Continue to worship our God this morning by considering his word. I noticed that there are a number of visitors this morning. It is a delight to have you worshiping with us. My name is Josh Henson, one of the pastors here at Grace Covenant Church, and this is the time when we open up God's word and mine it out for wisdom, direction, hope, consolation, and instruction. And it's called the ministry of the word, and we have been working through the book of 1 Peter, and we find ourselves this morning in 1 Peter chapter four, verses one through six, and in our time of the exposition, we're gonna be spending the majority of our time on verse six. So please turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Peter chapter four, and we will listen to verses one through six. If you're following along in one of these Black Pew Bibles, you could find that passage on page 1016. 1016. So congregation, let's give our attention to the reading of God's word. This is the infallible, inerrant, and eternal word of the living God. And so let us give our hearts and our minds full attention. The Apostle Peter says, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. For the time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. But they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached, even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our Lord stands forever. And we are thankful for it. Let's give thanks to the Lord this morning for his word. Father God, we are expectant this morning to hear from you a word Father, we have been thinking through the mind of our Savior and your Son, Jesus Christ, in these past three weeks. And Father, we pray that this morning, as we conclude our thoughts on arming ourselves with the mind of Christ, that, oh Father in heaven, you would give us this mind. You would give us this mind which sets its face like a flint toward Jerusalem. You would give us this mind who has a willingness to suffer for doing good, if that be your will, rather than doing evil. That You would give us this mind, dear Father, that would have no fear and would flinch not at the prospect of final judgment. That You would give us this mind, dear Father, that though we do not look forward to the pain and the process of death, yet death itself causes no disruption in our souls. For we have the mind of Christ, the mind of Him, who was raised over death, hell, and the grave. Give us this mind this morning, dear Father, this mind of your Son and our Lord, who not only used the prospect of the new heavens and the new earth to get him through final judgment. Not only used it to get him through death, but used it to get him through life. That as the text says, he lived in the spirit as God does. And Father, we too, with the mind of Christ being united to him and with him by faith, live in the spirit as you do. Teach us this morning what that means. Help your servant, we pray, to put Christ on display in a way that magnifies his holy name. For it is in Christ's name we pray, amen. Well, boys and girls and adults, there are two words in the Bible. Count them. One, two. There are two words in the Bible. And the first word is law. And what does the law of God say to us? The law of God says to us, to boys and girls, to teens and college-aged folk, to middle-aged and to old, all the way up until their dying breath, the law says the same thing. Do this and live. Be perfect. and live. The law tells us that all of us have been born in a state of rebellion. All of us have inherited the nature of our father, Adam, and our mother, Eve. And that inheritance is death. And in addition to being born in sin, the law also tells us that we compound our punishment and our penalty by our own wicked actions, our own wicked thoughts, and our own wicked words. Wrath upon wrath upon wrath is what the law tells us. This is the first word in the Bible, dear congregation. But there is another word in the Bible, and that word is gospel. What does the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ say to us? It does not say, do this and live. It says, listen, here is the declaration of peace, of forgiveness, of grace, and of justification. The gospel says, Christ has done it for you. Christ, the second Adam. Christ, the last Adam. He has given us the obedience that we do not have. He has given us the covering for our sins that we could never offer up to God. The gospel says that all who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus Christ will be saved. Through faith, He gives us perfect obedience and He covers our sins. So this is the gospel. But I have a question for you this morning. What do you do with the gospel? Is the gospel, dear congregation, something that, as it were, you put on the shelf of your religious life, never to be used again, never to be considered again, never to be utilized and used as a sword that you brandish against life's temptations and struggles, or do you use the gospel? Peter tells us in verse six, this is why the gospel was preached and it gives us three reasons why the gospel was preached. Three reasons why it was not only preached, delivered to us so that it could enter into our ears and that we can have coherence in our mind and hearts of what it means for us. but how the gospel is to be used, three areas. Number one, to save us from final judgment. Number two, as a comfort in death. And number three, to live in the spirit the way God does in this present life. In other words, as a recalibration to true north, where your true identity lie in Jesus Christ, where your true citizenship lie, your primary citizenship in the new heavens and the new earth. Three ways in which the gospel is to be used. So I submit