Sword Drill: 1 Peter 3:18

Have the winner read the verse.

“For Christ hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the Unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

When did Christ suffer for sins?  (when He died on the cross)

Did He suffer for His own sins  (no, for ours)

It says He suffered "once."  Will the Lord Jesus need to die on the cross in the future?  (no, He suffered for our sins once for all; it was a finished work never to happen again)

This is God’s way of salvation: Christ dying for us, so that He might bring us to God.

Who is the "Just (Righteous) One"?  (the Lord Jesus)

Who are the "unjust one (unrighteous ones)?  (us)

But man tries to gain salvation in other ways. Religion is man trying to do certain things to bring himself to God.

You have two choices. You can try to bring yourself to God. You can trust Christ, that He might bring you to God.

The first way is the religious way, and it’s totally impossible.

The second way is God’s way, and Christ’s death made it possible.

The first way, the impossible way, is like a man trying to swim from New York to London (over 3400 miles).  He must swim across the Atlantic Ocean.

Have a New York sign on one side of the sanctuary and a London sign on the other side.
 

Imagine three swimmers trying to do this.  [Perhaps pick two from the congregation, possibly a teenager and an older person. For the third swimmer pick an Olympic champion, such as Michael Phelps in his prime].   How well do you think they would do?  The teenager may swim a couple of miles. The older person may only go 800 yards.  The Olympic champion might go many miles into the vast ocean, but even he would get tired and would fail to make it to London.  One might do better, but all three will perish in the ocean.  No man is able to swim across a wide ocean.

[Another option is to print a picture of an old lady swimming, a young child swimming, a strong teenager swimming, an Olympic champion swimming]

The strong teenager or the Olympic champion cannot boast by saying, "Look how much farther I got then the old lady or the child!"  None of them made it to London.  They all perished in the ocean, even though some went farther than others. 

To illustrate this I had a picture of a drunken man lying on a bench (a pathetic picture). Should we boast that we are much better than this man because we don't get drunk as he did?  (No, because as sinners we are all going to perish without Christ whether we get drunk or not.)   I also had a picture or sketch or a man killing another man.  Should we boast that we are much better than this man because we do not murder people?  (No, because as sinners we are all going to perish without Christ whether we murder or not.)

There’s a much better way to get to London. By faith you get on the ship (I used a picture of a great ocean liner). And you can trust the ship to get you to London.  You do not have to paddle or do anything to help the ship along. The ship does all the work. You are just resting all your weight on the deck, letting the ship carry you 3470 miles to London. You can’t get there yourself, but the ship can get you there.  

Likewise, you cannot get to God yourself. You’ll never make it by your own efforts, no matter how hard you try. If you try to get there in your own strength, you will perish. But our verse says that Christ died, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, that He might bring us to God. He can get us there. Have you trusted Christ? Are you on board? Are you trusting the Savior to get you there? Jesus is the Only Way.

 

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