Welcome to our Wednesday night study of 1 Peter. And we ask you to turn please to 1 Peter chapter 3 and verses 15 through 22 this evening as we finish up this third chapter in Peter's epistle. And I've entitled the message tonight, Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. That's taken from our text. As we mentioned last time, we have now moved on in our studies to the third major theme of Peter's first epistle, that of suffering. Not a pleasant subject, but it's something we need to cover. You may recall, in fact, back in verses 8 through 12 of this chapter, Peter set forth five admonitions. which are foundational really to the New Testament church and which will help us both in fulfilling his teaching on submission and to endure suffering. Those five things help us as a church, as individuals, but as the body of Christ to be able to face these challenges. Briefly, they were be of one mind, be of one mind, be sympathetic or have compassion, love as brothers, which is, we mentioned is the root of all of these, really comes down to the root of them all is to love as brothers. That's the third major one. Fourth one, be tenderhearted. And lastly, be courteous. Some of those are kind of intertwined as far as what you believe, but if you look at them individually, you'll see there's nuances to them that. we should be following. So, be of one mind, be sympathetic, love his brothers, be tender-hearted, and be courteous. These admonitions, or principles, I guess you could call them, are key to supporting fellow believers in the midst of suffering. That's why he's putting them out here, is we're going to face suffering, and the first century believers were facing suffering. For us, we're to keep these things in mind because we should be thinking not just of ourselves and whatever we're going through, whether it be suffering or not, but we should be thinking of others. We should be reaching out to them and bringing comfort and consolation and encouragement and help to our brothers and sisters in Christ when they face crises, like we just mentioned in these prayer requests, for instance. So they're based upon the command of Christ to believers, which is to what? Love one another. That's something we should be doing. We should be loving one another. And it's not just a love stated in words, not just saying, hey, I really love you. You're a good friend in Christ. But as 1 John tells us, it is manifested in deeds and truth. So it's manifested by our deeds, not just saying that we love someone or care for them. We also talked about three principles or rules of a godly life. Peter quotes from Psalm 34 there in the last chapter and verses 12 through 16 to give these timeless principles that if kept, if kept, will bring God's blessings upon us as individuals and as a body of Christ. First, we must keep our tongues from evil and our lips from lying. important to speak the truth. A Christian must be true to his word, and his speech should be filled with God's word. That should be manifest in our life. We should be truth-tellers, and the truth that we tell should be taken from scriptures. Secondly, again, especially with God's people, we are to continually turn away from evil and seek to do that which is good. If we want people to see Christ in us, as we're told in Colossians 1.27, We want people to see Christ in us, the hope of glory, that text says. Then we must follow in His footsteps. And what did He do? He went about doing good, Acts 10.38. So He went about doing good deeds to glorify His Father. We should go about doing good deeds to glorify the Father, that people might see a difference in our life. They might recognize there's something different. And thirdly, Peter tells us we are to be a people of peace. We're to be a people of peace. Romans 14, 19, therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. So we're not to be contentious. We're not to be a people who are instigators or troublemakers. Rather, we are to be those who are peacemakers, as Jesus says in Matthew 5, 9, blessed are the peacemakers. That should be our mantra, our lifestyle, to be peacemakers. And finally, last time, we looked at verses 13 and 14 in chapter three, and noted how similar Peter's rhetorical question there was to Paul's in Romans chapter eight, verse 31, where Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us? Okay, we need to have that attitude that if God is for us, we don't need to start giving way into fear and anxiety about what's happening around us or who is opposed to us. God's on our side. If we're walking with him, we're trusting in him. We have peace, we have assurance that he'll take care of things. He won't let us go too far away. As I mentioned, I think the Greek construction in those verses, especially in verse 13, tells us that Peter considers it a remote possibility that anyone would suffer for doing good, though they might suffer for other reasons. So that's his argument there. But if we do, if we do suffer, even for doing good, we are blessed as our Savior told us in Matthew 5 and verse 10. We need not fear the threats of men when we put our trust in our sovereign God who works all things. And that's, I think it's hard. We can say that probably, you know, easily. Oh, well, God's working all things