Good evening. Thank you for having
me here. And the brethren in Missouri
wanted me to send you their regards. And they're very thankful for
this congregation, because whether you know it, you brethren are
helping us. And we're really appreciative
of that. And just let me say that you
have a faithful pastor and a faithful pastor's wife. They've been very
good to me and very hospitable. So thank you for having me here. My text will be 1 Peter 3.18.
1 Peter 3.18. I've been doing a series going
through 1 Peter, and I came into chapter 3 and chapter 4, and
I found that I'd be sitting there and praying and asking the Lord
to give me a message for whatever verses I was coming up to. And, you know, because Peter
talks about exhortations there for the brethren. and comforting
the brethren through the suffering of the trial that they're going
through. And I thought, how am I going to be able to bring these
words to be a comfort and a help to the brethren here? And I found
first Peter 3 18 was there and that I was always launching from
this verse to speak about the other verses all around it. And
I think, I hope that you'll see what I mean so that when you're
at home and you're opening up 1 Peter and looking at 1 Peter,
just in your own private reading and study, go to verse 18 first
and then go back and read wherever you are in 1 Peter. And you'll
find it to be a great help because we can't hear these exhortations
in the flesh. We don't want to hear them in
the flesh. just the dead letters in black and white on a page.
And we can't hear them, but in the spirit of Christ. And he's
that quickening spirit that helps us to hear it. And it won't be
a comfort to us in our suffering, except we hear it in the new
man, that spirit of Christ that he creates in us. Let's look
at verse 18, 1 Peter 3, 18. 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. And so the joy and the beauty
of what this verse gives us, especially because as a pastor,
we can't provoke our people to love and to do anything for Christ,
And as I said, we don't want to do it in the flesh. And we
know what that is. We know how hard and what a task that is
to do anything in the flesh because we can't do it. And it's not
pleasing to the Lord, but we don't have to do it. It's the
Lord who does it. And you see that power and that
authority right here in this verse, because we see that Christ
is that quickening spirit whereby we are given those graces and
those gifts to do anything that's pleasing to the Lord and as he
calls us to do. So 1 Peter 3.18, that's that
fertile fountain, that ground that nourishes and adds vitality
and strength and life to everything that we're reading here in 1
Peter. And really, it's the gospel.
So it's all the scriptures that we read. Wherever we are, it's
the gospel. And you'll notice that it begins
right there in verse 18, for Christ. For Christ and that's where the
life of the believer begins for Christ right there in the Lord
Jesus Christ It's because of him that we have life and even
fellowship with God Almighty So everything that we have is
the result of what's being declared there in verse 18 the mind that
we have about a thing our joy and patience as we go through
whatever suffering it is that we're going through and even
the fruit of that we bear both to the believers and to the unbelievers. It's all because of the truths
contained right here in this verse. It's by Christ, the quickening
spirit, that we're enabled to do anything that is pleasing
to the Lord. for Christ. So we'll look at
this verse tonight to see what Christ has accomplished for his
people. So I am looking to reiterate everything that our brother just
said here tonight, which is certainly not a burden for any of his people,
I'm sure. But also to see, well, you'll
notice whatever time we have left over, we'll look at a few
verses just to see how The Lord shows us that every believer
was comforted and saved by this very gospel. Right here, you
can see it in the scriptures. And that every believer was persecuted
and suffered persecution because of their hope and belief of this
gospel. It's all right there in 1 Peter.
