Almighty Father in heaven, you are and you are able. Your power, dominion and greatness has no equal. You are mighty altogether, plentiful and mercy toward all of your creation. Blessed be your name, O Lord. Lord Jesus, grant us, I pray by the power of your spirit this morning, that we may turn away from our foolish efforts to make things better, to try harder, to deliver and rescue our despairing hearts from the sorrow and suffering of this world that's around us. And sadly, so often we find even within us, in our very souls, Lord, grant us faith that we might rest our weary, afflicted souls in your lavish grace and strong support for your people, your church, this very congregation. Accomplish these things, we ask, O Lord, not only primarily for our good, but instead primarily for the glory of Jesus Christ, who is our sufficient Savior. We ask that you'll do these things for your namesake. Amen. Amen. When Martin Luther, the noted reformer, chose to comment on the text that we have before us this morning, this is what he said. A wonderful text is this. and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in all of the New Testament. So that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means. I cannot understand and I cannot explain it. And then Luther sticks the sword in basically and says, and there has been no one who can explain it. So here I am this morning. trying to explain what Luther was convinced no one could. Another commentator says, here is a mysterious text indeed. That's how they started the section on this text. A Puritan of the past says that this text is so deep that this is one of those places that even elephants can swim. That's what he said. And then finally, another commentator seems to even discourage us from even trying to understand this text. He says, the textual questions basically come down to these. Where did Christ go? When did he go? To whom did he speak? What did he say? Different answers are given for each of these questions, resulting in a labyrinth of exegetical options, each of which has no clear, overwhelming claim of certainty to another. With these, we calculate 180 different exegetical combinations that can be said. We will not go through all 100. This is not going to be a 180-point sermon this morning. So what do we need to do as we look at this text? Maybe you were not surprised when it was read just a moment ago by Sam. You were looking at it and saying it seems to be straightforward, but the desire then is to handle our text this morning and to look through this passage starting with verse 18. My hope is to get from verses 18 through verse 20. My plan is to not deal with verses 21 and 22 until later. I think we will have had enough once we get through verse 20 from 18. We'll leave baptismal regeneration and all of those questions for another day. All right. So, how do we understand our passage? Well, we've got to draw a very clear circle around what we're trying to do. We're not trying to answer all the questions that come to mind when we read passages like this. That would not be helpful at all. So, how do we get our bearings as we start to walk through this text? Peter has addressed the pressing issue to these saints that he's writing to in 1 Peter of their inevitable suffering if they're going to be living as saints and as exiles in this world. And if they're faithfully going to live out their calling as saints, as faithful as they can, they're going to inevitably fall and find themselves in this pilgrimage toward the kingdom that they're seeking and pursuing, they're going to find themselves in a place of suffering and sorrow because this world is filled with it. So Peter is here then calling us to faithfully respond to suffering. That's what he's trying to do in our text that's before us this morning. How do we faithfully respond to suffering? First, by confirming that suffering, though it may be hard and though we all have gone through it and are maybe even in the midst of it now, We can go through it. It's not in vain, is what he says earlier in verses 13 through 17. He's saying, how do we respond to suffering as pilgrims who are going through this difficult world? He says, first, it is not in vain, but instead, every bit of suffering that we go through, the Lord has a purpose in it, and he's seeking to bless us, not harm us or hurt us. Very important truth for us to understand. Well, he dealt with that in verses 13 through 17. You can listen to the sermon from last week to hear more about that. But he turns then in our passage and he asked the question that maybe many are asking, OK, I understand that no matter what suffering and sorrow may happen in this world, the Lord's going to use it and turn it and make it a blessing for me. He's not going to waste that suffering, but he's going to use that. But the question still remains. This world is very hard. And many of us are aware of just how wicked and filled with sorrow this world is. Many of us are even carrying a very heavy burden for maybe family members or loved ones or extended family, co-workers. You're aware of the sin and the sorrow that's in our world around us. You have neighbors. that are going through heart-wrenching times. And the question then comes to mind that, yes, the Lord can use for those of us who are believers sorrow and despair to bring blessing, but everything inside of us wants to ask, but is that it? Will suffering and sorrow and sin just have its way forever? Everyone in here knows and feels and longs for justice to come one day. There's got to be justice. There can't be just this writing it off or turning our eye and pretending like the evil is not present or the evil doesn't really exist. We can't just pretend to sweep it under the rug and act like suffering and sorrow and despair will just float away. And we can be OK with that. We know, all of us who are hardwired as image bearers, we have a sense of righteousness because God has placed that in us. Each and every one of us, whether we're those who have placed our faiths in Christ or not. When something wrong and sinful and suffering and sorrow happens in our lives, we want justice. We desire for things to be made right. We don't want to just say, you know what? Good will come out of it. No, no. There has to be something else that needs to be done. And that is the sin, the sorrow, the suffering has to be dealt with. Is it going to be left unchecked? That is the question that Peter is turning to here in our passage this morning. In verses 18 through 20, actually through 22, Peter is turning and he's bringing up the suffering of Christ. Notice right there in verse 18 it says, But here, he's not doing what he did. If you notice in your Bibles, you may want to turn back one page and see. In chapter 2, verses 22 through 25, he mentions Christ's sufferings there. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. There, Peter is mentioning Christ as an example of suffering. And he's saying that if you're going to follow after Christ, Christ is one who suffered. And so therefore, as one who is following after Christ, you too will suffer and just know that that example is set ahead of us. Christ is before us as that example. Our text today, though, isn't giving Christ to us as an example of suffering to follow, but instead he transitions here in verses 18 through 20 to And instead here, Christ is being set before us as one who will give us victory through his suffering. Did you hear what I said? Not victory through our suffering, but there's going to be sin and sorrow and suffering. It's going to be dealt with and it's going to be dealt with perfectly and righteously and with justice. The sorrow and pain that's in the world, all of those All of those children who cried themselves to sleep last night because their parents are so in this world and about this world that the children are suffering because of it. And no one sees those children throughout the city of Jacksonville and all over the world. All of the innocent bystanders to the pain and sorrow that's in the world and the hatred and violence that's in the world. Is there going to be something to deal with that? The answer that's before us this morning at First Peter is yes. So here we are not being called to follow Christ as an example, like in chapter 2, verse 22 and following, but instead to trust Christ in our suffering, knowing that with Christ's victory over suffering, we can share in that victory. Now, this is very important. Because we can know that though there's sorrow and suffering around us or maybe even in our own heart or maybe in our own home, that Christ is the place we must go to find victory and even find justice for the sin that's around us. It will be especially necessary then for us to keep this aim in mind as we go through this text. And that is this aim of victory over suffering through Christ. It's important for us to keep this before us, this aim, because our text that we have before us this morning can easily cause us to chase after countless questions and rabbit trails. We can go all over the place trying to find all kinds of different things. If we do not have this theme that Peter is trying to address here, and that is victory through Christ's suffering over sin and sorrow and suffering, if we don't keep that as our aim, Then we're apt to go all over the place and try to actually accomplish more through this time together this morning than we need to, than what the text is providing for us. So let me state quickly and clearly here as we begin. The aim for Peter, moved by the Holy Spirit, was not to create a theological puzzle to decipher. These people were going through suffering and struggle. So let's give them a theological puzzle to decipher. That way it distracts them from their suffering and their sorrows. That's not what the Lord's trying to do for us this morning, nor for Peter here in our passage this morning. He's not trying to distract us. No, instead, Peter here is establishing with confidence this, that Christ has triumphed over suffering. Through his suffering, he calls us then with confident hope to trust him as we walk through this world filled with suffering and sorrow and pain ourselves. So I want us to take a look this morning at how Peter does this. He does this through verses 18 through 22 in three stages. All right. Three stages. I'm going to give you the three points and then I'm going to give you a picture to draw. Because that's the kind of morning we're going to have, trying to figure this out together. All right? I'm going to give you three points, and then I'm going to give you a picture to draw. So, point number one, Christ's sufferings. Christ's suffering. Point number one, Christ's suffering. And this is where victory is accomplished. And this is verse 18. Point number two is Christ's descent. And that is spelled D-E-S-C-E-N-T, Christ's descent. This is verses 19 through 20. And there in Christ's descent, we're going to see victory illustrated. And then point number three is Christ's exaltation. Christ's exaltation. This is verses 21 and 22. And there we're going to see victory symbolized. Victory symbolized. Christ's suffering, verse 18, that's victory accomplished. Christ's descent, verses 19 through 20, that's victory illustrated. Point number three, Christ's exaltation, verses 21 and 22, and this is victory symbolized. Now, again, let me reiterate, I'm not gonna be doing verses 21 and 22 this morning, but I wanted you to see the whole picture because I think this is helpful for us to understand the passage as a whole. Here's the picture I want you to draw. All of us, not just the children, this is a task for all of us this morning. If you would, draw a large, depend on how, draw a U on your piece of paper, a U on your piece of paper, and know you're gonna be putting words all the way around it, okay? So draw a U on your piece of paper, and in the bottom left-hand side of that U, the bottom left-hand side of it on the corner, write the word humiliation. And then on the right side at the bottom of that U, write exaltation, exaltation. Humiliation on the left, exaltation on the right. Now, start at the very top left-hand point of that U and start working your way down, and I'm going to give you five words. The first one at the very top left is born. Christ was born. That's number one. Christ was born. Underneath that, as you move down that U on the left hand side, is life. The second thing that we have is Christ's life. First, he's born. Then he has his life that he lives. And then the third word down that U, number three, is wrath. Christ receives the wrath of God. Fourth, down that U, is death. Christ died on the cross. And then fifth and lastly, down that left hand side of the U, is buried. Christ was buried. Now, at the very bottom of that U, the nadir of that U. Got that? Got that word? Apex is the top part of a building. The nadir of something is the very bottom part of something. Got it? N-A-D-I-R, by the way. Nadir. Got it? You've heard that word before, right? Okay, very good. At the very nadir of your U, write the word death. Death. Now, I put the word death inside of my U, if you will. And then underneath the U, I put the word hell. Okay? Do what you want to, but that's kind of how I did it. All right, now we're at the bottom of that U, the nadir of the U, if you will. We're getting ready to move back up the right side of that U. At the bottom of that right side of the U, I want you to put rising, Christ rose from the dead. Above that, going up the U, write ascending, ascending, Christ ascended into heaven. And then above that, He is seated. He is seated. This is also called, usually called Christ's session. Christ's session. That's where he's seated at the right hand of the Father. He's currently in his session and he is interceding for us. And we're going to talk about his being seated there at the right hand of the Father, the ascension and his session when we deal with verses 21 and 22. And then finally, at the very top of the