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Amen. Can I get that, brother? Thanks. Taking my Bible, man. Come on. Just kidding. 1 Peter chapter number 4, and we'll begin reading verse number 1. It says, For as much then as Christ had suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. For he that had suffered in the flesh had ceased from sin, that he no longer shall live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Now, I hope you noticed that as we study the book of 1 Peter, you'll notice one of the most common themes that keeps coming up over and over again is suffering. So you could, obviously it covers a variety of different topics and doctrines. We have him talking about marriage. We have him talking about knowing the flood. We have him talking about that we are God's chosen people. He kind of hits every single topic there, but mainly throughout every single chapter we see this concept of suffering coming up over and over and over and over again. Now this is not something that many churches want to talk about. They don't want to talk about suffering. They don't want to talk about persecution. They don't want to talk about afflictions. Why? Because it rubs people the wrong way. People like to have it easy in this life. They want to have their pie and eat it too. They want to be able to have Christ and be a Christian, but not suffer the consequences of actually following the word of God, preaching the Bible, and preaching and believing the doctrines that the Bible holds to. They want to have it both ways, whereas the Bible specifically tells us that yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So you know what that tells me? If you're not suffering persecution throughout your entire Christian life, it goes to show that you're not living a godly life. Or you're judging me. Well no, actually the Bible is judging us. It's saying yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So this is how he rolls into this. In verse 1 he talks about Jesus Christ suffering in the flesh. We talked about that last week. And he says there, for as much then as Christ had suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. Now I find that interesting because he's basically saying that in order to endure afflictions, in order to endure suffering, do you need to be buff? You got to make sure you're lifting weights. Hey, I'm not against lifting weights. I know we got guys here. The guys who lift weights, they're giving me that look. I'm not saying don't lift weights. Look, I'm not even saying don't do mixed martial arts. That stuff is profitable, amen. But what I'm saying here is that in order to endure afflictions and sufferings, the Bible says we need to arm ourselves with the same mind. Why? Because consider him who has suffered such contradictions of sinners against himself lest he be wearied in fate in your minds, the Bible says. Because at the end of the day, where do you faint? At the end of the day, where do you give up first? In your mind. And here it says that we see the example of Christ suffering in the flesh. He endured the cross, despising the shame, the Bible says. And the Bible tells us, looking at that example, we should arm ourselves with that same mind. For he, now it's talking to the Christian, he that had suffered in the flesh had ceased from sin that he no longer should live in the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Now, look at, you're in chapter four, look at chapter three, verse 18. Just get some context here. It says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now, we talked about last week that when Jesus Christ died, he did not go to a place called Abraham's bosom to preach the gospel unto spirits that were in Abraham's bosom. And this is not what it's saying. This is stating that he preached unto unsafe people by the Spirit. Why? Because in order for us to preach the gospel, we've got to preach it by the Spirit. The Bible tells us that the flesh profited nothing. It is the Spirit that quickened it. My words, they are spirit and they are life. Therefore, we need the Spirit of God. That's why when you go sowing, you know, when you go knock on doors before you do anything, go with your group and you pray. Say, God, please fill us with your power. Please fill us with your spirit. Confess your sins. Not out loud. Okay. Lord, I just want to confess, you know, the things I did today and then you're just telling everyone, you know, you don't want to put your dirty laundry out there. You know, confess them thus within yourself. Get right with God. Ask him to fill you with the Spirit. Why? Because it's by his Spirit that we're going to preach it to the spirits in prison. We have a prison ministry? No, it's the spirits who are in prison by sin. Okay. People who are bound by sin, they're bound by the wages of sin, which is death. These people are what the Bible refers to as being in prison. All right. Now it says, it goes on to say verse 20, which sometime were disobedient when once the suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing were in few that his eight souls were saved by water. So we see that just as in our day, there were people who were disobedient to the gospel. Okay. They weren't believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in like manner in the days of Noah. There were people like that too. There were disobedient, so on and so forth. And I don't want to reiterate my sermon from, from last week. Now go to chapter four. And so that's what he's referring to in the context there. And I want you to notice the latter end of verse number one. It says for he that had suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now I believe this is referring to Christians. I obviously it's not referring to Jesus Christ because to cease from sin would mean that you were committing sin and we know that Jesus Christ cannot sin. But here's the thing. Now here in lies the perplexity of, well, can a Christian cease from sinning? Okay. And there are religions out there that'll teach you that in order to be saved, you have to repent of your sins. Okay. And in fact, I even, we even talked to someone today and I said, what do you have to do to be saved? They're like, well, there's a lot of concepts out there, this young guy. And he says, I've heard that you've had to repent or something with an R you're like repent. He's like, yeah, repent of your sin. You know, and you know, there's a lot of people