Bearing Witness Through Suffering

September 30, 2018 · 1 Peter

Series · 1 Peter · Week 11 of 25

Scripture referenced 11 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

1 Peter 3:13-22 the main passage preached through in order

13 Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good?
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.”
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
16 having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
19 in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.

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Matthew 10:26-33

quoted at length as background for 'do not fear their intimidation', including sparrows, hairs numbered, confessing Christ before men

26 Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known.

27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.

28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will,

30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

32 Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

33 But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

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Acts 3-4

Peter and John healed a man, were beaten and imprisoned, told not to speak in Jesus's name, and chose to fear God rather than men

3:1 Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

3:2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple.

3:3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy.

3:4 Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.”

3:5 He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.

3:6 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

3:7 He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.

3:8 Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

3:9 All the people saw him walking and praising God.

3:10 They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

3:11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

3:20 and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before,

3:21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.

3:22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.

3:23 It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

3:24 Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.

3:25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’

3:26 God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”

4:1 As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them,

4:2 being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

4:3 They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.

4:4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

4:5 In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem.

4:6 Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest.

4:7 When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”

4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

4:9 if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,

4:10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.

4:11 He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’

4:12 There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus.

4:14 Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,

4:16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it.

4:17 But so that this spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.”

4:18 They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

4:19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,

4:20 for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

4:21 When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that…

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1 John 1:9

cited as the mechanism for keeping a good conscience, confessing sins and being cleansed of all unrighteousness

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Luke 16

referenced for the great chasm fixed between hell and heaven, passable only through Christ

1 He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

2 He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’

3 “The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.

4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’

5 Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’

6 He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

7 Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 “His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.

9 I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

10 He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

11 If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12 If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

15 He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.

18 Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

19 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

20 A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,

21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.

23 In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

24 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’

25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

26 Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’

27 “He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house;

28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’

29 “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’

30 “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’”

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Philippians 2:6-9

Christ did not grasp equality with God, made himself a servant, obedient to death on a cross, therefore God exalted him

6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

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Hebrews 9:27

it is appointed once for a man to die and then judgment, used to refute postmortem conversion

27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

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Luke 24

Jesus led them to Bethany, lifted his hands, blessed them and was carried up into heaven

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

3 They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body.

4 While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.

5 Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

6 He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,

7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”

8 They remembered his words,

9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest.

10 Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles.

11 These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them.

12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.

13 Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.

14 They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.

15 While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.

16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

17 He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”

18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”

19 He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

21 But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

22 Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;

23 and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

24 Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

25 He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

26 Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”

27 Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 They came near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.

29 They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.

30 When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them.

31 Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.

32 They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,

34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

35 They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

36 As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

37 But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?

39 See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41 While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

42 They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.

43 He took them, and ate in front of them.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.

46 He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

49 Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50 He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51 While he blessed them, he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven.

52 They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

53 and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

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Mark 16:19-20

the Lord was received into heaven, sat at the right hand of God, disciples preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them

19 So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

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1 Peter 4:1

read aloud as the next verse: since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same purpose

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;

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Philippians 2:12-13

used as the closing benediction, God at work in you giving both the desire and the strength to do what pleases him

12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

The pastor worked through 1 Peter 3:13-22, a passage about suffering for doing right, and explained how Christ's own suffering and vindication sets the pattern for every believer who faces opposition. The hardest stretch of the text, nine Greek words in verse 19 about Christ making proclamation to spirits in prison, drew honest acknowledgment that this is the most disputed sentence in the New Testament. Through it all, one sentence held the message together: since Christ bore witness through his suffering and was vindicated, we too can bear witness through suffering and trust God to vindicate us.

What was said

Peter wrote to scattered Christians living under Nero, a man who lit his garden parties with burning Christians on poles. The opening question, "Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?", was not naive. Peter knew the answer was Nero and his legions. The point was not that suffering would not come but that even if it did, those who suffer for righteousness are blessed, and they should not be stampeded into going along to get along or quietly dropping their allegiance to Christ to avoid trouble.

The command to "sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts" was given careful weight. The pastor drew on a phrase he has used before: you can say "yes, Lord" or you can say "no," but you cannot say "no, Lord," because if He is Lord, no is not an available answer. Submitting to His authority is how sanctification actually works in daily life, not as a legal standing but as a lived practice.

From that foundation came the call to have a ready defense, an apologia, for the hope within you. The pastor was clear that this is not primarily a call to master creationism arguments or academic apologetics. It is a call to have thought through your own personal testimony of what Jesus has done in your life, so that when someone notices you are still standing and still kind in the middle of hard circumstances, you can tell them why, and do it with gentleness and reverence rather than trying to argue someone into a corner.

The hardest section of the passage, verses 19 and 20, got honest treatment. Luther called it the most obscure passage in the New Testament and admitted he was not certain what Peter meant. The pastor laid out three orthodox interpretations: the descent into hell view, the triumphal proclamation over the spirit world, and the preexistent Christ view. He said he finds the preexistent Christ view simplest, reading the text as saying that in the spirit, Christ was already at work proclaiming through Noah to those who were then disobedient, people who are now in prison. He held that reading with open hands and was plain that good Christians have disagreed on this for nearly two thousand years.

The analogy to Noah then carried the passage toward its clearest point. Eight people were saved. The rest perished not because the boat was too small but because they would not get on it. When Peter said "baptism now saves you," he immediately clarified what he meant: not the removal of dirt from skin, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The water is not the thing. The appeal to God is the thing. Noah's ark and Christian baptism are alike in that both point to a way of salvation that God has made and that people must actually trust.

