I think I'll just stay with the pulpit mic here this morning, Mike, so that you know which one I'm on. It'd be a little easier if I have to step aside. I still have a little cough every now and then, and with a headset, you get to hear that in full volume, so we'll stick with the pulpit mic today. It's good to be back this morning, and glad to be back after my unplanned absence last week. I know that in the room here, most of the people are probably Detroit sports fans, so that means that championships are few and far between, it seems like. Still, I want you to imagine, because I think you understand the concept that you see in a lot of other towns, where they hang victory banners in stadiums. Yeah, we have a few of those here in Detroit, too. We've got some victory banners hanging in all of our stadiums, and from high school all the way through professional level, victories are memorialized by these hanging banners. What purpose do those banners serve? Have you ever stopped to think about that? Do those banners solely serve as a memorial to some team, great team that achieved a victorious feat The one that's represented by the date that's placed on there. Is that the sole purpose of those banners? Or do they serve something more? I would suggest that there is more to it than simply memorial. I believe those banners also have a present function to them. That's why they're hanging in the stadiums. They have a present function. They have a here and now purpose. They're not solely to cause fans to remember and honor the past. They're also to encourage the present. They encourage fans, and more importantly, current players. They're there reminding the players that, you know, in this very place, this great feat was accomplished. And if people standing or playing in this place could accomplish that once before, why can't we again? They serve to be symbols of hope. Symbols of hope for the future. They express hope to the current team. This morning, we'll see in a somewhat similar fashion, Christians have been given a similar expression of hope. Now, before COVID struck me once more, two weeks ago, we were warned in our series through 1 Peter's letter that we should prepare ourselves for the possibility of suffering because of our relationship to Christ. Clearly there is suffering in this world because this world is broken by sin. We know that. There are diseases, there are disasters, and they fall on believers and unbelievers alike. That's not the kind of suffering that Peter's talking about in this first letter they wrote. I trust you remember that he's addressing the kind of suffering that many of his first century readers were experiencing. The suffering that came because they carried the name of Christ. Their suffering was directed toward them because of their faith. The impact that their faith had had upon their lives, that's what caused their suffering. Now, in our lifetimes, we have not faced, in any real significant way, suffering because of the name of Christ. Sure, we maybe are mocked at times, and being a Christian might make our lives somewhat uncomfortable from time to time, but None of us have much to fear in the way of physical suffering or even financial hardship because we are Christians. Still at this moment, that has merit experience, but it may come in the future. It may not even be that distant future. So we should prepare ourselves for that possibility. How will we respond if we have to suffer for the name of Christ? As I've already said, The case for the Christians in Peter's day was that they were suffering. It wasn't hypothetical. It wasn't a future possibility. It wasn't even a potential. They were experiencing. They already were enduring suffering. And many others that would read these letters, they had real reasons to expect that such could be their experience imminently. The previous verses from our last sermon, if you recall, those verses were words of practical encouragement. How should you prepare for suffering? This week, Peter continues with words of encouragement, but now Peter has words of encouragement for times when suffering is a reality. He assures us in the verses that we'll look at this morning that any suffering that we face because we are Christians places us in very good company. Our Savior, Christ himself, suffered. In fact, the lesson that Peter leaves us with this morning from our verses is that Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believer. He is the banner that's hanging before us. He is the banner that encourages us. We can look at when we suffer. Whatever we might encounter, whatever we might endure, Christ has already experienced similar. And for that reason, He is our hope. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. Now our verses this morning are some of the most difficult verses in the New Testament. Peter makes an obscure reference to a historical event in these verses, but a very obscure reference, so obscure that it has prompted an incredible number of suggested interpretations. One commentator looked at all the different interpretations that were suggested. As one question leads to another and possible answers that are given, he calculated that if you take all the different suggestions out there and combine them together, there could be as many as 180 different possible combinations on how do you interpret these verses. Martin Luther struggled with this passage and eventually commented this, he says, this is a strange text and certainly most obscure passage than any other passage in the New Testament. I still do not know for sure what the apostle meant. Frankly, I like Martin Luther. As I looked at our verses myself, I find myself liking and applauding his honesty. There are details in these verses that I really think until we get to eternity, we will never fully understand. Let's not be scared of our text, though. We simply need to recognize that we cannot expect this morning to comprehend every detail that's in our text. But while we can't understand the details, we certainly can understand the overall point of the text. So let's guard ourselves from getting lost in the forest by studying the individual trees too much. Today is a day that we need to take a walk through the forest and enjoy the sunlight as it comes through the leaves, to listen to the birds chirping, and just enjoy the forest itself. Our goal is to focus on the message that Peter is conveying, the lesson that he's giving us. