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Bibleline Bibleline, they are God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Look there is first Peter, the book of first Peter. I told you I was going to speak on the subject, sin or suffer. So what in the world do you mean? Well, in our so journey through this life, as a child of God, we remember that we are pilgrims upon the earth. means that we’re away from home, strangers, but we’re going home. So we’re strangers and pilgrims in this life. But while we’re here in the process of time, you will choose as a Christian to do one of two things.

You will choose to sin or suffer for it, to sin or to suffer. When someone does you wrong, you can either sin against them or you can suffer by doing right. But if you do right, you have a price to pay. So when everything that happens to us after we trusted Christ as our Savior, you’re making choices either to sin or to suffer. So Christ gives us something to look at. The Bible says that He was an example of what it’s like to suffer.

But there’s a reason and there’s a way that He thinks and God tells us to think the same way. Look there in 1 Peter chapter 4 and look in verse 1. He makes a statement for as much than His Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. Arm yourselves, likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. You will either suffer or sin. And Christ is the example of what it’s like to suffer because he did not sin.

And because of the example that he set forth, you and I have a multitude of decisions to make as we live our life. And the reason that it’s so difficult sometimes, suffering doesn’t sound very enjoyable. And sin is so easy. Did you realize how easy it is to sin? To be rebellious, to fight for your right sin is so easy look there in chapter one first Peter chapter one after you have trusted Christ is your Savior the Bible says that you were saved from something to something in verse four to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not a way reserved in heaven for you So you know that once you trust the Lord, you have a place reserved for you in heaven.

And there’s nothing that can happen to it. You can’t lose it. It’s guaranteed. It’s your inheritance because of who you are, your child of God. That’s where you’re going. The problem, you’re not there yet. And then He makes a statement there in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God. You didn’t have the power to save yourself. You don’t have the power to keep yourself safe, but it does make this statement in verse 6 We’re in ye greatly rejoice You’re glad that you know you’re going to heaven and you know that you’re glad that the Lord is The one that’s keeping you safe And keeping you safe and that the Lord is going to take you there, it’s guaranteed.

That’s a wonderful thing to know. So he says, you are greatly rejoiced because of that truth. But he says in verse 6, if need be, he says ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now, being tempted to sin in this life and wanting to do right is a blessing. difficult thing to go through. It’s hard. It’s very trying. It’s very stressful. And some Christians are able to withstand temptations. Some Christians cannot. Temptation doesn’t have to be only with sex.

It can be with money. It can be with power, fame, with glory, praise. There’s many things that can catch your eye and and cause you to be tempted. He makes the statement in the book of 1 John that says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world and the love of the Father is not in him. And he mentions several things there that give proof that you love the world and not the Lord.

And he says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, those three things are the things that prove that you love the world more than you love God. So you have to watch the lust of the flesh, you wanna fulfill those desires, the lust of the eyes. Gotta fight that temptation. And now he says the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, then the quite a life. Those positions of honor and so forth, the big eye, ego, macho, me.

me. I’m the greatest. The world revolves around me. And God says, pride lifts up and destroys. And destruction is the result of being lifted up with pride. Then He makes a statement here, you are in heaven is through manifold temptation. It’s not just one, but you get a lot of them. kinds. And then he says in verse 7, that the trial of your faith, not does God know what temptations do to people? Yes, he does. The Bible says he was tempted in all points like as we, but yet without sin.

Christ never sinned. But you and I, we still have an old sinful nature and it’s so easy for us to be led astray. He says, but this, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than a goal that perishes, though it would be tried with fire might be found under praise, honor, and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ. In other words, suffer now, praise, honor, and glory later. That’s choice. By suffer now, praise, honor, and glory later.

