Father in heaven we thank you Lord for this day. We thank you that as As we've already read and saying of today that your salvation Came from before the foundations of the world That you are unchanging yesterday today and forever And that we can rest in that That we can take comfort in in the fact that your plan has never deviated, your character has never shifted, but you remain the same. Lord, and as Gary pointed out today, that that gives us every reason to hope, to have faith, and to have confidence in the truth that is set before us and that we've believed in. to know that you are able to preserve us to that day. Lord, as we turn to your word now, please give us minds and hearts that are open. Send your spirit with its call. Let those who sit here who know the truth in mind but not in heart to be affected by your light and drawn to you. Let those of us who are your children read your word for what it is, your word, and to hold it in such high regard. Bless us now we pray, amen. All right. So, as I mentioned last time, we covered a specific section of scripture and we did it more on kind of the major theme that runs through it. And I said I was gonna, I wanted to go back over it. Again, this is one of my personal favorite sections of scripture. I think there's the reason why I feel like we could go back over it. And frankly, we could go over it again after this week as well. But there's a lot kind of crammed into a very small space here, which is true of scripture and law in general, but definitely this area. So we're gonna once again be in 1 Peter. We're gonna be once again starting in 3, excuse me, 3.13, and we're gonna read down through, excuse me, 4.6 again. But at, like I said last time, we covered this section in the theme of suffering, kind of the major theme that runs through it. We opened up Peter's theology of suffering, And we looked at some practical ways in which those things impact our own walk day to day. And like I mentioned then, there's many different things in this section. And so we're gonna return and unpack the core factor that Peter kind of moves to revolve around in this section. And that is Christ's redemptive work. kind of the core. And what I want us to do today, as we go back and focus, is we're going to particularly focus on the impact that a very common verse that a lot of people have memorized, a verse that I've had memorized for a very, very, very, very long time, thanks to a children's song, actually, you know, that works that way sometimes. 1 Peter 3.18, the impact that that has radiating out through not just this not just this text that we're gonna be looking at now, but 1 Peter as a work as a whole, and kind of discuss that. So without further ado, I'm just gonna jump in and read this section again for us, kind of refresh us all of what we're gonna be going through. So follow along with me. Again, 1 Peter 3.13 is where we will be starting. And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your own hearts, that you may always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear. having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for what is doing good rather than for doing evil. For Christ suffered once for sins, just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient. once when the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. There is then also an antitype which now saves us, baptism, not the removal of filth from the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God. through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with that same mind, for he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was also preached to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Amen. All right. As stated, obviously we've crossed over this once before and we're going back on it. One of the things that I want to point out here, as we go through, we're going to be taking several lessons and several observations from Christ's sacrifice and suffering. which is kind of what everything pivots on in verse 18 there. And we're gonna start first, before we dig too deep into anything, with Christ's sacrifice and suffering, lessons from the context in which this is put. We talked about this last week a little bit, what is the point of suffering? Peter's been discussing suffering, And we'll discuss suffering throughout this letter and then so in light of that 318 through 22 Really becomes a linchpin it starts with four and then chapter one starts with therefore So we see everything kind of begins to revolve around this Peter has structured the letter through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and such that this concept of Christ's suffering becomes Like I said, that central point, the cornerstone, as it were, which everything begins to kind of revolve around and be built up upon. He's placed this unfolding of Christ's redemptive suffering here to, amongst other things, again, he's just gotten done talking about all these ways of suffering, and he begins to unfold it here, just in its context, to make it central to us and our suffering. And we've already seen this, again, if we look back through 2 and the first part of 3. Again, we touched on this when we were reading through those sections. But Christ submits to government. Christ is beaten. And all things... that we could be considered having to do in these texts that Peter opens up. When he talks about us submitting to