Good to see all you folks this morning. And as he mentioned, Brother Michael Hayes, this is my wife Miranda. And we are from, we live in Nitro, West Virginia. We attend the First Baptist Church in Buffalo, West Virginia. And we are certainly very glad to be here with you all this morning. Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter number three. 1 Peter chapter number 3, and I'm going to begin reading in verse number 8. We're going to read down through verse number 18. The apostle says, Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but a contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good. Let him speak peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? But, and if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks of 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. Let's pray. Lord, as we come before You this morning, we ask that You would help us. We cannot help ourselves, Lord, and things that we ask are so far beyond our capabilities. We cast ourselves upon You in this hour, and Lord, we ask, we plead with You that You would be magnified and that the Son of God, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be lifted high and that the Holy Spirit would Be pleased to minister within the hearts of all who hear the Word of God this morning. Lord, let us be challenged and conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and let those who are estranged from You, Lord, be brought to conviction that they may see their need for the great grace of God. Please help us to lift high the Gospel banner, Lord, and see that You withdraw sinners to Yourself. We ask, Lord, these things that You may receive, Lord, to Yourself. And we ask them for Your sake. And we ask them in Jesus' name. Amen. The text that we've taken here this morning, the Apostle Peter has written this first letter as what is often referred to as a general epistle. And so this is written to saints who are scattered abroad. And this letter was probably copied and distributed very widely. And what we find in it is a lot of very general and practical truths for the practicing Christian. And in the portion of Scripture that we've read here this morning, he's dealing primarily with an exhortation to believers in suffering afflictions. He's exhorting them to suffer well. He's teaching them that they are to suffer not in complaint and in grumbling and in... agonizing and accusing of God, but rather that they would suffer with meekness, and that they would suffer in humility, and that they would suffer with knowledge and understanding of the power and sovereignty of God and control in all things, that the Lord, who is God, is orchestrating all things after the divine counsel of His will for our good and for His glory, as Paul would remind us in Romans chapter number 8. In verse number 18, The Apostle here will give us the supreme example of suffering in that of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His own wounds, in His own stripes, in the cross that He bore that He did for us. So let's look at the exhortation of Peter and I want us to begin here in verse number 12. He has given his exhortation that we would throughout verses 8 through 11 that we would be of unity in our mind and in our spirit and in our desires and efforts toward the kingdom of God and that we would not repay evil for evil but that we would as the Lord Jesus taught we would repay the evil with well-doing, with good things, and that those who would despitefully use us, that we would pray for them, that those who would slander us, that we would bless them. And it is absolutely and entirely contrary to the nature of man in his heart. Because the natural man in his heart has a desire always to get even. He wants his pound of flesh. He's done wrong and so he feels he must settle the score. He must even things. He must do what is necessary to level the ground again so that he will not find himself in a state where he feels defeated. But what the Gospel teaches us is it comes to us in the power of the Spirit of God teaching us that just about everything that is natural to our rebellious and sinful nature that we inherit from our first father Adam is contrary to what God desires of man. That's the entire point of what is commonly referred to as the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount, those first 10 verses or so. And what we find in 1 Peter is he, in the spirit of the truth that Jesus preaches, is giving us these same truths and teaching us that we are called to inherit a blessing ourselves so that we should bless others regardless of how we are taken advantage of or wrongly accused or treated or despised or persecuted. And he makes a statement in verse 10, For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. And it is so very possible for a person to complain their life away. To spend their entire life complaining about their situation and their plight, and the providence of God in their life, rather than, as we examined briefly this morning, being thankful and giving thanks in all things, understanding that what the Lord does, he does well. And so the apostle here gives us more practical instruction, verse 11, let him eschew evil and do good, let him speak peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. I'll pause for just a moment and reflect on some great truths throughout the Word of God in verse number 12, because oftentimes the question will arise, especially throughout the book of Psalms, why is it that the wicked prosper? Why is it that those who steal and cheat and do evil and do things that are unseemly and unwholesome, why is it that they seem to be blessed while it is the righteous who have the hurdles to jump over, the obstacles in their way, the setbacks and the things that seem to frustrate them and spoil their plans constantly? The psalmist will ask himself that over and over throughout the Psalms. And I believe that it's a question really when a person comes to faith in Christ that is sort of ingrained in them. And it's part of breaking the nature, breaking