We left off with the discussion of Jesus being resurrected, and it's in the context of, again, this whole book is about Christian living, Christian life, living in the world, yet being saved, living righteously in a world that is rejecting God, and it's going to cause a conflict because the world's not going to understand the Christian. They're going to see them as not participating, and there's going to be this conflict or natural suffering because we're, in a sense, we're out of our element, but we're still expected to live spiritual or righteous or in our element, our heavenly element, even here on the earth. It's the right thing to do. It's the holy thing to do. It's in tune with reality. It's just that the rest of the world, in a sense, after having fallen into sin and then walking further and further into darkness, there is a separation. So here we go. Chapter 3. I'm going to read down to chapter 4, verse 11 and see how far we can go. But in chapter 3, verse 18, it says, For Christ died for sins once for all. That's a great verse right there. You can build a lot on that. Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit. And this separation right here between in the body and Spirit is going to be something that's going to be built on in the next few verses. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit. In other words, resurrected. And that resurrection, Peter's going to say something that's interesting, that's controversial, was made alive by the Spirit. Now, by that Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison." So that wasn't during his ministry. It was after he was put to death. It was after he was resurrected or made alive by the Spirit. He went and preached to the spirits in prison. And one of the tricky things on that word is preached. We automatically think preached the gospel. That word is the word proclaim. And it's missing the subject of what he's proclaiming. It's like, you can preach atheism. You can preach Hinduism. You can preach whatever. You can proclaim victory. You can proclaim defeat. So he's proclaiming something to the spirits in prison. Now, who are the spirits? Where is the prison? Here, who disobeyed long ago, And now it tells you when they disobeyed long ago, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah. So now these are spirits while god is waiting patiently in the days of noah they disobeyed now they're in prison and the lord jesus upon his resurrection or coming back to life is gonna proclaim something preach something to them uh... in the days of noah while the ark was being built and that would be a hundred and twenty years it took a hundred get moses was noah was told that you have a hundred man has a hundred and twenty years so does that mean you know that's how much time before the flood does that mean it took him a hundred twenty years to build the ark But anyway, during that time while the Ark was being built, in it, back in those days, only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. Now we're switching subjects. We're going to spring from there, talking about the people that were saved in the Ark, eight people, and they were saved through water. And this water symbolizes baptism. So now we've gone from what Jesus did upon his, you know, being made alive by the spirit. Now we're into the days of Noah, the flood, the water, eight were saved through water, which symbolizes baptism that now saves you. So now again, there's the connection is baptism. Back in Noah's day, there was people that rejected the gospel. There was eight that were saved, and they were saved through water. And now that's similar to you. You are in a world that's rejecting God, but you've accepted God. They were saved by water. You're saved by water. You could spring into a great discussion on baptism. Do you need to be baptized? Is baptism the salvation? Is getting dipped in the water the salvation? And again, it's going to talk about it here. And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also. Not by the removal of dirt from the body. Now, this baptism we're talking about is going to give you some disqualifiers or disclaimers. Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. Now, that word pledge, we'll look at it. That is what baptism is. Here in the NIV, we'll look at the word. It's pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is baptism saving you? Well, it's a pledge of a good conscience, and it saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, that same resurrection of Jesus who proclaims something to the spirits in prison, that same resurrection is now saving you. Who has gone into heaven, and is at God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to Him." Notice, angels, authorities, and powers in submission to Him. That is where He is at, and in a sense, we are following that same path, we're on the same trail. Now notice, angels, authorities, and powers, I will use that right there to help identify the spirits. I would say angels are spirits. I would say authorities are spirits. I would say powers are spirits. Rulers and authorities in heavenly places, those are all spirits. And so now the spirits in prison, are those souls of people or are those angelic powers? Again, that's something that deserves a discussion. And a little bit of humility, that when you make your decision, you don't call everyone else a heretic. Because it says, he preached or proclaimed to the spirits in prison. I think you should study it, I think you should have an opinion, but it's possible that you would disagree with someone else's. Okay, we'll talk about that. Chapter 4, verse 1, Therefore, since all that took place, since Christ suffered in his body, again talking there about the physical world, and then the spiritual world, or this age and the age to come. Christ has been here. He suffered in His body, did His work, and has gone on and is seated above rulers and authorities. We ourselves have joined Him in the sense that we have been born again. Because of the baptism, the pledge of a good conscience, we've joined Him. But yet, where are we? We are still living here. So we're both, again, two places. We are in the body. but yet we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, as Paul writes, other places. Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourself also with the same attitude. This is the whole book so far. This is how you've got to be thinking. To get through this age as a Christian, you've got to arm yourself with this attitude. You do not belong in this world, so things are going to not go the way you want them to. There's going to be things that you think are righteous, that the world thinks are weird or not worth pursuing, they're going to have a different standard than you're going to have. Or at least, if you're following Christ and your mind is being renewed, you're going to experience this separation from this age. That's what Romans 12 talks about. Do not be conformed, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. If a Christian is just conformed to this age, a lot of these things aren't going to make—it's like, well, I don't really experience persecution. We just live at peace with everyone, and we just get along with everyone, and we tolerate everything. We're fine. We're just like they are. Okay, now we're not trying to be negative or divisive, but if there is sin and death and chaos in the world in rebellion towards God, and you've joined Christ who paid for your sins, and you don't sense a difference between the way the world makes decisions and the way you're supposed to make decisions, or the way Christ made decisions, or the way your mind is being renewed to make decisions, then there may be a problem. So we're assuming that Well, Peter is assuming that these people, they're facing persecution or suffering because they're not lined up with the world. They've made a break. Not in rebellion, not in anger, not in violence, but they've got a different standard. That's why he says right here, arm yourself with the same attitude. That's assuming that when Christ came, he himself, imagine God leaving heaven and God being perfect, knowing that man has fallen and man is sinful, that man's going to nail him on a cross, was not always in line with what mankind wanted, if it be the Romans, if it be the sinners, if it be the priests in the temple and the religious leaders, Jesus was not in sync with what the world was doing because he was, again, perfect, sinless. So he had to arm himself with an attitude because he who has suffered in his body, that's interesting, is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past, doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. They think, the world, they think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation. And they heap abuse on you. So now this is kind of getting into some of what it appears is the issue in the people that Peter's writing to, that they have been rejected by their community because they're separating from some of these behaviors. They say, well, we're not going to do that. We do, or that's wrong. And now it's like, well, they think it's strange that you do not plunge into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached, even to those who are now dead. so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded, self-controlled, so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. That's how it's translated in the NIV. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." So the idea that each believer has a gift, you should serve each of the believers with the gift that you've been given. It's God's grace that you have this gift, and it comes in various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. In Him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. So that's the context of the verses that we're looking at, the content right there. Going to the notes, and just to point out a few things, we go back to chapter 3, verse 18, on page 1. The first word, it says, 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 being made alive by the Spirit. This is now the English Standard Version. The first word there is bring. and that is uh... the first point there it is the word pros ago in the greek it means towards or to lead it means to to lead towards so this again you can see however you know put together English words and how it means, like Jesus just picks you up and carries you to God, in a sense, you're in Christ, you're seated in heavenly places. But this right here, this word, it means to lead towards. So what Christ is doing, He has seated you in heavenly places, say spiritually, but now in your flesh, in your body, He's now leading you in your life as you mature, He's leading you So that's the idea right there, that He might bring, the Greek begins, that He might bring to God, having been put to death, indeed in the flesh, having been made alive, however, by the Spirit. So made alive would refer to Jesus being made alive by the Spirit. The Spirit resurrected Him, we talked about that. Jesus died, but the Spirit entered Him, resurrected Him, brought life back to Him. It's the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is also going to raise us from the dead. I'm turning the page, chapter 3, verse 19. He was killed, and again, in that verse we just saw, He was killed, put to death in the body. And that's kind of the context, one part of the context of these verses. He died in the body. He had a life in the body. That ended, but He came back to life, was resurrected by the Spirit. So He, in a sense, has two parts. in this illustration, just like us. We have a body, but we also have a spirit. In our case, as believers in Jesus Christ, our spirit is born again. Our spirit has been united with Jesus Christ. The process of resurrection has begun. We've been born again. Now, our body still has a sin nature. We can still do bad things. We still have bad attitudes, sinful thoughts, and this body is still functioning, interacting with the world. So we are alive right now by the Spirit, but we are still living in a body in a world that has fallen. This body right here, this is going to be the flesh, and this is going to be part of this comparison. This is where the suffering is going to take place. This is where you're going to be misunderstood. But we're going to always be focused on the idea that we are living in the Spirit. This is the place that we're trying to be righteous in the Spirit. But also, this should be dragging our behavior over into this area of, because we're born again, our body should not just be following the world, it should be following this. So in this illustration, your body, your attitude, can follow the ways of the world, which is chaos, death, darkness. Or you can follow in your body the way of the Spirit, which is life. It is righteousness. in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison. Now Christ was made alive, his body was dead, but it was made alive by the spirit. Now this is really the issue of what we're talking about tonight, and that's what's