1 Peter 3:13-22
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Suffering is normal and Jesus is Good
Suffering is normal and Jesus is Good
1 Peter 3:13-17 “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
1 Peter 3:18-22 “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, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
Suffering is normal
Peter says who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
The answer is no one!
But the history of martyers proves that the enemies of the gospel do harm faithful disciples of Jesus.
15 years after this is written Nero is persicuting Christians left and right.
It’s so bad that he is soaking Cristians in tar and using them as torches to light his gardens.
Even if Christians are harmed . we have something that people can’t take away that’s eternity with Jesus.
generally Those who follow a path of righteousness are not harmed. The very Good that they do is a protection from harm.
The worst that someone can do is injure the body but they cannot do anything to damage the soul
During World War II a Christian boy of twelve refused to join a certian movement in Eroupe.
They said to him Don’t you know That we have the power to kill you?
The boy replied don’t you know that I have the power to die for Christ.
Do you have the conviction that because of Christ no one is able to harm you?
We are free to live lives of beauty and boldness because of this truth.
Phil 1:20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
I have been on both sides of right and wrong.
I have been Zealous for what is wrong and i’m going to tell you it never worked out for me. wrong always found me out and brought trouble with it.
I now try to be zealous for what is Good and I have found that I have had less trouble in my life living for what is Good. Even when trouble comes my way it does not have a leg to stand on.
Even if you suffer your still blessed
1 peter 3:14 “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,”
Suffering Dosent change what Jesus has done for you.
Suffering doesn’t Change that we are blessed by God
Suffering magnifys Christ that lives in me.
Suffering opens the oppertunity for us to share the Christ that lives in us!
Through the suffering I have faced in my life God has opened the door for me to share Christ
1 Peter 3:15-16 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
Do they have a reason to ask?
In the way that you live your life do people see Christ?
Not in the words you speak, or because you go to church but in the way you live and conduct your life?
share story of Nikki
Peter says in our hearts honor Christ as holy.
It means we count Jesus Lordship and his authority over all things as more powerful than the fearful things we face.
When we live out our faith there will be times that the beauty of how we live our lives will draw people to it or it will bring slander because we don’t partake in there sinful actions.
It’s so important that we store up the word in our hearts, That we are memorizing scripture.
Psalms 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Jesus is on the thrown of our hearts .
Our response should be out of the Good that is in our life and that Good is Jesus
we have talked about how we are to live under the authority of unbelivers and unjust authority for 4 weeks.
This is what Peter is saying we are to be the best citizens, the best workers, the best wife, the best husband, the best person we can be because Christ sits on the throne of our hearts. to live out lives if beauty for the glory of God.
When we are reviled for our Good behavior they are put to shame because of the beauty of Christ that lives in us
Peter says this in verse 17
1 Peter 3:17 “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
Suffering is normal and Jesus is good
Read 18 through 22
1 Peter 3:18-22 “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, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
One reason Jesus is good is
Jesus's path to glory is through suffering
It's not a life of ease and comfort To glory
It was the suffering of Jesus that broke the back of sin for all time
The coming of Jesus Christ the only perfect one
The only Righteous one the only one not bent by sin
The Perfect one
He goes to the cross and he absorbs God’s wrath Towards your sin and mind and anyone else Who would believe upon the name of Jesus And he hands to you his righteousness
When God sees you. he sees the righteousness of Christ is why he delights in you And rejoices in you and celebrate you. if you have put your face in his saving work
Jesus hasn't come with the new law
He hasn't come with the new set of rules
John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
He has came to save us from Sin and death
I don't know where I'd be if he didn't get me
I know what's in my blood line
I know what happens to us if God doesn't intervene
My wife my kids the relationships I have
Like king David he lifted me out of the muck and the mire and he set my feet on a rock
I've had all kinds of things in my life trauma, abuse, addiction, burned 70% of my body
Listen and I am standing here to tell you that he is good
If he did nothing else in my life but save me he is good
Look with me at verses 19 and 20 we're about to get into some weird scripture
1 Peter 3:19-20 “in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.”
What hes showing us in 19 and 20 with the Noah narrative is He is hearkening back to when sin ravaged the Earth and yet God's still saved
So this is a reference back to Genesis 6
The Bible tells us right before the flood Fallen angels looked at the women of the Earth and found them beautiful And cohabitated with them and produced offspring
Some think that the giants in the land were the offspring of the women and the fallen angels
Read Jude 1:6 “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—”
Those angels have pushed past the boundary and the Lord has put them in prison until the great And glorious day
That's not the end of all things. That's not the end of all things In revelation
It's the death and resurrection of Jesus
There are a lot of thoughts about this passage
The Greek word for Spirit here Is little s spirits. in the New Testament it always speaks of angels it never speaks to the souls of men and women
The spirits that he goes to are in prison and that word prison Has never been applied to what men and women face after death
But is used in revelation 18 to speak of satan being imprisoned
This is Jesus's victory over powers and principalities
Where Jesus shows up and declares victory
The spirits at their best tried to destroy the world But victory belongs to Jesus
Why is Jesus good because he has victory over sin and death
Oh death where's thy sting or Grave where’s thy victory
Jesus is good
He has saved us by his grace through faith and defeated sin and darkness
Jesus is good because he will get us home
Read versus 20 22
1 Peter 3:20-22 “because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
All this references back to Genesis and the flood
What Peter is saying is while the Ark Was being built The call of repentance went out
And sin was so Pervasive And twisted that no one in the world repented And 8 people went into the ark and were saved
Although we are a small percentage of the world Christ will see us home
Christ will get us home he will help us through storms and valleys
Remember in psalms 23 yea though I walked to The Valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for your rod and your staff they comfort me
Jesus will see us home
Peter when he says baptism will save you it's almost Immediate that this might be misconstrued
That it's something added to the cross as something extra that you have to do besides trusting Jesus by grace alone through faith alone
So he clarifies the statement in the next line. When he talks about baptism not washing you physically Of dirt, But gives you a clear conscience for the living God
As a general rule anything that you add to the cross as a means of salvation has to be rejected
Because the majority of the scripture says that
So how do you interpret The Bible
Scripture interpret scripture
Baptism doesn't save you Christ saves you By Grace alone Through faith alone
Then we follow in obedience of taking our body. our whole body in saying my trust is in you
My whole life is yours and he will see us home just like Noah in the Ark.
Baptism is an outward expression of the heart's appeal to God
It's us saying To God I trust you with all that I am
Baptism is obedience and if you have been saved and never baptized that's the wrong way to start a relationship built on obedience
That's like saying I won't you I trust you with my life but I want to live with this other person a little longer
So how are you and I to live with a hopeful fate
Full of beauty looking to cross knowing that he will get us home