Get the sequence. Suffer first. Just like work. Do they pay you before you work? Generally they want to work before they pay you. You You have to suffer and end the glory. God says, you work now, I’ll pay you later. So we work believing that. Trusting God. Well, can you trust God? I think so. Now, look there in verse 11. Verse 11 of chapter 1. Talking about the Old Testament saints, they studied the scriptures. God used them to write the scriptures.

many of them never understood what they wrote. And so they would not only write them as God told them what to write, then they sit down and studied, searched the scriptures to find it. What does it mean? So in verse 11, says, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand and get these two statements, the sufferings of Christ, glory that should follow. So first of all, Christ came and he suffered, the next time he comes back, power and great glory.

You and I should understand the sequence. You and I, while we’re here, we will suffer and later glory. But if you choose to sin now, no glory, praise, honor later. But if you will choose to suffer, what somebody does to you or the things in the world and suffer, O Lord, God will reward you for what you’ve done. The sequence is so important, but many people get sidetracked. They don’t really understand how things work. I preached a sermon years ago and I titled it because I heard it from a guy and it was called, it was from R.

G. Lee. It was payday Sunday, payday Sunday. Anybody ever heard of the sermon? It’s an oral sermon. I copied it. I used it. Oh, it was good. Payday Sunday. And you go through the old testimony showing how that God says, paid days coming and payday came and he warned payday’s coming for the good for the bad but payday’s coming but here in 1 Peter he talks about the sequence of the suffering and then tells us down here in verse 14 as obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the formal lust in your ignorance when you didn’t know right and you let the desires of the flesh control you.

He says I don’t want that anymore. He says you need to understand verse 15 but as he which hath called you is holy, be holy in all manner of conversation or that may it word mean in your manner of behavior. Is it God’s will that you be holy? Live a holy life. That’s the will of God. Whatever it is wherever you are you’re supposed to be a holy individual. There’s no age limit on it. It doesn’t matter how young you are, how old you are, you’re to be holy.

That means you live a holy life. That means you’ve got to guard the way you think, the things that you say and do. And in the process, not everybody has that hope in the Lord. And because they don’t in this world, somebody is going to do you wrong. You’re going to do you in. Say things that hurt. What is the natural tendency if you’re hurt is to hurt back. If you sin because of that, you chose not to suffer the wrong, you’re going to make it right.

And God says you didn’t choose to suffer, you chose to sin. And the Bible says Christ was our example that when people wrong you suffer for it. You are not going to live in this life making everything right because things in life are just not fair and it’s not going to be. And so as you go down through here looking verse 16, be holy for I am holy. This is what God says that He wants us to do. Now look there in first Peter chapter 2.

First Peter chapter 2, looking verse 21. For even here unto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who did no sin. The reason you didn’t do the sin is because you chose to suffer the consequences. You don’t mind suffering for the Lord here and being wronged and defrauded and let people do what they do if you believe that God will make it right. But see if you don’t really believe God’s gonna make it right, what are gonna be your Tennessee, you’re going to try to make it right.

And then that’s why you sin. Have you ever noticed here’s a man, here’s a wife argument. Why? Because if one of them does wrong, the other one has a tendency to want to make it right. And God’s Word says some things in here that is very revealing, but it’s to help us to understand that you can either choose in this life to suffer or to sin. If you suffer, fobelord, he’s going to reward you. If you choose to sin, he’s going to have to chase in you.

Know which one you want. There’s troubles in this life. If you suffer, you’re not going to be happy. If you sin, you’re not to be happy. So you have to have the joy knowing that if I suffer, I am going to be taken care of by the Lord and He’ll make it right. But Christ says, the sufferings of Christ, the glory that should follow, that follows. Then He makes a statement in Romans in chapter 8 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be here after.

So whatever it is you suffer from the Lord. It’s going to be worth the glory. It’s going to be so much better over here for whatever you went through. But can you trust God? Can you believe that? This is what makes the difference in a person’s testimony. If you react exactly like the world reacts, then what difference will you make? This is why chapter three, and we’ll look at just a minute, is so important for people to understand the basis of all life.

this because you are going to suffer. Now let me show you this first off. Look in verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judgeeth right to the reason that Jesus Christ didn’t have to fight back the sin against anybody is because he had committed this problem to God, His heavenly Father, trusted that. He was totally dependent upon the Father, taking care of Him. And therefore He didn’t have to sin.

