Dear friends, turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, and our text this morning is found in verse 18. 1 Peter 3 and verse 18. We read this in the Bible. 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 or made alive by the Spirit." Here, dear friends, you find the most concise statement about Jesus Christ. And my title this morning for this message is Access to God. Access to God. Do you have access to God? Do you know how to have access before God? How to have an audience with God? This is, I believe, is one of the most succinct verses and statements. in the Bible to speak to us about the work and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think upon it, go home and meditate upon these words after you hear it this morning. It is speaking about the coming of Jesus, His life, His death, His resurrection. And so dear friends, all the answers for our spiritual needs are all wrapped up, are covered and compressed in this one verse. And it tells you something about to understand the purpose of Christ's suffering. Do you know why did Jesus Christ suffer? And so I hope in the time that we have, I would explain and show how we can have an access, an eternal, permanent access with the King of Kings, with God. An access that is not going to be shut up. An access that is not going to be diverted. An access that you won't have a stop sign and say, no, you can't enter in. I'm sure when you came here this morning, if you were driving, you would have come across many lights. Stop. and start and closures as well at times. But here is talking about an access to God that cannot be closed. So Peter here, the apostle Peter, speaks to us and he says, for Christ also hath or has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. So my plan is to simply go through these words, explain them to you and apply them to you and to myself too. And so this verse explains to us why the Lord Jesus Christ has come. There is this mystery of incarnation. Remember when we speak about the Lord Jesus Christ, we're talking about God. This is God that we are talking about. God coming on this earth in a human body and there is an exception. He's without sin, of course. He became a man like you and me without sin, but exceptionally, he remains God. He remains God. One God we believe in. Three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. But Jesus Christ, by taking on humanity, He remains God. And that's an essential truth of Christianity that we must hold to because the Bible shows it to us. So in Him, you have these two inseparate natures. And I've often explained this, that this should make us wonder, how could God come into this world in a human body? But he came, he came because he loves us. He loves us. This is the greatest gift of God. What's the greatest gift of God to mankind apart from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? The greatest gift that you can have this morning is forgiveness of sins. You see, the Lord God who has created us, He has loved us so dearly and He wants us to have our sins forgiven. This load that maybe you're carrying on your heart. Maybe right now you're very cast down. What am I going to do with this? Now I'm not sure. Has it been dealt with? Has it not been dealt with? Has God forgiven me? This is the greatest gift that you can have, you can receive in this world. And you can leave this place knowing that you've been forgiven. It's an amazing thing. The guilt, the lies, jealousies, the envies, the evil thoughts, the bad words that I have said, the evil actions that I have done, all these things, the things that nobody else knows about. I've managed to cover it up. All of these things, it can be forgiven. There's no greater help or blessing or gift I can receive leaving this building today than this. Even to be counted as righteous before God. to be counted as righteous. And this verse again explains that to us. How can a sinner be righteous before they leave before God? So here is the good news of the Bible in its most simple form. The good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news about how sinners can enter into heaven and have access to God. all their sins cleansed, purified, and no sin, as if I have never done anything wrong. Only the Bible, dear friends, can give us such promise. No other book but the Bible, and the Bible has. So let us look into this text, verse 18. 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. So the first thing is this, as we come to this text, we see first of all the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, it says. I hope you see this. Right at the beginning of this verse, it speaks about this suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why should he suffer? You might think. But as you read this Bible, as you read this text, you think to yourself, this is most unfair. This is so unfair for this to happen. What did Jesus do to deserve such a thing? This is the most unfair, the most undeserved, the most unrighteous suffering possible for the greatest good. Christ suffered unrighteously, you might think. He doesn't deserve it. See, can you find any fault with Jesus Christ to have to suffer for us? Or you find fault in me, you find fault with other people, oh readily. You find fault with yourself. But what about Jesus? Can we find any sin in him? Did he do anything wrong? When you think about the cross of Jesus, the cross is where they nailed Jesus Christ to it, and he died upon that cross. It was his altar as it were. Altar where he sacrificed himself. But when you think about it, it's you and me who should be there. And actually, When the Lord Jesus Christ, when people in 2000 years ago, when they stood there and they looked at him and they laughed at him and they mocked him and they shouted out, crucify, crucify him. Just picture that, all of those people. And you say, I wouldn't do such a thing. That's