The passage ends with Christ seated at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers subjected to Him. The pastor pointed out that he is seated because the work is finished. Whatever opposition believers face, those powers are not outside Christ's rule. They may be ignoring Him or persecuting His people, but they are not beyond Him. That is the vindication the whole passage builds toward, and it is the ground on which suffering can be endured without panic or denial.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

The pastor described the United States as representing roughly 5% of history and 5% of the world's population living in relative religious comfort. How does recognizing that comfort shape the way you think about standing up for your faith when it costs something?
Peter tells his readers to always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in them, with gentleness and reverence. When did you last think through your own personal account of why you believe and what Jesus has done in your life? What would you say if someone asked you today?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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0:00 Speaker 1Right. Good morning. How are you this morning? Good. Would you all stand?

0:05 We're going to sing em in from the vestibule out there or the narthex or the foyer, whatever your tradition says. If you'll stand, we'll try to sing em in here. Let's start off with hymn number five zero eight, Love Lifted Me. Scott, would you come on and help us? Here it is.

1:35 Speaker 2Songs. Faithful loving service to to him belongs. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When love lifted me.

2:50 Love lifted When nothing else could help lifted

3:06 Speaker 1me Amen.

3:07 Speaker 2That's a good one. Amen. Let's pause on that thought

3:10 Speaker 1for just a second. I I paused between the second and third verses.

3:14 Speaker 2That is a good one, though.

3:15 Speaker 1That's a good

3:16 Speaker 2one. You know, when you're just sometimes you just you're right down there.

3:19 Speaker 1In the angry waves.

3:20 Speaker 2In the angry waves. And then love love can lift you up out of that.

3:23 Speaker 1Amen. Let's sing Rock of Ages. Hymn number three forty two. And if you wanna look for your part, find it. There's a there is a hymnal in the row in front of you.

3:32 That's right. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. One thing I we had a baptism this morning.

5:16 Olivia Tolleson was baptized. Dan got to baptize his daughter Olivia. That was good. We're going to talk about baptism in the sermon time this morning but the pool is open. If you have believed on Jesus, if you made appeal to God through Christ and you'd like to be baptized, you'd be thinking about it.

5:32 I've got extra T shirts down the hall. Somebody, last week, this is a cool announcement too. So, I mentioned last week, I just said, oh, that'd make a great T shirt. It honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king. Oh, that'd make a great T shirt.

5:49 Somebody delivered on Tuesday a bunch of shirts. So, they're big enough. Trust me, they were made for me but they're a bunch of em. But anyway, that that is something. Don't do the baptism for the free T shirt but if you want to be baptized today, you are welcome to.

6:05 So, we've got a few announcements here. One of em is Monday nights at First Be is happening six, 06:15. It's a soft start. We do meal, music, and a message. We try to get started and we try to get started at six because Awana is happening down the hall.

6:18 It's happening. It starts at six. That is where kids come in and kids matter to God. Kids are here on Monday nights. We've got a youth group on Tuesday nights, but the Awana kids come in and they play and play hard and then they sit and they listen, they study, and they memorize verses and it gets into their mind so that it can reach their hearts.

6:40 Youth group is on Tuesdays at 06:30 to eight. This week, Richard Largie is gonna be teaching the lesson instead of Mike. So, youth group, Tuesday, 06:30 to eight And you can see your bulletin for information about any other Bible studies. Now, somebody texted me earlier in the week. Actually, it was yesterday.

6:57 He texted and said, do y'all have Bible studies? Do you have any do you have a Bible study that's going? And I said, yeah, what are you looking for? That was my response. What are you looking for?

7:05 And he goes, a Bible study? That's why I texted you. Well, I said, well, yes, we do, but we have so many of them. If you're looking for a study of Hebrews, there's one on Wednesday night. If you're looking for that same, you know, Hebrews is also on Monday mornings.

7:19 If you're looking for a marriage class, there's one of those on Wednesday night. If you're, whatever you're looking for, my point was, we have lots of Bible studies going on. Monday night in itself, Sunday morning in itself is a Bible study. So, Carl is finishing up the book of Luke tomorrow night talking about the great commission, right? The resurrection of great commission and so, he's doing that.

7:39 That's a Bible study on Mondays. Yes, we have Bible studies in your booklet, little bulletin in front of you has more information about those and where they are and when they are and all that sort of stuff. So, pay attention to that bulletin. There any other announcements or anything that I forget because it's not on the slide will be in that bulletin. It'll be in there and so prayer request also are in there and it is a great privilege to go before the throne of grace and ask God in prayer to help people, to heal people.

8:11 For ways to serve all of this different stuff that's in your bulletin really really matters. So, if you take that home with you, put it up on your refrigerator I'm trying to remember that. I think that's it. Is there there's not a baptism? Nobody's no takers right now?

8:23 Okay, wait till you hear this sermon. No. I'm just kidding. If you would stand up and greet one another, we will bring you back together with a song. Welcome and I'm glad you're here this morning.

9:16 Speaker 2Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus just to to trust

10:42 Speaker 1Hold on. Hold that thought. Let's sing that again but when we get to grace, my grandmother's name is Grace and every time she always said, oh for grace to trust him more. Would you just insert your name? Personalize this morning, the whole morning.

10:56 Personalize it if you can. Some of the stuff we're gonna talk about is bizarre, but personalize it if you can, okay? Seriously, sing that one more time. Just the chorus.

11:18 Speaker 2Jesus, over Amen.

11:26 Speaker 1I'm sorry, Elizabeth. Yes. Revive us again. Hymn number four thirty four. This is a good old Southern Gospel.

11:36 Revive us again. Four thirty four.

13:27 Speaker 2Amen.

13:32 Speaker 1Y'all Amen. Can have a seat. I'm I am going to invite the frontline team to come forward. Would y'all pray with me? God almighty, you are amazing and you're amazing to me this morning.

13:43 I look around this room and I see people from everywhere. I actually see two sets of people from the same place and you bring us together and you direct our paths, lord. You are omnipotent. God, creator. All of the people that come to see your creation in this place because it is so beautiful and magnificent, lord Which it points to you.

