today. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3. I was hoping to get to the end
of the chapter, chapter 3, but we're going to have to see this
one verse. We're going to spend quite a bit of time on this one
verse. So if we don't make it to the end of the chapter, that's
okay. We can we can continue next week. Let's
go, Lord, in prayer and ask His blessing again on the services.
Heavenly Father, again, we thank Thee for this time together,
and what a blessed privilege it is for we who are Your people
to gather together and to look at Your Scriptures, Lord, and
to see You, Lord Jesus, all through the Old Testament and the New,
and how this book just testifies of Thee. And we marvel at Your
grace and mercy towards we who are sinners. I pray you be glorified
and magnified today in Jesus' name. Amen. 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll be looking
at verses 18 to 22. The name of the message is, The
Just One Dying for the Unjust. The Just One Dying for the Unjust. And we'll see that in verse 18,
but let's read the context of the verse. So we'll read from
verses 18 to 22. 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, which
sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure,
whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. who has gone
into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. So, let us again remember
that this wonderful book is written to God's suffering saints. They're
going through quite a few things and they're being persecuted
for their faith. Last week we looked at verses 15 to 17 of
this chapter, and we were exhorted as the body of Christ to be always
ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Always
be ready. Always be ready to tell the great
things that the Lord has done for you, and that's all that
means. Just tell on people when they ask questions about who
Christ is, when they ask questions about your faith in Christ. Just be ready to give an answer
for the great things that He's done. He's redeemed my soul.
He saved my soul. He saved me from all my sins. I'm justified before God. It's
not a hard thing to do. It really isn't, especially for
we who are God's blood-bought people. And pray that the Lord
will give you the words to speak when those opportunities and
those doors open up for us. And our only hope is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we who are his blood-bought
born-again people, again, should always be ready to give an answer
to those who ask us about our Savior and ask us about what
he's done for us. And that's really the heart of
what we believe, isn't it? What Christ has done for us,
our great substitute dying in our place. And know this, beloved
of God, if and when you're under persecution, and I say if and
when because every believer goes through some form of persecution
at various times of their lives. Just remember this, the Lord's
ever watching over you. He's ever with you. He'll never
leave you nor forsake you. He's ordained this to occur.
He's ordained this to occur. and he will deliver you. And
I can look back in my life, and I know that you who are his blood-bought
people, you can look back in your life and you can see times
when you think, how did I make it through that? How did I do
that? How? Dear sister wrote me yesterday
and said, how do unsaved people go through this? How do they
deal with things? Mickey and I have often talked
about that. I know for we who are God's blood brought people,
we who are the elect of God, he's ever watching us even before
we're saved. And he carries us through the
things, the various things in our lives. But have you ever
wondered that? How do people go through the things that come
up in life without Christ? Well, they turn to various things,
don't they? Some turn to drugs, some turn to alcohol, some turn
to all different things. But we who are God's people,
we turn to Christ, we look to Him. Today we'll look at verse
18, and then we'll finish up this chapter. Now, I want us
to think upon this. Peter, the apostle, is writing
this letter to the saints who are scattered, and we know from
chapter 1, in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
And I was looking these places up in my studies this week, and
this is in the area of what would be modern-day Turkey. modern
day Turkey, right above Syria. And the church in Cappadocia
was started by those Jews who were present in the day of Pentecost.
Do you know that the Cappadocian Jews were present at the day
of Pentecost? Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. A lot of commentators believe
that those Cappadocian Jews who were born again and trusted Christ
became followers of the Way, as it was called back then. It
was called the Way very early on, and took the message of Christ
back to their homeland, perhaps spreading the word in their own
synagogues. Look at Acts chapter 2. And forgive me if I mispronounce
some of these names. Acts chapter 2 verses 1 to 13. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And
there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as fire, and it
sat And it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance. Now we know that tongues in the
book of Acts is known languages in the Greek. It's not some unknown
language that no one can interpret. It's a known language. It's a
known language. And we'll see that here in this
text. And this is speaking of the apostles, and they were drawing
at Jerusalem devout men out of every nation under heaven. So
it was Pentecost. So the Jews, of course, assemble
at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. They come from various places.
And when this was noised abroad, The multitude came together and
were confounded because that every man heard them speak in
his own language. There, right there, there's a
verse for if anyone says that tongues is an unknown language,
you just take them right there. It's a known language. And even
the Greek word is defined as known language. It's a known
language. And they were all amazed and
marveled, saying one to another, behold, are these which speak
Galileans? Now, here we, every man in our
own tongue, wherein we were born. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites,
and the Dwarves in Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia. Oh, there's the Cappadocians. In Pontus, in Asia, Pergia, and
Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in all the parts of Libya, about Cyrene,
and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes. Cretes and Arabians,
we do hear them speak in our tongues, the wonderful works
of God. And they were all amazed and
were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others,
mocking, said, these men are full of wine. So with that, let's
consider verse 18, knowing that there were some from Cappadocia
who were present on the day of Pentecost. And they may have been some who Peter
was writing to, who were born again by the Spirit of God. Look
at verse 18. For Christ also hath 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.