nasty. But my friends, we would have done the same thing. Because what the gospel of Jesus Christ does and what Jesus Christ does, he was very offensive to sinners. He puts us down. He humbles us. He shows us what kind of a people we are. Even to Peter, when Peter met Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ approached the apostle Peter, he said he felt so ashamed. He says, depart from me. He didn't want to see Jesus Christ. He felt so ashamed. And so people said, we don't want him. We don't want him in this world. Crucify him. Get rid of him. But you and me would have done the same thing. There are many people today, they do the same thing. It's as if we are standing there looking at what was happening. We're involved dear friends, we're involved. Yes, we would say crucify him. And that's why, that's how we ought to understand this. It's not just for people of that time. who have crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. We were also involved as if we were there. And so the Apostle Paul is writing to us, or Peter is writing to us. So Christ crucified. He says, therefore, Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring, Us, he says to God, were the Galatians there? Or those that the apostle was writing to, were they there physically? No, no. But he's saying, but you were there too, because you opposed Jesus Christ. You should have died there instead. Christ suffered. We are told, and him, the Lord Jesus Christ himself spoke about this, about his suffering. He said to his disciples, they wouldn't accept it, they wouldn't receive it. But Jesus Christ said, for example, in Luke chapter nine, he said, the son of man, that is the title of Jesus Christ, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected and be slain and be raised on the third day. That's what he said. The Lord Jesus Christ himself spoke about his suffering. He said, for example, in Luke chapter 24, to those two disciples who were going on that road towards Emmaus, he said to them, oh, fools and slow of heart to believe ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? So he says, why don't you believe? I told you these things before. Why are you so slow of heart to believe? So Jesus Christ spoke about his suffering, spoke about his death, that he was going to suffer. These were going to be his experiences. We don't believe it, do we? We don't take it in, do we? It's like some of your parents, you know it very well. You tell a child, would you do this? It's as if you have spoken to a stone. They don't seem to hear it. They're too busy with other things. But adults do the same. God says to us things, and it's as if speaking to a stone. We don't hear it. And he has to repeat it again and again and again to us. We are to be reminded. So Peter says that we are bringing these things to your remembrance again. because we are so, so cold in our hearts and we are so forgetful. Are you forgetful? I am forgetful. I need to be reminded again and again. So Jesus Christ spoke these things and the disciples didn't always remember. But here Peter preaches this and teaches them. Remember this. Did you notice something? I hope you did. I'm sure you noticed it in verse 18, it says, for Christ, for Christ. Normally we would expect for him to add Jesus, the name of Jesus to this, but this is for Christ. That's interesting, isn't it? Why doesn't it say Jesus there? Why does it just say Christ there? This is important. You see, Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chooses every word, and this is why we believe in inspiration of the Bible. The Bible, every word of it is inspired. There is nothing in the Bible that has been just there to fill a space, to just done by a rope. No, every single word is there for the right reason. And he's using a peculiar word, a particular word, that is very important. Christ, he says, Christ. Do you know what that word Christ means? I'm sure you do. It means the chosen one. It means the anointed one. So Christ, the anointed, the chosen one, is the one who went through the sufferings. In verse 15, it identifies Christ Again there, he's called the Lord. It's amazing. In verse 15, he says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. That's the reference to Jesus Christ. And he's referred to as the Lord God. It's amazing, isn't it? Christ is called the Lord. He's not only, this is not just the sufferings of the Lord. There are the sufferings of the anointed one of God, the one who has been promised by God. You remember, if you read your Bibles and if you come to this church and you hear the word of God preached to you and read to you, you would find that in the Old Testament, the early part of the Bible, you remember back in Moses, He wrote in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18. There are hundreds and hundreds of prophecies that one day the promised prophet will come. And when he will come, he will not just preach the word to the people. No, he wouldn't just do that. But he himself will give his life so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And so this is repeated in the word of God again and again. That's the purpose. But he is the anointed one, he's the chosen one. Let me say something about the significance of Christ's anointing. