1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1. For as much then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men. but the
will of God. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange
that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge
the quick and the dead. For 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. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch
unto prayer. And above all things, have fervent
charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude
of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. And may God bless to us
this reading of his word. Now Peter begins this chapter
with a word that is perhaps not used so very much these days. He says, forasmuch, forasmuch. And I guess then you don't really
have to struggle too much as to think what this word means. Considering that, He says, seeing
that, because that, for as much then as Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has suffered for us in the flesh. So do you see what
he's doing there? He has just come out of the end
of chapter 3, where he has been speaking to us about the sufferings
of our Saviour in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
And then having had a moment or two to talk about something
else in the context of Noah and what happened in the days of
Noah, he returns to his argument and he returns to his message
and he returns to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
am in admiration of Peter. I like the way that these apostles
regularly, frequently return to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
equally, when I'm doing my studying and I'm looking at commentaries
and I'm thinking about what these phrases mean and what these verses
tell us, I'm always delighted when the commentators that I
read take me back to the Lord Jesus Christ at every opportunity. And that's what I aspire to.
following Peter's pattern, following that apostolic pattern in order
to return frequently to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ because
this death is where we are to draw all our help, all our direction,
Peter's building his argument for our service. How are we going
to serve the Lord? How are we going to live in the
world? How are we going to dedicate
ourselves? How will we be committed to the
things of God? How will we know His will? How will we follow His glory? By going to the cross. Not by
going anywhere else. by going to the cross, there
is no higher motivator for obedience in the life of the church than the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ and his sufferings. Even to the point of our suffering
for the sake of Christ, We are to look to the cross, we are
to look to our great example. So Peter tells us, for as much
then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
in the flesh. That's historical, that happened. 2,000 years ago approximately,
the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the flesh. Do you know that
was real suffering? Do I have to say that? That was
real pain. That was real persecution. That was real abuse. The Lord
Jesus Christ in his human body endured suffering. Now I know
what it is to suffer a little bit. I know what it is to bang
an elbow or cut a knee or even get punched in the nose. But no man suffered like the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered. No one ever suffered like the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered. In his body, in his soul. the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
for us when he was in this world. And that's what Peter returns
us to once again, the sufferings of the Saviour. And he tells
us explicitly there, he says, Christ hath suffered for us. Now you see the stress that he's
putting on here? He is reminding the people that
he is writing to that the Suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ was
definite and specific. The suffering of our Saviour
was targeted upon the us for whom He died. He suffered for
us. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
went to the cross, was not suffering for everyone. He wasn't dying
for everyone. He suffered for us, and He had
a group of people. We learn that in Isaiah. We learn
that throughout Scripture, that there was a group of people.
There were certain individuals that the Lord Jesus Christ had
been given, had been committed into His care and keeping, and
that that people were those for whom Christ died. He took the
sins of that people, not everybody's sins. If the Lord Jesus Christ
had taken the sins of everyone, and yet people are in hell today,
then clearly the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was ineffectual
for those for whom he died in vain. Can we say such a thing
about Almighty God that he attempts to do something and fails? Our God is King. Our God is all-glorious. Our God is sovereign. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ had a group of people, had that chosen people
committed into His care, committed into His hands, He went to the
cross and He suffered for them. Isaiah says, he shall see of
the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ
died for the sins of his people, died for those for whom his soul
travailed, and he was satisfied at having accomplished. What
were his words? It is finished. He had done everything
that he was called upon to do. He had successfully accomplished
everything that was given to him to do. And the Lord Jesus
Christ suffered for us, for the elect, for those whom Peter calls
at the beginning of this book. And remember, I've said that
to you often, that we must always look to see who these things
are addressed to. If he says that he suffered for
us, well, who's he writing to? the scattered strangers. There's no universal atonement