14:06 Those peaks of those mountains point upward to you and lord, I pray that we would recognize that and would be able to articulate that in a way that's gentle and reverent and caring that looks out for others. In Jesus name, lord, I pray that you would use this offering this morning. These funds that go into these plates that you would multiply them to do your kingdom's work. That it would start right here in Jackson and that people would come to know you through the witness of the people of this of your church, capital C Church, all of the churches here but I pray that you would use this little manifestation, this local body to bless the other churches in the area, to bless people that don't know you in this area, and to bless all the way to the uttermost parts, the ends of the earth. Lord, would you do your work and your way through us, your people.

14:53 We we put this in your hands, lord. We ask you to multiply and bless it so that others might come to know you and lord that they in turn would make you known. In Jesus name, may you be glorified. Amen.

15:13 Speaker 2What a joy to be able here to worship God through music. Amen? Amen.

18:59 Speaker 1Amen. Alright. Alright. So here we are gathered together this morning. We've got we are in the midst of a study of the New Testament and we've been going forward and we're going in order.

19:26 One of the things that going in order helps with is when I hit a difficult passage, I just have to do it instead of skip it. Right? Because if you're preaching topically, you don't ever get to the hard stuff because you can skip it. Really, unless the topic is hard stuff. The topic is hard stuff today, but this is in order.

19:45 We are in first Peter chapter three verses 13 through 22. It's the latter half of chapter three. Really, if you look at paragraphs, I think it bridges over into the next, but I am gonna stop at verse 22. I could go on, but first Peter three thirteen through 22. Now, Peter is writing to the far flung reaches of the Roman Empire and he's he's listed in one one who he's sending this letter to.

20:09 He's sending to the Christians who are surrounded by the Roman Empire. Now, this passage today is going to be about suffering and so, I'm going to share this this is a pastor guy. Steven Cole is a pastor and I was reading what he wrote about it and I thought he nailed this in this sentence. This is this sum up these two paragraphs that we're about to look at. Since Christ bore witness through his suffering, did he do that?

20:37 Christ bore witness through his suffering, right? And he was vindicated. We too can bear witness through sloughing and trust God to vindicate us. I think that that nails it exactly. Christ suffered and it says it in the text.

20:50 He doesn't have anything in this sentence that's not in the text. Since Christ bore witness through his suffering and was vindicated, we too can bear witness through suffering and trust God to vindicate us. Keep that in mind because that's the overarching point of this passage. It's in one sentence and I'll come back to it from time to time. I probably should have put the slide up there a couple extra times.

21:08 I discovered that in the first service but think about that. Since Christ bore witness through his suffering and was vindicated, we too can bear witness through suffering and trust God to vindicate us. It starts off like this. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? Think about the time that he wrote this.

21:26 Nero was the in charge of the Roman Empire and in Rome where Peter was this time, when he wrote this letter to those far flung reaches, he knew what persecution was like because at the time that he wrote it, Nero was lighting his garden with burning Christians. He would as gross as it is, he would impale them and douse them, have this done by the soldiers. He would impale them and douse them and hang them up on the walls to light the streets and his garden parties. This is an awful thing to think about. And he's talking pragmatically right here.

22:00 Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for that which is good? Now he's talking about good as God sees it. Also, it's hard for us to even imagine that. Most of us in the room have not lived under persecution. You've heard about it.

22:15 You've prayed for people who are under persecution, but most of us have not had to go through much persecution ourselves. And this is not the sermon where the pastor stands up and he says, all right, if you're not suffering for Jesus, then you're not a Christian. You really ought to question your salvation. I think that if we look at the population of The US and the time period in which we have been in existence, The US as far as historically goes, we have about three hundred years, right, of history here, and if you look back at all recorded history, pretty much everybody agrees. Whether you agree on creation or not, most everybody agrees that history is we have about six thousand years of recorded history.

22:57 So there's six thousand years of recorded history, and we have about three hundred years of The US Of A in some form, you know, 200 and something really, but this idea was leaving and breaking apart and letting the American idea work that people should be allowed to worship freely, that people should be allowed to peaceably assemble. These things were American ideas. We have we'll we'll go 300. It's not quite three hundred. We'll go three hundred years.

23:24 So three hundred years in the space of 6,000 all recorded history, that's 5% of history has been relatively comfortable, at least religious freedom wise, for those of us who are here. Now I'm looking around the room and I see people who have lived under monarchies in The Middle East and know that whatever the guy who's in charge, Sheikh, Emir, whatever he is, he gets to say what goes. It's Rex Lex. King is law, not law is king. And here, law is king.

23:53 That's what we have decided, right? So we've got 5% of all history that has been comfortable. If you think about this too, we have about 300,000,000 people in The US. Now my math is not great all the time. Bigger the number, the worse it gets.

24:10 Let's average, it's probably more than 6,000,000,000, but let's say there are 6,000,000,000 people on earth and we have 300,000,000 here in The US. What percentage are we of the population? We're about 5%. So 5% of history and 5% of population, and I know it's more, a billionth more. It's much easier to do the math, though.

24:30 It's more than that. But we're less than 5% of the people in the world, and we're relatively comfortable. Would you agree we're relatively comfortable? So some of y'all have lived under communism, and you remember what it was like, and you remember when it fell. Ask Barry that story sometime, where he was when he heard that Ceausescu had fallen.

24:53 Peter was under Nero and he starts out this way. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? Well, the actual answer is, well, Nero or any of his minions, the legions, they can do whatever they want. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you do, even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you're blessed.

25:13 Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. Oh, wait a second. This is a theme that Peter carries throughout. Christ's suffering, he'll bring up in a minute but he's talking about, no, you are suffering and he's writing a letter to say, I know you're suffering. I know that you're going through it.