going to lead us into chapter four. Remember, this is what Christ was, a body and a spirit. and his body was persecuted and he was made alive. This is us. We are still alive in the body, so we're still facing hardships, persecution, even if it just be simply the sin nature. But we will be resurrected and catch up with our spirit. But before we go on with this, Peter goes on with this. He stops and talks about this spirit. It's one of those fun verses in a sense, but at the same time, he could have just skipped, again, there's stuff to be learned in this, but you could skip like these next three or four verses and just keep talking about maturing and living your life. But instead, he goes this way, and he says, being raised in the spirit Christ was, in which, page two of the notes, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. So after being raised by that spirit, that he was now resurrected, physically resurrected, but by that resurrected spirit, He went and proclaimed, and I've got in the boxes there, I've got the words prison in a box, spirits in a box, and He preached in a box, in the Greek text there. So first, the very last word in English Standard, it says proclaimed, is how they translate that word. The word is kerousal, and you can see it there in the Greek, you can see it transliterated in English. The word having gone, He, kērusō, which means to proclaim. He preached. It means to be a herald, meaning you're sent out with a message. Now again, there's no mention of what his message was. Like, you could say, kērusō, the gospel. He proclaimed the good news. He just went and proclaimed something. I'm going to think it could be positive, it could be negative. I'm going to think it's going to be, in a sense, his victory, which is positive for him, positive for us. But if you're there in the prison, it's like, uh-oh. bad news. It's like our fate is sealed. He's ended their hope. The very fact that he was killed, that in the process he paid for sins, Satan in a sense had won the day, he'd won the victory, but Jesus Christ after having defeated death, defeating sin by dying on the cross, now is resurrected, it's like he's got both ends of the stick now. He's got death and life. He's conquered everything. And they have no hope. Satan is not going to win this battle. It's over. Which is interesting, because we're 2,000 years down the road, and we're still living. In other words, we're living in that age of the victorious proclamation. Before, they were living, waiting for the Christ to come, waiting for the victory to be won. We're waiting for Christ to return and establish His kingdom, but we're living between the two times of Him winning the victory and Him, in a sense, establishing the victory. He's won the victory, and now we're just proclaiming it. We have won. Christ has won the battle, and the day is coming where He's going to establish it. It's like, it has to happen that way. It is guaranteed. And I think that's what this proclaiming, He is proclaiming to the spirits, and notice the word spirits is You can see in the Greek there, it's from pneuma, which means spirit, breath, wind. And again, spirits. People have spirits. People have souls. It's not the word soul. It's the word spirits. It could refer to people. But my tendency is to think that's referring to spirits, and they're in prison. And that word prison, it means to guard, watch, prison, custody. They're locked up somewhere. uh... and we see verses like you know we talked before where spirits are angels are locked up you know say is really bound up in chains uh... the the demons beijing's that to send them into the of this uh... partners is coming up uh... partners is the the bottomless pit or it's it's in haiti's the bottom of the bottomless pits in haiti's and these are different than she'll and Giena or Sheol and Hades, I should say. Giena is the lake of fire. There's nothing in here about lake of fire that's not in these verses. So, going through the notes, number one, by which means it's en ho, refers to the spirit, that's how this all takes place, by the spirit resurrecting him, went, or having gone, he went to the spirits in prison, or went by the spirit. Point two, that same word, por estes, is using 1 Peter 3.22 is the same word that Jesus ascent into heaven, that he went into heaven. Well, this is the same word now, before he went back into heaven, he went to the spirits in prison, the same word. So just as he went into heaven, he's going to go here to this place. In prison spirits, here's A, B, C. See on page 2, A, B, C. These are generally your three options. Now again, you're free to do your study and come up with your ideas and put the pieces together using the Bible, using references. But A, the early church fathers. This is what they taught. They believed the early church fathers, if we were to sum up and say they had a universal opinion, that Jesus preached salvation of the spirits in prison between his death and resurrection. These were, they said, and many people think this today, these were the souls of the people that were lost or drowned in the flood. They couldn't hear the gospel because the gospel hadn't taken place yet. There's no understanding. Now, I disagree with that. I think Adam and Eve understood the gospel at their level of what God revealed. The seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. I think Noah understood the concept of the gospel of a son, a child. Abraham understood. Moses understood. The whole tabernacle function is based on that. And as we go on, I think David understood. You see that it just keeps building. The prophets talked about it. So at their level, again, I would say we understand, but you got to admit that once we get to a further place in time, If things start to happen prophetically, we're in the Kingdom of God, we're going to have a greater understanding. And people could ask, do you think they understood in 2025, they understood the Kingdom of God? It's like, well, yes, we understood the Kingdom of God. Yeah, but like it is, because we're living in it right now, it's like, oh, well, no, no, no, I didn't understand it like this. So did Adam and Eve understand the Gospel? I think they did. Did they understand it like Moses understood it? probably not because they were revealed did they understand like david understood it like you know did the most understand like david i think it's been progress at this always been the same but i think it's been progressing okay anyway that concept that he preach what he went down into the underworld of this would be this would have to be she all in the old testament or haiti's in the new testament or abraham's side where the souls of of people were what had died or were in the underworld the heart of the earth he would have went in there goes hey I just paid for the sins of the world. Anybody want to go with me and get saved?" It's like, no, we'd rather stay here in the underworld in darkness and torment. Or, oh yeah, yeah, I would. And, you know, he'd have the biggest revival of all time. So that's what they believe. And it could match. Here's a verse, 1 Peter 4, 6. Peter writes this in chapter 4, verse 6. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does." Now, we'll explain that. I don't think that has anything to do with the dead spirits here or the spirits in prison this is talking about. For this is why the gospel is preached even to those who are dead. When we get there, this is why the gospel is preached even to those who are dead. Who are those who are dead in chapter 4 verse 6? That is us. The gospel is preached to us, we who are dead. We're dead in the body. We're dead spiritually. I mean, we're on our way to death. We're dead spiritually. And the gospel is preached, the good news is proclaimed to us, so that though judged in the flesh, you're guilty. Though judged in the flesh, the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. And this would be you. This is coming up in the next chapter. You in the body. If you're judging me, or more clearly, if I'm judging myself according to the Word of God, I am sinful. That's part of getting saved. I'm sinful. I need a Savior. I admit Christ. I confess my sins. I repent. And so I've been judged in the body. I am dead. made alive by the spirit so i will continue to live my life in the body you know living but i'm gonna actually living in the spirit so you did in a in a sense as a pagan you just live here until you admit that you are living in sin you're living in a dead body you need to be judged according to god's standard of righteousness in which case you can repent except jesus christ and be born again and now the rest of your life in the body you can live in line with this you still are living here but i'm living by this new standard so i don't think that verse i don't think chapter four uh... verse six confirms the idea that jesus was preaching to dead people who drowned in the flood okay but that was the way it went up until augustine Then Augustine lived in 354 to 430. And he came up with an alternative view that was popular until the 1500s, until the Reformation. Well, even the Reformation went with this in many cases. Augustine, who was a father of the Western church, Catholicism and Protestantism, thought are taught that Christ preached through Noah in Noah's generation before the flood. So in other words, the pre-existent Christ, in a sense, in the spiritual form, was gifting Noah to proclaim the gospel to the people of his generation. So Christ was made alive by the Spirit And by the way, that's that same spirit who empowered Christ to preach to Noah's generation back in Genesis chapter 6. And that was then for the next, you know, from 400 to the next 1,100 years, that was what they believed. Augustine established the medieval Christianity, the Reformers followed, and this The reason this is important is because it avoids the first issue, because in that first issue, people died and went into Sheol, having rejected God, but then Jesus gives them a second chance. Then you kind of build on purgatory. Well, Augustine said, no, that's not possible. What was happening here was Jesus was preaching in Genesis 6 through Noah, and they rejected his message. Now, those are your two basic options. But in the 1890s, now be careful, in the late 1800s, that's when a lot of cults pop up. You've got to have the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, you got the Seventh-day Adventists, you get the pre-trib rapture theory, if you believe that or not, that comes out of the 1800s. You get Darwinism, you get all kinds of, and there's more, garbage coming out of the late 1800s. So, you know, just because it's 1800s doesn't mean it's true. But this is what I believe, which kind of, it's like, well, the age of the cults, and here I am, this is what I agree with. Oh, great. So 1890s, the victorious Christ proclaimed triumph over fallen angels who had sinned in Noah's day. So these are not people that went into the underworld. These would be the angels, and you can read on other verses, the angels, and again, now this goes into a whole other study, that somehow the angels sinned In Noah's day, the Nephilim were involved in this. Those are the fallen ones. And we could talk about how they sinned. I've got a whole teaching on that. But nonetheless, they were removed. They were removed from history. and put into the underworld. Now, you've got examples of this when the demons come to Jesus, or they're in a man, and they beg him. They know they're in trouble because they're standing in front of the Son of God, who looks just like a man. Everyone says, well, why are they talking to you? Who are you talking to? I'm talking to these demons. He goes, what is your name? Our name is Legion. You're only talking to one guy. Yes, we're Legion because there's many demons in this one guy. And Jesus is looking at this guy, talking to a legion of demons in the guy. And in this one case, they beg Jesus, they know they're in trouble, not to send them into the abyss. They're not talking about Sheol or Hades. They're not talking about Giena. They're talking about the abyss, a pit in the earth. And they are removed from history. It also talks about angels that have been locked up in everlasting chains, that have been removed from history, that are locked up. And so, are demons and angels the same thing? Are they synonyms? Or do they come from different sources? That's a whole study of angelology. But anyway, they can be removed from history. So, somehow, back in Noah's day, angels sinned, creating a mess. and they were removed from history and sent to later on it's going to say Tartarus which that's in Greek mythology. It's the deepest of the bottomless pits. The Titans end up there. Homer talks about it. So it's a Greek word in Peter's writing. They're removed. And upon Jesus' resurrection, he went to the spirits in prison, possibly Tartarus, and proclaimed something to them. And basically he is proclaiming the victorious proclamation. It's been done. It's finished. And they're finished. Their hope is over. It's just now a matter of time of establishing the position. So that is, I think, as you read that in the Greek, I just read through it literally in the Greek, It says, in which also to the prison spirits having gone he preached or he proclaimed. Now those are your three ideas that he gave the souls that died in Noah's flood a second chance, that he was preaching through Noah to the people of Noah's day or Upon his coming back to life, before he ascends into the earth, he stops by the underworld and says, it's over. I died and I've been brought back to life. I'll never die again. Sounds like something you'd say out of Revelation. And then the ascension to the earth and into heaven. Some verses I've got written down there for support of that. It talks about this in Enoch, similar to this. That's not Scripture, but it would be the background from what Peter's understanding. Point 2, Hebrews 1, verses 7 and 14, angels are called spirits. Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. Are they not all ministering spirits set out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? So there are angels and spirits being used as synonyms right there. He talks about this in 1 Clement. I've got verses in Mark written down there where unclean spirits, I'm on page 3, unclean spirits. in Mark 1, Mark 3, and Mark 6. Point four, Josephus interprets Genesis 6.1 to mean, for many angels of God now consorted with women and begat sons. Now that would have to be what I would think was happening in Genesis chapter 6, that fallen angels were producing offspring through women. And that's what Josephus says in Genesis chapter 6. And again, that in itself is Controversial and there's a little diagram. We've looked at that several times of the different places Guiana and all that Okay, so that's talking about that right there, which Is a side note that by this spirit he went preached the victory here look at top of page four and There's 2 Peter 2.4, this is in the next book. It says, 2 Peter 2.4, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, angels sinned and they were not spared. When does that happen? "...but cast them into Tartarus, and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment." So it appears that angels, sometime if it's before the creation of man, if it's during Genesis chapter 6, if it's throughout time somewhere, if it happens periodically, pick your choice, either way, there are angels who God did not spare when they sinned. There was no forgiveness for angels. They sinned, they violated a command, they violated what reality was supposed to be. They were removed from history. and cast into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment." They're not even judged yet. They're in a holding cell waiting for the day of judgment. Now, I'll just throw this out at you as we're going by. Paul's arguing with the Corinthians because they're so immature and unable to solve problems. He says, do you not realize that we will judge angels? And it's like, no, Paul, I did not realize that we would judge angels. When are we judging angels? And the context seems to be, or the concept seems to be, that after we've been resurrected and have been rewarded and seated in our places for eternity, that's when the judgment of angels will take place, that we will then judge the angels who are currently kept in chains, waiting until that time of judgment. So we will be judged before God, but then Again, all I know, Paul just says to the Corinthians, do you not realize that we will, or you will judge angels? He says, you have two believers who have a conflict. This was one of the problems in 1 Corinthians. They're arguing, so they go to the two believers who are separated from the world because they're in Christ, have not matured, so they've got to go to a secular judge, a pagan judge, to solve their problem. And Paul says, you're kidding me. You're going back to the pagans, and you're supposed to be the light of the world, but you can't solve your problems, so you go to the pagans and say, make a decision for us. He says, don't you realize that we will judge angels? We're the judges. And he goes, you can't solve a simple matter, something of this age? He says, that indicates you're defeated already. You're already losers. And that was Paul. Again, that's why Paul didn't have a very big church. He was harsh on people. Anyway, I don't know if he had a big church or not. It seems like Corinth was pretty big. He had a lot of them. Okay. For God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus. And now, that's going to come up here, some more about Tartarus here in the next minute. Okay. Chapter 3, verse 20. Because they formally, let me go read chapter 3, verse 19, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, chapter 3, verse 20, because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, maybe 120 years, while the ark was being prepared. So he let them run wild for a period of 120 years, if that's the number, but they didn't just sin and then he smoked them. They sinned, and God said, well, he's gonna wait patiently. Now, what's he waiting patiently for? I don't know, but I could say he's waiting until Noah gets the ark built so he can bring judgment. And so that ark is being built, which is gonna save people, which is like a baptism. They're gonna commit to the ark. And then once the ark was built and they're on the ark safely, he shuts the door. Okay, now he brings the judgment on the world. But he waited patiently. in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And so it appears there's like a 120 year period where, you know, or longer that God allowed these angels to run wild chaos in the earth because, well, I'm just going to, I'm just going to kill the whole mess. And then the people would have gone into Sheol, the underworld, the angels would have, that disobeyed would have been put into Tartarus. Again, if that's the case. Okay, 2 Peter 4, 6 is the first mention I've got right there. Enoch 22 says, even names the world over Tartarus. Uriel was one of the angels who is over the world and over Tartarus. Homer talks about it. Jude 6, 7 talks about it. And we could go on all the way through that. But nonetheless, that is apparently a side note of having talked about the body. Jesus came in the body. He suffered. But don't worry, He was made alive in the Spirit, which is exactly what's going to happen to you. You're alive in the body, but you're going to judge your body and realize, I am sinful. You're going to be born again, and so now