governments which are unjust and governments which aren't which we would say unfairly accuse us, are built around that. Then immediately here, we see this, it comes back to Christ, and we can think of Christ suffering before Pilate, and standing there, and that whole concept unfolds that we had talked about, of Christ pointing to that and saying, you don't have authority over me unless it was given to you from above. And so there's a higher authority that we're answering to. We're seeing how we suffer in that. It talks about when submission to masters, he talks about, are you beaten? Are you given stripes for righteousness' sake? So was Christ. And as he goes on, you were healed through those. So we see that again. It all comes back to Christ and Christ's redemptive work becomes the focus for all of this. And we see the lesson that we immediately take from this And just where Peter has placed it in this book, we begin to see that suffering is redemptive when it is centered on Christ, which is what he's calling us to do. Again, in 318, we see that Christ, in a very real sense, suffers for sin. He suffers to pay for it, to the just for the unjust. It becomes a redemptive act. Peter, by placing it there, puts that same mindset into us. That when we suffer, our first thought is how is this a redemptive act? Now, it can be sanctification within ourselves, but again, as we look at the lead-in to this part, that when Peter talks about giving the hope that's within you in the midst of this, Peter's talking about our suffering Because we, in our mindset, are going to be gospel-focused and Christ-focused, constantly swirling back to 318, that Christ suffered for our sins and just for the unjust, and that there was suffering involved with that. If that's constantly our mindset, that is also the approach we take to our own suffering. And so our suffering becomes redemptive in a way, not in the same way as Christ. Obviously, we are not paying for people's sins when we suffer. But it becomes the primary way that Peter puts forward that we're engaged in the redemptive process by showing other people our suffering and the redemptive aspect that it has. And from this, we come to a common criticism that some people who are skeptical will level at Christianity, where they say, man, how can God be good if bad things happen to good people? And what we see from Peter right here is the response to that. Not only is the concept that bad things happen to good people not incompatible with Christianity, it's actually the core of Christianity. that bad things happened to really the only one good person who ever walked the earth. So again, this shifts from this being some kind of like, oh, gotcha moment. Bad things happen to good people. You're like, yeah, praise God. Because if it didn't, we wouldn't have hope. That's the whole point, is that bad things happen to good people, a good person who was the son of God. So again, Peter brings everything back to this redemptive mindset by just the contextual placement. And from this, we also pull forward this concept of just where it's placed here in Scripture. He's been talking about this incorruptible payment. Peter has unfolded already in the sections before this, and we'll talk about it more after, opening up The Christ is the cornerstone with which all of this is built on. And he talks about that payment that's coming. And we'll touch on this a little bit more in just a second here. We'll move into that to open it. But it's important to note that even right here, what Peter's doing is unfolding those seeds that he's already placed there. He's talked about Christ's blood being in uncorruptible payment for an uncorruptible reward and Here he's showing you. Well, how do you get that blood for that payment? It circles around right here He's he has set up for you to ask these questions Then he brings forth these answers in the context of suffering and how we comport ourselves within it So that is a lot to wade through and we haven't actually grappled with the text yet that's just talking about kind of how the thing's structured. So we'll push on though, because like I said, the next important lesson I think that we can talk about, when we talk about how there's a context, lessons from the context of just where Peter places this in the book, and the concept of suffering that's around it, and how that gives this weight and meaning in a practical sense and in a real sense, just from its placement. He goes on to talk, and we're gonna talk more, as I just mentioned, about that incorruptible payment and redemption, Okay. There is a speaker who I like, a presenter. I don't agree with everything he says, but by the name of Matt Colville, and he always likes to say you need to present your gameable information up front, which is to say the thing that you want people to know that they can immediately walk away with needs to be right up front. Well, here it comes. This is going to be your gameable information right up front, because we're going to unfold Four is what I have written down. We'll see how long I ramble but four points here about payment incorruptible payment and redemption number one Christ's sacrifice and suffering is the gospel We are saved by his suffering if we went back in 119 Of this of this book We'll see But it's hard to read small print with my eyes. But you were not knowing that you were not redeemed starting at 