U on the right side, write the word judge. He's going to come to judge, right? So you see how the left side of that you is this humiliation going from birth all the way to death. And then we see that after we have that death, then we turn and he begins his exaltation and he goes from rising all the way to judging all of creation. Do you see that? This is a picture of this passage. It starts with Christ's suffering. Really, it starts there with His life, number two, wrath, death, and burying. So there in verse 18, Christ suffered. He goes through the cross. He's receiving God's wrath. It goes all the way down as we go into the death part. This is in verses 19 and 20. We're in this section of death. And also what I'm going to suggest is hell as well, the descent into hell. And then in verses 21 through 22, We come out of that and go into his ascension or his exaltation and see that. And so the point here is for us to notice that when we think of Christ and his life, we can think of his humiliation and his exaltation in these two sides. And when we look at our catechism questions, this is a historic understanding of seeing Christ in this way. Christ's humiliation, then, according to question 30 of our Baptist Catechism, says this, Christ's humiliation consists in, look at your U, consists in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, there's number two, the wrath of God, number three, and the cursed death of the cross, that's number four, and then buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. There he is, death. Now, what does this exaltation consist of? Christ's exaltation consists of His rising again from the dead. There you are, number one, getting ready, going up the right side of that U. On the third day, in ascending up into heaven and in sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And then finally, in coming to judge the world in the last day. Now, why am I doing all this? because it helps us, I think, see the movement of our passage and helps us see what scholars and those who've read this passage have tried to understand this text and kind of seen the framework of that. Again, it's helpful for us to simply not simply just jump in and kind of deal with the text, but actually look at it from stand back and look at it and see the scope of what's around it. So with that said, let's enter into point one of the two points we're going to be dealing with this morning. Point one is Christ's suffering. And that is His victory accomplished in verse 18. His victory accomplished. And we see here in verse 18, as we begin our time together in this text, it says this, verse 18, once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh and made alive in the Spirit." Here we see probably one of the clearest explanations of what took place with Christ when he was there on the cross. This is, I hope, just very apparent. I want to make this side note. It's very apparent that when people, many of us have seen pictures or photographs of a man hanging on the cross that's called the crucifix. And they say, this is Jesus hanging on the cross. And it's supposed to mean something to us. We have no context looking at a picture like that to understand what these words are saying about what was taking place when Christ was on that cross. This is one of the reasons why many churches and even many Christians today would say those pictures and depictions of Christ, especially him on the cross, are not helpful. In fact, they are harmful to our understanding of what actually took place when Christ went to the cross because it has no ability to explain those things. Here we have a clear explanation of the things that were taking place when Christ was on the cross. A very clear explanation of His suffering. First, we see in our passage that Christ's suffering was voluntary. Voluntary. We're being called here in our passage in 1 Peter. Peter's telling the saints there and calling us to as well as Christians to suffer and to do good and to be faithful. And when it comes to it, when being faithful you might in fact suffer, then you're to pursue that. It's better to do good and suffer for it, if it's the will of God, than to do evil, right? That's verse 17, the verse right before what we're looking at this morning. So what's being said here, though, is that we are not without one who has gone before us. We do not have a Savior who's sitting in heaven on the throne and saying, you need to suffer and just endure it. No, we have one who's able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses, according to Hebrews 4, verse 15. One who is in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin. Christ's suffering was not required of him. He was not made to suffer contrary to His will. It was not demanded of Him. At any moment, Christ could have turned away from the demands of the soldiers. No, instead, Christ's suffering was volitional. It was voluntary. It was one where He chose to suffer for doing good according to God's will. Why? Because it was, according to Isaiah 53.10, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him. Our text points to this sympathetic choice to suffer when it says in our passage here before us this morning, for Christ also suffered. Do you see that? That also basically means this, that he is suffering like we are suffering. He leaned into the suffering that we suffered and he's calling us to know that he actually chose that. Whereas in many of our lives and in many of the lives of those that are in our world today, pain and suffering and sorrow is foisted upon them. They would do anything and everything to get out from under that suffering, and yet Christ chose to enter into that suffering. He came and walked on this dusty, corrupt, sorrow-laden world, and He didn't come here and suffer simply because of His sin. But He came here and suffered, and to bear up under this suffering and sorrow, He condescended for our sake. in this world. It says here, he did not do it without us in mind. He did it with his church in mind. And Christ suffered. He entered into the sorrow and the struggling that each and every one of us knows something of. But Christ chose it. Whereas so often we're foisted into it. Secondly, we see in our passage that Christ not only Christ suffering was not only voluntary, but it was also sufficient. It was sufficient. Christ's suffering is not perpetual or constant as the Roman Catholic Church believes. Some of you came out of the Roman Catholic Church. Many have understood that when Mass takes place, for example, on Saturday night, they do something that resembles or looks like what we would call the Lord's Table or the Lord's Supper, but they are doing something very distinctly different at Mass. They believe that that bread and that that cup turns into the actual body and blood of Christ, and that there is, according to their words and their theology and their doctrine throughout the centuries, a perpetual sacrifice taking place. Christ is constantly being re-sacrificed every