to you this morning a very simple question. Are you using the gospel or is that gospel simply sitting on the shelf to be considered once in a blue moon? Well, this morning, as we consider this final installment of the mind of Christ, I want to draw out these three principal uses of the gospel as Peter laid them out in verse six, and consider them and present them to us for our consideration for how you can use the gospel, not only in the prospect of final judgment, not only in the face of death, but in everyday, mundane, normal, ordinary life. So consider the first use of the gospel this morning. Number one, The gospel is to be used on the day of judgment to give an account to the one who stands ready to judge. Notice in verse six, that Peter says, for this is why the gospel was preached. Whenever you see something like that in the text that says, for this is why, this is the reason, for this purpose, that's called a purpose clause. And whenever you see a purpose clause, you should look a little bit before in the context to see what it is he's referring to. And it is in verse five, which comes before verse six, where he says, but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." What does he have in mind there? Final judgment. When Christ comes back to judge the living and the dead. And Peter says in the opening words of verse 6, for this, for what? The reason of final judgment, this is the reason why the gospel was preached. In other words, the gospel is primarily, in Peter's mind here, meant to be used so that on that day of final judgment, listen, you don't have to give an account to God, because Christ has given an account to God for you. Christ stands in your place if you have turned from your sins and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has offered to the Father the righteousness, the perfect obedience, the submission to the Father's will in every single intricate detail of life because you, my friend, were unable to do so. Christ has not only done that in his life, but in his death, he has covered your sins, which forgives them, wipes them away, so that God no longer remembers or considers them. And this two-fold benefit of the gospel is imputed or transferred to your account by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the believer, when he uses the gospel for what it is meant to do, when he uses the sign of the gospel, which we are going to consider this morning in the waters of baptism, when he uses the sign of the gospel for what it was meant to do, has no fear of final judgment. This is why John says in 1 John 4, 16 to 19, so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. By this is love perfected in us. so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. You know what the gospel does in the face of final judgment? John says it here. There is no fear in love, but perfect love, what? Casts out fear. In another version it says it drives out fear. Dear friend, this morning, do you have a fear of final judgment? Well, can I say if you are outside of Christ, if you have not turned from your sins and believed in the righteousness and the passive obedience of Jesus Christ on the cross, you should have fear? Have you considered that on that day when you stand before your creator, The One who made you, the One who crafted your heart and your mind and your soul to be drawn as a tractor beam to the God who created you and all things. The One who created you to glorify Him in all of your actions, all of your deeds and all of your thoughts, such that until you run to Him at the foot of the cross, You will not find contentment. Do you understand that on the day of judgment, if you have not this covering of Jesus Christ, you will have to give an account for your own sins. And my friend, it will not be pretty. It will not be pretty. It will be the most disastrous day that ever graces, if you will, the landscape of history. But on the other hand, if you have Christ, you have something that drives fear out of your heart and causes you to stand before the Father in heaven. This is the first thing that Peter says. This is why the gospel is preached. To drive out fear of final judgment. But now consider a second reason why the gospel was preached. A second reason. The gospel is to be used as a comfort in death. The gospel is meant to be used as a comfort in death. Look at verse 6. We've already seen him say this is why the gospel was preached. Then he says, it was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. It's a good thing that I left this verse for this Sunday and didn't try to cram it into the last 10 minutes of last time, because this is a tricky verse. What does he mean when he says, this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead? Well, let me give you a few things that it doesn't mean, okay? We're trying to examine here, who are the dead in this text? Who are the dead in this text? Well, by dead, Peter does not mean the spiritually dead. That is a way that Paul in his writings talks about our person, our holistic being, body and soul. He talks about us in Ephesians 2 and the book of Romans as being spiritually dead. There is no life within us because God has not raised us up. We are dead. We are at the bottom of the sea being half eaten by fish. Peter doesn't use that terminology in his letter. And one of the rules of hermeneutics, hermeneutics is the art and science of interpreting the Bible, is you need to be careful not to import the terminology and phraseology and ideas of one author into that of another author. It's not that Peter didn't believe that there's a category of spiritually dead. Certainly he did. But spiritual deadness is not a category that