Now, Peter the Apostle is writing this wonderful book. In the memory
of his Lord's passion, our Lord's passion, but his personal Lord's
passion too, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ must have been
particularly precious to him. particularly precious to him
because when he thought of the Lord's death, he would be reminded
of the wonderful forgiveness that he had in Christ. Remember,
he denied the Lord three times. So when he thought about the
Lord's death, oh, what forgiveness he would think of. When we think of the Lord's death,
oh, what forgiveness we think of. All my sins are forgiven. So
the gospel for Peter was precious. And as he pondered God's grace
to him in Christ and the pardoning favor that he had received in
and through Christ, after denying him three times, oh, oh my, his
soul would be lifted so high. Oh, he'd be rejoicing, wouldn't
he? He knew firsthand that the Lord had suffered for his sins. So do we, don't we, who are His
blood-bought people. But He knew, didn't He? He knew
the great forgiveness He had received. He knew the Lord had
suffered for the sins of all the elect. And this would be
on His mind as He wrote these words here, for Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Now remember,
He personally knew the Lord. We look to him, don't we? But
he saw him. He knew him. He saw the great
miracles that the Lord had done. Again, he had tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Now, we haven't seen the Lord,
but we believe in him. But we have tasted that the Lord
is gracious, too. But keep this in mind. I think
it's important for us to keep those things in mind. that he personally saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. So he's writing this. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. And
so when he's writing this, he knows that he is the unjust.
He's part of that number. That he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
So consider what we have here before us in this verse. We see
the fact of Christ suffering for his people. The fact of it,
the fact of it. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.
The fact of the suffering of Christ is right here before us.
Christ died for his people and in dying he suffered in their
place. He suffered in their place as their substitute on Calvary's
cross. And we know that Christ's death
and suffering was vicarious, which means that he, the innocent
one, died on behalf of the guilty. That's called vicarious suffering.
And we see that pictured in the book of Leviticus. Turn, if you
would, to Leviticus chapter 16. We have such a clear picture,
such a clear picture in Leviticus 16. We're starting verse 5. Oh, what a clear picture we see
of the innocent dying for the guilty. Aaron shall bring the bullock
of the sin offering, verse 11, which is for himself, and shall
make an atonement for himself and for his house, and shall
kill the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself. And he
shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two
kids of the goats for a sin offering, one ram, and one ram for a burnt
offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullocks
of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement
for himself and for his house. And he shall take the two goats
and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle.
So both these goats, now Aaron has no idea which one's gonna
be the scapegoat and which one's gonna be the offering. He has
no idea. So therefore, both of these lambs,
must be absolutely perfect and spotless, because they picture
Christ, beloved. They picture Christ dying in
our place, the spotless Lamb of God, and they picture Christ
as our scapegoat, carrying the sins of our sins, the perfect,
spotless Lamb of God. So they both have to be spotless. They both have to be perfect.
And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron
shall cast lots upon the goats, one lot for the Lord and the
other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.
What a picture of Christ. Now remember too, Christ is the
priest. Christ is the offering. Christ
is the scapegoat. He's the altar. He's so pictured. He's so pictured here. But the
goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented
alive before the Lord to make an atonement with him, and so
let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aram shall
bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself,
and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house, and
shall kill the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself.
What a picture of an innocent one dying for the guilty. And
he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off
the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense,
beaten small, and bring it within the veil. And he shall put the
incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he
not die. And he shall take of the blood
of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy
seat eastward. And before the mercy seat shall
he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then
shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the
people and bring the blood within the veil and do that with that
blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it
upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat." Again, the innocent
dying for the guilty. And he shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel and because of their transgression in all their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of the
uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of
the congregation when he goeth to make an atonement in the holy
place until he come out and have made an atonement for himself
and for his household and for all the congregation of Israel.