25:29 I know that it's hard but he's also saying, don't be tempted to just go along to get along. Does that make sense? Don't be tempted to just go along to get along to just, oh yeah, just worship the emperor but don't mean it. Are you with me? Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

25:51 Blessed are what? The poor in spirit, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Remember the beatitudes, blessed are you. It's a completely backwards way of looking at things. It's not looking out for number one.

26:07 It's looking out for others and looking especially unto God to look out for others and do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. When I think of this, I go even though it's relatively comfortable. It's not completely comfortable, is it? To be a Christian in Jackson, I'm from Georgia.

26:31 It is the cultural norm for people to go to church. It's a cultural norm. Even if they don't believe in Jesus, it's hard to tell because everybody kinda acts the same and they agree that, yeah, it's good if you go to church. If you wanna get elected to office, you gotta do that. If you want to sell cars, you gotta do that.

26:46 If you want to do whatever it is that you do, you gotta do that. Well, that's not the way it is in Jackson, right? There's no cultural Christianity here that I feel anyway. It's there's biblical Christians stand out because different and what they believe, what they're willing to go for, what they're willing to do and and so it was at this time. It was the norm for the emperor to be considered a god and for people to bow to his image and to make sacrifices to it and anytime there was a plague or anytime that there was a famine, they would blame the Christians.

27:23 There was a fire in Rome. They blame the Christians because they weren't. They weren't bowing to the emperor and they weren't doing homage to the Roman gods. Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. He said, even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

27:43 Do not fear their intimidation. Do not be troubled. Listen to the words of Jesus. Now, Peter sounds a lot like Jesus right here. He'd walked with him for three years, ministered beside him, had denied him but had been restored and he's a humbled man who understands what suffering is about.

28:01 Jesus says, therefore, do not fear them for there's nothing concealed that will not be revealed and there's nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak out in the light and what you hear whispered in your ear, there's a still small voice, the Holy Spirit, the comforter will come, and he will direct. What I tell you in the darkness, you speak out out in light and what you hear whispered in your ear, you proclaim that upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. He's saying, fear God.

28:38 Don't fear men. You remember when John and Peter were in the book of Acts in about the third, fourth chapter of Acts, they went and they healed this guy and then they were told, don't do it again. They were beaten severely. They're put in prison and then, when they let him go, they said, don't ever speak in this name again and Peter's answer to that was, who are we gonna fear? God or man?

28:58 Well, we're gonna fear God. You can't tell us that and expect us to listen because we are listening to God. What I tell you in the dark and speak in the light, what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim it upon the housetops. Don't fear those who are able to kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell are not two sparrows sold for a cent and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father knowing it But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. He knows us very well.

29:30 He knit us together in our mother's womb. We're created in his image, and he knows us very, very well. So do not fear. You're more valuable than many sparrows. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my father who's in heaven.

29:48 He's saying, do the right thing. Give a reason for what you believe. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I'll also confess him before my father who's in heaven but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my father who's in heaven. Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled but sanctify. Sanctify means to set apart.

30:12 Set apart Christ as lord in your hearts. Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled with what they say but instead set apart or sanctify Christ as lord in your hearts. Now, y'all, we talk about sanctification a lot in church. You are saved. God removes you from the kingdom of darkness and places you by his decree and by his love and by Jesus's sacrifice into the kingdom of light.

30:37 But our in our actual practice, we talk about our sanctification and we walk that sanctification out by submitting our will to his. And then he sanctifies. That means he sets us apart for holy service. Are you with me? Everybody with me.

30:54 Sanctify Christ as lord in your hearts and I'm going to use something. I think it's Robertson McQuick and I've said it a thousand times. You can say either no or yes, lord. You cannot say no, lord because lord means he is your authority and you can say when he whispers in your ear what he would have you do, you can say, yes, lord or you can say no but you cannot say no, lord. Sanctify Christ as lord in your hearts and listen to him and fear him, revere him instead of men.

31:27 Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that's in you, yet with gentleness and with reverence. So the always being ready to make a defense, explanation, make an argument, but in the sense of a legal argument, not in the sense of, Yes, you are. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. No, I'm not.

31:47 Not a yang yang back and forth, okay? Because it says with gentleness and with reverence. It's making an impassioned plea for someone a defense. Apologia actually is the word. A defense, a verbal defense, particularly testimony in a law court case where someone is giving testimony to what they know, what they witnessed, and defend that, a verbal defense.

32:16 It is from two Greek words, apo and logos. It is from apa and then logos, intelligent reasoning or content word from something that actually is true properly. It is a well reasoned reply, a thought out response that adequately addresses the issue that is raised, a defense. So always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you. Now, I have taken this in the past to be like, oh, I need to read that Ravi Zacharias book, or I need to read that that book by the guy that talks about, yeah, about the flood.

32:50 Answers in Genesis, I have to I have to be able to defend a six day creation. Well, I I would I like that and I'm I'm good with that. I'm a I'm a young Earth guy. But I don't think that's what this verse is talking about. He's saying, be ready to make a defense of what you believe to anyone who should ask you for the hope that is within you, to give an account for the hope that is in you.

33:14 So, it is a personal testimony to what Jesus has done in your life. Have you thought about that lately? Have you thought about your own apologia, your own defense? Why is it that you believe in Jesus? Why is it that you're able to remain and be okay and walking forward?

33:32 I know you've been suffering. I know you've been going through hard stuff and yet you're still able to get up and you're still able to be kind, and you're still able to get through life and encourage people who are hurting. Are you with me? Has anybody come up to you lately and ask that? Why is it that you are the way that you are?

33:53 Be ready. Even if it is just to say and this is my favorite testimony of all time. For one thing, it's short. Jesus, man. Jesus, I don't know why it is that it is.