18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold. From your aimless conducts or traditions from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. He indeed was foreordained from the foundations of the world, but manifest in these last times to you. We are saved by suffering, and we are saved by suffering for salvation. If you jumped up right above that, what is that suffering for? What is that payment for? Let's look at 1.8. For whom, having not seen you love, though you do now not yet see him, yet believing you rejoice with inexpressible Full glory receiving the end of your faith. What is the end of our faith? What is our reward the salvation of your souls? So we know when we look at 318 what's going on here? We see Christ Suffering the just for the unjust and we know that what that means is salvation Peter's already laid that out that this is a payment of uncorruptible blood that's coming forth to purchase salvation and Not only that, but we know if we jumped way back to Acts 4, 12, we'll have Peter, we'll hear Peter himself while preaching, before the Sanhedrin, says that salvation is found in no one else. Only Christ can be this sacrifice, the just for the unjust. Only Christ is able to do this. There is no other name under heaven given to men. I love the way that is phrased. Only Christ can be the sacrifice that we see here. It happens through suffering and it happens for salvation. So while we know from 318 here that Christ's sacrifice and suffering is the gospel, we're also made aware that Christ's sacrifice is effectual. It was done once for all. There is a finality to it. The payment is done. And in fact, I'm just going to flip back to Hebrews 9. I'm going to start in because we see the same concept unfolded here. Hebrews 9, we've already been in Hebrews once today. You know, this is maybe a good indicator you should read through Hebrews today in your downtime. Hebrews 9, 11, but Christ came as the high priest of all good things to come. With the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered into the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer and the sprinkling of the unclean sanctifies for the purification of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ and the eternal spirit Through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from the dead works before To serve the Living God and for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death For whom redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those who may be called receive promise of an eternal inheritance and So much of the exact language that Peter uses is put forth there. So Christ's sacrifice is effectual, and I wanna open up a few points of what that can mean for us as we look into it. It means that we can reject a couple things. One thing that we can quickly reject is the Roman notion of transubstantiation, a doctrine which claims that the elements of the Lord's Supper are transformed for Christ's sacrifice to be offered continually for our sins again and again. That's not a doctrine that Peter seems to hold to. Peter holds to the notion that it was once for all the just for the unjust. as the writer of Hebrews said, that that sacrifice was effectual, that it accomplished the work that it was meant to do with a finality. We can also reject, as Dan has commented throughout Sunday School, we can reject the notion that a sacrificial system will return. Because right here, we see that Christ, and again, coupling this verse, 318, with Hebrews, we see that those sacrifices were not effectual in the way that Christ's blood is, and that Christ's sacrifice has happened, and that he now sits victorious at God's right hand. So there is no need for sacrifices. They are no longer there. We can reject that notion. We can also reject, we can reject any form of legalism. Because what is the gospel in 318 right here, as we've been looking at that? Christ suffers, and again, this has been talking about how we get his blood to be that payment. That Christ suffers, that there's no other name that's given to us, just Christ's name, just Christ's suffering, and that that happened once for all, the just for the unjust. That is done, we are done. You do not add to that. You can't take away from it. You can't add to it. It's complete. Again, anyone who's here listening right now, this is something you have to grapple with. I don't know what your hope is in, if it's not in Christ, but it's in the wrong thing. There is only one name. Given to you by which you can be saved and that is Christ's name There's only one work that can save you and it's not your work It is the suffering of Christ the just for the unjust If you are waiting to achieve some level of holiness before you turn to Christ you you're missing the point You're already unjust you fit the category of people that that Christ is dying for The only thing you need to bring is your sin and and turn to Christ to realize that he suffered the righteous for the unrighteous. And after we've turned to that, that we don't add things to that, we don't look at it and as the certain pippers of the first church said, oh, Christ suffered the righteous for the unrighteous, also you need to be circumcised and you need to follow certain laws. The Bible's clear, that's not the case. That is not what, that's not a suffering that buys you something that Peter's talking about here. But there's hope within that too. Let's remember, as