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So in Acts chapter 3, and we've got, of course this is taking place pretty much immediately after the day of Pentecost, the great preaching that Peter did, and of course here at the latter half he starts to do some more great preaching, we'll get to that. But in the beginning there's that great miracle at the gate, beautiful there it says in verse 1, Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, and a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple, who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asking alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us, and he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And I really love verse 6, I love what we see Peter offering here, he's saying, you know, I don't have silver and gold to give you, but such as I have, give I unto thee. And this is, you know, this is something I've thought about over the years, just this great statement of that, such as I have, give I unto thee. You know, when you kind of read it, you might kind of get the idea, oh, it sounds kind of pathetic, oh, you know, I don't have much, you know, all I have is the gospel. Sorry I don't have any silver and gold, right? But really, I don't think that's how that's being said by Peter, you know, that's probably my own kind of bias or whatever, putting that inflection in there. But Peter, when he's saying it, said, you know, the silver and gold I don't have, but such as I have, give I unto thee. And really, that's the greatest thing anybody could offer, is the gospel, right? And that's really what people need today. People need the gospel more than silver and gold. You know, people need to hear the gospel. And it's kind of funny, because today it's almost completely backwards. You know, we see a lot of the social gospel taking over, where everybody just wants to start a soup kitchen and hand out secondhand clothes and fix people's fences. And look, I'm not against those things, okay? The problem is, is that a lot of people, that's all they do. And a lot of times, the reason that all the only reason that's all they do is because they don't have anything else to offer. All they have is the goods of this world. All they have is the silver and gold. They don't have Christ to offer. They can't give because they don't have, right? A lot of times these social gospel ministries, you know, they don't have the true gospel. They're not preaching salvation by grace through faith. They're preaching, you know, some kind of repenting your sins, some kind of works-based salvation. And then they're just doing a bunch of other work. And it kind of makes sense because if that's what they believe, that it's our good works, that it's our good deeds that are going to earn our way to heaven, of course, they're going to be more concerned with, you know, just replacing somebody's stove or, you know, just putting somebody up in a hotel for a night or starting some bread line somewhere than they are than actually preaching the gospel. They're going to be more concerned with earning their own way to heaven, okay? And this is something that's out there. This is something that's very prevalent, this social gospel, this just, you know, do good, you know, type of attitude where the truth of the gospel is not being preached. Again, I'm not against doing good. Obviously, you know, we're to love our neighbor as ourselves. We're to do good unto all men. We're to, you know, as we have opportunity, you know, we're obviously we're supposed to be doing other things. We're supposed to be helping one another. But the greatest thing that you can ever give anybody is the gospel, because the gospel is an eternal gift. You know, what good is it if I, you know, fill somebody's belly, if I put clothes on their back, if I help them in some way, but then they die and go to hell? You know, have I really helped them? You know, I mean, I've alleviated their suffering, you know, very mildly temporarily. And, you know, what they really need is to hear the gospel. So I love this statement, such as I have give ID in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. He has something to offer beyond just silver and gold. And what's great for us is that, you know, we're in the same boat as Peter tonight. You know, if we're saved, we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Bible, where, you know, where there's no shortage of unsaved sinners in this world. You know, we have the same opportunity to go out and offer the same thing that Peter's offering. Okay, obviously, there's this great miracle where he causes the man to stand upon his feet. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what we're offering. You know, spiritually, we're going to revive the lame. We can go out there and get people saved. We can help them be strengthened, you know, to be able to stand on their feet and spiritually and to have a walk with God. That's what we have to offer. You know, we might not have a lot of silver and gold at this church to, you know, give people, you know, all these earthly needs that they might have. But you know, what we do have is the greatest treasure of all the riches that are hidden in Christ Jesus. That's what we have to offer. So that's what we need to be offering. If you would go to 1 Peter, chapter number one. And when you get to 1 Peter, bookmark 1 Peter, because we're going to look at several passages in 1 Peter tonight. There's a lot in there, but Peter in the story is going out and he's giving, you know, the unsearchable riches of Christ. You know, that's the same thing that we have to offer today. We don't have a lot of stuff. We don't have a lot of things. You know, maybe we can't soothe every, you know, physical need that people have in this world. You know, we can give that balm of Gilead. We can soothe the soul. We can give that healing that is going to lead to life eternal. Okay, so that's what we want to offer. That's a great statement. Such as I have, give I unto thee. But notice again, it's