34:06 I just know that it is. I don't know how he did what he did. I just know that he did what he did and I have a certain peace that passes understanding that I did not have. I found what my soul was longing for and if you haven't done it lately or you hadn't thought about it lately, take a take a sheet of paper, half a sheet of paper, keep it short, and just go, I believe because he gives me a reason to get up. His mercies are new every morning.

34:30 I don't suffer the condemnation that I used to feel because I know that he says, if you confess your sins, I'm faithful and just to be forgiven your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness and that's available through the blood of Jesus and he he stood up for me in a place I couldn't stand. I could not make a defense before God for any of my sins but Christ had a perfect record which he willingly sacrificially gave up on my behalf and I plead nothing but the cross and that's why I love him. Are you with me still? Okay. This is not the hard part.

35:08 This is the easy part. My goodness. Make a defense but do so with gentleness and reverence. Don't just try to argue somebody down into a corner. That it may be that you are rhetorically or rhetorically or intellectually gifted and you are able to argue someone down and argue them into a corner but if you do that and you drive a wedge between them and almighty God, you have lost and they have lost.

35:31 So, just consider that people who do not yet know Christ still are created in the image of God. They're image bearers and they are worth pursuing. God's love is pursuing them and if if you love God, you will love these people and go for it with gentleness and reverence. And keep a good conscience. Keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, the keeping a good conscience.

35:58 So, Christ, when he separates us and takes us from the kingdom of darkness and places us into the kingdom of light positionally, he cleanses us but that first John one nine is very very important. Bob's favorite verse, right? Favorite verse is that if you're confessing your sins, he's faithful and just to be forgiven that and he'll cleanse you of all unrighteousness. He will work on that. That's the mechanism by which God has given us to keep a good conscience.

36:24 It also, if you go to him and you say, lord, I've done it again. I've sinned again. Will you forgive me? He instantly does. He throws it in the sea of forgiveness.

36:32 He remembers it no more. And you have unburdened yourself of the sin but you also know that that gracious God is saying, go and sin no more and he gives you the power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you if you will just submit and he will walk it out in your life. He'll walk it out. The sanctification. Set him apart as lord and he will set you apart to be used by him.

36:58 Keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered. I know I I mentioned at the beginning, this is not the one where I just try to shame you into doing the right thing. I can't shame you into doing the right thing. I cannot do that. It's not within my power to do that But you can keep a good conscience by going to people that you sin against and saying, I'm so sorry that I did that.

37:22 We might not actually wanna stand up for Christ because we feel like we're not very good witnesses because of the way we live, right? We might go, that person saw me do this so I'm not going to slander the name of Christ by pretending to be a Christian even though I am a Christian. I'm not going to do it because I don't want them to think I'm a hypocrite. We are all hypocrites, okay? We are all sinners.

37:43 When you graciously understand that and go, you know what? I said something about you that was harmful and hateful and mean and I I have no excuse. I'm so sorry. It breaks my heart. I'm grieving it.

37:58 Could you ever forgive me? Will you forgive me? I've asked God to forgive me. Will you forgive me? And they are able at that point to say yes or to hold it but it's on them at that point.

38:08 Keep a good conscience. If you have something against your brother and you're coming to the altar and you realize that it says, go and make it right. Go and make it right. Your personal relationships, go and make em right. Keep a good conscience.

38:19 So that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. Those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. Keep a good conscience. Give an account for the hope that's in you yet with gentleness and reverence, reverence, and keep a good conscience. You can hold on to that by keeping short accounts with God and with other people.

38:49 Keep a good conscience. So that in the thing in which you are slandered for standing up and doing what's right, those who revile your good behavior in Christ and put shame. Have you all can you think of an example in Jackson? I think I can. Can you think of an example in Jackson where somebody stands up to do what's right, Let's say to help out the kids in the schools and they want to do exactly what is right and they stand up and say, this is a design that God has made and it's a good design and it's a good reason and then they just get blasted for it and literally run out of town.

39:22 It happens. It still happens. Even in our relatively comfortable society. If you stand up, stand up for Jesus, you will receive opposition. For it is better if God should will it so that you should suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

39:41 Now, if I read this correctly, it is better that you suffer for doing right than it is for doing wrong. It looks like you're going to suffer either way. You're either going to suffer before men or you're going to suffer before God. Does that make sense? Your witness is going to suffer or Yeah.

40:02 Yeah, it's tough. It is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is wrong. If you just are going along to get along with our society or that society at that time, then, what's going to suffer? You're going to be denying Christ. You're going to end up denying Christ and his absolute authority and divinity, right?

40:25 It's better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just, for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God. Oh my goodness. Listen to this. This is the gospel right here.

40:38 For Christ also suffered, some texts say, suffered for sins and I think that's in, it's fitting with this. It's better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right. For Christ also suffered for sins. He died for sins once for all. The just for the unjust sounds kind of like Hebrews right there, doesn't it?

40:58 He is the ultimate sacrifice, the last and final one. Christ also died for sins. Once for all, the just, he had no sin that he was perfectly righteous. For the unjust, none of us are perfectly righteous. All of us have sinned by nature and by choice.

41:16 So that he might bring us to God. Luke 16 says, there is a great chasm fixed between hell and heaven. There's a great chasm fixed and no one shall pass except through Christ. That's the only way so that he might bring us to God and it has to be while we can submit to him. Christ also died for sins once for all the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God.

41:42 Having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. What a picture baptism is of that where having been put to death, buried with Christ, and raised to walk in newness of life. Having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. So, this passage is about Christ suffering. Remember Steven Cole's little thing, Christ suffered but he was vindicated and because he was, we too can stand up under suffering.

42:09 I'm going to do an ellipsis right there through the next few verses, nineteen, twenty, 21, and I'm going to catch 21 at the very tail end. I will come back to it. I promise you, I'll come back to it. I'm not skipping it for the day. I'm just skipping it for right now.

