by God this morning by considering his word. I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of 1 Peter, and we're going to be reading chapter 3, verses 18 through 22. If you're following along in a pew Bible, you could find that on page 1016. I notice that we do have some visitors here, and we're very delighted that you've chosen to worship with us this morning. My name is Josh Hinson, one of the pastors here at Grace Covenant Church. And we have systematically been working through the book of 1 Peter, and we find ourselves in chapter 3 verses 18 through 22. And I just want to say at the outset, as you can see, this passage. is a densely packed, somewhat bewildering passage, especially to us moderns. And so I thought it the better part of wisdom to actually spend about three weeks on this. And not necessarily verse by verse, but coming at it each week from a particular angle. And so this week we're going to tackle verses 19 and 20. And then next week, Lord willing, we will be observing the Lord's table. So I will take up verse 18. And then Lord willing, if everything comes together, it doesn't always come together, but if everything comes together, December 9th, we will be having a baptism service where three people will be baptized. So we're very excited about that. We're gonna have that in the Sunday morning service. And if all of that comes together, then I will be taking up verses 21 and 22 on December 9th. So that's kind of the roadmap of where we're going. Hopefully you've all found 1 Peter 3, verses 18 through 22. So let's give our attention then to the reading of God's word. 1 Peter 3. Verses 18-22 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 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. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. As far as the reading of God's word, the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Let's give thanks to the Lord for this eternal word. Father God, we thank you for bringing us here this morning. And Father, I pray specifically this morning that as we wade into the waters of this complexing text, that you would give us patience, Father, that you would help us to give attention to what the text says, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and that you might give us insight, Father, not simply to make us smarter sinners, But Father, to sanctify us, would you show us and connect for us how the truths that Peter puts down in these verses connect to the bigger picture of vindication in Christ, which comes through suffering? Other many of us in many different ways are suffering this morning, not just general suffering, but suffering that comes through being a Christian, suffering that comes through sharing your name and being scoffed at and ridiculed. And Father, we need a word this morning. We need a word from the reigning, thriving, alive, resurrected Son of God to speak comfort to us. So Father, speak through your Son from heaven this morning through your word. Help your servant to unpack this word that our hearts might be lifted up to heaven, encouraged, consoled, and our eyes pointed to that great day of judgment when your Son will come to judge the living and the dead. We ask these things in his name, amen. It's humorous to me that at the end of Peter's epistle, second epistle, he talks about salvation and he says, you know, Paul also mentions the things that I'm talking about. And by the way, Paul, in his letters, says things that are kind of hard to understand. And then when we read this passage this morning, we're just left scratching our heads saying, Peter, what are you saying? I don't understand what you're saying, Peter. So it's just funny to me that Peter didn't realize that he himself also had complexing and sometimes hard to understand things. But the fact of the matter is, is that I don't think that the hearers of Peter's day, when they heard these things read, saw them as things that were hard to understand. In fact, I would submit to you that the things that Peter said in this passage were readily accessible to his hearers. They knew exactly what he was talking about. It's interesting to me that he did not need to expand or explain. He just talked about Christ going and proclaiming to the spirits in prison in the days of Noah, et cetera, et cetera, and they understood it. But for us moderns, it's something very difficult to understand. In fact, Martin Luther, who, as you know, was a man full of confidence, said this. A wonderful text is this, in a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means." That's funny because that's Martin Luther who was sure about everything. And if you didn't agree with him, he thought that you were an instrument of Satan. I mean, he was just very blunt. He was like John MacArthur on steroids. He knew everything and he was going to tell you. And yet when it comes to this, he didn't know, and as a matter of fact, just for interpretive or hermeneutical detail, Luther ended up changing his position on this passage at least three or four times before his death. But Peter's words, though they're hard for us to understand, as I said, were not hard for them to understand. And why is that? What's the difference between us and the first century hearers? Well, I think one of the principal differences is our view of spiritual warfare that even now continues to rage in the 21st century. And as 21st century Americans, modernity has sought to convince us that there is a simpler explanation to people's problems, to people's sickness, to disease, to mental challenges. It's not spiritual activity as those medieval theologians thought. It's just something more simple that can