So we begin in verse 14, 1 Peter
chapter 3. But, and if you suffer for righteousness
sake, happy are ye. Be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in
your heart, 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, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil
of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse
your good conversation or conduct in Christ, for it is better if
the will of God so be that you suffer for well-doing than for
evil doing. For Christ also has suffered
once for sin, 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 under the spirits
in prison, which sometime were disobedience. When once the long
suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
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 toward God
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven,
who is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him. Again, verse 18. Christ also
hath once suffered for sin, 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, here is our manner or order
of looking at this. We will begin by looking at the
declaration of the Lord that he would give his life. Then
we will look at the ministry and the writing of the apostles
in the New Testament, and that will bring us unto our study
of the morning. Now, one thing we ought to remember
and notice as we read very carefully in the scripture, particularly
in the apostolic writing is their emphasis upon the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ and all the aspects and effects of that death. When you think about it, they
spoke more on this actually, than the Lord himself did. And they gave us the importance
of the atonement of our Lord and the blood that he shed as
the blood of the everlasting covenant. And this was foreshadowed
and typified in the blood of goats and bulls and such like
in the Old Testament. But the Lord himself declared
that his blood was the blood of the covenant. Even on the
eve of his death, our Lord made that announcement. And up to
the eve of his death, this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for you or which is shed for many for the remission
of sin. Matthew 26 and verse 28. Now this he said not to the multitude
out in public. This he said not even to the
ecclesiastics, the teacher, the rulers, and the guides of that
day. But this he said to his little
flock in the upper room on the eve of his death and in private. Now it might seem unusual unto
us that the Lord spoke publicly to the multitude so seldom about
his being the Messiah and about his blood and the atonement and
the covenant and the nature and necessity of the death and the
shedding of his blood for the remission of sin. Little about
his kingship and how much teaching was done by our Lord on practical
matters, how much was done in parable. Then we remember how
the leaders so violently opposed and reacted against our Lord
and his teaching and his claim when they heard them. And they
were willing to dismiss them as the claims of a demented man. They called him a man with a
demon, a blasphemer, an imposter, a gluttonous man, an enemy of
Moses is how they described our Lord during his ministry. So I think probably George Smeaton
was right in a book that he composed concerning Christ and the atonement
and the apostle and the atonement. And Schmiedtin said this, quote,
the idea among the Jew of a suffering Messiah had grown obsolete. obsolete, unquote. They no longer
looked and held and desired for that. And the two ideas that
put together in their mind, number one, that he was the Messiah,
number two, that he would be put to death by an awful, agonizing
death, would seem to be to them a contradiction. You remember,
even his very own disciple stumbled at that. so often when our Lord
spoke. of his death and of his going
away out of the world by death. And what's more, the whole unbelieving
world of the blind leading the blind in Israel at that time. So then the Lord was put to death
on a Roman cross, exactly as he had said, exactly as the prophets
had foretold. He was taken down from that cross,
prepared for burial, and he was laid in a borrowed grave, and
a seal and a watch was put upon that. And yet, after three days
and three nights, our Lord arose again, and he appeared unto his
disciple. In Acts 1 and verse 3, to whom
he showed himself alive again by many infallible proofs after
his passion, being seen of them forty days, and speaking to them
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now, in Acts
1-3, let's lift four words out of that great verse. He showed
himself alive after his death and passion. Some render it he
presented himself to them. He presented himself to them
alive and in a body as he had died, literally living. He was alive. and he was recognizable
unto them, and notice this, it was after his passion or suffering
and death. After being dead and being buried
in the grave, as they knew. They knew he died and they knew
that he was buried, that he was put in a grave. And this they
did, or this he did, number one, by many convincing proofs that
he was him and was alive again from the dead. For example, He
showed him his hands and his side where he had been pierced
in the cross, and he ate with them, and he restated unto them
