Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. Before
I start into this message, let me make a few remarks about last
week's message. I've got a point that's been
on my mind all week. You know, if you've ever... Frank
knows what it's like. You preach and then you go home
and you think of more points and you think, man, I wish I'd
put that in there. Well, this one I've been chewing on all
week. You know, last week we looked
at verses 1 through 13, where Peter reached into the home and
he said, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. And then
over in verse 7, likewise, you husbands, dwell with them according
to knowledge, love your wives. So it says over in Ephesians,
love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. Now when our Lord gave Himself for the church, His bride, His
wife, what did He do? He set her free from all commandments,
all rules, and all regulations. And I thought, and this is why
He said, if a man who loves God and a wife who loves God, you
don't have to put rules and regulations on her. Turn her loose. She won't
max out the credit cards. She won't max them out. You cut
loose those rules and regulations and commandments, just like our
Lord did. When He died for His church, He took away all those
restrictions. And she's allowed to do now what she wants to do.
And what does she want to do? Be right here, worshipping her
husband. Her desire is to her husband.
All right, that's the end of last week's message. That has
bugged me all week, and I was afraid I was going to forget
it. I was telling somebody else about that, and they said, boy,
that's a good point. But that's so. That's so. Whom the Son sets
free, he's free indeed. Free from the ceremonies and
the commandments and all these rules and regulations. If you
have a godly wife, turn her loose. You'll be all right. You just
have to put rules and regulations on rebels. That's right. All right, that's the end of
that one. The title of the message is Bringing Us to God. This is what our Lord came into
this world to do. To bring us sinners, fallen sinners,
worms, ungodly people enter the presence of God, not just a visit. We are not going to visit glory. We are going to stand in His
presence and worship Him forever and ever and do whatever
is going to be done on that new heaven and on that new earth. He's bringing us to God. That
we might be able to stand there accepted and worship Him and
serve Him throughout eternity. This is what's going on. This
is what's going on. He's bringing us to God. Now,
Peter says, and who is He that will harm you if you be followers
of that which is good? We know that the law was not
made for a righteous man, but for the lawless. An honest man
has nothing to fear. He says here in verse 14, but
if you do suffer. He's like he's saying here in
verse 13, I'm not he's like he's reaching back. But if you suffer,
I'm not saying you will never suffer. You know, if you walk
after Christ, follow after him, I'm not saying that you will
never suffer. But if you suffer for righteousness
sake, for the gospel sake, for the testimony of the gospel,
if you suffer for that, rejoice. Be happy. Be happy if you suffer
for Christ's sake. Because the Scripture teaches
us that the Spirit of God rests upon you. Be happy to suffer
for Him. Be happy to be a part of that
body that suffers for Him. And don't be afraid. Don't be
afraid of their terror. Don't be afraid of their threatenings. Don't be troubled. Remember this.
The rod and the staff are in his hand. They're in his hand. The devil's in his hand, isn't
he? The devil's in his hand. He can't
do anything. No man can do anything. No one can do anything. No angel,
bad or good, can do anything without his bidding, without
his permission. So he says, don't be afraid of
their terror, their threatenings, their appearance. You know, some
people can be, you know, some situations can look very scary,
can't it? He says, don't be afraid of that.