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. Now, after all that preamble, let's go ahead and read the verses for the day. We're picking up in 1 Peter 3, verse 18. Peter writes, for Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 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. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. Within the challenging details of the verses we just read this morning, there are four ideas that we can clearly spot that support this overall message. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. The first of these four ideas that we see is simply that one, Christ died for our sins. He died for our sins. That, of course, is the heart of the gospel message, isn't it? Christ died for our sins. We were condemned before God. We were condemned whether we recognized it or not. We had sinned against God. God is holy, perfectly holy. And in His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, our condemnation was demanded. We deserve, by our sinful nature and eternity in hell, Ever since Adams, we humans had steadfastly shaken our fist at God, we'd rebelled against Him, we attempted to live by our own standards instead of God's standards, and for that reason we were condemned. It was impossible for us to enter God's presence without punishment falling upon us. It was impossible, that is, until Christ died for our sins. He died in our place. He bore the punishment that our sins rightly deserved. Of course, we understand, I think, that the application of His death to each of us individually must be made, and that's made through faith in Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Him, we accept that He died for not just sins in general, but He died for me, for my sins. That's when He died for us. He died in past but is applied to us in the present when we accept his death and we ask God to take his death in our place. That's the gospel. Christ died for us so they could bring us through faith to God, into his presence, without having condemnation because now we stand in his righteousness rather than our own. You know, I sure hope that the gospel message, this glorious message of hope, this message of Christ's substitutionary atonement never grows old for us. I hope every time we hear it, our hearts soar with the recognition that He died for us. It's exciting, it's overwhelming, it should cause us to marvel at our Savior's love. At the same time, let's observe this morning that Peter's not placing this statement about Christ's work here in his letter simply to once again recount this core truth of the gospel. This is the core of the gospel. Yet these verses are coming right on the heels of verses that warn us that we may be called to suffer because of Christ. They are verses that tell us that we should approach any potential suffering that we face in light of the fact that Christ himself has already suffered for us. In fact, he died for us. In the context here, Peter isn't just recounting the gospel message, he's bringing it into a context of suffering, saying Christ has died for us, no matter how bad our experience might get, no matter how bad the experiencing of suffering that his readers are having at that moment. Unless suffering results in death, it is less than the suffering that Christ endured. the most that any believer can suffer will, at most, match the suffering of Christ unto death. The believer may suffer for Christ. Christ has already died for the believer. The point that Peter makes in verse 18, though, shows that even if a believer suffers to the point of death for his or her relationship to Christ, even if it goes to that ultimate extreme, it still is not equal to suffering for Christ. You see, Peter says Christ was just. He was pure. Christ was perfectly righteous. He was sinless. He did not deserve to die. We deserve death for our sin. We sinned against a holy God and sin carries the penalty of death, eternal damnation. No believer can say that they were sinless, that they did not deserve to die. All any Christian can say is that death is deserved. We were unjust, unrighteous. In Christ's case, when he suffered, when he died, it was the just dying for the unjust. If we suffer and if we die for Christ, it's the unjust dying for the just. The bottom line is that we will never match the suffering of Christ. Christ has always given more. He has always suffered more because his suffering was the just for the unjust. When I was working through my seminary project, my final seminary project over the last couple of years, there were times that I started to wonder if I would ever make it through. It was a bit overwhelming by the size of the task. In the end, my project ended up somewhere around 185 pages. And there were times where I didn't know if I would ever get that done. Fortunately, the director of the program had pointed at the very beginning, he had told us to go into the library and look at the back wall because on the back wall on one side, there were all the final projects of other students from before. And several times as I went through my project, I reviewed in my mind's eye when I was discouraged, I could see that wall of all those projects. And I recognize that if that many other men had managed to achieve this, they had managed to finish, many of them, I don't know them, but undoubtedly with that many, many of them had greater personal challenges than I faced. If they could finish, well, then I could finish as well. In a similar vein, that's why Peter's holding Christ up here. Christ died for our sins. Christ suffered more than we can ever suffer. He suffered in a more significant manner than we ever can, and Christ, then, should encourage us. When we suffer, we can look at Christ in our