time mass occurs anywhere on planet Earth. And it's necessary because of the pain and the sorrow that is so massive on Earth. We do not believe that. We do not believe that. That's silly, isn't it? That's fantastic. Why in the world would anybody believe that? Well, Christ's suffering is also sufficient when we, each and every one of us, after sinning, think that we need to do better before we come to God. We think that we are not good enough to be forgiven. We think that we have to try harder. Be more earnest and more able to get our feet under us before God will accept us or even forgive us. You see, in that same way, just like the Roman Catholic Church that we may think is silly, that's constantly saying we need to perpetually bring Christ's sacrifice before us, we too, when we sin, think that we have to add or supplement something to Christ in order for us to be saved or for us to be forgiven. We do not believe, we do not affirm when we do that, that Christ suffered once for sins, as it says in our passage. Do you see that? It says, for Christ also suffered, how? Once for sins. His sacrifice is final and complete. It is sufficient. Therefore, our forgiveness requires faith in the sufficiency of Christ's suffering and righteousness. Our suffering. is not to be added or our working or our suffering is not to be added to what Christ has done. And when we attempt to do that or we begin living in a way that seems to assume that, then we're doing the very same thing as to declare that Christ's suffering is not sufficient. And this is not true for Christ. It says, according to our passage, suffered once for sins, all sin. Finally and completely, he atoned for that sin. on the cross. And then finally, we see here in our passage, not only is Christ's suffering voluntary sufficient, but it's also substitutionary. When Christ died, he did not merely set an example of suffering for us to follow, but instead, according to our passage, he stood in our place as our representative. Christ, then, is our federal head, our substitute. This concept is undeniable when we look at our passage and it says, Notice this phrase, the righteous for the unrighteous. You see what he's doing? There's a substitute. There's one who is righteous, who is impeccable, one who is sinless. That one is Christ Jesus and none other. And that one who is righteous, it says he is the righteous that died once for sins. And notice it says here for the unrighteous. That word righteous is actually singular. It's a singular noun. The word unrighteous is plural. All who are unrighteous, all who are unrighteous, who place their faith in Christ, the righteous one died for. That is Jesus Christ, our Savior. And his righteous life of suffering, humiliation, and finally death has a cause or an aim. What is that cause? Why did Christ suffer and die? It was not because of his sin, but it was, as it says here, for the unrighteous. All those who have earned damnation, hell, and wrath of God because of their unrighteousness. Christ has made righteous, how? Not through their efforts or their ingenuity or their abilities, but instead out of His own righteousness. By faith we trust His life, death, burial, resurrection. And in so doing, we trust his righteousness. According to Paul, 2 Corinthians 5 21, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become, listen, the righteousness of God. We become the righteousness of God by faith in Christ. Now, this is our sticking point. This is our sticking point. I believe this is really our problem this morning for so many of us here. Yes, Christ died for the unrighteous. Yes, Christ will save for himself a people. My question to you this morning is, is Christ suffering for you? Are you accepting? Are you trusting? Are you believing in Christ's righteousness on your behalf? I know Christ can save, but is he willing to save me? Maybe the question you have this morning. Is he willing to save me? This is the place where we must come before the Lord and ask him for his grace, ask him to give us faith and repentance, to trust him no matter what our sin, what our life is like, what we have done and where we've been. No one knows that, but God does. And you come before him by faith with repentance. You are one who is as if you were the very righteousness of God. as our catechism question said this morning that we read together as a congregation. Not only do we see this suffering of Christ, but we see why. Not only how he suffered, but why did he suffer. You see here in verse 18 what's taking place. He presses a little further here and he says, that he might bring us to God. Now, this is our greatest joy, our blessing, our hope in all of life. Many of you this morning come here with heavy hearts, very overwhelmed by sorrow and pain and suffering. You have family members and loved ones that have burdened you. You may even yourself come this morning saying, the Lord has placed me in a place that I do not prefer. In fact, nothing in me likes where I'm at. And I keep praying and asking the Lord to do something for me. And yet He is not delivering me, giving me what I want, bringing me out of the sorrow and the suffering. The Lord has called us to these things. And I can't speak to each and every situation here this morning, but I can say this. You will not find joy until you have rested yourself in the presence of the Lord, until you found that there is nothing. You can't go from the thing you don't want to the thing you do want. If it isn't the Lord Jesus Christ, you will still be in just as much despair having the things that you have in this world that are temporary and passing. the greatest blessing of all of life, the way we can endure through hardship and sorrow, especially when life begins taking things away from us right down to our last breath, our very health. We will be bitter and angry at God for not giving us longer, more days, unless we've come to find that He is our great joy and end. This is a definite and a real there is there is a definite and real hell. None of us are able to escape by our best efforts and most rigorous discipline. Did you know that? I'm not sure we believe that today. There is a definite hell. that none of us are able to escape by our best efforts and our most rigorous discipline. We cannot be good enough to get out of hell. There's a lot of really good people in hell. Turn it around. There is a sure and glorious heaven that none of us are able to enter into by our most careful calculations and most earnest actions. Did you hear that? There is a sure and glorious heaven that none of us are able to enter into by our most careful calculations and earnest actions. And the way we're able to enter The presence of God is through faith in the death of Christ on the cross, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Do you see that there in our passage? Christ being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. So too. By faith in Christ's voluntary, sufficient, substitutionary suffering on the cross, we