September 26^th 2021

9:30 am ----------------------------------- The Sufferings of Christ & His People – 1 Peter 3:12-18

10:00 am ------------------------------------------------------------The Great Servant – Luke 22:24-30

Wednesday: 7:00 pm --------------------------- The Great Protector & Provider – Luke 22:31-38

Note: It is necessary for you to read and follow the scriptures that are commented on here.

God’s People No Longer Serve Sin, Self, the World – From Henry Mahan’s commentary on 1 Peter 4:1-4

‘Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh.’ The eternal, holy, Son of God took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh and suffered reproach, indignities, the curse of the law, the wrath of God, and even death for us.

‘Arm yourselves with the same mind.’ As he suffered for you, be prepared to suffer whatever persecution, reproaches, and self-denials you may be called upon to suffer for righteousness sake, for the sake of him and his gospel.

‘He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.’

Two true implications are given here.

1. Christ, who bore our sins in his body, suffered for them, and died for them, is now clear of these sins. The sins imputed to him (for which he made satisfaction) are gone! In Christ, we are justified and freed from the charge of sin, the condemnation of sin, and the curse of sin. We stand in God’s sight as if we had never sinned.

2. The person who is crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen with Christ has ceased to be the servant of sin, self, and the world. He has not ceased from the burden of it nor a continual war with it, but he has ceased from the servitude and dominion of sin through divine grace and is the bond-slave of Christ.

v. 2. - We are sons of God, saved by his grace; but we are still in this world, and we have a time left to spend here. However, we are not going to spend the remaining days of our natural lives dominated by fleshly appetites and desires; but we will live our days here ruled by the will of God. We desire to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this world, motivated and constrained by the love of God.

v. 3. - Before we met Christ and were born of his spirit, we lived as heathens and pagans (Eph. 2:1-5). The things that we now hate, we once loved; the things that are now shame to us were once our delight. We have no cause to judge and condemn those who exploit the flesh, for we ourselves were in the same darkness (Titus 3:2-3).

v. 4. - The people of the world do not understand you. They think it strange that you do not enjoy and take part in their evil. How can you not find sin a pleasure and a delight? How can you enjoy godliness and religion? They don’t. They call you fools, fanatics, and do-gooders. They don’t understand you; but you understand them, for you were once like them.

The Righteousness Of God

"The righteousness of God," i.e., a righteousness of God's completing, a righteousness of God's bestowing, a righteousness that God gives unto and puts upon all them that believe, a righteousness that stands in the works of Christ and that is imputed both by the grace and justice of God. This righteousness by which we stand just before God, from the curse, was performed long ago by the person of Christ -- John Bunyan

“And Israel Saw That Great Work Which The Lord Did . . .” – Exodus 14:31

After the Israelites walked through the path of the Red Sea; after the Lord drowned the Egyptians, it is written: “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day . . . and Israel saw that great work which the Lord did . . .” (Ex.14:30-31). And so it is with true Israel. All Israel shall be saved . . . BY THE LORD, for SALVATION IS OF THE LORD (Jonah 2:9). And all Israel shall see that great work, so great salvation , WHICH THE LORD DID.