You want to turn in your Bibles
to the book of 1 Peter again. I want to go over a scripture
there that we actually went over last week and after the service
last week there were some questions around this and so I want to
and thinking about those questions I I looked again at this text
of scripture and want to clarify things that I probably didn't
clarify as I should have in the sermon, so hopefully we will
be able to understand it better. First Peter, chapter three. I want you to think about this
title when we look at this, Christ. a quickening spirit, and that
phrase, a quickening spirit, is taken from 1 Corinthians 15,
but it's also here in 1 Peter 3, a quickening spirit. Now, I'm going to read this one
verse here, or actually I'll read from verse 19, verse 18,
through the end of the chapter again. and I wanna first try
to clarify what I was trying to explain last week, and then
I want to focus in on verse 19. It says in verse 18, excuse me,
for Christ also hath once suffered for sins. Now, you have to appreciate
that every word here is so clear and exact in the expression of
the truth. Obviously, this is God's Word.
But I love the fact that throughout Scripture, you can read chapters.
You can literally read chapters, and you wonder what was said.
But here, notice how God, all of the history of this world,
comes to an apex, a point, here, and it's described, it's set
forth before us in the clearest possible language. For Christ
also hath once, Christ, once, he has, every word, Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. They
weren't his, they were the sins of the unjust. that he, this
is what he did in suffering, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. And that's the phrase I want
to look at today, but let's keep reading. By which also, by which
spirit he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. which
sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure
whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone
into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers being made subject to him. I think that last verse
is a favorite of the Flores family, and it's a favorite of ours too.
Everything is under the control, the absolute control of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a blessing that is. And
it's because he did what he did in these verses that preceded
this. He once suffered for sins, the sins of the unjust. He himself
is the just one. In order to bring us to God that
he being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit
also would save us. He's gone into heaven. Now we
have a good conscience toward God because of his resurrection. These things are so important
to us. But one of the things I wanted to try to clarify here
is this phrase in verse 19, by which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison. So the scriptures reveal that
we, as people, as humans, as those made in the image of God,
we are comprised of both a body and a soul. And this sounds like
basic doctrine, and it is, but it's essential that we understand
this because it helps us understand and appreciate what the Lord
has done for us. He made us a body and a soul.
A body and a soul. And he made the soul of men,
not animals, but the soul of people. He made that soul to
never cease to exist. Our souls never cease to exist. Our bodies that we have now are
subject to death because of sin. But our spirits or our souls
are not subject to, when our body dies, that soul that God
created that's given to us when he when he conceives us in the
womb of our mother, that soul will go on even after our body
dies. And I'm stating these things
and we'll look at some scripture to establish this from the word
of God. So that in verse 19 then, the
one who went and preached unto the spirits in prison, as a man
was Noah in the days of Noah, but Noah preached by the Spirit
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he establishes first
in verse 18 at the end. He was quickened by the spirit,
made alive by his own spirit, by which the same spirit, he,
Christ, the spirit of Christ, in Noah, went and preached to
the spirits in prison. Now, as I mentioned last week,
in verse 11 of chapter one, he says that the prophets The prophets
of old searched what and what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ, which was in them, did signify. when it, the Spirit
of Christ, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow." So there you have it. There's
the preaching and the subject, the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. You'll find this in scripture,
and Brad just read this in Luke chapter four. The Lord Jesus
Christ himself preached the gospel. And he himself is the gospel
that he preached. What a blessing that is. There's
none higher, none that we are to hear or see. John the Baptist
came before and said, behold, the Lamb of God. He preached
himself because his father gave him these words to preach. And
so he, by his spirit, in the prophets of old, and in this
particular case, in Noah, went at the time of Noah to preach
to those people then. But when Peter was writing this
in verse 19, those people who lived then in the times of Noah
were no longer living in their bodies. And yet they existed
as spirits, and they were disobedient to the gospel when they were
in their life. When they heard the preaching
of the gospel, they were disobedient to it. They did not believe.