that teach that. Now I believe that Christians should repent of their sins. Christians, basically people who are already saved, we should be repenting of our sin on a daily basis. Okay. But a person who's not saved, the person who does not have salvation, they're not justified. Okay. They don't have the Holy Spirit of God living within them. They don't have to repent of their sin to be saved. Why is that? Because the Bible tells us that we even have secret sins that we don't even know about. So how do you turn from your sin if there's even sins that you don't even know about? You know, the Bible tells us that the sin is the transgression of the law. That means this Bible is filled with tons of laws. And if you've never read the Bible cover to cover, there's things that you're doing that are displeasing God that are sinful that you'd even know that you're doing. It's impossible to turn from all that because you don't even know some of the things that you're doing are sinful or actually sinful. So what is it saying then? Because it says, for he that suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Now go with me if you went to first John chapter three, I'm gonna read to you from Matthew 16 verse 24. Because remember, we're talking about suffering, okay? And someone obviously you can you can look at this and see that someone who suffers for Christ's sake, as we mentioned before, is living godly in Christ Jesus. They're bringing the suffering upon themselves based upon their conversation, their conduct, because they're living a righteous life. And the byproduct of living a righteous life of walking in the Spirit is that you will have persecution in your life. People will not like you, they will revile you, they will persecute you, they will rail on you, they will slander you, they will speak all manner of evil against you. Why? Because you're living godly in Christ Jesus. So this person who is suffering in the flesh has ceased from sin. What does that mean? Well I'm gonna read to you from Matthew 16 verse 24. It says, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Let's couple that with Galatians 5 24 and it says, And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now this is a deep truth that I'm about to explain and it's a truth that people have a hard time understanding is that as a Christian when we're saved, when we walk in the Spirit, the Bible will often refer to us as us ceasing from sin. Now that's not referring to the fact that our flesh is ceasing from sin. Why is it? Because our flesh is corrupt, we're gonna continue to sin. If we say we have no sin, we'll make him a liar. But when we are walking in the Spirit, we're behaving as children of God. That's why, by the way, when we get saved, we're children of God. But the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, Come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you. You shall be sons and daughters unto me and I will be a father unto you. Well we understand that God is our Heavenly Father when we get saved. What is he referring to? He's referring to the fact that we're behaving as children of God. Now look at 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 is one of the most out of context scriptures that are taken out of context. People teach a lot of false doctrine. You have the lordship salvation crowd that teaches this. Look at verse number 2 says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purified himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committed sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Now verse 6 says if we abide in Christ, we sin not. Now is that referring to our flesh? No. This is referring to the fact that our spirit is not sinning. Okay. Look what it goes, I'm going to prove it to you further. Look what it says, verse number 7. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. Now how is that? Because the Bible tells us that there's none righteous, no not one. The Bible says that our righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. Look what it goes on to say, verse 8. He that committed sin is of the devil, for the devil's sin is from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now here's something very clear, okay. When a person trusts Christ as their savior, when they believe on Jesus Christ, the part that is born again is not your flesh. It is your spirit. That is the aspect of your being that is born again, not your flesh. And the Bible clearly tells us it's not our flesh because it still tells us in Romans chapter 8 that we're waiting to with the redemption of our body. A synonym for redemption is salvation. A synonym for redemption is salvation, justification. We're still waiting for that justification of our flesh. And any person in this room, if you're honest with yourself, you would understand, hey I struggle with sin all the time. You know, I may be able to overcome one sin, but as soon as I overcome one sin, I got another sin I'm struggling with. You know why? Because we are in the flesh. Now is the Bible lying to us? Is God lying to us? No, we just need to understand what is born of God. It's our body, or excuse me, sorry. It's our spirit. I misspoke, sorry. You know, it's our spirit that is born of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, the Bible says. And see, here's the thing is, you know, if once you got saved you just never desired to sin, then you don't even need to read the Bible. Because the Bible's filled with commandments. God telling you, thou shall, and he's also saying, thou shall not. Well guess what, if you came, if you got saved and just batteries were included, you just did not desire to sin at all, you don't have to worry about reading the Bible, you got it down pat, buddy. But you know why the Bible tells us all kinds of commandments? Because we have to, by our own volition, choose to obey God. We have to choose not to sin in this area. We have to choose to obey God in this area. It comes by our own volition. That's why the Bible says, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. It's telling us that there's a constant battle, and any person who sins here would understand, hey, there's always a battle raging within me. Who wins? The one you feed the most. You know, if you want to be a strong Christian, not always giving in to the desires of the flesh, what do you have to do? Read the Bible, pray, confess your sins, live a godly life, obey the word of God, and as you're walking in the spirit, you're doing these things. You know, the Bible says to sing hymns. You know, in order to be filled with the spirit, you're to speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto the Lord. You know, you can't be spirit filled if you're singing rap songs. Oh, you know, but yeah, but what? Rap songs are fleshly. You know, you can't be spirit filled if you're listening to, you know, Banda. I know some of you out there still struggle with that, okay? Marcos, I'm looking at you, man. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. You know, you can't be spirit filled with those things. Because the Bible says in order to be spirit filled, they have to be spiritual songs. So if there's a spiritual song, that means there's also a carnal song. Things that would feed your flesh. You know what that does? That weakens you. Therefore, when you're confronted with temptation, that's why you give in because you're always feeding the flesh, okay? Now let's, so notice that it states that he that cannot sin is born of God. The soul is that which is born of God. Now go to chapter one. Now a lot of like lordship salvation people, they like to use chapter three, and they always quote that. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, does not commit sin. For he is born of God, does not commit sin, does not commit sin. And it's just like, well, did you read chapter one? You know, look at chapter one, verse number six. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, you know, another word, another way of saying that is, hey, I don't commit sin. Right? I don't do any sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive God? No, we deceive ourselves because God knows the truth. He sees the sins that you're doing. He sees that you're, you're acting like an idiot by saying that you don't sin. You're deceiving yourself. Self deception. We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. What does that mean? You're a liar because any person with any common sense understands that we're all sinners. There's none righteous. No, not one. There's no, as it is written, there's none that do with good. No, not one for all have sin and come short of the glory of God. There's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin it not. It doesn't exist until we, we were raptured or until we die and go to heaven. Okay. Verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now what is verse nine telling us? It's basically alluding to the fact that we're going to sin every single day. If not, why would he say he is faithful and just to be faithful in a matter is to do it consistently. So why would he say that he needs to be faithful if he only does it once? Well, because he knows we're going to keep sinning. Therefore, if we keep sinning and we keep confessing our sins, he's going to continually on a constant basis faithfully forgive us of our sins, the sins of the flesh. Now when we sin, it's the flesh that's sinning, not the spirit because the spirit is born of God. It cannot commit sin. And a lot of people get these things, these two things mixed up. They have a hard time separating the flesh from the spirit, you know, and not understanding that one is saved, one is without sin and the other is not. I don't know man because you know sometimes, you know, I sin with my mind. Yeah, but at that point the Bible says that that's your flesh that's sinning. You know, we got to use the biblical definitions and the biblical applications and understand that when we sin, even when we think wrong thoughts, we say something that comes out of our mouth. The Bible considers that as that being flesh, the sin of the flesh, okay. Let me prove that to you. Go to Romans chapter number seven. Romans chapter number seven. So ceasing from sin is synonymous with being in the spirit, okay. But this does not mean that our bodies are no longer corrupt or can no longer sin. They're going to continue to sin until the day of redemption. Look at Romans chapter seven verse 14. Now look, Paul the apostle wrote Galatians. He wrote Ephesians. He's the one teaching us all these doctrines in regards to sin and walking in the spirit. Yet he's the one who says in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. So even he himself is saying, I am carnal, which flies in the face of Calvinism, amen, who claims that there is no such thing as a carnal man. Well, you got a problem there, buddy, because Paul the apostle said, I am carnal. Verse 15, for that which I do, I allow not. Now look, if you're to be honest with yourself too, you would understand that when you read this, you're like, man, I feel like I'm the one who wrote this. I go through this all the time. Now this is a tongue twister, but when you read it, it's just like, it should resonate with your soul because we all struggle with this. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that it in me, that is in my spirit, no, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. So what is he explaining from verse 15 to verse 18? He's explaining the battle that people will always face, safe people will always face this side of eternity. That which I want to do, I don't do. And that which I hate to do, I am to do it. But when I do that which I should not do, that which I hate, it's sin that dwells in me. And that sin that dwells in my flesh, okay. He's given the distinction here. Look at verse number, what verse are we on? 19. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now the inward man is synonymous with the Spirit. It's the Spirit that desires to read the Bible. It's your lazy bottom that does not. I just want to read through the Bible. It's just like, man, I just, yeah, I'm just going to sit here and watch television. I'm just going to sit here and do something else, you know. That's the war, right. And then what happens, you feel guilty like, man, I should have just read my Bible, you know. I should have just memorized scripture. I should have just done this. Well, that's the war that he's explaining here. For you, he says, verse 22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members. Members is referring to the body. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now go to chapter 8, look at verse number 5. Pretty clear there. He's explaining the fact that the war, the constant battle that takes place between the flesh and the spirit. And he's explaining to us here that the flesh desires to do that which is contrary to the spirit. So when you desire the law of God, when you're reading the Bible, that confirms you're in the spirit. You see, we're not at church saying like, you know, are you in the spirit? You know, I don't know if you're in the spirit, man, you know, you're kind of angry there. We can't judge that, right? You can judge that. If you're reading the Bible and you're delighting, you can say, hey, I'm walking in the spirit. Hey, when you're singing the hymns, we're singing Psalm 139, amen? A Psalm straight out of the Bible. And you're just rejoicing in your spirit. What is that? You're actually in the spirit right there. You know, when you're preaching the gospel and your heart is tender, you want to see that person saved. You're giving that person the gospel. You know what that is? You being in the spirit. And then when you get them saved, you walk away and you have that rejoicing in your heart like, man, I'm so glad that person got saved. You know, or how about this? They don't get saved and you walk away brokenhearted. You're in the spirit. You know, the times you're in the flesh is when you just really don't care. You just do the opposite of those things. Okay. Or how about this? You're just, you know, with your family, teaching them the word of God, you're fellowshiping with your brethren, just the normal mundane things of life. Hey, you're in the spirit when you're doing those things in the world. You're in the spirit. And look at Romans 8 verse 5 says, for they that are after the flesh do not mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So the Bible tells us that our flesh, our mind can't be subject to the law of God. Verse 8, so that they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. And the Buddha says, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Skip down to verse number 12. Therefore, brethren, we are deaders not to the flesh, but to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the spirit do more find the needs of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So you see that there? What did I explain earlier? How if we're walking in the spirit, we're like the sons of God at that point. Just like in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. And that works in 10, well verse 14 says, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage against the mirror, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry out upon it. The spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, then we may also be glorified together. So that goes to our point in chapter number 4, 1 Peter of suffering. So you see how he says there, for as much, go back to 1 Peter chapter 4, for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for indeed he that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. It's not referring that you just are sinless. Because it's impossible to be sinless this side of eternity other than your actual spirit. Verse 2, that he no longer shall live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. So someone is walking in the spirit, what are they doing? They're living unto the will of God. That's the simplest way you can put that. Verse 3, for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walk the lasciviousness, lusts, talk about sexual sins, excess of wine, revelings, banquets, what is that? Partying with all the beer, the debontary, the music, the things that feed the flesh, and abominable idolatries wherein they think it's strange that you run out with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you. Now what's the practical teaching here? Well if you've been saved for any length of time, you probably have to receive some persecution from your own family. Because you're trying to live in holiness, trying to do that which is right inside of the Lord. And we'll have people get mad at you for that. What do you mean you're going to church on Sunday? You just live at church, you're in a cult! All you do is go to church, all you do is sony, you guys are a cult, you're the new IFB, that's even worse! That's an even bigger cult, you Andersonites and all this stuff. But why do they say these things to us? Because we're not running with them to the same excess of lasciviousness, lusts, we're not involved in the excess of wine, we're not hungover on Sunday morning, we're not drinking on Saturday night. What are you doing on Saturday night? I'm like preparing for Sunday. I'm ironing my clothes, oh you're boring. Yeah but you know what, at least I'm going to have to have a bottle of Clamato on Sunday morning to try to get over my hangover. At least I'm not waking up in a pile of vomit. At least I'm not waking up wondering what happened last night. The only thing I have to wonder about is where are my socks at? For church, what time am I going to wear? Sarah! This is the print of work, I got to print out my sermon. So these people think that we're weird. Oh you don't go to parties? You don't go dance? You don't go do this? No is that weird to you? Yeah we think it's strange. Well yeah but you know what because we're not going according to the will of the Gentiles, we're living according to the will of God. Now that's not to say that there aren't Christians out there who still do those things because there are still Christians who do these things and they're still saved obviously but what does this tell us? This tells us that they're not living to the will of God, they're living to the will of the Gentiles. They're still doing those things that are displeasing them to the Lord and that's a sermon for another day. But people who we used to do those things with will speak evil of us. Right? You know like, oh you're too good and they always want to throw in your old sins in your face right? Remember when you used to do this? I'm like how long ago was that? It was like 15 years ago, 20 years ago? And you're still talking about that? Like am I doing that now? You know? But this is the way the world works. These are the pawns unfortunately of Satan who try to come and rub that in your face to discourage you. Try to make you think that it's funner to live out in the world than to be in the house of God. It's garbage to be out in the world. You know the world is filled with sorrow, it's filled with sin, fornication and adultery will give you STDs, potential of AIDS, you'll go bankrupt, you'll meet people who are disloyal to you. There's no joy out in the world. There's