42:21 Because I want you to see the pattern here. The pattern, Jesus Christ, this is 22. Who is at the right hand of God having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. So, it goes from Christ died for sins, just for the unjust. To Christ, at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him to Christ's vindication.

42:49 He's vindicated, right? He wins. He comes out of it. It reminds me of the Philippians two passage where Paul says, Christ Jesus, who being in very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but he made himself a servant. He took on the nature of a servant and he followed in obedience unto death even death on a cross.

43:16 But at that, God raised him up and he gave him the name that's higher than any other name. So there is suffering and then redemptive suffering leads to vindication. So we see it as a pattern in first Peter that unjust earthly suffering leads to or is followed by divine vindication and exaltation. Do you see that? Have you seen it in what we've already studied?

43:39 You're gonna see it for a couple more sermons, least probably three before we get out of one Peter. Unjust earthly suffering is followed by divine vindication and exaltation. Just earthly suffering is just doing the crime and doing the time, okay? There are consequences to actions. And if you do something that's wrong, he'll say in a couple, in next chapter he'll say, don't don't be found wrong for being a murderer or an evildoer or a meddler, but if you suffer unjustly, that will be followed by divine vindication and exaltation.

44:11 So the next part, this is the ellipsis part, nineteen twenty and part 21. 19 is just nine Greek words. It's nine Greek words and that's all it is. And I've got a couple of Greek students in here and they're looking and going, how would this go? I'll save you the time.

44:27 There it is. In which also he, and it is pronouns and it is all kinds of grammatical stuff in here. In which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits, now in prison, now it's drawn from somewhere else, but in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. Edmund Hebert, the great commentator, and I like him. I always like his work, and this is what he said about this little passage.

44:56 Each of the nine words in the original has been differently understood. That is the understatement of understatements. This has been something that for the history of the church, even back to the one hundreds, people were arguing over what Peter meant. Now, I know that I have used illustrations in the past that did not land, and I thought they were gonna go so well, but they just didn't. I used one this morning that was like

45:22 Speaker 2that, as a matter of fact.

45:24 Speaker 1I'm gonna try it again in a minute. But anyway, each of the nine words in the original is misunderstood. Peter is using this analogy. Now our theme is Christ's suffering was followed by his vindication, and I think that you're gonna see that this is how these work. But each of the nine words in the original is misunderstood.

45:43 What did Luther have to say? Now Luther was not short of opinions. My goodness. He nailed it down on a lot of things, not just the Wittendorburg, the door at Wittenberg. He really nailed it down and he says, this is a wonderful text.

45:56 This is and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament. And I would agree with him. This is the most obscure, weirdest text in the New Testament. Such that, that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means. When you get Luther to admit that he doesn't know what he's talking about, that's amazing.

46:15 Scott McKnight, he's a modern interpreter. I I have a book that he wrote in the late nineties, early two thousands and he says, it is clearly unclear. So, I'm going to attempt to to say what this means in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. I'm gonna attempt it because I I'm holding this with great humility. I I'm not certain of this and I don't think anybody is.

46:44 It's a it is definitely an illustration that I don't think landed very well. In which also he went, made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. You have to think about what this is following because in which makes a difference in the spirit. So, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in the spirit in which he also went. So, Christ went somewhere in the spirit and he made proclamation.

47:11 That is the word for preach or proclaim. Usually, it's used to proclaim the word of God. He made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. So I I hesitated there because the spirits are now in prison. Okay?

47:25 Christ went and made a proclamation in the spirit to the spirits that are now in prison. And then it goes on to say, who once were disobedient? But he has a specific time frame here. When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through the water. In which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.

47:53 Who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Okay, so that's the confusing passage right there. These are three possible Christian interpretations. And different denominations have centered on these in the past. And I know that in this room, we have quite a few different denominations represented.

48:17 And we have a lot of folks from Protestant background, some from Catholic background. We have some who are Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox background. So, in the history of Christianity and Orthodox thought, these three are the main types of interpretations. One of them is the descent into hell. Do you remember any of y'all who went through a liturgical church, the apostles creed says and he descended into hell.

48:40 There is a there is a view, that's it, the descent into hell view is that Christ after dying on the cross but before being resurrected, his spirit descended into hell and he purged or made free somebody, okay? That's the descent into hell and I I hear people, professors of mine, I could hear em. We'd be reciting the apostle creed and they'd go, when they got to descended into hell. The next view is the preexistent Christ view. Actually, one of the folks who's usually here has written a preexistent Christ book.

49:16 He's written about Yahweh being the preexistent Christ in the past. Preexistent Christ view, I'll come back and try to explain. That's the one that I think is the simplest term. Now, I'm going to try this one more time, Diane. So, if you found someone who had been trampled and on their chest, they had a U shaped print right there, I'll give you a hint.

49:41 It's a hoof print. Alright? In most cases, the majority of the time, what happened to that person? Were they trampled by a zebra? Probably not.

49:56 There just aren't that many zebras. We happen to have in the room a guy who has a zebra farm. This doesn't work for him. On his farm, it would be more likely to be trampled by a zebra but normally, it's it's a horse, right? So, I'm looking at this.

50:10 I'm trying to find the the simplest explanation. I'm taking the theme of the whole passage and I think since he mentioned Noah and the spirit of Christ going and proclaiming to people who are now in prison, I think that that's what it is. I'll come back and explain that a little further when we go further and then there's the triumphal proclamation over the spirit worldview and I had somebody come forward and give me a good illustration about this one too. He says, if there are two kings, there's a good king and a bad king and they're having a battle and they're battle, battle, battle, battle, battle and then, good king is victorious. He is the victor.