And it can be trouble. Don't even let yourself become
anxious. My soul, we get anxious. And
I do. I can tell you, I get anxious
when there's not even real trouble going on. I find myself. My imagination,
you know, our imagination is usually ten times worse than
the actual event. And our imagination makes us
anxious. But don't even become anxious,
but trust Him to keep you at all times. He can keep you, trust
Him, trust Him. But here, do this, do this. Instead
of being afraid when trouble comes, sanctify the Lord God
in your heart. Purpose this in your heart that
you are going to reverence God in your conduct. Sanctify Him
in your heart and you'll be ready whether the sun shines or whether
it's raining. You'll be ready to always give
an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that
is in you and do it with meekness and fear. Now, he says here,
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Now, we know that we
do not make God holy. God is holy as. As holy can be,
you know, holy can only be one way. There's not a less holy
or more holy. Holy is holy. Anything less is
unholy and it can't be more or wouldn't be holy. And we do not
make Him holy, nor do we add to His holiness. It says over
in the Psalms, My righteousness extends not to thee, but to the
sons of men. God's holy in Himself. But here's
what we do. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be obedient to His commands. Follow His commands
at all times, in all situations. Follow His commands. and worship
Him in spirit and in truth, just as we are doing right now. This
is, to come into this place and to worship God, to truly worship
Him in spirit and in truth is to sanctify God in your hearts. That's what it is. It's to worship
Him in spirit and truth. And he says here, sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts. This is to love Him. This has to do with love. Our Lord said to those Pharisees
this morning, that lawyer that asked him, which was the greatest
commandment, he said to love God with all your heart, your
mind and your soul. This is to sanctify the Lord
God, listen, in your hearts, not just outwardly, not just
with our lips, but inwardly. This starts within. You know,
worship starts within and comes out. Sanctify him in your heart,
love him in your heart. That's what he's saying. If we don't do this. We do not
sanctify him in our hearts. This worship service is in vain
and actually it's not a worship service. If we do not and are
not able to sanctify him in our hearts and be ready, that is
be prepared at all times. Be prepared always to give an
answer to every man that asks of you a reason. A reason of the hope that you
have. A reason of the hope that is,
listen, in you. Oh, that hope that's in Christ
in you. The hope of glory. Get a reason for that hope. And
do it with meekness and fear. When someone asks you, why do
you believe Why do you believe that your sins are forgiven?
On what grounds do you believe this? The Word of God and the
witness of His Spirit. The Word of God teaches us this.
Why do you believe that you'll go to be with the Lord when you
die? Because God said so. He that
comes to me, I will know why it's cast out. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved. The Word of God is
the foundation for all that we believe. The Word of God is the
foundation of our hope. Now, the object of our hope is
Jesus Christ Himself. The Word of God here is the foundation.
It is through His Word that we find out who Jesus Christ is.
But the object of our hope is Christ. It is Christ Himself. He's the object of it. This hope that every believer
has is a person. It's not creeds, it's not doctrines,
it's not church membership. This hope that every believer
has is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is, David called Him
the hope of what? Israel. Turn over to 1 Timothy
chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Notice how Paul writes to Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. Our hope. He sets him forth before
Timothy. and before the church of God
as our hope of standing before God. Our hope of acceptance is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope in the covenant. It all rests on Him. God made
it with Him. It rests in Him. He's the one
who fulfilled it. He's the surety of that covenant.
He's the guarantor of it. He's the mediator of that covenant.
It all channels through Him. Every blessing that God has for
me comes through Him to me. He said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. Everything the branch receives,
receives it from the vine. It comes through the vine. Every
blessing that God has for this sinner and every sinner whom
He saves is channeled through the Lord Jesus Christ, the only
mediator between God and men. And he's the high priest of God
who makes intercession for us. He says, Father, I know that
you always hear me. He intercedes for us. Does that
not give you hope? Truly, does that not really lift
your spirit when you think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the eternal Son of God, intercedes on your behalf for your good,
that all that he has done, that all he has accomplished be applied
to you, that all the blessing be given to you, that his righteousness
be given to you. Boy, that'll give you hope. That'll give you hope. And He's
the sacrifice that's demanded. There's got to be a sacrifice.