Peter saying, what I have, I give. You know, what good is it if we have this, but we don't give it? You know, what good would have been, what kind of a story would have been if Peter and John saw the man and he asked in alms and they just went, whatever. You know, just, well, we got other things to do. We got to get in the tub. Oh, this guy again. And they just sat on what they had. Okay, we don't want to be like that. Such as I have, I give. Okay, that's what we want to do. We have, the question is, are we giving? Okay, we need to make sure that we're giving. We don't ever want to slack on this. We don't want to draw back from this. This is what we're here to do. And people suffer if we don't give, right? If they just blown this guy off and just walked, went on their merry way, he'd still be sitting there, you know, begging at the gate. No miracle would have been done, right? And there wouldn't have been this great testimony. Such as I have, I give. It's one thing to have. That's not enough to have it. You have to be able to give it, okay? Look there in 1 Peter 1 verse 17, and if you call on the Father who without respect of persons, notice this, judgeth according to every man's work. Does the Bible say that God is going to judge our works? Yes, it does. Repeatedly, he's going to judge our works. Without respect of persons, he what? Judges according to every man's work. That's what's going to happen. Our works will be judged. The things that we did in this body, whether good or bad, we shall all receive a reward or have a lack of reward. Our works will either remain or they will be burned when they're tried by the fire of God's word. And we'll either have a reward or we'll suffer loss. Obviously, we can never lose our salvation. Well, you know, Jesus said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his works shall be. Okay? So, this is a major theme in the New Testament. God puts a lot of emphasis on us not just having, but giving. Giving what we have. And obviously, you know, we can talk about going beyond the gospel, you know? Obviously, there's nothing wrong with being charitable. We're not de-emphasizing that. We're not saying, oh, don't worry about those other things. We still want to help people in need. We still want to do those things for one another, you know, but the primary thing that we need to be focusing on is make sure we're giving like such as Peter had, which is the gospel, to give the faith of Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying here in 1 Peter. He's saying, look, you know, God's going to judge according to every man's works. Therefore, the latter half there, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Say, well, that kind of makes me uncomfortable to think about the fact that God might judge my works. Well, you know, it should. I mean, isn't that what Peter's saying? Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. You know, you should be concerned about the fact that you're going to stand before God and have given account for the things that have been done in your body. Obviously, we're not talking about sinful things. You know, we're talking about the sins, you know, that's a false doctrine that's out there. But, you know, there is going to be people, there are going to be people who suffer loss. And that is, in itself, is going to be a shameful thing. Okay? You know, we want to, we don't want to be ashamed at his coming, right? We want to be able to hold our heads high. If we're going to do that, we have to, what, pass the time of our sojourning in fear. We should be cautious about how we're spending our time. Ask ourselves, what is the priority in our lives? And I'm not saying we can't have other things that we get involved in, have other things that we're, you know, engage in different activities and hobbies and things like that. But when it starts to get in the way and comes at the expense of us not giving such as we have, then it's an issue. If it's going to stop, you know, the things of this world are going to start robbing us from our eternal reward from Christ. You know, our priorities are out of whack at that point, and they need to get rebalanced. So I love this statement from Peter, you know, such as I have, I give. He is offering what has been given him. Notice here in 1 Peter, it goes on and says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He's saying, you know what, you should pass your time, you know, God's going to judge our works, pass your time of sojourning in fear, for you know that you were redeemed by the blood of Christ, essentially saying, you know, there wasn't these vain traditions of your fathers, you were redeemed by the blood of Christ. Okay. The reason I believe sometimes people, if you would go to 1 Peter, chapter four, kind of sit on their hands with what they've been given is because they forget how they got it. Sometimes we forget, oh, why is it so important that I should go and preach the gospel? Sometimes we forget how precious the gospel really is. The price that was paid for us to even have something to offer the world, for us to even have something to offer some, you know, poor sinner out there. It costs the blood of Christ, the great suffering. You know, we need to offer what we have first received. And if we find ourselves, you know, kind of waxing cold in this area, kind of feeling, I don't feel like doing a lot of offering, I feel like a lot of giving, or that really not, I don't find myself stirred to go out and preach the gospel. We need to stop and think about the fact that we received the gospel, that somebody preached us the gospel, that we also were just as lost and destitute as a lot of other people in this world. And without Christ, we would be just as equally damned as anybody else. And the price that was paid for us to have salvation ourselves, you know, if we think about that and meditate upon that, maybe that would stir our hearts again into wanting to go out and preach the gospel. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The manifold grace of God, the grace of God that passeth all understanding. The grace of God that is so immense and great that we can't even, it's manifold, we can't even begin to count it back to him. We can't even measure the grace of God that has been shown toward each and every single one of us. And I said it recently, I'll say it again, if we were the only person on this earth, Christ still would have come and died for us. If we're the only person that needed salvation, Christ had a love of God, the grace of God, the manifold grace of God would have extended towards us because Christ loves every single one of us that much. Okay, we've received the manifold grace of God. Every one of us is individuals. But notice what he's saying here. Verse 10, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another. Peter said such as I have, I give. Then he writes here, it just as you've received, so minister. You know, we don't want to just receive this, we don't want to just receive the gospel and then not minister the gospel. We don't want to just receive biblical knowledge and biblical understanding and then not give it and not minister it in our lives to those around us. Okay, don't be someone who just receives, receive and minister. Okay, now let's move on here in the story. Again, keep something in 1 Peter, we'll come back. Moving on here in Acts chapter 1, or excuse me, chapter 3 verse 7, it says of course verse 6, such as I have, give thy thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Now I love stories like this, these narratives where these miracles are happening to people. You think about, you know, the woman at the well, blind Bartimaeus and others. When you read those stories, if you look, you'll see an act of faith most times. Blind Bartimaeus, you know, left his robe, he's blind and went to Jesus, right? He left his garment behind. It's showing that he had the faith that he was going to be able to find that in a minute. He wasn't going to need to go around and go, where did I leave that garment? He was going to go to Jesus and get healed and go back and get it with his own eyes. It's an act of faith. Okay. The woman at the well, you know, she leaves the bucket and she goes and tells other people, said, I'll be back, right? Here you have him taking him by the right hand. This guy's asking for silver and gold. He's just trying to get a bite to eat. And now these two guys that maybe he doesn't know or isn't familiar with, he doesn't know if these, Oh, this is the apostles. This is the apostle Peter. This is John. These are disciples of Christ. That's not what he says. He just says, Hey, you got any silver? You got any gold? He asks and alms. And they say, such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ and as of rise up and walk. And then he takes him by the right hand. And the act of faith we see here is that this guy allowed himself, he reached out and grabbed that same right hand. It wasn't like Peter's like, give me your hand, you know, give me your hand. Trying to like pull it out against his will. Right? He takes out his hand. This guy that's asking the alms, this cripple, he reaches right back out. That's a picture of the faith that he had that if I believe what he just said, if I believe on the Jesus Christ, if I take his hand, I'm going to stand on my feet. A guy who's never walked a day in his life, he's been crippled from the, from his mother's womb. The Bible says it's a huge act of faith, right? So you could see these little pictures of faith here in a lot of these stories, especially when it comes to the ones of these mere miraculous healings. Okay. But he takes him, he lifts him up and immediately his feet and his ankle bones receive strength. And he's leaping up, stood and walked and entered into with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. So it's not like he had to figure out how to walk. What a great miracle. And he's leaping and praising God and the people saw him walking and praising God. Verse 10, and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man, which was healed, held Peter and John. And I love that phrase there. He's endeared to these guys. He, he, which was healed, held Peter and John. I don't, and it's not like he's like, Oh, okay, let me get my bearings here. Let me get my feet under me because he's already leaping. He's already praising. He's already jumping and walking, but he's holding these guys, it says. He held Peter and John. I believe, you know, this is talking about, you know, like an affectionate, affectionate embrace almost, right? Look, the people that you went to Christ are going to be endeared to you. You know, the people that we went to Christ and disciple along in life, those that we minister to, you know, you develop a bond there. You know, we want those types of relationships in our lives. You know, there should be people that we hold to. There should be people that become dear to us in the ministry. It's important. And I talked about that last week, about how the church is a network of support that we need to have in our lives and not forsake and not burn that bridge. Okay. Won't re-preach that, but it's there in the text again. He held Peter and John. And then it says, all the people ran together unto him and the porch, which is called Solomon's Greatly Wondering. And I want to point again, I want to point out this, another part of the story here in verse seven. It says that he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. Obviously that's where the weakness was. Whatever it was that was causing this man to not be able to walk, you know, it was located in that portion of his body, in his feet and his ankle bones. You know, it wasn't a problem in his spine. It wasn't a problem in some other part of his body. You know, obviously it was these specific body parts, the feet, the ankle bones are something they're withered, they're crippled. In some way there's a dysfunction there. They don't work properly. And that was what was strengthened. Okay. That was what God healed. You