mind's eye. When we face our own suffering, the path has been trod. We are not alone in unexplored territory. Our Savior has left a trail to follow. Christ died for our sins. That's the first point that supports our overall lesson that Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. Christ died for our sins. The second idea that supports the overall lesson is that Christ was victorious in death. He was victorious in death. Verse 19 is where we start to get into the challenges of these verses. Who did Christ proclaim to? Who were these spirits? Where was the prison they went to? When did this happen? What did he proclaim? We want to know all these things. And then we keep going, how does Noah and the ark fit in? Numerous answers, as I said, have been suggested to all of those questions. And depending on how we answer one question, we inevitably have other questions. Pages and pages exist trying to unravel these words. For what it's worth, I personally believe that Peter's describing something that occurred between the time that Jesus died on the cross and when he rose back to life, those three days when he was in the tomb. The way I would reconstruct the events during the time, I believe Peter's talking about Jesus went down to Sheol, which was the place of the dead during the Old Testament time. In Sheol, this place where the dead went, I believe there were multiple compartments, two different regions, if you would, compartments that people went to, and they were divided by an abyss that couldn't be crossed. The righteous went to one side that was called Paradise, where the unbelievers, the unrighteous, went to the other side that's usually just called Sheol, place of the dead. And Christ, when he died on the cross, he went to the paradise side and he collected the Old Testament believers there and ushered them back to heaven because now that his atonement was finished, they could stand in the presence of God. But while he was there, he proclaimed his victory to the unsaved dead who are awaiting the day of punishment. He proclaimed that he had finished his mission, giving his life for his children. Now those that are in that side that were waiting for their day of judgment, Peter's calling out those of Noah's day. They're called out because they suffered a direct judgment from God through the flood. And that judgment is a precursor, a warning, if you will, of all the coming future judgment upon man. In Noah's day they rejected their warning, but now they serve as a warning to others. Just as God judged in the days of Noah, He will judge again. They serve as a warning for others while Noah and his family, they serve as an example of God's saving power, His power that flows through Christ in this work on the cross. That's how I would reconstruct the events of this passage along with several others that touch on things that occurred after Christ's death at his victory at the cross. But I'll admit that there's a lot of speculation involved there. So it's one of those reconstructions and interpretations I hold very loosely. I won't argue strenuously over the details. But what I want us to notice, while we struggle with the details a little bit, notice that what is clear is that Peter is communicating a victorious tone in our verses. While we may not understand all the details, it's clear that there's a victory involved here. Christ was victorious in his death. Death did not defeat him, it was his victory. So again, let's ask, how does this victorious tone fit into Peter's encouragement to people who are suffering? Simple. Death cannot destroy hope. Death cannot destroy hope. In fact, in God's great redemptive program, suffering and even death has been God's path to victory. And we see that clearly in Christ. Christ had to go down the path of death for victory to come. Christ's suffering that led to his death, it was a glorious thing, it was a victorious thing because he suffered and died for the sins of others. And it seems to me like the obvious comparison here to potential suffering for Christians is that we too should anticipate that our suffering can be God's path to victory. Sure, none of us, no Christian, will ever suffer for the sins of others. That's something that our Savior alone could do. Only Christ can die for the sins of others. But similar to how God surprisingly designed the path of Christ to flow through suffering and death to bring great glory, God might surprisingly design your path and my path to be similar. He might take our path through great suffering and even death to bring glory to his name. That's why we can take hope from the victory of Christ. We take hope from the victory of Christ because we see how powerful God is to turn death to victory. Christ was victorious in death. That's the second point here that supports our overall lesson. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. As a third point, we are united to Christ's death. We are united to his death. That's the idea that comes from the reference to baptism in verse 21. Having mentioned Noah and his family, how they were saved from the global flood, Peter draws an analogy between the floodwaters and baptism. The analogy again is a bit obscure, which I guess isn't too surprising, right? We're in a passage filled with obscure references, so what's another obscurity? But it seems as if Peter sees the water in both cases to illustrate judgment, the water of the flood and the water of baptism. Well, clearly the water of the flood was judgment. God destroyed every person who was not on the ark with the flood waters. Mankind was judged for their sinful rebellion against God and he destroyed all man except for the eight that were on the ark. And in a somewhat analogous fashion, the waters of baptism represent the judgment of God on sin. Think about it. When we are baptized, we make the point that we are symbolizing through our actions that we are buried with Christ. When we go under the water, we say, buried with Christ. Well, the reason that Christ was buried was because, as we said in the previous points, he took upon himself the