March 14th - The Comma at the End of the Death Sentence

Prayer Requests

Pastor Aaron Preaching
Bethany’s Birthday and Missions Trip Results
Sarah’s Birthday
PasXa outreach – April 2nd
Erin O’s Uncle
Erin C’s Uncle

Clark's Diabetes

Mr. Charlie's Hernia
Persecuted Christians in Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, and elsewhere
Summit in General

Text – 1 Peter 4:1-7

One of the beautiful things about spending a whole year in a single book is that you become to be very intimate with it, you know the ins and outs, you see things you wouldn’t see on just a cursory reading, and you begin to really appreciate both the human author and the Holy Spirit. Last week this jumped out at me that Peter is really spending a LOT of time on the Resurrection of the believer. This thought is REALLY magnified in chapter four, verse 6. This isn’t Peter’s only point in this Epistle, but it is one of his main points. It’s almost like he’s doing his best to point out the benefits of the resurrection in as many ways as he can. Remember that First Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Perfect Church, and Second Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Hopeless Church; if I were to nickname Peter’s Epistle, I would call it the Resurrection Epistle.

Besides this point, which we’re going to look at today, Peter is also really big on holiness, the fact that we are aliens and pilgrims to this world, that our home is Heaven, that the Bible is our final rule of faith and life, that the soul is eternal, that salvation is forever, that good shepherds are essential for the church, and that suffering and death are inevitable. This last point is tied directly to the issue of the resurrection.

So lets look at some verses real quick just to see this theme that Peter is working:

1 Peter 1:3-4 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…

1 Peter 1:9 …obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:19 …who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:23 …since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…

1 Peter 2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 3:4 let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,

1 Peter 3:7 since they are heirs with you of the grace of life

1 Peter 3:14-15 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…

1 Peter 3:18 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,

1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you,

So once again we’re skipping chapter 3, verses 8-12, the reason is because I think it will be beneficial to teach those verses with chapter 4, verses 7-11, because these verses bracket Peter’s most beautiful defense of the resurrection and fully understanding Peter’s emphasis on the resurrection will help us to see why passages on earthly living and loving the church are placed where they are.

So that leads us to chapter 4, verses 1-7:

1 Peter 4:1-7 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves 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 the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 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. The end of all things is at hand.

The word used for suffering here is Pathontos, it comes from Pascho, and it is a little deeper than just pain, but it almost requires pain to death, like torture. We see this in Christ, that he suffered in the flesh, and was put to death in the flesh, but as we saw in verse 18 of chapter 3, he was made alive in the Spirit. The way Peter uses this word, it pretty much requires that it is suffering to death, as we’ll see in a bit. Paul doesn’t always use this word to death, so this is why it is so important to read things in context. Christ didn’t just suffer, right? He died, and that’s what Peter means.

v.1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…

Luke 22:14-15 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Acts 17:3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."

So we arm ourselves with this thinking, that it is both inevitable for us to die, and that Christ has gone before us, suffering for righteousness sake. It does us no good to not think about death, because beloved, we’re going to die, lest Christ comes soon. Verse 7 is powerful in this, Peter knew he was going to die, Christ had told him so, he knew there was no way he was getting out of this world alive, so he armed himself with the thinking that it is better to suffer and die for the sake of Christ than for vain things. I very much want to jump ahead, but also want to keep with Peter’s intent. So just briefly in a little while Peter is going to say don’t die for being a lawbreaker, die for being a witness for Christ.

And the beautiful part is that those who have died have ceased to sin; you can’t sin in Heaven. You can also apply this to Hell as well, that God will stop sinners from sinning, they will confess that Christ is Lord and even their unbelief will cease. This is another beautiful thing about going systematically through the Bible, it challenges wrong beliefs. Before we looked at the end of Chapter 3 I thought Jesus descended into Hell, but now I know he didn’t, and a verse in Revelation made me think there was sin in Hell,

Revelation 16:10-11 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

But that verse is not about Hell, it’s people who are still alive. So to die is to stop sinning. This totally refutes the belief that God hates the sin but not the sinner. There is no sin in Hell, only sinners.

