1 Peter 3 as we look today at verses 18-22. Verses 18-22. Hear God's Word again today. For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who in times past were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. Figuratively, this is like baptism, which also saves us now. It is not washing off the dirt from the body, but a response to God from a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Well, this text has two very difficult sayings in it, but the good news is we're giving ourselves 20 minutes to handle this text. So hopefully that'll make it easier. You cannot hear this text without beginning at least back in verse 17. For it is better if it is the will of God that you should suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Peter gives then, starting in verse 18, the ultimate example of unjust suffering. He also tells us what that suffering was to accomplish, how it was accomplished. And then he reminds us of the history of this good news and how it is pictured for us in our day. Throughout this section, verses 18 through 22, what is painted for us is a glorious portrait that answers our question, who is this sufferer? Who is this one who suffered ultimately for doing good? For good is all that he had ever done. He had never done any evil. And we want to show you today that through the power of the Holy Spirit, The sufferer will bring unrighteous people to the righteous God. First, who is this sufferer? Well, he is the righteous one. For Christ has also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Now, there's a very A great little nuance to that in that the just or the righteous is singular. The singular righteous one for the unjust or the unrighteous plural, the many. The one righteous one has suffered and we see then later died for the many unrighteous. He is the righteous one. And he was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. This speaks to the spiritual reality of what comes about due to the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus Christ. He was put to death in the flesh, but the Holy Spirit makes Him alive again. And so, Peter is nudging us toward what the Spirit also does in making others alive. And we will see that in a moment. Jesus Christ is the righteous one. The question has come through the ages, why do bad things happen to good people? But according to scripture, it's a nonsensical question because there is only one good person in the history of the world. I believe it was R.C. Sproul who rightly asked No, the question is, why do good things happen to anyone? For we are all sinners. The question is, why did such a horrific thing happened to the only good person? Why did he do this? The righteous one suffered and died so that he might bring us to God. So that he might bring us to God. What a glorious truth. Secondly, Jesus Christ is the preached one. The sufferer is preached about and has been preached about. And this brings us to one of the first difficulties of this text. By whom? So Christ is is put to death in the flesh. He's made alive by the Spirit of God. Now notice it's not made alive in the Spirit. We don't believe in a merely spiritual resurrection of Christ, held by Bishop Spong and others, saying that spiritually Christ was made alive and lived on in the memory and the teaching of the apostles. I have a great memory, but a great memory can't cook fish on the beach. A great memory can't restore an apostle who has fallen away. A great memory can't physically be seen ascending into heaven before the eyes of many after he had appeared to scores of people. No, we We believe that Christ was made alive by the Spirit, and then Peter goes on to say, by whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who in times past were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. This becomes a difficult saying because the question is, who are these spirits in prison to whom Christ is preaching? And why does he dip all the way? We know Peter loves the Old Testament. We know that in this epistle he loves to drag us back to the Old Testament. And here we see the great saint of the past, Noah, who built that ark and his family was saved. And you'll remember in the first chapter of this letter, Peter says, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that should come to you have inquired and searched diligently, seeking the events and time the Spirit of Christ who was within them signified when he foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. And then here in the third chapter, Peter is explaining to us The Spirit of Christ has been present preaching from the beginning. And so who are these souls in prison that the Spirit of Christ, in the Spirit, by the Spirit, is preaching to? And there are a handful of views that have flowed out of this verse, and you've probably heard some of them. and perhaps you believe some of them or one of them and you'll find out here in a few minutes that you're wrong, but that's okay. You can humble yourself, you can repent, and you can come to a right understanding of scripture. So, Let's handle, just briefly, remember we're giving ourselves 20 minutes today, so this is the joy that is set before me. Let's look at the ones that this scripture can't be espousing today. One that was that after Christ died, he went and preached to people in hell, offering them a second chance of salvation. There are all these people that had heard preaching over the millennia, and they had died, and they had gone to hell, and they had trouble seeing that the promised one would really come. Well, now He has come, and He has been crucified, dead, buried, and now He is going and showing them, see, I really did come. Don't you want to be saved now? But we know that Scripture also teaches that as appointed to man once to die, and after that, the judgment. There are no second chances. Another is like that one, very closely related, and that is that he went and preached to people in hell, not