know, and God always, when he fixes, you know, God fixes what needs to be fixed in our lives. You know, and this is something we have to kind of trust by faith sometimes. A lot of times we want to see these great miracles. We want these mountains to be moved. We want things to happen in our lives. But God knows what we really need, right? God wants to fix what is actually broken, what we actually need help with, okay? That's why he's strengthening a very specific part, right? It doesn't say he's strengthened his biceps, you know, and strengthened some other part of his stroke. He strengthened that which was broken. And a lot of times what we really need help with is what's inside. It's things, it's issues of the heart. It's issues of, you know, internal things, right? A lot of times there's, there's attitudes that need to be adjusted and things like that. Not everything that we want to have happen is necessarily what we need. God fixes what we actually need to have fixed, okay? But there's a great, another great picture here of walking with the Lord, right? Because when he, when he's risen to his feet, when he's lifted up by faith, when he reaches out and takes that hand by faith and it's lifted to his feet, it's his feet that are strengthened and then he's walking and praising. You know, and in a sense, you know, when we get saved, that's what we're called to do, to walk in newness of life, right? Walk in newness in life. And I love the fact that he was walking and praising. That's the phrase that we see there, right? He was walking and praising God. And that's a great application for our own lives. You know, if we want to have real joy, if we want to have real peace, the peace that passes all understanding, if we want to have contentment, if we want to have these things, then we need to walk, right? We need to walk with the Lord. We're called to walk in newness of life. Keep something in 1 Peter and Acts, go over to Galatians 5. Galatians 5, familiar passage, I know we all know it. But here's what I've noticed is that people who walk with the Lord praise the Lord. He was walking and praising. People who walk with the Lord are those that praise the Lord. Because they know what they have in Christ. They have a fellowship through the Spirit, through God's word. They have a spiritual outlook on life. They have an understanding that you only get when you walk in the Spirit. And what I've noticed is that people that are very down, a lot of the times, and I'm not saying every time you're down that you're backslidden or something. Obviously we have emotions that we go through. But people who are just in this perpetual, just always down and out, never just always depressed, always out of it, never seem to have any joy, never seem to have any peace, or never content. A lot of times those same people don't have much of a walk. Where the praising is lacking, a lot of times the walk is lacking. I mean, I know that's true in my own life. I know it would probably shock you to think that I don't always or haven't always had this close walk with God. You know, but I'm flesh too. You know, I'm human too. And you know, the times in my life when I've been down the most, the times of my life, and I get it, there's exceptions, there's things that we go through. I get that. But you know, these other innings, you know, these inexplicable times where there isn't some good reason where we're just kind of, for no good reason, a lot of times it's like, well, maybe we need to check if we're walking with the Lord. Have we been in the flesh? You know, are we, you know, cause the flesh, you know, it has its, you know, we can entertain the flesh. We can please the flesh, but ultimately the flesh is just never going to be satisfied. A lot of times the flesh is going to lead us into things that are contrary to walking in the Spirit, right? That's what we see in Galatians. But we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them. You know, God expects us to walk in certain works. There are things that God wants us to do and that the people that are walking, the people that are the ones that are praising, they're the ones that are doing the things that they're supposed to be doing, they're the people that typically have the most joy. They're the people that can weather storms in the Christian life. The people that I've seen go through the hardest things, the most difficult things, the most trying things, and it just seems like they go with such grace and dignity and even joy. I say, well, how is that? Well, it should be pretty obvious because they have a walk with God, because they know the Bible, that, you know, bless or you would mention or vial you and persecute you. You know, leap for joy when that happens. They're so persecuted they, the prophets which are before you, they know that, that they have a reward in heaven. Other people, they don't know that. That's just an example. They don't know that kind of thing. Something difficult comes into their life. It's just like, oh God, you know, what's the point of all this? God, you know, is God even there? Does God even care? Why go through this? Why struggle? You know, and then they turn to something else, right, to soothe them. People who walk with the Lord, they praise the Lord. That's what we see with this guy. He gets saved, he stands on his feet, he's walking, and he's praising, okay? Jesus said, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. You know, if we do, we're doing the commandments, they might not always be easy, but you know what, we'll have joy. Galatians 5 verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So if you don't walk in the Spirit, what's going to happen? You're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. And is that going to bring joy in your life? No, that's going to bring the opposite because sin brings forth death when it is finished. Verse 17, for the flesh, lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would, right? This is the Christian life. This is the key to joy in the