So then, if we can’t sin anymore in Heaven, should we get in as much sin on earth as we possibly can? Peter says,

v.2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

He’s going to explain a little more in a second, but the major point is coming from Christ’s suffering to bring us to God, that we live for him and walk in righteousness not to earn salvation, but to glorify Christ with the life we are given and to bring others to salvation or to leave them without excuse on Judgment Day. But haven’t we sinned enough? That is Peter’s next point:

v.3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

The sins in the past are enough, they should remind us of our sinfulness, that we had much that we needed to be saved from. Peter says let that be enough, don’t live in the world any longer.

v.4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

Two reasons they are surprised, first of all it sounds like Peter’s readers might have once partaken in these sins of outright paganism, and second because the Gentiles, or probably nations is a better translation here, think that this is all there is to life and are amazed that sojourning Christians do not want to sell their souls for the fleeting pleasure of sin. Notice that Peter doesn’t for a second say that these things aren’t fun or pleasurable, but his major point is that there is so much more to be inherited in Christ and so much more to lose than just a good time.

There is a ton in this verse, we’re just going to jump off a little of it. Notice the word Peter uses to describe their debauchery, or outright sinfulness, it’s flood, which is the very same thing that saved Noah and his family from the evil generation. The wages of sin is death, and payday is coming, Peter is driving for verse 7. The flood of death is stored up to wipe away the flood of sin, and it will, just as the flood of Christ’s blood has washed away the stain of the Christian’s sin. And the resurrection of Christ will bring us through the flood of death. Next is that the Gentile’s malign, or hate, make fun of, and slander, those who don’t partake of their sin. They did this to Jesus, calling him a glutton and a drunkard, yet it was totally slanderous, as he was obviously neither of those.

The world loves to call out Christian hypocrites, people who have done one thing wrong, but are still way less sinful than the world. I’ll give you a personal example; I’m not too into watching sports on TV, I like watching championship games and the occasional game, so when I was at the Superbowl this year and last I wore sports jerseys. In Tampa for the Arizona Cardinals I wore a Diamondbacks shirt, and in Miami I wore a Saints jersey with Psalm 37 on the back, which says that God will not forsake his saints. Both times I had belligerent fans heckle me about my sports addiction and that I was no better than them and that I couldn’t judge them. It was amazing how angry some of them got. The rebuttal is that 1. To the pure all things are pure. 2. I’m not addicted to sports. And 3. I wasn’t drunk and blaspheming like the hecklers were.

But in order to justify themselves in their own eyes, they need to drag the Christian down so as to try to make themselves seem ok for Judgment Day. This is obviously utter foolishness because the standard isn’t other people, but Jesus Christ himself, which is verse 5.

v.5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

We need to remind people that they won’t be judged against us, and whether Christians totally abstain or totally partake of their sin, they are going to be judged against perfection, and making someone else look more sinful isn’t going to help at all in front of the judge.

Imagine a car thief standing in front of the judge and saying, “Well at least I didn’t murder the owner of the car like that guy did.” Sure, the other guy is more guilty, but that doesn’t absolve the guilt of the thief. On Judgment Day an account will be given by all people, the living and the dead. So here Peter realizes that the gospel seemingly doesn’t help with the death problem, that all people die. This was a big stumbling block for me before becoming a Christian, that if the Bible seemingly promises eternal life, why then do Christians die?

Friedrich Nietzsche, a famous atheist who lost his mind at the end of his life, believed that faith was worthless because both the faithful and the faithless were afflicted and died. The greatest argument against this is the resurrection, which is Peter’s next point.

v.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.

This is without a doubt my favorite verse. What is the point of preaching the gospel to people who are dead? Why did Noah preach repentance to people who would die eventually anyways? I mean, Noah was saved from the flood, but still he died at 950 years old, so why preach the gospel if we’re going to die anyways?