necessarily to give them a second chance of salvation, but to put it bluntly, kind of gloat to them and remind them you're not getting out of here. I have come and I have sealed the fate and their condemnation was final. Another view that after Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had repented just before they died in the flood. And He led them out of their imprisonment, their purgatory, into heaven. You'll never guess which faction teaches that. Again, this is very optimistic that as these people who had listened to a hundred years of preaching, as the waters were rising, that they were somehow now blessing God and not cursing God. The final view, and these are broad strokes, and there are many individual views underneath each of these, but that after Christ died, or after he rose from the dead, but before he ascended into heaven, that he made his way to hell to gloat not to the sinners that were there, but to the fallen angels, primarily those who had sinned, by marrying human women before the flood. Now, you would have to believe that those were fallen angels who had married women before the flood for that view to be attractive or to make sense. But it seems fairly clear from the text that none of these are really what is being stated. There are no second chances. There's no need to gloat in such a way. And most of these would flow out of an improper understanding of what we profess in the Apostles' Creed that Christ descended into hell. And some believe that that was necessary so that Christ could experience hell. But in the Heidelberg Catechism, which is in the same spirit and understanding and theology of the Westminster documents, it makes its way through the Apostles' Creed. And when it gets to why is there added, and this is question 44 of the Heidelberg Catechism, why is there added he descended into hell? And the answer comes that in my greatest temptations, I may be assured that Christ, my Lord, by his inexpressible anguish, pains and terrors, which he suffered in his soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell. So you need to remember, brothers and sisters, that hell is not the absence of the presence of God. Hell is the fullness of the presence of God in his wrath. And that is what Christ experienced for us on the cross. He experienced the wrath of God for sinners. And so there was not a need for Christ to descend into a physical place called hell, because he had passed through the fires of hell in suffering the fate of sinners, the judgment of sinners. And so what is going on in this text? If these spirits aren't the spirits of humans that can't be saved, or the spirits of demons that can't be saved, Who are they and what is this prison in which they are? They were in times past disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls were saved through water. What Peter here is saying is that through Noah and through the preaching of that day, Christ was there by the Spirit preaching to them. And those people, now deceased, their bodies in their watery graves, and their souls now in hell, are now in that prison. They had been disobedient. Now they are in prison. And Christ is explaining through Peter that he has been preached, not just since the beginning of what we understand as the New Testament. But Christ has been preached in age after age, generation after generation, He has called to those who are in rebellion. Now, there may still be a question about these souls, these spirits in prison. We need to remember that they were disobedient. They did not obey in faith. They did not trust Christ. They did not repent of their sin. And so it is appropriate that they are now condemned to a prison. In which they cannot escape. Christ has been preached and his gospel stands. And the judgment has been the same, but the blessing has also been the same. That those who are in Christ are saved and are redeemed, and they are redeemed by this righteous one, this preached one, and thirdly, the resurrected one. Peter goes on to another difficult thing. Figuratively, this is like baptism, which also saves us now. And that is given by a number of folks. Think of the Church of Christ folks, the Renewal folks, who believe that you must be baptized in order to be saved. You must be physically baptized with water in order to be saved. But they skip, apparently, this next part of the verse where he explains that this baptism is not about the washing of dirt from the body. It's not about that cleansing by water of the physical, but it is about what happens internally in us. That is part of what baptism signifies to us is the washing of our hearts with the Word of God. And Peter upholds that in this teaching. Calvin points out that baptism shows that we are dead to the world and that we are engaged to Christ. And I would ask, where is the reality of baptism better pictured than with Noah and his family? The eight enter the ark and the deluge literally sweeps away the world that they knew. Not just the plains, not just the rivers and the landmarks and the topography, but the people, the culture, the rebelliousness and the sin is wiped away. It is dead to them. They are literally dead to the world. As they enter that ark. And as the waters rise, they float away. Unfortunately, like for us, though, that one mortal enemy always lingers close at hand their flesh. How quickly after this baptism of the flood does that sinful self manifest itself in the actions of Noah and his family? Though we are baptized, whether we are young or old at the time of our baptism, how the flesh lingers close at hand and we are reminded that it is a battle until our dying day to fight against the sin of the flesh. Preaching had gone on for a century and some were saved and most were washed away. I believe there's also encouragement here for the church. In Peter's day, as I'm sure as persecution had come, as wickedness was multiplying in the Roman world, it was tempting for Christians to think, am