1 Peter 3:18-4:6

Yes sadly, the idea is that as Christians we may still suffer in this life. Suffering for good is better than suffering for the sake of sin, as when we suffer for good we share in the sufferings of Christ. Without recapping 3 whole chapters, I do want to remind you of the context of Peter’s writing. Because what he is talking about here actually goes all the way back to chapter 2 verse 15.

1 Peter 2:15 NKJV

15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—

Ignorant and foolish men will viciously and relentlessly make accusation against the Godly, because your very presence in their life is convicting in regards to their own sin. This may sometimes lead to you and I suffering for doing good. But Peter reminds us that by doing good we may put them to silence.

Let’s pray...

I don’t know about you Saints, but when it comes to my natural instincts and my professional training, when someone brings a fight, in my flesh, my first response is to finish that fight. I enlisted in the Army Reserves at age 17 and went to basic training between my junior and senior years of high-school. After college, I worked as a crisis intervention specialist and counselor for a couple of years and then transitioned into law enforcement.

I worked with gangs down in Virginia, moved into the adult correctional system when we came to Maine, in the federal system trained in firearms and defensive tactics. I know some of you ladies tense up a bit when you hear the word submission, and I’ll tell you that I get it, because to me submission was weakness. It was vulnerability.

Peter is talking about a whole different world here than what is natural and normal. He’s beginning to tell us that as Christians there may be times when God allows suffering in our lives, not because we deserve it, or because we have earned it because of some stupid choices that we’ve made, but even when we are walking the line and in a right relationship with Him.

In fact, He may allow suffering not just for what James and Peter talk about, how it produces good things in us, but God may allow it, for the sake of others. So that those that are watching your life can see that what you say, is actually true, because they see you walk it out in real life when things go bad.

Back in chapter 2, Peter says that by doing good, not by cleaver argument, not by a swift defense, but by doing good the ignorant might be silenced. See, they are in rebellion against God! Yet God is holy, God is righteous, God is love…He is perfect in every way, so the easiest target is you and me. To attack us, to attack our lives. SO the best way to silence them is to live a life that is above reproach.

TO live in such a way that when a rumor or accusation is cast against you, those hearing it are forced to say, well I hear what you say, but I watch the way that that girl or guy or man or woman lives their life, and I don’t see what you’re saying. I hear your accusation, but I know them. I see how they submit to the law. Their marriage is a testimony that they are the real deal.

They truly love each other, I mean in a way that is observable. They serve each other, mutually submit to one another. I don’t know any other couple like that, they have the best marriage I know of.

I hear you man, but I work with the guy, and we have the worst boss! I can’t stand the guy. He’s the harshest guy I’ve ever worked for. But the guy that you’re talking about get’s to work early, he’s the hardest worker. In fact, he kind of makes the rest of us look bad. But even when the boss is a jerk, he responds with kindness. He doesn’t return reviling for reviling. He just gets it done and tries encourage us to do the same. Man what you’re saying about him can’t be true. I’m not into what he’s into, but I respect the guy, he’s the real deal.

So back to verse 17 especially for those of you that were told, oh just come to Jesus and everything will be rainbows and sunshine. Peter tells us that sometimes there is suffering in the will of God, and I’ll remind you that the title of today's message is Living The Will of God. verse 17

1 Peter 3:17 NKJV

17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Peter gives us the ultimate example of this, verse 18

1 Peter 3:18 NKJV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

If anyone ever in the history of mankind was treated unfairly, got what they didn’t deserve it was Jesus. Why did he suffer? It was the cost of sin, but it wasn’t His sin! The verse says the just for the unjust. Sinless, righteous, Holy Jesus, the only one to never, ever, ever sin, in word, in thought, or in deed, suffered for the unjust, but didn’t wallow in it and didn’t let it stop him from walking in it to fulfill the will of God.

That He might bring us to God, us who had no other way as sinner to come to a Holy God, so Jesus was put to death....that’s the max of suffering right, that it would kill you? Put to death in the flesh, but He was made alive by the Spirit.

Now there is a lot in this verse and no, I’m not trying to avoid what’s coming. Any of you that read ahead, or read commentaries on this section may have read that this is one of the most difficult passages in the entire N.T. we’ll get there, but I don’t want to miss what is here. Look again at the beginning of the verse that Christ suffered once for sin. On the cross, payment was made in full.

