your Bibles, please, to 1 Peter chapter 3. Begin our reading in verse 18 and work through the end of the chapter, read through the end of the chapter. 1 Peter 3, 18, hear now the inerrant, infallible, and inspired word of God. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. the like figure wherein to 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 has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels, authorities, and powers being made subject unto him. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his most holy word. Our quotation today is from the Reverend Stephen Chardock. Christ was a victim put in the place of the sinner to appease the anger of God, and the sins were laid upon the head of the sacrifice. So God put upon him the iniquities of us all. in regard of this typicalness of the legal administration. Christ is often called a lamb and the lamb of God, and a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. To those figures of him, he seems to refer in his last speech upon the cross, it is finished. The whole design of the daily and extraordinary sacrifices was completed. the demerit of sin and severity of divine justice were manifested, and the truth of God as well as his love made glorious therein, upon which followed the rending of the veil and the setting heaven open for the entrance of all that believed in him, to approach unto God upon account of this sacrifice." Well, we praise the Lord for Men like Stephen Charnock, whom the Lord has gifted to the church as one of those apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. So now we come to our brief review. Two sermons on the conscience last week. First of all, we defined conscience. Conscience is a moral quality of the soul providing a practical judgment to discern right from wrong, good from evil, and to direct the will and actions accordingly. One of the divines that we read last week called it God's deputy. We'll remember that. The first sermon was a brief survey of the Bible and general comments on conscience. We learned that there are many descriptors that the Bible uses with the term conscience. It is a gift from the Lord, part of our creation in his image, as a means to further our communion with God. God has given you your conscience as a means of furthering communion with him. to tell you when it's time to confess your sins and draw near to God for forgiveness, to tell you of times when it's time to draw near to God on the basis of Christ and praise Him for His goodness. Your conscience tells you that, beloved. But I want to violate that conscience, as we heard last week. We heard that it can be weak, malformed, ignorant, and so it is imperfect, along with our own imperfection. So conscience cannot be king, is what we heard, although it ought not to be violated. It can be seared, it can be evil. The natural man's conscience is fallen and corrupt, and does not witness properly for him. We saw that it cannot be trusted absolutely but it can err so it cannot be king as we said. We also saw that it must not be violated for it is given by God to advance our communion with him. If our conscience condemns us we ought not to move forward in violation of it because that damages our relationship with God rather than moving it forward. We want to use the right use of conscience. And so if our conscience is ill-informed yet, we ought not to violate it until it is better informed. Then we're not violating it at all. Our conscience is brought up, it is matured, it is informed. We saw also that it can be sprinkled and renewed, brought more according to its original design. And then in the first sermon we heard also that there is a proper order that we desire to exercise a good conscience toward God and man, and in that order, God first, man second, following the words of the Apostle Paul. Then we saw seven marks of a good conscience in the second sermon. A good conscience is a conscience purified, purged by the inward action of the Spirit of God. That is, it is a regenerate conscience, a renewed conscience. Secondly, it is a conscience informed by the Word of God and not by the doctrines and commandments of men. Thirdly, it is a conscience set forth at true liberty in Christ because it is informed by the Word of God. It is a free conscience in that way. no longer in bondage to sin and the doctrines and commandments of men. It is a conscience that has confidence in the Lord, looking away from self to Christ and his righteousness, and in that way it is a conscience satisfied or at peace. Number five, it is a good conscience because it is a tender conscience, seeking never to offend God our Father and grieved in everything by which he is offended. right and please whenever our Father is pleased and then finally we said that a good conscience is a quiet conscience that is that it generally squawks at us when we do evil and so that good conscience rightly informed by the Word of God if quiet is that good conscience that leaves us or sets us at peace before God. Okay, so a brief recap of last week. Of course, we could preach on conscience for weeks and weeks, but two sermons last week put into one Lord's Day to make that stick a little better. Now we move on to the next section, yet not quite yet the next section. I want to start, first of all, this statement by Peter in verse 17. regarding the will of