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, only three kinds of people were anointed. Do you know who they were? Only three kinds, a prophet, was anointed, the priest was anointed, and the king was anointed. And Jesus is called the Christ. And here he's concentrating on his messiahship, that he is the Christ. He says he is our prophet, priest, and king. And this is the one that the father spoke to him and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God said that from heaven. It's not just like us who suffer. You have suffered, I'm sure you have. If you have lived for a couple of decades, if you're in your 20s, you have suffered things. You have scars in your body, you have scars in your heart, your soul. You've grieved many times, you've shed tears many times. How many drops of tears you have shed? Yet Jesus Christ suffered in such agony and pain for us. And it says this, if you go on to read it further. It says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins. That's not just all that Christ suffered, but it goes on to say Christ also once suffered for sins in the sufferings. This is not just physical suffering. I hope you understand that. It's not just that in physical sufferings that people mocked him. Yes, they spat on him. They spurned him. This is not just what it means here. It means also that Christ died. It says being put to death in the flesh. He died and that's interesting. Christ did not die by accident. It wasn't an accident. It was not by old age. It was not by illness, no. He was around 33 years old. He was just at the prime of his life. The things that a 33 year old man or woman thinks, got my life in front of me? I want to do this, I want to do that. And yet Jesus Christ, at that point, he suffered and he died. He died on that cross at the place called Calvary. He died not as a martyr, not of suicide. No, he was put to death. So his sufferings and his death are all factual. They are part of history. You can't dismiss it. You can't say it's his myth. You can't do that. These are historical facts. It's not just man-made concocted stories to make fairy tales or fanciful stories. No, it's a reality that Jesus Christ suffered. He shouldn't have suffered, but he did suffer. He died. He shouldn't die, but yet he died. And the scriptures repeats this again and again. It is for this, this kind of preaching that the early Christians were put to death and they were persecuted. So you and I should be so thankful we are living in a country that we are not being just now yet being persecuted for these beliefs. But there are people, you think about certain countries in Nigeria, You think about in the Middle East, in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, this kind of a preaching can cause a lot of trouble for you. But the scripture says that Christ died according to the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 15. And he was buried and he was raised also on the third day. So these are all real facts that we can consider. as you think about this verse. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. And it's interesting, I don't want to waste your time with this, but dear friends, do you know what Peter is saying? Who was Peter? Who was Peter? Peter, who writes these words, these verses, was himself completely against the death of the Lord Jesus. Do you remember that? What kind of a man was he? He didn't want the Lord Jesus to die. No. He was completely against the death of the Lord Jesus. I could take you to Matthew 16, that gospel of Matthew chapter 16. For the first time, when the Lord Jesus Christ said that he is going to die, you remember what Peter said? No, no, that's not going to happen. Not you, Lord, no. And the scripture says that he rebuked the Lord. Imagine rebuking the Son of God. How foolish was Peter. How ignorant was Peter. Just like us, there are people who are so ignorant about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they don't really know what they're talking about. They don't know what they're talking about. My friend, if you have something against the Lord Jesus Christ, make sure you know what you're talking about. Make sure at least you've studied the Bible properly, thoroughly. And do you know, a minister said to me just last week, he said, every time a person has said this to him, he says, well, get this Bible and read it. And he did this, this man said, I will read it then. And this man started reading it, started through the gospels. And before he finished Romans, he was already converted. And he said, I don't have any problems. I believe it's all now. And so it is a good thing just simply reading the word of God. Do you read the word of God? Maybe you have problems. Maybe some of you children, you have all these questions and doubts and fears and things. Well, is it really true? And so on. Do one thing, just read the word of God. Just read it as it is. Let it sink into your heart. Think about what you're reading, ask questions about it. God would bless the reading of the scriptures. But you think Peter said this, rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Lord Jesus Christ said, get thee behind me, Satan. Your thoughts are not the thoughts of God. Your thoughts are so carnal, Peter. You're thinking earthly things. And then you have it in Luke 22 when the soldiers came to arrest the Lord Jesus. And you remember that he is the one who takes out his sword and he goes to defend the Lord Jesus and even cut the ear of one of the soldiers. And he didn't want the Lord Jesus Christ to die at all. No. And you understand why. You sympathize with Peter. But now time has passed. Now Peter has become more mature. Now he understands things. So there's hope for Peter. If you've got problems, if you don't understand things, if you have got things wrong and you've said some foolish things in your life about Christianity or the gospel or the Lord Jesus Christ, there's hope for you. There's hope for me. Peter had these problems and the Lord matured him, helped him and blessed him. And so he comes and he rejoices. He's even promoting it. This is what's happened. I believe it now. If the Lord Jesus Christ had not died, if he had not died on the cross, there is no way to receive forgiveness of sins. And we could think more and more. He says it in chapter 5. even it was in verse one the elders which are among you i exhort whom i also also an elder and the witness of the sufferings of christ so this is i saw this i experienced i saw the sufferings of christ i witnessed it