And that's why he's giving us this letter to the church. So
my title is for Christ, because that'll help you remember 3.18,
for Christ, because that's exactly how it starts. And we'll just
have two divisions, the gospel of Christ, and then we'll see
Christ's power bears fruit in us. All right, so let's take
the last phrase of verse 18, the last phrase of verse 18,
which says, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit. And what that declares to us
is that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the son of the living
God. We read in Romans 1, verses 3
and 4, concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to
be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. for being put to death,
that tells us or testifies to us that He really came in the
flesh. He came in flesh and blood and
was fully man, but His resurrection from the dead, that declares
to us that He is indeed the Son of God and that He was heard
of God in what He came to do. And Christ himself foretold of
this event. He said, destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up. And this he spake of the
temple of his body. And that's a joy to us because
we know who his body are. We know that we who are his people
have a hope in him and that we're his body. and that he, just as
he was raised from the dead, so too shall we be raised from
the dead when he returns to redeem that which is his purchased possession. It says in Colossians 117, and
Christ is before all things, and by him all things consist,
and he is the head of the body, the church. Christ is the beginning,
Christ is the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. So for the believer that is good
news because Christ our Savior has been given all authority
and all power by God the Father. to accomplish the salvation of
His people. Everything that His people need,
Christ has been given authority and power to ensure that it shall
be done. It shall be given to us because
it is done, it is accomplished in Him there on the cross for
His people. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. we who are dead in trespasses
and sins, so that we who are dead in trespasses and sins might
live. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, therefore doth my father love me, because I lay
down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. so that He indeed has the authority
to say and to do the very things that He says and did. He can
do it because He was given that authority. He is the Son of God
who came, who was sent into this world by the Father to do those
very things for us. All right, let's consider now
the first half of verse 18. First Peter 3, 18. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. And this is where we see Christ
our Savior as a kind and humble and gentle Savior taking into
union with himself our human nature, right? That he might
suffer and die for the sins of the people. In Hebrews 2.10,
it says, for it became him for whom are all things, and by whom
are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Verse
14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
Christ also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. The devil is that one who promised
Adam and Eve that they would have light and liberty and and all kinds of things just
by having that knowledge of good and evil. And really, all we
got was death and bondage and darkness. There was no liberty
in what he promised us. Eve was deceived and Adam was
enticed, and when he did, when he took that fruit, he transgressed
the law of God. He broke God's law. He sinned
against him. And when he sinned, he died. Just as our brother said, earlier. He died so that the fellowship
that he had with God, the friendship he had with God, and that nearness
was immediately severed. And you see that because as soon
as he and Eve heard the voice of God walking in the garden,
they immediately ran. They didn't run to him, they
ran from him to the trees to hide themselves. So Christ came
to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. And I like the way Paul sums
it up. He says it very nicely. He says, in Adam, all die. In Adam, all die. So that brethren, we know there's
nothing we can do to save ourselves. And man is so desperate. so desperate
that it took the Son of God to leave glory and to take into
union with Himself our flesh and blood in order to deliver
us from that coming wrath which is coming upon all the peoples
of the earth who know not God and who hate Him and don't look
for His coming. He's doing that by freeing us
from the very debt that we owe to God because we ourselves are
sinners And we ourselves are deserving of death and hell and
punishment but Christ said that put that debt on me for my people
and I'll bear that debt. I'll fulfill all righteousness
on their behalf. And they'll owe nothing to God. I'll pay the price in full. And he did that. He paid that
price by shedding his own precious blood for sinners like you and
me who don't deserve his mercy and his grace and weren't looking
for his mercy and his grace. So the word of God, brethren,
It has nothing good to say about man's works. You could read it
from front to back, and there's nothing good that it says about
what we are capable and able to do for God. Everything that
we try to do is wicked and evil and darkness, and it's an offense
to God. the only salvation that God has
provided when we come to Him trying to please Him in our own
works. It's not pleasing to God. It
says in Romans 3.10, it's written, There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They're all the same. They
are all gone out of the way, they are together, become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And yet man, in his darkness,
in his ignorance, his rebellion, if he even cares at all about
it anymore, he tries to please God by either works of righteousness,
or by trying to do good things that he thinks or that someone
once told him is a good thing that pleases God, or he does,
or he just thinks it's all gonna work out somehow. Don't worry
about it. When you tell them, when you
try to tell them what Christ has done for you, don't worry about it.
I think it's all gonna work out, but they just push off the truth.
But the Lord says in Romans 3 20, therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. So that when a man or woman hears
rightly what the law is saying, they realize that they are an
offense to God. And they put up their hands and
they drop their tools that they've been holding to try and work
their righteousness and they let those things go. Because
they realize that they're just, they're not pleasing God by those
things and they need a savior. Because they can't save themselves.
There's nothing that they can do anymore. But for this very
purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works
of the devil, so that Christ is the just one who fulfilled
all righteousness on behalf of his people for the unjust ones,
those his people who are sinners and are enemies of God in their
own mind by wicked works, until he saves them and delivers them
out of it. All right, now, so let's look
at that middle portion, 1 Peter 3, 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."