after the counsel of his will. He's sovereign. But on a practical way, do we believe it? You know, do we go through our days saying, yeah, God's sovereign? Did he cause rain to fall on your roof when there wasn't a roof? I'm afraid he did. We can't say, oh, it was all the roofer's fault. They should have known. They should have known. God brought that storm at that time. In fact, I was commentating to Hannah Bryce, who was over at our house. We had some chicken issues with her. And as we stepped outside, you could see the towering. This was like a couple days ago. But you could still see the towering, billowing clouds, the big thunderheads that weren't quite thunderheads yet. They were white. And I said, it reminded me of a passage of scripture which we tend to overlook and forget. that God is the author and controller of everything, even the weather. And scripture tells us that he sends the clouds on their patterns. So the clouds aren't up there just randomly floating around, you know, following the breeze. God sends them on their patterns. He's the one that sends the storms. He's the one that causes the sun to shine. As we go back to our study of creation, as pastors doing that, who put the sun in the sky, who put the stars in the sky, the moon, who put the seasons and all the ebbs and flows of things in the earth. God did, and he's still in control. So we need to have that sense of assurance that he is in control. And even in the case of suffering that comes into our life, he's still in control. He can do all things according to his will, and he can comfort us in these situations that we're faced. So that's an important thing. So now we get to continue here and finish up chapter three and note how Peter, once again, is going to exhort us to live for God and not fear suffering, but rather consider how Christ suffered for us. It's important that we look at that comparison of what he suffered for us is really nothing, what we're suffering is nothing compared to what he went through. So that's what we want to keep in mind. So first thought for tonight, first portion I guess we'll look at. is called Be Sanctified and Be Ready. Be Sanctified and Be Ready, verses 15 and 16 of our text. Peter challenges us here in these verses to prepare ourselves for suffering by being totally submissive to Christ. That's how you prepare for suffering, by being totally submissive to his will. Let's read verses 15 and 16. but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed." We'll stop there, okay? At that point, a poet, By the way, that phrase there in the Greek in verse 15 literally should say, set apart your hearts, set apart your hearts, in your hearts, Christ as Lord. Set apart in your hearts, Christ as Lord. That would be probably the better translation of the Greek there. Instead of sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. A poet, Carolyn Noel, captured this verse, this verse 15, in a verse in prose that I think is really good. She said, in your hearts enthrone him, there let him subdue all that is not holy, all that is not true. Let me read it again a little clearly. In your heart enthrone Him, there let Him subdue all that is not holy, all that is not true. If we lovingly submit to our Savior's rule in our hearts by His Spirit, He will sanctify us, He will make us useful in His service, and He'll give us the strength and the courage to not only endure suffering or challenges that we face, but to testify of Him, to give glory to Him. If God's people would be more focused on walking in the fear of the Lord and seeking to please Him, we would have less fear of men and we would be better prepared to speak of them of our faith. The Puritan writer, Robert Layton said, the fear of God nullifies all lesser fears. It tells the heart what it must do and what it must not do. It tells the heart that it is better to obey God rather than human beings. You might want to see Acts chapter four and verse 19 along that line. So the question is, beloved, who do we fear the most? Who do we fear the most, God or men? Let's be honest in saying that often our spirit is willing to live. We're willing to live, we're willing to speak for Christ, but our flesh is weak, isn't it? Our flesh is weak. And it's primarily due to our lack of a reverential fear of God, a belief that he is truly sovereign. Like I said, we'll use the term, we believe in his sovereignty. We'll use that thought that, oh yeah, he's in control. But when it comes down to it, more often than not, our fear is not of God and trust in him, our fear is of men and what they'll say or do to us if we upset them or speak against them in any way. So that's something we need to ask ourselves. Isaiah chapter eight and verses 13 and 14 tells us this, the Lord of hosts, him shall you hallow, let him be your fear, let him be your dread, he will be as a sanctuary. So if you're gonna dread anyone, if you're gonna fear anyone, if you're gonna be irrespective of anyone, respect the Lord your God and let not the fear of men trouble you. Peter's message here is that if we are yielded to our savior, and he's ruling our heart, then we will be ready and able to defend the truth. And also, if we're yielded to Christ, we cannot help but live out our faith, which will cause people to