Good Friday Service 2026- 1 Peter 3:18

Our text is 1 Peter 3:18 which says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous (just) for the unrighteous (unjust), that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” In this verse Peter speaks about the sufferings of Christ and why this suffering was necessary.

All of us know what it is like to suffer in this sinful world. In the apostle Paul’s letters are times when he says something like, “I do not want you to be unaware of the sufferings I have experienced…”. (2 Corinthians 1:8) Paul, who once caused great suffering for the church, now as a believer was willing to endure great suffering on behalf of Christ as he filled up in his flesh what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions. (Colossians 1:24)

There are also many times when Paul acknowledges the sufferings that the churches are experiencing as a result of their faith in Christ. When a congregation persevered in faith and love despite these sufferings Paul would express thankfulness to God for this and told them that they had become an example to all the other churches. (1 Thess. 1:1-10)

Having acknowledged these things, the suffering that the writers of scripture most often spoke of in the scriptures, in both Testaments, was the sufferings of Jesus Christ. For example, Paul says to the Corinthians that he claimed to know nothing among them but Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

In our text today, Peter is reminding believers that Christ’s sufferings are to be their example when a believer is suffering in this sinful world. Jesus has told us that there will be suffering in this world (John 16:33), therefore, we are to imitate our Savior who was well acquainted with suffering. In 1 Peter 3:18 Peter wants suffering Christians to consider Christ as they suffer wrongly in this world.

Let’s begin to consider the fact that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is Jehovah God, the Creator of all things visible and invisible, the second person of the Trinity, and He has reigned at the right hand of God throughout all eternity beside His Father in glory.

• David says in Psalm 11:4, “The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven…”.

• In Psalm 103:19 the psalmist declares, “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.”

• In Isaiah 6:1-3 the prophet sees the LORD sitting on His throne in heaven, high and lifted up, and the angels are crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts (the LORD of angel armies)…”. In Isaiah 66:1 Isaiah writes these words, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…’.

It is this Sovereign LORD who left His throne in heaven and became a man. The Gospel of Mark opens with these words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus Christ was chosen by His Father to be the Anointed One- the Christ. Jesus’ incarnation was the beginning the Good News for us because God was acting Sovereignly to fulfill the promise He had made in Genesis 3:15 to come into the world to save sinners. Although this is Good News for us, this also meant that this would mean that Jesus would have to suffer many things and experience great sorrows. Nonetheless, Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself and became a man and lived among us. From beginning to end Jesus continually entrusted Himself to the Father and obeyed Him in all things even unto death. (Philippians 2:1-8)

To help us appreciate Jesus’ sufferings when He did this let us consider what it must have been like for Adam and Eve when they were removed from the Garden of Eden and were made to live in a cursed world with their new sinful natures. The LORD knew that they would long to return to the Garden of Eden so he put a Cherubim with a flaming sword to block the way back. (Genesis 3:24)

In contrast to this, consider Jesus who left heaven, which is far better than the Garden of Eden, to come into this sinful world as a man. Amazingly, He did this with joy and did not murmur and complain even on the hardest of days. Amazingly, He did this with such willingness that the Father was not required to block the path that would have led him back into heaven as was done with Adam and Eve. In fact, at the height of Jesus’ suffering He could have called upon legions of angels to save Him but He did not. (Matthew 26:53)

Contrast that with God’s people in the Old Testament who saw God’s great power but often murmured, complained, and desired to go back to Egypt. At that time, Israel considered their enslavement in Egypt with fond memories as if they enjoyed many blessings there. Similarly, when you and I suffer it is made worse when we remember when our life was characterized by blessing. During our sufferings our hearts long to experience those good times again.

Yet, when Jesus suffered far more than you or I ever have, He did not look back longingly at the past and desire to return. No, but for the joy set before Him He endured the cross and desired all the more that after His suffering His disciples would see Him in the glory that He had before. (Hebrews 12:2; John 17:20-26)

From the very beginning Jesus suffered. He was born in a manger, a stable, among the animals. Soon after this Joseph was told to get up in the night and flee for safety from Herod. Jesus’ life was consistently characterized as one of poverty and suffering. The apostle John tells us that Jesus came to His own people and they did not receive Him. (John 1) During His earthly ministry Jesus’ brothers did not believe that He was the Messiah. (John 7:5) At the height of His ministry His own family believed that He was crazy. (Mark 3:21) Jesus came to his own hometown and the people there dishonored Him and would not receive His words. (Matthew 13:57) These things remind us that Jesus’ life was one of great suffering.

