if you're using the one that's in the chair rack nearby, somewhere under the chair rack there. So as you gather up that passage in 1 Peter chapter 2, you also want to get one of these bulletins our brother's bringing by. We have a sermon outline in that, and as you gather that, here's a couple of announcements. First of all, if you want to communicate with us, with the pastor elders of the church, you can do that in a couple of ways. There is a card in the back, by the doors back there, that you can fill out, just a contact card, information card kind of thing. We would love to chat with you, communicate by phone or email, or get together for a cup of coffee. And if you have a prayer request, fill that in. You can communicate that way or by contacting us at pastors at orchardbible.org through that email address there. Either way, it works fine. And then also I want to mention that in your bulletin, Along with the sermon outline, you will find a flyer that tells about our Christmas Eve service. Our Christmas schedule is coming up on Christmas Eve. You'll see that 4.30 service. Details in there. Welcome to bring other people. Let everybody know about that beautiful, wonderful service. A great outreach opportunity is that in your bulletin. And now if you are able, we would like you to stand for the reading of God's Word. This is our way of just honoring the Lord through the reading of His Word. Our passage again is 1 Peter chapter 2. I'll be reading from verse 21 through 25. This is the word of the Lord. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Brother, will you come? Let's pray. Father in heaven, we bow in your holy presence today. We're thankful for the Savior, Jesus Christ, that we've been reading about, who left us such a wonderful, supreme example of living a life totally committed to the will of God. And his example that he left for us is certainly one that we should emulate and seek to follow. Help us as we study this passage, O God, that you would illuminate it for us. We might say things that are appropriate and accurate concerning these words, and that most of all, it would be edifying to your people. Bless us, we pray, that your Holy Spirit would be with us even as we consider these things. We ask this in the name of our blessed Savior, amen. Please be seated. Now you'll notice in your bulletin there is an outline and there's a few blanks I've left for you. I'm hoping that maybe with a pencil or pen you'd be able to fill in these blanks. I was thinking if you can't fill in any blanks, the preacher's doing a terrible job. But hopefully you'll be able to follow along and see the points that I'm attempting to outline here in this passage. And we've been studying this book of 1 Peter for some time. Sometimes it's good to just step back a little bit. Brother Paul spoke to us about submission to authorities and to government agencies because they're ordained of God, so we should be submissive to them. and how we should act relative to these government institutions. And then the next little section we did last week with Brother Ben was concerning servants working for masters, the workplace. And again, our submissiveness should be evident there and our attitude should reflect that we belong to Christ and we can face adversity without difficulties. And then this passage that I'm considering here this morning concerns the wonderful example we have of one who faced adversity and how he faced it and his attitude toward it. And then the next chapter goes on with submissiveness again, relative to husbands and wives and how we should act toward one another. So I wanted to just highlight really the key issue in this whole passage, which I believe is at the end of verse 20. Speaking of servants working for masters, it says, and if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. So we are called to suffer for doing good. Now, as this slide tries to depict, I don't know about you, but we expect the exact opposite. If we do good to someone, if we do what we think is right, we expect a reciprocal action in return. And that's only natural, and sometimes that happens. Often it does. But when it doesn't, it makes very little sense to us, and it can cause us great disappointment, bewilderment, even dismay. And we can be deceived into thinking that God is distant and uncaring and really doesn't care for us. Why am I being treated like this? Why does this terrible thing happen to me? And when I was trying to do what I thought was right, now I'm being persecuted and suffering for this action. If when ye do good and suffer for it, you endure, it says, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. I would think that there was no greater suffering than that which appears to be without meaning in our lives. And so this is a great dilemma. My mind went back to Naboth in the Old Testament. Do you remember him? Maboth was a good man. He lived right adjacent to the king. He had a lovely vineyard. It was in his family for years, and he was doing everything right. Then that wicked king Ahab with his wife, who was also a wicked