previous week's sermon on verses 12-13, highlighting the gracious introduction…

The story of Paul and Silas singing praises in prison at Philippi is given as an example of Christians glorifying God in suffering.

God in the midst of their suffering for Christ's sake. Paul and Silas sang praises in the prison at Philippi. Peter glorified the name of Jesus before the very rulers who had delivered the Savior to Pilate. And through the centuries, Christians have defied their persecutors in order to praise the Lord.

2:40 - 3:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon, setting the context in 1 Peter 4:12-19. He then reviews the previous week's sermon on verses 12-13, highlighting the gracious introduction…

Peter glorifying Jesus' name before the rulers who condemned the Savior is cited as an example of defiance and praise in persecution.

God in the midst of their suffering for Christ's sake. Paul and Silas sang praises in the prison at Philippi. Peter glorified the name of Jesus before the very rulers who had delivered the Savior to Pilate. And through the centuries, Christians have defied their persecutors in order to praise the Lord.

2:40 - 3:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin introduces the sermon, setting the context in 1 Peter 4:12-19. He then reviews the previous week's sermon on verses 12-13, highlighting the gracious introduction…

An extended quote from Armando Valadares' book 'Against All Hope' describes how the cries of executed patriots, 'Long live Christ the King,' awakened him to faith, illustrating contemporary manifestation of Peter's counsel on suffering.

Armando Valadares, for 22 years a prisoner of Castro's regime in Cuba, tells of how he, came to a living trust in Christ. And here's a quote from his book, entitled Against All Hope, The Prison Memoirs of Armando Valadares.

3:02 - 3:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Calvin rightly observes, there is often in such attacks more bitterness than in the loss of goods or in the torments or agonies of the body.

A quote from John Calvin observing that verbal attacks often contain more bitterness than physical pain or loss of goods for a true child of God.

And men love darkness rather than light. They seek to smear the light by verbal abuse. Now for a true child of God, this is no little thing. Calvin rightly observes, there is often in such attacks more bitterness than in the loss of goods or in the torments or agonies of the body.

14:12 - 14:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Calvin rightly observes, there is often in such attacks more bitterness than in the loss of goods or in the torments or agonies of the body.

An extended quote from Archbishop Leighton, comparing reproaches to subtle flames that crush bones without breaking flesh, wounding the spirit through a whole skin, and troubling by their frequency.

For a true child of God, to whom a good name is better than thousands of gold and silver, to be reproached verbally at times is a horrible and a painful experience. Listen to old Archbishop Leighton commenting on this. If you be reproached, if we consider both the nature of the thing and the strain of the Scriptures, we shall find that reproaches are among the sharpest sort of sufferings and are indeed fiery trials. The tongue is afire, says James, and reproaches are the flashes of that fire.

14:34 - 15:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop in the midst of verbal reproach for Christ's name and affirm your identity as a 'blessed one' in God's eyes, under His covenant blessing.

Leighton's analogy of flies troubling a meal more by their number than by their weight is used to illustrate the constant, numerous nature of verbal reproaches.

And some things we suffer do as flies more trouble by their number than by their weight. You can picture the poor man trying to have a meal with a whole form of flies and he said they trouble us not by their weight but by their number. And likewise he says with the reproaches that come from the words of men when other persecutions cease yet these continue. When all other fires of martyrdom are put out these still burn.

16:14 - 16:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Imagine yourself isolated with God and His Word, recognizing that Peter's prohibition is addressed to each individual believer.

Martin uses the analogy of a preacher speaking face-to-face with an individual, isolating them from the crowd, to explain Peter's shift to singular pronouns in his prohibition.

And at this point, Peter says, For let not a one of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, an evildoer, or as a murderer, or a thief, an evildoer, or as a murderer, or as a murderer, or as a meddler in other men's matters. Peter has been speaking generically to the saints. And now it's as though he is saying, as a preacher may do at times, Look, I want every one of you to imagine the two of us are sitting across the table face-to-face. Nobody else here.

32:04 - 32:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that no sin like murder, theft, evildoing, or meddling is ever found among you, leading to suffering from civil authority or shame from others.

An analogy explaining how sin perverts human nature, making people desire socialization when they should be isolated with God, and self-centeredness when they should be communal.

When he brings this necessary prohibition, he is isolating every believer before this truth that he's about to bring them. And, you see, that's a crucial thing for us to know what it is. When we ought to be isolated with God and His Word and when we ought to be very conscious of our communal relationships. And you know what sin has done, it has so perverted us, then when we ought to be isolated and individualized, we want to be socialized and corporalized.

32:32 - 33:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Never be one who takes what does not legitimately belong to you, whether goods, materials, or time.

The example of a civil governor executing capital punishment is used to clarify that not all taking of human life is murder, as it can be God's hand of vengeance.

