Be of Sound Mind, Sober Unto Prayers

Introduction to 1 Peter 4 and the Context of Suffering

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 17th, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together in our Bibles to 1 Peter and chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4.

0:30 Follow, please, as I read the first 11 verses of this chapter. 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4.

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6:26 1 Peter chapter 4. are and have in Christ, he tells them what they are to be and to do for Christ and in the strength

7:04 of Christ. However, here in chapter 3 and verse 13, there is an obvious transition in which the matter of suffering for Christ is indeed the point of focus. And in verses 13 to 22 of the third chapter, he gives us what I call suffering 101. He lays out some very basic perspectives relative to the subject of suffering for the sake of Christ. And he's not dealing with suffering

7:33 generically. Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. In this world you shall have tribulation. That's the broad stroke suffering that attends all of God's people. But he is

7:47 dealing specifically with suffering for real. Righteousness sake, the suffering that comes by as a result of our identification with Christ and our commitment to live out the implications of that union with Christ in a wicked world. Then in chapter 4 verses 1 to 6, we have but one imperative. Only one imperative is laid upon God's people, and that is the imperative to arm themselves with the might of God.

8:20 The mind of Christ. And Christ's mind was this. It is better to suffer than to sin. He says arm yourself with that mind, and in so doing, you demonstrate that sin's dominion has been broken.

8:37 You demonstrate that you have ceased from sin, and furthermore, you are living out the purpose for which God broke the dominion of sin in you, that whatever time is yet allotted to you should be lived not to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Now we come then in verse 7, while some of you I'm sure are saying, I wonder what he did with the gospel being preached to the dead. Well, I'm not going to tell you. The tapes are available if you want to hear. But seriously, it has been a

Summary of 1 Peter 4:7-11 and Contrast with Former Lifestyle

9:10 tremendous encouragement to me as I was intimidated with this and with the other naughty passage in chapter 3 about preaching to the spirits in prison to see how relevant the gospel is to the gospel. Peter's words are to suffering saints, and that in my judgment, the key to understanding those difficult passages is remembering that deep focused pastoral burden which Peter has in this section of the epistle. Now then, here in verse 7 through verse 11, Peter turns from this imperative to put on the mind of Christ to give some instruction to them about the kind of lives

9:51 they are to live in the midst of their sufferings, particularly as their life is lived in the fellowship of the saints of God. In other words, their biblical churchmanship is not to be disrupted because of the pressures and the exigencies of their suffering. And if I were to give a summary statement of these verses or a paraphrastic summary, it would be this. In the midst of their suffering, they are to live in the midst of their suffering, particularly as their suffering for righteousness' sake, armed with the mindset of Christ. They are to live in the light

10:29 of the coming of Christ, a life marked by spiritual sanity and sobriety issuing in prayerfulness, by mutual love manifested in the covering of sins, hospitality, and service in the fellowship of the church, and all of this to the glory of God. Or more succinctly, in the midst of suffering, armed with the mind of Christ, they are to live fruitful lives in the fellowship of the church of Christ, inspired by the hope of the second coming of Christ. And that's the distilled essence of what he sets before them. Now, as we stand on

11:13 the porch of this passage, I want you to see the amazing contrast which it presents. We saw last Lord's day. Peter describing the lifestyle apparently of not a few of these who comprise the people of God in those five provinces of Asia Minor. We would have no warrant to say what is written in verse three of chapter four was true of every single one of them, but surely it had to be true of many of them or Peter's words would have had no significance to them. So we can assume that many of them have

11:48 lived this kind of a lifestyle, unrestrained, debauchery, lust, soaked with wine, drinking parties, bacchanalian feasts. This was their lifestyle before the gospel came and transformed them. Now, in this paragraph, there is a marked contrast, and Dr. Clowney has captured that contrast beautifully. He writes, Peter presents

12:16 the positive side of the contrast in lifestyle. No longer drunken debauchery and license, but sober clear-headedness marks the Christian. Verse seven, the end of all things is at hand, be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer. In the room, instead of debauchery and license, clear-headedness, sobriety, love, not lust, fills his heart. Verse eight, having fervent love among

12:47 yourselves, no longer exploited lust, but self-giving, forgiving. Love. The Christian home is open for hospitality and not orgies. Verse nine, using hospitality.

13:01 We saw the social dimensions of two of those words that Peter uses to describe their former lifestyle. It was not mere licentiousness in secret, but in company with others, abandoned to their lusts and passions. In place of that, now hospitality, ministry replaces exploitation. Verses nine to 11.