Peter speaks of. So when he says that this is why the gospel is preached, even to those who are dead, he is not speaking of those who are spiritually dead. Furthermore, if you just again look at the context, look at verse five. He says, remember in verse five that Jesus stands ready to judge the living and the dead. What does dead mean there? That means the physically dead. Albeit they will be resurrected on that last day to stand before the final judgment, but if in verse five he's referring to dead as those who are physically dead, then why would he all of a sudden shift gears without any attention and go into verse six and say, now everybody I mean spiritually dead. No, that's not what he means. So if it meant physically dead in verse five, then it means physically dead in verse six. So it does not mean, the dead does not mean spiritually dead. But secondly, by dead, he does not mean those who died without believing in Christ and are therefore given a second chance after death. Some people have submitted this as the proper interpretation, which is to say, people died without believing in Jesus Christ, they go to their grave, and somehow, in some way, Christ or an angel is going to come and maybe go to hell where they are or wherever their souls are and preach the gospel to them again, and then they'll believe, and therefore they have some type of second chance. Well, it doesn't mean that. Some people have sought to say that the dead here is connected with the spirits in prison in chapter three, verse 19. If you just look back in your text, look at verse 18 and 19, we covered this. Peter says, 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. And then verse 19, in which he, that is Christ, the resurrected Christ, went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Now, some have tried to connect the spirits in prison in verse 19 of chapter three to the dead in chapter four verse six. But there's a number of problems with this. Number one, we saw a few weeks ago that the spirits in prison in chapter three verse 19 is referring to those fallen angels who did not keep their place in the days of Noah and therefore were cast into some shadowy dark prison. But more importantly, and this is important, all through the literature of rabbinical writings during the time before Christ and even after Christ, and even in the minds of the patristic fathers in the first few centuries of the church, whenever they spoke of spirits, whether that is fallen angels or good angels, or spirits, whether that is people who have died and are now in the spiritual realm, they never refer to those spirits as dead. Whether they are fallen angels or good angels, whether they are people who have departed, they are all very much still alive in the spirit. So it doesn't make sense to connect the dead here with the spirits in chapter three, verse 19. Furthermore, in chapter three, verse 19, it is Jesus who goes in the resurrected state and preaches to these spirits in prison. But in chapter four, verse six, it doesn't say Jesus preached. In fact, the word used for was preached, for this is why the gospel was preached, even to those who are dead, is a passive verb. And it is not speaking of Christ preaching, but Christ, listen, being preached, perhaps by a minister or an apostle. And so this idea that Christ or a minister of the gospel or an angel would go and preach to people after they are dead is not possible, and the author of the Hebrews really sums this up for us in chapter nine, verse 27. You don't have to go there. But the author of the Hebrews says this, and just as it is appointed for man to die, what, once, and after that comes judgment. Now, I know some of you wanna throw a wrench and you say, what about near-death experiences? Well, that was not the once that God was talking about. If they come back to life, then God in his providence has determined there's another time that's gonna be a little more lethal, and they're not gonna come back from that one. And when that time comes, they will die once, and then judgment. And that judgment is either with Christ as their covering because they have repented and believed in Jesus Christ, or they will be, as it were, naked before him with whom they have to do. But let me just also say this, because I really want to drive this view as deep into the grave as I possibly can. What does the rest of verse six say? The rest of verse six says this, let me just read the whole thing, chapter four, verse six. For this is why the gospel is preached, even to those who are dead. And then we have another purpose clause. That, though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. What does that mean? Here's what it means. When the gospel comes to them, the purpose is that they live in the spirit the way God does. What does that mean? That they're saved. So if everyone to whom the gospel comes, at least in this verse, is saved, then there will be no wicked to be judged on the day of judgment. Because everyone who died gets a second chance, and when the gospel comes to them, according to Peter, when it is preached to them, they believe. So there is no goats on the day of judgment, it's all sheep, but Jesus doesn't tell us that, does he? Jesus tells us that there will be sheep, the righteous, and goats, the wicked, and the wicked will march off into eternal damnation, and the sheep will enter into the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world. But also, can I just say this? If Peter meant to communicate that a person can die and then have a second chance to believe in the gospel, why is he spending so much time in this epistle exhorting you to endure suffering for the sake of making it to