that thinking of our old nature that equates material and temporal blessings with the hand of God. This is the folly of the modern day prosperity gospel. That if you're blessed with God, that you'll be healthy. that you'll be happy all the time, and that you'll be blessed, and that you'll have money, and that you'll have riches, and that you'll have these things, when in fact everything that the New Testament teaches us about Christianity is contrary to that entire idea. When seekers came to the Lord Jesus Christ, endeavoring to follow Him, Jesus' message was not, well, you picked a good day because you're getting ready to get your pockets filled and your belly full and now we're going to put some new raiment on you and all these things. No, He said, the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. I don't even have a place to go, He said. And we know that there are many tests and things, and I don't really want to say a vetting process, but the Lord Jesus makes very clear these qualifications of discipleship to these men, and many of them, what do they do? They turn away. They turn away. They count the cost, and they turn away. And so Peter is just expressing further what the Lord has already taught him, that Although it is the wicked in the world that may seem at times blessed and flourishing and prospering and in places of high power and authority and rule and influence and all of these things, that the face of the Lord is against them. And that the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous and He does not forsake them. We think of the life of David and much of what is recorded in the Word of God and how when he was young and he served God, and when he was old and he served God, though he was not entirely always faithful on his end, and though he certainly faltered and fell and sinned and repented, thank God, he could say in his last days, I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. that the Lord sustains, the Lord provides. Jehovah Jireh, He is the God who takes care of His people. And the way that God takes care of His people might not always be the way the world thinks that we ought to be taken care of, is it? And that is oftentimes reason for the scoffer and for the mocker to accuse the child of God and say, where is your God? Where is He now? But, though we see through the glass darkly, we understand that there is a greater and fuller fulfillment of these great and glorious covenant promises that God has given to His people. And that what awaits us is the inheritance of a blessing beyond all words, beyond any description that I could try and give you here this morning. The Word of God has told me that it is, I have not seen, he hath not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him. What a comforting truth to the Christian. This is what Peter is doing. He's exhorting the Christian to know these things, to understand these things, to ingrain these things within their heart that they might have the proper method of thinking, that they might be renewed in their mind, that they might be useful to the Lord in this life. And he does warn them of the persecution that is to come. Just as Paul warned Timothy, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He tells them, He says, and who is He that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? Who is it truly, if you have taken sides with the Lord, if God is for us, who can be against us? Who is it that can come against God? Who is it that can come against the mighty purpose and plan of God, the church of God, the Word of God, the saints of God? It's a foolish thought this morning to think that there's anything to compare or really give God any sort of a run for this thing. He says, but if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye. You have reason to rejoice if you suffer for righteousness sake. The Word of God is such an incredible instrument in the Spirit of God to illuminate our minds and to turn us away from that natural default setting of thinking that we have. When you read in the book of Acts and you read in the Word of God, at the times they were persecuted, oftentimes you'll read that the Bible says, and they went away and they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because what do we want to do? We want to cry about it. We want to post it on the internet. We want everybody to know that we were done wrong and we want everyone to understand the situation. He says, Happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. A similar exhortation is given to us When the scripture tells us that we should not fear those who could kill the body, but rather fear him who can put our souls in hell. He continues on, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with a meekness and fear. When the Christian obeys God and walks in the light as He is in the light. That is something that cannot be suppressed. That is a light that cannot be put under a bushel. That is a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. That is something that the world sees and they recognize that that is abnormal. They recognize that that is different. They recognize that that is not the norm. And the Lord is glorified. And the door is open for the great Gospel message. Whereas before, someone may not have had ears to hear what you have to say to them. They wouldn't take that Gospel tract. They wouldn't take the time to listen. They've all heard it before. They don't want anything else to do with it. But when they see the Christian be a Christian, their heart is smitten. They begin to see the reality of a life-changing gospel. The effectiveness of our witness, really, directly, it correlates with the life that we live. If we don't live the gospel, the gospel we preach will have no effectiveness. He says in 16, and he's exhorting the Christians still, having a good conscience. For as 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 you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. And there is much suffering that a man can endure in his lifetime as a consequence