13:24 The dissolute life of the pagan fails to recognize his accountability to the Lord in the day of judgment, a day that is fast approaching. This is exactly what the Christian does recognize and long for. The end of all things is near. Now then, as we come this morning to just take in hand verse seven, I want you to consider with me as I attempt to open up this, this portion of the word of God in your hearing. First of all, a simple assertion. The end of all

The Simple Assertion: The End of All Things Is At Hand

14:02 things is at hand. And then secondly, the central exhortation. Be therefore of a sound mind and be sober unto prayer. The text begins with that little particle death. And for you Greek students,

14:20 sometimes it has, as you know, an adversative sense. But here it is just a very nice, mild connective to let us know that what now is coming from the pen of Peter has a relationship with what preceded. Perhaps we could render it moreover, and then the simple assertion is made. Moreover, the end of all things is at hand.

14:48 Peter had just made reference to the fact that the Lord Jesus is the judge who, who stands ready to accomplish and fulfill the designated task of judging the world. Verse five, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead, having spoken then of these who are now dead, but while living had the gospel preached to them, who in men's estimation are nothing, but in God's estimation and in the realm of reality, have experienced. Redemptive grace that will be consummated at the coming of Christ. It was natural that Peter's

15:31 mind should go to this central truth of Christian faith, namely the coming of the Lord Jesus. And so he makes this simple assertion. The end of all things is at hand. Now, in making that assertion, Peter informs of two things. Number one,

15:53 there will be a new world. There will be a new world. There will be a new world. There will be a new world. There will be an end to all things as we now know them. And secondly, the end is near at

16:01 hand. Very simple, a simple assertion, nothing convoluted, nothing obscure. The end of all things is at hand. First, there will be an end to all things as we now know them, but it will not be an end that is mere cessation. It will be an end that is constant. It will be an end that is constant.

16:25 It will be an end that is constant. It will be an end that is constant. It will be an end that is consummation and completion. The very term that Peter uses for the end points to the end point as consummation. The difference between picking up a stick and saying, which end of the stick do

16:38 you want? Which terminus point do you want? End is not consummation. But if I say we came to the end of our journey, we had been traveling in a given direction over a specific period of time, and now the journey has been consummated.

16:55 Peter is asserting that there will be an end, an end in consummation, an end in completion. And we know this from many portions of the word of God. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, then comes the end. He says in 1 Corinthians 731, the fashion of this world is passing away. Human history as it had unfolded up

17:23 until A.D. 62 or 30, or perhaps the first part of A.D. 64, when Peter wrote this particular letter, that history had been

17:34 moving inevitably and inexorably to a consummation and to a completion. And from the time that Peter wrote this letter, as decades have merged into centuries and centuries into two, almost two millennia, history is still moving to its appointed consummation and its termination. History is not some mindless, cyclical unfolding of random events and

18:09 circumstances that has gone on for who knows how long and will go on for who knows how much longer, beginning nowhere, ending nowhere. That is not history, according to the Bible. Nor is history like a bunch of marbles dropped on the floor and randomly scattered all over the place. History, according to the Scriptures, has a definitive beginning, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. History moves from creation

18:44 to the tragedy of the fall and all the effects of that, that we were hearing about in the previous hour, and to the beginning of God's promises that He will do something in this mess that our sin has made. And over centuries, together, they have become Heros Guide to salvation for a new creation of trans na Servatesel Zacchaeus Aquilombion AKA Herod Tu Orbe images that tense and that is not上 until the end of the historical Era. Through the pass of the events, we have to get along with the old rules adapt to the new very아니 wat Bergoıld das Pas start��나 centuries God's promises unfold until they culminate in the coming of His Son. And when His Son has accomplished His work and gone back to the Father and sent His Spirit, He has informed us that all of history is moving towards the end. It's terminus. It's culmination.

19:18 It is moving inevitably and certainly to that point that Peter calls the end of all things. And furthermore, he not only affirms and asserts that an end is coming, but that the end is near at hand. But the end of all things is at hand. Three English words to translate one word out of the original. And that word and the form in which it's used

The Nearness of the End in Redemptive History

19:50 is what we might call standard terminology for God's mighty acts in the history of redemption. It's the word that in itself means to draw near. In a physical sense, Luke 22, 47, it's used in that way. In Matthew 26, 45, people drawing near to Christ. But this is the word

20:14 that was used when John the Baptist appears in the wilderness as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. And in Matthew 3 and verse 2, we read that John preaches and the great burden of his preaching is captured in these words. Matthew 3 and verse 2, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven, the rule and reign of God in grace and power is at hand. It is near. It has come into our

20:51 midst. And the kingdom of heaven was near in the person of the king. Jesus takes up the same theme in Mark 1. Mark 1.