he says right here at the end of it, while we're talking about the finality, the power, the payment being done, and it's to bring us to God. That is such a powerful statement when you think about it. If you are now the just because of Christ's payment, you will be brought to God. It's done. That's why Christ died. Christ is not gonna somehow fumble the ball. His sacrifice, his payment was incorruptible. And from this, I would unfold two other related to that. Third point, that Christ's sacrifice was the just for the unjust, was not just effectual in a generic sense, it was the just, Christ, for the unjust. Like I said, anybody falls into that category. And from this we learn, we can look and see that since we know that Christ's sacrifice was effectual, we know that it was the just for the unjust, this can bring forth a concept that we generally articulate as particular redemption. That there are those Christ died for the just for the unjust that there is a substitutionary work that happens here And since that substitutionary work has happened, the payment is done. Those will be brought to God. That is why Christ died. Christ did not die for the option of people to be brought to God. He died so that they would be brought to God. So those he died for, he died for those particular ones that he was going to call unto himself. And that those, as I said, we sometimes use the term preservation of the saints, that that payment is effectual. Christ will bring them to God. And something that we need to make sure we don't miss, point four, that we can pull straight from this, just with this concept of incorruptible payment, is that Christ's sacrifice, and this word gets used here, was victorious. Christ's sacrifice was victorious. His suffering was victorious. That's generally not a word we like to apply to suffering, but that's the word that Peter, that's the concept that Peter comes into here. Excuse me. Christ dies and he preaches victory before rising to all power and authority. We see that in verse 22 there. That who has gone into heaven ascends back up, angels and authorities and powers being given to him. We could flip back to Ephesians 4. I'm just gonna read. I could summarize it, but Paul says it better than I do. But to each of us, sorry, I'll start in verse seven. But to each of us was given grace. Grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men. Now this, he ascended. What does that mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascends far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. Now there's obviously people like to focus on questions that can spin out from that, both here in Peter and in Ephesians. But I hope you see what the undercurrent there is, is that Christ is victorious. The resurrection is proof of our sure hope. Again, Peter pointed that out back in chapter one. When when he said indeed it was foreordained before the foundations of the world and manifest in these times to you Who through him believe in God who was raised him from the dead to give him glory so that your faith and hope are in God At resurrection becomes a sure proof for us and a comfort of the victory that Christ already has won this again plays into what Dan's been talking about during Sunday school Christ is King now and He has all authority and a power now. His sacrifice, his suffering was victorious. Now there's a lot of depth in that. But, to quote the theologian, but wait, there's more. Christ's suffering and sacrifice demand a response. The context of suffering we talked about. Suffer as Christ. We were given this glorious gospel message which the unbeliever should hear and repent, and which the believer should look at and see suffering as Christ. That's how we are called to suffer. That's why this is put forward in the sense, again, it goes back to what I was saying, you see in 318, it starts with four, Peter's coming off of suffering, he goes into four, and he says that Christ's suffering, suffer as Christ, how did Christ suffer? Redemptively. That's how you're to suffer, redemptively. which means you preach the gospel. And that's not just a side thing that we're spinning out. We see that Christ does that. He's put to death, made alive by the spirit. He went and he preached to the spirits in prison. Again, we can start to unpack some of the more esoteric and deeper discussion of that. But what we clearly see is that he preaches. Christ uses his suffering to preach. Two, we see another response mentioned here in this passage, and this is one that takes a little bit of unfolding from this spot. But it's a deep subject, the response of baptism. And that's the critical thing here, is baptism in this passage, as Peter opens it up, is a response of faith and discipleship. That's what it's in response to. and to preaching, and to hearing of this suffering of Christ and the redemptive thing, and the redemptive work. In verses, excuse me, in verses 20 through 22 is where we see this, who formerly were disobedient, when the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through the water, There is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism, not the removal of filth from the flesh, but of the answer of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. Angels and authorities and powers have been made subject to him. All right, this is a brief discussion of baptism that's about to unfold. Let's start with something I normally