There's got to be a priest. There's got to be a sacrifice. And He's
the sin bearer. And His blood is the blood of
atonement. He is our peace, the Scripture teaches us. He is our
all in all. That's why Paul wrote to Timothy
and said, Christ, our hope. Oh, I'm so glad I don't have
to stand here and say, now, your hope is that you've got to do
this, this, this, this. or don't do this, this, this,
this. Our hope is a person, the Son of God. When we stand before
God Almighty, when this life's over, and it will be pretty soon,
it'll be over with. Even for the youngest of us,
it'll be over with. Even if we live to be old, old, it'll be
over with very soon. And we stand before God. The
only hope I have is that man seated at God's right hand. That's
my hope. That's my hope, and that's the
hope of every sinner whom God saves. And you give this meekness. I mean, you give this answer.
You give the answer to this reason here when they ask you. You give
this answer with meekness and fear. You give it with meekness. You know why? And this is the
first thing I thought of when I read this. Give this with meekness
and fear. But for the grace of God, there
go I. When I give a reason for the
hope that is in me, which is Christ in me, the hope of glory.
When I give a reason, I give that reason, I give that answer
scripturally. We are not going to give an answer
off the top of our heads. We give this answer scripturally,
rightly dividing the word of truth, and we give it with meekness. and fear, because if it were
not for the grace of God, there go I. I'd be the one asking the question.
I might be the one standing over there asking the question. And
again, with meekness and fear, because who knows, that person
asking might be a sheep. Might be a sheep. That person
might want to come and hear what you hear, what you believe. Having a good conscience. Oh,
what would you give for that? What would you give for a quiet
conscience? A conscience that will let you just lay down at
night and go to sleep. Well, I tell you what, a conscience
like that is a conscience that's been purged, that's been washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Being a good boy doesn't give
me a good conscience. A self-righteous one maybe, It's
the blood of Christ. It's Christ that gives me such
a conscience. And having a good conscience
that whereas I speak evil of you, you know that you're righteous in Christ. You know
you didn't do the things they're accusing you of. You know that
you're not evil. In Christ, you know that you're
not evil. You're not doing those things that they accuse you of.
And so having a good conscience that whereas I speak evil of
you, As an evildoer, they will, in God's time, be
ashamed. God will vindicate His elect. He will vindicate His elect.
And in time, they will be ashamed that falsely accused your good
conversation, your good life, your life, that's what he's talking
about, your life, I won't say lifestyle, Your life, the life
you live every day out there in public, the life you live
every day in your home, that life that you have been given
in Christ, that you have a good conscience, a quiet conscience. The world can accuse me and call
me what they want, but oh, if I have a conscience cleansed
by the blood of Christ, what's that worth? What's that worth? And He'll vindicate His elect.
He will. And they'll be ashamed. He said
they'll be ashamed. For it's better if the will of
God be so that you suffer for well-doing. It's better if it's
the Lord's will is not all things of God are not all things. Sent our way by our Heavenly
Father. And then what Romans 8, 28 teaches
us, all things work together for our good. Are not all afflictions ordered
of our Father? Are they not all sent by Him
to His children to correct, to teach, to instruct, to wean us
from these things? Are they not all that way? For
it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for
well-doing, for believing the gospel, for following after Him. than for evildoing. If you suffer
for evildoing, you're getting what you deserve. But it's much
better, he's saying, it's much better to suffer for righteousness,
it's much better to suffer for righteousness than to suffer
the wrath of God against sin in the day of judgment. It's
better to suffer for righteousness sake here than to suffer His
wrath against sin in judgment. Here is a little while, there's
forever. For Christ also, now we've come
to verse 18, for Christ, the Son of God, also hath once suffered
for sins. The just, and that is the just
one, the Son of God who knew no sin, the just with the unjust.
And why did He do this? That He might bring us to God.
Why did He go to Calvary? That He might bring us to God,
that He might satisfy justice. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the divine Spirit of God. You know, first of all,
Peter uses this as an example. He uses the sufferings of Christ
as an example on how we ought to bear suffering. How we ought
to bear with injustice, insults, and these things that come our
way. Being slandered for things we didn't say or did not do.