21:00 It's almost an echo of the preaching of John himself. Jesus came preaching the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The end is near at hand. Now, was Peter mistaken? He penned these words

21:29 in the early 18th century. He said, repent and believe in the gospel. And the end is near at hand. Now, was Peter mistaken? He penned these words in the early 18th century.

21:30 1960s A.D. We are now in 1999 A.D. and the end has not yet come. Was Peter mistaken when he said

21:42 the end of all things is at hand? It has drawn near to us? Well, no. Because you see, God does not reckon time in the way we reckon time in terms of the things that we think are important and that we would make the watershed of what is near and what is far. God has established this

22:10 timeline in terms of his own gracious saving purposes in Jesus Christ. One of God's servants has written very helpfully on this point by saying, the end of all things is at hand, means that all the major events in God's plan of redemption have occurred and now all things are ready for Christ to return and rule. Rather than thinking of world history in terms of earthly kings and kingdoms, Peter thinks in terms of the history of redemption, redemptive history, the history of God's unfolding of his purposes and plan for the salvation of a people. From that

22:54 perspective, all things are at hand. God has already done that. God has already done that. God has already done that. God has already done that. God has already done that. God has already done that. And

22:55 all the previous acts in the drama of redemption have been completed. Creation, the fall, the calling of Abraham, the exodus out of Egypt, the establishment of the kingdom of Israel in the land, the exile into Babylon, the return from exile, the birth of the Lord Jesus in the fullness of the times, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, his resurrection, his ascension back to the right hand of the Father and the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit. Now the

23:32 last great act of the church age had been continuing for about 30 years at the time Peter wrote. Thus the curtain could fall on that drama of redemption at any time, ushering in the return of Christ and the end of the age. All things are ready. For the end of all things, the goal to which all these events have been leading, it is at hand.

24:05 It's terminology. It sounds strange to our ears, to many of us, I'm sure. But again, since Christ's first coming, there is nothing more to expect, nothing more to expect except his second coming to judgment. And this may occur at any time. The apostles had no revelation as to the date of it.

24:25 They were in the middle of the night. They were in the middle of the night. They were in the middle of the same position in which we are at this date. They spoke as we must now speak. None of us knows

24:33 but what we may live to see the end. We have the advantage of knowing that it's been delayed for centuries, but we know this not from scripture, but from history. To charge Paul or Peter with false prophecy for saying 1900 years ago that the end is near is to treat them unfairly. They, as we, had to live in constant, their expectation of the suddenness of the return of their Lord. Remember peter was the

25:05 one of those who had heard the Lord Jesus say, be he therefore ready, for in such an hour as you think not the son of man, you do not know the day nor the hour. Be, therefore, ready. They saw the Lord who spoke those words, ascend before the very eyes. The cloud enveloped Paul in a black world and look from this camp for levels in glory,非常 bring their heads together and sing these heavenly praises to Christ, the saviour biblical Perfect of all więcej etバイ, and the Son of man and the rest of the whole after all him out of sight and they could not forget the message of the two men who stood by them who said this saying jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've

25:46 seen him go into heaven and they could not forget those words they could not forget the sight of their ascending lord and so when peter writes to these people there in asia minor some 30 years after that sight that was stamped upon the eyeballs of his soul he says the end of all things is at hand the end of all things is at hand that's his simple assertion an assertion that brings us into contact with this fundamental truth of scripture that the next great event

The Central Exhortation: Be of a Sound Mind and Sober

26:28 in redemptive history is the coming of our lord you Jesus Christ now then he moves from this simple affirmation to what I'm calling his central exhortation and I call it his central exhortation for this reason there are two imperatives in verse 7 be of a sound mind and be sober those are the only imperatives everything else in the paragraph they are participles that hang on to those imperatives they bleed off

27:06 as it were some of the imperatival force and flavor but here are the central concerns of peter as he thinks of these saints in asia minor whom he is seeking to furnish with the stuff that will make the noble god glorifying sufferers for the sake of Christ he writes to them saying but the end is at hand the end of all things is at hand and in the light of that there are two things that you desperately need to do to get to the end of all things and that's the end of all things