don't do, which is quibble about words and translations. Justin's gonna know where I'm going with this already. Your Bible should say anti-type. Maybe it says corresponds to, maybe it says relates to. Those are, I think, the most common ones. The word is antitype in Greek, so I don't know why you would change it. Actually, it's one of two places that this word actually appears in scripture, or in the New Testament, I should say. The other is in Hebrews 9, 24. I'm not going to go back and read that, but again, another allusion to Hebrews. Please read that later today. It's a great book. But those are the only two places that this word is actually used. And a good definition would be, it's a fulfillment of a type, that obviously we understand, biblically most people understand what a type is. We would say, for example, when something happens, and we would say, well that's a type of Christ, or a foreshadowing. And the anti-type is the fulfillment thereof. or a spiritual expression of that fulfillment, or a physical expression of that fulfillment. And that's what we see here as we unfold this, that baptism is likened unto the destructive floodwaters in here. The emphasis, and this is why it's important to note as we look at this, Again, that's the wording, a little bit of the statement of kind of what's going on there. But then what's important to note is that Christ's work, and the emphasis on the resurrection in particular, is the arc of salvation that gets mentioned here. So I think what's critical to note, there are some people who have tried to point to this to indicate that baptism is somehow either necessary for salvation or is in fact salvific. Peter does not equate that when you actually look at what he's saying. Like, obviously enough that the emphasis being on Christ suffering for punishment, for sin, and that being where the payment comes in, and the resurrection actually being what that salvation happens through, that really when you push on it, that argument doesn't even begin to make sense. But what we see here is that there is a connection with baptism as an act of obedience in faith to identify with that resurrection, to act out a discipleship, to act out as a disciple. This goes back to if I had asked Justin, I looked over some of his stuff again because he had given a, the word credo baptist is the one that we generally use to describe someone who believes that you are baptized upon a profession of faith. But I think Justin opened, using this passage and others, opened it really well during that Sunday school to talk about It's really, the emphasis is less on, it is Credo Baptist, but it's more discipleship baptism. The recognition that we are baptized into something. And that being the resurrection of Christ. which is why it's critical that that's how we approach this, and that it is those who have given a profession who are baptized, which actually plays right into what Peter's talking about here. This becomes, in my mind, one of the best Credo Baptist proof texts, because when he's liking it unto the floodwaters, when Peter is, and he's talking about the ark and salvation and how all these things, well, who's going through this? Who's passing through this? Those who are saved. That's who receives the sign in Peter's type and anti-type discussion. So it makes sense that when we're talking about baptism, that same thing plays forward, that we baptize those whom are saved, which would be obviously those who have, for whom Christ suffered the unjust, that the just gave his life for, and who now live in that resurrection. There's also a concept of the removal of dirt. Peter's contrasting. He's saying it's not like that. it's faith in Christ, putting off the dead man, which is incidentally what the flood did, it wiped the earth clean of many dead men. And so again, we see Peter begin to unfold that. So that is a great example of just like I said, that the response that Christ's suffering demands, it demands a recognition of that payment, and it demands a acceptance of the truth being presented. And for those who have followed, Peter equates it, or connects it with baptism, says this should be the act by which you identify with this. But it should be, we should note, because Peter ends this section with a therefore, and goes on to give us the thing that Christ's sacrifice and suffering calls us to, which is a call to arms. We see it right there in verse one, where he says of chapter four, therefore, since Christ suffered for us, therefore, since Christ suffered for us, therefore, since Christ suffered once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God in the flesh, arm yourselves also with this same mind, the mind that Christ had. For he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer Should live the rest of his time in flesh for the lust of men Arm yourself is the word that he uses this this calls back imagery that we saw in First Peter 1 13 where Peter said gird up the loins of your mind You might remember I mentioned then in connection with that, and arm yourself is a similar picture. You don't just arm yourself. You don't just gird up your loins. That is not the task. That is the task you do so that you can perform a different task. If we had, you know, I know we have a couple, but military type individuals or law enforcement individuals, you don't arm yourself to then sit in the locker room. You arm yourself because you're