Jesus was not born when Israel was experiencing a golden age. No, Jesus was born when Rome ruled over the people of Israel with a very heavy hand. Some of Jesus’ greatest antagonists towards Jesus were the Jewish political and religious leaders. These great powers were nothing compared to the spiritual warfare that Jesus must have contended with each and every day by Satan Himself, the demons, and the people whose hearts were bent and inclined to do the will of their father-Satan. (John 8:44)

And yet, despite the great suffering Jesus was continually experiencing He continually ministered to the people around Him. Many of these people followed Him to see His power, many followed Him in the hopes that they would reign with Him. Many followed Him to get food from Him. He loved them all but the people would so quickly turn away from Him and reject Him. (John 6; John 18:40)

Jesus suffered when He was rejected by the people, abandoned by His disciples, betrayed by Judas, and denied by Peter. When His sufferings reached a climax His closest friends scattered into the darkness and hid themselves. Israel gathered together around Him and shouted, “Give us Barabbas. Crucify Jesus!” (Matthew 27:16-26) As a result, Jesus was beaten, flogged, and crucified outside of the city.

It was at the very end of Jesus’ earthly ministry that Jesus’ sufferings climaxed; and yet, the people did not understand this. Therefore, Jesus prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) It was there on the cross that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all the elect. He who knew no sin, became sin.

You and I often fail to see just how terrible sin is. Jesus, however, knows how sinful sin is. When He became sin, He was crushed by sin. He took upon Himself the polluting nature, the corrupting nature, the defiling nature of sin. In that moment, the sins of all God’s people from every generation (past, present, and future) was placed upon Him and the wrath of God came upon Him. He was crushed for our sins while He was on the cross and cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Luke 23:34) In that moment, the Father turned away from His Son and the perfect fellowship that they had always enjoyed was separated.

We must now ask ourselves, “Why did Jesus suffer like this?” Peter gives us two reasons when he writes, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous (just) for the unrighteous (unjust), that He might bring us to God…”.

• First reason: Christ suffered for (because of) sins.

• Second reason: Christ suffered so that He might bring us to God.

Reason #1- Christ suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. The Righteous One stood in the place of the unrighteous. The Just One stood in the place of the unjust. On the cross Jesus suffered the wrath of God as our substitute. We were condemned, but He died. We were guilty, but He bore the shame and guilt for the sins we had committed against the LORD. Jesus willingly took our place and received everything our sins deserved on the cross.

The Roman authorities placed a sign on Jesus cross saying, “This is the King of the Jews”? This sign offended the Jews who wanted it to say, “This is the man who said He was King of the Jews”. The centurion got it right when he witnessed all these things and said,

• In Mark 15:39 he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

• In Luke 23:47 he says, “Truly this man was righteous (innocent).”

Jesus was a just and righteous man. He lived under the Law and was blameless in thought, and word, and in deed. He was holy, undefiled, sinless, beyond reproach. His Father delighted in Him because He obeyed Him even unto death saying, “Not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

Oh, how easy it is to think that Jesus only suffered for the religious person, the devout person, the good person; but Jesus suffered for the unrighteous, the rebellious, and for the unjust. He suffered for His enemies, the rebellious, and for traitors. He suffered for those who had been corrupted by sin, polluted by iniquities, and defiled by their transgressions.

In other words, Jesus suffered and died for people like me and like you. Jesus suffered for those who have fallen short, who forget God, deny God, for those who ignore Him and His Word. No one has ever done what was required of them by the LORD. All people owe him love, obedience, and submission but we don’t do this. We are to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever but we don’t. We are to remember Him, to read His word, to pray, to meditate upon Him; but we don’t. All men by nature hate God and we run away from Him.

And yet, Jesus, the innocent and just man, suffered for sinners. Why did Jesus do this? The second reason is so that we would be reconciled to God. Jesus endured all of this so that He might bring us to God. Forgiving us of the things we have done which are required of us, and forgiving us of the things that we have not done that we were to do, is a means to a greater end.

Jesus has done this so that we can be reconciled to the Father and brought before Him. We were once so far off. There was a great gulf between us. Our iniquities had separated us from our God and we could not save ourselves. The LORD is perfect and holy, but we even our righteous works are as filthy before Him. Those in the flesh cannot please God so we could not bring ourselves to God. Even if we wanted to we could not come to Him, but we do not want too.

Therefore, we needed a good Shepherd to find us as we wandered off to save us. We needed to be brought back to God and this is the ultimate end of Christ’s sufferings. Jesus suffered so that we can truly enjoy God and glorify Him forever.

Have you been restored and reconciled to the Father? Do you have fellowship with Him? Do you draw close to His throne of grace to find grace and mercy in your time of need? Or are you still far off from the LORD. Jesus left heaven to reconcile us to the Father. Jesus suffered for His people so that they could be restored. He died so that we might have eternal life. Eternal life is knowing Him and the One that He sent into the world. (John 17:3)

We access these things by faith. We do not have to go to heaven to bring Christ down. Nor do we need to descend to bring Him up. We simply believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that God raised Jesus from the dead and we will be saved. (Romans 11)