God. I want to talk to you about the will of God for a moment. We leave no confusion behind on that. Peter will say, it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. When we speak about the will of God, we have to divide that, don't we? We have to understand that properly. We don't reason, for instance, from an is to an ought. This is how something is in the world, so that's how it ought to be in this world. We understand that everything that takes place is God's will. Everything that takes place is God's secret or decretal will is how we say that theologically. That is that God is in charge of everything. You've heard me say it this way before. There is not a speck of dust that rises up off the prairie floor and sets down somewhere else except the Lord directs it, guides it, sets it there. There is not a drop of rain that falls except that the Lord has determined and guides its falling upon the particular square centimeter that it lands on the earth. There is not an action of a man that God has not determined that he will do and is not in that sense sovereign over, although God is not chargeable with sin. He uses second causes, and yet they are as infallible as his mind is sure and pure. So what does Peter mean here then when he says, the will of God? Because sometimes when we speak of the will of God, we also speak of God's will of precept or his will of command. That is, that when God commands you to do something, there are times when he secretly intends that you will not keep that command. But we say that is secretly kept because when he has commanded you, he not only commands your actions, he commands your will, he commands your affection, he commands your mind, he commands you to bring every faculty of humanity in service to that revealed commandment of his. And these are things that we get confused on. Because the fact that God has not revealed everything to us is a simple outcome of our being human and not divine. God will do things and cause things to come to pass in this world and yet remain completely upright in all of them, whereas if we come near to them, we become defiled. the pristine and untouchable holiness of God is such that although he has determined everything that comes to pass, including the sins and the original fall of man and all other things, as we say in our confession of faith, that he has done so, yet himself remained free from sin. This is one of those things about God that is different from us. We read just a little while back in 2 Kings How the Lord said, it's time for Ahaz to die. Who will entice him to go up to Ramoth Gilead and fall? And of course, a lying spirit comes and we know the story. We can't involve ourselves with sin like that, but God can and remain pure at the same time. Beloved, we're glad that there's such a thing as a secret or decretive will of God. The things that God has determined that will take place in this world are divine business. They are performed with divine wisdom and divine strength. And they are secret to us. And so what Peter talks about here in verse 17 is the will of God. If it be the will of God that you suffer for well-doing then for evil doing. That's what he says. He says it that way. And this is one of those instances where we see both the precept and that which is invisible. Think about that with me for a moment. We have a command here. A command is a visible precept that we are to obey. And what has God put into our hands to obey? Suffer for well doing rather than for evil doing. That's the commandment from God. And yet, in that we suffer for well-doing is, in some sense, it's unjust. It is an injustice to us. Remember the venues of that ill-treatment here in 1 Peter chapters 2 and 3. The venue of ill-treatment can be a civil authority. But don't we read in Romans chapter 13, that civil authorities are God's ministers and they're given by God to the praise of them that do well. And yet here is a civil magistrate acting out of accord with his office as God's minister and persecuting and ill-treating those under his dominion. Why? Because they're doing good. And so here we have the invisible or secret will of God bringing that to pass upon God's people whom God has commanded to do what? to remain faithful even when we are unjustly treated. And not only faithful, haven't we also read self-denying so that rather than standing upon our rights and insisting upon vengeance that we remain under this ill treatment that they who are persecuting us may learn to glorify God in the day of visitation. so there is precept here and there is God's decree here both of them are true yet I believe that when Peter says if the will of God be so what he means also to communicate by this is you know Christians some days there are days that you will do good and those civil authorities over you will recognize that as well-doing and they will commend you. You'll have praise of the same. Like Paul says in Romans 13. Do that which is good and you will have praise of the same, Paul says. Peter would give us the same intimation here. What can we expect? He's already taught us that. Who will harm you if you do that which is good? rulers, authorities, church authorities, family authorities, domestic authorities, employment authorities, commercial authorities, they don't normally do ill to those who are doing good. It's not normally how it goes, but