Christian life, is this understanding that there's a battle going on between the old man and the new man all the time, 24-7. And it's never going to go away in this life. That's closing order prayer, I'm just kidding. Some of you got really excited there for a minute and thought, well, quick one tonight. Now, I just want to leave you an extreme down note. You know, life's a struggle and then you die, right? But it's true. But I mean, can't life be a struggle and, you know, a source of joy at the same time? Absolutely. You know, a lot of times the struggles and things that we go through, they make life worth living. When things are hard and difficult, we appreciate the good times more. We go through suffering, we appreciate the times that we're not suffering. No, suffering makes us better. You know, the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. You know, we should lay that to our heart. So, you know, we're going to have this struggle throughout the whole Christian life. There's going to be the flesh and the spirit. They're going to be at odds with one another. You have to decide which one you're going to walk in. And if you walk in the flesh, you know what? It's going to, it's going to, it's going to lust against the spirit. It's going to be a contrary to the spirit. You won't be leaping and praising because you're going to be walking in the flesh. Let's move along in the story here. He goes on in verse 12, And Peter saw it, and he answered unto the people. So all the people, they see him come in there, and they're wondering greatly at the end of verse 11. And when Peter saw it, the people wondering, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why ye look so earnestly on it, on us, as though by our own power of holiness, we had made this man to walk? He's like, why are you so surprised by this? Why do you think it's something we did? The God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob and the God of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus whom he delivered up. So he's saying this miracle is being done in order to glorify his son Jesus in their eyes, right? And this goes back to where we were starting, you know, as I preached a couple weeks ago when we got into the book of Acts, we'll see miracles that were done by the apostles and that are still to this day have only been done by apostles for the specific reason of confirming to those at that time, you know, the truth of the gospel, the truth of Jesus Christ and to, you know, validate the church. Okay. So that's kind of what he's saying here, right? He's saying, you know, why, why are you looking on us? You know, he did this, that he might have glorified his son Jesus. You know why this miracle has happened? Because he's glorifying Christ. But then he goes on and says, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he determined to let him go. But he denied the Holy One and the just, desired a murderer, remember they asked for Barabbas, right, to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. Now again, it was the Romans that actually crucified them, but it was the Jews of that day that were specifically blamed for the death of Christ. Okay. That's what Peter said, you killed the Prince of Life. You know, the Romans were simply the instrument that they used. But he goes on and said, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. He's saying, this is all done through the name of Christ, the same person that you delivered up and murdered and God raised, it's through his name that this miracle is happening. Again, it's just, it's all going back to what I said earlier. These miracles were given for a very specific reason. And now, brethren, and that's important. And I know I'm kind of repeating myself, but again, I'll remind us why, because of the fact that we're living in a day where people get so excited about all these, you know, weird things, all these Charismaniacs that are out there that want to speak in tongues and the Benny Hinn, you know, concerts, if you want to call the church service where they're slapping each other with a coat and, and the man has a fake and a charlatan. Okay. And he's saying, Oh, I have the gift of healing. So, well, you know, I know a few hospitals that could use you. Okay. But you know why he'll never go in there? Cause he's a fake and he's a phony. That's why I'm kind of repeating it. Okay. Because people get caught up in this, the healings and the speaking in tongues. And but as I pointed out, they don't want to do the other miracles. They don't want to hold the serpent and drink the battery acid either. Okay. Anyway, I got to move on. And he says, and now brethren, I want through ignorance. He did it as did also your rulers. So yeah, he's kind of preaching the hard message here, right? You know, we get accused a lot of times of preaching, you know, difficult, hard messages, right? Well, it's nothing new. You know, Peter, even back then was saying, you guys kill Jesus. You're to blame, right? But he's not just jumping down their throats, right? Obviously he's laying guilt and blame where it belongs. Okay. But he's also saying it's there for a purpose. It's not just there to make them feel bad, right? And now brethren, although they need to feel bad, although brethren, I want through ignorance, he did it as also rulers, but those things which God has showed by the mouth of his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. He's saying this was supposed to happen. This was unavoidable. You guys fulfilled scripture, but probably not in the way you want it to. Okay. And ultimately he's going to call them to repentance, right? But before we get to that, I want to point out again the fact that Christ suffered, okay? And this is something that was prophesied. He's saying those things, verse 18, which God hath before showed by the mouth of all his prophets, we go through the prophets, we see the suffering of Christ prophesied, right? The crucifixion, the beating, all of that, okay? That Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled, meaning