27:36 that you desperately need to have and without which everything else I'm going to tell you will in some measure be impeded you must lay to heart these two imperatives what are they they are to be of a sound mind and they are to be sober for you greek students two aorist imperatives to underscore the urgency the strong decisive nature of this apostolic directive be of a sound mind what does that mean well let's look at a couple of passages where the

28:06 word is used and I think it's meaning will become very clear to us first of all mark chapter five here we have the incident of that gathering demoniac and you remember the picture that is drawn of him bound with fetters and chains he tears them asunder night and day in the tombs and in the mountains crying out cutting himself with stones he was a deranged madman filled with demons

28:40 the last thing he had was a sound mind but then the lord jesus comes cast out the demons sends them into the swine and in what condition do we find that demoniac after the lord jesus is delivered in verse fifteen and they come to jesus and behold him that was possessed with demons sitting clothed and in his here's our word in his right mind in his right what his mind perceives now accords with reality while the demons possessed him he was a deranged man

29:23 jesus delivers him and he's a man in his right mind acts twenty six twenty five remember the incident is before one of the great ones speaking to a gripper then to festus we've read in acts chapter twenty and first twenty five that's it made his defense fast is said well the low voice poll you're mad you're much learning you certainly you're mad paul you're out of your tree

30:05 you've been told he had books too long something snapped between you really respect fuel your mind to help us call respond the stalls that i am not mad most excellent status but speak for the words that John said about the under HPV disease but there are leads that sped into this interview without them personally of truth and here we have the word in its noun form and soberness what's coming out of my mouth is not the product of a mind that's had some of its wiring short-circuited and crossed what comes out of my mouth is the reflection of a well-ordered thoughtful sane mind that's the sense of our word one other text second Corinthians 513 apparently there are some who accused the Apostle

30:49 of being out of this tree because of his passion and his enthusiasm and in making his defense to the Corinthians he writes in 2nd Corinthians 513 whether we are beside ourselves if people are going to say as they look at our lives and as they follow the patterns of our labor and ministry someone's got to be crazy to do what he does he charges nothing for his preaching works day and night to support himself and others get stoned get thrown in jail and he goes on preaching the man's nuts he's crazy people can't compute what makes him thick and he says all right we'll give you your accusation who are beside ourselves it's unto God

31:30 or whether we are and what's the opposite of decide ourselves here's our word whether we are of a sober mind it is unto you whether you regard us as crazy or sane having a mind that is in touch with reality that's the imperative that Peter lays upon these brethren in the light of the fact that the end of all things is at hand therefore in the light of that reality bound up in that simple assertion the end of all things is at hand what are you to do you're to be of a

32:08 sound mind you are to think realistically about the reality that is there about God yourself others the world who you are what you live for live for you're to be of a sound mind and then the second imperative is you're to be sober and what does the word sober mean well it would be the word you would use to describe literal sobriety a man whose brain is not scrambled with alcohol but in the scriptures it is used as a metaphor as a picture of clear mindedness turn to first thessalonians chapter 5 for one such use

32:50 first thessalonians and chapter 5 verse 6 so then in the light of the second coming let us not sleep is to the rest but let us watch and here's our word be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night but let us since we are of the day here's our word again be sober putting on the breastplate of faith in love what happens when a Man is inebriated. The alcohol in his brain so affects his mental faculties that he's not coordinated. His speech may be slurred.

33:34 He may see pink elephants. He may have delusions about himself. You see the overlapping of the two words. Be of a sound mind, a mind that thinks as it ought to think, and be sober.

33:46 Be free from every form of spiritual drunkenness. Be stone-cold sober when it comes to the things of God. That's what he is saying. Not somber, not sulky, not joyless.

34:02 For he'd already described them in chapter 1 as a people who rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He's not saying be somber, be sour, be sulky, look like you're sucking on lemons. No, but he says be sober. Be of a sound mind and be sober.

The Relationship of Sound Mind and Sobriety to Prayer

34:20 Then note, having looked at the meaning of the two imperatives, the relationship of these imperatives to prayer.

34:28 Peter relates them, or relates one of them. That's what we'll have to try to sort out. The end of all things is at hand. Be therefore of a sound mind and be sober unto prayer.