Only the high priest entered in. Only the high priest. Christ is our high priest. He
did all the work. He did it all. He did it all. And he shall go out in the altar
that is before the Lord and make an atonement for it, and shall
take the blood of the bullock and the blood of the goat and
put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall
sprinkle the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse
it and hollow it in the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And
when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle
of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live
goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children
of Israel. and all their transgression and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send them away by the hand
of a fit man, that's also Christ, into the wilderness. And the
goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities, unto a land not
inhabited. They're gone. They're gone. What a picture of what Christ
has done for us, beloved. And he shall let the goat go
in the wilderness. So we see the substance of that which is
pictured in the Day of Atonement, right? We see the substance Remember,
the Day of Atonement is a picture in a shadow, but we see the substance
right here in our text. For Christ hath suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust. There's the substance. The Old Testament was but a type,
a picture, and a shadow. And here's the substance right
here. Right here, beloved. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust. The sufferer for our sins, for
the sins of God's elect, was the righteous one. The righteous
one. The Lord Jesus Christ. He was
blameless in character, upright in conduct, perfect in every
way, absolutely sinless. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. And yet he suffered, the Scriptures
declare. He suffered. The just one for
the unjust. The sinless one. dying for sinners. He who knew no sin suffered for
sinners. And take note that he did it
once. Turn over to Romans chapter 6, if you would. He did it once.
This ties in with Romans chapter 6, verses 9 to 11. Romans chapter
6, verses 9 to 11. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, you who believe, you
who are born again, you who are his blood-washed people, Reckon
ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's go back to our text again.
It says here, for Christ also hath once suffered, and this
he did, for sins, the just, for the unjust. Now for the unrighteous to suffer,
it'd be right, wouldn't it? For the unjust, which is us,
for us to suffer, it'd be right, wouldn't it? We would just be
getting that which we deserve. We would be getting that which
we have earned. Because what the scripture declared
to us, very plainly, the wages, the payment of sins is death. So we who are the unjust spoken
in the text, if we were punished for our sins, we would be getting
what we justly earned and what we justly deserve. If we know the Lord, we know
not to be true. Religious people say, oh my,
that's not me. Well, yeah, because you're not
saved. You don't know what Christ has done for you. Oh my, the
believer says, that's me. If I got what I deserved, I'd
be in hell. Oh. We deserve eternal damnation
for our sins. But we who are the Lord's people,
we know that the just one, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
sinless one, has died for the unjust. That's what the scriptures
right here declare. We who are the unjust, we who
are everything we do is tainted with sin. Whether it be our thoughts
or our actions, we are unjust. Unprofitable servants, the scriptures
say, right? Oh my. Sin is to the core. And think of the agony and death
of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. Think of what he suffered.
The wrath of God for my sins. And if you're a believer for
your sins, fully poured out upon Him, and everything that I deserved
fell upon Him." The agony and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. And we see the undeserved sufferings
of the Holy One. We see the Just One dying for
the sins of the unjust. Christ, the holy and just one,
he who is holy in nature, because remember, he's God incarnate
in the flesh. Brother Matt and I read a really
good book on that where you cannot divide, you know, he's the God
man. You can't separate His humanity
from His divinity. He's the God-man. He's both God
and man. The Holy One. Holy in His nature. Righteous in His life. And actions,
all His actions entirely conformable to the righteous law of God.
Entirely. Nothing left out. We can't even
live for one of His laws. And He entirely, perfectly lived
the perfect life. Entirely conformable to all that
God demanded. He was upright and faithful in
all things. He's God's righteous servant.
And it is He who suffered. for the unjust. It is he who
suffered for sins. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. That's the church. Shout, O daughters
of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. He is just in heaven's salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass in the fall. The occult of the
The fall of Annas, but listen to this, he's just in heaven's
salvation. Lowly, all the condescension
of the great king of kings and lord of lords. And note, he only suffered by
unjust men. He suffered by unjust men and
And what they did to him, think about the Jews, Pilate, and the
Roman soldiers, but marvel, in this wonderful scripture, Christ
died in the room and place of unjust men. He not only suffered under unjust
men, but he died in the room and place of unjust men, which
is we, his people. Unjust men and women. Sinners, ungodly sinners, and
think upon this. One commentator said this and
it just, boy, it just got me right between the eyes. We who
were destitute of righteousness. Destitute of righteousness. Absolutely full of unrighteousness. And it is for those whom Christ
died, his chosen people, the elect of God. We who are born
into this world dead and trespasses and sins, unjust. Is this not mercy without bounds,
beloved? You can't plumb this, can you?
God is holy, righteous, and just, and he will in no way and under
no circumstance clear the guilty. His law must be honored. It must
be. He can't wink at our sins. He
can't. His justice must be satisfied. We would call a judge who just
winked at people's sins and said, well, I know you did that evil,
or maybe somebody might have killed someone, but I'm just
going to pass it by you all and go on. We would call that judge
an unjust judge, wouldn't we? Because he didn't uphold the
law. God's a just judge. He's a just judge. His justice
must be satisfied. And if God chooses to justify
and forgive us, He must do it in a way consistent with His
holiness and His righteousness. He must. And this is why Christ
came. This is why Christ came, why
he obeyed the law on the flesh, why he died on the cross, that
God might be just, holy, and righteous in this magnificent
display of love and mercy towards his chosen blood-bought people. That God might be just and holy
and righteous so the just ones dies in the place of the unjust
ones. And let us think upon this, you
and I who are the redeemed of the Lord. He did this willingly. He willingly did this. Why? that He might bring us to
God. That He might bring us to God.