the promise of the Holy Spirit that was to come. And secondly,
in their sight, while they watched with their own eye He was taken
up into heaven, Acts 1 tells us. And they saw that. And angels
appeared and assured them that this one had gone into heaven
and would come again even as he had gone. Now consider the
statement that the views and attitude and the action, the
behavior of the apostles underwent a drastic change. for the better
once the death and the resurrection of Christ had become an undeniable,
infallible fact unto them. His resurrection solidified them
in the faith. His death stumbled them somewhat
and for a time. But his resurrection and appearance
and what they saw solidified them in the faith. And they were
ushered into a new realm of thought and of feeling and of action. And they took up gladly the mantle
of our Lord, which had fallen upon them as ambassadors of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At last they understood that
his death would happen, but that he would not be destroyed or
overcome by it, but that he would overcome death by and through
the resurrection. And they preached both of them,
the death and the resurrection of Christ. as an accomplished
fact that he had died, but he had been raised up again. And
that the atoning death of Christ and his resurrection from the
dead was counted by them, and again I quote from Smeaton, quote,
a completed transaction with saving efficacy, unquote. And it answered the many prophecies
of the Old Testament prophet. And they began to know Christ
in a new way, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 16,
a rather unusual verse, but we won't go there. But the apostles
not only preached Christ in person, orally and verbally to the people
and here and there. His atonement, salvation in him,
exalted to the right hand of God. The prophets said they most
frequently preached that Christ had been raised from the dead. That was a vital part of the
early preaching, and you can see it in the book of the Acts. Peter, on the day of Pentecost,
Acts chapter 2, and verse 32. Peter, before the Gentiles, in
the 10th chapter of Acts, and verse 40, said this, him God
raised up the third day and showed him openly. So they began to
preach that the Lord was alive. And through Acts they did that,
and they did it in their epistle, in their writing. Here are other
scriptures in the book of Acts where the apostle, and particularly
Peter and Paul, those two men, preach the resurrection of the
Lord as an accomplished fact. Acts 3, 15, and 26, 4, and 20,
and 33. Acts 5 and 30. Acts 13, 30, 33,
and 34. And that great one by Paul in
Acts chapter 17 and verse 31. Because you see, if Christ be
not raised from the dead, then said Paul, our preaching is vain
and your faith is vain. This he said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. He said in Romans 4, 25, he was
put to death and raised again for our justification. So the resurrection is an important
work. Now the apostles not only preached
that here and there during their life, but the apostles also gave
us a written inspired record of the salvation through Christ. Now this record, they are called
epistles, letters. And they were sent, not to the
world at large, but they were sent to congregations of believers
who were gathered together in assembly. And they were sent
in order that they might guide them. in spiritual matters, establish
them in Christ, and correct them about any error or missing. And if we may say so, not only
confirming Christ's teaching on his great atoning ransom,
but expanding upon what our Lord had said about the resurrection,
the atonement, and the ramification. They spoke of aspects of it that
Christ did not. Now, this was no shortcoming
from our Lord. It was by divine design that
this was the way that it would be. Now, we find epistle from
some of the apostles, and they have many, many references, explanations. an application of the Lord's
atoning death. When they thought of the Lord's
death, they did not think of it as an aberration, something
that shouldn't have happened. They didn't think of it or treat
it as mere mardom, a man losing his life for his belief and faith. And they did not present it as
a tragic miscarriage of justice, but as a death that was determined
and ordained of God, not just the act of dying, but the manner
of his death, crucifixion upon a Roman cross, and that between
two condemned criminals, numbered with the transgressor. And as
one old expositor put it, The apostles were firm in their persuasion
that the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth was by divine appointment. and had its validity on that
account, that God ordained the death of our Lord. He was buried,
and there three days he lay. And he rose again, and he did
so without seeing any corruption. An exact fulfillment of the prophecy
of David in Psalm chapter 16. Now, the apostles and their epistles
contained the doctrine of the atonement, and as an accomplished
fact, the only way to God for sinners, that Christ was substituted
in the place of his people, that he made propitiation, that he
made reconciliation, that he died vicariously, that is, he
died for the sake and the purpose toward others, that the death