34:42 Literally, into or unto prayers, plural. Sounds very rough and awkward in English, but that's the sense of the text. And here the translators find. The problem.

34:54 The New King James renders it. Be serious and watchful in your prayers. Applying seriousness and watchfulness to the prayers. The NIV does a similar thing.

35:04 Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. The two things, the two imperatives are related to prayer. The old American standard cordons off the first. But the end of all things is at hand.

35:19 Be therefore of a sound mind, comma, and. Be sober unto prayer. Are the two imperatives related directly to prayer? Or is the first imperative to be of a sound mind a generic description meant to apply to the totality of life?

35:38 And being sober has a peculiar reference to prayer. You see the problem in just switching a comma? Or am I just talking to myself? Do you see?

35:49 Now, which is it? Well, grammatically it could be either.

35:55 Well, which is it? I'm not sure. Well, what do you think it is? Well, trying to feel the way to the analogy of scripture, I'm satisfied in my own mind that though it's not heretical to consider both of the imperatives having specific reference to prayer, that what Peter is doing is giving this generic directive that has to do with the mental equilibrium of the child of God and is speaking in that first imperative about a general duty in the light of the fact that the child of God is a child of God.

36:27 That at the end of all things is at hand, be of a sound mind. Keep all of your spiritual wits about you. And even when people talk about His coming and begin to unfold strange thinking about His coming, or like the skeptics in 2 Peter who begin to mock at the thought of His coming, you keep a sound mind in the totality of your experience as people begin to speak ill of you, as you begin to feel increasing pressure in the area of suffering for righteousness' sake. Don't allow the pinching of your flesh.

37:06 Don't allow the battering of your spirit through social ostracization and maligning speech and all of that. Don't allow it to upset your spiritual mental equilibrium. Keep in touch with reality. Be of a sound mind.

37:22 And in a special way, be sober. Be utterly alert and awake to all of the privileges that are yours in conjunction with the great weapon God has given you in the midst of your suffering, the many ways in which you can pray and pour out your need and your helplessness before God. So Peter says, if we make them separate and don't include them as both bringing down the same pressure on the Word, prayers, that Peter is giving this injunction to these believers that they are to be in all circumstances

38:05 those who have a sound mind and those who are sober unto prayer.

Principle 1: The Dominant Place of the Second Coming

38:16 Now what are we to learn from this injunction of the apostle? What are we to learn from this simple assertion and then this central exhortation? Well, I want to underscore several what I think are vital principles. And the first is this, that we are to note the dominant place given to the fact of the second coming of Jesus in its influence upon every facet of Christian experience.

38:45 The dominant place given to the second coming of Jesus and its influence upon every facet of Christian experience. As we read through this, through the New Testament, we see that this fact, that the end of all things is at hand, that the second coming of our Lord Jesus is the next great epical event in redemptive history. That reality is brought to bear upon every facet of Christian life and experience. Here is Peter sits there at Rome and thinks of these believers way out there on the far reaches,

39:28 the reaches of the existing Roman Empire. And he's received some information that they're beginning to feel the pressure of opposition. He's convinced that more is yet to come and he's about to warn them. Don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial that is coming upon you.

39:45 He wants to motivate them. He wants to undergird and assist and help them to meet that suffering nobly to the glory of God. And what does he do? He says amidst the suffering, amidst the pressure, amidst the grief and pain that comes, remember this, God has broken in in the person of his Son.

40:07 And the next great event, you stand, you live, you work, you suffer on the edge of the end. And he said this is to be something that grips you and so grips you that you're determined that should the end come, you will not be found out of touch because of some sort of sin. Because of some spiritual derangement or because of some spiritual inebriation. Be sober therefore unto prayer.

40:39 Have all of your wits about you. Be of a sound mind. And I was struck in my preparation again going back over familiar verses with how many verses put this at the very ground level of Christian experience. When Paul is describing the fact of the conversion of the Thessalonians, how does he describe it?

41:04 They themselves report of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how that you turned to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God and what's the capstone of their conversion? And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. He said this was part of their conversion experience. When they turned to God from their idols to serve the living and the true God, from that moment on they were otherworldly in their perspective.

41:41 And to wait for his Son from heaven. Now, obviously according to the second letter some of them began to relate to that fact with something less than a sound mind. And they began to be idols. And apparently under the guise of being more prepared and super prepared, they were not working and fulfilling their God-given calling.