you're going to live by the Spirit. Someday you will be resurrected by the spirit, but right now you're living by this spirit This is how you're making decisions. You're being empowered by this spirit including coming up have being in gifted to help others In their life as Christians, but meanwhile, that's where you're living. You're still Existing in their body, although you've already judged your body. So in this sense, you're not waiting for judgment and In this sense, you've already judged yourself. Your body has already been judged as a failure. I need Christ. Okay. Now, you've been made alive. Now again, I do believe we'll stand before the baby seat of Christ, but that's the whole concept of justification, sanctification, and glorification. We've already been justified in the courts of heaven. We will not be judged for sin. Because we have already judged ourselves, I'm worthy of death. I've been rejected by God. I'm lost. Thus, Jesus Christ came as my Savior. I accept that. I've been resurrected spiritually, waiting for the fullness of that resurrection. There's no sense in going back and judging this body, because Christ has already paid for my sins. Now the problem is going to come for people who will not judge themselves. They just justify themselves. They recreate reality. They become unholy, and they justify this. Well, now they're going to face judgment. They'll never face the resurrection or the Spirit bringing them life, because they're going to have to face judgment and separation. And that's kind of where this is heading. So, let's turn to page 5. Chapter 3, verse 21. baptism which corresponds to this this is the english standard so after everything we've said about jesus in the body being made alive by the spirit speaking of prisons and this might be why he talked about the spirits of prison where they come from they came from the days of noah which was wiped out by a flood and eight people were saved in the ark which now Now we're back to this point, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, excuse me, baptism, let me read this again, page five of the notes, top of the page, chapter three, verse 21. Baptism, which corresponds with this, so that's what all that stuff about angels, the flood, that's baptism, which corresponds with the flood, the ark, eight being saved, now saves you. So the same thing, some kind of judgment, some kind of baptism in water, like they judged themselves and got on the ark, the world didn't judge themselves, we're going to be fine, they died. But now baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. How does it save you? Well, not as the removal of dirt from the body. I mean, you're not getting washed in the water, but as an appeal to God. This is what baptism is. What Peter is saying in chapter three, verse 21, he's telling you baptism is an appeal to God. Now there's the word appeal in the English standard. What does that mean? An appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's an appeal to God for a good conscience, how do you have a good conscience? Well, I've cleaned my life up. I've stopped doing these sinful deeds. I now have a good conscience. No, baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, in other words, how can I have a good conscience before God? Well, I've cleaned my life up, Lord. I think you'd be pretty impressed with the last week. I haven't sinned. I no longer do that. What do you think? I feel pretty good about myself. It's like all you have to imagine is just the Holy God looking at you going, Okay, I don't feel so good anymore I mean if you can somehow hide and never go, you know, come to face the face with reality, you know I'm pretty sure I compare myself to other people. It's like I have a pretty good conscience and also in God she's like, oh Also, you feel like a sinner and so Baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience And how do you have that good conscience when God appears to me looks me in the face. I see Jesus in the face What what will give me strength? Jesus has paid for my sins. It's not like, well, I did pretty good, didn't I? It's like, no. It's like, thank you, Jesus. I can stand here and look you in the face because... of what you've done. I think that's where this is going. So let's look at it right here. That first box, in the Greek it says, which also you prefigures now saving baptism. And prefigures, that's the very first thing that comes up there, baptism, is said to be an antitype or a counterpart of reality. Prefigures or corresponds Antitype, it means it's a figure, it's an image, it's an illustration of what's taking place. The same word which is used here, antilopon, which is an antipotype or antipos, is used in point two, A through E. Romans 5, Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type, or a typos, of the One who was to come." So Adam wasn't Christ, but he was a type, an image of what Christ would be like. the first one, and all the way through 1 Corinthians 10, 6, and 11. Now, these things took place as examples. Now, these things happened to them as examples. Talking about the Old Testament, those are examples or types for us to see, ah, that represents this reality. Hebrews 8.5, they serve in the tabernacle or the temple, they serve a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. So the tabernacle, the temple, all the things they did, that was a type of what heaven is like. And all the way through. So this is saying baptism, which corresponds or it's like a type of what is coming. Point three, Peter writes, baptism that now saves you, but then follows it with three disclaimers showing that salvation is not attained through baptism. Again, some people would say that. You know, some people say it's attained through baptism. I think it represents, I think it's a type of a some greater truth. And again, I think that's what Peter's saying here. Again, you're free to study. But Peter here, in this verse is saying this right here. Three disclaimers about baptism. A. It's not physical. It is not the removal of dirt from the body or guilt from the human soul. You do not get in the water. Baptism does not remove dirt. I mean, no one's going to argue with that, I don't think. I mean, if you're dirty and you get into baptism, you're going to be clean. But that's not the point. It does not remove guilt. That has to come through. If your guilt is removed because you got baptized, you missed the point of Jesus dying on the cross. Your guilt is removed because of the cross. So it can't remove the guilt. Next thing right there, and I've got it underlined in the Greek, if you look there at the second line, chapter 3, verse 21, I'll read it in the Greek again, I read the literal, which also you prefigures now saving baptism, not of flesh, putting away of the filth, That's the Greek. But of a conscience, conscience, conscience, conscience, say that word for me. Conscience. Yeah, I couldn't say it. Conscience, good, the demand towards God. See that word? The conscience, good, or a good conscience, the demand towards God. That word demand, is translated above you in the English Standard as appeal. The NIV was a pledge, but the word is, as you see right there, ep-er-o-te-ma in the Greek, and it means inquiry, question, appeal, or pledge. So the baptism is a a good conscience, it's an appeal, it's a pledge, it's an inquiry, it's a question of a good conscience towards God. How? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so somehow, baptism, it is going to be some kind of a pledge, a P-L-E-D, it's going to be some kind of a question, like an appeal. You're asking God for a good conscience. You're taking a pledge. I'm going to make a pledge. I'm going to commit to following Christ. It's something like this. And again, the English Standard Version says appeal. The Greek simply says, the demand. And point B at the bottom of page five, baptism is a pledge or demand. Pledge meaning to question, an inquiry, a declaration of commitment. In the ancient papyri, when this word was used in the ancient papyri, written in Greek, it was a technical term used in making a contract. In other words, when you would write a contract, you would do this thing. This is the Greek word that would be used. You would make a contract. It would be an agreement. It would be, in a sense, I pledge to make these payments, or I pledge to do these things. It would be an appeal. Will you give me this if I give you that? It would be a contract. And so baptism is not removing dirt. It's not removing guilt. It's not bringing you salvation. It's a contract. It's a pledge. Here's where your guilt is removed. That's where sin is paid for. But baptism is you signing up or agreeing with the contract. And I think the next page, 6 there, point 3, pledge. The word pledge means, this is getting good now I think, it means to answer a formal question. The formal question is, it could be, what are you going to do with your sin? I'm going to appeal to Christ. Or what do you think of Christ? I trust Him as my Savior. You are responding to a formal question. Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes, I do. And they baptize. It's like I'm entering into this agreement, this contract. 4 on top of page 6, this would be the positive response to, this is my summary, this would be the positive response to the question of the Lordship of Christ indicating that the person being baptized was declaring a commitment to the contract of salvation. Jesus Christ died on the cross, I accept him as my Lord, I confess my sins, I cannot save myself, I'm going to trust Christ having paid for my sins. I agree with this." And boom, the baptism is the sealing of that contract, or it is the physical representation. That is what is being said right there. Again, baptism is important, but it represents the contract that was made. Chapter 3, verse 22. It just says, let me read into it, chapter 3, verse 21, baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as the removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, we're back here where the spirit of Jesus Christ has been resurrected, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and now who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God. Now, who has gone into heaven? Well, wait a minute. He was resurrected and it says, who went to the spirits in prison and proclaimed something. And then we also know, who then went and appeared for 40 days on the earth. But now it says, and has gone or went into heaven. So when Jesus Christ was resurrected, it appears, according to this text, he went to the underworld somewhere and proclaimed something to some souls, not souls, some spirits, if it's humans or angels or demons or whatever, but he proclaimed something. If it's the gospel, if it's, you know, victory of his, you know, he proclaimed something. And then we know from not this text, but other texts, that he appeared on the earth. But now it's going right here after this resurrection, talking to the demons or the angels, the fallen angels is now gone into heaven without watch, has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers having been subject to him. So that connects back to the fact that upon his resurrection by the spirit, he went and proclaimed victory to the spirits in prison. And then he went to heaven and was seated right hand of God. Now he's over. Now, again, he was already over all, because in the Old Testament, he's the Lord of hosts, the host of angels, the military of heavens. He's already over all the angels, but he's defeated the enemies, the angelic enemies, or the powers that be against him. But he's also now a resurrected man over all the angels. Before, he was not a man. the promise that he'd become man, but being born in the manger, he was now become a man. He died as a man. He was resurrected. Now, he's God the whole time, but now he is a resurrected man who has eternal life coexisting with God, and he's defeated the angels and returns to ruling over the angels, not as God has always. He created the angels, but now he's ruling over them as a resurrected man. And that's with this last verse, "...who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him." So, again, who subjected them to him? It would be God the Father, who says, this is my son, worship him. Now we're into Psalms, we've got Psalms saying the same thing. The angels, authorities, and powers, we could describe that. And there are some rulers and authorities in heavenly places. They're ruling the universe that God created, both spiritual and physical. These angels are over these things. Now, that leads into chapter 4, verse 1. And you can't lose this. I hate to break this up right here, but I'm going to have to stop. Because all that was said, remember it started with Christ, who died in the body, but was made alive by the spirit, by whom he went to all this stuff, and now he's at the right hand of God, a resurrected man, okay, now, with that being said, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, where did Christ suffer? In the flesh, right here. Since