of Christ was absolute and eternally efficacious to save sinners to
the uttermost, that he never need suffer and die again, that
the one death of the Lord satisfied everything that God required
for the remission of sin. With all of that now, coming
to our text. in 1 Peter chapter 3 and working
toward it. Peter, you know, was an eyewitness
of the Lord. And here he tells us what Christ
had done in order that he might bring us unto God. We'll notice
something about the Apostle Peter. Number one, he does not shy away
from that grand doctrine election. He opens the epistle by saying,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. In chapter 1 verse 18
through verse 20, Very clearly, he states there
that our Lord was foreordained before the world that he might
die for the sin of his people. He says there that the blood
of Christ is the precious price of our redemption and portrays
him as a lamb without spot and without blemish, an impeccable
one and sacrifice, having been ordained before the world and
manifest then in due time. In the end of chapter two, we
notice in verse 24, who is own self, bear our sin in his own
body, on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto
righteousness by whose stripes you are healed. By his death
bearing our sin and we died and live unto righteousness before
God. Both flow from the death of Christ. Both of them do. For deadness
to sin You can also see in Romans the sixth chapter. Plan to preach
on that sometime in the future. And they stand or they fall together. One is necessary unto the other. Christ must die in order that
we might be freed from sin, actually die to sin. For we're not under
the law, but under grace. Romans 6 and verse 14. Now for that passage in 1 Peter
chapter 3, wherein is both our present subject and our text
for it. The apostle gives them counsel
in this chapter on several matters relating to Christian duty and
Christian living. First of all, he speaks to the
women in verses 1 through verse 6. He addresses them and their
behavior. Then he addresses the husband
in the seventh verse of the chapter. Then he makes some general exhortation
to all of them in chapter 3, verse 8 through 12. And finally,
takes up the subject of suffering in verse 13 and following. And this is one of those exhortive
texts, if you find them in the scripture. which is then enforced
by an example of the imitation of the Lord, Christ Jesus. One where bringing in the example
of Christ to be imitated opens up a theological mind of riches
for us. Let me give you one quick example
where an exhortation turned into a theological marvel. And that's
in Philippians, the second chapter. Paul exhorts them in verse 4
and 5 that the saints not look only on their own things, their
own matter, and their own affair, but also upon the matter and
the affairs of other and to have the mind of Christ. Have the
mind of Christ. And what was the mind of Christ
regarding his brothers and those that were in need? How did our
Lord look upon the things of others? Well, Philippians 2,
6 through 8, being in the form of God, he took on the form of
a servant made in the likeness of man, endured the death of
the cross, lay down his life for them, and that's how he looked
upon the things of others. So, 1 Peter chapter 3. What about the saints suffering
for righteousness sake? How are we to view that? In verse
14, they were to endure it as unto the Lord. And beside, in
verse 17, it is better to suffer for doing right than to suffer
for doing evil. And verse 18, for Christ himself
also suffered, once suffered. He was a sufferer. And his suffering
was for our own account of our sin. How be it? Not for his own
sin, for he had none. He knew no sin, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. He was the holy one born of Mary. Luke 135, and was holy and separate
from sinners, and yet he suffered. And notice, the just for the
unjust. And then notice the purpose of
his suffering, the aim of it, the end of it, that he might
bring us to God. He suffered once for us that
he might bring us to God. He suffered that, so that, in
order that, he might bring us unto God. Now, let's focus, of
course, upon these words, to bring us to God. And during the
course, there are three things that we want to look at and emphasize. Number one, Why have we a need
for one such as Christ to bring us unto God? Can we not come
of ourself? Can we not decide on our own
and make our way unto Christ and unto God? Why must we have
one to sponsor us before we can come and be reconciled unto God? And the second thing that here
in this text, Why and how is Christ qualified? What has he
done that might bring us unto God? Why must he die to affect
our reconciliation unto God? And thirdly, what is the blessing
of being brought nigh unto God? The first we make short work
of. Why have we need of one to bring us unto God? Why must it
be Christ? Well, because of the defection
of the race in Adam. Adam sinned, he fell, he hid
from God, he feared the presence of the holy God, and his conscience
condemned him for his sin. And he fell, and God drove him
out of the garden. And these things were passed
on to his offspring, who are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. Psalm 51 and verse 5. Isaiah said, all we like sheep