And this is a theme, and I hope to cover the themes of 1 Peter
before we end this book, but this is one of the themes of
1 Peter, obedience of faith, the obedience of faith. So these
people who heard the preaching of the gospel through the Spirit
of Christ in Noah were disobedient when they heard it. Not surprising,
since many heard Jesus in both body and soul, while he walked
in this life and they were disobedient to him. You recognize Matthew
chapter 23 is Christ's own pronouncement of woe upon the Pharisees, the
scribes, and the hypocrites. And what a dreadful pronouncement
that is because they were disobedient to the Lord Jesus Christ sent
by God the Father and we are to hear him. In fact, in Matthew
17 at the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father himself spoke
from heaven and said to Peter, James, and John, this is my beloved
son, hear ye him. And God has spoken in these last
days in his son, by his son. But the Spirit of Christ speaking
then through Noah, preaching the gospel as we just heard in
Luke chapter four, also preached the gospel then. And they were
disobedient to it. And those people died. They died
in the flood. What happened to them when they
died? What happens to people when they die? Death is inevitable. Death is certain for us. Why
do we die? because of sin. There is no death
unless there is sin. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6, 23, and the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. This was God's commandment to
Adam in the beginning. In the day that you eat of that
tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely
die. And that's why death. By one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death is always the consequence
of sin. And those people then died. All people now die because of
sin. And in Romans 8, verse 10, it
says the body, our body, is dead because of sin. It's doomed to
die. We can't avoid it unless the
Lord returns before our death. But for the most part, everyone
will die. Even the believer dies in body. And so we have this inevitable
date, and God has set it for each one of us. He says in Hebrews
chapter nine, in verse 28, it is appointed unto men once to
die. Just once, and for each one of
us, it's appointed. And after this, the judgment.
And that he takes that fundamental, inviolable truth, and he says,
Wherefore, Christ once died. He takes this pronouncement of
doom and he says, out of that, notice, Christ also suffered
once. He died once to sin. And since
he died once to sin, he's coming again without sin. So the appointment
of death is a A topic, a truth we can't avoid,
it should cause us to be sober above all things. Don't neglect
it, don't put it off, and don't think just because you have an
optimism about it, you're going to be okay. Because after death
there is a judgment. It is appointed unto men once
to die and after this the judgment. Now I'm not here just to preach
the gloom and doom of death. because the gospel, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself preaches the gospel that Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And that once being offered was
consistent with our once being appointed to death. He was appointed
to death, but not for his own sins. He died for sin, but they
were not his own. He was the just one. He died
for the sins of those unjust ones. And how do we know who
they are, those for whom Christ died? How do we know Jesus died
for my sins? By grace you're saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. You know that Christ died for
you if Christ is all. If God has persuaded you that
He is all, if you have seen this with God-given understanding
and you have laid hold on it, you've put your trust in Him
alone and you have no other. That's God-given grace. And God
says that's the way God designed it, that His people would be
saved entirely by grace, through faith, they would come to know
it by faith, and that faith would direct them to their salvation,
Christ the Lord, and Him crucified for us. So the Lord Jesus Christ
did once suffer, just as we're appointed to death. And we, as
people created by God in Adam, we are subject to death too,
because God gave Adam a commandment, he broke it, and the consequences
was certain death, and now we're subject to death because of our
sin in Adam, and because of our own sins. And that is a wage,
it's a payback from God. God will be just. He will not
let iniquity and sin go unpunished. And that's what death is about.
And so we have to ask the question that Job asked in Job 14. If
a man die, shall he live again? And that's where we get here
to the topic of these spirits in prison. The prison here is
what I left as ambiguous last week. What is this prison? What
happens to men when they die? Well, it's interesting that the
scriptures are full of information about what happens to the believer
when he dies, when he or she dies. To the one who is a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, God calls them, in scripture, the
righteous. And they're not righteous because
of what they do. And in fact, they're not even
righteous by the new birth, although in their new spirit they are
righteous. But they're righteous in and only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Never trust anything but Him. Do you know that for all eternity,
You will only be accepted by God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose us in him before the
foundation of the world. We're never separated from him.