He never yielded any sin. And He says that He is an example. Are people going to wrong you? Even you were going to wrong you. You will lie to yourself. You will deceive yourself. And people will also do the same thing and you will do it to other people. But there’s evil in this world. And you have a sinful nature. Now I want you to take your Bible look there in 1 Peter and chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4.

Look now in verse 2. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men but to the will of God. You have a choice. You can live the rest of your life either to the lust of men or to the will of God. So which one? Choices that you have to make. To have a difference, to make a difference. Now chapter 3, chapter 3. Then He makes a statement here in verse 18, for Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust.

Here you are and you are the person that’s trying to do what’s right. You’re the just. Someone is trying to do something to you that’s unjust. Christ says the just suffers because of them and for them. So will you allow somebody else to wrong you without sinning back against them? That’s the game. You see, God will not stop people from wrong mean you. He doesn’t do that. God doesn’t stop that. You are not to retaliate. Have you ever watched anybody, whether it’s Raxlyn or whatever in life and football, it’s the guy who sometimes retaliates, he gets always caught and he gets kicked out of the game because he was, well, he hit me first.

And how many times a boys and girls brothers and sisters got into a fight, he started it. it sometimes doesn’t matter who started it. It’s usually the second guy that retaliates, he gets caught and gets in trouble. Just use the experiences of life. It’s true. But God says, you and God’s the one that’s overseeing this one. He is the righteous judge. Christ committed all of this and the wrong of him. He committed to God, to the one that judges righteously and can trust that.

You and I have problem with that because we are not sure if God’s really gonna step in and take care of things. So we’re willing to take you have no idea. When I was young and I had I was just 18 I trusted Christ in my Savior. How easy it was for me. I’d want to just death. I didn’t care if I lost or not. Didn’t matter. I would fight. Leon remembers the day that I got in a fight with a guy that was twice as big as me.

When I got my nose broke. I don’t know if you were there that night, but he wasn’t supposed to come into the meeting. But anyway, I was 17 and a half or something like that, and in a word, this guy was one big mean dude. He just got out of a chain game and working on a rock pile and he was one big massive man. But we would fight. When I was in school, I thought just about all the time you said, I fight.

I never started a fight, but I was always in them. Did you always win? No, I never won all the fights. I got beat up bad. But we fought. Always fight him. But that’s not the way God intended us to solve our problems. Now, he makes a statement here that just for the unjust and get the reason. Why did he do it? that he might bring us to God. He did it that he might bring us to God. Okay, now here you are.

Somebody wrongs you. Did you know if you wrong them back, it’s very hard to witness to them isn’t it? Isn’t it very difficult to give them a heaven track and tell them how much God loves them after you just chew them out and hit them or whatever they custom out. You can’t do it. Or if you give your waitress a big bad time, it’s hard to leave them a track. It’s better to try to figure out a way how can I be used by God to bring this person to God.

Am I willing to suffer the consequences? Even if they say something, they’re trying to get me right up, make me mad, whatever you do. But remember, people don’t make you mad. You choose to get mad mad is that’s a choice We just don’t like it when we lose control of ourselves or someone gets the best of us It’s always you did this you made me mad You chose to get mad just like there was a problem up there. I just heard it on the news last night I guess it was really ugly and turned bad and I Guess a neo-Nazis was up there and the next thing you know some gang came out of you know It doesn’t matter what the first one is.

You can’t recaliate this way again. Now, what if everybody had applied the Christian method? The Lord’s way. Well, one or two things. One that wouldn’t have been those skinheads doing what they were doing. And then the other, they wouldn’t have been doing what they were doing. But people because they do not control the flesh. Next thing you know, anger controlled and it doesn’t matter. Think of those stones at the place. Just try to destroy our emergency vehicle and all the things that they do.