of the decisions that he has made. And though he may claim to be suffering for righteousness' sake, the Lord knows all things. The Lord is the discerner of all the thoughts and the intents of our heart and sees and knows and understands the situations and all the circumstances that surround them. And so we are to walk before the Lord in holiness and in purity with a conscience that is clean before the Lord that we may be able to suffer righteously. that we may be able to suffer without having our communion with God broken, rather strengthened. And when we bring reproach upon ourselves, and when we bring the quenching of the Spirit upon ourselves, it is a terrible thing. When that fellowship is impaired, when that sense of the wonder and majesty and thankfulness and glory of God is damaged, It is a terrible thing, and we ought to be certain that when we suffer, we are not suffering at the hand of our own consequences and for our own actions, but that we are suffering for righteousness' sake. And this is Peter's practical exhortation. to the supreme example of the suffering Savior in verse number 18. Remember now, we're talking about suffering for righteousness' sake. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. What we have in verse number 18 is one of the clearest, picturesque gospel scriptures in all of the Bible. Such clear gospel teaching. And my desire this morning is to examine verse number 18 and the gospel truths that God relates to us. Peter said, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins. This, this morning, is what we will call the purchase of the gospel. The purchase of the gospel. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins. That statement alone, bare as it is, begs the question, How could He who was without sin, how could He who was sinless suffer for our sins? Suffer for sins. This is what the Scripture says. He had once suffered for sins. We know that sin is transgression, crossing of a boundary. a perversion of that which is right and holy and pure and an encroachment upon the holy standard that God has in and of Himself for fellowship with Him. And so it is when we transgress the divine law of God, it is when we fail to meet the standard of righteousness that God has required of those who will fellowship with Him. And so any time at any given moment that we fail to love the Lord God our heart with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength, and spirit, we are sinning. That's an awful big problem for you and I, is it not? That's an awful big problem for us creatures who are utterly and totally sinful. That's a big deal. And so, one can understand how that we would be called to suffer for our sins. And how that justly, it is not too far of an idea that God is going to punish sin. So many today, in the pride of man, has elevated this idea that since God is good, He cannot punish sin. He won't send anyone to hell because He's so good. In fact, the reason God sends people to hell is because He is good. It's because He is holy. It's because He is pure. It's because He is righteous. And because He is holy and He is pure and He is righteous, He must rightly and justly condemn sin and transgression of His divine law and character. And so Christ hath once suffered for sins, but we know they are not His sins. He was without spot and blemish, the Lamb of God, offered before God. No sin. There was no guile found in His mouth. There was no false accusation. There was no deceitful deed or false thought or lustful passion or prideful imagination. But rather, everything that He ever did was perfectly in step with the divine will of the Holy Heavenly Father. He did so in the power of the Spirit and lived this life that we live on this earth for thirty-three and a half years without ever sinning. And so when Jesus suffered and died the death of a sinner, He was numbered with the transgressors. He was hung upon the cross with thieves and malefactors and those worthy of capital punishment. What does this mean that Christ once suffered for sins? And the next phrase in the scripture teaches us, it gives us our answer. For he hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. The grand theme throughout all of scripture is yet again further revealed to us in this text of the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. means he took someone else's place. He took the sinner's place upon the cross. Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. This teaches us the substitutionary nature of His sufferings, that it was not for His sins that He died. Though He was condemned at the hands of Pilate, though they laid every charge you could think against Him. They called Him a blasphemer. They called Him a liar. They called Him a lunatic. They called Him a devil. When the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, He did so without any sin of Himself. Perfectly pure and spotless. But He went to bear the sins of all who would believe. Mark chapter number 10 and verse number 45 in The verse that seems to give us the entire theme of the book of Mark. It teaches us, for the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He gave his life for others. He gave his life for sinners. And this is the purchase of the gospel. In the book of Hebrews, the grand theme is the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that Christ is superior to the old system. And that the new covenant founded upon better promises in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the body and blood of Christ, broken and bled for us, that there is established a new and better covenant. and that this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is better than Moses. He's better than the law. And he's better than Aaron and all the priests. In fact, he's not even of that order of priests. He's from the order of Melchizedek, a priestly order that supersedes the Aaronic priesthood. Not only that, friends, but he's better than the angels. Remember the appearing of the angels in the Old Testament? How the men were terrified in the