the end? If you have a second chance after death, then what's all this talk of suffering, Peter? Just tell us, well, you know, try, and if it doesn't work, great, because you'll get a second chance after death. but his whole epistle is dripping with the reality and the exhortation to endure suffering as a necessary requirement to get to the end. And finally, I'll say this, and this goes with the last point. If the dead are those who are gonna get a second chance, it guts the whole purpose of the Great Commission. If we are to go out and preach the gospel, if we are to be, as it were, with a lowercase e, evangelist, why are we preaching the gospel and why are we so zealous? And why are missionaries sacrificing so much? Why are you sacrificing so much as you speak the gospel by the water cooler at your work with the prospect of possibly being fired or demoted? Why risk all that if they're gonna get a second chance? No, Peter doesn't believe that at all. for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, and that is why the gospel in this life is so important. So what does he mean then? Well, I submit to you that what he means by dead are those, perhaps in Asia Minor, who had heard the gospel, believed it, and then died, perhaps before Peter wrote this letter. In other words, these are saints. These are people who believed and then they died. Now, notice that, therefore, what Peter is doing here is similar to what Paul did in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13 through 18. I don't want you to turn there. It's a famous rapture passage, okay? Where Paul is addressing a very serious concern of the Thessalonians. By the way, a concern that we don't have today, mainly because Paul corrected it, in chapter four of 1 Thessalonians 13 through 18. What was their concern? They, the Thessalonians, so believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. What does imminent mean? That he could come at any moment. They so believed that and so lived their lives according to that glorious truth. They, in fact, believed that he could come tomorrow. They believed that he was gonna come before their lifetime. That there was one niggling doubt. What about those, then, Paul, who have died before Christ comes back? If they die, are they not going to share in the inheritance that Christ has when he comes? And that's why Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, chapter 13 through 18, what does he say? Brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant. The Lord is gonna break through the clouds, and who's the first to go? Not those who are living, but the dead in Christ shall rise, what? First, and then those who are alive will be taken up with him. And so you see, the dead have a priority in Christ. And this is why it says in the psalm, precious in the sight of the Lord is the what? The death of the saints. So this use of the gospel tells us that we are to have no fear of death. We are to have no fear of final judgment. We are to have no fear of death because Christ will break through in his glorious second coming and resurrect our bodies and undo what death has done. So then finally, I want us to look at this last use of the gospel. And I think this is the use where most of us are living today. The last use of the gospel is this. The gospel is to be used daily in life as a recalibration to true north. Please listen to me. He says that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The gospel is meant to be used at final judgment to get you past that fear. The gospel is meant to be used as a comfort in death. But what about the rest of the life, Josh? What about the rest of life, Peter? What about everything that I experience Sunday through Saturday? What about hardships in work? What about hardships in family? What about hardships in life? What about hardships in health? Can we use the gospel to combat fears and the unknown? Absolutely. The gospel has supernatural power even in the midst, listen to me please, of our most fearful moments. Though we may find our hearts racing a mile a minute and our minds racing with fears about what's going to come next, it is the gospel, listen, it is the gospel that in those moments can bring comfort even in the midst of a raised heartbeat. Do you believe that? Perhaps a more important question would be this, not so much do you believe it, but do you use it? You say, yes, pastor, I use the gospel as a deterrent to fear to the final judgment. I use the gospel as a deterrent to fear in the face of death. But do you use the gospel in everyday common stock, mundane fears and doubts and uncertainties? Let me tell you the story of a man who did this precise thing. Some of you know the name Joel Beeky. Joel Beeky is president of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary, I think in Michigan, and he's a very prolific writer and speaker. He's also a minister and elder at his church. But Joel Beeky does a lot of traveling. In fact, he goes to seminaries and to churches all over the world, internationally, and he will give addresses to seminarians. He will give addresses and sermons to churches like this. Very humble man, I've actually met him. He's a prince of a man. But he tells the story. One time he went and lectured in Latvia. And after lecturing and talking with students for four hours, he came back to his hotel room and he walked in. And he put his books on the table, and then he turned around to go shut the door, and the door was kicked in by two men. Two men that, of course, could not speak English, but were just yelling in Russian, and I think in English, because this is the only words they knew, Russian mafia, Russian mafia. And they kicked