He Brings You To God

Before we look into the Word of God, let's take some time in prayer. Father, guide our thinking now into the glories of Jesus and what He has accomplished for us. We confess to you that sometimes we have forgotten the deep stain that stain leaves on our souls. even in our bodies. And that sin has not changed, even though we have embraced Jesus in faith.

And so we pray that in light of the stain of our sin, we would see the greatness of your grace. For unless we understand how deep our sin is, we will never grasp your grace. help us to see today the glory of the sacrifice of Jesus for us we pray this in his exalted name amen if you were to ask any 12 year old boy today who is Jesus I'm sure you would get some kind of an answer and I bet most would give you some kind of an answer that would say something about Jesus. However, if you would ask anyone, young or old, exactly what did Jesus do, you might get a variety of answers.

You see, Jesus is the very center of everything we do as Christians. I mean, frankly, our name Christian comes from Christ. It means little Christs. And so if that's the case, we ought to know what Jesus accomplished at the cross. Yet many don't know. Many would say that Jesus performed many miracles.

Many would at least articulate the fact that Jesus died on the cross for sinners. But what does that mean? What does that mean? This table that sits before us reminds us that the Scriptures have a great deal to say about what Jesus accomplished at the cross. And so in our times of communion we want to understand exactly what happened The scriptures are a treasure chest of truth concerning Jesus And it actually describes in rich detail what Jesus accomplished at the cross One passage that describes the great work of Jesus is the text before us 1 Peter 3 verse 18 And we just want to spend our time meditating upon 1 Peter 3, verse 18, in fact, the first part of that verse.

1 Peter 3, verse 18 says, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. Remember that this book was written to all who suffer for the sake of Christ. 1 Peter is the counseling textbook on how to have the proper thinking and the proper actions that would glorify God in the midst of our suffering.

So if we want to get chapter 3, verse 18, that very first part in context, I want you to follow as I read this entire context so we understand how this all fits in. We're going to begin in chapter 3, verse 8. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless.

For to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to live life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from the evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil for Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this now, saves you, not as a removal of a dirt from the flesh, but as an appeal to God for good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him. Now, in the face of dangers and trials of living for Christ, God offers you assurances.

You will not suffer damage if you're eager to do good and those who do suffer are highly favored of God God gives you commands never return evil for evil but always return but overcome evil with good do not let your trials cause fear but rather fear Christ always be ready to give an answer for the reason that you have within you but do it in a particular way answer carefully and then finally in verse 17 God assures you that to suffer for doing good is to occupy a position of advantage. If you suffer for being a Christian, you're in an enviable position. Now, in order to give you hope, the Apostle Peter then writes of the triumphal journey of Jesus in verses 18 through 22.

And that journey of triumph is the basis of your confidence in your pilgrimage in this world. The pilgrimage of victory that Jesus has starts at the cross. It revolves around his death and his resurrection and his ascension. Now, as I read that, I'm fully aware that all of a sudden there's a host of questions that have been aroused in your mind, and someday we'll look at all that passage, all right? and our intention is not to understand all the details of that journey for those there's many questions that come to mind as you read about that journey our intention is to look at the first leg of that journey you see this victory march begins at a most unlikely place the victory march starts at the cross what did Jesus do at the cross And so we want to center our attention on that first part of verse 18 Here the first In his suffering Jesus occupied an enviable position.

Please note what the Apostle Peter writes. He says, for Christ also suffered. for Christ also suffered he too occupied the better place of suffering for good rather than evil which is what verse 17 says you're in this advantage you're in this enviable position if according to God's will you suffer for doing good and that's exactly what happened to Jesus for also right for also Jesus suffered Jesus our master suffered for doing good rather than for doing evil he suffered according to the will of God he was not exempt from suffering in this life even though he was not guilty of anything yet his his suffering issued in complete triumph the last part of verse 18 says that what he was raised from the dead showing that the verdict against him was wrong and it ends up all the way in verse 22 where he is elevated to the place of honor and triumph honor and authority Jesus was completely vindicated and thus the triumphant journey that Jesus took will also be your journey you will also be raised to immortality just like him you also be placed in a position of honor just like him you also will be vindicated just like him and so this table reminds you that you too in your suffering are only on the first leg of your journey to victory. So at least we know this much.

This table speaking of Christ reminds you that you're on the journey to victory, that your suffering is just the first leg of that journey that ends in your elevation and your honor and your vindication. But Peter goes on to reflect on how Jesus' suffering is also different than ours. In his suffering, Jesus died a redemptive death. We see that when he says Jesus' death is once for sins.