Christ did it. Did what? Christ suffered, okay? Christ suffered. And again, this is something that sometimes we need to meditate on. This is something we need to think about. It's not always a pleasant subject, but this is reality. Christ suffered and Christ suffered for me and you. And again, this goes back to my original point. If we think about that, you know, we realize what it is that we've been given, maybe that would motivate us to not just have received, but also to give, okay? When we dwell upon the fact that Christ suffered, Christ should suffer. Go back to 1 Peter, chapter number 3, 1 Peter, chapter number 3, a couple of things about Christ's suffering, okay? You know, Christ's suffering wasn't just an example of how, you know, we ought to live. Although it does, it is an example of that, right? We'll see that in 1 Peter. He reviled not again, right? He suffered wrongfully. We should be willing to do that. Let's also not forget that one of the reasons Christ suffered was for our benefit. So why did Jesus go through that? Just for an example, how to love your enemies? No, yes, but also because of the fact that it was for our benefit. You and I benefit immensely from the suffering of Christ. And that's why Peter said there that Christ should suffer. It was necessary. He had to become sin for us. He had to suffer that. He had to shed his blood because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Christ had to suffer. It wasn't an option. It wasn't something that, you know, he just wanted to do to show us a better way of living, you know, a philosophy that we should adopt. No, it was there. It was necessary for our salvation. It was suffering. He suffered for our benefits, okay? Look at verse 18, for Christ also has once suffered for sins. Why did he suffer? For sins. Whose sins? My sins. Your sins are what nailed Christ to the cross. The just for the unjust. Christ for us. He suffered for the unjust, right? That he might bring us to God. So you're getting a sense of what we benefit in Christ and through his suffering. We're justified in Christ. We are brought to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit. That's a pretty big benefit, isn't it? So now we go back and think about those words that Paul or Peter said earlier, such as I have, give I unto thee. What is it that we have? We have been brought unto God. That is what we're offering. That's what Paul said when he said he has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, that we are ambassadors for Christ. That's what we have been given. That's what we've received. We are able to go out and bring others also unto God, even as we have been brought unto God. Through what? Through suffering. And it just might be in this life that we have to suffer a little bit in order to do that. Did not Christ have to suffer for our benefit? You know, we might have to suffer for the benefit of other people. You know, we might have to inconvenience ourselves to preach the gospel. We might have to go out in the heat when it's uncomfortable and do these things. We might have to go through the awkwardness of learning how to preach the gospel, of knocking that door. We have to suffer in those ways. But, you know, whenever that makes us reluctant or hesitant to do that, what we need to do is just stop and think about the fact that Christ has suffered for us. Compare your suffering to Christ's, and that will probably motivate us. And we'll probably just suck it up and just go do what needs to get done, right? Hopefully you're feeling inspired now. But that's one of the reasons why he suffered, was for our benefit. But as I said, also, go back to 1 Peter chapter number 2, he also did suffer to be an example unto us of suffering. Look at 1 Peter chapter number 2 verse 21, For even hereunto were ye called, verse 21, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. We'd like to just read right through that. Leave us an example that we should follow his steps. What are our steps? They're the steps that wearied themselves in the ministry. They're the steps that went to the poor and lowly. They're the steps that walked up Golgotha and drug that cross with them. They're the steps that went down, yea, even into hell. Those are the steps that we follow in. That's the example of suffering that we are to follow. And we have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin as Christ has, not even close. That is our example. You know, what is the Christian life? You know, it's suffering. You know, it doesn't mean it's a life devoid of joy, doesn't mean it's a life that's just misery and woe, but you know, it's also not a life without suffering. Life in and of itself is suffering. I mean, that's just part of life. People are going to suffer in this world to some degree or another, some more than others. But there's a suffering reserved for us. We should be willing to go through whatever suffering we have to go through for Christ in order to give as we have received. You know, just because you got saved, that doesn't negate suffering in your life. And this is another false doctrine out there, another false, you know, philosophy that is promoted out there in the world today among the prosperity preachers and things like that. If you have any sickness or illness or poor finances, if you go through any kind of difficulty in your life, then you just must not be right with God. You must have some kind of sin. You know, that's not biblical. You know, we can think about the example of Job, who suffered greatly, but you know what? He was a perfect and upright man, such as, you know, there was none like him in all the earth. That's what God said. God lifted him up as an example of righteousness. Yet he suffered immensely, physically with the loss of his children, loss of his business, and he suffered more than I have and more than anybody I know, as far as I know, he suffered, right? Does that make him a wicked person? No, but that's what his, you know, his miserable counsel counselors, those