woman, he took a liking to the vineyard. It was right beside his. He says, if I make them all one, I've got a bigger one, and I can take advantage of all of this wonderful tillage that he has done and the nurturing of this vineyard. I need it for myself." And he sulked around until Jezebel came up with an idea that they should falsely accuse Naboth before the elders of the city, and we know what happened. Poor Naboth was falsely accused and then stoned to death because, just simply because, this wicked King Ahab wanted his vineyard. Now there was a man that did right, and look what happened. And yet, It's encouraging to me, God took note of that. And that righteous man's blood cried from the ground, and Ahab and Jezebel paid a price. God's vengeance fell upon them. And so that's just a simple example of just one of many in the New Testament. or in the Old Testament rather, that experienced suffering for doing that which is right. So let's just back up for a minute again to try to get perhaps a bigger perspective of this whole topic of suffering. And on this next slide, I would like to ask the question to you, why do we suffer? There was a church near us where we lived in California in Los Gatos called Venture Church, and Chip Ingram was the pastor, and he gave a seminar at one point on suffering, which I thought was extremely helpful to a person like myself. I kind of like to get things organized in my mind, and I just find it awkward if I can't somehow get things in a way that perhaps are a bit more understandable. This may not be perfect, but he gave four reasons why we suffer, and they're all rooted in biblical truth. The first one is we may suffer because it's a result of our own sin. Galatians chapter 6 talks about this. It says, don't deceive yourself. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one that sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." So, it's quite possible that God is judging us for our sin. Now notice, God is doing the judging. It's not for us to judge. God is doing the judging for sin. And there are many examples in the scripture. I may mention one in a moment. There's a second reason that we could suffer. It could be satanic spiritual attack. And Ephesians chapter 6 talks about this. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. I remember being at a convention one time, and a man spoke from 1 Peter 5 about the devil being like a lion, a roaring lion, and he's just crouching in the bushes, ready to pounce on you. And that's the imagery we have in 1 Peter 5, be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And so we could be experiencing satanic attack in our lives. And then the third reason is simply because we live in a fallen world. Romans chapter 8 talks about the creation groaning, in travailing and pain until now. Why is that? It's because creation itself is in bondage to sin and corruption. Since the fall of Sin has spread across the whole face of the land, and we live in an environment that is polluted and tainted by sinfulness in everything that we touch. The whole creation groans. And then the last reason could be, and this is the most shocking of all, we could be suffering as a result of doing good. And this is not one that's, I haven't heard too many speakers take this topic up. Suffering for doing good, not a particularly popular subject. If when you do good and suffer for it, you endure it said, 1 Peter 2 and 20. So let's go to the next topic here and look at the biblical examples or perhaps the specifics that would illustrate these and This could be, I got looking at this and it could be quite a topic just in itself, but these are just a few examples and you may be able to think of even better ones. Biblical examples of our own sin. David with Bathsheba is one of them. We recall that when David sinned with this woman who was not his wife, made arrangements for her husband to be murdered in the battlefield, deliberately put him at the head of the battle so that he might fall. And David tried to hide what he had done, but God saw everything. Even though David was forgiven, and we know that, David was a man after God's own heart, and in bitter tears of repentance, David confessed his sin and was restored, and that's wonderful, but God's judgment still fell upon David for this. Remember the pronouncement of Nathan the prophet. First of all, the child that was a result of their union died after only seven days. And then secondly, he said, evil's gonna arise from within your own house. Who was that? We know, Absalom. Absalom usurped the throne and drove David from Jerusalem and did unspeakable things to shame his father. And so there's an example. Satanic attack, there's a whole book written about a person who experienced satanic attack, Job. Just read the first couple of chapters of Job and you'll see that Job was doing the right thing. Job was righteous, prayed for his family every day and yet, the devil attacked him and was going to prove or try to prove to God above that Job would curse him to his face if he took all of the blessings away. Turned out