in the Word of God anywhere. It's not that we take different
verses and weigh them up to see whether the balance has it on
one side or the other. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was definite, particular, and its effects were limited to those
for whom it was designed. So he says, for as much then
as the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for us, considering that he did,
seeing that he did, Peter says, arm yourselves with the same
mind. Because we're going back to the
cross to look at what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, let us
arm ourselves with the same mind. Now, I don't want us to miss
this. We often say that the Saviour's death is the central focus of
our worship, and it is. We will endeavour to make it
so always. And we regularly and frequently
remember the Lord's death in the Lord's Supper when we take
the bread and the wine and we have communion together. And
it is a great subject to be continually returning to. But get this, On
the back, on the basis of Peter's direction here, we must never
think that the Lord's death is only an historical event. It's much more important than
that. The importance of the Lord's
death cannot be overstated because while he, yes, redeemed his people
on the cross 2,000 years ago, while he paid the price of their
sins, while he atoned for their sins, to use the Bible word,
while he reconciled us to God then, and while he propitiated
the wrath of God against our sin by taking it himself in his
own body on the tree, while he declared it to be a finished
work of salvation. Yet the effects of that death
run on. The consequences of that death
have importance for you and me today. The Lord's death was exemplary. And when the Apostle calls us
to look again at the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is
to see what he has done for us so that we can live our lives
to his glory as he directs and leads and shows us the way. The Lord's death is emboldening. because it gives us a boldness. As we see what Jesus Christ did
for us, so we understand something of what we in turn give to him. It emboldens us to take a stand. Christ gave everything for us. And it's inspirational. It's
inspirational. In fact, We don't simply look
back to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as historical. We look at him presently and
we look forward to that which is going to yet be accomplished
based on what he has done. We look at him daily. We look
at him moment by moment. We look to him when we face trials. We look to Him to provide comfort. We seek encouragement and we
seek motivation from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is what the apostles encourage us to do, to look to the death
of Christ and draw encouragement from it and emboldening from
it and enabling from it for us to live in this world, in this
day, in our circumstances, in our town, in our lives. Peter would have the suffering
of Christ always before our minds to galvanize and to rouse our
passions, to make it as it were a battle cry, a battle cry for
believers, a battle cry for the elect, to stand fast, to stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. as a
standard, a banner to follow, as a flag to follow. A flag under whose banner we
march. There's a story told of the Roman
legions as they were coming to invade Britain in B.C. 55, I think, and the galleons,
the Roman galleons were sailing up the English Channel looking
for a place to land, and they couldn't find somewhere to get
their boats right into the shore, so they knew that their soldiers
were going to have to leave those galleons and jump into deep water
in order to get to the shore. The problem was that the Britons
who already inhabited the land were following them along the
beach. waiting on them jumping into the water so that they could
attack them. And the soldiers didn't want
to go. And one soldier who carried the
standard with the eagle on the top of the Roman legion, he said,
come on, men. He said, I'm going in for my
country and for my general. Don't let the standard fall.
And he jumped into the water and started wading to the beach.
And the soldiers jumped into the water behind him and they
followed him. Why? for the honour of that banner
that they followed. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is our leader. And he encourages us to press
on. He encourages us to go forward.
And there was the enemy on the beach, on the dry ground. And
there's the depth of the water. And here's this metal tunic that
I'm wearing. and I'm having to go and face
these people. Well, the problems that you face
in your life may appear insurmountable, but here's where we garner our
encouragement and our comfort and our boldness. The Lord Jesus
Christ has gone before us. He has entered into all of our
troubles. He has blazed the path and he
calls us to follow after him. And so the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ speaks to us. And Peter says, arm yourselves
likewise. Arm yourselves likewise. Think
about these things which Christ has done. And you'll find that
there is comfort and encouragement to face the direst problems that
you face in this life. Philippians 2.5 says, let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. What an amazing
call to arms that is, to let the mind of Christ be our mind,
the heart of Christ be our heart, the bravery of Christ be our
courage, the dedication of Christ be our commitment. And here's a couple of things
which that directs us to think about. One, the Lord Jesus Christ
is a victorious example for his people. He had a mind to serve
and he had a mind to suffer. He followed the directions of
his father, even unto death. That was the reason that he came.