friends that came to him, that's what they were accusing him of. They're the modern day prosperity preacher. Oh, you're going through suffering. You're going through a hard time. You're having difficulty. You're not in perfect health. Your finances aren't anything they should be. You know, what kind of sinner are you into? You must not be right with God. No, the fact is, is that Christ is an example of suffering. We're going to go through suffering in this life. And look, there's a whole other sermon that really could be preached on this point, you know, to explain the purpose of that. Why does God let us go through suffering? You know, why is it that God allows us to go through these things? You know, and part of it, I believe, is because, you know, when we go through suffering and we are suckered of God, when we are comforted by the God of all comfort, we are then able to, you know, comfort all others also who go through suffering. Okay? And the suffering, when we go through suffering, here's another point. We know what it's like for Christ. We get a glimpse of what Christ went through, don't we? We become a little more Christ-like through suffering. Right? People who go through hard things, they understand a little bit more about what Christ went through than we do and other people who maybe haven't gone through things. You know, people who are going through great physical affliction, people who are, you know, going through great pain in their lives, they know something about what Christ went through, maybe more so than others because that is a part of Christ's suffering. What is it referring to? It talks about the Christ, that Christ suffered for sins. He was whipped, and his beard pulled out, he was spat upon, he was beaten with rods, he had a crown of thorns smashed into his head, and then he was ultimately humiliated and crucified. Which is not a, you know, that's some severe suffering, right? It's a physical suffering that he went through. It wasn't just some emotional discomfort. And look, when we go through things, even physically, we can relate, we can understand a little bit more what it must have been like for Christ, and maybe that will cause us to realize what it is that we've received and how we received it, okay? Just because you get saved doesn't mean you get to skirt suffering. That's a false doctrine. The comfort is, if you would go to 1 Peter 5, is that suffering is temporary. Christ, who suffered more than any of us, is not suffering today. Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God in heaven, right? Yes, he endured the cross. Yes, he suffered that shame. But you know what? He did it for the joy that was on the other side of it, and now he's sitting at the right hand of God. His suffering, as immense as it was, was temporary. You know, suffering is not negated, but it is temporary through salvation. Not everybody can say that in this world. Look, there's plenty of people that are going to probably maybe have a lot of, maybe minimal suffering in this life, maybe not go through a lot of things, but they're not saved. They're going to suffer immensely in hell, more than we would even want to think about or attempt to describe. Those people will suffer, and it will be permanent. It will not end. You know, as Christians, we are going to go through suffering. We're still going to go through the suffering that's just inherent in life. We're going to go through suffering that God allows into our lives, maybe even brings into our lives to make us better and to make us, you know, for his reasons and his purposes that aren't always fully understood in this life. God is going to allow us to suffer, but it's temporary, and there's a joy unspeakable that waits for us in heaven. And when we get there, we'll understand, and we'll look at the suffering, we'll say, worth it. It's easier to say that on this side of things, but it's the truth. Okay. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, I'll just read you, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. The old man is going to perish, but it's the inward man that is renewed. And I love the way, what Paul says next in 2 Corinthians 4, I'm just reading to you. For our light affliction is but for a moment. Now consider the source on that one. Paul, calling what he went through a light affliction. I mean, we all know the things Paul went through. I don't know that I would call that a light affliction. To me, a light affliction is like stubbing your toe. Anything beyond that, not light affliction, heavy affliction, moderate affliction. You know, I wouldn't call being beaten with rods and stoned and shipwrecked. I wouldn't call that a light affliction. And he's saying, it's not just my light affliction, he's saying our light affliction. He's saying, anything we suffer, it's light. Light affliction, which is for but a moment. It's temporary. And what? Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. He's saying, look, the more we suffer, the greater our reward. The more we're willing to go through whatever it is God has for us and to walk. You know, not only do we have joy in this life, but we'll have that eternal weight of glory. Here's the key though, while we look not at the things which are seen, the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, they're not permanent, but the things which are seen are eternal. Those are the things that last. So the key here to be able to call our suffering, to whatever degree it is, a light affliction, which is for but a moment to have that perspective that Paul had, the key is that to look at things which are eternal. You have to keep that in front of you. How do you do that? By walking in the Spirit. And now you can start to understand how people who walk in the Spirit, they walk and they praise, they leap, even in affliction, even through trials, even through difficulties, even through suffering. It's when we just focus our gaze here and we think about only the things that we're going through that we get drug down and we lose