be dealt with perhaps with a pill or a surgery or whatever. I mean, after all, we have science today, right? Scientists and psychiatrists have become the new clerics of our age. When they speak, we listen. And while we should listen to much of what the scientific world tells us, because after all, they are observing God's creation and reporting upon it, at the same time, we must not preclude the real possibility of demonic activity in our daily lives. What's interesting is that in much of the writing of the New Testament, the authors constantly mention a spiritual warfare raging all about us. And not only that, but when they talk about Jesus' ascension, they say that he declared to the authorities and rulers and principal powers in the heavenly places that he had obtained victory. Why did Peter, why did Paul, why did these other authors think it was such a big deal to put in subjection spiritual forces? Answer, because there's a real battle going on now and it's entirely applicable. So now Peter has been talking in his epistle up until this point about the suffering that Christians go through, not only for your conduct, being good, if I could put it that way, because that's how Peter describes it, not only for being a Christian and being obedient and being faithful, but also for actively sharing the gospel, and we saw that last week, didn't we? And up until this point, the focus has been on the human enemies of the gospel. And Peter has shown that our conduct will either be a means by which, through which they are saved. So as we preach the gospel to these hostile people, to these scoffers, the Lord may soften their hearts so that they are saved and they could join the throng of the heavenly host that gives praise and worship to God on the last day, or, or, Our gospel witness will be an exhibit and evidence on the day of judgment of God's judgment upon them. Because God will say, here's a million different circumstances in which you heard the gospel and you refused to believe. The bottom line is that our suffering comes as a result of naming the name of Christ. And Peter has told us that one day that suffering will cease. Your human opponents will be put to shame and we will have victory and vindication in Christ. Now think about that for a moment. Think about that word vindication. What is vindication? Vindication is an open declaration and demonstration that you were right, that your life was not in vain, that your decision, prompted by the Holy Spirit, to follow Christ was not foolish, and that every risk you took in this life Boys and girls, teens, all those times that you refused to throw in your lot with those wicked friends that wanted to do wicked things, and as a result, you were thought of as the square. You were thought of as the boring person, that boring guy or girl. All the times that you endured ridicule and shame, you could say as a result of what Christ has done, it will have been worth it. That's vindication. And this is something that I think we all desire. And I'm not talking about so much an I told you so kind of vindication. I simply mean my faith in Christ was worth it kind of way. Nobody wants to think that they wasted their life. And on the last day, some will be proven to be right and others will be proven to be wrong. Either God does exist and He did send His Son into the world or He didn't. And some people on the last day will have major regrets. And think about the Christians in the first century in the provinces of Asia Minor to whom Peter was writing. Do you think they were tempted with regretting their decision to follow Christ? Do you think they were? They were persecuted? Of course they were. They were persecuted and ridiculed and they experienced every kind of oppression. No matter what the reason is for being ridiculed and persecuted, when it does happen, we all entertain the question, is the belief for which I'm being persecuted worth continuing to hold on to? Or should I give it up in order to avoid persecution? Now, up until this point, those who persecute us in the epistle of Peter have all been human beings. You see where I'm going. They've all been human beings. Non-believers that are persecuting you, oppressing you, ridiculing you. But what Peter now does in this text is he pulls back and shows the universality of our vindication in both the human world and the spiritual world. Christ through his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, not only demonstrated before the human world that he was Lord and that he conquered, but he demonstrates the same thing to the spiritual world. The spirits, the fallen angels, the demons that even now in your daily lives do tempt you, do try to get you to fall. What Peter is doing is saying, Christ declared his victory even over those demons. And we need to remember this. Why? I've already made mention of it, but just think for a moment, you don't need to turn there, but just remember with me, as 21st century modern Americans, please remember with me what Paul says in Ephesians 6.12. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against what? The rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We forget that a lot, don't we? We just wanna chalk it up to some scientific material reason, why suffering comes, why sickness comes. And don't get me wrong, there are material reasons for why sickness comes. But it's interesting to me that in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul said, some of you are dying. And it wasn't because of the bubonic plague. It was because they were treating the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. That's got spiritual warfare written all over it. Have you considered as a 21st century modern American that what stands, listen to me, what stands behind much of your persecution, your doubts, your depression, and your fears is a spiritual world of demonic activity? Think about it for one moment. What precipitated the very first sin that entered into the world? Doubt. Doubt. And where did that doubt come to Adam and Eve? It came from Satan himself who entered a serpent and injected into the mind of Eve doubts. Has God really said? Questioning the truth of God. And then secondly, you will not surely die. A lie that flew in the face of God's clear statement. It came from a demon, Satan himself. Not only that, but consider this. Do you know that what stands behind world leaders making oftentimes wicked and corrupt decisions is demonic activity? Do you know that in Daniel chapter 10, an angel of the Lord came to Daniel to give him a message about the end times? And do you remember that he showed up a little late? You guys remember that? You're like, Daniel 10? Come on, Josh, give me more context. Daniel 10, the angel shows up late and he says, look, Daniel, I've heard you since the first day you started praying. By the way, I think the angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ. He says, but I was caught up with battling the prince of Persia. Now, is that talking about the human prince of Persia or is it talking about some type of fallen angel? I think it's talking about both. But the angel of the Lord was involved in some type of spiritual combat with the fallen angel or demon that stood behind the activities of this world ruler, and as a result, didn't get to Daniel for like three weeks. Not only that, the New Testament tells us that demons feed pride and arrogance. When we look at the New Testament, it's interesting to notice in 1 Timothy 3, in that that passage that gives the qualification for elders it says he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil the devil instigates pride and arrogance. Not only that, but Paul says of the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, 9 and 10, who by the way, the man of lawlessness is the antichrist. He says this, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and all false signs and wonders and with wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and be saved. A man comes on the scene and deceives many by the activity of Satan. We must not think in our modern American world that demonic activity does not take place. Now don't get me wrong, we are responsible for our sin. So we cannot say when we sin, oh, God made me do it. We certainly can't do that. We certainly can't say that Satan made me do it. And yet, Satan's activities and his minions' activities are part and parcel of our spiritual struggle. So as Christians who suffer, we want to see demons, Get there up in Cummins, okay? We want to see Christ come back and judge not only the living and the dead, but the fallen angels and show that everything that we've done in our life in following Christ and being faithful to him was worth it. And so that's the main idea of what Peter does for us this morning. Jesus declares victory over the demons who in past times instigated the children of man from falling headlong into sin. So here's what I want to do this morning. I know that was a lengthy introduction, but I really had to set the stage because I really believe that what Peter's doing here is talking about how Jesus preached victory over the fallen angels. But now, in order to do that, what I want to do is I just want to ask five questions of this text and we're mainly gonna be in verses 19 and 20, a little bit into 21, and a little bit into 22. Ask five questions of this text, get the answers, put them all together, and then draw out some application for what this means for us, okay? So we're now looking at this text in Peter, and the first question we wanna ask is this. Who went and preached? Look at the text. Verse 18, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Verse 19, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Now there's a long history of interpretation of this text. Some have said that the one who went and preached was Christ's spirit who was made alive while his body was in the tomb, and his body was in the tomb for three days and his spirit was made alive, and he kind of went back in time to Noah's day and through Noah preached the gospel to all the naysayers and the scoffers in the time when the ark was being built. Now they get there by those two words in your ESV in verse 19, in which, okay? So verse 18, Christ was put to death in the body, but made alive in the spirit. The last word is spirit, so they take that to be, a little grammar for you, the antecedent to in which. In the spirit, he went and proclaimed, he went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison. But there's a problem with that. And the first problem is this, A spirit, whether we're talking about a demon, an angel, a human, whatever the case may be, and certainly of our Lord, a spirit doesn't die. When the body dies, there's no life in it, but the spirit continues to live. And so the idea that the spirit of Christ was made alive assumes that the spirit of Christ was dead, and that doesn't make any sense. The spirit never dies. Your body dies, but your spirit continues to live in that disembodied state until Christ comes back and resurrects it. So I don't think that this is referring to Jesus' spirit. Well, then what is it referring to? Well, in the New Testament, when it talks about this being made alive. That same verb is used constantly throughout the New Testament in reference to Christ's resurrection. So