if it be the will of God. And so the first thing that we must learn here is that when we consider this will of God, We have to learn to think wisely on this. Because this understanding has been perverted to a kind of superstition. And we must not let it devolve to superstition among us. We must be aware of such superstitions. I've told you the story about a lady that we had in a church that my wife and I attended a long, long time ago. And her husband noted that at night, when they sat together and either read or watched a little bit of television, that she would, she was doing this. She was rubbing her forehead like this. Well, then that place in her forehead started to stick out a little bit. And it started to stick out a little bit more. It didn't go away. So they went to the doctor and found out that she had an inoperable brain tumor and that she didn't have long to live. A lady that I believe loved the Lord along with her husband. Well, she had a background that was superstitious, charismatic. And she was talking to one of her old friends from her old church. And that lady said to her, well, you must have been some kind of sinner to have that kind of tumor. Beloved, that's rank superstition. We have learned in our study of afflictions, let me repeat the principle here, that if God dealt with us according to our sins, we would never come out from under judgment and we would always be under the sorest afflictions and more than we can imagine. The Lord does not deal with us in that way. Yet, we wanna drop the other shoe as well. Because with every affliction, with every difficulty, with every stroke of persecution, beloved. We have not somehow, or the universe has not somehow spun out of control, or our well-being and the Lord keeping us has not somehow ceased. The Lord is still doing a work, even under such persecutions and afflictions as those that Peter has described. We have seen that that work is perhaps on behalf of others. that they may learn to glorify God and profit from your testimony. And that is true. But is it not also for our own souls? Can you open your minds, beloved? Can you open your minds to conceive of God as he has revealed himself in scripture? To be that expert? To be that professional that have such a mastery over every aspect of every movement of every person, place, thing upon the face of the earth and that which is unseen in such a way that everything that takes place can be for His glory and the good of His church and the judgment of evildoers according to His secret will perfectly I think I told you the story about a pastor friend of mine. A long time ago, we were talking. He had just flown into Los Angeles. He flew in from the east. I don't know if you've ever flown into Los Angeles from the east or not. But you start seeing city out there near Palm Springs. You got another hour to go. You're flying over city, and I mean dense city. And he said, you know, as the plane lowered and we were descending into LAX, I looked over the streets and I could see people driving. I could even see some people walking. I saw the buildings, the high rises. I could even see, you know, inside and see people moving about. It just hit me as we were driving in that this is the purview that the Lord has except it's over the whole world. And not only is it a simple observation and purview, but it is the direction and authority that we cannot fathom. Every little thing that's taking place is taking place for some reason that God in his divine wisdom has determined. Every little thing. And so beloved, if God so rules in that way, if it be the will of God that is his secret will that for well-doing we take it on the teeth what does Peter say notice it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing that we can take comfort that we are still right where he wants us still right where the Lord would have us for His glory, for the good of our persecutors, if it be His will, to turn them by our consistent testimony, and indeed to deepen, to broaden, and to stretch out our faith. We can be confident, beloved, of this thing. First Corinthians chapter 10 verses 12 through 14, that the Lord will not tempt us above what we are able to bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that we shall be able to endure it. He will not stretch you beyond what you can bear. He's promised you that. You may think he's stretching you beyond what you can bear, but remember he knows you better than you know yourself. So at such times then it is our duty to receive such ill treatment with the following mindset. We have committed ourselves to the Lord. He will take up for his own and he will not push us farther than we are able. It is indeed for our good as we will see in a moment. We buck and complain under such times because our wills are out of alignment with God's will. God may not reveal to us that we have persecution coming our way. It may catch us off guard or by surprise, even though in scripture we have been told to be ready over and again. That's our dullness, isn't it? We might never rise up and rightly charge God by saying, you didn't tell me it was coming. He has told us over and again in his word. Let's just cite one very brief passage that Paul told Timothy. Yea, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. We have been put on notice. But it is the will of God that we suffer