ask, what makes us tick, right? Or why do you believe and live the way you do? Or how can you go through suffering the way you do? Well, because we're trusting in God, right? We're living for him. We know he's in control. Therefore, we're not gonna get upset. We're not gonna throw up our hands and say, you know, all is lost. No, because we believe he is in control. And that's something we need to have that that peace of. So let's pause here for a moment to reflect on what this should mean to us. On the one hand, obviously, we're to be totally reliant upon God, right? We're totally reliant upon him. Yet, on the other hand, we're not to be idle, are we? We're to grow in wisdom and knowledge of our Savior. We're to study the word. We're to know the ways of the Lord. So we have these dual truths here, dependence upon God and personal responsibility. It's always been a challenge for us It's always that challenge of depending totally upon God, and yet knowing we are personally responsible for what we do or don't do. These dual truths point us quite distinctly to Paul's admonition in Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13, where he says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and troubling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. That verse presents that dichotomy of we're to work things out, but we're also trusting in God who works all things according to his will. We're to work out or perform or carry out the truth of what Christ has done for us in making us a new creature, while at the same time, depending upon the grace of God, to work in us according to his good pleasure. So we're trusting in God, but we're also living for God practically, living it out, okay? And that's the challenge we have. Furthermore, the believer is exhorted to be ready to give an answer here. It says, be ready to give an answer or a defense of what our hope is within us. The Greek word translated answer here in our text is apologia, from which we get our English word apologetics, okay? Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to being a Christian, okay? It's not, we're not kind of, oh, we don't care, we're just Christians. No, that's not what we should be. We should be desiring to know. We need to be students of the word. We need to be able to articulate sound doctrines of the faith that are found in the word. That's what CLA is all about, isn't it? I mean, that's what we've been doing. We've been studying the doctrines of the faith. We've been diving into the word to make sure we can prove what we believe and why we believe it. So that's our challenge is to be that kind of a student of the word. So we're prepared. When someone asks us a question, we can say, well, here's the scripture that speaks to that. And this is what I believe is the truth because it's from God's word. And, excuse me, we know as pastor preached on just a couple of weeks ago, that text in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It's profitable for doctrine. It's profitable for reproof if we have to reprove someone. It's profitable for correction for someone who's gone astray. It's profitable for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. If you want to be equipped for a good work, then you need to be in the Word of God. You need to have that Word on your heart. We need to grow in wisdom and the knowledge of God's Word. but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because if we don't, if we tend to kind of go our own way, this is where we get into heresies that have popped up over the years. We need to seek the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the word, to make sure we're following what the word is and that he's directing our path. In fact, even as we study and we prepare to share our hope, we need to rely on the Spirit for the inspiration of what to say when people ask us a question of any kind. Then we note that we are to give our defense here in our text. It says we're to give our defense or testimony of our faith in Christ with meekness and fear. Again, our attitude is not one of domineering someone and kind of beating them over the head with the Bible. No, we are to present the truth with meekness, with fear, or with, as some translations put it, with gentleness and with respect. We present the truth with gentleness and respect. Our goal is not to browbeat people or argue them into the kingdom of God, as some people might try to do, but like our Savior, who is gentle and humble in heart, as we're told in Matthew 11, 29, we are to lovingly point people to salvation through faith in Christ alone. That's our goal. We're not to make light of their sin. We should never do that, which makes them subject to the wrath of God. We should never downplay their sin. Neither are we to assault them though with God's word and attempt to frighten them into repentance. That's not God's means. We don't frighten people into heaven. And I think it's important. that both the author and the power behind the word that makes it effectual to bring sinners to repentance is the Holy Spirit. Our goal is to be his instrument and not his substitute. And that's important. We believe the word of God is inspired, obviously, and it's inspired by the Holy Spirit who caused these men to write these