no joy in having friends out in the world. You think they're having fun? They're trying to display as though they're having fun. They're heartbroken. They're not having a good time. You know what's a good time? A good time is evenings at Faithful World Baptist Church, hearing some good preaching and then fellowshipping with the brethren afterwards. Talking about the Bible, talking about whatever, having a good time with the brethren, that's a good time. And then going to arts or something, you know? Arts, right? Going to some restaurant, hanging out with the brethren, eating together, fellowshipping with them together, going home at night and you know what? Laying your head on your pillow knowing that you have a clear conscience, that you did nothing wrong. People don't live with the clear conscience. They wake up in the morning just regretting the decisions they made the night before. Not us. You know, we have a good time at church. You know? We have a good time with the brethren and they speak evil of us for these things, but hey, so be it. Look at verse 5. By the way, they're strange. You're weird. That's strange. You think having fun is like smoking pot? You're strange. Smoking pot makes you stupid. I don't want to be stupid. I want to have every single brain cell in my brain. You know? I want to be able to use this noggin to make great decisions. I don't want to smoke like a chimney where my breath stinks, my clothes smell like marijuana and I'm just a bumbling idiot, can't get a job because I'm too dumb. That's strange. You know, we need to make sure that we never glorify that and think, oh man, it's just the onions and the garlic and the leeks. You know, as the children of Israel used to do, it's just like, dude, it was horrible back in Egypt. What are you talking about? You were like enslaved. Okay? The rabbit trail has ended, right? Verse 5, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Now, verse number 5, or excuse me, verse number 6. I believe that this is in a direct reference to Noah's day. So we see chapter number 3 and off talking about Noah, right? How Noah's family was saved by water. And it talks about how baptism does also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but of a good answer of a conscience toward God by the resurrection from the dead, referring to Jesus Christ. And we explained last week how the baptism there is not referring to our baptism. It's referring to the baptism of Jesus Christ, the fact that he died for us, okay? Because it reiterates the fact that he resurrected from the dead. Now, you say, why do you say that verse 6 is talking about Noah's flood? Well, I believe that this is a strong proof to show the people God saved during Noah's flood, or before Noah's flood came. The Bible tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. That doesn't just mean that he was preaching the Bible, he was preaching the gospel. I mean, he has a hundred years as he's building to preach. So as he's building the ark, he's preaching the word of God, he's preaching the gospel, the same gospel that we have today, he's preaching unto them. And you know what? The Bible tells us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, the Greek. So that tells me that even though it might have been, there's some areas back in Noah's day that were unreceptive, I guarantee you there's a lot of people who got saved during that time. Now, why was the world destroyed back in Noah's day? Because of wickedness, of violence, these things, it was destroyed. But that's not to say that people did not get saved. And I believe that to be so because it says that, for for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead. That's referring to people who were dead in their trespasses and sin. And then it says that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. So the people back in Noah's day, they were judged according to men in the flesh. How? They died in the flood. But you know what it says? But live according to God in the spirit. So even though they perished in the flood, they lived according to God in the spirit because they got saved. Okay. Now, let me see here. Go to Matthew chapter 24. And you will sometimes when you read first Peter, you'll you'll see certain references or you'll look at certain verses and it's almost like he's talking about end times at times. Okay. And we'll look at some of those verses in a little bit. But look at Matthew 24. Matthew 24 is a great scripture, great chapter to to explain to us the order of events of end times Bible prophecy, specifically that which surrounds the rapture. Okay. And look at verse 37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Now, keep in mind that we just read in first Peter chapter four to not live according to the will of the Gentiles in revelings, banquetings, you know, these things that we see here in Noah's day. So it wasn't just violence that was taking place. What were people preoccupied with? Eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And the Bible tells us also in Luke that they were destroyed. Okay. So we can see that there. Now, go with me if you would to first Peter, or no, go to Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter number two. So this is strong evidence to prove that there were safe people who died in the flood. But this is also showing us because when we think of Noah's day, we think of a lot of wickedness taking place. I mean, God flooded the entire, he drowned everyone. That is major judgment right there. Okay. But what do we see God allowing Noah to do? Preach for 100 years. So what does that tell us? That tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So what also does that tell us? Well, that tells us that when a place is wicked, when a place is filled with darkness, when a place is filled with sin, what is needed? A soul winning Baptist church. Amen. That's going to be there to not only preach the counsel of God, but also to preach the gospel unto them. Because the fact that a city is just, you know, wrecked by sin should show us, hey, that place needs the gospel. You know, I'm thinking of Watts right now. Okay. These guys have been going to a place called Nickerson Gardens. If you know anything about Nickerson Gardens, it's a project. It's very bad. It's very, very bad. Okay. It's a pretty bad area at night. So the people are going to, we're going there for the soul winning marathon. Yeah. Be strong in the Lord