for well-doing than for evil doing, preceptively and sometimes decretely. He has ordained that we should suffer though we are doing well. This is a testimony then to ourselves and to others of our loyalty to Christ when with the heart we offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices even when such service is costly. That's the nature of a sacrifice, beloved. That's why we call it sacrifice in the first place. The Lord would encourage us then with this testimony and would draw others to himself by it. Faith requires then in this commitment to God the acknowledgement that He knows what is best for us and that He will do that which is good for us. As we said last week, we're not truly harmed in these things, but we are deepened, advanced, raised up, strengthened by such sufferings when we receive them rightly as the will of God for us. Further, we must acknowledge that the Lord brings less afflictions upon us than we deserve. for he measures his chastisements upon his beloved children for their profit and not for their destruction. In our hope in the Lord's mercies being new every day, this brings relief if it be his will. And if not, if we're not relieved in the morning when his mercy is new, we have his mercy of endurance that next morning. if we remain under persecution. We had the providential bent of reading Psalm 103 this morning in our family worship. Listen to what Psalm 103 verse 12 says. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. What does that tell you, beloved? When you are persecuted for righteousness' sake, The Lord is not bringing upon you his judicial judgment. That has been visited upon Christ. It's not his judicial judgments, it's his fatherly chastisement, which brings profit. And as that father, he knows your frame, that you are but dust, and he knows what you can endure. Notice the other verse. Let's see, which is it? There, verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Every bit of chastisement in this world that we receive, every bit of ill treatment that we receive in this world is less than what our iniquities deserve. And that's the proof of it, that God intends these to us and others for his glory and our and their good. So the Lord can will, secretly, decretively, that we suffer for well-doing rather than for evil doing. because he has an upright end that he will bring to pass through such things. And it's not like the ends justify the means for God. That's not what we're saying. But God pursues means that are off limits for us, but he pursues them in a way that is not off limits for him because they are consistent with his holiness and his righteousness and his judgment. So that's the first point. The second point is this. When we move on to verse 18 and we read about Christ and his sufferings. We won't have time to get through verse 18 today. But there are several words I want to focus on in this passage that reveal to us such precious truth. The first word is also. The second word is once. The first word also. Christ has also suffered for sins. Why is the word also there? By the way, it's a good translation of the original. Why also? Why didn't he just simply say Christ hath suffered for sins? But he didn't. Christ also suffered for sins. First of all, let us remember why it was that Christ suffered. It was for sins. Our sins. Right? Peter will make that clear. He'll say the just for the unjust. Christ didn't suffer for any foolishness in himself. This is why he can be our example throughout this passage. He doesn't suffer for his own foolishness. He suffers at the hands of others and for sin, the sins not of his own doing, but of others doing, as we've read before. And when we get to that portion, that's what we'll talk about. But the word also teaches us in that it goes with the prior context. That when we suffer in this life, we suffer in some sense on account of sin. Think about that for a moment. Although the judicial verdict of sin against those who are God's people, that's been satisfied in Christ. That he does not deal with us after our sins, as we read in Psalm 103. That he's punished us less than our iniquities deserve, Ezra chapter 9. that there is still ill-treatment. There's still affliction. There's still persecution. There's still something ill that goes on. And it's also for sins. Isn't that interesting? Just that little word also tells us that when we are chastened by the Lord through, for instance, persecution for well-doing, that the Lord is doing this out of his fatherly care for us, chastening us, cleansing us, purging us, driving us out of ourselves to him more and more, sanctifying us, helping us, lifting us up out of the morass of bondage to sin and into the light of his liberty more and more. that we suffer on account of sin when we suffer, even if that sin is not, say, our sin with regard to how we're being punished. And let me explain that so we understand that fully. There are times when someone does evil in this world, and they're called to account by a civil authority, and they suffer for their own sin in that sense. They are guilty before the human court. They have violated some precept, Right? We're told by Peter to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. To kings as to supreme and so on. Right? Why? Why do we do that? Because the Lord has sent them as his ministers. And so sending them