that wasn't the case. And then Peter, remember Peter? His experience, the man that wrote these words that we're looking at when He was so adamant that he would follow the Lord into the worst of trials and difficulties. Remember what the Lord said to him, Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And then the fallen world category, because we live in a fallen world, the Tower of Siloam would be an example of where tragedies happen to both righteous and unrighteous alike. There's no discrimination. When the Galileans came to sacrifice at the temple, Pilate caused a great slaughter, probably because they were causing difficulty. And when the Tower of Siloam fell, on those 18 that it talks about in Luke chapter 13. The Lord points out, was it because they were more unrighteous than other people? No. He said, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. And so we live in a fallen world. The last point about doing good, and there's just so many examples where we do good and bad things happen, perhaps to our great surprise, Peter preaches a most wonderful sermon at the day of Pentecost. I would like to preach a sermon like that, which would be absolutely fantastic. And then what happens? He gets thrown in prison. My, it's kind of a little difficult to take. And then Joseph in Potiphar's house in the Old Testament, Joseph was doing a great job. In fact, his master trusted him with all of his finances, with all of the arrangements of the house. And when Potiphar's wife accused him falsely, what happened, poor Joseph was thrown into prison. And he experienced great hardship, great suffering. What was he doing? He was doing good. And so these are just, perhaps might help you, at least it helped me a lot when I was thinking about this, to think about the different ways that we suffer here in this world. So what picture do we have of Christ in this passage? The images of Christ that we have are many, and there's just a few outlined on this slide. This time of year, we think of the lowly babe in the stable, and we were thinking of that this morning on the incarnation, the babe in the manger who is God. But then we think of other things, and I like to think about this, the apprentice carpenter. I wonder what the Lord learned in the carpenter shop in Nazareth. those primitive tools that they would have worked with, he would have learned the skills of his father, came up the curve to do things, be able to do things quickly, accurately. The prolific healer, much could be said about this. Even Peter, the writer here, his wife's mother gets sick with a very bad fever. The Lord just speaks the word in his own house, she's instantly better. In fact, she got up, it took her a couple of days to recover. So she instantly got up and started to serve them. So she was immediately feeling better. We think of how prolific he was in healing those that were distressed and suffering. The powerful preacher, the wise teacher, the compassionate friend. But what do we have here? We have the suffering substitute. And that's what we're going to consider today. So let's look at the suffering substitute. And I've just put a few points down on this next slide. The whole outline an account of Christ's suffering and death is most remarkable in the sense of how unfair it is. The motivation for his apprehension was envy, jealousy, hatred. The Jews were, especially the Jewish religious leaders, were just so upset with Christ. Why is that? Because why? He had authority that outweighed them. He was a threat to their power and position. He had no respect for empty traditions. He performed undeniable miracles, even though they attributed them to the devil. They couldn't refute that these wonderful things had happened. And lastly, he associated with people they wouldn't even talk to, which were tax collectors and sinners. The Jews prided themselves in not stooping to pollute themselves with these people who they considered sinners above all. Here was Christ demonstrating these wonderful things and they were filled with envy and they wanted to get rid of them. The trial that he endured was an absolute mockery of justice. If you read in historical literature apart from the scriptural account altogether, you'll find out that they violated almost every one of their legal requirements in terms of how they conducted this trial of Christ. It's quite remarkable that the witnesses they brought, they were so contradictory, they couldn't make head or tails of anything because they just all contradicted one another. Totally false witnesses. And the humiliating treatment by the guards. This is a sad indictment of human nature. We think of the mock robe of royalty, the reed in the hand. A king needs a scepter. If you're a king, we'll give you the scepter. Here's the reed. A king needs a crown. Let's make a crown of thorns and we'll beat it into his head with the reed. And then a king needs to be worshiped, so let's kneel before him and worship him. All of these things were done in absolute mockery. humiliating treatment by these people. And then Pilate, the Roman