And that's what Christ's death accomplished. He accomplished
that reconciliation so that he restored that fellowship and
that friendship that we lost in Adam when we sinned in Adam
and rebelled against God's law. So he restored that. He destroyed
the works of the devil and the deception and the deceit and
the enticement that he worked in man there. He destroyed all
those works so that though we were dead in trespasses and sins,
Christ has delivered us unto life in himself. It says in Colossians
1 verse 19, if you turn there, Colossians 119, we'll read down
to verse 22. For it pleased the Father that
in Christ should all fullness dwell. And having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. And brethren, Christ
did not fail. He's a successful Savior, so
that when we stand before holy God in that day, We won't be
coming in our own works of righteousness, trusting in those things. We'll
be coming in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when
holy God looks upon us, he will see us as spotless and holy and
unreprovable and unblameable in his sight, all thanks to what
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, did for his people. We read in
Timothy, there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. So that Christ, by virtue of
His being the God-man mediator, by the power and authority given
to Him by the Father, we read, And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam, that's Christ,
Jesus Christ is the last Adam, was made a quickening spirit. Wherefore he saith, in another
place, in Ephesians 4.8, when Christ ascended up on high, when
he rose up from the grave, he led captivity captive. That bondage
that we were in, he took it away and destroyed it, liberating,
setting free his people. And it says he gave gifts unto
men. So that those of you who are
new to hearing the gospel and you've come out of a false religion
where they told you to make a decision and you're thinking, all right,
I've been hearing these doctrines of grace, but How is it that
I get saved? If I'm not making a decision,
if I'm not making a choice, how is it that I'm saved? We're saved
by those precious gifts by the Lord Jesus Christ. So that faith
and belief in Him being necessary, He gives it to us. He creates
that faith in us by giving us life in Himself, creating that
new man, and He gives us that ear of faith so that we can hear
it, and He fertilizes that ground in us so that it's ready-made
to hear that Word, He brings you to hear that gospel like
many of you are here tonight to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ
and are sitting under the sound of the gospel. And he gives you
by the power of his quickening spirit to hear that word. And
he works that faith in you so that you hear it and say, yeah,
I need that Savior. That's the Savior I need. I believe
that he is able and that he accomplished my salvation. And I love that
verse, you love 2 Thessalonians 2.13, I love 2 Peter 1.3, that
it's according as Christ's power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness. So every and anything that you
need to be saved, Christ gives that to you. He gave that to
you because he got everything necessary when he rose up from
the grave. So there's that power and that
authority that was given him by God the Father so that he
is indeed a successful savior. Christ himself is that quickening
spirit so that Christ is the judge. He has the authority to
judge all who are raised unto life and all who are raised unto
death. So all that come to him. Not
looking to their own works, but coming to Him with His own blood,
looking to His work. How can He refuse them? He's
pleased to give life to as many as look to Him and seek Him for
mercy and grace because He worked that in them. He gave that to
them so that He worked that life. And He says in John 17 too, as
thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. So, all his people
shall be given life in him, and they shall be made to hear that
word, and to believe the word that are spoken concerning him. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead Not
speaking of the dead in the grave, but us who are walking around
on this side of the earth, walking around, thinking that we're alive,
but are really dead spiritually, he said, all that are dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. that he has all the authority
as the quickening spirit with all the power to ensure that
we shall hear his voice and it'll be food and life and nourishment
to us and we'll rejoice in that as it's written John 6 45 As
it's written in the prophets and they shall be all taught
of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of
the father and cometh unto me." Again, because he accomplished
that when he rose up from the grave, because he has all the
power and the authority to ensure that you and I, who are his people,
shall hear that gospel, and we will be glad and rejoice in it.
We'll rejoice in that, brethren. And 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. So we see in that gospel, when
you look at that verse, you don't see anything of man in that verse. There's nothing for us that our
God is looking to from us to do. It's all right there in what
Christ has done. There's nothing in there for
you to do. He'll ensure that anything that's necessary, you
have it, because it's all been done in our Savior, Jesus Christ. And well, I'll say it again,
because it's so sweet. Our Savior there on the cross
said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost, because he has the power to lay down his life
and the power to take it up again, that he might secure the salvation
of his people. In John 3.33 it says, and he
that hath received Christ's testimony hath set to his seal that God
is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So you see, there's no real struggle. You hear the gospel, and you
either believe it or you don't believe it. It either comes to
you as comfort in life or it's deadness and you don't believe
it. You don't hear anything until he makes you to hear it and causes
you to finally hear it one day and you just believe it. And
you say, I see now, I rejoice that Christ has done this for
me. It's a work which he does for
his people. We ought to seek him and seek
him and beg him for that comfort and for him to reveal himself
to us But he'll do it he does it for all his people because
if he's giving you that heart to seek him and to know that
you're a sinner that there's no salvation but in Christ and
He'll he'll show you he it's only a matter of time before
he reveals himself to you All right. Now christ power bears
fruit in us. So we've seen what christ our
savior has accomplished For his people and I mentioned that if
you you notice If you start there at that verse, then as you're
reading all the other verses around it, you see where the
authority and the power comes from, that it's all of Christ.