and the power is mighty, man. And you know, people rather just not go there. Churches rather not go to areas like that. People don't like to go to areas like Omani. This is so ghetto, you know, so dangerous. Yeah. Well, you know what? The darker the night, the brighter the light. If there's a city that is ghetto, that's perfect for us. Because the people there need the gospel. That we need to get people saved. Those people are often the people who are the most open to the gospel. You go to some of these ritzy, rich areas. I'm not saying they don't need the gospel, but they're often the most unreceptive people. You know what I mean? Like you go to the real nice areas, which maybe some of you have gone, maybe North Omani or something, I don't know. You know, these areas where there's like really nice houses, I'm not saying all of them, but on average, they're pretty unreceptive. How many of you agree with that? Okay. Yeah, it's pretty unreceptive. But you know what? You go around the church, you go around some of these areas where they have these banquetings and revelings, lasciviousness and lust and all these things, you know, drinking and all that. They're often pretty receptive to the gospel. So you shouldn't be afraid of people like that. Oh, but he's all tattered in the face. You know, he's probably the one who's more likely to get saved though. And we need to recognize that when we go soul winning, we need to look past what they look like and look into the depths of their soul and recognize that they are the spirits in prison is what they are. You know, we need to have the love of God to recognize this person needs to get saved, you know, and we love them. We want them to be saved. We don't want them to go to hell. You know what? And thank God that they're in a situation like this to soften their hearts, to prepare them to be saved. Amen. So we see that there. Look at Philippians chapter two. It says here, verse 14, Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. We see that again, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. So when we're in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we can shine. Okay. Now, you know, there are those of you who look, you look at the map, all that blue shaded areas, areas that the doors, every single door in that blue shaded area has been knocked. And we've seen a lot of people saved throughout the throughout this time. I don't know the total. The last time I checked was in December is 2000 souls, over 2000 souls that we've seen saved. That was in December. November, December is when we last checked. I need to check again and announce it on Sunday. How many people have gotten saved? You know, and the red areas, the areas that we are redoing on Thursdays, you know, because people move, they leave and new people move in. In fact, the first week we started redoing the area again, I said, you know, people move, they come back and then what do we do? We run into someone who's like, yeah, I just moved here and they ended up getting saved. You know, and people walking up and down. We had Mark, right, who met Mark on Sunday, walked right here. It was like, what time does church start? And we're like, starts at 1030, but more important than the times, a hundred percent sure you died today. He got saved, came to church, got baptized, went soul winning with brother of the highest group, you know. That goes to show you the importance of a local New Testament, independent, fundamental, soul winning, hellfire and damnation preaching church, you know, because it's dark here. It's dark, you know, and that's not to say we don't go to the nice areas because everyone needs the gospel, but we just understand that, you know, typically those who have less are often the most receptive. Go back to 1 Peter. You know, we want these people to come to church when they get saved too. Amen. And look, part of our growth as soul winners is when we see them saved, we try to get them into church. When we get them saved, get them baptized. I'm not saying you baptize them, but bring them to church to get baptized. You know, people shy away from asking, hey, he had not because he asked not. You know, when I talked to Mark on Sunday, I said, look, the Bible says you need to get baptized now, okay, like right now. He was just like, he was like, I already got baptized. I was like, well, according to the Bible, if you got baptized before salvation, you know, you just got wet, you know, and I gave him some verses and I said, so after the service, I'm going to baptize you. And he was like, all right. He got baptized. You know, thank God for that. Don't shy away from that. You know, don't worry. Hike didn't get offended. Get out of here. Yeah, that's right. Don't let the door hit you where the Lord split you. So, you know, we need to ask as soon as someone gets saved, you know, what if they say no, then I mean, you've never heard no before. It's not the end of the world if they say no. Someone gets saved, say, hey, according to the Bible, now that you're saved, you should get baptized. And you know, wherever you're at, say, in fact, you could get baptized right now. Get on the phone with me and say, hey, brother, I got someone who wants to get baptized. We'll head down there, we'll fill it up, warm it up, you know, and get them baptized. Okay. Get them into church. You know, because here's the thing, if they don't come to church, if they don't start growing in the knowledge of the word of God, they're going to be judged according to men in the flesh. And they'll still be saved, amen. They'll go to heaven, but they're going to suffer the consequences of their sin. We want people to come here, come as you are, but don't stay as you are. You know, the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of sunder of soul and spirits, joints in the marrow, is a discernment of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. When you hear the word of God, it provokes you to change. You hear it at heart preaching, it causes you to change. And we want people to change for the better. So when a person comes to church, you know, we want them to come to church, not to fill this place up, but so they can get right with God. They can clean up their lives, they can get some new friends, they can start soul winning, and they can now fulfill the responsibility and do that which someone did for them, which is go out and give the gospel. It's important to go out of there and get people saved, but we now have to start shifting our mentality to recognize, hey, let's start bringing people to church. And look, with that being said, this Easter, we want to break record on Easter. All right, what do we have there? 