are brought by the Holy Spirit to God, our Heavenly Father, the foundation of our communion with Him. Romans 5.1. Therefore, since we have been justified, how? By faith. We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, through Christ, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. It's the only place we can stand is in this place. And we rejoice in hope. We rejoice in what? In the very glory of God. Hebrews 10 19 says, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter this holy place, how? By the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us then draw near with a true heart and a full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. And our bodies washed with pure water. So Peter is here calling all afflicted saints, all who are under the weight of this world. and all the harm and suffering and sadness and sorrow this world affords us. He's calling all afflicted saints to see that the victory over suffering is in and through Jesus Christ and His suffering. This suffering is being dealt with. It is being handled. The greatest sin that is occurring isn't the pain and sorrow that's affecting you because of that sin. So many times when someone sins or does harm against us, And they and they seek to do our harm because we're trying to be faithful in some way. We think the greatest offense is what they're doing to me. Not at all. Their greatest offense is what they're doing to Christ. And Christ bore that sin on the cross. His judgment came to that sin in this way. And Christ's sufferings bears our sins each and every one as we come to him by faith. So afflicted saint. I pray that Christ is the one you will draw near to. Your Savior's gracious promise here, his faithful word, you can believe that as your days, your strength shall be. Now, many of us may say, I want suffering to be dealt with. We need justice. We don't need to just be encouraged that the Lord will somehow work good out of the bad. We need justice. Some of you have even cried, some in the middle of the night. How long, O Lord? How long will this suffering happen? How long will my body no longer function as it should? How long will I have to do with this, do without this thing that I've been, that's been snatched away from me, that's so hard and harmful in my life? Listen, the severity of each and every one of your sorrows, the severity of each and every one of your sorrows and suffering will find its solace in Christ's sufferings. Brothers and sisters, turn to Him. Turn to Him. Trust in His sufferings on your behalf. These things are too heavy for you to bear. And you know that is true. So you try to find other ways that you can bear up under the sorrow of this life by finding a way that the trinkets and the shiny things in the world can make me happy and relieve some of the pressure off of it. Others, we know, they decide to turn to drugs and alcohol and all of these other ways to numb their lives because it's so unbearable to think how horrible everything is. unless we have a Savior that is our solace. And in His suffering, we can find hope. We can have peace with God. We can be brought before Him. And in so doing, we find joy in this world filled with sorrow and suffering. Second, I want us to turn now in our passage to verses 19 through 20. First is Christ's suffering. Second, I want you to notice Christ's descent. Christ's descent. Victory, then, if a victory is accomplished in verse 18 through Christ's suffering and bringing us near to God, then we see here in Christ's descent this victory being illustrated. And it's being illustrated according to our passage. And notice what's happening here. With all the questions that are around verses 19 and 20, we read those verses and maybe you scratch your head and say, what's going on here? Notice this, that overall as we read verses 19 and 20, This is clear and we need to understand this. Peter is placing these verses here to declare that Christ triumphed with victory and is exalted as the preeminent Christ over all suffering. And he's done it from the very beginning of time. From the very beginning, one of the most stellar and amazing times of human depravity and violence and wickedness, the Lord has dealt with sin all the way back in Genesis 6. and all the way forward. And he will always deal with this sin. He will always be willing to be triumphant over the sin. Notice how victorious Christ is portrayed as we look at verses 19 through 20. It says in verse 19, "...in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formally 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." All right. We need to be reminded that this text has confounded the church throughout the centuries. So we don't come this morning to fix a sure answer to all of your questions. No, that's not the aim. However, this is a good test for each and every one of us this morning. So many of us are apt to have the knowledge that we possess about our Bibles and other doctrine to be something more about who we are and our own pride than about gaining Christ and knowing Him in humility. Do you read your Bible to get answers about God, to fill in the empty places in your theological jigsaw puzzle, Do you come to scripture knowing that it is from God and thus has authority over us? His word does. Understanding that if this book is telling us about who God is and what he's doing, then we must accept that there's places where there's going to be mystery and there's going to be things that are unanswered. All right. So we need to come to this passage with humility and with care. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't study our Bibles carefully. Yes, we should. But I am saying that when we study, we have an aim of knowing and treasuring our God and our Savior Jesus Christ, not merely getting all of our questions answered. The Bible sometimes frustrates many of you because you have questions that it's not answering. Well, you don't need to know those answers. God says so. All right. So we can be OK with that. God isn't just trying to answer all of your questions, nor, we need to be very aware of this, if we had all of our questions answered, things wouldn't be better. The Lord has placed each and every one of us this week in unique circumstances that require this, that you trust Him beyond what you know about Him and what you know about your circumstances. And that's a good place. So, as we approach our text this morning, Let's come to these eternal scriptures, the very words of God, and ask the Spirit to open our eyes that we may see glorious things from this passage. First, I want to ask the question, who? Christ proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Christ proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Let me talk through this passage, verses 19 and 20, a little differently than maybe I've handled other passages, simply for us to get a scope of what's going on here. First, I want to give you three bullet points, and these three bullet points are the three orthodox interpretations