Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 3:18-22

Stephen Caswell © 2000

Fearing His Scars

Adoniram Judson, the renowned missionary to Burma, endured untold hardships trying to reach the lost for Christ.

For 7 heartbreaking years he suffered hunger and privation.

During this time he was thrown into Ava Prison, and for 17 months was subjected to almost incredible mistreatment.

As a result, for the rest of his life he carried the ugly marks made by the chains and iron shackles which had cruelly bound him.

Undaunted, upon his release he asked for permission to enter another province where he might resume preaching the Gospel.

The godless ruler indignantly denied his request, saying, My people are not fools enough to listen to anything a missionary might SAY, but I fear they might be impressed by your SCARS and turn to your religion!

Introduction

Last Sunday we saw how Peter encouraged believers to be willing to suffer for their faith.

Peter emphasized three things, Unity, Purity and Opportunity.

Firstly, for Christians to stand firm in persecution they need to stand together.

This involves having the same mind, Christ's mind, and being compassionate toward each other.

Secondly, for Christians to withstand trials they need to live holy lives and thereby receive the Lord's help.

Thirdly, persecution provides us an opportunity to defend our faith before the lost.

We do this as we give an account of our hope in Christ.

In today's passage, Peter again encourages believers by citing Christ's example of suffering.

We will look at this passage under three headings:

1.

The Ministry Of Christ 2. The Ministry Of Noah & 3.

The Ministry Of Christians Today

Firstly The Ministry Of Christ

a.

The Death Of Christ

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Peter presented Jesus Christ as the perfect example of one who suffered unjustly, and yet obeyed God.

Jesus Christ was our substitute.

He bore our sins in His body on the tree.

Because He was perfect Jesus needed to die but once.

Christ collected the wages of our sin which is death, so that we might receive the gift of God, eternal life.

If Jesus Christ the holy one suffered and died as part of God's will should we expect any less?

No! Paul said, that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Jesus Christ suffered for us and we must suffer for Him.

But there is much encouragement in this.

Jesus the just one died to bring us to God.

This means that we can come boldly before the throne of grace in time of need to find grace and mercy.

We don't have to stand firm in affliction on our own, God's grace is available to us.

Jesus' Christ death did not lead to defeat.

It brought us back to God!!

b.

The Proclamation By Christ

1 Peter 3:19-20 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

After Christ died on the cross He descended into the lower parts of the earth and preached to the spirits in prison.

What did He preach to them?

Those who say that these spirits in prison were the spirits of lost sinners in hell, to whom Jesus brought the good news of salvation, have some real problems to solve.

Firstly, the word preach khrussw means to proclaim as a herald.

It is not the word used to preach the Gospel eujaggellizw.

Therefore, Jesus Christ preached judgment to those spirits now that He had conquered Satan and sin on the cross.

Colossians 2:15 refers to this.

Secondly, they are referred to as spirits and not souls.

The word spirits always refers to angels; not to men.

These spirits were somehow involved in wickedness just prior to the flood.

They may have been the Sons of God that cohabited with women of that time referred to in Genesis 6:, Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4-5.

Thirdly, nowhere in the Scriptures are we told that people will have a second chance to be saved after death.

Hebrews 9:27 says: And as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment.

So Christ's suffering and death not only provides salvation for mankind, it also condemns the wicked to eternal suffering!

The cross provides both salvation and condemnation from sin.

c.

The Resurrection Of Christ

1 Peter 3:21 There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Although baptism is a picture of our salvation, it does not provide our salvation.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ and His finished work accomplishes this for us.

The resurrection speaks of victory over sin and death.

Since death comes when the spirit leaves the body, then resurrection involves the spirit returning to the body.

The Father raised Jesus from the dead, but the Son also had authority to raise Himself.

It was a miracle!

It is because of His resurrection that Christians have the living hope.

Death is not the end for a believer.

We must never minimize the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It declares that He is God, and that the work of salvation is completed and accepted by the Father.

It also proves that death has been conquered.

The Gospel message includes the Resurrection, for a dead Savior can save no one.

It is Christ's resurrection that freed us from sin.

It is the risen Christ who gives us the power we need on a daily basis for life and service.

It was through suffering and death that Jesus Christ gained His supreme victory.

He came forth from the tomb in resurrection power.

Therefore when believers suffer for Christ they can also experience Christ's resurrection power.

Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

d.

The Ascension Of Christ

1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

Forty days after His resurrection, our Lord ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, the place of exaltation.

Believers are seated with Him in the heavenlies, and through Him we are able to reign in life.

He is ministering to the church as High Priest, and Advocate.

He is preparing a place for His people and will one day come to receive them to Himself.

But the main point Peter wanted to emphasize was Christ’s complete victory over all angels, authorities and powers.

This refers of course to the evil hosts of Satan.

The unfallen angels were always subject to Him.

As Christians, we do not fight for victory, but from victory.

The mighty victory that our Lord won for us in His death, resurrection, and ascension.

Believers are not defeated through suffering.

They are victorious through Jesus Christ.

We are super conquerors because we overcome through the very trials themselves.

Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A Liturgy on the Incarnation

He whom none may touch is seized;