He was wounded for our transgressions. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. Our bondage ain't released. And with its stripes, and with its stripes, and with its stripes, our souls march on. We all had wandered, we all had wandered far from the fold of the shepherd of the sheep. But he saw us where we were, on the mountain swing and bend. and brought us safely home to God. Who can number His generations? Who shall declare all the triumphs And said, Thou wilt again, Fear not, follow in His train, Victorious Lord, Victorious Lord, Victorious Lord and coming King. I'm turning this evening to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3. It's fitting tonight that we read the passage on Noah and the deluge that took away everyone in his day. We have object lessons all around us tonight. We're safe in this building as long as the flood doesn't get any higher than what we're seeing now. Tonight we're looking at 1 Peter chapter 3 and we're going to begin reading in the middle of the chapter and read down to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter chapter 3, beginning our reading at verse 13. And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? And if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, and neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. having a good conscience that, whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient. When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Amen. With God's Word open before us, let's bow our hearts now in prayer and ask for the help of God's Spirit in our study this evening. Father in Heaven, truly it has been our delight to be able to sing praises concerning the atoning work of Jesus Christ. We have no hope in this life apart from that atoning work. And we come to thee tonight on the basis of what Christ has done to give thee praise and glory and honor that you've had such mercy and grace upon our souls. Lord, as we come into this meeting tonight, we come as a people desirous of hearing from heaven, desirous of knowing more of Thy truth and more of what we are in Christ. And we ask, O Lord, that You would be pleased to come upon preacher and listener alike, that we would all hear Thy voice, that we would all follow after Thee. Come and help us, even in our study this night, for we ask these things in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen. This epistle we have looked at now three times, and we have just scratched the surface, and I suppose when we get done after a few more times, we'll still just be scratching the surface of all that is taught here. In chapter 1 all the way up to chapter 2 and verse 10, you have the apostle giving us some of the glorious doctrines of the gospel, and he applies it. But he's primarily taken up with giving us the glorious gospel. And then from chapter 2 and verse 11, he's given the application of that gospel to our hearts, but he can't go very far without going back to the glorious gospel and speaking of it over and over again. We were thinking on the fact that to Peter, Christ was precious. And as you go chapter by chapter by chapter, he continually runs your attention back to the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory. My job is to deal with chapter 3. But chapter 3 begins really in chapter 2 and verse 11. That's where the application starts as to Peter telling us what we ought to be in light of all that Christ has done for us. In chapter 2 and verse 11 and 12 he gives us commands for witnessing to the unbelievers. And then you find in chapter 2 in verse 13 to 17 he tells us that we're to submit to government authorities that we were not to be rebels as it were in the earth. And then he talks even about the slave being subject to the master and you see that in chapter 2 verse 18 and that runs down to verse 25. Many slaves were mistreated by their masters and suffered greatly. And so Peter talks about what it is to suffer for the cause of Christ. And he says that we are to find Christ as our example in that suffering. When we come to chapter 3, he continues on with this theme of submission. He's dealing with the filial relation or the family relation that we have. And he deals with the husband and the wife. And then he has a series of commands given to the congregation. Congregational commands to deal with our sanctification. And then in chapter 3 and verse 13 and running down to verse 18, he talks about personal commands for those who are suffering. He comes back to the same theme that he ended on at the end of chapter 2. Not dealing now so much with slaves, but dealing with all of God's people. All of those who stand for truth and righteousness will suffer He gives in chapter 3 in verse 13 a maxim that normally man will be respected if his behavior is good. But then he gives the exception in verses 14 to 17. Wicked men will continually fight against Christ and as they fight against Christ they're going to fight against us as those who have the cause of Christ upon us. In verse 18 he then gives to us Christ again as the example of suffering. Again, he brings that to our attention. And he goes then into discourse here concerning the sufferings of Christ, not merely as an example, but as we'll see tonight, as an expiation for sin, as we see tonight, as an entrance into glory. While he is speaking about the sufferings of Christ, he then speaks in a way that is very confusing to many of God's people in our day. I was tempted not to mention anything about this and yet we're here to discover the truth of God's Word and this portion here gives fits at times to God's people. You have, for instance, the passage here speaking about Christ going, supposedly going, to preach to prisoners in hell. Well, that is not, I believe, what is actually being stated here. When Christ died, he went to paradise. How do you know that? Well, he said to the thief on the cross, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. But if you were to back up into chapter 1, in verses 10 to 12, you'll find that Christ did preach. By the Spirit, he preached. to those in the days of the prophets, just as he refers to the days of Noah here, Noah as a preacher. He preached by his spirit to men in past generations. Those men rejected the gospel and now they were imprisoned. Yes, he did preach to them by his servants, the prophets, and by his spirit, and actually that is what is in focus here when it says that by which also he went. He's speaking of the spirit mentioned at the end of chapter 18. Another problem, though, is that there are those who tell us that water baptism saves the soul. You see that in verse number 21 and the like, figure wherein to even baptism doth also now save us. Now, baptism does save you, but it's not water baptism that Peter is here speaking of. In fact, I think he's indicating it's not water baptism because he says it's not the putting away, it's not the removal of the filth of the flesh. That's all water baptism can do. Whether you sprinkle or pour or immerse, it can only make the outside of a man wet. It can only cleanse, as it were, the physical dirt. What is he talking about here? He's talking about spiritual baptism. Spiritual baptism has to do with your union with Christ. Water baptism is a picture of that spiritual baptism. When you go to Romans chapter 6, Paul is talking there about a spiritual baptism, that you are united to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. When you come to Galatians chapter 3, he is again talking of the fact that you are united to Christ. And in Christ, there's not male nor female, there's not Jew nor Gentile. We are all part of Christ and therefore we are joint heirs with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, he's talking there concerning the fact that we have all been united to Christ. And because every one of us who is a believer is in Christ, we are also in one another. We're part of this glorious body. I say Paul and the Apostles understood that there was a union with Christ, a baptism into Christ that indeed indicated our salvation. That's the union I believe that he is speaking of here. Now what does that have to do with Noah and the ark and the wrath of God that fell upon those in Noah's day? Well, he says in verse 21, he says, the like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us. The word like figure in the Greek is the word anti-tupos or anti-type as we would say in our day and age. The anti-type of what Noah was is that which saves you. What is a type? If I said to you that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a type, a type of the sacrifice of Christ, that would make the sacrifice of Christ the anti-type, that which corresponds to the type of the Old Testament. Peter is saying here that the ark that Noah was in was the type, but the anti-type that saves you is Christ and your union with Christ. You note here it says that they were saved by water you see that at the end of verse 20 It literally says in the in the Greek that they were saved through water They went into the ark and as they went into the ark the wrath of God came upon that generation through the means of water And they never died in that ark. They remained. All eight people remained and were saved as they came through the water and came up as it were safely on the other side. He is now saying that with your union with Christ and the wrath of God that beat upon Christ, you and I are secure. You and I are safe. There's nothing that can destroy us because the wrath fell upon Christ and you and I are united to Christ and we are secure. Baptism does save you, not water baptism, but a union with Christ saves the people of God. I hope you understand what I've said. If you don't, ask your counselors tonight and they will explain it to you. No, don't do that. Counselors are my friends and they may not want to delve into this. I don't even want to talk on what we've just looked at. I just want you to see that there is an answer to some of the heresies that people throw at us today if you look closely at what is being said in the passage. What I want to draw your attention to is verse 18. 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. He's speaking of Christ's sufferings, but he gives, as it were, three applications as to what that suffering means. And I want us to focus just briefly tonight concerning the sufferings of Christ and what that means for us. First of all, the sufferings of Christ provide an example for our lives. Every saint has for their example the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, liberals tell us that's all that the work of Christ is. It's just an example. They're wrong on that, but it is an example. Christ was perfect. He kept the law of God and everything that it demanded. So we can go to Christ and we can say, all right, if I'm going to obey, the greatest example of that obedience is the Lord Jesus Christ. I ought to be like Him. Paul goes to Christ as an example of humility. In Philippians chapter 2, he says we ought to have the same mind in ourselves that Christ had. Why, He was perfect. Well, as he lived the perfect life and he walked in a humble fashion, he was attacked. Attacked over and over and over again. And in being attacked, he sets before us the perfect example of what suffering is all about. We go to the cross and here is the King of