truths down that are preserved for us today. Well, that same Holy Spirit that inspired these words, these very words, especially the gospel, is the one who's going to bring about repentance in people, not us, not our, you know, our language or our style or our, you know, whatever it is that we use. It's the Holy Spirit who's going to bring repentance and faith. We might have the most eloquent presentation of the gospel that anyone has ever heard. And you think, wow, that's really great. But if the Holy Spirit's not behind it, it's just words. We have to depend upon him to bring conviction to souls. So that's very important when we go out and we talk to somebody, or that we're engaging in conversation in a situation, wherever it may be, that we're depending upon the Spirit of God to both guide us, number one, and inspire us to use those texts which he wants to use to bring that person to repentance, because he will do it, not us. As we do this, Peter tells us, we are to be sure to keep a clear conscience. If you look in our text, What is the clearer good conscience? Well, Robert Layton, the Puritan says, the goodness of conscience recommended here is the integrity and the holiness of the whole inner nature of a Christian. The integrity and holiness of the whole inner nature of a Christian. So, if you want to have a good conscience, be sure that you're walking in the light of God's word, and that by God's grace, you're acting, speaking, and thinking in accordance with that word. If you do, you will give your enemies no reason to criticize you, and they will be the ones who'll be ashamed at last. That's what Peter is saying here, basically, is if you're living that life, you're talking in that way that's honoring God and is directed by the Spirit, you won't have anything to be ashamed of, and they'll be the ones who'll be frustrated at the end, not you, because you faithfully presented the truth, knowing that God will honor that truth, and they can say whatever they want, but they're the ones who'll be ashamed because they will have no answer. when they face God, if they've rejected that gospel you've clearly given to them without any reason for them to object. Sadly, too often people give their enemies plenty of ammunition. We use techniques, we use words, we use ideas that are often not based on the Bible. We think that somehow we're gonna get people to think our way and therefore they're gonna reasonably become a Christian. Well, that's unfortunate because we do give them ammunition to criticize us and show how hypocritical we are at times. We want to avoid that. Maybe Psalm 19, and verse 14 be our constant prayer as we look to this responsibility we have. It says there, let the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We want to be acceptable to him, what we're doing, we want to be pleasing to him. So we need to make that our prayer, that the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart might be pleasing to him. And if they are, then they will reflect his grace and wisdom to others around us. And if you recall, Peter has made this point about not giving others reason to persecute us in 1 Peter 2, verses 19 through 21. But let's move on now to a second part of our text as we finish up this chapter, and we'll call this section the just for the unjust, the just for the unjust to bring us to God. That's taken also from our text here, the just for the unjust to bring us to God, verses 17 and 18. I mean, let's be honest, suffering is never pleasant, right? It's never pleasant no matter who's engaging in it. Yet God in his wisdom may sometimes use it for his glory and for our benefit. So let's read verses 17 and 18 and see what Peter is telling us here. Verse 17, for it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 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 being that be made alive in the Spirit. And we'll stop there. Verse 17 is really a concluding thought of what Peter's been talking about here in these verses 13 through 16, but I think it's also a good companion verse here for verse 18, as we consider what Christ endured for us. You know, it's difficult, at best, for us to understand why God's people are allowed to suffer, as we just talked about some. Why did these two ladies, you know, die from a heart attack? Two Christian ladies, two loving, wonderful mothers, large families. Why did they die? Why did Debbie have this heart attack and go through what she went through? Why are others suffering? Especially God's people, obviously, in foreign lands. We know of those who are tortured in prisons in China and other places. Why is that happening? We need to be careful, first of all, that we don't begin to argue against God. We don't begin to question his will. We also must acknowledge that at all times, he is in control of all things and that his providence is always the best, even though it doesn't seem so to us. One commentator put it, my foolish heart may think that the things I suffer should cease, but my wise heavenly father thinks otherwise. And sometimes we suffer. We suffer that we might be purified to shine more brightly for our Lord. And sometimes, like Job, it is to prove to Satan our loyalty to God. We prove by our faith and trust in suffering that we are God, that