And then rob and then you know break into buildings and all that. What’s that got to do with them? What’s all that for? And yet they do it all over the world. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are. People respond pretty good because you got an old sinful nature. People are pretty much the same way. And that’s the the shambish because they have no control. And they don’t believe what this book is teaching. They don’t believe that there’s a righteous judge that one day will take care of everything.

Now, does that mean that nobody should ever protect themselves? No, I’m not a pacifist. I believe very strongly in protecting myself. And I’ll preach on that at another time, maybe like Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. And you need to get both sides of the coin. because he made this statement, I am the just suffering for the unjust that I might bring them to God. Now look there in chapter 3 verse 1, now he’s talking about likewise ye wise.

See that? Look in verse 7, likewise ye husbands. And then In chapter 5 and verse 5 it says likewise, you’re younger. The first time he started off with Christ. Likewise, Christ when he suffered. So we have something that’s really good for us as an example of why we should choose to suffer rather than to sin. If your husband do you wrong, should you do him wrong back? The wife do you wrong? Should you do that person wrong back? Choose to sin or you choose to suffer.

It’s a choice. But if you’ll suffer the damage, the hurt and commit it to God, then don’t send back. So the Bible says be angry and send not because there’s many times you can get angry because of what somebody does it so wrong, but make sure you don’t use that as justification to sin against the person. You see, regardless of what say the neo-Nazi was doing of that, it’s not justification for somebody else to do wrong. Wrong is still wrong.

And too wrong they say don’t make a right, then it doesn’t. Likewise, he says, you wived. Now get the point here. He says, you wived, be in subjection to your own husbands. And the reason is because in the marriage situation, whether we lack it or we don’t like it, let me just take the facts. There’s a war almost all the time going on between the battle of minds. It would be great if everybody was just super-duper Christians and totally submission and all that.

But it doesn’t work that away because we have two individuals that comes together and mom and dad are not perfect. Never use mom and dad in their false is justification for your own. But a husband and a wife, there’s there’s complications at times, disagreements at times. And the Bible tells us there’s something here that the wife can do to reach the husband if she’s willing to suffer. Down in verse 7 it talks about the husband and there’s things that he must be willing to suffer because marriage causes a lot of suffering.

They say when you get married there’s three rings, the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering. So there’s things that are going to happen in marriages as time goes on. The honeymoon does not last forever. But because of the testimony that is so important for a married family, a Christian home to hell, it’s important that each one understand how to deal with the conflict. How do you solve the problem? You can either choose to suffer or you can choose to sin.

We can’t go back into all the past. You can’t correct everything has ever been done. Sometimes you have to just, look, let’s just forgive everything, let’s just start over, Christ can go from here, whatever. But every person somewhere along the line in most homes sooner or later will have the difficulty and must make decisions. Even sometimes and the most sweetest godliness of homes, things are not always at their appear to be. Because many times nobody wants anybody else to know if they’re having a problem.

Generally a woman will seek counseling where the man will deny that he even needs it or that he didn’t have the problem. That’s just the nature of the beast because that’s the way men are. The wife wants to know directions and the man I’ll find it sooner or later because he don’t like to give up and to give in and admit he don’t know where he is. I’m not lost the world is. I know where I am nobody else knows where they are.

But notice what he says in verse 1, likewise you wise be in subjection to your own husband that if any obey not the word you have a husband that doesn’t obey the word and I have lived long enough and had churches long enough and seen people on us that know that many times it is the woman that’s trying to get the family to do right that tries to get the kids and tries to get her husband and many times I’ve seen where the the wife sometimes will come and the husband never does never takes the stand that he should and it’s hard and it’s difficult to form them trying to do what’s right and they’re They’re fighting like a losing battle and they can’t make them.

So what can they do? So they suffer sometimes consequences. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area. by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our homepage. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryuptampa.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and everyday, believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.