of this passage. So, and they're going to be very short, but three orthodox ways that this passage has been understood. I hardly ever do this. I always land on one place and just give it to you as this is the most probable thing. All right. But I think it's helpful for this text for us to see how. we need to deal with it. So three, and I want to underscore, these are three orthodox interpretations. There's all kinds of unorthodox interpretations throughout history. These are three orthodox interpretations. First is this. The first is this, is that this passage is explaining, here it is, the preexistent Christ preaching by his spirit through Noah. The pre-existent Christ preaching by His Spirit through Noah to the wicked of his day, of Noah's day, right? That's one Orthodox position of this passage, verses 19 and 20. Pre-existent Christ preaching by His Spirit through Noah to the wicked of his day. Number two, the second Orthodox interpretation. is the post-resurrection Christ. The post-resurrection Christ proclaims victory over all demonic spirits. The post-resurrection Christ proclaims victory over all demonic spirits. And he does this by his resurrection and ascension, right? So post resurrection, Christ proclaims victory over all demonic spirits. And he's doing this by the proclamation is actually his resurrection and ascension. That's how he's doing it. OK, I will say that that middle view is probably the most prominent modern view of these passages. OK. And then thirdly, the third Orthodox interpretation is this. Christ was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell the third day he rose from the dead. Do you know where I'm getting that from? I'm getting that from the Apostles' Creed. Many have taken this passage, and this isn't the only passage for the descent of Christ into hell, but this is one of the handful of passages that are dealt with, and many throughout the history of the church, Not all, it's been scattered, has understood this passage not as the pre-existent Christ preaching through Moses, nor the post-resurrection Christ proclaiming to the demonic spirits, all the demonic spirits, but instead it's Christ crucified, dead and buried and going to a place. He descended into hell or into the dead. In the third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And that's the Apostles Creed. Those are the three orthodox interpretations of verses 19-20. I told you it would be a little different this morning, didn't I? Now, let me give you three unorthodox assumptions. There's three things that people say when they come to this passage and specifically when we begin dealing with the descent. They say, well, what about this? There's three unorthodox assumptions that we need to stay away from. Three unorthodox assumptions about this passage. If Christ descended into hell, then some say, well, did he go there to suffer or to be punished? And the answer is no, he did not go to suffer or to be punished. Because Christ completed his work on the cross and he didn't need to go to hell to extend his suffering or punishment. Now, why would we think that? Well, it's because hell is a place of suffering and punishment for everyone. That's a sinner. But Christ isn't a sinner. He didn't go there. He doesn't go there as a sinner. Those who affirm the descent of Christ into hell. So he didn't go there to suffer or to be punished. We're going to see exactly why he did it from the passage. Right. He went there to proclaim. He went there to proclaim. Second unorthodox assumption is one is that he didn't go there to suffer. Second is he did not go there to give people a second chance. All of those poor souls, you know, if they just had one more chance, they would be able to be delivered. Right. You remember the story that Jesus tells the parable about Lazarus and he's in the Abraham's bosom and he says, give me another chance. Just send Moses. And he says, no, no, there's not. There's not a second chance. And so a second unorthodox assumption about this is that the Lord Jesus went there to give people a second chance. That is not true. We do not see that. And that is an unorthodox position or unorthodox assumption. And then thirdly, the third unorthodox assumption is this. First is he didn't go there to suffer. Second, he didn't go there to give a second chance. Thirdly, he did not go there to fight Satan. He went down there to settle it, have a ring or whatever, and Jesus and Satan were going to fight it out. Not at all. That's not the case. And that has been espoused, but that is not true. That's an unorthodox assumption. The power of Satan was vanquished in the cross when he said, it is finished, tell us thy. All of hell, the power and guilt of hell was broken at that point. There is no need for Christ to go to hell to fight Satan or to take away the power from Satan. No need for that. That's an unorthodox assumption. All right. So this is the last one, I think. Yes, I think. Three understandings of the descent. Just so you know, I studied this week and then did all of my notes, and then I said, OK, I'm only going to take half of them. And so there's a lot that we could talk about here. And I will say, as well, that if you want more on any particular position or more thought on any particular area, I can hand you articles or let you look at some other things. And I'll be glad to help you in that process to think through this a little better later on. We can't do that from the pulpit, though. set of bullet points and the last are these three understandings of the descent. For those throughout the history of the church, they've historically primarily come to three different understandings of the descent, meaning Christ descending in the hill. The first that I want to mention. in order here. The first I want to mention is what historically the Puritans understood. Now you know that I read a lot of Puritans and I trust a lot of what the Puritans have to say. But here the Puritans took up an understanding of the descent of Christ And this is how they understood it. They understood the descent as a state of being dead. In other words, there's not an actual place that Christ went, but instead he remained in the state of the dead. In other words, he remained dead for three days. And that's pretty much the extent of what the Puritans are willing to say. William Perkins, who is probably the preeminent Puritan of his day, everyone after William Perkins pretty much uses William Perkins in this way. The Puritans understood Christ's descent as being metaphorical, an expression for dying, being buried, and becoming subject to the state of death for a time. argued that the descent into hell means, and I quote, when he was dead and buried, he was held captive in the grave and lay in bondage under death for a space of three days. He continues to say that this is the lowest point in Christ's humiliation, right? You will see this when we're going through our Orthodox catechism. As I mention almost every Sunday, one of the