I think coming back to verse 18, you take these two phrases, he was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, is a twofold way of speaking of the resurrection. Why? The idea is Jesus Christ was put to death in the realm of the flesh, but he was made alive in the realm of the spirit. Now what do you mean by that? Do you know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when Paul talks He talks about it as a spiritual body? And some of you say, well, what do you mean spiritual? I thought when we get to heaven, we're gonna have bodies. We are, but the kind of body that we have is spiritual in the sense that it is vivified or made alive by the spirit. In fact, I think you could, in thinking of a spiritual body, you could put a capital S in that spiritual, spiritual body, meaning a body resurrected and made alive by the Holy Spirit, okay? But also notice that the kind of resurrection that we have is distinct from the kind of resurrection that non-believers have. Do you know that though everybody will be resurrected, there is only one kind of resurrection that will allow us to enter the kingdom of heaven? Paul says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And that always confused me as I studied that, because I'm like, but Paul, you say that in the context of 1 Corinthians 15, where your whole argument is that resurrected flesh and blood will enter the kingdom of heaven. What he's getting at is only the resurrected saints have the kind of resurrection body by the Holy Spirit that will get them into heaven. So as we come back to verse 18, this phrase, Jesus was put to death in the realm of the flesh, but made alive in the realm of the Spirit, Are two ways of speaking very simply of his resurrection Jesus Christ was made alive body and spirit So this does away with the idea that in his own spirit he somehow went into a time work back into Noah's day and preach And it simply refers to the resurrection body. So in verse 19, when it says in which, I take that to mean in which state, in the resurrection state, he went and made proclamation, okay? So that is who is the one that went and preached as Jesus Christ in his resurrected state. And I'm gonna say in just a moment, it may refer either just to his state of resurrection, perhaps in the 40 days that he was with the disciples before he ascended, Or it could refer to the actual activity of the ascension itself. But either way, the one who went and preached is the resurrected Jesus. So that answers our first question. Here's the second question. When did Christ preach? Now, as I said, some say that he preached through Noah in the days when the ark was being built, but as I said, this would entail some type of time travel, and nothing's impossible with God, and he could certainly do that, but I don't think that's what Peter's saying. And certainly we believe that whether this is specifically speaking of Christ preaching through Noah or not, we do believe that Christ does preach through the prophets. Peter said that in chapter one, verse 11. The spirit of Christ preached through the prophets. So we don't need this text to tell us that. But I think, as I've already said, if you look at verse 19, that when he preached was during the time of his resurrection and ascension, and I wanna show you why. Look at verse 19. Verse 19 says, in which he went and made proclamation of the spirits. That word, that Greek word for went, is the same Greek word and even in the same verbal conjugation as verse 22. Look at verse 22. I'm gonna start at the tail end of verse 21. I'll start with 21. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God. That same verbiage in verse 21, who has gone into heaven, in the Greek is the exact same word and the exact same verbal conjugation as went in verse 19. And I think what that does for us is it clarifies in verse 22 what kind of going Peter is talking about in verse 19. Now in verse 22, it's clear what he's talking about. He went up into heaven. What are we talking about? His ascension. And so I believe that the when question is answered by either after Christ resurrected, somehow in those 40 days when he was on earth, or in his ascension, this is when he went and made proclamation. So we've established who went and preached, we've established when it was, but now thirdly, and this is the most difficult part, who are these spirits in prison? Now some say that these are the souls of disobedient ones in the time of Noah. And then as I said, Jesus goes through the spirit back to Noah's time and preaches to them. But what's interesting is while spirit in the Greek pneuma, while spirit can be used to refer to human immaterial parts, okay? The word that is most commonly used to refer to the immaterial part of humans is soul in our English language. It's the Greek word psuche from which we get the word psychology, okay? So it's not impossible that the spirits in prison could be these human souls in the days of Noah. But when you look at the plural form of spirits in the New Testament, there is not one example of where the plural of spirits refers to human immaterial parts. In fact, every time it's used, except for one exception, every time it's used, the plural of spirits refers to fallen angels, demons, principalities, and cosmic entities. And what's also interesting is in this very passage in verse 20, When Peter refers to the eight people who were saved through the ark, he doesn't use the word person, he uses the word souls, psuche. So in referring to human immaterial parts, he uses the word soul, but here he uses the word spirit. So who are these spirits in prison? Now, this is where Jewish tradition might give