If sanctification is becoming conformed to the image of Christ, then it stands to reason that we must suffer the same kind of things that Christ suffered. Hebrews 5:8 says, Christ learned obedience from the things which He suffered. At the beginning of Peter’s epistle, in chapter 1 vs 2, he makes the correlation between obedience and sanctification. Peter writes to those “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” Notice the sanctifying work of the Spirit is to teach us obedience. So then, if we would learn obedience, if we would follow in Christ’s footsteps, then that will include suffering.
Suffering, as I said in previous messages, is not the goal of our sanctification. Suffering is a means God uses to bring about sanctification. As the hymn we sing often says, “the flames shall not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume and thy soul to refine.” Suffering comes in many varieties of forms. Suffering meaning not just bearing reproach or physical wounds, but suffering as the mortification of the flesh, in which we die to sin, we buffet our body and make it our slave so that we do not lose our reward.
Paul said in Philippians, that all the things which had been gain to him, he suffered as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus as Lord. Phl. 3:8 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” And so we see that suffering may be considered losing things, perhaps losing respect, losing standing in the community, losing friends, or losing a job or your stance for Christ even costing you financial loss.
Suffering, on some level at least, is something that all true followers of Christ will endure. 2Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Perhaps the reason that many Christians are not suffering persecution is because they are not living godly lives. They are not living holy lives. Peter will go on to say in the next chapter that your old friends from the previous days of your ungodly life will not be cheering you on in the new life of holiness. 1Peter 4:4 “In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you."
If you are not being maligned, if you are not being ostracized by family, by coworkers, by old friends because you no longer participate in the unfruitful works of darkness as Peter describes at the beginning of chapter 4, things like “a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries,” then perhaps it’s because they haven’t yet seen much difference between the old man and the new life you have in Christ.
That’s why Peter says in vs 15, that we are to sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. That means that we set apart our lives to serve Christ as Lord. Jesus is the Lord of our hearts. He is to rule our emotions, He is to rule our will, He is to be Lord of all we do and say. We are no longer our own person, living just to do whatever we want, or to live wantonly according to our passions, but we are bought with a price, with the precious blood of Jesus and our life belongs to Christ. When our passions and desires are ruled by Christ the Lord, then we will no longer run to the same kind of things that the world runs to, and as they see this, they won’t encourage us towards godliness, but they will malign us. They will speak evil about us, they will see us as their enemy, because our righteousness serves as a goad to their conscience. It makes them feel guilty and they will hate you for it.
There is also though the possibility, indicated by Peter in the same verse, that we are not maligned, we are not suffering because we are not much of a testimony. If we are not seeking to evangelize the lost, especially our lost friends or family members, then we are probably not suffering much. But if we are seeking to make disciples, if we are acting as ambassadors for the gospel, proclaiming the gospel to our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors, our communities, even to the ends of the earth, then we can expect suffering to be a part of our testimony.
Let me encourage you, no let me challenge you, to fulfill your ministry, and be ambassadors for the gospel. This is your commission given to you by our Lord in Matthew 28. If He truly is your Lord, then you will seek to do that which He asks of you. If you love Him you will keep His commandments. 2Cor. 5:10-11 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.” Your deeds are manifest to God. Your faithfulness is manifest by your witness to the world, by your faithfulness to be Christ’s ambassador to the world. When Christ appears, He will reward what you have done for His kingdom while here on earth in your body.
Having then a holy reverence for God and for His will, let us persuade men. Let us be ambassadors for the gospel. The responsibility to be a witness for Christ is not just the pastor’s job, but it is the job of the church. The growth of the body of Christ is not just the responsibility of the clergy, but it’s the responsibility of the people of the church to do the work of the ministry. Ephesians 4:11-12 says “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” You are the saints, being equipped for the work of service, to build up the church, to be His ministers, His ambassadors to the world. I urge you to be about the work of the kingdom. You cannot say you love the Lord, and not tend to His sheep. You cannot say you love the Lord, and not love those for whom He died. You cannot say Lord, Lord, and not do what He says we are to do.
