Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

When the Lord first put 1 Peter on my heart to study this year as a church, I had two major concerns.

First, I did not want to preach on submitting to the government in 1 Pet.

2:13-17 and second, I did not want to preach on our text this morning from 1 Pet.

3:18-22.

But I am committed to preaching all of God’s Word since all of it is equally inspired and profitable, even if all of it is not equally clear.

The problem verses are in 1 Pet.

3:19-21.

Apparently there are close to 180 different interpretations of these verses.[1]

Don’t worry!

I am not going to be presenting all 180 today, just the three major views and really just two that is worth considering.

Interestingly, Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer, cheerfully comments on this section that it is, “a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means.”[2]

I am thankful for Luther’s honesty.

Ironically, Peter says in 2 Pet.

3:16, that Paul has some writings that are “hard to understand.”

Really Peter?

And you don’t?

Maybe I’m assuming that just because it is hard for us to understand that it is hard for Peter’s audience to understand as well.

But maybe it wasn’t, since we are so far removed in time and culture from them.

In any case, I studied the major views and one of them makes more sense to me than the others, but I certainly will not die over it.

I’ll have to ask about it in Heaven.

But I don’t want you to leave here with just a good position in your head, but having grabbed a hold of a great Savior in your heart and life!

We want to meet Jesus here and have him not just inform us, but transform us!

Peter’s theme, which had been the background for a while, is now pushed to the front.

It is the theme of suffering (1 Pet.

3:13, 17, 18, 4:1, 13, 16, 19, 5:1, 9 and 10).

Really, other than Job, no book talks more about suffering than 1 Peter.

Peter talks a lot about suffering and a lot of that is about /learning to suffer well/.

We’ve been seeing that suffering for being a believer is part of the package of following Christ.

You need to tell that to people as soon as they are interested in following Him!

This is why broad is the way of destruction and narrow is the way of eternal life (Matt.

7:14).

And Peter wants to make sure it is the right kind of suffering.

Not suffering from foolish choices we have made (and now life is hard as a result of those consequences), but suffering that has come merely because of our faith and people not liking it and making life hard because of it.

Do you want some examples?

It is the person who has become Christian and has decided to marry a believer and have a Christian wedding and the family says, “Don’t invite us.

We are not coming.”

In fact, I think it is certain sects of Islam where they hold a funeral once someone becomes a believer and treat them as dead and disown them.

Or it is the student in the classroom who is known as a believer, but the teacher makes sure to make fun of him~/her constantly and even give lower grades in the process.

It is the believer wanting to save himself~/herself for marriage and is ridiculed by friends and co-workers.

I heard one story where at an office the co-workers have a pool, betting money on who can get their believer co-worker to fall sexually before marriage.

And these things are nothing compared to what some believers are going through around the world!

And who knows how long we have the freedom to worship here in the United States?

But regardless of the extremity of suffering, we need to know how to suffer well.

How can we suffer well, to the glory of God?

Most of us want to escape suffering or try to avoid it at all costs.

But sometimes it is inevitable.

And we need to make sure we are not a bad witness during it.

Sometimes we want to retaliate really badly.

Other times we see it as the end-all disaster of life and we want to give up.

But the Word of God tells us suffering is inevitable, but how can we make sure we are suffering well?

Well first of all learning to suffer well means:

*I.   **I trust God’s purposes for my suffering (1 Pet.

3:18)*

Peter’s thesis is in 1 Pet.

3:17.

And now he is going to explain why it is “better to suffer for doing good…” He again points to our Lord’s suffering like he did in 1 Pet.

2:21-25.

He is the ultimate example for why unjust suffering can achieve God’s purposes.

John Macarthur says, “At the heart of the gospel is the fact that Jesus Christ, who was perfectly righteous, died for the utterly unrighteous.

He triumphed through that undeserved suffering by, as God had predetermined, providing redemption for the world.

In that one event, God had His intentions fulfilled….”[3]

And if you follow this Jesus, you too can have confidence and hope that God’s purposes will triumph in your own suffering!

Let’s examine the purposes for Christ’s suffering.

I can never get tired of hearing the gospel!

Here Peter shares the heart of the gospel in one verse.

First we are going to look at who Christ suffered for, why He suffered and how He suffered.

Some manuscripts have “died” (KJV) here instead of Christ “suffered.”

Earlier manuscripts, which are more reliable, have “suffered” (which is why I will use that word) but the meaning is the same: Christ suffered by dying for our sin.

/a)    //Who Christ suffered for/

Peter says Christ suffered as “the righteous for the unrighteous.”

By the way the Quran says Jesus never died on the cross, but He just fainted.[4]

This is because a good prophet cannot die a death like that.

And I’m not sure, but I think their teaching is that the disciples just took him off the cross and put Judas in His place.

So which is it?

Did He die or didn’t He?

This is another reason why all religions are not the same as the Bahai’s teach.

If Jesus did not die for our sin, guess what,/ we/ are going to die for them!

We might as well pack up right now, go party somewhere and wait to die.

We are all going to die in our sin!

But praise His name, He died for us!

Peter says clearly, “He was put to death in the flesh.”

It wasn’t that He died for us spiritually or in His heart.

He physically died like I should have!

He was righteous, without sin in word, thought or deed (1 Pet.

2:22, Heb.

4:15; 2 Cor.

5:21).

But He died as my substitute.

The Gospel in four words: Jesus in my place.

We are unrighteous.

We are sinners by nature and by choice.

James says if we break one of the Ten Commandments, it is like breaking them all (James 2:10).

Have you broken just one of the 10?

It is enough to send you to hell.

We are unrighteous and for our sins, we deserve to die (Rom.

6:23).

But Jesus was righteous and He did not deserve to die.

So why did He die?

/b)   //Why Christ suffered /

Peter says, “to bring us to God.” Isaiah 59:2 says our sins have separated us God.

It is a chasm that can never be bridged unless God bridges it and He did when He died for us.

Commentator Peter Davids says, “Jesus died in order that, so to speak, he might reach across the gulf between God and humanity and, taking our hand, lead us across the territory of the enemy into the presence of the Father who called us.”[5] Pastor Stephen Cole also observes, “The phrase “bring” is a word was used…for an admission to an audience with the Great King.

You just didn’t stroll into the presence of a great king and say, “How’s it going?”

You had to have someone to introduce you properly.

Because the righteous Christ bore our sins, He can bring us into an audience with the Great King.”[6]

The only reason why God accepts us today is because of Jesus Christ!

He brought us to God!