the Jews being mocked by Herod's men and Pilate's men. They put a crown of thorns upon his head. They wrapped him with a purple robe. They put a reed in his hand in mockery. The reed in a king's hand could be extended and someone would be embiddened to come near the king. But if it was pushed against someone, it would mean their life. They took that reed out of our Lord's hands and beat him over the head with it. They were mocking him. The Jews, before that, blindfolded him and mocked him as the prophet. They hit him and they said, prophesy, who smote thee? And then the crowds, the multitudes as he was on the cross were mocking him concerning his own work of salvation. If you're going to save us come down from the cross. They didn't understand to save his people that he had to remain on the cross. He had to be there for his people. His example is very unusual, is it not? We can say it's also unique. He suffered once for sins. He is the only sinless sufferer. James brings to our attention the prophets and he brings Job to our attention in James chapter 5 verses 10 to 11. And he says that they are examples. He says, my brethren, take the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience. Behold, we count them happy, which endured. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. And yet, when you look at Job, there are times he was complaining. Times we could say that he was in sin. And when you look at the prophets, even the greatest of prophets, oftentimes they had connected with their lives depression and an outlook on life which was not warranted. Yet when you come to Christ, He was perfect in all of His sufferings. His example is unalterable. There is nothing that needs to be added to his sufferings, nothing that can be taken away from his sufferings. And this is the one that the Apostle points us to in our sufferings. He has said at the end of verse 17, For it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered. Christ is our example. Would you note that he's not dealing merely with the sufferings that we have going through this life because calamities come to us. All of us suffer at times. Perhaps you're in an automobile accident. Perhaps you have an illness. And those are sufferings that come upon us. And certainly he deals with those aspects of suffering in the book. But here he's dealing with the attack upon the people of God by the wicked. We read verse 13 and then verse 14 and 15 where they were coming against the people of God. On Sunday morning, Reverend Mercer was given the context for this epistle under Nero and the severe persecution that was coming to God's people. And Peter is saying, look and in all of this persecution, you have one who has gone before and you're to walk in his footsteps. A number of years ago I was having trouble with some people that were making my life difficult and were saying some things were very, very evil. And I remember Dr. McClellan learning of that and he came to me and he said to me, you know, I've gone through similar things and he gave me an example and then he said to me, we just have to walk in the footsteps of Christ. This came to me because I didn't think of a passage of scripture when he said that he didn't quote a passage of scripture But when you go back to verse 21 of chapter 2 He says even here unto where ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow in his steps You and I are following in the steps of Christ And if this world fought with him, it's going to fight with anyone who represents Christ to the world in which we live. Years ago, when my daughter was smaller, we had 15 inches of snow in Malvern. And I remember going out into the snow and having to do something. And next thing I'd do, I'd turn around and here she is putting her feet in the tracks that I had left. Christ has already walked the path that you and I are called upon to walk. You will never, not one of us will ever, have the same amount of suffering that He underwent. He suffered for our sins. And in doing so, He had left an example for us to encourage us. Turn, if you would, back to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse 3, Hebrews chapter 12. Here were brethren who were following after the Lord and they were being attacked by other Jews who wanted them to turn their backs upon Christ. And we find that Paul here in verse 3 comes and he brings to the attention of these brethren the Lord Jesus Christ as the greatest example of suffering and endurance. Look at what it says in verse 3 of chapter 12. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. How do you go on when the world is against you? If the whole world is against you, how do you go on? The Apostle Paul knew how to go on, Peter knew how to go on, and these men were at times facing opposition from the whole world. And yet they went on, being like Christ, putting their feet, as it were, into His footsteps. But there is a second application that we can make from this passage. Not merely is He an example to us, but the sufferings of Christ provide an expiation for our sins. Expiation. That's a theological term. It's not a term that we use today very much, but if you were to read theology, you would see it occur over and over again in the realm of the doctrines of salvation. It means to make an atonement for. It means to satisfy God's law to the extent that God can now forgive sin. Expiation. And what we have here given to us is that the sufferings of Christ were for the purpose of removing our sins. Look at what it says in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust. He hath once suffered for sins. The word for has the idea of putting a circle around something. And concerning