Three sermons. A Scripture reading is from 1 Peter 3, verse 18. After exhorting believers in Jesus Christ to provide a defense for their hope in Christ. And having a good conscience as they do so. Verse 18. after telling them it's better if it's the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. After saying that, in verse 18 we read this, for Christ also suffered once for sins. The just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. It's the Word of God for us, a people of God. Let us again look to God in prayer. Father in our God, may my weak words and the meditations of our hearts be transformed by your Spirit to the praise of your glory in Christ Jesus. in whose perfect name this prayer is made. Amen. Several themes are present in 1 Peter 3, verse 18. Christ really suffered for sins. He suffered once for sins. And Jesus' death was once for all. His sacrifice was sufficient. No one else will have to die for people's sins. Jesus has done that. He will not have to die again. He will not have to be re-crucified. Hebrews 9, verse 28, Christ was offered once to bear the sins for many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. He will appear a second time not to be re-crucified, but to embrace his people and bless them everlastingly. Furthermore, Jesus' death for sins was not the end of the story. While he had been put to death in the flesh, he was afterward made alive in the spirit. Or to put it another way, Christ's flesh died, yet his flesh was made alive again in a new state. He rose from the dead with a new and restored body. And Jesus' suffering resulted in his death for sins. Jesus Christ, God's son, the righteous one, died for the sins of many unrighteous people. The just died for the unjust. And today, before the Lord's Supper, let's delve into this phrase that he might bring us to God. and some manuscripts render it that he might bring you to God. The theme involves the sinless Messiah Jesus bringing unrighteous persons to God the Father. The Son of God alone achieved that wonderful thing. And Albert Barnes speaks with reference to the phrase that he might bring us to God. And Barnes said that his death might be the means of reconciling sinners to God. It is through that death that mercy is proclaimed to the guilty. It is by that alone that God can be reconciled to men. This matter of reconciling sinners to God has been accomplished by God's gift, by the sacrifice of His Son. He successfully discharged His mission of being our representative before God and dying in the place of all who believe in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Now turn to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 21. And Jesus here makes clear that he indeed was the promised one. That he was, in point of fact, the fulfillment The Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. Luke chapter 4, beginning with verse 16. Not long, by the way, after he had been tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Luke 4, beginning with verse 16. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. and he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. When he'd opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. to set at liberty those you are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Then he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus declared, with firm resolve, he was the one Isaiah spoke about. He was the one Isaiah predicted, the one who would proclaim liberty to the captives, to set at liberty those who were oppressed, and so forth. Now verse Peter 3 verse 18 informs us Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And the great term for bring here literally means to lead toward. There's a nuance and implication to this word, to bring is the result of a command. Same word was used by the Messiah after he was told that the demon-possessed boy, Luke chapter nine, father of the demon-possessed boy approached him and said, Now your disciples tried to drive this demon out of my boy, but they couldn't do it. In Luke 9, verse 41, Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I bear with you and be with you? Bring your son here. And the son was brought and the demon was driven out of him by Jesus. Another event in which the same word was utilized followed a demon exorcism. And in Acts chapter 16 verses 19 and 20, the narrative reads, but when their master saw that their hope of profit was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities and they brought them to the magistrates and said these men being Jews exceedingly troubled our city. So in that particular case an element of force was involved in bringing Paul and Silas to the magistrate in order to be accused, being brought to an authority in order to be formally and legally evaluated. And we read cases in the Old Testament where authoritative commands occurred. Genesis 45, Pharaoh told Joseph to do some things. And in Genesis 45 verse 19, we read, now you are commanded, do this, take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, bring your father and come. And then Jacob was brought to the land of Egypt, according to Genesis 46, verse 7. His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his descendants, he brought with him to Egypt. Centuries later, God spoke to Moses and gave a series of commands for Moses to carry out. And in Exodus chapter 6, God told Moses to reassure the people of Israel that the Lord was their true God. And the Lord had seen their suffering. The Lord was going to act. And in Exodus chapter 6, verses 7 and 8, we read, I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. then you shall know that I'm the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage. I am the Lord. I'll bring you into this land. It's going to happen. Nothing will prevent that from occurring. So that was a 100% reliable and authoritative divine message. Exodus chapter seven, God told Moses what to expect. Pharaoh would be unreceptive to the messages from the Lord. In fact, he would defy those orders from the Lord. In Exodus 7, verse 5, we read, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. The book of Leviticus. provides duties and obligations to be performed by the people of Israel in their worship of the true God. Leviticus 2, verse 2, talking about the worshiper. He shall bring the vain offering to Aaron's sons, the priests, one of whom shall take it from one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense, and the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And then verse four of Leviticus 2, and if you bring as an offering, a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all this. He's the one who was prefigured by all these ordinances. He exclusively can bring us to God because he alone has lived a perfect life and died an acceptable death. experiencing separation from God so that his people would never have to. That we would be fully and everlastingly reconciled by the one who brings us to God by the gift of himself. Words of Peter testify. Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. In the Life Application Bible Commentary, we read in practical spiritual terms what this means, what Jesus achieved. Only because Christ was perfect and righteous could he be an acceptable sacrifice for our sins. Only by paying the penalty that sin deserved could Christ bring sinners to God. Only by having our penalty paid can we sinners approach the Holy God. Only by Christ's sacrifice And unholy people have a relationship with the Holy God. And if there's one thing the Lord's Supper reminds us, that we have a relationship and a reconciliation with the Holy God because of God's Holy Son, given super abundantly in our behalf. fully reconciling us to God. Ephesians chapter 2 addresses Gentile believers, those who were not born Jews, but nevertheless have been included among the people of God by belonging to the Son of God. And Ephesians 2 verse 13 says, now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Now I want to conclude with a section from Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, going to be looking at verse 12 through verse 23. And Colossians 1 gets underway with Paul giving thanks to God for these believers. And then he talks about His own calling as a minister of Christ on their behalf. And then he talks about the benefits and the obligations of the Christian life. And in verses 12 through 23 of Colossians 1, we read about the sufficiency of the one who has brought us to God. giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us, brought us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, And in him all things consist, and he is the head of the body of the church. It was the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may head the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him. with the things on earth and things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Let's pray together. Father in our God, how can we begin to thank you for the hope of the gospel? The hope that will not disappoint. Nothing disappointing about Jesus. Fully giving himself on the cross. So that we would be brought near to you by his blood. And we thank you for that sacrifice and for Jesus himself. The one who is effectively and eternally reconcile us to you through him. His prayers made in his supreme and perfect name. Amen.