Scripture we've used before. 1 Peter 3, verse number 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure, whereunto even baptism, doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. We ask Heavenly Father, wisdom as we consider what for some people is a very difficult passage of your word. We pray that our understanding is in accord with the rest of your word and with the will of God. Speak to hearts about salvation. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. For those of you who are fishermen, you realize that the best way to catch fish is to use some sort of bait, some sort of enticement. The enemies of truth, those who are trying to catch souls, use a little bit of bait as well. And like the lure which resembles some sort of fish or some sort of other food, heretics often take the scripture and dress it up to look really enticing before they slip their hook in there and dangle it before their victims. This morning I would like to examine one of those spiritual fishing lures. After speaking of the Savior's death on the cross, that he might bring us to God, Peter refers to Christ's preaching to the people during the days of Noah's ark, during the days when the ark was being constructed. Maybe that's a better way to put it. As we have seen in an earlier message, some of those enemies of truth have taken Peter's words and used them to preach purgatory. and or a second opportunity for people to be saved after they have died. Why would they do that? Well, as they say in criminal investigations, follow the money. Purgatory has been financially profitable to those who teach it, and those churches which teach a second opportunity to be saved often link their finances to that salvation. In addition to these two, purgatory and a second chance, there's another false doctrine taken from the last few verses of this chapter. It takes two twists of logic and a denial of other scriptures, mix in a bit of imagination. But some people say that Peter teaches that folk are saved from their sins through water baptism. I'm here to tell you that is not true. It is not what Peter is saying. It's not found anywhere in the word of God. Let's consider this subject by addressing three points. The baptism of Noah, the salvation of Noah, and the illustration of Noah. We'll start with the salvation of this man. We are talking about the grandson of Methuselah, the great-grandson of Enoch. He was in the ninth generation after Adam, very early on in humanity. He is in the lineage of the man God first created. Now when Noah was a middle-aged man, he lost his great-great-grandfather, Enoch. But for 400 years, he had the opportunity to spend time with Enoch. They conversed about a great many things. And Enoch... And Enoch was born while Adam was still alive. So I'm sure that Enoch was able to share with Noah some of the things that Adam knew about God. What Adam had seen and what he had even done. Those people lived incredibly long lives back then. The curse against sin, shall we say, was intensifying. As a descendant of Adam, Noah was a sinner, like all the rest of us. The apostle Paul tells us, Wherefore, as by one man," referring to Adam, wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. All sinned actually in Adam, Romans chapter five and verse number 12. Adam died at the age of 930 because he chose to become a sinner. Seth, his son, died as well because he was born a sinner, as did all of the other children of Adam. They were born sinful. During the ages in which God graciously blessed and protected the line of Adam, Methuselah, Enoch, and so on down to Noah, other members of the human race were not so blessed. They were following their sinful flesh into more and more wickedness until the earth was filled with violence, we are told. It was a very wicked place. Eventually, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Indeed, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, because we are all children of Adam. And it repenteth the Lord that he made man on the earth. It grieved him to his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, for it repenteth me that I have made them. As Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death. Then Genesis 6.9 reveals, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a redeemed man. He was chosen and saved by a God of grace. He was, Noah was, a saint of the Lord. That was a chapter before the construction of the ark. He was a child of God before he entered the ark. He was a child of God before the ark saved him. Noah was not saved from his sin nature. He was not washed from the effects of his sin by the ark. By the washing of the water of the flood. He was saved by grace through faith, something not of himself, because it was a gift of God, Ephesians 2.8. Water didn't put Noah into the ark, saving him from God's judgment. God put him in the ark. And if you stop and think about it, not a drop of rain nor a swirl of the flood touched Noah. It is safe to say that Noah's baptism did not literally save him from his sin. Noah was saved in the same way that every other saint of God has ever been saved, by grace through faith. Paul asked, What shall we say then about Abraham? What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? What saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without any works. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. It is of faith that it might be by grace. Romans chapter 4. Noah was saved by God's grace, just like anyone else who has ever been saved. But Peter mentions, in the scripture that we're studying, baptism. What about Noah's baptism? First of all, it needs to be pointed out that Noah was not physically baptized, unlike his neighbors who were. It's quite likely that not a single drop of rainwater touched him. It's very likely that not a drop of water touched him, except for that which he had saved and threw on his body from time to time to wash off. However, the rest of the people of the earth were immersed in water, thoroughly dipped in the flood waters. You could logically say, and I'm not saying this is doctrine, you could logically say that their baptism killed them. Like the doctrine of baptismal salvation, their immersion condemned them into eternity. I've already pointed out that God the Father commented on the condition of the people of the world. The Lord Jesus later added a comment or two. God said that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Then Jesus added, they did eat, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luke chapter 17. In other words, the people who died in the flood were probably religious. They certainly celebrated their sacrament of marriage. They were probably religious. But they were horribly wicked in other ways. And that wickedness, as it is today, was so common in their society, it was as casual as getting out of bed in the morning. It was a wicked, wicked society. God, the righteous judge, resolved to destroy that humanity in its wickedness. The holiness of God does not mix with the sinfulness of man. They can't coexist. But Jehovah came to Noah, giving to him the blueprints and the commission to build a huge barge, if you like, a boat, a ship, the ark. And he said to Noah, this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The deliverance of God's chosen people was not left to chance. It was not given to Noah to mess up. It was all written out. It was all planned. We have the Reader's Digest version of it, I'm sure. Noah had much, much, much more than that, down to the very smallest details. Noah took the details directly from the heart of God, and he believed God directly from his own heart. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness, which is by faith." Hebrews chapter 11 and verse number 17. And the Lord said unto Noah, all right, come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. Genesis chapter 7 verses 1 and 10. Correct me if I am wrong. Noah was saved from the flood and not actually by the flood. Isn't that right? He was saved from the water. Those other people were not saved from the water. He was saved from the water, not by the water. Correct? Forget for a moment what Peter says and how people might understand what Peter says. We'll come back to that. Noah was not actually saved by the water. As the judgment of God fell on the wicked people of the world, Noah, the sinner whom God has saved by his grace, was sequestered inside the means of salvation which God had designed for him. He wasn't saved by the flood. He was saved by the ark. He was saved in the ark. Noah was saved by the ark, but it wasn't a deliverance from his sins. they were already taken care of. It was deliverance from God's physical judgment on those people whom the Lord had not saved. Furthermore, am I correct in repeating that not a drop of water touched Noah or his family? And yet Peter says, eight souls were saved by water. And he also refers to baptism. Of course, Peter's use of the word baptism refers to immersion. Baptiza refers to dipping, plunging. It refers to immersion. It always does. It can only refer to immersion. Not sprinkling, not the pouring or scooping up of water to pour on someone's head. Immersion is the only definition and explanation of the word baptism. When the rains began and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, the ark floated in the water, but the water didn't enter the ark. And as the rains continued for 40 days, the roof of the ark constantly shed that rainwater into the growing flood. Again, it didn't get inside the ark. So there's a sense in which Noah was surrounded by the waters of the flood, hence immersed in it. He was immersed in the water, although he was protected from the water by the ark. In other words, he was baptized metaphorically. And without a doubt, as Peter says, the water did not wash away the filth of his flesh. The smell of those animals, just think about it, got in everybody's hair, cling to their clothing, got on their skin, each and every day. And Noah may have washed that stink off, but it was not the baptismal waters that cleansed him. There are people who think that when they are baptized, by immersion or in whatever fashion they claim to be baptized, they become new creatures in Christ. They believe that somehow this baptism has changed them spiritually, or at the very least improved them. But unless I'm mistaken, Noah was not in any spiritual way changed during his cruise in the ark. He was older when he got off. That happens, but that wasn't a result of the flood. And he had to cast off his sea legs and get his land legs back again, I suppose. So there were some changes. If you want to call his months in the ark his baptism, it is impossible to say that his baptism changed him, improved him, made him a different person. Noah was baptized during this cruise. He was, but it was as an illustration. Theologian T.P. Simmons wrote, this passage is truly a boomerang in the hands of those who believe that baptism has something to do with accomplishing salvation. Because it says that baptism saves, these baptismal regeneration people hasten to invoke this passage, but it says too much to be of any use to them. The passage truly says that baptism saves, but it tells just how and in what sense it saves. It saves only in the same sense that the water of the flood saved the occupants of the ark. The word figure in verse number 21 is antitupon. It is an antitype. By definition, that means baptism represents or pictures something else. And in this case, it pictures salvation. Baptism doesn't actually save the person being baptized, but it represents baptism and how that person has been saved. It is a figure. It is a representation. Again, let's not forget the context of Peter's words. Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. The cleansing agent for sin is not water, holy, baptismal, or any other kind of water, but rather it is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he shed at Calvary. Following his death, the body of Christ was placed in a tomb for a short while, and after that he was resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit before ascending into heaven. Baptism is an antedupon by which the person who has been saved from sin testifies to the world that Christ died, was buried, resurrected, and I died, was buried, and live a new life in Christ. Baptism, in essence, declares I died and my old life has been buried with Christ, but now I live a new life. I am a new creature in Christ. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. It took a very long time for Noah and his sons to build that life-saving ark. Anytime someone from outside the family came by and saw that construction project, their eyes said, judgment is coming. There's a reason for this thing. Salvation is available. There's a reason for this ark. Sadly, their minds did not believe their eyes, and their hearts rejected the message. The ark was God's design. It became the sinner's scorn. They laughed at it. They laughed at foolish Noah. Whenever a person is scripturally baptized, he testifies to the world that judgment is coming. You need to be prepared. I am prepared, not because I'm a great person, but because I have trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The preaching of that message, the preaching of the cross, is to other people foolishness. But the truth is, Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Now, having said that baptism doesn't wash away sin, Peter still tells us, baptism doth also save us. But in the same breath, he tells us, it has nothing to do with the putting away of the filth of the flesh. Rather, it supplies the answer of a good conscience toward God. This is the only time in the New Testament that the word answer is ever used. So we can't compare this scripture with others to find out what an answer is. We're forced to turn to lexicons and other experts. W.E. Vine, for example, tells us that the word was used by the Greeks in a legal sense. He says that baptism is the ground of an appeal by a good conscience toward the accusations that are thrown against the children of God that we've discussed earlier in this chapter. Baptism is a statement to the world that a person's conscience is clear in the sight of the all-knowing God. It's just a statement. There are other reasons to be baptized. There's the command of God to be baptized. But this was one reason that Peter and other early saints demanded it. The conscience, the statement of the conscience. When people are born again, truly saved, their lives are turned 180 degrees, completely around. And in the early days of Christianity, The Jews, for example, hated those converts to this Jesus Christ. And we see in the Bible that they tried to kill Christ's children or God's children. Later, the unbelieving heathen picked up their swords and they started to do exactly the same thing. Let's rid the world of these who profess to believe in Jesus. Under those circumstances, It became a demand by the already suffering saints that this person, who now says that he too is a believer in Christ, demonstrates to the world that he is by being baptized, by making this public declaration. I am united in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. So, often in the Word of God, baptism is clearly mentioned in the same breath as faith in Christ. For example, in Mark's version of the Great Commission, we read, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. The baptismal regenerationists take this verse, adding it to what we have in Peter and a few other verses as well, to say, there is no salvation unless a person is baptized. But the idea is destroyed in the last part of that verse in Mark 16. Going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Doesn't say he that's not baptized shall be condemned. It's just a matter of a lack of faith. Only unbelief condemns the disobedient soul. The wrath of God is already there, the curse is already there, they're already dead, but practically speaking, it's the unbelief that takes them. The disobedience of refusing to be baptized does not condemn a soul to hell. But again, every believer needs to be baptized as an answer of a good conscience toward God. And that is a part of the believer's testimony of salvation. I am a child of God and let me prove it to you. I wish to be baptized in the midst of all this hatred toward the children of God. On the day of Pentecost, the people under conviction of their sin cried out, men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter replied, repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Why did the Ethiopian eunuch say, hey, there's enough water over here, why can't I be baptized? And he was. He did so to declare to his queen, Candacy, and everyone else that he had a clear conscience before God. He was now a believer in and a servant of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The same can be said of the Philippian jailer. Today, for the most part, the baptismal pendulum has swung to the position where it's, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. But Peter informs us that baptism does matter. It's important. It's linked to salvation in such a way that to deny baptism is somewhat an attack upon redemption, which is in Christ. Baptism is not salvation. Baptism is not the means of salvation. It is only a figure, as the baptism of Noah is only a figure, a picture. If you are a believer in Christ, if you have been cleansed through the blood of the Lamb of God, then you need to be properly baptized to complete your testimony before the world, to share with others the fact that your conscience is clear before God because the Lord, by His grace, has saved you. It identifies you as a child of God, but it is not a part of your salvation. I think Peter tells us that. Yes. Please stand.