Christ suffered in the flesh, and where are you living at? You're living right here. Now Christ has been resurrected, he's gone to heaven, he's seated at the right hand of God over all the angels, You're following. In fact, you've took the pledge. You've been baptized. You're now committed to this. But you're still living here. But there's a difference. You're in the body. You're in the flesh. But you're not living. See, you can live in the world. You can live fleshly in the worldly. We'll just say worldly ways. We'll say sin, whatever that is, just rejecting God. Or in this body, because you've been born again, you can live according to the Spirit who is also dwelling in you." The Holy Spirit dwells here. So this is a lot of actions taking place here. You in your body have a sin nature yet, but you've been forgiven and are born again. The Spirit has come to dwell in you, empower you so that you can follow Christ, but yet you're living in this world with a sin nature able to function here if you wanted to. If you want to, you can function with this world and go right along with them. But when you don't, you're making a distinction, making a break right here. And the world is like, what's wrong with you? Because you're focused on this. And so that's where this is heading. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, right here, and you know what happened to him, you arm yourself with the same way of thinking. What was Christ thinking throughout his life in his ministry? What was Christ thinking on his way to the cross? What was Christ armed with in his thoughts while he was dying on the cross? What was Christ doing the whole time? Well, it says, arm yourself with the same way of thinking. It's like, what was he thinking? For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." So if you can somehow, right here, break this bond right here, and you have in a sense of confessing Christ and identifying, judging yourself, you are done with sin. Now, I wish that were true. I got baptized, I accepted Christ, I live by the Spirit. I, myself, don't have any trouble with sin because I no longer... it's just not part of me. It's like, well, it's still... until we die in this physical body, there's going to be... we have a sin nature. Paul talks about that. But right here, if you've gone through this, you're done with sin. Sin, in a sense, has been separated from you. Christ has paid for this sin. You will not, in a sense, be judged. I think if you sin in life, I think there's consequences. Sin is death. Sin is chaos. If you pursue sin, you're bringing chaos. You're bringing death into your life. But as far as standing before God, this sin, you've already judged it. You've called on Christ. You are done with sin. You do not need to worry about the judgment. You're done with sin. Okay, I've got to quit here, but I'm going to read just a little bit more. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. Since sin is no longer an issue, since you've rejected sin, the rest of your life is going to be lived pursuing what the Spirit wants you to do. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. For you, this connection here to the world, this, the time has come, stop looking, that's it, you're not going there anymore. You're done with sin. Now again, we still admit we've got a sin nature, we deal with sin. You're not gonna be judged for sin, because Christ paid for it, you've accepted his payment, and you are gonna discipline yourself and no longer go into the world and live in sin. So you're done with sin in that sense. for the time past suffices for the what the gentiles want to do living in sensuality passions drunkenness orgies drinking parties and lawless idolatry i mean that's quite a list of sins i mean you look i mean it's like Yeah, I don't even want to go back down through that list, but it's like, what? It's like some of those things, I recognize some of that, but some of it's like, holy smokes, what kind of people was Peter writing to? I mean, what did they get saved out of? But anyway. You're no longer gonna do that. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. When you no longer go up here into this, now see, I'm thinking about saying something mouthy, you know, like a bad attitude. I mean, I'm not trying to paint myself off as a holy, righteous person, but there's some things listed on that list that's like, I've never been invited. I've never said, no, I don't do that anymore. It's like, I never did that. And so, I mean, it's really blatant. You understand what I'm saying? I mean, some of this is like, holy smokes, what were these people doing? But they're surprised. Why would you come do these things with us? It's like, well, I've got a different standard. And so that's where this is headed. And they malign you. But chapter 4, verse 5, but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. And the living are those that are still alive. and those that have already died he's gonna judge them all. And now we'll clean this up, pick this up next week out of courtesy, out of just common sense. We need to stop. But we've built up all those verses about what Christ did and that little detour of where he was at with his spirit, but he's ascended to heaven. Now you're gonna have a similar journey that he had of you're going to suffer in the body, you're gonna be rejected, you're going to die, but you're gonna be resurrected by the spirit. But until that time, in this body, you need to say, focus on the Spirit, and that's what we're talking about. Because this is gone, the world is gone, your sin has been taken care of as far as being judged. We're not saying we're perfect, but this is not an issue for us in the eternal sense. We need to focus on this relationship here, and it's going to separate us further and further from I'll pray, and if you have any questions or comments or corrections, please feel free. Father, we thank You again for this opportunity to look into Your Word. We thank You for the fact that Jesus Christ has come, that it's been made clear to us that there is evidence of His resurrection, both physically and spiritually, that we can experience this life in our lives right now today. We do ask that we may proclaim the message boldly, that we ourselves would proclaim it. And let others hear the good news. We thank You for the power of the Spirit that abides within us, for helping us live a life that is pleasing to You, but also empowers us to serve others. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you for being here.