as his ministers, we obey them as we would obey the Lord. And when we violate that trust and come under judgment, we suffer, quote, for our own sins, the judicial and temporal punishments of this world. Whether that would be restoration, whether that be restitution, whether that be fine, whether that be imprisonment, whatever that violation requires. However, there are times when we've done something that is not worthy of civil punishment. And we'll keep it in the civil realm to keep it on one track so that we can understand. We haven't violated any civil precepts yet. The civil magistrate is after us. He's made up a precept. He's put upon us some unlawful thing that we simply cannot obey. They told the disciples, don't preach and don't teach anymore. They said, we can't. Christ has commanded us to preach. We can't keep quiet. We must obey God rather than men. They hadn't done anything wrong. The precept against them, the judicial precept against them was an unjust precept. It should have been thrown out. Their case should have been thrown out, yet they suffered for it. And why did they suffer? They suffered for their sins, beloved. They suffered in some sense that God knows that we need to drive us out of our sins more toward Him. Christ also suffered for sins, just like even innocents suffer for sins. Sometimes those sins are the sins of others that they suffer under, but it also has some reference to us because, beloved, as we said a moment ago, we're not perfect, and if God dealt with us according to our sins, we'd always be under difficult and sore judgments. That God lightens those judgments and gives us grace to endure them and strength to profit from them, they are still on account of our sins, however. Christ also suffered for sins. Well, if we can get that understanding, we can profit from such afflictions. Why do good things, why do bad things happen to good people? Get the good people thing out of your mind. Think of it this way, why does an absolute destruction happen to all us evil people? And then from that we can begin to reason why the Lord will say it this way, lighten up the judgments that we deserve, yet still place judgments upon us, even though innocent before our persecutors, not innocent before Him, still needing something worked out of our lives that God is working out through those afflictions and difficulties. We suffer for sin when we suffer, and we must be tender to that. and if we're not tender to that if we're stubborn standing upon our innocence if the Lord is faithful and I believe he is then up the ante goes until we have ears to hear what was it that Amos said Remember when we read last week in Amos 4, I sent you blasting, I sent you mildew, I sent you drought, I sent you enemies, I sent you this, I sent you that, and at each step it's a little bit more intense, and a little bit more intense, and a little bit more intense, and because you have not hearkened unto me in these things at all, what does the end of chapter 4 say? Prepare to meet thy God, and that's not like to sit down and have tea. that's to meet with even a sorer judgment. This passage telling us that Christ also suffered for sins teaches us to remember then that in every affliction, in every persecution, even if we are innocent before the eyes of the human court, God knows our hearts and he knows what we need. And while he will not push us beyond what we can endure, and while with every affliction he sends his comforts, it is not without reason that he sends them. It is not without judgment that he sends them. It is not without wisdom that he sends them. And he never abandons us in them. He will always be with us through them. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. Isaiah chapter 12. Well, this was the attitude of Jeremiah. Turn with me to Jeremiah, nope, Lamentations chapter three. Also written by Jeremiah, but under a different title. For the sake of time, we'll not read through these large swaths of scripture that teach these things. But I'm going to give you a summary of what I see down through verse 41. So first of all, in one through 20, this is the passage of Jeremiah's lament. Jeremiah's lament. He acknowledges the hand of the Lord He exclaims that they are under temporal judgments. He seems trapped, even hunted by the Lord. He bewails the apparent deafness on the Lord's part, although not actually the case. He endures persecution even from his own people. And these things are founded upon the Lord and His judgments. He does not blame and curse men. He acknowledges the Lord in His judgments and chastisements. That's verses 1 through 20. Now verses 21 through 36. We had Jeremiah's lament. Now we have Jeremiah's hope. And what is Jeremiah's hope? What does he say? First of all, we ought to be consumed but are not. It's because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. In the midst of the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah sees the Lord's mercies. Number two, the Lord's mercies are new every morning. Therefore, every morning ought to be filled with hope. Three, the Lord, not temporal things, is our hope and portion. And fourth, The mistreatment and smiting is sent by God, but it is for the sins of our youth, our foolishness and sin, even if the thing we're currently experiencing is not our fault according to human courts. And number five, we