judgment of sin. His death was judgment. In that sense, the water that represents Christ's burial symbolizes God's judgment on sin. The part that is most surprising in these verses, especially in verse 21, is when Peter writes, baptism now saves you. That line on the surface Makes our head pop a little bit. Doesn't seem to agree with the rest of scripture. Baptism now saves you. We know that we are saved by faith. Paul states so clearly in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is a gift of God, not of works. so that no one can boast. We know we are not saved by baptism. Paul, as well as Peter himself, makes it clear in too many places in the Bible that we're saved by faith and faith alone. Peter himself, in the first two chapters of this letter, he's emphasized over and over that it's our belief that is foundational to our relationship with God. So what does Peter mean when he says that baptism now saves you? Well, for one thing, it's clear from the way Peter adds the comment, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. It's clear from that that Peter makes clear that it's not the physical act of being dunked under the water that attributes any salvific value to your action. There's no salvific value to water baptism, the physical act. It's also clear from this comment that he's not talking about spirit baptism. If you know about spirit baptism, it's the baptism of the Holy Spirit that comes upon us at the very moment we accept Christ for salvation. He's not talking about that. Rather, Peter's talking about something by using this analogy that was created between the flood and baptism. He's talking about that, he's using that analogy to point to the obedience to God. which is what provides salvation. The obedience to God that says you must believe in my son Jesus Christ to be saved. This obedience is represented by baptism. I often explain when we have baptism that this is a public demonstration of faith. When someone goes into the tank here and they're baptized, we say this is a public demonstration of our faith. It's the first act of obedience that we find in the New Testament. Once we've obeyed to place our faith in Jesus Christ alone, we demonstrate that faith through baptism. In fact, a couple weeks or a few weeks back, I guess now it's been a little longer than that, when we celebrated the Lord's Table on Sunday morning, I made the point that the reason we ask believers to follow the Lord in baptism before they take the Lord's Table with us is because baptism demonstrates to the rest of the church desire to live a life of obedience, taking that first step of obedience. And it's only those who are living in obedience who should partake in the Lord's table. Well, in this demonstration, this pledge, if you will, that a believer is publicly making through baptism, Peter here is focused on this demonstration, this sign of obedience. Save people commit themselves to living their lives in conformity to the Lord by publicly identifying their union with Christ. They're pledging, if we want to use Peter's words, to have a good conscience. That's how verse 21 ties to verse 20. It's an illustration here of saving faith. But again, let's ask, how does this link then to Peter's argument for suffering? Our baptism reflects our union with Christ. That's what it does. Our union with Christ, though, means that when we're suffering, we are not suffering alone. If you recall the previous verses from a couple weeks back, they were designed to ensure that believers were suffering because they were doing what was right. Peter said there's no value in suffering because you've been a jerk. There's no value in suffering because you've done something wrong. The value comes if you suffer for doing what's right, if you suffer for serving Christ. Well, now, because he had just said that, his assumption in our verses is that we are suffering with a clear conscience. We're suffering because of Christ. And now he reminds us that means we are suffering with God's aid. We're not suffering alone. We are united with Christ. We've demonstrated that union with our baptism. In our lives, stories abound of military units who suffer through immense adversity together. Men support one another through incredible trials. The units are captured by the enemy and tortured, but they endure. Or we hear of units that are lost in the jungles or the desert, and they face hunger and exposure for long periods of time, but they endure. The units are faced with overwhelming odds in battle, but they endure. The thing that all of these stories of endurance have in common is this bond of brotherhood that, that unites them as a unit. They survive because they have one another. The men sustain each other through the intense suffering. To a much greater degree, Peter's reminding us that we are to realize we are not alone when we suffer. Christ is with us. That the one who suffered unto death, the one who was victorious in death, is united to us. And we are united to him. We are united to his death. This is the third point supporting our overall lesson this morning. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. We are united to his death. That's encouraging when we suffer. We're not alone. Yet, remember I said there's four points, and Peter ends on a stupendous high note. We have hope in Christ's victory. We have hope in His victory. We are certainly united in His death with Him, but our hope, our secure, joy-filled hope that we have, that which carries us on, comes with the knowledge that He did not remain dead. He rose victorious. Our salvation stands on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Death had no claim on him. He died for our sins and rose showing the victory. Not only did he rise from the dead, he then ascended as resurrection to the highest place of honor and authority possible. Christ is right now positioned at God's right hand, the place of supreme authority. And Peter tells us all angels, all authorities, all powers. In other words, the entire spirit world, which is far more powerful than anything in the physical world, the