and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed so this is the man who fought to turn against the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's telling us that for Christ also have once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Now he understands that Christ must die. He did die. He did see it. There's another element that I would like to draw your attention to on this verse. It says this, for Christ hath also once, it says, once suffered. That's so important. This is so important, dear friends. That's why we read in this letter, but also in, the epistle to the Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews chapter nine in verses 26 and 28, as well as many other passages. But I'm just giving you a sample in Hebrews nine and verse 26, it says, but now once in the end of the world, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then verse 28, it says Christ. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. and so on. This is so important that Jesus Christ once suffered. Now he doesn't suffer anymore. He died once and he completed the payment of our sin. It's not going on. It's not like your mortgage that carries on. You keep having to pay every month. You know, there are people who are trying to pay mortgages spiritually. Every Sunday morning, they go for mass. Every Sunday morning, they go to pay a mortgage, but it's never will be paid. And so, this is so important. You see, this goes against the teaching of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, that teaches that the mass re-enacts, redoes, renews the suffering of Christ and his death upon the cross. But as Bible-believing Christians, which means we are Protestants, We believe Jesus Christ, according to what the Bible says, he died once only, not to suffer again. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not suffering. No, he is the king. He is upon his throne. So the Roman Catholic teaching of the mass, and sometimes you are invited to certain things, and remember this, do not participate in the mass. It is a blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work. It is what the apostle Paul was saying in Galatians chapter one, that is a different gospel. So that's important. All of these words are so important for you to take to your heart and we praise God. If it was, dear friends, if you had to pay this mortgage to God, when will it end? When will it end? But praise God, God, the Lord Jesus Christ finished it. He paid it once and for all. That's it. It's done. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to pay anything. It's finished. And the text says Christ suffered once, once for all time, not to be renewed, not to be repeated. Why? Because his death Since Christ died on the cross of Calvary, every ceremonial sacrifice has come to an end. It's come to an end. That's why we don't have sacrifices anymore. We don't have anything. You don't have me coming with long ropes and bringing sheep and goat and these things to slay in front of us. No. We have a picture right here before us of what Christ did and what he suffered. is the bread and the wine, they don't change. It's a symbol of Christ's work for us. And so we remember these things as the Lord Jesus Christ has said. It's not going to be reconstructed again. No temple will be reconstructed again because the church of Jesus Christ is the temple of God. You know, you're the temple of the Holy Spirit and There is not going to be any kind, any more sacrifices for sin because Christ has finished it. So, dear friends, these things are so, so important. Christ died once for all, for the sins of his people. So his death has no elapsing, no expiration date, dear friends. The benefit and the validity of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ are eternal. But now the question is why? Why did he die on the cross? This verse tells us again, helps us to see this. For Christ also has once suffered for sins, it says. Sins. I hope you noticed that. It doesn't say sin. It says sins. If it said sin, in my way of thinking, it doesn't say sins. It could be just for a few of my sins. What about these other things? Well, I've got a mountain of sins, mountain of guilt. What am I gonna do with the rest of it? Did it die for all of my sins? Or just a few sins? All right, this is, it is put in plural form. All, all the many sins. And so dear friends, do you know this is inescapable fact? That you and me are sinners. You and me are guilty before a holy God, no matter who you are, no matter who I am, no matter my upbringing, my background. If you're a child, you're an adult. If you're a male or female, no matter which culture you're from, which continent you're from, no. This issue is universal. This problem that we have is universal. And so the scripture says very, very inclusively, use a modern term, is all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that's why we can't have fellowship with the living God because sin has its consequences. Sin is so ugly. And if you know how sin is, sin is revolting, hideous, it's heinous. And so dear friends, think about this. Think about the cost. How much did it cost for our sins to be forgiven? It cost the son of the living God. That's the cost. Son of the living God was given. That's the price which was paid that we know in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter two, it refers to this price that Jesus Christ paid. And it's referred to this price as the precious son of God. Precious Son of God was given. He's precious. Just imagine the most precious person in this world has been given and has given his life in order that we may receive the remission, the forgiveness, the putting away of our sins. Oh, sin has its consequences. It separates you from God. And maybe that's how you feel. You feel separated from God. What is the solution? The Lord Jesus Christ is the solution. You go to him, you run to