He didn't come to set up an earthly kingdom. He didn't come to be
a king in royal robes sitting upon a metal throne in some faraway
eastern land. That wasn't why the Lord Jesus
Christ came. He came explicitly and purposely
to lay down his life It had been prophesied long ago and the Lord
Jesus Christ knew it during his ministry. He said, if I be lifted
up, I will draw all men unto me. He said that his body would
go to the grave. and in three days he would raise
it up. The Lord Jesus Christ knew full well what he was going
to suffer, and yet he faced it with boldness, for he knew that
he had the Lord God, his Father, with him, and that he was following
the directions of God. He had a resolve, and we are called to have this
mind, to arm ourselves with this same mind, so that we are identified
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He our head, we his body. We are united with the Lord Jesus
Christ in such a union that we are almost indiscernible, the
one from the other. Can you imagine that? That when
the Lord Jesus Christ died, we died with Him. When the Lord
Jesus Christ suffered, we suffered with Him. When the Lord Jesus
Christ arose, we arose with Him. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended,
we ascended with Him. And we are presently, says Paul
to the Ephesians, seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that wonderful? Such is
the union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ that we are
already regarded as sitting in heavenly places with Him. Nothing could divert the Lord
Jesus Christ from fulfilling that calling that He was given
and nothing should distract or deflect us from following after
Him. His is a victorious example. And it is also a source of promised
blessing. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
shows us that God's promises of blessing will be granted and
dispensed. Peter is reminding us here in
this passage, or reminding those that he was writing to the scattered
strangers, and we're delighted to number ourselves amongst the
scattered strangers I trust this morning. He was showing us that
there is a prize awaiting the people of God. A prize that's
waiting for us, already set up in glory. You know, it's just
a moment away. It's just a moment away. I don't
know when that appointed time is for my death. I don't know
when it is. I am so glad I don't know when
it is. Think about that. I'm glad I don't know when it
is. But I know that in a moment I'll be gone from this world
and I'll be in the presence of my Saviour. There is a glory
just waiting for me to enter in. And a glory beyond words,
a glory beyond imagination. If I tried for the rest of the
time that we have available this morning to explain what heaven
will be like, it would be a drop in an ocean as far as my ability
to conceive of what it would be like or what it will be like.
The Lord Jesus Christ has been preparing. I've said this to
you before, it's just a little thing. But the Lord took six
days to create the heavens and the earth and all the stars and
all the constellations and all of the vastness of eternity. Six days it took him to do it.
He's been in heaven for 2,000 years preparing the mansion for
me. What a place that's going to be. What a place that's going
to be. There's a prize, there's a glory,
just waiting over the horizon. He that hath suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin. Ceased from sin. Of all the blessings
that heaven will hold, the cessation of sin will be amongst the greatest. No more sin. No more sin. No more flesh, no more weakness,
no more temptation to do the things that so please and satisfy,
at least momentarily, this body of mine. Soon, soon we shall
sin no more. Soon we will suffer no more.
Soon we will be pained no more. Soon every tear will be wiped
away, every loss will be fulfilled, every regret will be dispelled,
every trial that we've ever gone through will be clarified, will
be explained, and every joy will be possessed. And all that that
entails, is that we have a little suffering now, a little suffering
now as we wait for that glorious entering into what God has prepared
for us and what Christ has prepared for us. A little suffering in
the flesh, a little more faithfulness until the end. Verse two, the
apostle says, he sets before us the divergent paths of nature
and spirit. He says, there's the lusts of
men and there's the will of God. And he shows us that natural
men run to sinful excess and he catalogs a few of them for
us there in verses three and four. And yet he says the gospel
constrains the elect of God. The gospel constrains us. and
quickens us in our spirit to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ
and to seek the way and the will of God. Here's the other thing
that the Apostle tells us. He says that in the death of
Christ we can see that there is a great victory, the victory
that the Lord Jesus Christ has exemplified. He says also that
there is promised blessing, that hope, that home that rests just
beyond our last days. painful experience, our last
moment of suffering and then entering into the brightness
of the joy of the glory of God. And he also says that there is
a just accountability revealed to us in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, an accountability that is just. See these two paths,
the lusts of men and the ways of men and the ways of God, They
unfold in this world around about us. They unfold in time, but
they are unfolding under the watchful eye of the Lord Jesus
Christ and under the righteous power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all men and women, will give
an account of themselves and the things that they have done
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the judge of all the world. That judgment is committed into
the hands of our Saviour. And Peter declares of the Lord
Jesus that he is ready to judge the quick and the dead, ready
to judge the living, the quick, and the dead. Ready, he's ready
to judge them. No, he will judge them. He's
ready to judge them. You see, because he's prepared.
He knows. He knows the judgment and he
knows why that judgment will be applied. He's prepared and
he is able. And he's at the door right now. He's at the door. That's judgment
knocking. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
knocking. And every sinner should be aware
that they are just that close to eternity, that close to the
judgment of God, that close to eternal separation. And shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? Every single sin, every
single thought, every single word spoken in disobedience to
God that wasn't in the way of the will of God, but was rather
expressed, that was rather conceived under the motivating principle
of the lusts of man and the lusts of the flesh, the Lord Jesus
Christ knows it. and he's ready to bring judgment,
there will be a just accountability. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that
shall he also reap. There will be a just accountability.
And that's the reason for the importance of this substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin is so offensive to God
and his holiness that he cannot overlook it. It either has to
be judged in the perpetrator or judged in the substitute.