And he's saying this is how we are to suffer, this is how we
are to take it, the way he took it. He suffered the just punishment
of God for sins that he didn't do personally. When I look at the cross of our
Lord and the sufferings, the agony, the unimaginable agony,
soul agony, that he went through being made sin, suffering under
God's wrath, and he did that because of me. Me. How much more ought I be able
to put up with injuries? How much more should I put up
with that? Or be able to be long-suffering about it? How much more? But
also here, why did he suffer so? Why did he suffer so? that
he suffered for sin. Sin. Sin's got to be dealt with. And sin belongs to somebody.
Sin is not something floating in the air. That's pollution,
but it's not sin. Sin is me. Sin is what I do because
of me. It says he suffered here for
sins. Not just mine, but yours. You
who believe the gospel. And our sins are many because
of our sinful nature. And He suffered for sin. That's
what it says over in Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed.
He suffered for sin. And he suffered. The Son of God,
who knew no sin, suffered. He suffered the hell of God's
wrath. Torment. He was tormented. That rich man lifted up his eyes
and says, Inhale. Being in torment. Can't even begin to imagine that.
He suffered it. He suffered it. And he did it
that he might bring us to God. This is his work, is to bring
us. And how's he going to bring us? Well, he's going to die for
us. He's going to live for us first,
and then he's going to die. Then he's going to rise. He's
going to sit on high. He's going to take possession
of heaven for us. He's going to enter into the
Holy of Holies for us. That's how He's going to do it.
That He might bring us God's elect. You know, as sinful as we are,
as sinful as we are by nature, we wouldn't take something like
this and just throw it out and let people make their decisions
on it and whoever comes, comes. Even we are smart enough not
to do that. He says that you will not come
to Me that you might have life. Men and women left to themselves
will not come to God no matter what for life. Well, they'll
come to Him to have a broken leg healed or a disease or something
like that. That's what they come for. But
not for life. Not for forgiveness. Not to have
their sins put away. But He's going to bring us The
elect of God to God. That He might bring us to God.
There's a purpose in all this. In all this vastness that we
see. All that's gone on in creation.
The fall of Adam. The death of Christ. There's
a purpose in all this. One of the purposes is to glorify
His Son. Another purpose is that He might
make you trophies of His grace. That's the purpose of God. That
He might bring us, which tells me that we are far off. No star, I thought about this
today, no star is further away from this planet than a lost
center is from God. Ye who sometimes over in Ephesians,
ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. You were far, far off. There's none good, no, not one. Not one, not even me. All our
righteousness are as filthy rags in God's sight. And the list
goes on and on and on about us. And He came that He might bring
us, the ungodly, the sinner, the beggar, into His presence. That's why He came. When Adam
fell, we lost the way to God. We lost the life of God. We lost
the truth of God. We lost the knowledge of God.
It wasn't too long after that they started building a tower,
trying to reach heaven. That shows how much they knew
of God. That shows what they thought of Him, too. That they
could actually build a building that would reach to where He's
at. He said, I'm higher than the heavens. Oh, God is light. We are darkness.
God is love. We are full of hatred. We are
by nature everything. Listen, we are by nature everything
that God is not. Everything. God is in heaven. We are upon the earth. Yeah,
they thought they could build a tower and get there. They thought
they were good enough if they could just build a building that
they could get there. And stay there. How can we? How can this maggot? That's what the word worm means.
He's not talking about just a little fishing worm. He's talking about
a maggot. How can this maggot come into
God's holy presence and stay there? Stay there. We have the answer right here. Right here. For Christ also has
once, once now, once, one time and only one time, because that
one time satisfied justice, suffered for sins, the just one, and it
had to be the just one. It couldn't just be anyone. It
could not be a sinful one. It had to be the just one. It
had to be He who knew no sins. He who knew no sins. Even though
he was made to be sin, yet through that whole transaction,
he knew no sin. And how is that so? What did our Lord say this
morning? You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,
for the power of God. Only God can make such a transaction
happen. And He did. When He made him
to be sin, yet he knew no sin. This just one had to die for
the unjust ones. I am by nature as unjust as anybody
that perishes by nature. We all are. We all have the same
nature of those who perish. But our Lord, our Lord came into
this world. He came into this world, kept
the law, Obedience to his parents, to
the law of the land. He paid taxes, didn't he? We
saw that too. He paid taxes. He sent Peter
down there to get the money out of the fish's mouth. He paid
Peter's taxes and his too. Obedient all the way unto death,
even the death of the cross. Why? That he might bring this
to God. That he might bring this to God.