us a little help, okay? So follow me here. In between the Old Testament and the New Testament, those 400 years of silence, as they call them, there were a number of books that were written that are commonly referred to as apocryphal books, or some call them pseudepigraphal books. But what they are is Jewish apocalyptic literature, which is a genre of scripture where the Jews are talking about the eschatological battle on the last day. And in that body of literature, particularly in 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, and the book of Jubilees, here's what we find. This Jewish tradition tells us that in Genesis 6, the sons of God, you'll recall, the sons of God who cohabitate with the daughters of men, Genesis 6 verses one through four, were fallen angels. Now I'm not gonna go into the highly controversial issue of Genesis 6 except to say this. No matter how you understand that phrase, sons of God, in Genesis 6, these sons of God who cohabitated with the daughters of men, every view has to assume that there was some type of demonic activity in order for it to be fallen angels. So whether that means that You see the sons of God as kings that were possessed by fallen angels and went into the daughters of men, and the result was the Nephilim, the giants, or however you get at it, fallen angels have some type of demonic activity going on in Genesis chapter six. So if that's the case, we also read in this tradition, that as a result of these fallen angels not keeping their place of authority, but getting out of their place and going beyond the bounds and limits of what God had ordained, God threw them in a prison. Now, it doesn't use the word prison, but it uses language of he threw them into the abyss, he threw them into gloomy darkness, he shackled them with chains. This is, of course, metaphorical language. Well, that's interesting, isn't it? That these fallen angels, as a result of not staying in their place, are thrown into some type of prison as judgment. Well, here's what's interesting. We don't need to depend on Jewish tradition to help us out because both Peter and Jude mention these traditions in their writings. Turn with me to Jude, verse six, very quickly. Jude, verse six. the penultimate book of the New Testament, the second to last. In Jude 6, which by the way, has many common themes with the book of 1 and 2 Peter, Jude says this, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, there's Genesis 6 right there, cohabitating with the daughters of men, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Hmm, that coincides with the Jewish tradition. Secondly, just turn over a few pages to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2, verses four and five, or at least four. Peter says in 2 Peter 2, verse four, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, Genesis 6, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, et cetera, et cetera. So Peter and Jude are both capitalizing on this Jewish tradition of angels who did not keep their place of authority and God threw them into some type of dungeon and darkness. Now what's interesting is, not only were these fallen angels thrown in there, but there is an episode in the life of Jesus where we can assume, I think safely, that fallen angels and demons are continuing to be thrown into this dungeon. Remember when Jesus came to the shore of the Gerasenes and there was that demoniac? Okay, boys and girls, that's a man who is possessed by a spirit. Jesus begins to talk to him and he finds out there's not just one spirit in there, but there's many. In fact, Jesus says, what is your name? And he says, our name is Legion for we are many. Well, they knew exactly who Jesus was. They knew his power, they knew his authority. And do you remember what they asked him to do? They said, don't throw us into the abyss, pit, place of darkness, but throw us into those pigs. So what that tells us is angels continue to be thrown into this confinement of sorts. Now, if we interpret the spirits in prison, therefore, as fallen angels in the time of Noah, this fulfills three things, three descriptions that Peter gives us in verse 20. So come back to 1 Peter 3, verse 20, and notice three things, three descriptions that Peter gives us about these spirits in prison, okay? 1 Peter 3, verse 20. Number one, he says, they formally did not obey. Formally, in the days of Noah. In fact, it's interesting, Genesis chapter six, that whole chapter, is really the straw that broke the camel's back of wickedness and corruption and violence on the earth, which caused God to finally say, I'm bringing a flood and I'm taking the whole thing out. It was this incident between the sons of God and the daughters of men. And there's more to say about that, but what's interesting is that incident of disobedience precipitated the flood. Secondly, Peter says, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah. Now, some people have taken this to mean God's patience in waiting for people to repent. I don't think that's what it's talking about at all. In fact, the same phrase is used in Romans 9, verse 22, where Paul says, what if God, in deciding to show his power, eagerly waited with patience over vessels of wrath? I think what Peter is speaking of here when he talks about God's patience waiting in the days of Noah, is God waiting those 120 years until he destroys the world with a flood. And finally, in the days while God's patience was waiting, while the ark was being prepared. All three of these details confirm the identification of the spirits in prison as fallen angels. Now let me show you one last thing that in my mind seals the deal. Turn to 