Now then, if you suffer while doing good, if you suffer as a result of your witness, Peter asks, who can really hurt you? What can they really do to you? They may take your things, they may take your freedom, they may take even your physical life, but they cannot hurt you, because your life is in Christ. Your life is in the spirit, not just in the body. And through our spirit we have eternal life. Though we die in the flesh, yet we are alive in the spirit. Though the body should die, we will still live. Jesus said, Whosoever believes in Me shall never die.”
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, a passage which correlates closely with 1 Peter 3, he says in vs 1, “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” This tent which is our body is temporary, but the house made by God is the eternal dwelling of the Spirit in which we have true life. And though this tent may be torn down, our house stands forever. Paul continues, saying in vs 6, “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight-- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” So do not be afraid of them that can only harm the body, but not the spirit.
Now to illustrate this point, Peter gives us an example once again of Christ, saying in vs 18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” The main point Peter is making is that Christ suffered and died for the sake of the gospel, and though His body was in the tomb, yet He was alive in the Spirit and still accomplishing the plan of God. And if we have life in Christ, then we have been made alive in the spirit, and though this flesh should pass away, yet we will live on in the spirit, even as Christ lived in the spirit and fulfilled the purposes of God. Christ fulfilled the plan of the gospel even though He suffered unto death, because He was alive in the Spirit and was obedient to the Father. Death did not stop Him, but He triumphed over death because He was alive in Spirit.
Now in this statement, Peter is also alluding to a mystery that has confounded many Christians for generations as they looked at this verse. And though it can be somewhat of a departure from the main point to look too deeply into this passage, it is helpful to understand what he is talking about, both so that we may fully understand this verse and also because it has a great influence on our understanding of eschatology.
Peter is making the point which should be evident to all that when Christ died on the cross He was not dead in a tomb for three days waiting the resurrection. Though His body lay in the tomb, He was alive in the Spirit. That is in keeping with what Paul said earlier in 2 Cor. 5; to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And Peter says that while alive in the Spirit He made proclamation to the spirits in prison. Peter identifies further these spirits by saying that they were kept in prison because of a prior disobedience. So these are fallen angels, who are called spirits, who he says, were disobedient during the days of Noah during the construction of the ark.
In Genesis 6 we have a description of this angelic disobedience. It says that the sons of God, a phrase used in this case to indicate angels, looked upon the daughters of men and lusted after them, and took on flesh so that they could cohabit with them and they had children, called the Nephalim, who were powerful creatures. And Moses said that their wickedness was so great, that evil filled the earth, and God determined to destroy the earth and creation as a result. God said “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” God was not simply talking about limiting the life span there of humans, but He is talking about the patience of God that waited 120 years while Noah built the ark, giving time for man to repent at the preaching of Noah. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent the flood, and the door to the Ark was closed and all life was killed in the flood except that which was in the Ark.
These disobedient angelic beings however, God punished by holding them in chains in the deepest pit of Hades until the last judgment. Jude speaks of this in Jude vs 6 “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” The strange flesh those disobedient angels went after was human flesh, aka the daughters of men. And God has exacted a particular punishment upon them for this crime as an example to the other angels, keeping them in chains until the day of judgment.
Peter says then that while Jesus’s body was in the tomb, in His Spirit He went to the prison to make proclamation to those same spirits. Not for the purpose of salvation, but for the purpose of proclamation; that He had overcome Satan and death and sin, all of which are the enemy of mankind and which threatened to overthrow the creation of God. Christ went there during those three days to declare victory over death and sin and the devil, and to announce He would now take captivity captive to the kingdom of God. By the way, though the Apostle’s Creed is not inspired by the Holy Spirit, it does state that the early church’s belief that Christ descended into Hades, or the lower parts of the earth as Paul mentioned in Ephesians 4:9. The traditional view of the Jews is that Sheol, or Hades, is in the center of the earth. Thus 1Thess. 4:16 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
There is a lot more that could be said on this subject, but suffice it to say that God’s purposes for salvation are not hindered by suffering or even by death, but God is accomplishing HIs plan on earth. And we are to act as an essential part in this plan. Part of the way God’s plan is accomplished is through suffering, even as Jesus suffered to fulfill the will of God in bringing salvation to men. And we suffer, to the extent that God requires, without fear, knowing that God has given us life, and He will raise us up on the last day, even as He raised Christ from the dead. But even as we await the resurrection, death has not triumphed over us, because we live in the spirit, even as Christ lived in the Spirit.