42:04 And Paul had to deal with that. They were considering the end with something less than a sound mind and biblical sobriety. But the vast majority of them were different. Paul could say we thank God when we think of your labor of love as well as your patience of hope before our Lord Jesus Christ.

42:24 Then that text that so often I read on a Sunday morning, perhaps a passage that I pray over more than any other on a Lord's day. Second Timothy chapter 4, 1 to 8. And when the apostle says, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me in that day and not to me only, but to all. And how is he going to describe all of his fellow believers?

42:52 All of the saints. He's known the full spectrum of what an odd bunch the saints are in his apostolic experience. He's now about to go home. And how does he describe those saints in the full spectrum of all of their diversity?

43:09 It's a crown laid up not only for me but for all those that what? Love his appearing. Would he describe you that way? I've had to ask myself, would he describe me as a man who loves the appearing of Jesus?

43:30 Not who merely confesses. He believes in the appearing. That the end of all things is at hand. That the next great event in the epoch of redemption will be the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the parting heavens, the coming Lord in power and glory.

43:48 Every eye seeing him. Not those who confess their belief in the coming. Or those who from time to time bring themselves up short and say, hey, life is not going on this way forever. There is a terminal point.

44:06 God has marked it out. He knows the day and the hour. But is there a deep abiding affection for the coming of the Lord Jesus? My heart is searched when I ask myself that question.

44:21 Is yours? Peter writes to these ordinary believers. And in seeking to furnish them with further weaponry and to clothe them with that which they need as they face their suffering. He said it is not enough to arm yourself with the same mind that Christ had.

44:40 That mindset, that disposition that says it is better to suffer than to sin. But remember in the midst of your suffering the end of all things is at hand. Be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer. The dominant place given to the fact of the second coming of Jesus and its influence upon every facet of Christian experience.

45:08 For some of you sitting here the answer to that question do you love the coming of Christ is obvious. It is the last thing in the world you would want to happen for Jesus Christ to come today. Of all the things you would rather have your finger crushed in a door leaving here. Have your car banged up and end up in the emergency room.

45:29 But Christ come that is the end. I have had it. No more sermons that set Christ before me in his dying love. No more pleadings.

45:39 No more entreaties. No more prayers for my salvation. When he comes the door is shut. Is that you?

45:57 I don't know when he is coming. I do not use this theme of scripture as a scare attack. It is the word of God. The end of all things is at hand.

46:06 And Peter dealing with this subject in his second epistle says for those who mock they forget God's reckoning of time is different from ours. The day of the Lord will come. And when it comes it will come with crushing judgment on those that know not him. But meanwhile he says account that the long suffering of God is salvation.

46:30 From one standpoint the question why has Jesus not come is easy to answer. From one standpoint it is easy to answer. Because God is long suffering. God is long suffering.

Principle 2: All Believers Pray

46:44 Long suffering. So we see the dominant place given to that fact. But secondly in this simple assertion and in the two imperatives that follow Peter assumes that all believers pray. It is interesting there is no exhortation to pray.

47:04 The imperatives are on the issue of having a sound mind and being sober unto prayers. Just as in chapter 3 he assumes that husbands will pray. And the thought that they might treat their wives in such a way as to hinder their prayers will scare them witless. He uses that as a pry into their consciences and as a pressure upon them.

47:32 He says do this that your prayers be not hindered. Assuming that all Christian men pray. Well here again he assumes that all of these Christians pray. No exhortation to pray.

47:45 We do have exhortations to pray in other parts of the word of God. We have exhortations to be watchful to pray. But here in this passage the assumption is that the Christian prays. Suppose I were to talk to you this morning about a graceless Christian.

48:04 You say you are using words that don't fit together. Every Christian has grace. By grace you have been saved. Suppose I were to speak of a Christless Christian.

48:14 You would say no such thing. If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. Romans 8, 9. A loveless Christian.

48:20 No such thing. If any man does not love he that loves not knows not God. 1 John 4, 8. Well in the same way that you cannot have a graceless Christian a Christless Christian a loveless Christian you cannot have an utterly prayerless Christian.

48:33 If God has graciously worked in your heart and drawn you to faith in his Son and put the spirit of adoption within you that spirit moves us to cry Abba Father. All the proof Ananias needs to know that Saul of Tarsus is no longer the angry enemy of the church is the word. Behold he is praying. He is not saying prayers not mouthing prayers he is praying.

49:03 Ananias says fine Lord I will go. I will go. He is praying. He is praying.