Who can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord? From before the foundation of
the world, God the Father chose us in him that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love for all eternity. What
a thought that is, in Christ, and that's the message of the
gospel. In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the ark that Noah was in, and in the Passover house where the
Israelites were gathered, in the nation of Israel, in the
baptism by the Spirit of God into Christ, whereby he gives
us his own life and Christ dwells in us, in Christ. As children
of God, we are accepted in the beloved. And so the scripture
speaks of the death of the believer and the consequences of all that
follows. It's abundant. It's full of this
information. It's easy to find. And I want
to look at that with you today. But it's interesting, though
the scriptures speak of the death of the unbeliever, What it doesn't
make so abundantly clear is what happens to the believer immediately
upon his death. And that's why we're going to
look at that a little bit today as well, because that's what
happened to these people who were disobedient to the gospel.
Their spirits were put in a prison. What is that? Their bodies died. Their bodies decayed. Their bodies
remain in the dust of earth. Just like they were taken, God
made them out of the dust. He made our bodies out of the
dust. And we were taken from the dust and to the dust again
we will return. From dust thou art taken to dust
thou shalt return. That's what God told Adam. And
so we shall all in Adam die. This is a fundamental truth,
a fact, a truth revealed in scripture. So these people who were disobedient
died and they are kept in their spirits in prison. And when Peter
wrote this, they were then in that prison because they're going
to be held there. And let me tell you what happens
so that as we look at these scriptures, it won't be hard to understand. When the unbeliever dies, their
body, like the body of the believer, goes into the ground and is buried.
Or it's cremated. Some people cremate. I don't
think it's right, but you can cremate a body. And that body
doesn't get out of facing God in judgment. God's going to raise
it up. But all of the bodies of all people who die decay and
come back to the dust. But here's the difference. Here's
the difference. Scripture reveals that the soul
of the unbeliever is put into a, quote, prison, as it says
here in verse 19. And we want to understand a little
bit about what that means. But the soul of the believer
immediately goes to be with the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that departure of the believer in his soul at death or her soul
at death, according to scripture, is a better experience for them
than it is in this life. It's better for them to be with
Christ in their soul and to be absent from their body than it
is to be now present in this life, in this body, for them
personally. But the reason that God has designed
it so that they are not absent from the body until His appointed
time is because He is pleased to glorify Himself by giving
them the faith which looks to Christ and overcomes all by His
precious blood so that God in His Son is glorified in their
salvation even through their sin and through the decay and
the sinfulness of their body. And so this is a happy condition. For every believer who dies in
the Lord, it's a happy condition. Now, I wanna give you some scriptures
of this, but I really wanna focus on this last part of verse 18,
that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the just one, he once suffered
for sins. It says he was put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the spirit. Now, I want to get to
this because this is really the gospel message here. But before
I do, let me look at now with you some of the scriptures God
has given us to help us understand the solemnity, the importance
that we take the truth of scripture to ourselves and then flee to
Christ because he is our only safety. And as being our only
safety, he's all sufficient. Like Ramel mentioned, he protects
us. He's our provision. God the Father
has provided him for that. Okay, now, let me look with a
couple of scriptures here with you. In Psalm chapter nine, in
Psalm chapter nine, in verse 17, it's the first scripture
I wanna look at. He says in Psalm chapter 9 verse
17, I'm just gonna read that verse. The wicked shall be turned
into hell and all the nations that forget God, okay? That's a plain statement, isn't
it? Now, he says this of the wicked. So this place, this condition
here corresponds to the prison that we read about in 1 Peter
3 and 19. And this word here cannot mean only the grave as
it sometimes does in scripture. The grave and hell are sometimes
used interchangeably. But here it means more than that.
Why? Because it says the wicked shall
be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. So this
is plainly saying that there is a place called hell to which
the wicked are put by God and that will happen when they die.
In Job chapter eight, in Job chapter eight, verse 13, it says
this, so are the paths of all that forget God and the hypocrite's
hope shall perish, whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust
shall be a spider's web. I think it was Jonathan Edwards
who preached a famous sermon called Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God. And in history when he preached
that sermon, people were holding on to the pillars of the building
because it became so real in their conscience that they were
fearful of falling into hell. Here God is saying in Job chapter
eight that the hope of the hypocrite, and all that forget God is going
to be cut off. So there's a severing, there's
a reality that strikes, and that reality is that everything they
had hoped for doesn't come to pass. They're disappointed, they're
ashamed, they're put to shame in the very thing they had their
trust. And what a disappointment that
is. And then also I want to read this in Jeremiah, not Jeremiah,
but in Psalm 37, because we're going over that Psalm in our
Bible study. Psalm 37, look at this. He said,
this severing between the righteous and the wicked. In Psalm 37,
verse one, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou
envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon
be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Trust
in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily
thou shalt be fed. Now, if you look at this throughout
scripture, you see that those who are workers of iniquity are
those who are sinners like we are in our nature, but they trust
in their own righteousness before God and in their mind and their
conscience. And that's a work of iniquity.