It’s because judgment is coming to all people, a flood of death, but through Jesus Christ’s resurrection and his application to believers, we will live in the Spirit the way God does. The gospel is not only for life, it is not only for death, it is for both. We both live a godly life and partake in the blessings of the gospel in this life, but we also trust in Christ and his righteousness and resurrection to bring us through our baptism into death, to give us a perfect will in Heaven that we will neither want to sin nor ever sin again.

My favorite verse deals with this in John 11.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

And we must remember that in all of this Peter was an eye-witness of Christ’s resurrection, the best attested to historical fact in antiquity. Peter, who was afraid of a little girl before the resurrection then stood up to kings and crowds after the resurrection. We trust in the resurrection for three major reasons, its historicity, the effect it has on people, and because the Bible says so. It is a beautiful testament to the truth of Christianity, and it helps us set our affections fully on Heaven, for here we are just sojourners, pilgrims, aliens without a permanent home, and we have no lasting city on this earth, but we seek the city that is to come, which Christ will deliver us into on his righteousness and through his resurrection.

Finally, the beginning of verse 7 gives us a character of urgency and godliness.

v.7 The end of all things is at hand.

In Second Peter he is going to make a minor addendum to this to say that while the end is at hand, it is at hand in God’s time, not necessarily our time. Because really it’s been 1950 years since Peter wrote this and the end has not yet come, and in Second Peter he is going to make a masterful defense of why not.

But ultimately in the grander scope of eternity, the end really is at hand, within our grasp. And this verse really wrecks the Left Behind view of eschatology, that the millennium is not at hand, that Christ’s kingdom is not at hand, but that the Judgment is at hand when this world will be dissolved with fire and the new Heavens and Earth will be created.

So in conclusion, we are called to suffering, both the painful kind and the kind to death. Because Christ is risen death is dead, we will be saved and will no longer be able to sin, so we strive for holiness, we stand against sin, we call others to repentance so that they will glorify God through their salvation and not through their condemnation. Our former sins are enough, we do our best to abstain from all ungodliness, and we trust wholly in the resurrection to come, because through it we will be made eternally alive in Christ, even though our bodies will die.

March 7th - Baptism

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Middle School Bible Study
Bethany in Indianapolis

Hannah's Friend's Family

Text – 1 Peter 3:21 sort of...

This week we're going to do a spin-off lesson from 1 Peter 3:21, this is a topical lesson on baptism, not what Peter intended, but a wider look at the whole Bible. I apologize for having to do this, when I chose Peter I thought he spent more time on Baptism than he does, and I really want to do a lesson on baptism.

The first lesson we can learn just based on the shortness of baptism in Peter's epistle is that it is not something that he is really emphasizing. That doesn't mean it's not important, it's just that it's not the most important thing to him, he has been much bigger on faith and holiness and exalting Christ than on this ordinance. When we get to people who think you have to be baptized to be saved this will be a good argument against that, as some epistles don't even mention baptism.

So let's start with what is baptism. Remember from last week that baptism is not synonymous with water and water is not synonymous with baptism. So what does baptism mean? Immersion. The baptism we're going to look at today is immersion in water, but I really want to smash it into your brain that you can be immersed into Jesus Christ without being immersed in water, and as we talked about last week, baptism into literal death and the subsequent resurrection only corresponds to baptism in water. A great example is Pentecost:

Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Substitute, "Repent and get wet in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins." It doesn't work, we must be immersed into the character and work of Jesus Christ, covered totally by his grace. When Peter said be baptized in Jesus he wasn't thinking of water, rather of Christ's merits.

So moving on to water baptism; baptism throughout history, even amongst Baptists, has varied in how we do it. The biblical type is immersion in water, being dunked. Our official Southern Baptist position is,

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. (BF&M2k, Article VII)

There are three types, and all three can be supported by the Bible, although immersion is definitely the way the Bible describes it and which captures Peter's intention, so let's read his passage,

1 Peter 3:20-21 in [the ark] which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 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...

Along the same lines, Paul looks at the elders going to see God on Sinai a baptism, and he calls the baptism the Israelites went through to escape the Egyptians was an immersion as well, albeit they didn't get wet,

1 Corinthians 10:1-2 For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

This one is totally backed up by the Ethiopian Eunuch's baptism,

Acts 8:36-39 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

He came up out of the water, not opened his eyes after effusion or sprinkling. Philip here breaks one of the fundamental rules of baptism, which is to remember to bring your baptizee back out of the water!