He bears not the sword in vain. When the civil governor exercises capital punishment upon a capital crime, he is not committing murder.

35:10 - 35:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Never be one who takes what does not legitimately belong to you, whether goods, materials, or time.

The example of a doctor removing an ectopic pregnancy to save the mother's life is used to illustrate that not all removal of a fetus is abortion, but an act of mercy.

He's being God's hand to execute vengeance this side of the day of judgment. When a doctor makes the pain of a painful decision that the ectopic present pregnancy of a woman, a pregnancy where a fetus begins to develop in a fallopian tube instead of in the womb, will take the life of that mother, it is not abortion to remove that fetus. It's an act of mercy to the living mother. So not all taking of human life is murder.

35:22 - 35:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Make sure that accusations of being an 'evildoer' have no ground in fact in your life.

A quote from a commentator suggesting that Christians' natural tendency to meddle might be intensified by a misapprehension of being 'light in the world,' leading to irritation rather than winning others.

Some suggest that this would not bring upon people civil punishment, therefore it must be the kind of meddling in other matters that would disrupt the stability of the political situation or people would be an irritant in society to such an extent that they might be punished. And that's all up for grabs. You can read the books as well as I did and get all these different opinions, but most likely he is speaking of a spirit of someone who is not content, as Paul says, to do his own business as he spoke to the Thessalonians, but was constantly prying into matters that were none of his concern. O...

38:55 - 39:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No real Christians would commit these sins, would they? Yes, not only would they, they have.

The example of Noah getting drunk and lying naked is used to illustrate that even righteous men can fall into grievous sins, supporting Peter's realism.

Peter knew his Old Testament. And he knew that his Old Testament contained the tragic record of the horrible sins of that man after God's own heart who murdered, who committed adultery. He knew his Old Testament and knew that Noah, the only righteous man who with his family is spared the frightening deluge when God sent rain down and broke up the fountains of the deep. He knew that Noah could get himself drunk and lie around his tent shamefully naked.

42:02 - 42:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No real Christians would commit these sins, would they? Yes, not only would they, they have.

The example of Righteous Lot committing incest with his daughters is used to illustrate that even righteous men can fall into grievous sins, supporting Peter's realism.

He knew that Lot, whom the New Testament calls Righteous Lot, would also be drunk and commit incest with his own daughters. Need I go on? Peter was a realist. He did not suddenly treat these people as though they weren't converted.

42:42 - 43:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not crack Christ's name into the dirt through careless living; let none of you suffer for sins that disgrace His name.

Martin recounts a recent conversation where someone excused unethical behavior by saying, 'But I'm not a Christian,' which he refutes by asserting God's universal moral law.

Different strokes for different folks. I'll give you my testimony. I believe the best way for me to commend the gospel and to be certain that all of my sufferings are for righteousness' sake is that I do not murder, and I do not indulge in theft, and I am not a meddler in other men's matters, but far be it from me to impose my standards upon you. I must respect your individuality.

44:38 - 45:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on glorifying God in Christ's name, citing Paul and Silas in Philippi and the apostles in Acts 5 as examples. He also shares the historical account of Polycarp's…

The story of Paul and Silas singing hymns and praises in prison at midnight is used as an example of glorifying God in suffering, leading to the jailer's conversion.

So he says, when you suffer as a Christian, don't be ashamed. Glorify God in this name. That's what Paul and Silas were doing in the prison at midnight. They're not plotting how to overturn the unjust imprisonment and how to get back the Roman leaders in that area in trouble for this unjust punishment and incarceration.

56:25 - 56:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on glorifying God in Christ's name, citing Paul and Silas in Philippi and the apostles in Acts 5 as examples. He also shares the historical account of Polycarp's…

The historical account of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, refusing to curse Christ after 86 years of service and praying as a 'rich and acceptable sacrifice' at his martyrdom, illustrates glorifying God in suffering.

And he says, this is what you are constantly to remember. Whatever suffering comes to you, no shame in that. But rather, glorify, magnify God that you are privileged to be found identified with the name of your blessed Lord. There's a wonderful touching story that comes to us from church history.

57:53 - 58:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin elaborates on glorifying God in Christ's name, citing Paul and Silas in Philippi and the apostles in Acts 5 as examples. He also shares the historical account of Polycarp's…

The example of young Covenanter girls being executed for Christ's sake, tied to a piling as the tide came in, is used to illustrate glorifying God in suffering.

How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? Tied to the stake, Polycarp prayed to be received by the Lord, quote, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice. And all around him, you see, saw this man glorifying God even in the midst of his martyrdom. When you've read some of the history of the Covenanters in Scotland, how even young girls were made bold to be executed for the sake of Christ, tied to a piling while the tide came in.

58:53 - 59:29 Read in full sermon