catechisms, either the Baptist Catechism or Orthodox Catechism, in the Orthodox Catechism, which was created by Puritans, it says in question 43, why is there added, meaning to the Apostles Creed, He descended into hell? The answer to that is this. In my greatest sorrows and temptations, I may be assured and comforted that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His unspeakable anguish, pain, terror, and agony, which He endured throughout all of His sufferings, but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell." Do you see how that works? They're not saying that Christ actually went to a place, but that He remained dead. That's what most of the Puritans hold to that view. John Calvin, which was the preeminent reformer, if William Perkins was the preeminent Puritan, John Calvin is the preeminent reformer. says that he holds this second view. First view is state of being dead. There's not an actual place. The second understanding of the descent is this Christ's suffering on the cross. He endured all of hell when he was on the cross. Right. This is really what what Calvin mentions and brings forward. And most would say that in this view, Calvin would say Christ didn't go to hell. Hell came to Christ and was laid upon him on the cross. Does that make sense? Again, this is not an unorthodox view, neither one of these are, but they are the views that have been held concerning the descent of Christ throughout the years. in the centuries. Calvin states this, and I quote, in his Institutes. By these words, he means that Christ was put in place of evildoers as surety and a pledge, submitting himself even as the accused to bear and suffer all the punishments that they ought to have sustained, all with this one exception. He could not be held by the pangs of death. No wonder then, Calvin goes on, I'm still quoting, no wonder then if he is said to have descended into hell, for he suffered the death that God in his wrath had inflicted upon all the wicked. And so on the cross, Christ received all of hell upon him to deliver us from our sin. Many throughout the centuries hold to a third view of the descent of Christ. And I will say that this is one that is not very popular today and has not been popular for many, many hundreds of years, actually. And it's called the local or actual descent of Christ into hell. This was held by a lot of our church fathers, but then began to kind of wane when the reformers came along. As soon as Calvin said something, everybody went with him. And then after Calvin, the Puritans took off and went in another direction. And now it's almost obscure and completely done away with. Early in the church history, there was a understanding of a local descent. This is the third view, which is an actual place where Christ went. And they hold to verses, passages like this and many others that say, according to our passage here, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Right. Talks about him doing that. And it speaks of that thing. Now, I want you to hear me here. I want you to understand, one, we will not divide in this church over this issue. I am good with you guys holding to all kinds of different things that I've said here that's orthodox. In fact, I would encourage it. But if you're insisting on your view being the only one, you've got problems with me and with the rest of the elders. All right? We're not going to divide over this because the church obviously hasn't landed with certainty on this, and we're not going to take an obscure passage like this and make it a dividing point among our congregation. However, my hope this morning is not so much to convince you of this view of the what's called local descent or actual descent of Christ into hell. My hope this morning is not to convince you of this view as to commend it to you as convincing. In other words, I don't want us to simply dismiss it, since the church has, throughout the centuries of the church, there have been people who have held to this. I don't want us to simply dismiss it and say, all of these people are crazy, they don't know anything. No, they were genuinely trying to handle the scriptures. So, I am not so much trying to convince you this morning of this view, as much as I am trying to commend it to you as convincing. To not dismiss it simply because you have not found all of the answers or there's a lot of questions with this particular view. Because, I promise you, whatever view you have also has a lot of questions that are not answered. It's just the nature of this particular doctrine. It is starting to be brought forward, this idea of the local descent or actual descent into hell. It's starting to be brought forward, honestly, over the last couple of decades. There's a lot of work being done in church history and research being done. And with that, there's a lot of things coming forward. One of the more helpful kind of modern Easy reads, easier reads on this is a guy by the name of Sam Rinahan and his book is called Crux Moris Inferi. I'll be glad to give that to you later. But in this he holds to the actual or local descent of Christ and this is what he says in his book concerning his passage. There are many different interpretations of this passage, but taken as a description of the descent, the scriptures say that Jesus Christ, here's the articulation of the actual descent, that Jesus Christ as a soul, soul and spirit are the same thing, as a soul, because it says here in our passage, put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, therefore his soul is still active, made a proclamation to imprisoned angels. The wicked and the rebellious angels in prison in the lowest tier of Sheol. Here's another difficulty with this whole doctrine is that we need to understand with clarity what Sheol is in the Old Testament and that Sheol actually is divided up into three different compartments according to the Old Testament. description of it and I mean I'm tempted to say raise your hand if you know what all those are because very few of us do right and so there's all kinds of other things we need to understand in order to be able to bring this far but nonetheless he says Jesus Christ as a soul made a proclamation to the imprisoned angels, the wicked and rebellious angels imprisoned in the lowest part of Sheol, by appearing in Tartarus, which is the lowest parts, or the abyss, and declaring his victory over all of these angels. Jesus caused every demon to know that their efforts were all in vain, and the one whom they murdered was victorious, that is Christ. And they had no power whatsoever to hinder what was going to happen, and that is the church and his kingdom was going to flourish. Jesus also calls everyone who died in unbelief to know that the one whose name they had refused to name, the one upon whom they had refused to call upon, was precisely who the scripture said that he was, precisely who he said he was, and that they know that their condemnation is just because they have refused the very person of Jesus