have gone astray, and it laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53 and verse 6. everyone
turning to their own way. And the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. And the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. And he is natural, he is unregenerate,
he is a slave to sin, under the curse of the law, until the supernatural
work of God. When Adam sinned, God banned
him from his place in the garden, and no man can come to God are
come to Christ except by a supernatural internal work of the Almighty. Actually, a double work, the
death of the cross and then an internal supernatural work. Robert Leighton has a book on
1 Corinthians, 1 Peter, and he said this, quote, The soul lies
under a sentence of exile from God, pronounced by the justice
of God, and is under a flat impossibility of returning by itself." Unquote. They are slaves to sin. They
must be freed. They are dead in sin and must
be made alive. They are afar off and must be
brought near. They are lost and they must be
found. They are enemies of God and they
must be reconciled to God and their enmity slain are put to
death. Now the second thing that we
noted, why is only Christ qualified to bring us to God? How does
his death, for he lost his life or gave it up and was buried
in a tomb, how does his death affect him bringing us unto God? For the text said he suffered
the just for the unjust in order to bring us unto God. And the
Lord states this clearly in John 14 and verse 6. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. In Acts 4.12, Peter stated, there
is no salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. In
1 Timothy 2 and 5, the apostle writes, there is one, one and
only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Three persons, or three phrases
to note here in 1 Peter 3 and verse 18. Christ also suffered
for sin, being put to death in the flesh, quickened by the Spirit,
or in relationship unto sin, the Lord died. Secondly, it was
a case of the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty,
and the righteous for the unrighteous. And thirdly, that he might bring
us unto God, bring us to God. Notice that, bring us to God,
not send us to God, not tell us the way only, not point us
in the right direction. and leave the trip unto us, but
actually bring us. Consider a couple of passages
to enforce that, bringing us to God. In John chapter 10, remember
what the Lord said about his sheep in verse 16? Other sheep
I have, which are not of this foal, them also I must bring,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Remember again,
in Hebrews, a wonderful chapter and passage, chapter 2 and verse
10. It became him in bringing many
sons unto glory. And a couple of examples from
types. Remember in Genesis, 43, eight and nine. Judah pledging
himself to be the surety of young Benjamin. He said this, I will
be surety for him. Of my hand shall you require
him. If I do not bring him and set
him before you, let me bear the blame forever. Their surety shift. And then
In 2 Samuel chapter 9, what a beautiful picture David sending to fetch
crippled Mephibosheth out of a far country, a dry place, and
bring him and set him at his table in his house and nourish
him all the days of his life. Now look at this again, to bring
us unto God, that he might bring us unto God. that he will bring
many sons unto glory. To do this he must abolish the
enmity and eradicate the estrangement caused by sin and satisfy the
justice of God. He must endure the curse of the
law. He must make reconciliation for
the sins of the people, Hebrews 2 and 17. And this in return
required him to become incarnate. and dwell upon the earth, to
be made like unto his brethren, that is, to partake of flesh
and blood. And that gave him a particular
and a special kinship unto his brethren by partaking of flesh
and blood. For a kinsman redeemer had to
be a kinsman after all. a body prepared for him by God,
as stated in Hebrews 10 and 5. And in that body of flesh and
blood, he bore the sins of his people upon the cross or upon
the tree. God pressed upon him the sin
of all. Now, question is, and a good
point of contention, is whether the enmity that we're talking
about is between God and man, and whether or not it lieth upon
both sides, where there is enmity of God against man, For we know
there is enmity in man against God. Does God have somewhat against
us? He must be pacified according
to Ezekiel 16 and 63. According to A.W. Pink, Sassanians,
Arminians, Plymouth Brethren are just some of those who deny
that there is any enmity on the part of God toward rebellious
sinners, that only man has the enmity. God only waits for such
rebels to throw down their weapons and surrender. C. H. Macintosh
was a Plymouth Brethren, called it a pious mistake. quote unquote, to think that
God had any enmity, and that the death of Christ was necessary
only to reconcile men unto God. And Methinks this is the result
of their over-emphasis upon the love of God. to the exclusion
of all of the other great attributes of God. Attributes like justice
and righteousness, perpetuation, satisfaction, redemption, the
not noticing them. Gill conceded this. If enmity
was only on the part of man, there would be no need of the