I will add one further explanation, which corresponds to what Jesus spoke of concerning Lazarus and the rich man who died. There are two compartments to Hades, known as Sheol in the Hebrew or in Greek as Hades, which has an upper and lower compartment, with a great chasm in between which no one can cross. And those who go to sleep in Jesus will be comforted in Paradise, where Jesus said to the thief on the cross they both would be later that day. That is the resting place of the Christian until the resurrection. The unsaved, pictured by the rich man, is a place of torment, in the lower region of Hades, awaiting the day of the final judgment.
Now this preaching that Jesus made to the disobedient angels in His Spirit, was not a message of salvation, but a message of judgment. Angels cannot be saved, and the scripture says they are kept in chains until the day of judgment. But that message of judgment to man is an essential part of the message of the gospel. Noah preached a message of the coming judgment. John the Baptist preached judgment which was coming, and that they should repent. Jesus preached of the coming judgment. Peter preached judgment on the day of Pentecost. Judgment is a vital part of the message that we are to preach. Hebrews 9:27 says “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Because of God’s judgment against sin, Jesus was crucified, so that we might receive life. Vs 18 says, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” Judgment is a necessary part of the gospel message. The problem with modern evangelism today is that we don’t want to emphasize judgment. We don’t want to talk about hell. So we try to seduce the unbeliever to the kingdom through just emphasizing the fact that God loves you. Yes, God loves you so much that He sent Jesus to die in your place, taking the judgment that was due us. But the fact that God’s wrath is poured out against sin is the reason Jesus had to die. We are unjust. We were sinners. We are all under the condemnation of sin and are destined for God’s wrath. Judgment is coming. Jesus is coming back a second time in judgment. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. But reject Him to your eternal peril. You will surely die eternally for your sins, unless by substitution you claim Christ’s death on your behalf. The just died for the unjust to reconcile us to God that we might escape judgement.
Oh, Christian, do you see your loved one who has rejected Christ? Do you understand that they are going into everlasting torment? Do you believe that? Aren’t you concerned about that? Do you believe that your neighbor, that really nice older man or woman, who are not saved, they are under the condemnation of God’s judgment against sin? Do you really expect to see them one day look at you with horror in their eyes as God declares, “Depart from Me I never knew you,” and He casts them into eternal hell? And yet you claim to love your neighbor? Are you not concerned? Will you not implore them, beg them, constrain them to accept Christ? Or do you not believe in God’s judgement? Do you not really believe in Hell? Then, I am afraid you do not really believe in Christ, for He died on the cross and descended into Hell, so that we might escape it.
If you will now commit to speak to that one you know is not a true believer, who is not born again, then Peter gives us some guidelines on how we should do that. First he says in vs 13 be zealous for what is good. Jesus said “Zeal for thy house has consumed Me.” If we truly understand the nature of judgment and salvation then we will be zealous. Be zealous to speak to them today, before it’s too late. We need a zeal for evangelism, an enthusiasml for the gospel, and a passion to see people saved.
Secondly, Peter says in vs 14, don’t fear their intimidation or be afraid. Don’t be intimidated by thinking that they will reject you or revile you. Don’t be intimidated that they may not be interested and are going to think you are a weirdo. Be bold in the Lord. Realize that you are merely the mouthpiece, God’s is speaking to their heart and convicting them in ways you cannot see or understand. Trust God, don’t be afraid of man. What can they do to you? If they are saved, they will thank you. And if they reject the gospel and are damned, then at least they cannot blame you for not telling them the truth.