Do you remember when we read through the book of Hebrews, we talked about the Old Testament sacrifices? I’ll put it up here quickly,

Hebrews 10:1–4 NKJV

1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

I am so thankful that we are not under the Old Covenant. For lots of reasons. But have you ever thought about what it would be like if every time we gathered we had to bring lambs in here, and before worship began, or the children went back to their classrooms, we would have to cut the neck and spill the blood. Earlier in Hebrews we read...

Hebrews 9:22 NKJV

22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Even so, all of that blood was only ever a temporary covering, it didn’t take away sins. That was done by Jesus, once and for all on the cross. I also want you to see in this section of 1 Peter that Jesus endured something, but also accomplished something.

He endured the cross. Suffering for doing good.

1 Peter 3:18 NKJV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

He was just. If there ever was a injustice in all of history. The just for the unjust, and all of the unjust. Paid the price, the penalty for everything that He did not do. He endured it. Peter is telling us that we may have to suffer, remember, the ones that he was writing to in the day, were suffering persecution under Nero in a manner worse than any of us in the U.S. at least have ever had to endure.

But through what He endured, He made a way for us to be redeemed, that He might bring us to God.

Paul tells us in Romans...

Romans 6:10 NKJV

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Unlike the animals that were brought in, the sacrifice of Jesus doesn’t have to be done, over and over again, He died to sin once for all, and then He defeated death and rose to life and He is coming again. In His death, He brought eternal life for those that receive that gift by asking Him for forgiveness and to be the Lord of their life.

Now the passage bible teachers struggle with…let me just read through the whole thing so we can hear it together and then we will examine it closer.

1 Peter 3:18–20 NKJV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

1 Peter 3:21–22 NKJV

21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

Verse 19 is where the struggle begins...

1 Peter 3:19–20 NKJV

19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

I want to say something here, and this is not a knock on those that have studied this ad nauseam. But what we know here, all we know here, is what we have here. And where the Bible remains silent on things we should remain silent on things when the Bible only goes this far, we should only go this far. Not only are there several different thoughts on the meaning and the timing of this text, the generalized interpretations have changed over time.

Were to you ask, or look up what the church fathers and the Bishops thought this meant early in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries, they would tell you that after the cross, before the resurrection Jesus went to preach to all of those souls that died in judgement during the flood....

Jesus tells a story in the Gospel of Luke. Some call it a parable, I tend to think that it wasn’t a parable at all, but an actual story....it’s in the 16th chapter...

Luke 16:19–22 NKJV

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

Luke 16:23–26 NKJV

23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then 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 tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

The hot side was hell, not yet the eternal lake of fire, but hell for those who died rejecting God. The paradise side, here called Abrahams bosom was for the righteous, those who followed God and believed that all of the sacrifices pointed towards the promised Messiah, Jesus.

So in the early centuries the church fathers believed that after the cross, Jesus went to Hades, this place of the dead and preached the gospel to all of those that were there, giving them opportunity to now surrender to Him and be saved.

Then when you get to the time of the Great Reformation, 1517 and thereafter it began being taught that this piece is mentioned here about Noah, because when Noah was taking the time to build the Ark, remember 75 to 100 years of work and warning. Telling all who would listen that they needed to repent, or God was going to judge them by a mighty flood that was going to cover the earth after an intense period of rain. Well they would say that it was Jesus preaching to those lost souls through the mouth of Noah and that He didn’t actually go into Hades and preach to anybody, but when they rejected the words of Noah, they were judged and perished in the flood.

Today, many modern scholars will tell you that this has nothing to do with preaching to people at all. Living or dead. But that when Jesus died He went into the Spiritual realm and He preached to the demons, the Nephilim, and fallen angels. To declare final victory, that they had lost, He had won and had victory over sin and death, and He was the ruler of this world and theirs.

So who’s right? Don’t you wish we had Growth Groups this week?!? Are you guys curious, do you want to know? I’ll give you the best answer I can as a master theologian, it doesn’t matter what I think! I have an opinion, but what we have is what we have. Here’s what we know for sure....

1 Peter 3:19 NKJV

19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

Following the cross it appears from the story that Jesus told us in Luke and other places in the Scriptures and not in the scriptures like the Apostles creed that Jesus descended into Hades. When He did that, those that had rejected Him knew He was there. When He descended those who believed by faith and it was credited to them as righteousness, knew he was there, and every fallen angel, demonic beings, also with fear and trembling knew He was there and they all heard Him preach.