we are his and that he is in control. Calvin said this, God wills nothing or appoints nothing but for the best reason. Hence, the faithful have always this comfort in their miseries, that they know they have God as their witness. They know they have God as their witness. Let's be sure, though, that we're truly suffering for doing good rather than evil. That's what Peter's talking about here. As the ultimate example of such suffering, Peter points us to Christ there in verse 18. Christ suffered unjustly because he suffered not for himself, but in payment for you and me, for our sins. He suffered for our sins. Let's consider several aspects here of Peter's reminder. First, we notice the important word, once. That's a key word here. Under the old covenant, the Jewish high priest had to offer sacrifice after sacrifice, year after year, to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. These were but a type, we know, they're a type of the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, as we're told in John 129. Christ's sacrifice was the effectual sacrifice that was sufficient to cover all the sins of all of his chosen people, which would never need to be repeated, once for all. He had to do it. In fact, let's turn over to a companion text here in Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine, verses 23 through 28, as Paul, or we believe Paul is the author of Hebrews, eloquently explains this picture here of Christ's suffering for us. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 23. Therefore it was necessary. Oh, I found those words to be really heart-piecing. Whenever you hear that necessary, Christ on the road to Emmaus there with the two disciples when they were, you know, confused and wondering why, they didn't know who he was, of course, why he had to die. But he spoke to them and began to talk to them and took them back to Moses and all the prophets and explained that the Christ ought to suffer these things because it was ordained of God. And then when he goes, when they actually go back and he appears to everybody in the upper room, He makes these important words by saying it was necessary. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer and enter into his glory? Whenever you see that word necessary, think about that, that it was necessary for God to save us, to send his son. the son of God, equal with God, into the world, become a man, humble himself, and suffer the indignities of this life and those who persecuted, and then to die on that cross for us. It was necessary. There was no other way. It was necessary for him to suffer for our sins. Once he did it. The effectual sacrifice that was sufficient to cover the sins of his chosen people, which would never be repeated. Verse, let me read this again. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things himself with better sacrifices than these, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us, not that he should suffer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another, He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. And those who eagerly await for him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. It's that classic text that once for all suffering, once for all, Christ has redeemed us, as the old hymn says. It's something we should be reminded of. And there remains no more sacrifice for sin. But be sure, beloved, that you are resting on that once for all sacrifice for your salvation. Be sure that that's what you're resting in. Secondly, Peter brings out here, we have that awesome transaction of the ages here described in the phrase, the just for the unjust, the just for the unjust, or some of your Bibles might say the righteous for the unrighteous. This is the basis for substitutionary atonement. He who is holy and sinless and always undefiled and the delight of his Father became the bearer of our unholiness, our sin, and our defilement. Who can sound the depths of such a thing? Who can grasp what God had to do to redeem us? 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he made him who knew no sin, who is perfect, who is pure, who is undefiled, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That's a powerful statement. That's what our salvation's all about. Here's a simple poem based on 1 Peter 3.18 that captures these words. It's called The Just for the Unjust. The just for the unjust, oh, how can it be that Jesu the righteous should suffer for me? The just for the unjust, what mercy and grace that God now incarnate should die in my place. The just for the unjust, he rose from the grave and now reigns in glory so mighty to save. The just for the unjust, no other will do. I claim him as savior. My friend, how about you? Think about that, the just for the unjust. Thirdly, he died that he might, as we talked about in our title of this section, he might bring us to God. He might bring us to God. We were like blind men and women, groping about with no hope of finding our way to heaven or in a right relationship with God. He didn't just show us the way to God, but he is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way to God, John 14, 6. As Simon Kistemacher states in his commentary, he says, Jesus opens the way to the throne of God, introduces us to the Father, and