governor, who was the only one who would actually give the execution order, he absolutely subverted justice. His wife even sent him a little message saying, don't have anything to do with this man. I've had a bit dreams today about him. And he's a righteous man, don't have anything to do with it. He knew the Jews motive. It says specifically, he knew that for envy, they delivered him. It wasn't for any specific crime. And he was convinced that Jesus was innocent. Many times, in fact, I think it was three, if I recall correctly, he said, this is an innocent man. And Barabbas, you ever thought about him? He's probably the guy that was destined for the cross on which Jesus hung. because he was a insurrectionist. He was a man that incited riot. No doubt he was going to be executed. And that cross that Christ was on should have been Barabbas's cross. and yet he walks completely free. The Jews said, give him us, we'll take him. We don't want this Jesus, we don't want this Christ, the one who said, I am the king of the Jews. And so the scriptures paint for us a very graphic portrait of the suffering substitute, and that's what's in these verses. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile. When he was suffered, he did not threaten. The suffering substitute. So I would like to speak to you a little bit about that specific example that's mentioned here. Christ's example. It says in these verses, he committed no sin, There was no deceit in his mouth. I think these are two really interesting statements. The way that's worded, to me, was most encouraging. I enjoyed looking at this. If it says he committed no sin, that means he had a perfect heart. We don't have perfect hearts. We're far from it. And we sin. You know where the sin comes from? From a polluted heart. But then it says there was no deceit in his mouth. And so you have the righteous words that Jesus spoke. In Jeremiah 17, we have a verse that I'm sure you're quite familiar with. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And you know, when we speak things, you know where it came from? Came from inside in our heart. And the mouth just reflects like a fountain, the source. And if the source is evil, then the words are evil. But in Christ's case, his heart was perfect. He was without sin, blameless. And so when he spoke, the words were righteous words. What a marvelous picture of the perfections of our substitute. Jesus said to the Jews, remember they didn't like it, he said, oh generation of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and a tree is known by its fruit. And so we see perfections in Jesus our substitute. Committed no sin, no deceit in his mouth. Certainly we would fall, I should say, far short of such a wonderful example. But then it goes on to say, what did he do when he was reviled? He did not revile in return, and when he suffered, he did not threaten. Now, when we use the word revile, it's a very strong word. It means to criticize in an abusive and insulting manner and hurl insults and abject abuse with utter contempt and scorn for the target. And that's what these people did. They reviled. but he stood silently as the perfect one before those that were reviling him. When he suffered, remember that he had the power to stop all the suffering, but he submissively endured. He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Christ's example, what a wonderful thing that we have before us, and how far short our lives. When we're reviled, I don't know about you, but my first reaction is put up the defenses. Pull out all the artillery you've got. If you've got power, use every single ounce of it you've got to defend yourself. That's my natural reaction. Here's one standing before fallen sinners. He has all the power of the infinite universe at his disposal. He could have just spoken the word and it would have been over for everyone. And yet he restrains that power to fulfill the will of God. My, what a lesson for us. Now the secret to such behavior, I've tried to highlight in this next slide, and I think it's the key statement here. How did he do it? He committed himself to one that judges righteously. There's the secret. to have that unshakable confidence in God, that he would vindicate him, that he would justify things in the end. And he just completely submitted himself, handed himself over to the will of God. It reminds me of the verse in Romans 12, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. and then to the contrary, if your enemy's hungry, feed him and so on. And so we see that utter dependence and full trust in God, who is the righteous judge. He'll look after things. He's not depending on my strength or he's not hoping that I'm going to retaliate so that I can help him along in that endeavor. He's the one that's going to do it. And we should just simply trust in him. So, in addition to the example that's noted, leaving us an example so that we might follow in his steps, to follow faithfully, follow in his steps. Now, the word example that I just mentioned is a very interesting word. That word example, this is the