It's an unlawful use of God's law to try to justify yourself
and all those who do so will be cut off. They will be cut
down like the grass. And so this brings a level of
solemnity to this, doesn't it? And then finally, in Luke chapter
16, and this is a text of scripture I'm sure you're familiar with.
In Luke chapter 16, Jesus spoke a parable. And the parable was
spoken to the Pharisees primarily, but to us as well. But it was
specially targeting them. It begins in verse 19 of Luke
16, because the Pharisees treated Christ as the rich man treated
Lazarus in this parable. In fact, the false religionists
treat the people of God in the same way throughout history and
time. And so he says here in Luke 16,
there was a certain, in verse 19, there was a certain rich
man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores. And
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So you
can see Lazarus was very poor. He was sickly and dogs licked
his sores and he laid there at that rich man's place and never
received anything from the rich man. Verse 22, it came to pass
that the beggar died. And he was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. So here we have a believer. What
happens to the believer when they die? The angels come by
Christ's appointment, by his command, and bring them to himself. signified by Abraham's bosom
because Abraham is called the father of those who believe Christ.
We believe like he does and we all receive the same inheritance
that he received. That's called Abraham's bosom.
In the olden days, and this happened at the Lord's Supper, when people
ate, they gathered around a table and they lounged there. They
laid down in a casual position, and one might lay his head on
the chest of the other. And that's what this poor man
named Lazarus, he's put in the light of the very best place
in total peace and serenity, resting with assurance of acceptance
with God because he's in Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died,
verse 22, the rich man also died and he was buried and in hell
he lift up his eyes being in torments and he seeth Abraham
afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Now here we see what happens
to the unbeliever when they die. Their soul goes to a place which
Jesus said here is a place of torment. They're aware of it. They're not spirits who are asleep
awaiting the day of judgment. They're spirits that are conscious.
They're in prison, a prison God made into which God puts them. And it's a place where they understand
with memory of what they did in their life. And therefore,
it's a place of torment because they realize that this is a place
of punishment. for their life. He says, in hell, he lift up
his eyes, being in torment, seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy
on me. Of course, in reality, those
in hell cannot speak to those in heaven. But here in the parable,
it's said that he cried out, Father Abraham, have mercy on
me for a purpose. And the purpose follows, he says,
and he asked, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.
Now his soul alone was there, but that torment was spoken of
as a flame. So that in his soul's existence,
Though not considered alive, like we think of a living soul,
but a soul under the punishment of God here in just his soul,
not his body, just his soul. He was tormented as in a flame,
so much so that his tongue was parched and hot. And he asked
for just a little, just dip his finger in water and then touch
my tongue, any relief. And this is showing here that
he desired even a very smallest revelation of the truth of salvation
to him in this place, but it was not given. But Abraham said,
Remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things and
likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou
are tormented. And besides all this, between
us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would
pass from hence to you, we can't come to you, neither can they
pass to us that would come from thence. You can't come to us.
God has separated us. And then he said, I pray thee,
therefore, Father, that thou would send him to my father's
house. The fact that he called Abraham a father means he was
a Jewish person. For I have five brethren that
he, Lazarus, might testify to them, lest they also come into
this place of torment. Abraham said, they have Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said,
nay, Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they
will repent. And Abraham said, no. If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose
from the dead. Okay, so here's the sad and explicit
revelation that what happens to the souls of believers. I'm
sorry, the souls of unbelievers, those who do not die in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Their souls are separated from
their body. They have a conscious existence.