reestablishes for us an intimate relationship with the Father. He breaks down the barriers and brings us back into that fellowship with the Father. Our Lord gives us back what Adam lost, which was close fellowship with our Creator and our God. And he did this by taking upon himself a human body, like we know, as ours, and suffering that violent death on a cross. He did this by rising from the grave, alive in the spirit. You might recall when Jesus was hanging on the cross, he cried out, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, Luke 23, 46. Though his body entered the grave in death, yet his spirit remained alive, alive, and in this we see the parallel for us, that when we one day shall be put in that grave, we shall be absent from the body, we'll be present in spirit, with the Lord," in 2 Corinthians 5.8. Let's move on now to the latter part of the chapter, the last few verses, verses 19 through 22. And I've entitled this section, Preaching, Prisons, and Baptism, Not What You Think. Preaching, Prisons, and Baptism, Not What You Think. This is probably one of the more difficult passages in Peter's epistle, indeed in the New Testament. As one scholar stated, each of the nine words in the original Greek in verse 19 has been differently understood by scholars. Think about that. Each of the nine words in that verse, there's multiple opinions of what they all mean. Or it does mean that we can't learn something here from this text, okay? We'll be blessed by it. Let's read verses 19 through 22. By whom he also went and preached, in fact, let me back up, read verse 18, because it kind of flows into it here. 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, by whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, 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. 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him." That's quite a mouthful. Very important, very important that we don't jump to conclusions and misapply the meaning of the original words of this very difficult passage. First of all, let's look at the words. by which, or I think some Bibles might say by which, or through which. In this case, mine says by whom or through whom. As one scholar aptly pointed out, the antecedent of the word which or whom here is the term spirit. The antecedent. whom is Spirit. Thus, if we believe that the Spirit refers to the Spirit of Christ in verse 18, okay, the Spirit of Christ, there made alive in the Spirit, as it says latter part of verse 18, if we believe that the Spirit refers to Him, then it would seem that Christ is the preacher here referred to in verse 19. He's the one that's preaching. The question is, Would it be if Christ, is Christ himself who's preaching or is it his person that is preaching? In other words, is this person preaching or is it his spirit that's preaching through men, through other men? Let me kind of word that out a little bit. Is he preaching physically himself or is it his spirit that's preaching through ministers, through prophets, for instance? This question is kind of one that is important when we think about the situation. Looking back at 1 Peter 10, verses 10 through 12, let me read that, 1 Peter 10, I'm sorry, chapter one, 10 through 12. Of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace would come to you, searching what or what manner of time, here it is, the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. And then verse 12, to them, it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which have now been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. So here, Peter is speaking of the spirit of Christ speaking through the prophets, which is what any preacher who is used of God must hope for, or our message has remained if we're not speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit. So let's pause here for a moment. and consider the context. Peter's been talking about suffering for good or for evil, and he has given us an example of Christ suffering for our good. Okay, that's what's been going down so far. We'll keep that in mind when we look at this next phrase. To the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago or were formerly disobedient. Who are these spirits? Who are they? There's two possible explanations. First, some scholars believe Peter is speaking about the spirits as being fallen angels or demons. They reason thus because Peter says it is the spirits who disobeyed, not the spirits of those who disobeyed. You get the difference? The spirits who disobeyed, not the spirits of those who disobeyed, which would refer to humans in that situation. Peter's usage here would agree with that common usage in the Gospels when it refers to evil spirits. Also, there's no scripture that speaks of the spirits of men as being kept in prison, although this can be inferred as happening to fallen angels or demons. And we see that in 2 Peter 2, in verse four, in Jude 6, verse six, and Revelation 20, verse seven, where John writes that Satan will be released from prison, okay, from prison. Hence, the point of view, this point of view would be interpreting verse 19 as saying Jesus preached not salvation, but victory over the fallen angels in prison, showing that they were justly suffering for their evil deeds. That's one