only time it's found in the New Testament. Even though the word example, you may find it elsewhere, it's not the same word. This word, literally means to write under. Do you remember when, oh, I shouldn't, dating myself here, but if you're in, remember in school, we used to have the grammar teacher would write letters at the top, at the beginning, and then words, and then sentences at the top of a sheet, and then there'd be a whole bunch of lines, and we as students had to write and faithfully reproduce what the teacher had written. And, you know, it started out kind of poorly. And then as you went down further down the sheet, hopefully things got better. And then the teacher would grade that. And here was the test. Did you faithfully reproduce what was put at the top? And that's the thought here. That as, just like a student copies the letters, Just so we should copy in our lives, seek to emulate exactly and to emulate his behavior and to seek to do exactly as he did in times of adversity and stress. And that's what we should do. I remember I was at a welding course in Northern California, this was a few years back, and if any of you have tried to oxy-acetylene weld aluminum, there's a very, very fine line between a weld and a hole. Very, very fine line, believe me. And so the instructor came along, and I was having great difficulty because I was just nothing but blowing holes where I was supposed to be welding a seam. And the instructor came along, and he put his hands on my hands like this. And he bent over me. He had a helmet on. I had a helmet on. And as we struck the arc, then he guided my hands to see how I would weld. And that helped me because I was able to see the technique he was using and the intense focus he had on the task at hand. One thing you need is excellent eyesight to do this because you have to see when the aluminum is starting to melt. While I was thinking about that in connection with this verse, that example We should, as it were, put our hands in the hand of Christ and let him guide us and let his behavior guide us through life that we might follow in his steps. Those steps, by the way, were steps of suffering. And even though that's not a popular thing, those footsteps of suffering, he left a perfect model, a perfect example. We should put our hands in his. We should emulate what was written at the top of the page. and we should seek to follow the same road. And so, this wonderful example is something that we should seek to emulate in our lives. Now as a result of this, of Christ's sacrifice, his humiliation, all of this abuse that he took, and yet the suffering so faithfully, He makes it possible for righteous living to be a new reality in our lives. And so there's two things noted here, and I put this on the next slide. Two things, die to sin and live to righteousness. Die to sin as a way of life. And I've just kind of highlighted a few things here. He who has died is freed from sin, Romans 6. There's a whole chapter on that, if you wish to read that, you can. But having parted with sin, having ceased to be what we were before, we can live a new life, we can die to sin. This week I got an email from a friend who is working in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He and his wife are doing evangelical work there in a very, very rough place. This is a prison town. It has four prisons. And they do ministry in the prison, prisons themselves, and they run an outreach on Sunday where they have a little cold weather trailer that they pull up and have coffee and supper and invite people in. And each Sunday evening, they have about 25, 30 people come in to hear the gospel. And they've seen a lot of fruit from that sowing of the seed. And I was thinking of this whole topic of dying to sin. What happens when a person becomes converted, when their life has changed, when they realize that that suffering substitute died for me, and my sins were borne by him? That's what the text says. He bore my sins, and by simply believing in him, accepting it as mine, I can have eternal life, and I can die to sin. He gave us some examples in this note that he sent me about people who really are in the bondage of sin, and the chains of the devil are fast about them, and it's so difficult to break free, but the power of God can do it. Let me just read you part of this text. Two weeks ago on Monday, I got a text. This is a phone text from Merlin and Paula. Merlin's the husband, Paula's the wife. They've been coming to the Sunday meeting, and I will give it along with a few spelling mistakes that it has. Good day, Steve. Hope you guys are having a beautiful Monday. As far as for me and Merlin, we went and filled out an application for the Sally Ann Christmas hamper. So that's what we did this morning. I wasn't going to come at service to the church yesterday because of my black eye, but I just needed to see you guys. I really feel disappointed in myself right now because I let my addiction take over and I was doing so good staying sober, but me and Merlin went and got drunk. And I mean drunk, so we fought. But