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

But, Presbyterian's sprinkle, many Baptists through history have poured, so let's look at those and why they could come up with things like that.

Titus 3:4-6 When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior...

It's still totally symbolic, but see why many Baptists have poured through history. John Smyth baptized himself this way, and the reason he's important is because many in his group came over to America after the Pilgrims and became Baptists.

The third kind can also be called effusion, although it's really sprinkling.

Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

While I am thoroughly about immersion, if a person is actually saved then either sprinkling or effusion keep the intent of baptism, showing a cleansed heart by the work of Christ, reconciliation with God, and the hope of glory.

In the first century someone put together a catechism or teaching to train new converts into Christianity. Some people think it was Matthew, I think it was just a good friend or disciple of Matthew. It's called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles or Didache for short. The Didache was written between AD50 and AD65, but was never considered scripture, but it also doesn't contradict scripture, and since it is an early church document we do well to read what it says; here is what it says on baptism:

Didache 7:1-4 Concerning baptism, baptize thus: Having said all these things beforehand, immerse in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit, in flowing water. If, on the other hand, you should not have flowing water, immerse in other water, if you are not able in cold, in warm. If you should not have either, pour out water onto the head three times in the name of Father and Son and holy Spirit. And prior to the baptism, let the one baptizing fast; and the one being baptized fast one or two days prior to the baptism; and any others who have the strength.

So if the means is not rock solid and set, then the motive, symbolism, and purpose must be more important than the mode. Let's look at the purpose of baptism.

Matthew 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John's baptism was by water, it did not save, but was an outward expression of repentance. Jesus baptizes two ways, believers in the Holy Spirit, and unbelievers in the fire of Hell. Jesus would come to save, but John's baptism was a demonstration before men, right after John said this we have proof of the purpose of baptism.

Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to keep the command of baptism. The Bible isn't totally clear, in my opinion, of exactly which commands Jesus fulfills here, albeit there were diverse washings and many precursors to baptism which point to Jesus and the resurrection. In this one moment of baptism Jesus likely fulfilled many different washing and sanctification commands.

He also publically demonstrated his obedience to God.

This is why Presbyterians baptize babies, not thinking that the baptism saves them, but as a setting the baby apart for God, dedicating the baby to a godly upbringing and training in righteousness. It's wrong, but at least they have a reason for doing it. The reason it is wrong is that a person has to be baptized, dedicating themselves before mankind to God, of their own volition.

I read a cool story of baptism in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia right before the war started in March of 2003. A soldier had gotten saved and wanted to make a public profession of his faith before all of his fellow soldiers because he had been a great sinner before he got saved and he knew it would be a powerful testimony for his fellow soldiers to see. The problem was there was no rivers or lakes or water and they were going to war the next day, so they called everybody around, explained what was going on, and poured a canteen over his head. The motive was way more important than the mode.

If there is one thing that I dislike about our church building is the baptismal pool. We're setting people apart that we already know are set apart. Baptism should be done as a testimony to the world in Lake Acworth or the Chattahoochee river or somewhere where unbelievers will see and be witnessed to through this obedience.

When Jesus was baptized, besides him just being set apart, he also accomplishes something for us in his baptism. Jesus had to keep every command for us so that he could give us his perfect righteousness after he took our sinfulness upon himself. If he weren't baptized then he couldn't pay for that sin for those who weren't baptized. Consider the Thief on the Cross; was he baptized before he died? No, but Jesus was baptized and his act of righteousness was attributed to the Thief. Think on this for just a moment, Jesus doesn't have to pay for sins we didn't commit, for example, he didn't have to pay for my sin of eating shellfish or ham, because that command was superseded and you can't break a law that isn't a law. So our baptism is obedience to the law, and if we aren't baptized it is sin and will keep us out of Heaven, except that Jesus was baptized for us.