50:49 Now, the other king and everyone who fought for him is the loser of the battle, and the good king and everyone who fought for him, they are victorious and they go on. Does that make sense? So, the the triumphal proclamation over the spirit world is saying that in his death between death and resurrection, he proclaimed to everyone that he had the power, that he had won, that God had won through his sacrificial death, and that the bad king, Satan, and all of his demons and minions and people that followed after him had lost. That to me is reasonable and I think it kind of makes sense. It seems a little bit nanny nanny boo boo for Jesus to me, but it's still a possibility and it's still an orthodox Christian view.

51:48 The preexistent Christ view. I will say this, there is one impossible anti Christian position that he proclaimed to the spirits now in prison that it's possible to convert after death. And that is not the New Testament. That is nothing like the New Testament. Hebrews points to it over and over.

52:08 It's appointed once for a man to die and then the judgment. It's not that you are going to get a chance afterward. Did you really mean that you didn't love Jesus now that you know what hell's like? Postmortem conversion is not New Testament. It is not Old Testament.

52:23 It is not Bible. It is in a lot of different cults though. Promoting postmortem conversion or baptism for the dead. In our area, that's something that's frequently practiced where they would baptize someone for the dead in order to move their soul along in the afterlife and that's just not New Testament. It's not good.

52:45 Post mortem conversion. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Oh gracious. Peter, you went from a bad illustration that's really hard to understand to saying something that baptism saves you. Do y'all believe that?

52:56 Does baptism save you? Well, he just said baptism saves you. Corresponding to that, he just told a story about Noah, right? Told a story about Noah and the ark. Corresponding that baptism now saves you.

53:08 Not the removal of dirt from the flesh. He realized that, wait, no, I'm not talking about just dipping yourself in the pool or dipping yourself in a stream. It's not that. It is this, an appeal to God for a good conscience. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there's one mediator.

53:23 It's only one mediator and that's the man Jesus Christ. Are you keeping up with me? Am I going too fast? Is there too much this morning? It's heavy And the theological ramifications for just getting something a little bit wrong are mighty bad.

53:39 Heresy thrives when there's incomplete understanding and obscure text, okay? Corresponding to that baptism now saves you and not water baptism, the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for the good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I got one more thing to say about the descended into hell. So, when the thief was on the cross, he comes up a lot, right? Because he wasn't baptized.

54:05 He didn't go through any classes. He didn't kind of get confirmed. He didn't do Sunday school. He didn't go to Awana. He didn't memorize tons of all of his verses, right?

54:15 The thief on the cross turns to Jesus after he had been reviling him and he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom and he turned and he put his trust in Jesus and Jesus said, today, you'll be with me where? Yeah. Was it today you'll be with me in hell while I'm going to? Alright. Today, you'll be with me in paradise.

54:34 Corresponding to that. Baptism now says, you're not the removal of dirt from flesh but appeal to God for good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, Peter's definition of baptism is not that. It is this. Think about that.

54:46 Baptism, the word actually means to change completely by a dipping really. Baptizo, when you're dying fabric. So, if you have white fabric and you dye it purple when you bring it back up, it's purple. It's purple fabric. Take it to blue spruce, take it to wherever you want to.

55:04 It's purple fabric. It has completely changed, alright? An appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ will change you. You're baptized in. There's one body, one spirit, one baptism.

55:18 Corresponding to that, skip ahead, the now is what I had in there. Baptism now. It's corresponding to that. Now, so can I go back like to this part right here? So, in which he also went and made proclamation of spirits now in prison.

55:36 So, I'm coming back to the preexistent Christ view. Do you believe that God goes before us and he comes alongside us and he goes in after us. Do you believe that? You trust the Holy Spirit does that? Peter calls the spirit of Christ.

55:48 Instead of saying Holy Spirit throughout, sometimes he says spirit of Christ and it is Christ's spirit when he says what whispers in your ear. Jesus said that, right? Do that. Shout it from the housetops. When which he, Christ, in the spirit, went and he made proclamation.

56:08 Who did he make proclamation to? Think about those who were once disobedient. When the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. Now, he didn't mention everybody, not the days of Malachi, not the days of Maccabees, not the days of, you know, Hubert Humphrey. I don't know.

56:26 He mentions particularly one time period. He says, who were once disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. What was Noah doing? During the construction of the ark, he was building an ark. He was building an enormous boat in a place where it had never rained.

56:46 Listening to a god that he could not see and he was surrounded by people who are making fun of him the whole time. His family was like, come on, dad. Really? They're making fun of me. One hundred and twenty years of building this ark.

57:04 You think he suffered at all for that? Yeah. So, how about those souls who are disobedient? There was one guy, Noah, who was the head of household and his family, just eight people total were obedient to God and then everybody else was disobedient. Those who were once disobedient when the patience of God kept on waiting and while the patience of God kept waiting, what was Christ in spirit doing?

57:30 He was proclaiming through Noah. Fear the wrath to come and repent, change, and trust God and you will be saved. When did they think that was a good idea? When the water got about this deep? Those who once were disobedient, the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of ark in which a few, a few, that is only eight persons, they were brought safely through the water because that was the way that God had made.

58:00 And if it if others had trusted him, there would have been more, but there weren't. So in our society today, don't ever judge who's right and who's wrong by how many people are on their side. That makes sense. There were tons of people that were disobedient and lost. So where was I?

58:23 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you and that appeal to God for a good conscience. All he's asking nowadays, there is a wrath to come just like there was a wrath to come in Noah's days. God promised it wouldn't be by flood or water again but there is a judgment coming. It's on its way. Christ has made a way that we'd be moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

58:45 He has made that way in his own suffering, the just for the unjust. He's made a way for it to happen and all that we have to do is make an appeal to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It will be accepted and we will be saved in a similar way. He's making an analogy to Noah and then, trust in him. Jesus Christ who is at the right hand of God.