bear this yoke with patience because it is of the Lord. So that's verses 21 through 36. So we have Jeremiah's lament, Jeremiah's hope, and now we have Jeremiah's justice, beginning in verse 37. This is sent from the Lord, so it is good. We have sinned against the Lord and deserve death, yet we are not consumed. Let us have then a just response when afflicted, Rather than murmur, rather than complain, rather than stand upon our innocence, what does Jeremiah say? Let us search and try our ways. Let us turn to the Lord in worship with both hearts and hands lifted to him. And then fourth, oh sorry, that was the fourth. Let us have that inward and outward service to him in worship. So what does Jeremiah say in these three clumps of verses? In the first, we have his lament. In the second, we have his hope. In the third, we have his justice and he proclaims the justice of God in it. That Jerusalem is indeed brought to rubble, but it's not destroyed. We're afflicted, but we're not consumed. Why has not the Lord consumed us for our sins? He should have. It is so that we will lift up our hearts and our hands unto him. It is so that we will confess our sins and search our hearts and offer them again to him. This is his attitude rather than standing upon his right and so on. It's also the mindset of the apostle in Hebrews 12. We might say that what's going on in Jeremiah is very specific. Sorry, in Lamentations, very specific. But what goes on in Hebrews 12 is very general for all those that profess Christ. In verses one through three, we have the example of Christ under earthly injustice. Hebrews 12. The example of Christ under earthly injustice who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God. Consider him, that's the example, the example of Christ under earthly injustice. Was Christ persecuted? Yes. Was he persecuted justly? No. Did he endure it? Yes. How did he endure it? By looking to the joy that was set before him, why did he endure it? Because it was the sins of others laid upon him. Now notice this shocking verse, verse four. For ye, no longer talking about Christ, we're talking about us who are to follow his example of suffering under persecution. ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against what's the next word sin you're still alive even though persecuted, you Hebrew Christians that are thinking about going back to Judaism because it's hard, because your families have abandoned you, because some of you have been ostracized, because some of you have been brought to the civil authority, because some of you have suffered, some of you have had the spoiling of your goods, but you've not yet resisted on the blood, if you're reading this, in your what? Striving against sin. The persecution that God brings from others is us, beloved, striving against sin. Their sin for unjustly persecuting us and our sin, which may be hitherto hidden from us, that God would reveal to us yet further means of sanctification through suffering. Christ also suffered for sins And you who are persecuted have been suffering for sins. And so learn to make a biblical and godly use of that. So the payoff then is that every persecution and affliction ought to be used by us, improved by us as an opportunity to search and try our ways, to strive against sin, to turn against, sorry, to turn unto the Lord and to recognize his sovereignty even in this affliction and persecution. Now the word wants. What does Peter mean when he says Christ hath once suffered for sin? Well, obviously it speaks of the completeness of Christ's work upon the cross. It cannot be repeated, improved, augmented, or otherwise implied that there is something yet to be done. The once is contrasted to the term daily with regard to the sacrifice of the Old Testament and the old priesthood under Aaron, which was to give up its repetitive nature, which never took away sins, but actually reminded the people of God of their sins and their need of the blood, not of bulls and goats, but of Christ to come to satisfy for them. Remember what we say in our larger catechism pertaining to the Old Testament. How was the covenant of grace administered under the Old Testament? The covenant of grace was administered under the Old Testament by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover, and other types and ordinances which did for signify Christ then to come. Now listen to this part. And were for that time sufficient, sufficient, to reveal unto them their Messiah to come, by whom they then had eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins. No true Hebrew Christian ever counted on the blood of bulls and goats. He counted on the blood of his Messiah to come, who would come to be wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities, chastisement of their peace laid upon him, and by his stripes they're healed, and we. So we see the intended contrast. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter nine for a moment. Verse 23. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others, for then he must For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now, once, that same word, in the end of the world. Hethi appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And so, beloved, what do we have here? We have the divinity and the humanity of Christ. He dies once as a man, but he dies as a sacrifice that has eternal ramifications, because he is indeed God-man. And we remember Hebrews 10, 1 through 3, for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sin made every year. So beloved, we see then that when Christ has come and has come once, we learn of the finality and efficacy and irrepeatableness of Christ's propitiatory work. There's nothing else to be done. There is nothing remaining for you to be saved from the wrath to come. It doesn't depend on anything but that which has already been done and once done, Christ and his work. So it speaks of finality and efficacy. He cried, what did he cry? Remember on the cross, John 19.30, it is finished. once and only once. This puts to the lie then, and is it not in keeping with those systems of theology that would say that the sacrifice of Christ is not yet enough but there is something else that must be done? Isn't it indeed consistently wicked and devilish? that when we go to adding something to the once work of Christ we take it out of his hands entirely and he is no longer a propitiatory sacrifice but something must be added to his work we might also put the lie to those false churches that present Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice at the Lord's Supper, what they call the Mass or Eucharist. That Christ is again and again and again offered because he is again and again and again incarnated. That's not who Christ is and that's not who his sacrifice is. Christ also suffered once for sins. He does not continue to suffer, and beloved, he did not suffer after his death by descending into hell under the sufferings of Satan. And there are those out there running loose on the landscape that teach such heretical things today. He suffered once and he said, it is finished. It is finished and never to be repeated. Notice John 4, 34. I'm rushing to a close here, I know we're over time. John 4, verse 34. Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. John chapter 17. Christ encompassing his death that is about to take place in verse four will say, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou has given me to do. Well, several other passages in the New Testament speak to this finality of Christ's work. Romans 6.10, 1 Corinthians 5.7, Hebrews 7.27, Hebrews 727 is particularly relevant. We'll read that one and leave the rest to go for the sake of time. Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. And I put it to you, beloved, any church that would imitate that priestly system of old by priests of their own and a daily sacrifice of Christ has left the reservation. It's not what we have in scripture. So everything is done for you, beloved. This is what is meant by once. The faith which you believe has been purchased by Christ, Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. The repentance that the Lord requires that you would approach him is furnished by Christ, 2 Timothy 2.25. The new heart that is required to approach unto God by which you embrace him by faith and by repentance is given unto you, Ezekiel 36, 25 and 26. There is nothing for us to do. Christ once offered himself. And that's all that is necessary. That encompasses every human act afterward as being all of grace. The question we must ask ourselves is this, what Christ has not done for you is he has not believed for you, he has not repented for you, and he has not had that pure heart for you. You must receive, you must cast yourself upon Christ, but when you do, you recognize it is on account of his once offering himself a sacrifice for sins. Well, I'm way out of time. The next phrase, we'll have to wait until next week, which is the just for the unjust. So let's meditate on that as we close today. Let us remember that the difference between us and Christ, that while we have been apprised today by that word also, that we suffer for sins. It is for our own sins. Christ did not suffer for his own sins. the just for the unjust. He suffered for our sins. With that then, let's stand and call upon the Lord. Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for that which we have seen here today in this verse 18, and as we have been apprised of what Thy will is for Thy people. O Lord, grant us that we, no matter what, would submit under not only thy precepts but thy providential will also. And that we would look for those signs in our own hearts of when we have not submitted to thy providential will. Signs of murmuring. Signs of complaining. A sign where we entertain thoughts that we do not deserve what we're receiving. The sign of standing upon our own right and answering back and taking vengeance into our own hands. Father, help us to remember that as we have committed ourselves unto thee, that thou art able to take care of thine own, and that thou does know our frame that we are but dust, and that thou does not challenge us beyond what we are able to bear, but doth provide strength in measure day upon day. mercy in measure, morning by morning. Oh Lord, we confess that this kind of faith, the faith that we would see in men like Abraham and others in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, is an uncommon faith. And certainly, the faith of those men was not perfect as ours is not, but we pray receive us for Christ Jesus' sake and advance our faith that even under such times, we might find comfort resting upon him. And we ask in Christ's name. Amen.