Now something we need to stop on for just a second is how many baptisms there are, because the Apostle Paul is very clear there is only one baptism, but John talks about at least three, one of repentance, one of the Holy Spirit, and one of fire, this is a hugely important part of baptism that you'll run into with the godless Pentecostal movement,

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

He is speaking of one baptism among believers, the initial and irrevocable immersion into the church and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There is no second baptism when someone speaks in tongues or falls over or claims to hear from God. That baptism doesn't exist, at least not from the Holy Spirit. At best it's made up, at worst it is Satan masquerading as an angel of light.

Other crazy beliefs are churches that believe that baptism saves you. These are the Church of Christ and parts of the Lutheran church. They've picked one command to hold to and have ignored all others. There are a ton of commands they could have picked, like "Telling the truth saves you." or "Confessing Christ saves you." or "Taking up your cross saves you." There are at least 613 commands we are required to do to be saved, and we've failed to keep most of them, and just keeping one perfectly, say baptism, isn't going to overlook the others. We need Christ's perfect obedience and the Holy Spirit giving us a new birth. They hold very closely to Peter saying "Repent and be baptized" and 1 Peter 3:21 where it says baptism now saves you, but we've looked at both of those verses and have seen that Jesus saves through his death and resurrection, not the act of being baptized.

An extreme example is the Catholic tradition of "Last Rites" which is a second baptism, but they can't call it a second baptism because Paul says there is only one. When a Catholic dies they have one final washing in hopes that their sins are washed away, something which can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit and not some outward work. I heard another story of a Catholic soldier who was killed in Iraq, and the Chaplain didn't have any water so he gave the soldier Last Rites with saliva. Here the motive wasn't symbolic, but an effort to be perfected by works of the flesh, and Paul is expressly clear that this severs a person from grace, so that they have no part nor lot in Christ. (Gal 5)

My last page of notes were lost in cyberspace, so I followed this outline for the last five minutes or so:

Our current traditions descend from the Swiss Brethren, who were a club reading books in other languages, picked a good book in Greek, the New Testament, and all of them were converted:

Conrad Grebel - First Baptist Martyr, died in of illness he caught in prison

Felix Manz - Baptized to Death

George Blaurock - Run out of Zurich, later burned at the stake

Michael Sattler - Tongue cut out because he wouldn't stop preaching, burned at the stake

Bad Anabaptists - Munsterites: polygamists and cannibals

Reason we're not anabaptists today: The ana means "re", and we don't baptize babies, so we're not "re" baptizing adults.

Application
-Be Baptized
-Symbolic
-For a Future Raising to Walk in Heaven

February 28th - Baptism Now Saves You

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Bethany Going to Indianapolis
Bethany's Grandma going to Hawaii
Sarah and Mark Geil in Chicago
Greg Traveling
Dave Back at Work
Baby Eden
Christians in Iraq

Text – 1 Peter 3:18-22

I’ve done so much research on this passage this week that I have to teach it today, which is why we’re skipping verses 8-12 for now. Those verses are on prayer and I’m anticipating another Prayer Sunday, so we’ll hold off for a little so it can be taught on with the whole church.

The passage we are going to look at today is the only passage which Martin Luther didn’t have a definite belief on what it meant, and one that has caused a lot of confusion and arguments and even heresies have come out of it. The major heresy is baptismal regeneration, the belief that a person has to be baptized rightly in water in order to be saved. A baptismal regeneration belief will keep you from grace and keep you out of Heaven.

As we look at this lesson, one thing I’d really like you to take away is that baptism, which means immersion, is not synonymous with water, and water is not synonymous with baptism. You can be baptized, immersed, in the Spirit, in fire, in peanut butter, or in water. Likewise, you can go swimming in water and it not be counted baptism, even though in the strictest sense of the word, you are immersed.

A smaller mistake, and one that won’t keep you out of Heaven, but is still wrong, is the idea that Christ went to Hell. The newer versions of the Apostle’s Creed contain this belief,

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
-the Maker of heaven and earth,
-and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
-born of the virgin Mary,
-suffered under Pontius Pilate,
-was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
-and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
-from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
-the holy universal church;
-the communion of saints;
-the forgiveness of sins;
-the resurrection of the body;
-and the life everlasting.
Amen.