What's it to be? You want to carry your own sin
into eternity? You want to stand before a holy
God? You want to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and take
your chances? What a fool. The Lord Jesus Christ is ready
to judge the quick and the dead. And he will not treat righteousness
as wickedness, and he will not treat wickedness as righteousness. If we have that righteousness
which he gives us as a gift of his grace and mercy, then we
are safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we have not that mercy,
that righteousness, then we will feel the full wrath and the full
judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as he tells us to depart from
his presence. And so upon these grounds, the
foundation, the foundation ground that Peter has set before us
here, that which Christ has accomplished, Peter calls the Lord's people
to godly service and to sober alertness. He says, the end of all things
is at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. Verse seven, the end of all things
is at hand. Soon it's coming, soon it's coming. We've been hearing something
over the last couple of days of the fact that judgment has fallen on individuals in
a couple of locations because of the shootings that have taken
place. And those people have been ushered into eternity and
they never expected to go to the Walmart store and end up
in eternity. They never expected that when
they went out of their house in the morning. But none of us
know what a day will bring. None of us know what an hour
holds. None of us know that we've got even to the end of this service. I once watched a man dying in
a service that I was preaching in. We don't know what a moment holds. And soon the Lord Jesus Christ,
the judge, will return. So apply yourselves to the glory
of God. Apply yourselves to the way of
Christ. Apply yourselves to the love
and comfort of the brethren. Could we be better employed in
this world than following after the pattern
that the Lord Jesus Christ has given us? Now sober, it means don't get
distracted by foolish vanities. That's what sober means. And
we think about it in the context of alcohol. And sometimes these
two things just, they become sort of so intertwined that we
don't think about it outside. He's not talking about don't
get drunk and limiting it to that. He's talking about don't
get distracted in this world by foolish vanities. Now that
makes it a little bit more circumspect when we think about what we get
on, the hobby horses that we end up riding in this world. You can get drunk on more than
just booze. It calls us to be temperate.
It calls us to be circumspect about the things we say and the
things that we do and how we live in this world. Be sober.
and watch unto prayer. It's a fine phrase that, watch
unto prayer. Let me tell you what watch unto
prayer means. It means be very careful that
you don't miss out on your prayers. Watch them. Guard them. Guard the time that you have
to pray. Guard the time of the prayer
meeting. Guard the time when the Lord's people get together
to pray together, to praise together, to worship together. Guard that
time and make sure that when that time comes, you're not filling
that time with some other activity. That's what he means by watch.
Watch your prayer. Watch unto prayer. Don't neglect. worshipping God, but remember
to thank God. Remember to ask God. Remember
to acknowledge God. Remember to put God on the top,
to make God the first priority. because this reminds us where
our hope and our conversation and our confidence draws its
strength. The Lord Jesus Christ was fulsome
in his commitment and his dedication to us. Peter says, look to Christ,
he suffered for us. And these are all of the benefits
that flow from that death to us. Now be watchful. that you
don't become distracted in your spiritual life or in your spiritual
circumstances. He says in verse eight, above
all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to
another without grudging. This is to be a priority for
the people of God above all things. Prioritise this. Be passionate
one to another. Have a zealous love one to another. Do you see, we sometimes call
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ the passion of the Christ. because
it spoke about the intensity of the love that the Lord Jesus
Christ had when he went to the cross. And so that's our example
of zealousness in our dealings one with another and our affections
one for another for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are to love one another. Now what kind of love is that?
Is it a shallow love? Is it an insincere love? Is it
a pretend kind of love? Surely not. Let the world pursue that kind
of love if that's what it wants, but not us. Not the people of
God that have seen the love of God so demonstrated in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What kind of love? Fervent love. Genuine love. A love that covers
a multitude of sins. Now you know and I know that
the only thing that can cover a sin is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the righteousness of God. So what is this talking
about? What is this multitude of sins
that can be? Well, let me tell you what that
is. It's when we love someone, we don't pray their mistakes.