He suffered the just punishment of God's justice, that He might
bring us to God. That we might be born again.
We can't be born again until justice is satisfied. Born of the Spirit, that we might
be partakers of the divine nature. That we might be delivered up
without blemish and without spot. Oh, that He might bring us to
God. This matter of bringing us to God It's serious business. Serious business. There's only one way to God. Christ said this in John 14,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. We cannot come to God any other
way but Christ, through His person, His work, that He might bring
us to God. The only one who can do this
is the Son of God Himself. He's got to become incarnate,
born of my bone, flesh of my flesh, take my hell, rise and
take possession of heaven for me. He did all this that He might
bring us to God. And by this same Spirit, I want
you to notice something here, and I'll wind this up. It says
there in verse 18, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit, Well, by this same Spirit, he went and preached
unto them, it says, by which also he went and preached unto
the spirits in prison, that is, in hell, which sometime were
disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah while the ark was a preparing for a few that his eight souls
were saved by the water. The same divine nature that's
in Christ, the same Spirit, it says, but quickened by the Spirit,
That same spirit was the same spirit that Noah preached with,
that preached through Noah to those who perished in the flood.
Same one, which shows his eternality. This shows his eternality. He
was a man and yet he was God. He's God manifested in the flesh,
the same spirit that was that was in that man is the same one. The same Lord who spoke and walked
on this earth is the same one who spoke through Noah when the
ark was being prepared. Same one. And then let me read this last
few verses. The like figure that is this
ark in which Noah and the eight were saved is a picture of baptism.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us,
not to put in the way of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, who has gone into heaven. Oh, that he might bring us to God.
Where is he? Where is he? Where is this man? Where is this Galilean? Where
is this man who was mutilated, who was nailed to a cross, whose
visage was so marred more than any man? Where is he? Well, it
says here he's gone into heaven. He has taken possession of heaven
for his people. who has gone into heaven and
is on the right hand of God. That's the place of power. That
is the place of authority. Our Lord, who came into this
world that he might bring us to God, is now seated at God's
right hand, exercising power and authority over all angels,
good and bad, over all authorities and over all powers, all of them
being made subject to him. Oh, he's not that weak, Galilean
is he? Now, how can a man, how can a
man stand in a pulpit after reading something like this? I mean,
I know how he can. I know, I know the answer. But you wonder suddenly, how
can you stand in a pulpit and say, won't you let Jesus save
you? Won't you give him your heart? Why don't you do this?
Why don't you do that? And then you read verses like
this. He's gone into heaven. He's on the right hand of God.
Angels. Angels. Who are far more superior
than we are in anything, in everything. Angels. And authorities. powers being made subject unto
Him. And you're not going to let Him
save you? And it's up to you? It's up to you whether or not
He's going to save you? That you're going to checkmate
Him? That you have the, that you, and I know you don't want
to talk about that. The sinners, I should say it
that way, the sinful man has the power to say, You're not going to do anything. You're not going to do anything.
You're not going to save me. You're not going to damn me. I tell you what, reading scriptures
like that gives me the courage to stand here and preach, knowing
that no matter how hard the heart is, no matter how obstinate the
person is, If he speaks a word, you're broken. He'll break you
like a twig. All power and authority. And
this is given to my Lord, our Lord. That's comforting, isn't
it? That's why Peter said to him,
don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. It's all in
His hands.