It was impossible for us in our natural state to come to God.
We're separated from God by our sins, aren't we? Scripture says, there's none
that seeketh after God. There's a problem there then,
isn't there? There's none righteous. Well, there's a problem because
in order to be in God's presence, you've got to be made righteous. You got to be sinless. And all we are is sin. See, this is the thing that mankind
just casts aside. They're so busy thinking that
they're self-righteous. Pride. Oh my. Self-righteousness is a killer. Christ, the just, holy, and sinless
Son of God, he was despised and hated of men while he was here
on this earth. The religious who's who of the
Jewish world hated him. They hated him with a passion. But think upon this, and I can
look back before I was saved, and to my shame, I can know that
I hated him. And if I didn't verbally say
it, my actions spoke it. My words did too, unfortunately. Now the tongue that once cursed
the Lord praises the Lord. That's a miracle of grace. Brother
Newell, we've talked about that many times. That's a miracle
of grace. Absolute miracle. He suffered for the sins of his
people. Why? That he might bring us to
God. Look at our text. 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. Quickened by the Spirit. Christ, the just, holy, and sinless
Son of God, the just one, dies in the place of the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
that he might bring us nigh to God. We who were far off, remember
Ephesians tells us that? We were far off. Brother Matt,
we've talked about that. We were far off. Oh my. But He's bought us nothing. Now we stand in peace and reconciliation
in Christ Jesus our Lord and through Him. We have freedom of access now,
boldness with God before the throne of God only through Christ
and only through his precious blood, through his great sin-atoning
sacrifice as our substitute. When he offered himself up as
a sacrifice acceptable unto God, the just one, offering himself
up for the unjust, for His chosen people. And He presents His bride, His
blood-washed bride, His redeemed people before God, unblemmable
and unreprovable, because they're clothed in His
perfect, spotless righteousness. And this is why He came, beloved.
He came to save us from our sins. The just one left the glories
and splendors of heaven to die in the place of the unjust. It's something that we would
not even think of. It truly magnifies God's grace
and mercy. Again, I mentioned this a few
weeks ago, what king would die for one of his lowly servants? My king died for me. That's what every one of us can
say, isn't it? My king died for me who are his unprofitable servants. My king did that. Oh my. He came here to save His people
from their sins and to bring us unto God that we might be
in the presence of He who is the captain of our salvation.
That we might be in glory forever with Him. And notice He was unconquered
in His sufferings, beloved. Notice He died, but death could
not hold Him. He was quickened by the Spirit.
Quickened by the Spirit. And note here in this beautiful
scripture before us, there can be but little doubt that it is
Christ personally considered who is spoken of being put to
death in the flesh, that is his human nature, and quickened by
the spirit, that's his divine nature. John Gill brings forth that Christ
was raised from the dead by his divine nature, the spirit of
holiness, the eternal spirit by which he offered himself and
by virtue of of which as he had power to lay down his life, and
we know he did, right? He had the power to lay down
his life, so had he the power to take it up again. He has all
power, beloved. And when he was also justified
in the spirit and all the elect in him. My. So think upon this, beloved God.
The enemy of God's people can do no more than kill the body
of a believer. They cannot reach the soul. Cannot
reach the soul. Gil brings this forth. As Christ
is quickened and raised from the dead, so all his elect are
quickened together. and raised with him representatively,
and shall by virtue of his resurrection be raised personally and live
also, which is no inconsiderable argument to suffer afflictions
patiently." So for us, we should just suffer afflictions patiently,
because our Lord suffered in our place, which is the design
of this instance in the example of the sufferings, death, and
resurrection of Christ. A couple of quick things here.
Think upon this. We'll close with this. His mission
was one of suffering. He came here to suffer, the just
one for the unjust. His mission was one of innocent
suffering. He's the just one, the righteous
one. His mission was one of vicarious
suffering. He died for the unjust, the unrighteous,
sinners, his elect. And his mission was one that
was unconquered or unconquerable by all the suffering that he
went through, being put to death in the flesh, yet he was quickened
by the Spirit. Our Savior is victorious. Praise
God. Praise God. Heavenly Father,
we thank thee for your goodness and mercy and grace. Oh Lord,
we pray you'd be with us for the rest of the services, and
Lord Jesus, that you would be glorified and magnified, and
lifted high and mighty, and that we would draw comfort as your
people from the gospel of thy salvation. We love you and praise
you, in Jesus' name, amen.