I the only one? Is it but I who am left? Will God save us? Will God redeem us from this moment? And Peter reminds them of all the effort and all the time and all the patience that Christ put into saving eight souls. Surely, at any given time from that day, there are more than eight souls who are faithful. One Puritan gave encouragement to preachers in this. reminding us that Noah preached for over 100 years and at the end of it only had a church of eight people. And before the end came, a number of them fell away. I think that's supposed to be encouraging. But I see more than eight people here today. And so God is good. We are united to Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and baptism. We are also raised to new life by faith. How true it is, as Peter points out here. As faith is given to us, as repentance is granted to us, as we for the first time have a good conscience where we where we truly understand right and wrong in a biblical, Christological, theological, eternal way. That Jesus is our right and that turning to anything else for salvation would be wrong. How true it is that that is now our state once the Spirit comes upon us and and brings to us the person and work of this resurrected one. His resurrection is our resurrection. And lastly, he is the ascended one. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. Peter's gospel, though it is not named for him, it's named for his assistant, is found in the gospel of Mark. And it's interesting considering this text in light of what we find in Mark chapter 16 here at the end of of the Gospel of Mark, which was, we find, the Gospel that would have been preached by Peter. In verses 14-20 of the Gospel of Mark, Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they sat at supper, and he reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they'll cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents. If they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. And that is exactly what happened as the apostles went forward. We read in the book of Acts, that is exactly what happened. But then it says this, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. Then they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. We find exactly what Peter is talking about In this place we find that even as the apostles went forward that Christ went with them through the Holy Spirit. And that is no different than it had been in all ages. in history that Christ was preached and as the prophets or the evangelists or the apostles went forward and preached the spirit of Christ accompanied the preaching and Christ was glorified and Christ saved sinners. And now here we see a fuller statement of what is going on as as as Peter through Mark and the Holy Spirit through Peter through Mark tells us in Mark 16 that the Lord ascended, He was received up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. Then these things happened. We find here who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. How do we find that happening? We find that happening through the gospel being preached, through Christ being preached, through the gospel spreading to the four corners of the globe, and the gospel will fill the earth as the waters cover the seas. And angels and authorities and powers are being made subject to Him. He is the Ascended One. Death did not defeat him. Burial did not defeat him. He rose again by the Holy Spirit and he ascended on high. Peter even points out, Mark does in Mark 16, that Jesus was received up. It's more in the passive sense speaking to that triune work that it's never the father by himself for the son by himself or the spirit by himself working. This is a triune reality that goes on. Well, brothers and sisters, Jesus portrait is painted very clearly for us here. The righteous preached, resurrected and ascended one. He is that sufferer that sufferer through the power of the Holy Spirit who will bring unrighteous people to the righteous God. And this text also reveals to us the power of the Holy Spirit who not only brought Christ back from the dead, but has poured out on us to bring us from spiritual death unto life. This is what's signified and sealed to us in our baptism. The righteous one has suffered unjustly to redeem the unrighteous many who will never suffer what we should because he has passed through hell for us. Friend, what is keeping you from this great savior today? What is keeping you from seeking to fulfill your baptism by trusting him? By living. And if he should so choose dying for him. Even suffering for righteousness sake, knowing that we will never suffer. As he did. But also knowing that his suffering has brought us life and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Stand with me as we pray. Father, bless your people on this day. Work in those, Lord, who have been baptized as children and yet have not come to faith in You, have not professed Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Father, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would work in them, granting them new hearts that they might believe and repent. Lord, there might be even older folks among us who must trust Christ. And Lord, they have doubted, they have seen as foolish the things of God, and they are perhaps on the verge of as their body passes away, their soul being imprisoned in that place of torment. Lord, I pray that they would trust You, that Your Holy Spirit would grant faith and repentance, and they would turn and live for You all of their days. Lord, how glorious it is to know Jesus Christ. How glorious it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to have Him applying to us the person and work of the dear son. Father, bring to fruition in us our baptism that our hearts may be washed by the word that we might be buried with him and raised to new life by faith. It's in his name that we pray in church. Let us pray together. Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.