So that we're enabled to hear those exhortations, and we're
comforted, and see right in these scriptures that every believer
from all time and all ages were saved by the same gospel. All right, so let's, for the
son of man came to seek, is come to seek and to save that which
was lost. So every one of his people had
to be saved by Christ in this way. We weren't saved one way
back before the flood or under a different way under the law
of Moses. We were all saved by this one gospel of Jesus Christ
and him only. All right, it says in 1 Peter
4, verse six, look at that one. First Peter 4.6, four, 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. Who's he speaking of at that
time? Well, he's speaking about Noah, and he's speaking about
Moses, and he's speaking about David, and Jonathan, and about
the prophets, and Job, and Abraham. He's speaking of all the brethren.
that believed throughout the ages. He's speaking to all the
brethren that ever came into this world, that he brought into
this world. He's caused them to hear and to believe and look
to the gospel of Jesus Christ, his son. All right. And then
we also see in these verses that the church has always been persecuted
because of their hope and trust in this gospel of Jesus Christ. We know right in the beginning
there Cain slew Abel, right? It says in Genesis 4 verses 4
and 5, And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering,
but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain
was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And so he killed his brother
because God had respect unto Abel's offering. He rejoiced
in and was glad in Christ and looked to Christ. And because
Cain didn't see it, he got angry. That was the first case where
we see a man trying to come to God in his own works and saying,
I don't care what you do. I don't care what you say. I'm
going to come bring the fruit of the ground, the fruit of the
earth, that which I've worked for and labored for. And God
rejected it, he didn't receive it, because it was works of the
earth, it was works of the flesh. And we read in other places,
in Hebrews 11, 36, it says, and others had trial of cruel mockings
and scourgings, yea, moreover, in bonds and imprisonment. They
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with
the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And just
before Stephen was stoned by the Jews, he asked them, which
of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they
have slain them, which showed before the coming of the just
one. So they were all preaching and
looking to the coming of Christ, the just one who would die for
the unjust ones. And because they proclaimed that
message, they hated them and they slew them. It says, of whom
ye now, that just one, of whom ye now have of whom ye have been
now the betrayers and murderers. So in light of this glorious
declaration of what Christ our Savior has done and seeing the
fulfillment of the promise that he himself made to us in the
garden that Christ should come and crush the head of the serpent
and put away the sin of his people and deliver them from death,
Peter says in chapter three, verse 14 and 15, but, and if
ye suffer, 1 Peter 3, 14. But, and if ye suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror. Neither
be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So what he's saying there is,
brethren, settle it in your hearts that if you're persecuted for
the love of Christ, Settle it in your heart that this is of
the Lord, that he's worked this, that he's purposed it to be so. Don't fight against them, don't
lash out back at them, but be patient and the Lord may open
that opportunity where they ask you. Why are you putting up with
this? Why are you being so patient
for this? And you may have opportunity to bear witness to what Christ
has done in you, and you may be witnessing to a brother or
sister who's yet in the bondage of iniquity that the Lord's gonna
save. And then it says in 1 Peter 2.21,
First Peter 2 21 for even here unto where he called because
Christ also suffered for us Leaving us an example that ye should
follow his steps So it should be no mystery to us when we are
persecuted for the love that we have for the Lord Jesus Christ
Because Paul said all that will live godly in Christ. Jesus shall
suffer persecution It really should only be a mystery to us
when we don't suffer persecution. But I would encourage you not
to go looking for it. Don't pick up the law and start
beating people and whipping them and telling them what they ought
to be doing and what they ought to stop doing, because then you'll
earn your stripes. I mean, you're going to earn
the beating that you get then for doing that when you start
telling people what they need to be doing. And that's not the
gospel. All you need to do is speak well
of Christ. Just declare what he's done.
for you. Just glorify Him because the
cursed ones, the ones who hate Him, they hate that because they're
thieves and they're robbers and they're covetous idolaters who
get angry when you're giving the glory and the praise to God
and there's nothing left over for man to glory in. There's
nothing for him to get. That's when they get angry and
that's when they start persecuting the righteous because they don't
want to hear that. It's not good news to them. So brethren, we're
to be faithful, just watching and in prayer, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. I want to close with a reading
in Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. And
Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians and we'll pick up
in verse 27, but it's an encouragement when you
read it, hearing it as though it is, it's Christ speaking to
his bride. It's not Paul anymore, this is
Christ speaking to his bride. Listen to Philippians 1, 27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel. and in nothing, terrified by
your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also
to suffer for his sake." So I pray that the Lord would cause this
word to find good, fertile ground in his people and that you'd
be made to rejoice in what Christ has done for his people and saving
them forever. Perfect salvation from a perfect
Savior. I pray the Lord will bless you.