him, he will receive you. If he wouldn't, he wouldn't have said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He wouldn't have said that. But he's inviting us to himself. How foolish it is to simply wait and say, no, no, no, it's not for me. When he says, come unto me all ye, all of you, who are laboring under sin. You're broken in heart. You are under the weight of your sin. Don't sit, but go to him by faith, trust in him by faith. He died for sinners and he welcomes them. He says to bid them to come, bid them to come, plead with them to come. So he died for us, for Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. It's an amazing thing. Again, it's the title of the Lord Jesus Christ is the just one. The righteous one, Peter refers to him in Acts chapter four as the just and holy one. The just, he never did anything wrong. What did Jesus Christ do? He didn't do any sins. But you and I, as soon as we are born, even in our mother's womb, We have the initial sin of Adam is in us. And then we grow up and we sin by actions. But that initial sin is in us. We are marked, we are marred by sin. So that is why a child is born. They don't have connection with God. They don't know the Lord. Why is that? Because their heart that has been knit in their mother's womb is a sinful heart. They need the Lord. They need to be born again. So we're all in one basket. The whole mankind is in one basket. My thinking, my life, my words, my behavior, everything, it's all tainted. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. He's once suffered for sins. I am the unjust one. You are the unjust one. You are the unrighteous one. But he is the just. He is the righteous and he suffered for sins. The just for the unjust, that is in the place of. So we believe, true Christians believe in this great exchange that took place upon the cross. Christ for us and us for Christ. How wonderful that is. Do you see why you can't do anything to save yourself? Do you see why you cannot do anything to receive forgiveness of sins? Jesus Christ has done it all. And he did it before you were born. That's amazing. So we need to be forgiven. And here the Lord is speaking to us. He didn't suffer for his own sin, but he suffered for the sins of the unrighteous ones. He is the one who cried out on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I hope you know why he said that. He was separated from his God because of the fact that he was made sin for us who knew no sin. Dear friends, he did that. He did that so that we don't have to cry out this into eternity after we die. I'm separated from God. Lord, thou hast forsaken me forever and ever. We don't have to say that. You can leave here. this morning as you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and say, I don't need to be forsaken because I trust in the Lord Jesus. He is my only hope and salvation. I don't need to be abandoned because I have put my trust fully in his precious blood. For he, it says, that is for Christ, hath once suffered for sins, for the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, to be brought to God. That's the purpose, to be brought to God. It's an amazing thing. He suffered, he died, so what? So that we might be brought to God, it says. That's the reason. So you say, what's the purpose of Jesus coming? The children, when I ask you at the door, why did Jesus Christ come? You can say to me in response, so that he might bring us to God. That's the best answer is what the Bible tells me. And so what he's doing, he brings us to God. He's the one who, if I could say this, he introduces me to God. If I want to know God, I need to know the Lord Jesus. Do you know Jesus Christ? If you don't know Jesus Christ, you don't know God. He's the one who introduces you to God. He brings us to God. Think about this. This is the King. Bring us to the Father who is in heaven to know the Lord. He's dealt with our sins, so he's taken away all of that barrier that was between us and God. Think about this. Have you ever seen the king or the queen? Have you seen the monarchy, the royalty? And here is this king of heaven. He gives you all the blessings of heaven. But imagine this, imagine. Even those who might be in the presence of an earthly king, the king of England. How long will he cope with you? How long will he allow you to be in his presence? After an hour, he'll say, okay, that's time. Time is finished. Take them out. Take them out. But here we are told Jesus Christ brings us to God. It doesn't say that he takes us out. It doesn't say that. He brings us to God. We go into the presence of God and we are with the Lord. They're with us at all times. Never saying, okay, now you need to exit. You need to leave me. I will leave you. No, the Bible says again, again, actually I won't leave you and I won't cast you out. That's what the Bible says, but your heart, it will deceive you. It will tell you all the different things. It will tell you all the opposite things. So dear friends, think on these things seriously. Say to the Lord, Lord, here I am. Say to the Lord, here I am. But all of these things, I need an introduction to God. I need to be introduced to the Lord and the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered in such a way to bring me to 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. Dear friends, let us turn to the Lord, repent of our sins. Let us trust in him only this morning. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we look to thee for grace and help. We pray that these words might be written upon our hearts that we might see the Lord Jesus, and we might know his wonderful bidding to come to thee. We pray that thou wilt help us and bless us. We also pray for our sister Ruth, that thou would strengthen her and bless her at this time of her need, and we pray that thou wouldst help her now as she is not so well. We ask these things through Christ our Lord.