Standing firm in Gospel Realities
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A Challenging Passage
A Challenging Passage
Going through a book of the bible as we are keeps us from avoiding passages that stretch us or passages, like this one, that are hard to understand.
But what we do find in this passage are powerful realities for believers that are so vital to standing firm in our faith, as if Peter’s goal in this letter.
It is key that we understand the powerful realities of the Gospel that we may stand firm in our faith through ANY things that may come at us.
I have fought this message sounding like a theology lecture all week, while not shying away from a deep, but powerful truth we all NEED to understand and embrace as we follow Jesus.
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
That’s my hope and my prayer for our time together, that these truths would be an anchor for our hearts and minds as we grapple with this passage.
PRAY
Let’s read the passage:
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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly 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. 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, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
I want to talk about 3 gospel realities Peter unearths in this passage.
Standing firm in Gospel Realities
Standing firm in Gospel Realities
We stand JUSTIFIED in Christ.
We stand JUSTIFIED in Christ.
One of my favorite modern hymns is “How Deep the Father’s Love for us” by Stuart Townend
The second verse expresses just how amazing and unbelievable Jesus’s suffering on the cross for our sins actually is
Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.
“Christ suffered ONCE for sins” that is an incredible statement to Jewish Christians.
It’s significance is missed on us...
It would have reminded them of all the sacrifices there family would have made.
All the blood of animals they would have poured out on alters to pay the price necessary to cover their sins.
And yet, on the shoulders of Jesus, all their sins were taken.
All the sins of anyone who would trust in Jesus were taken upon His shoulders.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Justification is a legal status.
To be justified means that you are counted right and acceptable in the eyes of God.
It means you are NOT GUILTY. The guilt of your sin transferred to Jesus.
When we trust in Jesus ALL of our sins, past, present and future, are paid for (Justified) by His blood.
This whole concept is likely not foreign to you, but we struggle sometimes to let is really seep in.
But listen again to vs 18
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,
“Christ suffered for sin…that he might bring us to God...”
Christ suffered for YOUR sin that YOU might be brought to God.
Our biggest struggle with that statement is that we have ZERO to do with the transaction.
We struggle to accept that our justification comes from Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.
You are not justified by your tithes and offering.
You are not justified by your hour long bible study.
You are not justified by you church attendance or volunteering.
Peter makes a quite confusion connection to “spirits in prison” and the time of Noah.
If you are here today our watching online and are living in a deep since of shame this morning, hear this, Jesus has paid the price for your sin. You are justified, your sins are no longer counted against you.
“It is an essential attribute to the character of God; quite literally meaning “One who is right”. Think of it as the polar opposite of sin. To commit sin is to go against God’s design for our lives, therefore righteousness is the only living standard that is acceptable for us to stand before the Father.”
This is the biblical concept of Imputed Righteousness
A big, hearty word, but a deeply meaningful one.
It means that the righteousness of Christ, His perfect obedience and holy nature, is literally BECOMES ours through our faith and union with Christ.
It is “applied to our account”.
The very moment we put our faith in Jesus we are clothed in His righteousness.
Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians:
Jesus was MADE SIN in order the we might BECOME the righteousness of God.
Also...
Our righteousness is not our own, it is not something we can earn by doing all the right things.
We have no room or reason to boast.
When God see us He does not see our sin and our rebellion, if we are in Christ He sees the perfect, holy righteousness of Christ in us.
So we stand in “good conscience” before the throne of God.
Peter related the account of Noah and the flood to Baptism in vs 21
Noah and his family were saved “through water”.
They weren’t saved BY THE WATER, but were brought through the water in order that they might be saved.
This is the story we tell in Baptism.
We go through the waters of baptism in order to tell the story of our salvation, where our righteousness comes from.
We enter the water dead in our sin and in Christ we die to our sinful life and are washed by His blood,
When we are raised we are raised to NEW LIFE in Him. Clothed in the garments of Christ’s righteousness and able to stand before God with a “GOOD CONSCIENCE” in Christ.
Baptism is not what saves us, but it is an expression of what has happened within us.
You stand CONFIDENT in the VICTORY of Christ.
You stand CONFIDENT in the VICTORY of Christ.
Peter finishes this section with this verse:
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
This is a declaration of victory for those weary followers struggling through the trials of life and the difficulty that comes from following Jesus.
Peter directs their gaze heavenward to the risen Christ who is seated that the right hand of God the Father, the most important seat in heaven.
And we are told that from that seat He is our advocate, making an appeal to God on our behalf.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
So Hear these words this moring:
if you live in defeat this morning hear this word
if you live in fear this morning hear this word
if you live in dispare this morning hear this word
if you live in hardness of heart this morning hear this word
it you are broken by your sin receive this word
if you are tired of trying to live in your own power hear this word
You are justified in Christ Jesus.
You are clothed in His IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
And you stand confident in His victory over sin and death.
Now walk in that truth friends.