1 Peter 3 v18-22 Cameron Jungles 2-20-2013

Victory through Suffering: 1 Peter 3:18-22 (Eastside Baptist/Wed PM Feb 20, 2013)

Review

Ø Live as God’s exiles in a hostile world (2:11-4:11).

· Respond in a godly way to suffering (3:13-4:11).

• Live righteously even through unjust suffering (3:13-17).
• Christ: our example of achieving victory through suffering righteously (3:18-22).

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

1 Peter 3:19

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits--

1 Peter 3:20

to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

1 Peter 3:21

and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

1 Peter 3:22

who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Main Idea: Christ is our example, who achieved victory by righteously enduring suffering.

1. Christ’s suffering as a righteous man reconciled us to God and left us an example of how to endure unjust suffering.

1 Peter 3:18a

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…

1. Christ’s suffering provided the opportunity for him to proclaim God’s victory over evil.

1 Peter 3:18 b

He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:42

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;

1 Corinthians 15:43

it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

1 Corinthians 15:44

it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

1 Peter 3:19

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits--

5 Key Questions for this challenging passage?

Ø When did Christ go?

Ø In what state did Christ go?

Ø Where did Christ go?

Ø Who are these spirits now in prison?

Ø What did he preach/proclaim?

Ø When did Christ go?

Ø In what state did Christ go?

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits– (1 Pet 3:19 NIV)

In that state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison (1 Pet 3:19 CSB)

*Christ went in the state of his resurrected/glorified body after his resurrection from the dead and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.

Ø Who are these spirits now in prison?

to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built… (1 Pet 3:20 NIV)

Genesis 6:1-2

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

Genesis 6:3

Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years."

Genesis 6:4

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Jude 6

And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

Jude 7

In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

2 Peter 2:4

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

2 Peter 2:5

if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;

2 Peter 2:6

if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

*The spirits in prison are the angels who sinned by cohabiting with human women as described in Genesis 6:1–4. They were imprisoned by God and await their final judgment.

Ø Where did Christ go?

Ø What did he preach/proclaim?

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits-- (1 Pet 3:19 NIV)

who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 Pet 3:22 NIV)

*Christ made a proclamation of victory to the wicked angels confined in chains. His proclamation declares God’s victory over death, hell, and over all evil. Christ made this proclamation in conjunction with his ascent to heaven to the right hand of the throne of God.

What about Baptism that saves?

1 Peter 3:20

to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

1 Peter 3:21

and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

*The external act of baptism does not save (“not the removal of dirt from the body”); rather it is baptism functioning as an external confession/pledge of one’s repentance and faith in God and the gospel. This confession/pledge of repentance and faith is only effectual because of the saving power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

*Death and resurrection of Christ secures salvation and guarantees the saving power of the Spirit. The Spirit regenerates hearts (through new birth), resulting in spiritual life and accompanying faith/repentance. This faith/repentance is pledged/confessed publicly/externally through baptism.

1. Christ’s suffering was the path to his exaltation, vindication, and victory.

1 Peter 3:21 b - 22

…It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Luke 24:26

Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"

1 Peter 1:10-11

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

1. Since Christ is our example, the path to our exaltation, vindication, and victory is through living righteously through unjust suffering.

1 Peter 4:12

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

1 Peter 4:13

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Main Idea: Christ is our example, who achieved victory by righteously enduring suffering.

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Cameron Jungels Eastside Baptist Church March 2, 2013 Wed PM Unless otherwise noted, the verses are in NIV.