our sins, He has included them all. None are outside the circle. None are outside of His work in salvation. He suffered for our sins. We go to the cross and we see tremendous suffering. I mentioned some of that already as men and women treated Him as an unjust man and He was not unjust. But the greatest of His sufferings had to do with what God did to our Savior. When He put our sins upon Him and He punished Him for our sins and He suffered. Make no mistake about it tonight, you will suffer for your sins. There is no one who does not suffer for his sins. What you have said will be brought back again to your account. What you have thought, you will be punished for. What you have done and what path you have walked, God has taken and made records of it all. And each one of us will be punished for our sins. Everyone But what Peter is saying is that there is a way in which someone else was punished for our sins. Yes, we are punished, but we are punished in Christ. And there are those perhaps here tonight, and you say, I don't want Christ, but I don't think I'll ever be punished for my sins. My friend, because Christ was punished, God has vowed to you, He has promised to you that there is punishment for sin. If there was another way of bringing us to glory, His Son never would have come and suffered. He suffered. And either tonight you and I are going to suffer for our own sins or we will suffer for our sins by a substitute, by someone else. He said that we're not to suffer for that which we have done which is wrong. You see that in chapter 3 in the passage that we read earlier. He says in verse 14, but if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid for their terror, and neither be troubled. And then he goes on and he says that we're not to suffer for that which we have done which is evil. Verse 17, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. So when it says that Christ suffered for sins, what is it talking about? It's not talking about His sins. Earlier in chapter 2, He said, He did no sin, verse 22, neither was guile found in His mouth. When He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judges righteously. He wasn't suffering for His sins. He was suffering for our sins. Verse 24, chapter 2, his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. When he hung on that tree, the evil that you have thought was punished upon him. When he hung on that tree, the evil that's come out of your mouth was punished upon him. The evil that has been done by your actions, your hands, the evil that has been a part of your past, the way that you have walked in this earth, was all placed upon Him. It was all placed upon Him. Would you know that it's very clear that this is sin being given to Christ, not Christ's sin? By the very next statement, it says that He died, the just for the unjust. He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Again, the word for, a different word. The word for here is the word instead of, it means substitution. in the place of, instead of. He died instead of the unjust. The one who is just, the word just means righteous, the one who is righteous dies in the place of those who are unrighteous. That's what it means when it says he suffered for sins. The righteous one was dying in our place. In our place. God punished his son because that was the only way of bringing us to glory. Do not deceive yourself that you will escape the punishment of God by turning your back on Christ. It won't happen. Peter is very clear to us tonight that there is a removal of sin. There is a putting away of sin. And it's based upon a complete sacrifice. A once and for all sacrifice. As we see here, him speaking, Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. What he did was successful. What he did was sufficient. What he did enables us to truly be saved tonight. Once suffered for sins. And so, truly, the sufferings of Christ not only provide for us tonight an example, it also provides for us the confidence that we have that truly our sins are removed. It is not that God just said, I forgive you. He didn't do that. He punished our sins in full upon His Son, and now He has a just way of forgiving us completely. He can say to us, your sins are pardoned, your sins are cleansed, your sins are buried in the deepest sea, your sins have been cast behind my back, your sins have been blotted out. Over and over and over again, God continues to tell us what it is to have our sins removed because we have a hard time with that. We can't see that. I can see you, and if I know you have sinned, that sticks in my head, and I bring that sin to my mind when I see you, and you do the same toward me. We see our imperfections. Where are your sins forgiven at? Forgiven in glory. And they're forgiven because He suffered for our sins, because He suffered the just for the unjust, in the place of the unjust tonight. Thirdly, the sufferings of Christ also provide an entrance to our God. The sufferings of Christ also provide an entrance unto our God. Look at what it says in verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That he might bring us to God. It's not merely that he forgives your sin and he leaves you alone. He's going to bring you all the way to glory. And there will be those who will stand in your way. There will be those opposed to you. Those that will cause you to physically suffer because they don't believe the gospel that you believe. But nonetheless, it doesn't matter what they are doing to you. Christ has suffered and He is going to bring you all the way to glory. All the way. You say, I have a hard time hanging on to Christ. We all do. But He will bring us to glory. He said, I have