120 what? 121.1. I'm just kidding. 121. Okay. Now, I don't think that's a fair measure of the attendance of our church because 121 was for the Sony Mega-Marathon for Compton, and that's when like Tempe brought like 60 people. Now, thank God for that, amen. But I want to break record without that. And this is how you're going to do it. Each one, invite one person. Amen. You know, invite your family, invite your friends. Amen. You know, don't worry, I'm not going to preach on sodomites on that day, okay? My brother right here, are you going to preach on the reprobates? No, I won't be preaching on the reprobates. Maybe Sunday night. No, I'm just kidding. You know, we'll go old IFB on that day. No, I'm just kidding. You know, Sunday morning is always like the visitor friendly sermon, you know? It'll be good, don't worry. Trust me, just trust me, right? Invite a friend, you know? And we need to start inviting our friends, we need to start inviting those who we went to the Lord to church after salvation, obviously. Most important thing is salvation. Amen. You've got to get them saved. Because what you don't want is just come to church and they're not even saved. Because what's going to happen? Because then, brother me, he's going to preach on reprobates and then they're really going to hate it. He's going to preach on sodomites and they're really going to hate it. Why? Because they don't have the Spirit of God living within them. Whereas if you have the Spirit of God living within them, I've never had a person who was saved in our church when I ripped on the sodomites for them to get up and just like, I don't agree. They'll just say, I've talked to people after the service and they're like, I learned something new today. You know? Because you know, at the end of the day, they have the Spirit of God living within them, they're looking at the scriptures, they know that it's true. Amen. Okay? I chased another rabbit. But what I'm saying is this, is that we need to get them in church so they're not judged according to men in the flesh. We don't want the judgment of God to come upon their lives, you know, because of their sin. What about you? You know, thank God that you got in church. Thank God that you cleaned up your life. Thank God that, you know, things are going well with you. We should desire the same for those who get saved. Not everyone's going to come, but we could at least make the effort. Look at verse seven. But the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watching to prayer. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. All right, now let me park it here for just a bit. Because I've heard this used, verse eight, to say, you know, this is why people tolerate sin in church. You know, people are involved in fornication, they're involved in drunkenness or whatever. And obviously, you know, like the old IFB, they don't kick anybody out of church. You can have a drunker there for like, for years on end, someone who's involved in full blown adultery, someone who's just getting divorced or whatever, and they just don't do anything with that person. Okay. And often they'll say, well, you know, charity covers a multitude of sins, you know. So they take that as, you know, if you love them, you're not going to just expose them before everyone, you know. And here's the thing, the Bible never contradicts itself. So if we have a scripture, clear scripture, like 1 Corinthians chapter number five, that explains to us how to excommunicate someone out of the church, then we need to make sense of what verse eight says and understand that verse eight does not mean just tolerate sin. Because there's sins that the Bible tells us not to tolerate in the church. Okay. And if you think that's weird, then you don't understand how the world works. I'm talking about the world. Because the world's businesses have standards. Even certain businesses, what did it say? No shirt, no shoes, no service. Even they have requirements. You know, everyone has requirements. All of a sudden when it comes to the house of God, there's no requirements. No, in fact, he has the highest standard. Okay. So people take this as an instruction to hide sin in the church, tolerate it, but that's not what it's saying at all. Let's compare scripture with scripture. Go to James chapter number five. James chapter number five, if you wouldn't. So keep in mind says, have fervent charity. What is charity? Just another word for love. Right. And the Bible says that we should be fervent in charity. What does that mean? We should have a fiery love. You know, check your love life, your love for people, right? Have fervent love. That doesn't mean like just go on and hug all over your brethren and stuff like that. I love you, man. But we're going to look at what that means right now. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. How is that? Look at James five verse 19. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. I believe this is referring to a safe person who's converting another safe person, converting them from what? From their wicked ways. In other words, you're going to that person and saying, Hey, if you continue in this, your life is going to be destroyed. God's judgment is going to come upon your life. Hey, if you keep drinking alcohol, you're going to get cirrhosis of the liver. You're going to die from that. If you keep drinking up, if you keep fornicating, you're going to get an STD. You may contract AIDS one day. You're going to destroy your life. And if you're in church, if you can, if you do that sin, you're going to get kicked out. And the Bible says that you're going to be delivered for the destruction of the flesh, delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That's not very loving. I think that's very loving. And you cover the multitude of sins by helping that person to repent of their sin. Because look, what if, you know, your buddy is going to commit fornication when some person you know has AIDS and you're like, well, I don't want to judge that person. If that's what he wants to do, that's what he wants to do. Why don't you go and say, Hey, just want to let you know that person has AIDS. Don't do that. You're going to, you're