I've prayed and I'm still reading the Bible and keeping busy. Kind of helps me when I'm doing something that keeps my mind off the horrible and terrible craving I have of drinking. But I think I just need to come to the church because I really do want to quit, but it gets hard and frustrating. In arguing with Merlin and under great stress because he brings alcohol into the apartment, and we're having a hard time with finances and other things, and spend it on drinks, so it's hard. But I just can't stop thinking of what Jesus did for me. I had some visits with them through the week, and Paula says that she reads the Bible all the time, and is so amazed that Jesus would ever die for the likes of her, because she says, I am a terrible person. She tells again and again how her daughter is an alcoholic in a teen rehab center because of her. She says she used to think it was so funny to give her a drink when she was just little and see her stagger and fall down when she got drunk and now she is an alcoholic. She says, how could a mother do such a thing? And how could Jesus ever die for my sins? That's just an example of breaking the power of sin. Because he goes on to say that this lady now, after spending some time with them in the church services and in rehab, she's so thankful that this is the first Christmas, her birthday's on the 23rd, and it's the first Christmas she won't be drunk for it, probably. for I don't know how many years, that she is now free from the power of sin. And that's what Jesus has said he's doing here, that we might die to sin. How do we die to sin? By believing that he bore our sins in his body on the tree. And so we should live to righteousness. We can't do this with our own power. It's only through the power of God. And as he draws heavily from the imagery of Isaiah 53, he sees these verses come before him and he highlights them here. There's at least five or six references to different pieces of Isaiah 53. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. And so if you're here today and you're not saved, you don't know Christ as personal savior, we urge you to trust him. Because you know what it could give you? Besides peace with God and sins being forgiven, it can break the power of sin. It can cause you to live a life of happiness, a life of righteousness, even though there's suffering we're talking about. All is well when life is over and you will be in the presence of the Lord. What a great thing to see the power of sin be broken in lives. How sad it is to see people broken in sin. And then spiritual healing. By his wounds you have been healed. Then it goes on to say, for you were straying like sheep. Now, I like when the Bible interprets itself, by his wounds you have been healed. What does it mean to be healed? Well, I'm saying in this chapter, in this verse specifically, the healing is sin sickness he's referring to, not physical healing, but healing of the soul. Because it says, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. So it's very clear here that we were once wandering away, distant from God, going the wrong direction. We had to do a U-turn, a 180, and God came and found us and brought us back to him, and we've returned to the one for whom we were designed. God wants to bless us with his great salvation, and this is what he does. So he's reminding these Christians, you were straying like sheep, but Jesus found you. Isaiah 53 and 5 says, he was wounded for our transgressions. And it says at the end of that verse, with his stripes, we are healed. And you can see that the bruising was because of iniquity. The wounding was because of transgressions. And that's why the stripes bring us healing, spiritual healing of the soul. Now you may wonder, and the reason I mention this other verse in Matthew chapter eight is because there's double fulfillment of some of these scriptures. Prior to the atonement, prior to Christ dying on the cross, the great physician, the one that we talked about earlier, the prolific healer, he heals the body from diseases and physical suffering. And as I've mentioned with just a few examples, this was to fulfill which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, it says, he took our illnesses and bore our diseases. Surely he's borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Isn't it wonderful that when Jesus came prior to the cross, Everything that the devil had inflicted, that sin had inflicted on this scene, he was able to step in and in particular cases show his marvelous power in liberating people from this suffering. And then, that's not all. Then he went to the cross and bore our sins, the root cause, in his own body on the tree, And he provides healing for the soul. And now the soul is healed, cleansed, power to die to sin and to live to righteousness. What a great blessing we have in Christ. And so what lessons can we learn from this passage? There's at least four of them, and I put the four on the outline for you to fill in if you wish, but there may be more. But I would like to just very quickly run through these. Retaliation