1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy 3.16. And as you're turning there, members, I did send out late, I'm sorry. I sent out notes for the sermon, and you can access them. So I see some of you feverishly writing text down, and that's great, but if you miss something, I'll put all the text in the sermon notes. What we have in 1 Timothy 3.16 is what many believe to be an early creedal hymn. Now what does that mean? What's a creed? It's a declaration of faith. We sometimes in this church cite the Apostle's Creed. It's a short statement declaring all the things that we believe, okay, in summary form. Now, many believe that 1 Timothy 3.16 was a very short version of a creed that the early Christians would often cite. and it basically boils down to its essence, the main things that they believe about Jesus's life, okay? What's interesting before we read this is there are numerous affinities and parallels between 1 Timothy 3.16 and what Peter is saying here in 1 Peter 3. But notice what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3.16. He, Jesus, was manifested in the flesh, that's his whole life on earth, shown in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, that refers to his resurrection, okay? What's the next phrase? Seen by angels. Well, let me finish the rest. Proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. What does seen by angels mean? I think what it means is, as Jesus Christ resurrected and then ascended, He went into some realm that I don't know what it is, whether it was in hell or in some compartment of the heavenlies, and He declared victory over the spirits in prison. And thus He was seen by angels. Well, this answers the third question, what did Christ preach? I don't think that Christ preached through Noah. Some have even said that Jesus Christ went to hell, not to suffer, but to preach the gospel to people who had already died, thus giving them a second chance. Well, I don't, I think the whole Bible contradicts that. I mean, the book of Hebrews says it appointed once for man to die and then the judgment, so that's impossible. Secondly, the word for preach the gospel in the New Testament is euangelizo, which is where we get the word euangelion, which is where we get the word evangel, the good news, the glad tidings. That's not the word that is used here. The word that is used here is the word for proclaim. Now oftentimes it is used in connection to the gospel, but there are at least three or four times where this word is used in the New Testament where it is declaring something other than the gospel. And so I would submit to you. that what Jesus declared was victory over the spirits in prison, essentially saying, I have conquered death, hell, and the grave. I have ascended to the right hand of God, and the end is near for you. You have lost demons. You have lost fallen angels. All your efforts to deceive the children of men will come to nothing apart from God's ordained plan, because I have gained victory. Now there's one more thing. There's one more thing that for me seals the deal here. Come back to 1 Peter 3 and look at verse 19, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Now I want you to jump down to verse 22. Who, Christ, has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God. There we see his ascension and his coronation. Now watch this. with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. Now my question is this, if you take the spirits in prison to be the people in Noah's day or the people in hell and not angels, why is Peter throwing this in in verse 22? He seems to be indicating that through the ascension of Jesus Christ and proclaiming victory to the spirits in prison, he is subjecting them to him, and this is part of his ascension and his coronation. So I think that these spirits in prison are fallen angels, and I think that Jesus is declaring his victory over them. But where was this prison? Question number four. Well, suffice it to say, I don't really know where this was. I don't think you could, if you had all the quantum physics down pat and memorized, I still don't know that you could go to a place where this prison is. Sometimes the New Testament speaks of the abode of demons or the pit or the abyss or even hell as beneath the earth, but sometimes it talks about the place where demons are as being in the heavenlies. We've already read one in Ephesians 6, verse 12, that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. But then secondly, in Luke 10, 18, remember Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning from where? Heaven. Not only that, but in Revelation 12, verses seven through 10, listen to this. And speaking of the end time war, John says, John says, now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, etc. etc. And then finally Isaiah chapter 24 verses 21 and 22 says this, on that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on the earth They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit. They will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished." So where is this? I don't know. It could be that Christ in His ascended or His resurrected state did go into some crevice of hell and declare victory to the spirits in prison. In fact, Many in the history of Christian interpretation have taken that to be the case, and that's why in our Apostles' Creed, we said that he was died, buried, and what? Descended to hell, okay? and ask me later on what I think about that. A Reformed tradition has a very rich pedigree of how to understand that, but there's a reason why it's in there. Or whether that meant that in his ascension, he somehow declared to the spirits in prison in some