a hard time keeping all of His commands. We all have that hard time. We're all wrestling with that. And yet, He's going to bring us all the way to glory. He's going to grant us this entrance into God's presence. In the Old Testament, this was pictured in the tabernacle. In the tabernacle, you had two basic compartments. The outer compartment, which was bigger than the inner compartment. The outer compartment had the altar of incense. It had the table of showbread. It had the candle opera, the menorah, the lampstand. But if you were going to meet with God, you had to go inside the veil, into the smaller compartment, where the Ark was, the Ark of the Covenant. God made it so that only the high priests could go into that place once a year. Throughout the year, the blood of the animals was shed, and when it was shed, it was used in different ways in order to picture our salvation. And sometimes the blood of the animal was taken, and it was sprinkled just before the veil. Just before the veil. So the ground was truly soaked with the blood of that sacrifice, picturing the work of Christ. Now if you and I saw blood on the ground, we'd walk around it. You find some spot, something you don't want in your shoes, you go around it. But if you're going into the veil, if you're going to go into the Holy of Holies, you've got to walk on that blood-soaked path. The high priest would then go in on the Day of Atonement and he would sprinkle blood before the Ark of the Covenant. And then he would sprinkle blood upon the Ark of the Covenant. In the Ark was the Law of God. Sprinkling before the Law, the Ark of the Covenant was protecting him. Sprinkling it above, God said he would meet with his people above the Ark of the Covenant. He was above the Law and the Law was screaming for the death and judgment of his people, but with the blood upon it. God could now come and show mercy. It was called the mercy seat. He could come now and meet with his people. How do you and I enter into the Holy of Holies? Well, we can't do it in and of ourselves. We're not high priests. Most of us, if not all of us, are not physical Jews. And if we were a physical Jew, you're probably not a descendant of Aaron. So how do you come into the Holy of Holies? When Christ died on the cross, the sacrificial system was now, as it were, depicted in what He had done. And the need for the sacrificial system was no longer there. And God rent the veil, separating the holy place from the most holy place. He rent the veil from top to bottom, indicating that you and I can now go into that holy of holies. How do you get into glory? You get into glory through Christ. That's how you enter. John 14 verses 1 to 3, Our Lord told his disciples, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. It is Christ and His merits that brings us into glory. But this is not just dealing with the day that you die and go to glory. This is also dealing with your coming to God in prayer. The same thing that allows us to go to God in glory at the end of our life is that which allows us now to go to God in prayer. We come the same way. My hope of getting to glory at the end of my life is not what I have done. It's what Christ has done. It's his death and resurrection. But my hope this evening of being heard in heaven by prayer is that same death of Christ and that same resurrection of Christ. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10, the apostle again is dealing with the atonement of Christ. He does that all the way through this brief epistle. And when you come to the middle of chapter 10, having brought his arguments concerning Christ as our priest and Christ as our sacrifice, he now summarizes his arguments in verse 17. And he says, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. In verse 22 he's using sacrificial language to tell us that our sins are removed. What is the application he's making here? That you and I have interest, we can come into the holy of holies, we can come into the presence of God without fear because we have a high priest and that high priest has made an atonement therefore we ought to draw near. We ought to draw near. Our sufferings cannot keep us from the presence of God. The world can hate us. The world can misunderstand us. Even the church can hate us at times. When the church falls into apostasy, they can hate the people of God at times. But the sufferings that you and I undergo cannot keep you from the presence of God. Why? Because your sins are already removed. The whole world can be against you, but Christ will bring you to God. The whole world can be against you. But because you are in Christ, you will be exalted. In the passage that we were looking at, verse 18, as we have said, he goes on to explain by an object lesson, that is, the work of Noah and the ark, concerning the sufferings. But after immediately speaking of that portion of the sufferings, He talks about the fact that Christ is raised, and then he talks about the fact that Christ is ascended, and then he talks about the fact that Christ is ruling and reigning right now over all principality and power, as Paul would use the language, or as he uses it, all authority, all rulers. He's ruling and reigning over it all. So this one who suffered greatly has been rewarded, and he rules and reigns. You and I are called upon to follow in the footsteps of Christ, and every one of us will suffer to some extent. Every one of us. The world is not our friend, and the world will stand against us. But as we walk with Christ, as we follow Him, as He has been exalted, He is going to exalt us as well. Suffering. How often we shy away from it. It is something that we don't like. Peter shied