49:08 Are there times when the spirit of prayer is restrained in us? Yes. Are there times when as we heard in the previous hour our remaining sin so operates in us that prayer is dull and the desire to pray is almost extinguished? Yes.

49:25 Each of us knows if we walk with God for a matter of weeks or months that is a sad reality. But we are never at home in that state. And we are never at home and true to what we are as new men and women in Christ until once again the throne of grace is an open welcome place to us. And Peter is assuming that when after affirming that the end of all things is near he says you are to be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer.

Principle 3: Prayer's Centrality in Suffering

49:59 And further note in Peter's theology how central is prayer to a biblical perspective on suffering. Remember the setting is Peter arming these people to suffer. He is going to pick up the theme in a concentrated way again in verse 12. Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you that comes upon you to prove you inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings.

50:28 He hasn't forgotten his pastoral track. He is right on track. And he is saying to these believers in the midst of your suffering your great recourse is the throne of grace. Keep sanity of mind.

50:42 Keep sobriety of spirit unto prayers all kinds of prayer private prayer family prayer social prayer prayer with the people of God formal structured prayer or declaratory prayer be sober unto prayer. Be sober unto prayer. Prayers. Prayers.

51:01 Prayers. This is your great recourse in the midst of your suffering. James echoes this when he says is any among you suffering? Let him grouse.

51:12 Let him find some others to commiserate with him. No, he says let him pray. Let him pray. Let him pray.

Principle 4: Vertical Responsibility Precedes Horizontal Duties

51:18 And then I would ask you to note that as Peter is about to lay before them the duties that pertain primarily to the horizontal level the duties they owe to their fellow believers in the context of the church in a setting of suffering before he addresses the responsibilities they have one to another having fervent love among themselves using hospitality ministering their gifts among themselves matters of a horizontal nature in the context of the life and fellowship of the church he begins with a vertical responsibility.

52:02 Peter knows that it is this that gives life and grace and power and usefulness to all of the others. Peter does not plunge right in and say but in the midst of the sufferings do this to one another. No, the end of all things is at hand. Be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer.

52:28 And I praise that God will write upon my heart afresh and upon your heart afresh this very simple directive from the apostle. It sounds so elementary doesn't it? But some of you have walked with God for many years will affirm with me that at the end of the day your present state of vigor or non-vigor in grace is a matter of the basics that you confronted in the first few months of being a Christian. Are you going to pray?

53:02 Are you going to read your Bible? Are you going to confess your sins? Are you going to keep short accounts with God and short accounts with men? You've never grown beyond that have you?

53:12 And no matter how much you've learned or no matter how much you've grown fail in one of those basics and everything else comes to a grinding halt. At the end of the day it's no big secret folks. What is it that this day is in any way keeping your mind from being a sound mind? Keeping you from having a sober mind?

53:40 What is it that is intoxicating your spiritual brain? Whatever it is go take it to a place called Calvary and deal with it ruthless deal with it honest or if you don't you cut the nerve of prayer and you are vulnerable at every point in your Christian experience. May God grant that we will lay to heart this word that comes to us sitting here today perhaps our suffering is very minimal but sooner or later that suffering will increase. I'm personally persuaded if God does not visit this nation

Call to Lay to Heart the Basics and Prepare for Increased Suffering

54:23 with an unusual visitation of grace and power we will move from being a marginalized people to a people clearly identified and assaulted in many ways and we will need to have stored up in our hearts this biblical perspective in the midst of suffering. The end of all things is at hand and when he comes and we experience his vindication we will say it has been worth it all when we see Christ. Let us pray. Our Father we do thank you for your word.

Closing Prayer and Benediction

55:08 We thank you that you have given us this record of what we are to be to do and to think as the people of God and we pray that you would take this portion of your word and write it upon all of our hearts. We pray for those who sitting here this morning would be filled with the deepest grief and woe were the Lord Jesus to come this day. We ask oh Holy Father that you would be gracious to deal with them in grace and in mercy and draw them to yourself. We pray for us who are your people.

55:48 Lord forgive us that we have not loved his appearing as we ought that we have allowed so many things to put at a distance in our minds eye and in our affections and in our prayers and in our living we have not loved his appearing as we ought. Oh God forgive us and help us ever to reflect on this blessed reality that the end of all things is at hand. Hear us we plead in Jesus name Amen. We would make

56:23 that final prayer

61:41 recorded in your word our corporate prayer this morning even so come Lord Jesus Amen.