presence of the angels and they felt and they worshipped? And the angels always called them to stop worshipping them and worship God. What a glorious thing. Christ is better than the angels. Christ is better than the priests. Christ is better than the temple. Christ is better than the kings. is better than all the sacrifices, day and night, that never ceased upon the burning altar of the Old Testament. And this great high priest offered himself sacrifice, only having needed to atone for sin once. And that one atonement is sufficient for all of God's people, for all of eternity, without expiration, I want you to understand as a man under the old covenant, as the head of your home, when you brought those bulls and you brought those goats and you brought those doves, you confess your sin and your priest ritualistically does the things that he's required to do in act of obedience and holiness unto God, you know you're going to have to come back. Feasts and offerings and things of that nature, but ultimately, that atonement is going to have to be made every year for all you people. Christ did it once. And what Christ did upon the cross was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God for sinners. That's the heart of the Gospel right there. The just for the unjust. He who was righteous for those who were unrighteous, pure for those who were defiled. He has shed his own blood for our souls. And this is, this brings us to the purpose of the gospel. That he might bring us to God. The great travesty of our day, and I would even be specific to you folks here today, in the region where you live, in this place, in North Carolina, and really throughout the great majority of the American South, is this idea of evangelism that is far removed from the Bible, and that appeals to the carnality of man rather than humbling him. And the gospel as it is presented today to most men here in this region is merely, do you want to go to heaven when you die? Of course I want to go to heaven. You'd have to be a crazy person to say no to that. Do you want to go to hell? Of course I don't want to go to hell. Well, do you believe what the Bible says about Jesus? Of course I believe what the Bible says about Jesus. Well, you know, all you've got to do is pray. All you've got to do is say this prayer. Everything's going to be okay with you and God. And that person walks away with yet another shroud of false assurance draped over them. When Paul called the elders of the church of Ephesus to Miletus, and he refreshes them regarding his ministry to them there. He says, I went from house to house and I kept back nothing that which was profitable to you. Preaching, what? What's the message of the Bible? Acts chapter 20 and verse number 20. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The modern day gospel, what it does is it addresses a fear of hell rather than a loathing of sin. And a person can have no desire whatsoever in the world to have their sin put away, and they will be welcomed in as a member of the New Testament Church. What is the purpose of the Gospel? The purpose of the Gospel is not to get us to heaven, it's to get us to God. If you're missing God, you're missing the Gospel. If your idea of heaven is exactly the same as it would be if God were not there, then I fear that you have been deceived this morning. Heaven is a benefactor of the gospel. Heaven is a benefit of the Gospel. The Gospel is about taking what has been fallen and desecrated and ruined and forfeited by the sinful pride and arrogance of man and restoring it to fellowship with man's Creator. That's what the Gospel is about. It's about uniting man to God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of the Gospel. Christ gives a new heart to the believer, a heart that pants after God as the deer pants after the water brooks, that desires holiness, that desires communion with Him, that desires truth, that desires the salvation of those who are lost and others around Him. It's an entirely life-changing thing. We examined it this morning when we looked at our survey of saving faith, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Behold, old things are passed away and all things are become new. Everything changes when a man is in Christ. And yet so many will deceive those who have had no change. There's no change in their relationship with sin. There's no change in their relationship with the Word of God. There's no change in their relationship with other believers and the community of faith that God has given them. And yet, a man, and it's not my job or any other preacher on this planet's job to look at you and give you assurance of your salvation. A man will look at them and tell them, peace, peace. Remember Jeremiah's lament? Remember Jeremiah's burden in the Old Testament? He said these false prophets, they whisper peace, peace, when there is no peace. And how do they do this? What do they use? They use temporal material blessings. They say the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. We have all these things. We have the temple. We have the system. We have the sacrifices. We're doing everything God told us to do. Rolf Barnard used to say many a people will tumble over into hell off of a church pew with a prayer on their lips and a Bible in their hand. I'm not here to ask you this morning, if you're a member of the Spring Lake Baptist Church, I'm here to ask you if you are vitally united to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are in Him, if He is in you, if you've been brought to commune with Him, if you've truly put and placed your faith alone upon Him for salvation, or if you're trusting in anything else. The purpose of the Gospel is to bring us to God. Samuel Rutherford, the Scottish Puritan, said, I would just as soon go to eternity in the flames of hell, if that is where Jesus Christ was, than to go to a heaven where he was absent. Ezekiel's description of that heavenly city, in the concluding portion, he says, in the name of the Lord, and the name of that city from that day shall be the