We don't get a megaphone or a loudspeaker and talk about the things that
they've done. We make sure that the love that we have for them
thinks kindly of them. We put the best construction
on the things that they say, and we don't think the worst
of those things which they've said. Their actions, we interpret
them graciously and kindly. We don't take them up and carry
them around. We don't fake them up and make
more of them than we should. And we don't rake them up when
they've been buried. But we leave them where they
lie. True love takes no notice of
injuries, offences and affronts. but it overlooks them, it bears
them, and it forgives them. Love is a mark of true discipleship. And by loving one another as
Christ loved us, we cover the multitudes of the sins which
are in all of our lives, but which don't need to get talked
about. And in all the things that we still do, but we put
a proper context upon them and we forgive and we share in one
another's troubles and failures. We are to be hospitable. Practice
hospitality without grudging. Be kind to strangers. Be humane to refugees. Employ the gift that is given
to you. And once again, the cross stands
tall in our sight. Grace granted. Goodness given
is not to be buried, but it is to be exercised by faith. If the Lord has given us something,
if the Lord has given you a blessing, if the Lord has given you something,
it behoves you to employ that, whatever it might be, whatever
that gift is. He has given it to you particularly. He has chosen you for that gift. and he calls upon you to exercise
it properly and appropriately. We think of this by looking first
to Christ. If he has given us a gift, then
we serve him with it. And our service to Christ, for
Christ needs nothing, is actually service to his body. And so we
see the Lord's people around us. And we think to ourselves,
if I would give the Lord Jesus Christ a cup of water if I saw
him thirsty, does Christ need a cup of water from you? No, but this man might. Well,
then you give him the cup of water for Christ's sake. And
whatever it is that we have, whatever it is that we've been
given in this world, be it our intellect, be it our brawn, our
strength, be it our acumen, be it our resources, these things
are gifts from God to be employed for the good of the church and
the glory of his name. We are just stewards, that's
all we are, just stewards. That thing, that thing that you
think is yours, it ain't, it's not. And the day that you enter
into eternity, you will leave it and you will think of it no
more. And whose will it be then? We're just holding it. to employ
it for the glory of God and for his people. The apostle says, we are stewards of the manifold
grace of God. This is speaking about the gifts
that we have from God. Manifold, there's a good word,
manifold. Well we know what twofold is,
that's double. And we know what tenfold is,
that's ten times. So I wonder what manifold is?
Many times. The manifold grace. of our God towards us. Oh blessed
people that you are. Oh rich people that you are.
Oh provided people that you are. These are the manifold blessings
of God and they are ours to employ to his greater glory and the
blessing of his people. All the gifts from God that he
has given us are the graces that he gives because we don't deserve
anything. It's not earnings, it's not wages,
it's just his goodness to us. His election of us is a grace. His salvation of us is a grace. His adoption of us and every
other blessing of salvation is his grace to us. Now we can't
give that election to someone else, but we can speak it to
someone else. We can tell it to someone else. We can minister
these things. We can share these things. We
can enter into the fullness of these things and remark to one
another in our good conversations that these are the blessings
that the Lord has given us. Minister to one another in these
things also. And finally, in all things glorify
God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things
may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Oh brethren, how can I possibly
glorify God? How can I possibly improve upon
God's glory? How can I possibly add anything
to God? It's an impossibility. But Peter
tells us that through the Lord Jesus Christ, God, the triune
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is glorified in me. If you are one of the Lord's
people, He is glorified in you. Now we will never glorify God
by our obedience, by law, but our thanksgivings, our praise,
our gifts of grace and goodness applied for the glory of God
and the building up of the church. In short, God's goodness to us
glorifies the Godhead because of the Lord Jesus Christ and
what He has done. And you see what's happened? We're right back to the cross
again. God is glorified in the cross, and all our blessings
flow from the cross, and God is glorified in the cross, so
he gives us manifold blessings from the cross, and we glorify
him through the cross, and so the pattern continues. Let us
speak the gospel truth. Let the word of God, the whole
counsel of God be that which we desire to minister one to
another. No more and no less. But as faithful ambassadors of
Christ, we take the King's message, the King's message to a lost
world, a King's message to lost sinners, and we declare what
the King has said. And then we shut up. Let us minister in the gospel
one to another in whatsoever form of service we are enabled
to perform with the ability God gives to us. In a few moments,
we're going to have something to eat. These things that we
will enjoy eating together have been prepared for us to enjoy,
to sustain our bodies and to encourage our fellowship together.
Somebody, and it wasn't me, made that salad, or made that sweet,
or provided that service because it was the gift that they had.
And as simple as that is, we labor together in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therein, we are enabled to perform
with the very abilities and gifts that the Lord has given us. We
don't do it carelessly. I hope the person that made the
sweet didn't make it carelessly. We don't do it lazily. We don't
do it hypocritically. We don't do it for what we can
get out of it. But we do it with love, for Christ
first loved us. We do it with dedication because
he dedicated himself completely for us. We do it with earnestness,
for never was there one more earnest than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we do it gratefully because we are privileged to do so by
the grace of God towards us. For brethren, these things are
not done one to another, but as unto Christ himself. to whom
be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.