ht on this. Unless you and I lay hold of the grand truth
that Jesus Christ died for us, it seems to me that the story of the
Gospel and the story of the cross is the saddest and most depressing
page of human history. That there should have been a man possessed of
such a soul, such purity, such goodness, such tenderness, such
compassion, and such infinite mercy--if there were all this to do
nothing but touch men's hearts and prick and irritate them into bitter
enmity--if the cross were the world's wages to the world's best Teacher,
and nothing more could be said, then, my friends, it seems to me that
the hopes of humanity have, in the providence of God, suffered great
disaster, and a terrible indictment stands against both God and man. Oh,
yes, the death of Jesus Christ, and the whole history of the world's
treatment of Him, is an altogether incomprehensible and miserable
thing--a thing to be forgotten, and a thing to be wept over in tears of
blood, and no use for us unless we do as Peter did, apply all the warmth
of the heart to this one master key, 'for us,' and then the mystery is
only an infinitude of love and mercy. What before we could not
understand we now begin to see, and to understand the love of God which
passeth all understanding. Oh, my friends, I beseech you never think of
the cross of Christ without taking those two words. It is a necessary
explanation to make the picture beautiful: 'for us,' 'for us'; 'for me,
for me.' And then notice still further that throughout the whole of this
Epistle the comparative vagueness of the words 'for me' is interpreted
definitely. So far as the language of my text is concerned there can be
nothing more expressive, more outspoken, or more intelligible, 'Christ
also suffered for us,' for our realm. But that is not all that Peter
would have us learn. If you want to know the nature of the work, and
what the Saviour suffered on the cross for our behalf, advantage, and
benefit, here is the definition in the following verse, 'Who His own
self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to
sins should live unto righteousness.' 'For us,' not merely as an
example; 'for us,' not merely for His purity, His beautiful life and
calm death; no, better than all that, though a glorious example it is.
He has taken away our sins, we are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus
Christ; 'for us' in the sense of the words in another part of the
Epistle, 'Forasmuch as ye know that ye wer