We’ll look at our passage today and see that there is no evidence nor reason to believe that Christ descended into Hell, but rather that the lowest he descended was from Heaven to Earth.

So let’s read our verse before we get too far ahead of ourselves. First though, usually I read from the ESV, I think it is a great Bible. However, here it is terribly translated to try to make it out that Christ went to Hell, and so today we’ll read from the NIV because it accurately translates the Greek. The NASB is also good.

I feel it is important for me to point this out because if you were to say read the NIV and the HCSB together, you’d see that this passage says two totally different things. One of Peter’s major points throughout his Epistles is to teach us both what the Holy Spirit says, and second how to read the Bible, you’ll see this in a major way when we look at 1 Peter 3:8-12 and 2 Peter 1. When we look at verses like the one we’re about to read it is more important to ask, “What does the Bible mean and what does the Holy Spirit want me to learn?” rather than, “What does this mean to me? How else can I interpret it?” We want to know what Peter originally meant, and I believe pretty strongly that this is how I’m going to teach it to you today, and how the NIV translates it.

1 Peter 3:18-22 For 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, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

The first thing Peter does is setup the context for what he’s about to say, having previously been talking about the suffering of the saints for the sake of God’s righteousness.

v.18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

This is my favorite verse. Christ was crucified ultimately for standing for righteousness, he suffered for doing good, and even though he was crucified for a very bad reason, check out what he accomplished, he has brought us to God. What men meant for bad, crucifying the Son of God, God used for good, saving all who would repent and believe the gospel.

It’s a very important point that Christ died once, as evidenced by the rest of the verse,

v.18 He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…

Christ, though dead in the body, did not cease to exist or go to Hell to suffer in death, but was made alive by the Spirit. His body was laid in a tomb, yet he was able to say to a dying saint,

Luke 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Peter is reminding his audience that there are two major parts to you, a perishable body and an imperishable soul. We see our bodies everyday so we begin to think we’re bodies with souls, but it is much better to think of ourselves as souls with bodies. This will cause us to take better care of our souls than our bodies, because our souls will endure forever but our bodies will waste away. Take a car for example, when it’s going down the road we think it’s a car with a person in it, but really it’s a person controlling the car.

Peter takes a radical tangent all of the sudden to really make his point well. I don’t know why he goes where he goes, it’s not where I would have gone, but it makes his point and makes it well.

v.19-20 also he went and preached to the spirits (who are now) in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

How long does your average body last? 70 years maybe? 120 if you’re fortunate. Check out this major point Peter is making, Christ’s Spirit which he has today (AD 65), is the same Spirit he had in 2,400 BC, and ultimately it’s the same Spirit he’ll have forever. We know Christ’s Spirit is eternal with no beginning and no end, but Peter here is showing that Christ’s Spirit has been the same for 2,400 years, that’s a little longer than his body of 33 years was on earth.

Christ preached through Noah to the wicked generation before the flood. The Greek very clearly states that the same Spirit of Christ preached to the people in Noah’s day, which are now souls in Hell. After spending about fifteen hours of research on this I can’t see why anyone would remotely believe Christ went to Hell to preach to dead people. Christ did not go to Hell. He went through all of the sufferings of Hell on the cross, but there was absolutely no reason for him to have to go to Hell. John Calvin, one of the greatest theologians who ever lived, is only wrong on two points, first that he liked to get babies wet, and second that he believed Jesus went to Hell. I mention that so you trust the Bible more than men, although men can and do certainly reveal the truth in amazing ways, they can and do make mistakes, while the Holy Spirit never will.