when we suffer for doing what is right. Although it's very tempting, it's not the answer, even if we have the power to do so. Do not repay evil for evil, it says, or reviling for reviling. On the contrary, bless, for to this you were called. So, although it's difficult, You know what we should do? Just turn to God. Say, you're the righteous judge. You'll look after this injustice. I'll mess it up. I'll just leave it to you. I'll leave it in your hands. That's what we should do. Remember too that God sees everything. And the vindication will be his ultimately. Not depending on us to vindicate. God will vindicate himself. And all will be made right. and his righteous judgment will be evident in a day to come. And then Peter also tells us later in his book that if we suffer for righteousness, you will be blessed. So even though these things seem unfair at the time and don't make any sense to us, You will be blessed if you act in the way that I've just described. And another thing I would just mention is don't judge other believers that are going through deep water. When you see trials and troubles, you know, there's a temptation to say, well, that suffering person must be out of the will of God. You know what? That's absolute nonsense. In fact, it's unbiblical. You know why I say that? Are you trying to tell me that Jesus was out of the will of God? when he went to the cross? Here's a man, absolutely perfect, without flaw, perfect heart, perfect words. He goes to the cross, he suffers unbelievably for my sin. And you're saying he's out of the will of God? How could you say that about another believer? You do not know that. It's only God that knows. And so, we don't know the reason for the suffering. And it may be one of the four reasons I gave earlier, but we need to just accept the fact that we're in a scene and in a wilderness where suffering abounds and let us seek to serve the Lord ourselves and not be critical or judgmental of others. And so the great biblical principle that I see in looking at this passage is the path to glory and ultimate exaltation is through unjust suffering. Last week even, we mentioned, Ben mentioned these verses in Philippians. Therefore, because of his suffering and death on the cross, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. And then Revelation, this verse that I've mentioned, talks about the supreme power of the Lamb of God. The one who suffered, and yet he's the lion of the tribe of Judah. What a contrast. The suffering lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah. And he will ultimately prevail, and his judgment will be from one end of the earth from sea to sea. Remember, fellow Christian, Jesus suffered, and now he reigns. From the depths of woe and earth's darkest valley, he mounted up to glory. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Isaiah 52. The more you meditate upon this, the more grand it becomes. The ridicule and mocking of sinners gives way to the holy chorus of the seraphims. The shame of Golgotha gives way to the adoring wonder of heavenly hosts who fall on their faces before the throne and worship God. The crown of thorns is replaced by the crown of glory, and the vast company of the redeemed sing a new song to the Lamb of God. O Christian, today, even if you're going through these trials, suffering, perhaps wrongfully for something that is right, Don't lose heart. The suffering that you're currently experiencing will give way to peace, comfort, and joy when at last you arrive at the celestial city. Faint not, Christian, Christ is near. Soon in glory he'll appear. Then shall in thy toil and strife death be swallowed up of life. At this Christmas season, I trust that you will be encouraged as a believer to press on in spite of suffering and disappointment and sorrow. The day is coming when all will be gone and we shall be in the presence of the Lord appearing with Him and rejoicing in the wonders of the Lamb. I trust these thoughts are helpful to you and may it bless your soul and heart as we go forward into this Christmas week. Let's pray. Could you stand please? Father, we pause at the conclusion of our service today. We recognize just how inadequate it is we are to describe the wonders of what Christ has done for us, the one who suffered and bore our own sin, our sin and his body on the tree. It says he himself no one else. He himself came as our glorious, wonderful substitute. And he who endured such suffering is now exalted in glory. It's our privilege today to honor him and to worship him, to bring him glory. And we do pray that even as we leave from here that we might have more of a spring in our step, that we might realize that All is well, and in spite of suffering, we shall be vindicated at last and in the presence of the Lord. Help us, we do pray, to live faithfully for you and to follow his wonderful example and to step in his footsteps and seek to serve him as we should. We give thanks for every Christian here today and everyone who has come. We just ask your rich blessing upon each family, in Jesus' name, amen. You are dismissed.