They don't need their brain in their body to think. They think. They remember, they feel, they're
remorseful, and they can't do anything about it. Their hope
has perished, as it says in Job 8, 13 and 14. They were cast
into hell, as it says in Psalm 9, verse 17. And this is a dreadful
thing, isn't it? And so if you consider now the
contrast of this, we have the case of the believer, the case
of the believer. Let's consider that a minute.
Matthew 22 verse 32, Jesus spoke to the Sadducees who denied there
was a resurrection. And he proved the resurrection
in a most amazing way when he said in chapter 22 and verse
32, he said, He quotes from Exodus chapter
3 when God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. He says
in verse 31, Jesus told them, as touching the resurrection
of the dead, haven't you read that which was spoken to you
by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham? Notice the tense
of the words. I am the God of Abraham and the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead,
but of the living, meaning the God of salvation and blessings
and life. He's not those things to the
dead, but to the living. God is not the God of the dead,
but the living, which proves that all of God's people never
die because He's their God. And then also look at John chapter
5. In John chapter 5, this is such
amazing, amazing things the Lord Jesus himself spoke. He says
in verse 21 of John 5, as the father raises up the dead and
quickens them or makes them alive, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will, whomever he wills. And then in verse 26, I'm sorry,
yes, in verse 26 of the same chapter, John 5, as the father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life
in himself. And then look at 28. Marvel not
at this, for the hour is coming in the which all, without exception,
that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth,
they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they
that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. And
don't think of this as a reward for personal good, because there's
one good, and that is one God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can
only be counted good if we're in Christ and we have his righteousness
given to us freely by God's grace. So here the Lord Jesus says,
there's coming a day, everyone in the graves will hear my voice.
All of them will be raised up, some to the resurrection of damnation
and some to the resurrection of life. Which teaches us that
not only does the soul Is the soul separated from the body
at death so that our body dies? but the soul and that the soul
of the Unbeliever immediately goes into this prison called
hell, but there's coming another day in which the body also both
of the believer and the unbeliever will be raised up and the body
of the unbeliever and will then be joined again to his soul,
and then he will stand in judgment in body and soul, and the end
of that judgment will be he, in body and soul, will be cast
into the lake of fire. Now, I hope that helps to clarify
this, but here's the good news. If you look at John chapter 10,
I'm sorry, John chapter 11, Look at this in John chapter 11. Here's
the glorious news, which we're going to look at in 1 Peter here.
Look at John chapter 11, and Jesus was talking to Martha here
in John 11. And in verse 25, Jesus said to
her, Martha said in verse 24, I know
that Lazarus, her brother, would rise again in the resurrection
at the last day, which confirms what Jesus said earlier in John
5. But in verse 25, Jesus said to
her, I am the resurrection and the life. Notice, who is he the
resurrection and the life for? For who's a life? He that believeth in me. Though
he were dead, if we die in our body, our body is dead, yet shall
he live. That coming day, Christ is gonna
raise us to life because he is the resurrection and the life.
He is our life and he raises us. In verse 26, and whosoever
liveth before he dies in body and believeth in me shall never
die. So here, the soul of the believer also never dies. It
never is separated from Christ. We're always with him, whether
in death or in life. And this is why in 1 Corinthians
3, the apostle Paul says this in verse 21, let no man glory
in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all are yours. Life is yours because you're
Christ, in verse 23, and Christ is God's. We're in him, therefore
everything that is his is ours. That's the wonder, the blessing
of this. So the believer then, now let's look at a couple more
scriptures here just to cement this. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
five to prove that the believer in soul, at death immediately,
not waiting, but immediately goes to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, he says in
verse 1, we know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle,
he calls it a tent, were dissolved, we have a building of God and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That's what Jesus
spoke about in John 14. I go to prepare a place for you.
For in this we groan, in this tabernacle, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked, not just
without a home, not just floating around or sleeping somewhere.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, and don't you know
it, being burdened. because of our sin, because of
tribulation, and trouble, and affliction, and persecution.