59:07 About that. Having gone into heaven. Luke says it this way, Luke 24, very end of Luke. He says, and he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them and while he was blessing them, he parted from them and he was carried up into heaven. Mark says it this way, so then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and he sat down at the right hand of God and they went out and they preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them whispering in their ear, right?

59:40 Spirit of Christ. The proclamation that is coming through you as children of God, obeying the word of God is going through you and you will suffer just like Noah did and just like Christ did if you're true to God's word, you'll suffer for that but that's the way that he saves. That's the way that he saves. People hearing the word and being obedient and trusting the word. They went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them, confirmed the words by signs that followed.

1:00:12 Jesus Christ, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. Now, the suffering that we're going through here this morning, I I the sovereignty of God, we usually hear it in a sovereignty of God versus the free will of man and where is it? Both of those things are true but the sovereignty of God is comforting in this place right here that Jesus Christ after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him, he is seated at the right hand of God. Why is he sitting down? Because his work is done.

1:00:41 He's done it. He's finished. It is finished. He did it on the cross. He made the way.

1:00:46 Oh, what was the song? First song we sang this morning. Not that one. Love lifted me. Thank you, Blake.

1:01:04 Not gonna find it. Be sin. It's rock of ages. Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure.

1:01:12 It's about moving us completely. You're either lost or you're found, but and make me pure. Allow me the grace that I'd able to walk it out. Oh, for grace to know you, to love you, to serve you more. Jesus Christ, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities of powers have been subjected to him.

1:01:35 So whatever it is that we're going through right now, Christ is victor. Christ has won the battle, and there's nothing, no angels, no principalities, no powers, no rulers, no authorities that are not in place under God's rule, under Christ's rule. Are they ignoring him? Yes, some of them are. Are they persecuting you?

1:01:59 Yes, some of them are. But the suffering and vindication theme here is he's saying, you can go through this suffering and it will have redemptive value for other people. It'll have some value for you just in your trust of God but the suffering will be vindicated. All of those others have been subjected to him. Anybody have their Bible out?

1:02:24 You have your Bible out? Would you read four one? The verse four one, the next verse. If you hold it up from right there, can probably read it from here. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh.

1:02:55 Arm yourselves likewise, suffering in the flesh. With the same mind. Same mind to he that has suffered in the flesh. Everybody's turning their Bibles now. Yeah, right.

1:03:15 Yeah. Thank you very much. So, 41. Sorry. Yep.

1:03:22 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. This is a call to holiness in the midst of suffering. Does that make sense? The whole thing, suffering and vindication but he's saying, just go with it. It is the plan of God that we would on this side suffer.

1:03:43 Are you with me? Yeah. It's tough, but it's real. That's the heaviness of the of the subject and it'll come up in two or three other sermons in different ways. Everybody feel okay?

1:03:56 Okay. With the text, are you confused about the whole Noah thing? Still, yes. The harrowing of hell, the descending to hell, the the triumphal proclamation, all of those are orthodox. His point is not though that it's possible afterwards to change your mind When the water got this deep and got this deep for those people that perished, there's a wrath to come and Peter is speaking to people who are already on the boat and he's saying, this vindication is coming.

1:04:27 Alright. Thank you, Blake. You're ahead of me. That's great. So, I'm going to read Stephen Cole's little blurb again.

1:04:38 Since Christ bore witness through his suffering and he was vindicated, we too can bear witness through suffering and trust God to vindicate us. It does not matter what anybody else around you is doing or urging you to do. You have to just keep on trusting. Keep on entrusting yourself to God. And your suffering will be vindicated eventually.

1:05:01 Are you with me? Okay. Alright. Would you stand with me then? And thank you for the use of your bottle.

1:05:09 Appreciate it. Thank you, Bob. No, that's fine. The the the words up here are very helpful. We're going to sing one now that is where he leads me, I will follow.

1:05:23 And I want you to think about this because I've talked about suffering now for forty minutes. It might be through suffering. Honestly, it might be to death. We've got folks who are going back as missionaries who are leaving from this relative comfort and going. I want you to think about it as you sing and go, you know what?

1:05:40 You're worth it lord and I trust in your event eventual vindication. Scott, would you come on up? I can hear my savior calling.

1:07:47 Speaker 2He will give me grace and glory he will give me grace and glory

1:08:40 Speaker 1Amen. That's the perfect song. That's exactly it right there. Where he leads me and it might be that it's right here in this relatively comfortable place but it's only relatively comfortable to to make a stand for Christ can be very very uncomfortable. Peter himself denied Christ.

1:08:57 Do you remember it? Three times. The last time with the curse. Yet, he was still restored. Jesus still can use you.

1:09:06 If you feel like you've ruined your own witness and you don't have a good conscience, go to him and confess and he'll give you a good conscience. I can hear him calling. I can hear him calling. Can I hear him calling? He's saying, take up your instrument of torture and death and follow me.

1:09:23 I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him through the judgment. I'll go with him all the way. He'll give me grace and glory. It's exactly what we've talked about.

1:09:31 Both his suffering and his vindication. We are following after an example. So, I have a benediction here for you this morning. It's based on Philippians two twelve and thirteen. So, as you leave this place, remember that the spirit of God, I can say the spirit of Christ is already at work in you.

1:09:50 The spirit of Christ is already at work within you and it's given you both the desire and the strength when he said, listen to that whispering, that still small voice in your ears. The spirit of Christ that is speaking to you. He's given you both the desire and the strength, the same strength that rose Jesus from the dead. Strength to do what pleased him. So, go from here with joy, to love and serve God and one another and may the blessing of God, the love of Jesus Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit be among you and within you.

1:10:19 Amen. Amen.

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Baptism Fear Of Man Noah'S Ark Persecution Personal Testimony Suffering For Faith

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