him down and punched him in the face. And then they took sheets and began to rip them strip by strip. And they took those strips and they bound his feet. And then they bound his hands. And then one of the assailants took out a knife and was waving it over his head and saying, give us your wallet, give us gold, give us anything that you have. And so he pointed to where his wallet was and they pulled it out and they took that. They weren't content with that. They kept rummaging through his room. And then they took those strips of linens and they put them around his eyes and blindfolded him. And then they put it around his neck to partially choke him. And then one of the assailants kept pressing a knife into his spine. And he threw him down on the ground and put his foot on the back of his neck and was pressing down. They were there for 45 minutes. Joel Beeky thought he was going to die. Can you imagine? I don't know if any of you have ever been assaulted, ever been mugged, but among the ordinary fear of just, I may die, is the fear of the unknown. What is going to happen? Even if I do die, are they gonna torture me first before I die? I want to read to you, from the words of Joel Beeky, how he worked through this moment, this 45 minutes of terror. Listen very carefully. He said, I cannot put into words how the Lord helped me in those 45 minutes. For many years now, I have a practice that whenever I feel physical pain, I try to discipline my mind to think of Christ's pain. That is the best means I know to reduce one's own pain. But this time, it was as if the Lord simply gave it to me. Most of the time, the Holy Spirit filled my mind with sweet meditations on the sufferings of Christ. Every time that knife poked at my spine and I expected the end of a knife's stroke away, God enabled me to meditate on the blood of Christ. When the knife pressed sore, I thought of Christ's sword-pierced side. I was given to surrender all my sins and my soul to the blood of our precious mediator with such freedom that I wanted to sing with joy. I thought of Paul and Silas singing in the inner prison. I received much comfort from the text that believers should count it all joy when they suffer for Jesus' sake. Though I was acutely aware of my misery and unworthiness as I lie there, I was fully assured in my soul that my every sin was covered with the precious blood of Emmanuel. Only one other time in my life were the promises of God so richly unveiled to me. When God revealed Christ to me as my portion at the age of 16, promise after promise flowed into my soul. I have never experienced such an unbroken string of promises made sweet within from that day until now as I lay under my assailant's knife. I cannot repeat them all now, but the most comforting ones were those that spoke of the assurance in Christ. The two most helpful were Job's, I know that my Redeemer lives, and Paul's, I know in whom I have believed. At this moment, I cannot even repeat those texts fully or accurately, but within those long minutes, These promises and others flowed through my soul like such a peaceful river that I could say with Simeon, Lord, let us now thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I was ready to die and kept repeating for me to live as Christ and to die is gain for me to live as Christ to die is gain. I thought of the joy of glory of being with Christ and of never having to wrestle with sin anymore. I could surrender everything to the Lord. I can't think of a more practical use of the gospel in mundane and perhaps, in this case, extraordinary circumstances of fear. What would you be thinking of? I know some of you Navy guys. Well, I'd put them in a rear naked choke. That's what I do. But what does Joel Beeky do? He's not an MMA wrestler. He's not a boxer. He couldn't overpower two men, especially one with a knife. Is he thinking about the authorities? Oh, how can I cry out to the authorities? No, he cries out to the ultimate authority, Jesus Christ. He clings to the foot of the cross and the flood of promises that flow from that cross to get him through a knife being poked into his spine. Dear congregation, do you use the gospel practically in the face of fear? I can submit to you no greater antidote to your fear than the love of God and the gospel. A love of God that John says casts out, drives out fear. Do you think that Joel Beeky's heart was not racing a million miles an hour? Of course it was. And yet in the midst of a pulsating heart, in the midst of anxiety that was probably in the moment taking years off of his life, he runs to the solace of peace found at the foot of the cross. Do you see how the gospel helps us even in this life? That though we are judged in the flesh the way men are, that is, though we have the curse of Adam and we're going to die, yes, that's true, we nonetheless live in the Spirit the way God does. He was in, Joel Beeky was in the environment of heaven, the Spirit taking his hand, guiding him through the sweet promises of the new heavens and the new earth, and he was ready to go. He was ready to go. He was using his identity in the crucified and risen Lord to get him through perhaps the most frightening experience in his life. Do you judge the efficacy, the worthness, if you were, the worthiness, the effectiveness? Do you judge the effectiveness and beauty of the gospel by success and comfort and the well-being of your life now? Do you find yourself asking the question, if this gospel thing doesn't work for me in bolstering my portfolio and giving me the big house that I want, and giving me the car that I want, and giving me the spouse that I want, and giving me the happiness that I want, my friend, you have