Not for that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality,
this human mortality we have now, this body, might be swallowed
up of life. Now, he that has wrought us for
the same thing as God, who also has given to us the earnest,
the beginning of that eternal life, of his spirit. Therefore, we are always confident
knowing that while we are at home in the body, in this body,
we are absent in our soul from the Lord, for we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body in our soul and to be
present with the Lord. We would rather be present with
the Lord in our souls, but we're not now. Look at Philippians
chapter one. Philippians in chapter one, he
says this. and verse. Verse 19, Paul said,
I know that this shall turn, this trouble, shall turn to my
salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ. Verse 20, Philippians 1.20, according
to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing shall
I be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also
Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life
or by death. Notice. Life is yours, death
is yours. In my body now, Christ will be
magnified. Amazing, out of my dead body. And not only that, when my body
dies, he'll be magnified because I'm his. And he has given me
this life and death, the victory over it. Verse 21, here's the
summary. For to me, to live is Christ. and to die is gain. But if I
live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what I
shall choose I want not." In other words, I would like to
leave, but he says, for I am in a strait. I've got this hard
decision. a straight between two, having
a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Aren't you glad the Lord left
Paul and gave him what he did for us? And having this confidence,
I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith. All right, so here we see it.
The Apostle Paul lived his life for the benefit of God's church,
Christ's church. He wanted to leave, but he knew
that his time in this world was appointed by God for his glory. Christ would be glorified in
his body, whether it was life or death. And now, remember,
I'll just remind you of this, but in Luke chapter 23, When
the thief who believed Christ was hanging next to him, he said
in verse 43, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And Jesus said to him, notice, to a believer, verily I say to
you today, immediately thou shalt be with me, with me in paradise. This is incredible, isn't it?
And one more in Revelation 14 and verse, Revelation 14 and
verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Verse 13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, write,
blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth,
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors."
From here on out, every believer dying in Christ dies in the Lord,
they rest from their labors, they put down this body of sin,
they're free from all sin, they're able to worship God purely without
sin, and they know in the greatest possible assurance, because they
have a view of Christ, they know Him, They know Him. They're made like Him. They're
without fault in the presence of God. They worship Him. They
have the full assurance of what they lived upon by faith in this
world, which is to be with the Lord. What amazing grace that
is. Now look back at 1 Peter 3, and
I want you to see why this is so. 1 Peter 3, why we have this
hope. He says that Christ once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
not just reconciled in our mind, but in our body and in our soul,
to bring us to God, in the very presence of God. What grace is
that? Being put to death in the flesh,
how did the Lord Jesus Christ die? In his flesh, in his human
nature, he died. but quickened by the spirit. And what spirit was that? It
was the spirit of Christ that went in the days of Noah to preach
through Noah. So this was his own spirit. And
this teaches us a very powerful truth, which is this, that the
Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in his human nature. body and
soul, and he was made alive again by his divine nature. In John
10, he says, this is the commandment I received from my father. I'm
going to lay my life down for the sheep that I might take it
again. He himself, according to scripture,
raised himself from the dead. Scripture also says the father
raised him from the dead and that the spirit of God raised
him from the dead. Which is it? It's all true. God raised his son from the dead. God, the Holy Spirit raised him
from the dead. He says in 1 Timothy 3.16, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God in human nature. Now, this is
amazing. He was put to death in the flesh,
and by that flesh has meant his human nature, his body, his human
body and soul. But God cannot die, Christ died. He died in that body. He bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. And in Isaiah 53, it says,
his soul was made an offering for sin, and he shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Because he suffered
in body and in soul. But when he died, his body went
into the grave, his soul immediately, according to Luke 23, 43, with
the dying thief, you'll be with me today in paradise, he was
with the thief in heaven. He offered to God by the eternal
spirit, his own divine nature, his spirit, he offered his blood
to God and obtained our eternal redemption, Hebrews chapter nine.