point of view. Secondly, some scholars believe that Peter's indeed speaking of the spirits of men who had rejected the righteous preaching of Noah, who would appointed them to God's coming Messiah. In this case, Peter would be saying that these spirits are now bound in prison. In other words, they're in hell because of the rejection of the message preached to them by Noah under the inspiration of the spirit of Christ. In any case, Peter is pointing out the patience of God with those who heard the preaching of the gospel by Noah for 120 years. Think about that. Here are these men and women that lived alongside of Noah, had 120 years of presentation of the gospel to them and they rejected it. So we can see that they reject the truth. Therefore they are suffering justly for their evil, for their sin. What it's definitely not saying, this text is not saying, is that Jesus went and preached the gospel to sinners in hell with the hope that some of them are gonna respond to the gospel. Okay, that's not, some people actually preach that or teach that, but that's not true here. That's not what the text is saying at all. As one commentator most emphatically stated, no scriptural doctrine teaches that man has a second chance for repentance after death. There's no second chance. Once you're dead, you're gone. You're either going to heaven or hell, depending on whether you believe in Christ or not. So that's the main challenge here. What's going on though, and when it talks about, next we'll look at the phrase baptism, as Peter kind of segues into this term of baptism in the middle of this situation about who is preaching. but that may not be what it seems. Okay, he uses that term. We know, first of all, the phrase at the end of verse 20, it says, eight souls were saved by or through water. How can it be said that Noah and his family were saved by the water when the same water destroyed everyone else on earth? How can it be said that they were saved by water when it was a destructively judgmental thing? Perhaps one could say that the floodwaters caused the ark to float, thus saving those inside. But this misses the point. And several scholars agree on this. In the flood, the water was the means of God's judgment, not of salvation. It was a means of judgment. So what did the water save Noah and his family from? Simon Kistematter put it this way. After going through the waters of the flood for more than a year, Noah's family left the ark and knew that God had saved them from being drowned by an ocean of human corruption. Before the flood of wickedness could sweep away the members of Noah's household, God saved them and continued. the human race. So they were saved by God's judgment taking away the wickedness around them and preserving them in the ark. So now we can look at verse 21 with a little different light. Let me read verse 21 again. There's also an antitype which now saves us. Baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter speaks here in verse 21 of a figure or symbol, or more accurately, an antitype. An antitype, which is derived from the Greek word antitupon, which means things resembling one another. Something resembles each other. So as the flood portrays the cleansing of the world of man's wickedness, it's cleansing the wickedness out of the world. So the water of baptism indicates or shows the cleansing of the believer from sin. As the flood separated Noah and his family from the evil around them, so baptism sets or separates believer from the evil around us. We're distinguishing ourself. from those around us. No one in this family were chosen by God and kept safe in the ark from God's judgment. We were chosen by God and are kept safe in the ark Christ Jesus from God's judgment. So now, as Peter tries to explain here in verse 21, the water of baptism does not actually save us, but rather we are saved by the atoning death of Christ and his resurrection from the dead, Romans 6.4. Baptism symbolizes the shed blood of Christ that washes away our sin As one author explained it, baptism that saves a person must be expressed by the outward ceremony of the sacrament and through the pledge of a good conscience toward God that comes from a believer's heart. Finally, let's look at verse 22. Peter repeats here, as one commentator put it, a doctrinal statement of the Christian faith. Christ has gone into heaven. Christ has gone into heaven. We serve a living savior. a risen Savior, who not only has gone to heaven, but he is at the right hand of God, a position of honor, the greatest honor one could imagine. He is next to God. Hebrews 8, 1, now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne to the majesty in the heavens. There he reigns over all, and wonder of wonders, we reign with him. That's what's a miracle. We reign with him. All powers are subject to him. which reminds me of Psalm 110 verse one, where it says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. He has risen and we are risen in him. He reigns and we reign in him. Colossians 3.1, if you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. That's our goal, beloved, to set our minds on things above to set our thoughts and desires on things above where Christ is, even now, sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Let's pray.