that joy. Look at 1 Peter chapter five, verse 10, but the grace, the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus, Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while make you perfect. Establish, strengthen, and settle you. Does it sound like we're going to avoid suffering here? Well, he's called us to this and he says, after that you've suffered a while, you be strengthened and settled. You'd be established, right? But notice it's a suffering for a while. After it's, you know, this never-ending permanent state of suffering that there's no escape from. No. Maybe even if it's not in this life, it's still that eternal weight of glory that is waiting for us. Let's move along here in the story. I'll probably have to close on this point, but he says there in verse 19 of Acts, and we're done in Peter, first Peter, you can leave first Peter, but picking it up where we left off, he's saying in verse 18, he's speaking to the rulers. He's saying those things, which God before to shade by the mouth of all its prophets that Christ should suffer. He has so fulfilled, right? So again, he's putting the blame where it belongs on them for what they did. They murdered him. And obviously that's a very hard message, but he doesn't just leave it there. He doesn't just say, you know what, you guys are to blame, go to hell. No, there's a purpose behind that. Like there's a purpose behind hard preaching. There's a reason why we preach the things that we preach, even if they're not popular, even if they're hard to receive. We preach hard things because we want people to get right or to be able to discern between right and wrong. And people today get very confused between what is right and what is wrong. The Bible is not, oh, you be quiet. I wasn't talking to you. This new found technology, you know, the Bible is not this, this murky kind of muddled up book that we're just kind of like, it's this gray area. What's moral, what's immoral, what's right, what's wrong? It's like, nah, just how does God feel about this or that? God draws a very clear line right down the center and says, right, wrong. And when everyone's over on wrong and you start preaching from the side of right, everybody on the wrong side sometimes go, wow, that doesn't sound very nice. Yeah, but it's right. That's the question. That's what you have to ask yourself. Is it nice? Is it, is it, is it pleasing? Is it going to make everybody happy? Maybe not. But the question is, is it right? Peter, I mean, that that's a hard message. Hey, you guys killed Christ. You killed the Messiah. It's your fault. That's, you know, I haven't, you know, I've preached a lot of hard messages. I've never laid murder at anyone's feet. I've never walked up to anyone and said, you're a murderer. You know, this person's death is your fault. That's a hard message. But why did he preach it? Verse 19 is why he preached it. Repent ye therefore and be converted. He's saying, get right. I know you did this through ignorance. Repent. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Get saved. That's what he's saying. You know, and this is just a general principle when it comes to hard preaching that you can apply. You know, you come here long enough, you know, I'm going to eventually get to something in the Word of God that's going to rub you the wrong way, that you're not going to like. And I might even preach it in a way that you don't appreciate. Okay. But what you have to ask yourself is what's the motive behind it? And who's right? Is the Bible right? Is the Word of God right? Then you know what? If the Bible's, you know, rubbing the fur the wrong way, the cat can turn around. That's what needs to happen. Not the other way around. Okay. So again, you know, Peter here, he's not just being a big ol' meanie. He's trying to get something accomplished with these people. And he's hitting them where it counts for a reason. Repent ye therefore, be converted that your sins may be blotted out. When the times are refreshing, ye shall come from the presence of the Lord, and ye shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restitution of all things. So that was his reason behind it. Okay. And I don't have time to wrap this up here tonight. Maybe I'll finish it here this Sunday night. But, you know, the main point I want us to walk away from is that, you know, peace is found in salvation. You know, that's where we have real peace. That's where we have real joy. You know, the guy gets saved, he stands on his feet. You know, that's, he's walking and rejoicing. You know, walking with the Lord, that's where peace is found. But life is suffering. That is the example that has been set for us through Christ. You know, it's not this other, the other way around where it's just Christ has negated all suffering for us. No, he set us an example of suffering. That is part of life. And look, the suffering in life that people go through, it's a 10 times harder, I can't even put a number on it. It's way harder without Christ. I mean, imagine the things that you suffer in this life. We all do. We all have some form of suffering. We've all suffered or are suffering or will suffer in this life. It's guaranteed. Now imagine doing it without Christ. I don't know how some people get up in the morning and face the day without Christ. I mean, some people, they get up and they watch, just, they look, just go look at the news. It's just horror story after horror story after horror story after horror story on the news. And people just, they go out there and live their lives. And I just, I don't know how they do without Christ. I can't imagine. But then, you know, they're not, a lot of people aren't the happiest of people today either, right? But isn't it amazing the people that are going through difficult things, the people that are having trials in their life who also have Christ are able to go through it with such grace and with such joy? Because yes, life is suffering, but salvation is peace and walking with God is joy. Let's go ahead and close an order prayer.