Christ. This is the understanding of the descent. Now, Christ's victory over suffering is declared in all three of these understandings of the descent. and all three interpretations of this passage that I've explained to you, right? We just can't go to those three points that I mentioned, these assumptions that we shouldn't be making, right? So Christ's victory over suffering and sin was being proclaimed in each one of these positions. And that is the aim of 1 Peter. And so wherever you land, you still can grasp this very truth. And that is Christ is so victorious over sin and suffering that he was even able to do it to the most heinous of people way back in Genesis chapter 6, that they were so heinous, they were worse than us today. It's unbelievable. They were worse than us because the Lord decided to completely wipe out the entire race except for one family back then. That's how bad it was. But today he hasn't done that. So this icon of wickedness, even Christ dealt with that. He's victorious over all sin, evil and wickedness. And so God's patience waited in the days of Noah. Do you see that there in verse 20? It's speaking of here where it says, Where it says his patience waited in the days of Noah, it speaks of Genesis 6 that was read for us this morning by Jonathan. These notoriously wicked and rebellious people on Noah's day. It says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually. It was notoriously wicked, notoriously rebellious. And it says later in 2 Peter that Noah was a herald of righteousness. So not only was he building this boat and saying, the Lord is telling me to do this. He was he was accosted. He was ridiculed because of his building of this boat. Noah was declaring that God is righteous and he's going to judge all the earth because of your wickedness. And none listened to him. Spare eight. That's himself and his seven family members. What Peter's doing then here is this. Peter is saying to the saints in his day, you're in the very same place. You're trying to live for God and they're criticizing you, they're ridiculing you, they're reviling you. You're in the same place that Noah and his family were in. And know this, that in the same way that God judged them, God's going to judge those who are reviling you and doing evil against you. And this day, he is not going to let it go by. He's going to bring about justice. And brothers and sisters, in the same way that Peter told the saints of his day this story or this text, he's telling us, too, that no matter what we may be going through, no matter what reviling and criticism we may go through by being faithful as God's people during our day, even mocked because of the faith that we have, the Lord will not allow that to go by. There will be justice. And I hope you can see here that Peter is saying to the suffering exiled saints into us today, the Lord will not allow evil and rebellion and wickedness to have the final word. Christ will prevail and triumph over sin, sorrow, and suffering. Why did he do that? He did it so that he can bring eight safely through. You see this here in our passage, right at the end of our passage here, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. You see this? It's kind of separated by our English text, but how did they get safely through that water? Did they get safely through that water by saying, you know what? I believe what the Lord is saying, but I don't like Noah and his family. So I'm going to go to the top of the highest mountain and be safe there. There is no safety there. I'm going to, I'm going to attach myself to the outside of the ark and I'm going to hang out out here and see if I can be safe there. There was no safety there. Where's the only place where they were able to be brought safely through the water? It was inside this promised refuge that God himself gave to them. How can anyone be delivered from the judgment waters that are in this world today? How can anyone be delivered and saved from judgment of God? There's all kinds of different ways people want to try to save themselves. But there's only one way any of us will ever get safely through the judgment waters of this age. And that is by resting not in the bottom of an ark, but in the person and work of Christ, by entering Christ, by faith, trusting in Christ, the one that God himself prepared for all men to look to and to be saved. And so this morning, there is only one salvation. And it is by resting in the ark that the Lord provides for us in Christ, in Christ alone. This is why when we go to baptism, as it turns, then you see that you see the logic here. Then he turns, he says, baptism then corresponds to this. Now, I can't get into that, right? I really want to go there, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to wait until later. But you see, that's what he's talking about here. Baptism is a coming through the waters of judgment, going in and then coming out, saying that in Christ, I am delivered and only in Christ. So Christ is proving himself in our text this morning to be strong, to save even over the most hostile and fierce disobedience and foes in the history of mankind and in our lives today. Proclaiming victory over death and the grave and evil spirits of darkness even today. It is Christ. It is Christ. I want to end with one example and then a passage. I have a friend that for a couple of years, a couple of years ago, he was encouraging me to include, he descended into hell, into the Apostles' Creed for our congregation. And for me to affirm this doctrine of the descent of Christ into hell. He was encouraging me in this. And I was reading and trying to figure this out and trying to put this together. And it's very, very difficult portion to put together. So last night I texted him and said, tomorrow, tomorrow I am preaching on this. And that friend of mine lost his son to suicide. And he said, preach Christ. And he said this, and I'm going to quote. It is Christ and his strength alone, his victory over death and hell and suffering that has been my only hope since my son's death. This is not just some theological puzzle. This is an anchor that saints have plunged their hearts into when all the world was shaking around them. And I want us to know that no matter where you may land in this issue, I want us to know that Christ is the victor over death and hell and suffering. He's not looking away or pretending that it doesn't exist. He is going to deal with it and we can trust him as his people and hope in his name. Then I looked and I heard around the throne, And the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels number myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Listen, and I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, listen, and under the earth and in the sea and all that was in them. And you know what they were saying? To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forevermore. And the four living creatures said Amen. And God's people this morning, we too say Amen. Let us pray.