going to destroy your life. You're going to kill yourself. That's what love would do. Love warns. Love tells the person, Hey, there's cancer. There's a disease. Fix it. So you don't die. So judgment doesn't come upon your life. And this is what charity does. Charity is love that is willing to confront. You know what the opposite of that is? It's tolerating sin. You know what that shows me that you don't love that person at all. When a pastor permits divorce, adultery, fornications, railings, thefts, idolatries, all these things in the church because he doesn't want to judge the people. That's none of my business. That goes to show me you don't have fervent charity for that person. That goes to show me that you don't love your people enough at all. Because let me ask you something, pastor, are your children involved in adultery? No. Are your children involved in fornication? No. Are your children involved in drunkenness? No. Why? Because I love them and I tell them not to do those things. So what does that say about you and the church? So if you're willing to teach your children and your family that because you love them, you don't want them to destroy their lives. What does that say about you and your relationship with your church? It shows that you do not have fervent charity for your people. I rather preach the Bible and tell you that this is what the Bible says and risk offending you than risk hating you. I rather exercise fervent charity in hopes that you would repent and get it right. That's what fervent charity means. That's how you cover the multitude of sins. Why? Because the person gets right. And he that confesses and forsaketh his way, you know, the Bible says shall obtain mercy. Okay. Go back to 1 Peter chapter 4. We're basically done. So it says above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Now look, that's not to say that there should be no Baptist police in here, you know, trying to like, you know, hey, are you in sin? Are you in fornication? Are you in drunkenness? That's not ever the attitude or spirit that we ever want to have in our church. And we don't have that. Okay. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. All right. Everyone is given the benefit of the doubt until it's clearly seen that they're guilty. Okay. Look at verse 9. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. In other words, don't complain, right? As every man hath received the gift even so ministered the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. In other words, when we talk to one another, you know, sports or politics or other things shouldn't be the main focal point of our conversation. What should be the main focal point? The oracles of God, the Bible. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now, later on we see in verse 15 all the way to the end, he reiterates this matter of the concept of trials. We're not going to go through that, hash that out because I've taught a lot about that already. But I want you to notice, let's read here. Let's see. Look at verse 16 and I'll finish with this. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? And what I believe this is referring to when it talks about the righteous scarcely being saved, I don't mean like, I don't believe this means like, oh, you know, you know, people who are saved that they keep living a good life, you know, they're barely saved. They barely make it to the finish line just saved. When it says the righteous scarcely be saved, I believe that's referring to the fact that judgment is coming upon them not from God but from the world. Because verse 17 says for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And the verse prior to that says, yet if any man suffer as a Christian. So who's the one who's inflicting the judgment? It's those who are persecuting Christians. So judgment must begin at the house of God. We're going to suffer judgment, persecution. But then it says, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey the gospel of God? So in other words, God's going to repay those who persecuted us is what he's talking about there. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? So we won't get into the rest of it here. I have other notes, but we're out of time. So what is the theme again of chapter number four? Suffering is the main theme. He just dabbles in suffering. He talks about more about suffering. But the main thing that we see here is the fact that we need to make sure that we have fervent charity towards brethren, but also have fervent charity towards just lost people. We should never lose our love for the lost. Our love for the lost should not be something that fizzles out within the next couple of years. Our church, Lord willing, will be called First Works Baptist Church. And the reason it's being called First Works Baptist Church is because of the fact that we want to focus on those first works. Not the only thing that we focus on. We need to focus on rearing our children right, having a godly marriage, learning authority, being good employees, you know, living a holy life, Bible prophecy. There's so much that needs to be focused on. But at the end of the day, we come together to disperse and go give the gospel, to go complete those first works. And in order to do that, we can't lose our love for people. We need to continue to love people, want to see them saved. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And I pray, God, that you would continue to help us to have that fervent charity as we walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. And Lord, as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I pray you continue to help us to do so and continue to use our church. We're so thankful for all the hundreds and hundreds of souls that have been saved since our church has started. And it's not the effort of one man. It's not me. It's the effort, joint effort of a group of people who have made it their goal to walk in the Spirit, to go preach the gospel by the Spirit. And I pray that, Lord, within the next couple of years that we've continued to expand out, not build a bigger building, not get nicer things, not just try to glorify, become a museum of Christians, but rather a training center to teach people how to preach the gospel to go out there and see people saved and build a strong foundation, Lord. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to do so. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.