Third, Peter says in vs 15, be prepared to make an explanation of the gospel. Study to show yourself approved unto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That’s one of the reasons you should come to church and come to Bible study. So that you are equipped to be able to make an explanation of the gospel. That doesn’t mean that you have to have a PHD in theology, just know the gospel. It’s as simple as it says in vs 18; “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” That’s the gospel in a nutshell, and that’s something I teach every week. But study it for yourself and learn to be able to explain the gospel to whoever is willing to hear.
Fourth, Peter says in vs 15, do so with gentleness and reverence. There are ways of effective communication. Standing on a street corner yelling at people and telling them they are going to hell is probably not the most effective means of getting the gospel out there. I think Peter is saying speak the gospel in reverence for God, “knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men.” But also have a reverence for the hearer. Show the proper respect. Don’t be antagonistic. The gospel is offensive enough without you adding an abrasive, confrontational attitude to it. Ephesians 4:15 says speak the truth in love.
And fifth, if you’re going to get rejected, or if you’re going to suffer because of your witness in some way or another, be sure it’s because you are doing right and not wrong. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about speaking to someone about the gospel. You don’t ridicule them, you don’t unnecessarily offend them or embarrass them. Again and again while I was at this pastor’s conference last week I kept having this verse come up. I think God was trying to give me a message. The verse is from Isaiah, which Jesus quoted in Matthew12:20 "A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY.” What that means is that there may be some people God puts in your path in whom there is but a smoldering wick of flame. Jesus said nurture that flame, encourage that flame, be gentle with that flame that it is not extinguished. A bruised reed means roughly the same thing, someone in whom there is hardly any life left, don’t be the means by which they are finally broken.
2Cor. 5:18 says “Now all [these] things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Reconciliation is a great word, it means the restoration of friendly relations. It speaks of making peace. Jesus has made peace with God on our behalf, that we might become friends of God. Let that be the principle by which we engage in evangelism, and imploring others to be reconciled to God.
Starting in vs 20 Peter gives us one final illustration of the gospel. And it’s the account of the flood. As I said, the flood came as a result of God’s judgment against sin. The whole earth was under the condemnation of death. But God gave Noah a message of salvation which he patiently preached for 120 years. When the fullness of God’s patience was finished, God closed the door to the ark and eight people were kept inside safe from the destruction. We all know that story.
But what we probably didn’t all recognize is that it is a picture of salvation. And Peter says in that regard, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a clean conscience. Peter is speaking metaphorically of baptism as being like Noah and his family being delivered from the destruction of the water. Baptism is symbolic of salvation. Not the actual water washing us is the means of salvation, but it represents the washing away of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. The ark is a picture of Christ’s work on the cross. Through Him we are passed from death unto life. Through Him we are delivered from the condemnation of death into a new life, and ultimately to a new heaven and new earth. Jesus said, “behold, I make all things new.” And so Peter likens baptism to an appeal for a clean conscience, or a new beginning, by repentance of our sin and faith in the work of Christ.
Back in 2 Cor. 5:17 it says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” In baptism, we are symbolically raised to new life when we come up out of the water. There is new life in Christ, life that overcomes death and continues when the corruptness of this body is finally done away with.
And our salvation is guaranteed by the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead, vs.22, who is now at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” All power on earth and in heaven has been subjected to Jesus. He proclaimed victory over sin and death and the angels when He went to Hades, He proved victorious when He ascended on high and took HIs rightful place at the Father’s right hand, the hand of privalege, the hand of power, the seat of all authority over the devil and every thing on earth. He has authority over death and hell. And our salvation is guaranteed by Him, who is over all authority. Our eventual resurrection and life with God for eternity is guaranteed by Christ.
Peter says in his second epistle that the earth was destroyed the first time by water, but the second time will be by fire, when the earth and it’s works will be burned up. John writes of what will happen when God destroys this world in final judgment. Rev 21:1-8 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be [any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part [will be] in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Rev. 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” Christ has died in your place, so that you might have eternal life. Come to Him and believe in Him and trust in Him as your Lord and Savior that you might have life and escape the judgment which is coming upon all the world. It’s appointed for a man or woman once to die, and after that the judgment. Come to Christ and live. The invitation is still open, the door to the Ark is still open. Don’t wait. Come to Christ today.
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