death of Christ to affect reconciliation. Just forgiving love on the part
of God, which is basically the Arminian position anyway. The
stumbling part for some on this is the everlasting love of God,
his unchangeable purpose that says God was never at enmity
with his elect. So here's a direct quote from
Gill, who was as strong as a bear's breath on the sovereignty of
God. Quote, there was in some sense
a reciprocal enmity between God and man, which made a reconciliation
necessary." Yay. And a propitiation also was needed
and was made by Jesus Christ. Set forth by God a propitiation
is what Paul said in Romans chapter 3. So let's consider a moment
that word and doctrine and thing of propitiation as it appears
in the scripture. A.W. Pink wrote, it is the very
thing which is now needed in order to conciliate the one who
is offended, unquote. Gil Pink and others that I found
say that it was law enmity principally that stood against even the elect,
and that needed a propitiation to satisfy for the unrighteous
transgression of the law of God on the part of all, to deliver
the elect from the curse of the law, and to impute to them the
righteousness of the law, that it might be fulfilled in us. Romans 8. Verse 3 and 4, as the
surety of the covenant, Christ answered all of the outstanding
debts. He was surety, and he answered
all of the outstanding debt. So nothing is against the elect
when Christ has made a propitiation. He made an expiation. took them
away. He made an atonement. He removed
sin. He took it away for he had made
it to light upon Christ who bore them in his body and they received
their full justice in the death and body of our blessed Lord. Again Romans 3 and 25 He was
sent forth a propitiation by God. He is the propitiation. for our sin, 1 John 2 and 2. And 1 John chapter 4 and verse
10, he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. And such as he brings us unto
God, having made a propitiation, an atonement, a reconciliation,
and a redemption. And yes, He will bring many sons
unto glory. Let's go to Hebrews 2 and 10
again. For he is the captain of their
salvation. And he has entered into heaven
as their forerunner into the very presence of God, having
entered by his very own blood. And he brings such to God by
the merit of his death, He brings us to God by taking them as sons
of God and heirs of God. He therefore brings them unto
God. Now, beside the effect of his
death in bringing us unto God, in opening the way, there is
the indispensable, the absolute necessity of regeneration. In order to begin that preparation,
there must be the giving of the new life, that one may, quote,
come unquote, unto God and overcome. He does not overcome until he
is regenerated and called and converted as a believer. Then enmity dies in that individual
because of the application and the effect of the atonement of
our Lord. Enmity dies and love for God
is present and dominant in that regenerate child of God, and
they by faith embrace what they once rejected and despised. That's the case of those who
are brought from death unto life. Regeneration is the only passage
from that old way of life into the new way of life in the experience
of the elect. It is the only passage from a
life of sin into a life of grace. And yet, even this is a sovereign
work of God. Now Christ bringing us to God
is twofold. Number one, by regeneration,
this is the order of time, by applying the atonement to the
elect. They're reconciled in their heart,
in their mind, and in their conscience unto God. And their enmity ceases,
they now love God, they now bless their mediator, And they live
out their allotted days upon the earth in a sanctified life. Said Paul, you are reconciled
unto God. And bestows upon them the privilege
of sonship that they might be called the sons of God. And then Finally, by bringing
them at last to final glory, by bringing many sons unto glory. He took hold of them, Hebrews
2 and 2 say, He took hold of them. He preserves them in Jesus
Christ under that inheritance prepared before the world. And during the course of that
time or procedure, He exerts many sovereign acts of His power,
of His providence, of His grace, His mercy, and His love towards
us, and losing none whom the Father hath given Him. John 6
and verse 39. So the blessing, therefore, is
the nearness unto God. And in both of these bringings,
regeneration, and to glory. God has his eye upon the person
and the work of the Son. And so the Spirit regenerates
those that Christ died for. And they are preserved in Christ
Jesus. They're kept by the power of God until that great and final
day when He at last brings many sons unto glory by and through
His death, His obedience, that atonement, redemption, propitiation,
reconciliation, and such like that all resides and has its
being in Christ. And by that, He is thoroughly
able, ever lived, that he might save to the uttermost them that
come unto God by him because of the merit of his death and
his work and his person. Thank God for our great high
priest. All right. He brought us unto
God. We didn't bring ourself. God, Christ brought us, brought
us by his sovereign power and his great person and work, and
we're thankful for that. We take no credit. We boast not
in it. It was of God.