about to sally out and do something. You're about to guard a perimeter. You're about to patrol an area. You're about to do a thing. You don't gird up your loins just because you like walking around with a big faux diaper on. You do it because you're about to do something that requires you to exert yourself. So you need your lungi all pulled up. I love technical terms there, lungi and diaper. But that's the mindset that we are to have. Peter says, arm yourself. He says, gird up to do other things. Well, what are the other things that he's talking about? He talks about in that chapter in the first that we talked about, and then here, he's talking about actively engaging your mind. Both of those times, he's talking about your mind. Gird up the loins of your mind. Arm yourself with the same mind as Christ. That's a rationality, that's a mindset, that is an active approach. Christianity does not divorce yourself from your intellect, but rather it's taking on, it's arming yourself with Christ's intellect. It's not sitting back, it's girding up the loins so that you can act as Christ acted. And note, both of those things mean that this is not a natural activity for you. You're not gonna naturally have a gun in your hand, right? You have to arm yourself. You're not gonna naturally have your loins girded up. You have to do that. That's what we talked about when we were back in 1 Peter 1, is that there is an action you have to take. You have to push yourself to do a non-natural thing so that you can attain holy living. which is what Peter opens up here in four. And it's what he talked about back in one, chapter one, when he was talking about girding up the loins of your mind. Because both of these things, they involve, first, sharpening yourself, taking on Christ's mind, actively engaging with the word of God. That's what happens both of those times. The mind of Christ, that's engaging yourself with the word of God. Girding up your loins, He goes on in that section to talk about engaging with the word as you do that. So the call is to be immersed in the word, and that will give you holy living as a response. It's a therefore, it's not a cause. Christ suffers for the gospel, we clearly saw that up there. But we're then hit with a therefore. So it's not a cause, it's a response. But it's a response that should be there. As a response that you should want to take up. The armor and arm yourself with Christ mine to gird up your loins and to live in a specific way That's the call that's there That's the response that Peter expects that Christ expects that the word calls you to and again, it's not easy and I go back to quote the man that, whose name I can't remember from my childhood, who said, if you thought the Christian life was gonna be easy, that person lied to you. I don't know who told you that, but they were wrong. Or they were intentionally lying to you, one of the two. But it's not gonna be that way. You're called to hard action, to perform more hard actions. Because then all of a sudden, you can submit to the government. You can submit to your master. You can dwell with your spouse in the way that the scripture calls you to. Those are not things you're gonna do naturally. Those are things you're gonna do because you take on the mind of Christ. You arm yourself with it. The things that you're gonna do because you have girded up your loins and immersed yourself in the word. And again, this is where if we go back to bad things happening to good people, there's no naturally good people. If there were, Peter wouldn't have to call you to take on an entirely different mindset. Your mindset would be fine. So we began with a gospel call, and we're gonna end with a gospel call. You can't do this on your own, boy and girl, man or woman, doesn't matter. You can't somehow oomph your way through submitting to the government, which is gonna get you into heaven. You can't oomph your way to caring for the poor and have that get you into heaven. Because those are responses, not causes. The cause is that Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. And your hope is in that? Incorruptible blood offered once and for all by the great high priest? Or it's in ash? and it will not buy you anything other than condemnation. Join me, please, as we pray. Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you that you did not just call us to holy living, but you gave us the means by which to accomplish it. You said, take up the mind of Christ, and then you opened that up for us by giving us the scripture so that we would know how to proceed. We thank you, Lord, more than anything else, that you did suffer the righteous for the unrighteous. Would those unconverted right now who hear it realize that? Know what they are. Know what they need. Lord, as we said today, you died for them. Your spirit can draw them. We ask that you do. Lord, I ask that as the word went forth today, it would be as in Ezekiel, dead bones hearing it and through the spirit receiving life. Father in heaven, we pray now that as we go out, that we would suffer. As Christians, we would suffer for righteousness sake, not for unrighteousness sake. That we would have a redemptive focus to that suffering in our minds. And that we would always be ready, as Peter says, to preach the gospel to all. Those around us, saints in prison, or souls in prison, everyone. It's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.