Those words ought to bring great hope to you. They ought to bring great hope to you. It means his death was sufficient. It means his death was sufficient. That is, it must not be repeated. It doesn't have to be repeated for it to be effective.

I remember when I worked in the foundry several years ago. Boy, it's been a long time ago. When I was young and could handle that kind of work. But when I worked in the foundry, I remember how absolutely hot it would get. I remember especially when we were pouring on the floor. And it would get particularly, not pouring molten iron on the floor, but the molds around the floor, they weren't moving.

And so when you dump those, you would be amidst all these glowing, hot, gear housings that were just glowing, right? And it would get incredibly hot, so hot. My friend Don once was doing it, and he ran out of sweat. That's how hot it would get. And you know what? You would go, and you would get a drink of water, and oh, that would feel so good.

After all that hot work, you drink that water, you slake your thirst, you're going, oh, that's good. But guess what? you have to do it again a couple hours later that one drink won't be enough you got to repeat it not so with jesus death some teach that jesus sacrifice must be repeated in order for it to be effective it must be he must be offered again and again and again in order for it to be effective so jesus sacrifice it does not need to be repeated for your sins are covered all. It doesn't have to be repeated for sins that may not be covered by it.

He died once for sins. It means that his death is final. It does not need to be augmented. You can't add to it. It cannot be augmented by your own works. It cannot be augmented by the good things that you do.

It cannot be augmented by some punishment that you inflict on yourself to pay for your sins you might say well we certainly don't do that i mean challenge you how many of you when you sin wallow in it just to show god how sorry you are for it and you keep saying i can't believe i did that oh man oh god how oh lord i can't even pray right now and you wallow in it in some kind of penance as if that'll prove to God you're sorry enough and being sorry enough, then you'll be okay with God. No. No.

You can't inflict anything on yourself in order to augment what Jesus did It cannot be augmented by additional suffering Jesus' sacrifice deals with all your sins. So you don't have to go through what some would call purgatory. You know what purgatory is, right? Purgatory is that in Catholic doctrine where you go to a place of suffering. It's between earth and heaven.

It's not hell. It's between the two. You know where the term purgatory comes from? It means purge. So you suffer for a while in order to purge yourself of remaining sin. That doesn't have to happen.

Why? Because Jesus died once for sins. There's no additional suffering necessary on our part. The merit and perfection of Jesus' sacrifice was such that for him to offer it once is enough. His death, notice, was for sins. That is, it is atoning.

What separates us from God? It's our sin. But your iniquities has separated you from your God, said the prophet Isaiah. Sin is terribly serious with God. He is angry with sinners. By the way, can I just say this?

Let's stop saying, let's stop saying to people, God does not hate you, he hates your sin. Listen to Psalm 5. You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil, and with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong. you destroy those who tell lies bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors that's powerful in Psalm 7 he says God is a righteous judge a God who expresses his wrath every day if he does not relent he will sharpen his sword he will bend and string his bow he has prepared his deadly weapons he makes ready his flaming arrows my goodness it's a picture of God hunting down people who are sinners.

That's how serious sin is. And we must get that in our minds. Look at Revelation 21 for a moment Revelation 21 beginning in verse 6 And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. That's powerful. You see, the cause of Jesus' death was our sin. And what will turn the wrath of God away?

An atonement, propitiation. How does that work? If Jesus died for sins, God then exhausted his wrath for sin on his son. He has not ignored any sin, but he has punished it all. And so therefore, as you have come to the Lord Jesus Christ, all of God's wrath has been exhausted on his son on your behalf. There is no wrath, no judgment left for you.

He's not ignored our sin. He has not ignored your sin, but he's punished it all. and the thing we have to remember is it took the death of god's son in order to atone for our sin that's how deep and grievous our sin is i know several years ago i'll never forget this sitting in chapel in college and a missionary speaker was there and he had got caught up in the latest thing which had started in the 70s this whole self-esteem movement was started in the 70s and he was preaching to us and saying you must be valuable to God because he sent his son to die for you sounds wonderful doesn't it how precious we are and the answer is no that that robs God of his love and His grace. So there's somebody who has killed three people in a fit of rage.

He appears before the judge and the judge sets his bail at two million dollars Do we then say wow look how valuable he is to us He worth two million dollars Is that what it is No His sin is so heinous His crime is so horrible that it going to take two million dollars to get him out of jail Because his sin is that bad. That's how we must think of the sacrifice of Jesus. It took Jesus to die for us because that is how deep our sin is.