Now, this is saying here in 1 Peter 3, he was quickened by his own
divine nature, his Holy Spirit. And this is what it says in John
10, 17 and 18, but also in Romans 1, where he said that he was
declared to be the Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness
through the resurrection of the dead. When he was raised from
the dead, he declared himself to be the son of God because
he could do that with power, his own spirit, his own divine
nature, the spirit of holiness. What an amazing grace this is,
isn't it? There can be no doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the one spoken of here in 1 Peter 3. Now look at The next thing here, the second
point with 1 Peter 3, quickened by the Spirit. The second point
to make here is that the Lord Jesus Christ also raised his
own personal human nature, his own body. And not only did he
raise his body to life, which is astounding, the Son of God
raised his human nature back to life, but when he did, He
himself as God occupied, took possession into union with himself
that new body that he raised up from the dead to never die
again, such that in his body the fullness of the Godhead dwells. And there's nothing, there's
no glory in creation that exceeds the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
in our nature. This is incredible. And when
he says in John 5, as we read, the Father has given him to have
life in himself, he's not talking about himself as the Son of God,
because he didn't give the Son of God anything he possessed
from eternity. But as the Son of God and Son
of Man in one person, as our mediator, the God-man, God the
Father gave him life in himself. And now that's what I wanna look
at next in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, life in himself. For us, he's the resurrection
and the life. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse
42. He says this, so also is the
resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. This
is our body. We died, our body is sown in
corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is
sown in weakness. It is raised in power. Don't
you love that? It is sown a natural body, it
is raised a spiritual body. A spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body. Do you get it? When our
soul is raised at death, when our body dies, our soul is said
to be resurrected, and then at the end of time, we are given
a new and spiritual body. How? Verse 45. So it is written,
the first man, Adam, was made a living soul, So we have a living
soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Here the Lord Jesus Christ in
His divine nature gives life to His own human nature again
from the dead according to the will and the commandment of God
His Father, but in such a way that in that human nature God
the Son dwells in all of His fullness. and we are joined to
Him so that we are complete in Him. And outside of Him we have
nothing, but in Him we're complete so much so that He who is in
that human nature of Christ is one person with two natures and
He gives life to us by His word when He says, rise up. We're
joined to Him. And because we're joined to him,
his spirit is in us and we cannot die. I am the resurrection and
the life. Whoever lives and believes on me shall never die. Will never die in soul and will
be raised again in body. And this is amazing, isn't it?
This is amazing. Now, it's by virtue of this that
the Lord Jesus communicates this life to us in everything that
we need, in all of this life that we now live and all of the
life we will live in eternity. He says in John 17, I give unto
them eternal life. God has given, the Father gave
him power over all flesh that he shall give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. Now, do you see this? What a
blessing this is. He shall change this vile body. Look at this scripture. I know
it's late. I apologize for being so late, but I'm going to require
you to listen a little bit longer. Philippians 3, verse 21. Who shall change our vile body? The body is dead because of sin,
our vile body. That's why the Apostle Paul says,
who shall, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? He shall change our vile body.
And we groan, don't we groan with this vile nature that's
connected to our body, our sinful nature. but He will change our
vile body that it might be fashioned like His glorious body according
to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things
to Himself. That's sovereign power. That's
sovereign grace. That's the power of the Son of
God in our nature. Everything is in His hands. Our
life, He is our life. Because I live, Jesus said, you
shall live also. We could go on and on with this,
but you see, I hope you see that with the believer, it couldn't
be brighter. We are living in this life, we
cannot see, cannot see these things except by faith. but God
has given us a gift of grace, of faith, so that we now are
fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also
to perform. And the Lord Jesus Christ will
overcome, He will subdue our sinful, vile body, and out of
it, He will bring forth a new, spiritual, holy, glorious body
like His body. And we will be like this because
we're connected to Him by the electing work of God, by the
baptism of the Spirit, joining us to Christ. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Amazing. And these things were
given to reveal to these people in the book of 1 Peter and to
us in order to stiffen us, to arm us so that we would face
every trouble in this life, whether it be in body, mind, emotions,
deprivation like Lazarus at the rich man's gate, it doesn't matter.
It's but for a short time. Our inheritance is in heaven.
It's secure. God promised it. Christ earned
it. Christ lives and reigns to give
it. His word cannot fail. Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for your goodness and power and grace. You emptied yourself that we
might be made rich in you. And what a richness it is to
know you in your mercy and grace and justice and holiness and
righteousness and wisdom and faithfulness and power. Your
eternality, your sovereignty, everything that you are is precious
to us now because you've received us You've covered our sins and
You did it by Your own blood. You loved us, washed us from
our sins in Your own blood. Let this ever be the chorus of
our heart now and the chorus throughout eternity as we behold
Your face clothed in Your own righteousness. In Your name we
pray and thank You that You have made us the children of God by
Your work. In Jesus' name, amen.