entire spiritual world is under Christ. His victory is complete. The most powerful beings of creation are subjected to him. This is great stuff. This is exciting stuff. It's exciting to let our minds go and think about Christ having preeminence over every spirit being that there is. He has absolute supremacy over all creation. But again, let's ask ourselves, why does Peter end this particular paragraph, this paragraph on suffering, why does he end this great paragraph with this amazing message of Christ's exaltation? Remember, he's writing a practical letter, a letter to encourage people who are suffering. How does Christ's absolute victory help them and us? Well, there's at least two ways in which Christ's victory comes into practical application when we face suffering, particularly suffering because we are Christians. One, the clear supremacy that Christ holds because of his victory means that we should fear and obey him. Even if we suffer for it, Christ is supreme. If living the way that Christ told us to live puts us at cross grain to the world, oh well. He is supreme. He is ultimate. We must obey Christ. This is not to minimize the reality of suffering. It is to recognize that the suffering is not determinative. Suffering does not determine our actions Christ word does So let me ask you does your life reflect a commitment to Christ supremacy Are you living in obedience to what he has said? Are you following him in full obedience even if it places you in an unpopular position? Are you following him even if brings suffering? We need to wrestle with these questions now mentally. I because it could well be the case that we wrestle with them soon physically. In China, right now, religious leaders and churches have been told that they are no longer to provide religious instruction of any kind through online methods. Now, you're probably aware China has had extremely more severe lockdowns than we've had. They've been essentially locked down in many cities for two years That means that for churches over in China, online has been their only means of ministering for the last two years. Now as of March 1st of this year, the government is forbidding all online proselytizing, that means evangelizing, and all teaching of any kind of religious material. There's been laws on the books for a while that they are not to do this, but now it will be enforced. That means no Zoom type of Bible teaching at all. No FaceTime even conversations with a friend about Christ. It will be illegal to talk about Christ through online communication in China. That's China. But how far away is America? How far away is America from labeling biblical teaching as unacceptable hate speech? More rapidly than we care to consider, we might face similar policies in our country. Will we remain obedient to Christ? Will we share the good news of Christ when it's considered a crime to do so? We struggle to share the gospel now with people. Will we do it when it's illegal? Will we share Christ? Because he is victorious. We should fear and obey Him even if we suffer for it. That is the first implication of Christ's victory. We should share Christ. We should obey Him regardless. 2. Second implication, Christ's victory gives us absolute certain hope when we suffer. Absolute certain hope. The most severe suffering that Satan can throw at Christ did not prevent his victory. Think about it, Satan thought he had won when he put Christ on the cross. When he got the evil rulers, the leaders of the Jews to go along with Pilate and the other Roman soldiers then to use them to hang Christ on a cross, Satan thought he had won. The most extreme suffering that Satan could throw at Christ did not prevent his victory, rather it was the path to victory. In God's infinite plan, the very suffering that Satan prompted resulted in Christ's victory. The same faith that unites us with Christ's death unites us with his victory. No matter what suffering this world, that's under the delusional influence of Satan, no matter what suffering this world may throw at us, The only result that can come is our final victory. Our victory is secure. We are secure in that hope because Christ is supreme over all angels and authorities and powers. Satan and his minions, they work for Christ. Whether they recognize it or not, they work for Christ. They are under him. They've been subjected to him. Suffering cannot hinder our final victory in Christ. Rather, all suffering can do is cause us to focus more steadfastly on our hope in Christ's victory, waiting for it with eagerness. We hope in Christ's victory. That's the fourth point that we can take from these verses. The fourth point that supports this overall lesson, Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. banners hanging at a sports stadium are expressions of hope for the current team and fans. If a victory has been attained there before, it can come again. In a similar fashion, Christ gives hope to believers. This morning we've worked with this difficult text, difficult set of verses, but we've seen four points. Christ died for our sins, point one. Christ was victorious in death, point two. We are united to Christ's death, point three. We have hope in Christ's victory, point four. Yes, there's interpretive challenges here, but the overall lesson is clear. Christ's suffering is our hope when we suffer as believers. Let's rejoice in the hope that we have in our Savior this morning. Let's pray. Father, we come to you with great joy knowing that we have hope in Christ. Father, I pray that that joy would fill us until we are overflowing with the hope that is ours. Father, prepare us now. If suffering is in our future, prepare us now so that we are ready in the hope of Christ. Fill us with the realization that we are united to his death, to his victory, and nothing can change that ultimate end. Father, we know that there are some suffering even today through physical effects, and we pray that they would be encouraged by Christ, and that we would all leave here joyfully magnifying our Savior this week. For it's in his glorious name we pray, amen.