Jesus told us that one side could not cross over to the other. We know that it is appointed unto man once to die and then what? AND then the Judgement, there is not such thing as purgatory, there is no such place in the Bible. There is no such thing as second chances after we die, or soul sleep so others can pray you into Heaven.

We know He went and He preached, others try to answer what He preached the the type of message, the gospel, or of judgement, based upon the word that was used for preached. All of that I think is kind of a stretch. I’m sure that Jesus preached that He was in fact the Messiah, that he was the fulfillment of all the prophetic Scriptures, that they were talking about Him. And then, when Jesus was raised from the dead He emptied out the paradise side, He emptied Abraham’s bosom. But the other side, the hot side that the rich man was one continues to grow larger and larger with more and more soul that have rejected Jesus every single day and will continue to grow right up until the Great White Throne Judgement.

Verse 20 one more time..

1 Peter 3:20 NKJV

20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

Remember the context that Peter is talking about here is suffering for doing good, he’s writing to people that are suffering and he reminds them of the days of Noah. I already mentioned that for nearly a hundred years Noah worked on the Ark and warned of the judgement to come. When the rain began, there were 8 that were on that boat. Everyone else in the whole world chose to dig there heels in and hang on to being the Lord over their own life, rather than submit to the Lord our God. Only eight. So no matter how bad things were under Nero, or in Babylon, or even today in Muslim countries or places that are closed to the bible, it is not as bad as it was then.

You may feel like you are all alone at times, but there are always more with you than there was then. We had more than 8 last Wednesday night in here and it seemed like a ghost town. Talk about being a minority. There was only 8 that believed, everyone else in the world mocked and thought they were the crazy ones and only 8 were right, and the whole world was wrong, God saved the 8. It says through water, but none of the 8 would have jumped off that boat into the water thinking that was their salvation, it was God and His provision.

Peter is telling them and telling us, don’t be dismayed by your circumstances, or what everyone else thinks, stay in the fellowship of God, that is the only place of safety. Verse 21

1 Peter 3:21–22 NKJV

So his death was not the end of the story, His suffering for doing good, was not the end.

Now baptism is described as an antitype here which saves. Now before you jump the gun and get on the bandwagon that you must be baptised to be saved, or it is baptism that actually saves you, Peter quickly shoots that down. He says is not the dunking in water, well that’s what he means, he says not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.) It’s not the outward act, it is what that act is a testimony of. I quite often get asked if I’ll baptise someone, even those that don’t go to church, because they want to go to Heaven.

I can baptise you once a week for the rest of your life (I won’t do that), but I could and it would do you no earthly good. Well, if there was any good in it it would be earthly good only, it would be an extra bath, but the act alone does’t make you right with God.

Now I believe in baptism and I think every born again Christian should be baptised by full immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But only as the result and the outward testimony of repentance, and surrender to Him as Lord, that is was gives you a good conscience towards God. Also, sticking to what Peter is talking about here, having a good conscience toward God, knowing you are forgiven, makes suffering and the things that people falsely say against you so much less powerful and painful.

The thought continues on into chapter 4, so lets just dip our toes in it. Verse 1

1 Peter 4:1 NKJV

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,

Just as Jesus suffered for us, we need to be of the same mind, the mind of Christ. That we too will be faithful and live the will of God, no matter the cost. Why would we think the world would treat us better, those of us that have Christ in us, than the world treated Christ when He was in the world?

1 Peter 4:2–4 NKJV

2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

You are the one that finally got your life together, they continue to throw theirs way and they think you are the strange one!

1 Peter 4:5–6 NKJV

5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

In the end, they will have to answer to God and they will find out the folly of their ways. Some teach that verse 6 is an indication that when Jesus went to Hadas He preached the Gospel to the faithful dead, pronouncing Himself as the completion of the Gospel that we was the fulfillment and completion of it. Maybe.

I think it also speaks of the message that is preached by your life and my life. When they are living their life, as the Lord of their own life, in lewdness, and lust, and drunkenness or addiction they see what Jesus has done in you and in me. AND they know that life doesn’t have to be like it’s always been. If Jesus did it for me, He could do it for them, so the testimony of our life preaches to them that they are responsible for their choices. Personal responsibility is no longer a popular message in the world that we live it.

So Peter tells us to live the will of God. That may include some suffering for doing good. But if God can redeem and accomplish the Greatest thing ever, the greatest gift of salvation, from the biggest injustice of all time that the just would suffer for the unjust, then He can do miraculous things in our lives if we trust and follow Him.