Ephesians 4:7-10 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

We’re going to talk in depth about Noah and the flood in Second Peter, so to cover this only basically, the people of Noah’s day were exceedingly wicked; greedy, violent, corrupt, yet Noah preached righteousness to them, and we believe the ark was considerably bigger than it needed to be, it could have held many more people if they would have just believed in God’s judgment and gotten on the boat. But they wouldn’t.

v.20 In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved by water

Wait a minute, I thought Noah and his family were saved by an ark. They were saved from God’s wrath by the ark, but what saved them from evil and corrupt men? The flood. Because God sent the flood which he brought Noah and his family through, he saved them from the violent generation of Noah’s day.

v.21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We’re going to talk a whole lot more about the mode and history of baptism next week, but this week we’re just going to look at what Peter means here. He says baptism saves you…the question is from what? I don’t doubt at all that baptism saves you, it’s just not that it saves you from the wrath of God like Jesus saves you.

Baptism (immersion), into death, saves you from the suffering and wickedness of this world, and just as the ark brought Noah and his family safely through the flood to a new world, so will Christ’s resurrection be that ark which brings us safely through death to a New Jerusalem.

This is why we say what we say from Romans 6 when someone is baptized,

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Water baptism is purely symbolic of the event that our soul went through, dying to sin and raising to Eternal life. But there is a second baptism, immersion, into physical death in which we are saved from the ability to sin as well as its effects. Baptism, therefore, into death, saves you. The world knows this when they give the eulogy, “He’s in a better place now.”

But the caveat is that believers are saved from wickedness by death, and saved from God’s wrath by Jesus, where-as unbelievers step out of this world into infinitely worse consequences for sin. So it is not true of everyone who dies, “he’s in a better place now.” When George Carlin died I preached at KSU that he’s in an infinitely worse place now and is praying that someone would go and warn his family, friends, and fans not to come there! (cf. Luke 16)

Right in the middle of verse 21 Peter gives a very quick addendum to make sure readers don’t think that the symbolic baptism by immersion in water is what saves,

v.21 (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God)

Martin Luther used to take every bath in remembrance of the baptism of his soul, the cleansing of his conscience, because the reason we need frequent washings is because we constantly get dirty. Read this back to verse 18, Christ died ONCE for all, his one act of obedience has made us righteous forever, so that where sin increases grace abounds all the more.

Romans 5:19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

We are washed, we are sanctified, we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. We don’t need to work for salvation, we don’t need to be physically baptized, we don’t need to continually confess, because Christ has done all the work, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring us to God. Next week we’ll look at why we do get baptized, because there is a very good reason, and to not do so is a sin, but a sin which Christ is more than capable of paying for.

v.22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

So Peter’s major point, coming from verse 13, is that suffering is a part of the Christian life, but that Christ has gone before and has proved many magnificent things, first that he is mighty to save from sin and death, to reconcile us to God having absorbed the wrath, and that there is a soul that lives on after death.

We have this promise, that to live is Christ, and to die is gain, for our lasting city is the city in which Christ sits and reigns over, where angels, authorities, powers, and all things are in submission to him. We seek that city.

But until then, we seek to bring others with us, witnessing for righteousness’ sake, suffering for Christ’s sake, even into death, but this baptism into death saves us forever from pain and suffering.

Many people want to die peacefully in their sleep at a hundred years old. For the Christians they will pass into eternal peace, for the wicked they will pass into eternal death. Me, if given the option, I would face the most heinous of tortures to death, for truly this baptism will save me and for all the rest of eternity I will feel not a pinprick of pain.

So stand up for righteousness, no matter the cost. Are you afraid of having your feelings hurt? They crucified your Saviour. Are you afraid of the pain? They plucked his beard out by its roots. Are you afraid of the shame? They spit on him and crowned him with thorns. Are you afraid of losing friends? Christ’s friends ran from him and one of them sold him for the price of a slave. Are you afraid of death? Death has lost its sting. Are you afraid of failure? Through Christ we are assured of the victory.

Truly nothing of consequence stands between us and our King. God, once our greatest enemy, is now our loving Father; Death, once a daunting darkness, is now a friend; Life, once our greatest treasure, is beset on every side with pain and suffering; Christ, once just a name, is now our supreme reward.

So place your trust on him, lay hold of Christ, and while your body shall pass away, your spirit will reign eternally with the Living Christ, the righteous and triumphant Saviour.