fallen prey to the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. Your best life is not now, your best life is in the new heavens and the new earth, secured by your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And to the degree that you use that promise and the million of other promises that he gives us, As an anchor of your soul, steadfast and sure to draw you through, to pull you through. Even a man poking a knife into your spine. To that degree, my friend, you are using the gospel. You use the gospel in everyday life. Peter's going to say in verse 12 and 13, beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings. You may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. I know some of you struggle with pain. My own sweet wife struggles with migraines. And she has told me, she has told me in the past that she has used the sufferings of Christ and her identity with the risen Lord to draw her through and pull her through a migraine. Do you use the gospel to get you through the ordinary affairs of life? Judging the efficacy of the gospel by what happens to you in this life? In other words, saying, well, if the gospel doesn't give me all the things that I want now, then it's not worth it. Doing that is like taking a brand new car back to the dealership because it sunk when you tried to drive it through a lake. A car is not meant to drive through a lake. It's not an amphibious craft. A car is meant for the road. And so it is with the gospel. While there is no doubt that the gospel gives us multiple benefits in this life, like a clear conscience, a resolute identity, and a sure and steadfast hope, it is not in this life that we expect to see the final payoff, but in the next. So this morning, this morning, The gospel gives us three things. It gives us comfort in the prospect of final judgment. It gives us comfort in the prospect of death. And in everyday mundane matters, the gospel helps us to recalibrate our hearts to true north, such that we find ourselves in a state, even with a high heartbeat, even with sweaty palms, even with a sweaty brow, just as Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, A peace inside that surpasses all understanding. Do not mistake this peace for what the world calls peace. Do not expect for your heartbeat to lower in those times. Your heartbeat may be racing, but a peace will be there that the world, my friends, cannot understand. This morning, we are going to see a picture of the gospel in baptism. Three members are going to go under the judgment waters of baptism and then come up to new life. That's what we're seeing. They are dying to putting all their hope in this life, and instead they are identifying with the one who was raised over death, hell, and the grave unto eternal life. This is why Paul says in Galatians 6.14, But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Grace Covenant Church, use the gospel for what it was meant to be used for, fortification in this life of suffering until we come to the inheritance reserved for us in heaven. Let Jesus this morning, even as you witness, the holy sacrament of baptism, let Jesus be an anchor now for your inheritance in the future, and with that mindset of Christ, let the world and all of its fears and all of its unknowns and all of its prophecies of doom be crucified to you, and glory, dear congregation, glory in the new life you have in Christ. Before we get to the baptism, let me just give a call to those who do not know this risen Lord. There's some of you in here, unbelievers. Christ is ready to judge the living and the dead. He sees all that you do, all that you think. He hears every little idle word that you speak. He knows the sin that you secretly cherish in your heart and the sin that you openly revel in. With every idle word, every rebellious deed, and every idolatrous thought, He is storing up wrath upon wrath upon wrath for you. He's reserving it for you. You may think as an unbeliever, I haven't accomplished much in my life, but you have. You've actually done a really good job of storing up wrath for yourself. You're storing up wrath upon wrath upon wrath, and as you listen to Jesus Christ who stands ready to judge the living and the dead, Know that He stands ready to pour that wrath upon you. But He doesn't wish that you would die. He wishes that you would have life. He wishes that you would be moved from judgment into new life, and you can have that this morning. Have that wrath turned away from you and poured out on the Son of God and have your sins forgiven and a righteousness given to you that is not your own, but is foreign. If you turn from your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He stands ready and willing to receive you this morning. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from your sins and you will be forgiven. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that the gospel is not simply there to be a religious artifact. But Father, it has scrapes and cuts all over it because it gets used daily. We drop it, we fumble it, we take it back up, we use it, we open it up. because you have given it to us, Father, that we might use it to dispel fear, because in that gospel is a divine, supernatural love, a love that you had for the world so much so that you sent your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. Father, thank you for this precious gospel. I pray that you would give to us as a church The audacity, the holy audacity to use the gospel, not only against final judgment, not only against death, but in everyday life. Father, massage it into our hearts this morning, we pray by the help of your spirit. We ask these things in your son's name. Amen.