Lord is there." He's the light of the city. He's the glory of the story. He's the centerpiece. He's the crown jewel of heaven. He's what makes eternity so grand and glorious for the Christian. Can you even think of anything more wonderful than seeing the face of Jesus Christ? God has done this for us in the Gospel. He has paved the way to communion and fellowship with Him, to be united with Him in His own blood, laid down His own life for us. Those who believe will be counted righteous. And in that day of judgment, their sins will not be imputed against them, but they will be looked upon as righteous as Jesus Christ is. Why? Because when God looked at Jesus upon the cross, He saw the sinner, so that He may look upon the sinner and see the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's all by His grace. And lastly, we see the perfection of the Gospel. How is this done? How is our salvation accomplished? Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. How did He do this? How did it happen? How did God accomplish salvation for His people? Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is our great hope. We don't put hope in an experience we had. We don't put hope in the persuasion of another earthly man to tell us something. We put our hope in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. And we partake of the Lord's table, and we take of the bread of the cup, and we remember these things, and we do these things. We are just further testifying that what we have done is put our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. There is no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other name given under heaven among men whereby ye must be saved. You must be saved. He says being put to death in the flesh. And though it may sound elementary, and though it may sound like the simple fundamentals of the faith here this morning, it is so important that we understand that when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, he died upon the cross. One of the most popular conservative political pundits in the United States of America He boasted on having the most widely viewed cable news political show for 40 years or something like that, said on live television that he did not believe as a practicing Roman Catholic that Jesus literally died upon the cross, but that he was exasperated and that the fatigue that he endured at the hand of Roman punishment was enough to make him pass out. And that being laid in a tomb, when he was taken from the tomb three days later, he was resuscitated, he was invigorated, he was sort of nourished back to health. And such an idea only comes from one place, the father of lies, Satan, the adversary of God himself, the devil. Because when Jesus died for sin, he died. And the great glorious hope of the Christian is the fact that He rose from the dead. That though He died, He is alive. And He makes intercession for us. He says, but quickened by the Spirit. May we remember this morning the suffering and the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death for sinners, and may we have hope in His resurrection. He told a grieving Martha who wept. She'd only been here four days ago. Lazarus would still be with us. Jesus tells her that He will be raised, and she says, I know that He will be raised again in the last day. He brings the truth across to her in such compassion and in a way that she had not seen before. He illuminates the truth to her heart and he tells her, I am the resurrection and the life. Though he was dead, he will live. He is the resurrection and the life. In the first chapter of this same epistle that we read from this morning, Peter says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. How? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's our hope. That's what makes a Christian. It's amazing that Jesus has done what He has done, and that we could ever think that we could improve upon that. Jeff Thomas said that we're so inclined to think upon the sufferings of Jesus Christ, I must bring a little suffering of my own. I must bring my profession. I must bring my experience. I must bring my tears. I must bring my good deeds. I must bring the things that I've done. I must bring my knowledge. I must bring my burden. I must bring my sense of guilt. But what we need to be satisfied in the work of Christ alone. God the Father is satisfied in the work of Christ alone. He is pleased to look upon the sufferings of His only Son and forgive the iniquity of those who put their faith in Him. And listen, I do not believe this morning that what Jesus did upon the cross was merely an attempt. but I believe that it was an atonement. And I believe this morning that God will not lose one of His sheep. All that the Father gives to Him will come to Him. And here's the promise. Here is where the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man collide in a way that you and I, it's really just too big for our understanding. But God the Father will save His sheep. And all that the Father gives Him will come to Him. And any man who comes to Him in no eyes will He cast out. That pretty much qualifies everyone that hears the gospel, doesn't it? So what has God called you to do? He has called you to repent of your sin. To turn from your sin. All of it. And to cast yourself upon the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. Believe His gospel. Believe in His Son. Trust in Him and what He has done for the salvation of your soul. Let loose the the rotted fruit of Abel's hand and any kind of accolade you can bring along with yourself. Fall down to the foot of the cross. Cry for mercy. The Bible tells us that He will save you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Gospel. We thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the truth You've given to us. And Lord, we pray that You would Deal as you will in the hearts of men, according to the measure of truth that is given, that in whatever way you see fit that our lives will glorify you. I ask these things in Jesus' name, for his glory, amen.