away from it near the cross, and when he was said to be a part of Christ's following, the suffering with the people of God, he said, no, I don't want that. Then later we find him suffering. He's beaten in the book of the Acts. He's imprisoned several times in the book of the Acts. He's joining in to suffering for Christ and rejoicing in it. Rejoicing in it. And then we find in the book of Galatians, he comes to Antioch and in Galatians 2 in Antioch, he's afraid again of suffering. The Judaizers come to Antioch and Peter is afraid of them and he pulls back away from the gospel and because of his influence, temporarily at least, he split the church. That testimony of Peter is the testimony that we all bear. Christ is the only one who has suffered and not gone back. Who has suffered and been completely successful. You and I, we suffer. And there are times when God gives us boldness and when he does so, we stand with the Lord and we are willing to be beaten if that be the case or imprisoned if that be the case. But there are other times. Other times, when like Peter, our eyes are off the Lord and our eyes are upon ourselves and we fail. We're afraid of man. One of the Puritans said the two last sins to be conquered by the people of God is the fear of man and covetousness. Those two sins we fight with daily and we fight with all the time. He has called us to suffer. He has given us an example. He has told us all of our sins are removed. So even if we fail in our sufferings, the sins are still gone. He has told us that He's carrying us all the way to glory so that we can suffer freely. Not trying to earn by our suffering heaven itself, but because we have heaven. We love Him and obey Him and are willing to suffer on His behalf. Let's pray. Do you know the Lord tonight? Every one of us will suffer for our sins. Either you will suffer personally for your sins, or you will suffer through a substitute, and the only substitute for our sins is the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have Christ? You need Him, if you do not. He offers Himself freely and openly to you tonight. Come and lay hold of Christ as your substitute, as His sufferings being your sufferings. And God will accept you and bring you all the way to glory. I am your servant for Christ's sake. If I can help you in coming to Christ, speak a word to me. Speak a word to some of the ministers here or the counselors that are here. Come to Christ. Take His sufferings as your sufferings. and love Him and serve Him and suffer for His sake because He suffered for yours. Our Father in heaven, we are thankful tonight for all that we have in Christ. We are thankful that our salvation is not dependent upon anything that we have done. We could never do enough. We could never suffer enough. We're thankful that the suffering fell upon Christ and that He suffered once. and that He was successful in removing all the sins of all of His people for time and for eternity. Lord, we would ask, give us grace to lay hold of the sufferings of Christ, for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing another hymn to close our service. I think it's 347. Yes, 347, not what these hands have done can save this guilty soul. And we'll keep our seats as we sing. Not what these hands have done Can save this guilty soul, Not what this boiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole. Thy work, O my Savior, can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood, O cruel Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Love what I feel for you, and give me peace with God, not all my prayers, good-sides, or tears. can ease my awful load. Thy Word, O Lord my Savior, can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood, O Lord, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. I love to Thee, O God, but my whole heart's in Thee. Then make me a place on the cross, and set my spirit free. Thy Word, O my Savior, can ease this weight of sin. By God alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. No other word, say I, no meaner other will do. No strength save that which is divine can bear me safely through. I've heard of my Savior, and he's this great of Savior, my God, the Lord, the Lamb of God. can give me peace within. I praise the God of grace. I trust his love and might. Because he lives, I call him mine. My God, my joy, my life. Thy word alone, my Savior, can ease this weight of sin. Thy power alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace in pain. Our Father in Heaven, truly this night you have brought us all to the same point in that we're all accepted the same way. We have sinned against Thee, we have broken Thy law, and all of our acceptance is found in Christ the Beloved. Lord, help us to glory in Him. Help us to have confidence in that acceptance. There are those that are Thy people, and they struggle with assurance of salvation. Give them grace to have confidence in what Christ has done, and may Thy give them confidence in their own heart and soul. And for those that are afraid, they're afraid to come because they're afraid that they will suffer for Christ's sake. They're afraid to come because they know there'll be those who will laugh at them and ridicule them. We ask, O God, that you would break the chains that bind them. You have said that in hell are the fearful and unbelieving. Lord, we pray, break those chains and give them grace to come unto Christ and to believe on Christ even this very night. Do it for the glory of thy great name. Give us great rejoicing tonight in all that we have in Christ. May tonight be a time of rejoicing before the throne, for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.