It took the very life of the Son of God in order to pay the price that had to be paid for our sin. That is how deep and wide and horrible our sin. And so this table says to you, Jesus' death is sufficient to turn away God's wrath from you. He, His sacrifice is sufficient to pay the entire price of all our sin. That's what that table says. His death is sufficient.

In his suffering, Jesus died a vicarious or substitutionary death. The righteous for the unrighteous. That phrase ought to just grip our minds. The righteous for the unrighteous. The worthy for the unworthy. Jesus was perfect, and yet this righteous one died in the place of sinners.

He was the sinner's substitute. Now I was talking to one of the young, really young people in our congregation just the other day. We were sitting together and I asked him, do you know what substitute means? He says, yeah, that's like when you get a substitute teacher. Yeah, yeah, like the substitute teacher comes and takes the place of the other teachers.

You got it. Now, what does that say about Jesus? He was our substitute, this young guy told me, and he took our place. that's exactly what we all need to understand we need to understand that the righteous stood in the place of the unrighteous and god's wrath was poured out on his son thus the righteous son of god took the punishment due the unrighteous and so these unrighteous will not be exposed to the judgment for their sin no one will be exposed no one for whom jesus died will be exposed to the judgment for sins because his atonement was made in our place.

You know what this table says to you? This table says to you that none are worthy. then that's not the focus of the table. It's not about how worthy you are. It's that the worthy one took your place. And so when you come to this table, it speaks to you of the worthiness of Christ, not of the unworthiness of you. You see?

It's the table that says the worthy took the place of the unworthy, the righteous for the unrighteous. And then that last phrase, to bring us to God. In his suffering, Jesus brought you to God. Because his sacrifice is an atonement, because it's sufficient, because he was the substitute, he brings you to God. Now the word bring here carries with it the idea of presenting.

Okay, it's not just brings you, like taking a child by the hand and just walking with him. It has the idea of presenting. You see, you never walk into the throne room of a king. You just don't walk into the throne room of a king. That was unthinkable. You remember the story of Esther in which she is debating whether she should go into the presence of the king even though she had not been summoned.

To just walk into the presence of the king would have been unthinkable. you don't go into the presence of the king unless he summons you without a summons Esther knew she could lose her life that how That how sacred if you will the space of the emperor was You can't just walk into the presence of the king without a summons. But God is even more so, since with you, what have we just read? The wicked cannot dwell, the arrogant cannot stand in your presence.

Right? but because of all that Jesus has done he presents you to the king you're not accepted by the king by what you have done you're not accepted by the king by what you're doing you're accepted by the king because of what Jesus has done and what he has accomplished because of that he presents you to the king he brings you into the throne room he says this one can come the result of Jesus' work is that you have now the right to approach the king and the good news is just that good news because it brings you to God I appreciate what John Piper says the good news of the gospel is good because it always ends in one thing God himself and again Piper has written this and this says it so well. Salvation is not good news if it only saves from hell and not for God. Forgiveness is not good news if it only gives relief from guilt and doesn open the way to God Justification is not good news if it only makes us legally acceptable to God but doesn bring fellowship with God Redemption is not good news if it only liberates us from bondage but doesn't bring us to God.

Adoption is not good news if it only puts us in the Father's family, but not in his arms. You see? He brings us to God. We get God himself. God made us to enjoy him. God made us to be enthralled by him.

God made us to have eternally, ever increasingly happiness in him. He gave his son so that by Jesus' sacrifice we can have abundant joy forever. And so this table announces because Jesus died this death you can now come with confidence to God and find pleasure in Him. So as you approach this table then this morning remember that you only come because of Jesus.

You only come because of Jesus. as you come to this table remember that you approach the king of all because Jesus presents you there by what he has done when you come to this table lift your eyes to Jesus and see that he has died for sins once for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God Come to this table If you have entrusted everything to Jesus if you have embraced Him by faith, if you have said to Him, O Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, You're the only one who can bring me to God. I rest in what You have done and rejoice in the presence of God. Father, thank You for Your Word and the hope that it gives us, the joy that it gives us, the confidence that it gives us, all because of Your grace.

We cannot have joy. We cannot have confidence. We cannot have any of this on our own. It can only come because of what Jesus has done, not what we have done or what we are doing. Lord, help us to find welcome at this table. Lord for those who have entrusted themselves to Jesus and have the right to this table I pray that they will find joy confidence and hope in all that Jesus has done remind us again as we come to this table that Jesus suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God how we thank you for that truth how we thank you for the sufficiency of his death how we thank you that because of it we have what we have help us now to rejoice as we come to this table we pray this in Jesus name, Amen