heavenly place his victory over them, I don't know. But what I do know is that Christ declared his victory over them. So let me give you two closing thoughts on application as we step away from this text. Number one, fight against these forces of evil, knowing that the decisive battle has already been won. Your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against, as Paul says, the rulers, authorities, and powers over this present darkness. Do not assume that science has wiped this struggle off the map. Science may come in and tell you that your pride is warranted, that a person's sexual orientation is simply a natural and acceptable thing. And by the way, it happens to be on the right side of history right now because everybody seems to be approving it. But the fact of the matter is, those powers in the heavenly places, they are eating that rhetoric up. They are using that rhetoric to deceive you and deceive your children and to plunge you further and further and deeper and deeper into a calloused conscience. Demonic forces use strongholds to confuse and clutter our minds. What are strongholds? In the theater of war, they are places where the enemy has made an inroad and has established a formidable presence. And from that stronghold, they take out enemies and gain more ground. Paul described these spiritual strongholds in 2 Corinthians 10, four and five as arguments and lofty opinions. He says, the weapons for our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. What Peter in this passage teaches us is simple. We don't need to be intimidated by such strongholds since Christ has declared his victory over these demonic forces and has subjected them to himself. His declaration of victory will not be fully realized until Christ comes back, but until then, we fight against these demonic forces, against their assault upon our minds and our hearts, and maybe even at times against our emotional energies. We fight them by clinging to Christ. We fight them by trusting and believing what Christ has done. And if we do, then we are those who have already read the end of the story. We are those who don't have to fear the fact that we are on the wrong side of history right now, because make no mistake, we are. We're on the wrong side of history. We do not throw our lot in with the sexual revolution. We do not throw our lot in with those who call right wrong and wrong right. We are the minorities, just as those in Peter's day were. But we have the truth, and this truth has told us that one day we will be on the right side of history. And it is that assurance with which we go out and fight against the oppression of demonic forces. Secondly, and this really ties into what I've already said, victory and vindication comes through suffering. Just as Jesus suffered all throughout His life, even to the point of death, and that suffering resulted in victory and vindication, so also in our journey to victory and vindication, we will suffer. And some of you have already told me this week how you've suffered. You've suffered because you've had those conversations with your friends and your family, and they're scoffing at you, and they're ridiculing you, and they're making you feel like the risk wasn't worth it. And you've come with tears in your eyes and pain in your heart, and I know, I understand, but we must remember, as Peter says in verse 18, for Christ also suffered. What he's saying is, you're suffering, Christians, you're experiencing? Guess where the ground of that suffering comes from? It comes from Christ who suffered once for all. and as once for all suffering, and as once for all ascension and declaring victory over all, is the assurance that you have that your suffering will not be in vain. Your risks will not be in vain, teenagers. Your risk for Christ will not be in vain. But this example of Christ is not like, hey, Christ did it, you can do it. What it is, it's Christ did it, so you can do it. The ground of our assurance that we will be vindicated, that we will have victory, is that Christ, once for all, has suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to what? Bring us to God. Your suffering, apart from your repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, could never bring you to God. But your suffering through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ has and will one day in the new heavens and the new earth bring you to God. It is the hope of the gospel. the hope that Christ was handed over to take the punishment of sinners, and in exchange, through repentance and faith, gives you His act of obedience. For this reason, we suffer. For this reason, we hope. For this reason, we will one day be before our Savior, and He will say, as He looks into our eyes, your life was worth it. The risk was right. Come into the kingdom of heaven, which was prepared for you before the foundation of the world. Father God, I pray that this morning we would not fear when we hear of the demonic activity that still surrounds us, but instead, as Peter has labored to communicate through this word, that we would be encouraged and even ignited in our faith, Father, to be willing and to rejoice, to suffer for your Son, knowing that one day, that victory cry that he belted out over the dungeons and the darkness of those prisons, will one day materialize in the new heavens and the new earth. Father, give us this ground as a burning hope and motivation to continue to open our mouths, to continue to fight the good fight, to continue to destroy arguments and every lofty opinion that raises itself up against the knowledge of Jesus Christ, your Son, and our Lord. We ask these things in his name. Amen.