It was founded on the last, next
to the last verse, I believe it is, in chapter five. I want to go back there, 1 Peter
chapter 5, no, the last verse, verse 12. Do you remember? Peter said, I've written briefly,
speaking of this short epistle, exhorting and testifying that
this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. This is the
true grace of God wherein you stand. And we've been looking
at this true grace, true grace. First thing we looked at in chapter
1 was grace bestowed. How God's sovereign, electing,
keeping, saving, redeeming grace was bestowed upon us. That was
the first message. The second message from chapter
2 was grace tasted. Grace tasted. You have tasted
the Lord is gracious to whom cometh. And tonight in chapter
3 is grace lived. Grace lived. Grace bestowed,
grace tasted, and grace lived. All right? Now, in chapter 2,
now chapter 1 or 3, I mean, verse 1 begins with likewise, so you
can't begin there, can you? But in chapter 2, look at verse
18. He says, servants or employees
be subject to your masters with all fear. And then he goes on
to build on that, that point. and tells us that we're to serve,
not only the good and the gentle, but the mean, too. All right? And now, in chapter
3, he says, likewise, you wives. Now, that's why he says likewise,
because he's going to talk about service. And he says, likewise,
ye wives be subject to your husband. Look at it, verse one. Be in
subjection to your own husband. Why? He's speaking to the wives
first. Why? Because they have the greater
responsibility? No, not at all. Peter. Having much fear. Being a man knowing himself knowing
me and. And the difficulty. There would
be in serving one. He talked to the wire. I know
how tough it is. This is going to be the third. A man would do it anyway, he
said. That's why he speaks to the women
first. Paul does the same thing in Ephesians. Because the fact
is that very few men, very few husbands, that are truly worth
honoring and being subject to. So that's a fact. Few love as
Christ loves. Nevertheless, he says, wives
be in subjection. to your own husband. That, read
on, that if any obey not the word. Now he's talking about
an unbelieving husband. If you're married to an unbelieving
husband, he says, be in subjection to them. Anyway, that they also
may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife. He's certainly not talking about
saved. There's no example. No woman's example is going to
save a man's soul. Not talking about that. But he's
talking about being an influence upon the truth of a woman's profession. A profession lived in such a
way that the man can't help but say, That's something. This is
real. This is real. Now, this thing
of being in subjection to a man, a woman being in subjection to
a man, this is the most hated doctrine I know of today, next
to election, I guess. But this is scriptural. It's
not hated by God's people, but you remember the little furor
that happened recently? Someone just quoted the Bible,
1 Corinthians 11. Turn over there. One of these,
I don't know who it was that started it, but one of them just
quoted a scripture about a man being the head of the war, and
it just created a national terror, didn't it? Do you remember? 1
Corinthians 11, that's where this is found. 1 Corinthians 11, look at verse
3. I would have you know that the
head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is
the man. The head of Christ is God. Verse 8 and 9, it said the man
is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of
the man. The man is not of the woman,
but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for
the woman, but the woman for the man. Now, that's what it
says, and that's the way it is. Not only does it say that, that's
the way it is. That's the way it was in the
garden. That's what God said in the garden. It's not good
that the man should be alone. I'll make a help me for him. And she was taken out of him. All right. She was created for
him and came of him. And that's a picture of Christ. That's why God did it that way
to begin with. a woman in subjection to man,
as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the husband of
the bride, the church. And the church is subject to
Christ in all things, is it not? Certainly. And is not the church
taken from Christ, literally taken from His side? That's why
it was given. God's people, believing women,
have no problem with that at all. Problem with her husband,
but no problem with that truth. Now, this is God's Word, and
it's God's good order. It's just good order. There must
be an authority, no matter what it is. In everything, there must
be an authority, must be a voice. So, he says, and it's written,
wives be subject. Go back to the text now. Even
to unbelieving husbands. That's what it says, doesn't
it? They may be influenced by your submissive, loving, humble
attitude. While they behold your chaste,
or that is, your humble and godly conversation or life, coupled
with fear of God. Let it not be that outward adorning,
of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting
on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man or woman of the
heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great
pride. Now, Apostle Peter is not forbidding
the wearing of jewelry here, not by any means, nor the plaiting
of hair. What he's saying here is, adorn
yourself, but the adornment I'm talking about, I'm not talking
about outwardly. That's fine, you need to do that
too, make yourself presentable. But the adornment you need to
do here, he says, is inward, of the heart. ornament of a meek
and quiet spirit, he said, a meek and quiet spirit. Now, and you know I'm not directing
this at you ladies necessarily, not at all, nor was I directing
those comments about men to you men, but if it fits, wear it. But just as there are few husbands
who are worthy to be submitted to, few are thoughtful and loving
as Christ. Few women today are meek and
quiet. That's just not, that's not the
woman, that's not the modern Millie today, is it? Rather proud
and loud. So these two things work against
each other, but let it not be so of God's people. Let it not be named once as those
professing Christ. Men, and he's going to tell us
how to love our wife, and women, be in subjection. All right?
Believing or unbelieving. That's God's work. Now, here's the manner, he says,
of women of old time, holy women in the Old Testament scripture.
He uses Sarah as an example, verses 5 and 6. He said that
after this manner in the old time, holy women also, who trusted
in God, adorned themselves. You see, that's what he's talking
about, adornment. of a meek and quiet spirit, be
in subjection unto their own husband, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord." Now, he doesn't tell us. He doesn't
tell you women to call your husband that, does he? But nevertheless,
he uses Sarah as an example of such humility and such meekness
and such servitude and such subjection. So much so, she esteemed him
so highly, she called him Lord. Whose daughter are you? Daughters
of Abraham. As long as you do well. As long
as you do well. As long as you truly are a daughter
of Abraham. As long as you truly do trust
Christ. And do as he says. Do his word. And he adds this. And I'm not
afraid of any amazement. That may puzzle you. What he
means there is don't is that a woman should not, though she
should be in subjection to, and submissive to, and esteem highly,
don't overdo it. Don't hold him in such high esteem
to blindly follow this man, especially if he does and says things that
are contrary to God's will and God's word. Now, a believing
woman is not demanded to do anything contrary to God's word or God's
will because she serves him first. So that's what he means there.
Don't be overly subjected, submissive, and subjected with fear of any
amazement. That's what he means by that.
All right? All right, now, husbands, he
said, in verse 7, likewise, likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them,
that is, the wife, according to knowledge. Dwell with her
according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto
the weaker vessel, and as be an heir." Are you with me? All right? Your husband, dwell
with him according to knowledge, giving honor. giving honor unto the wife as
unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together in the grace of
life. Let your prayer be not hindered. All right? Now, I read
my pastor's commentary on this, and it could not be improved
upon. All right? And this is, so this
is his commentary, a man who's not only been a preacher and
a pastor for nearly 50 years, but been married that long. Alright, he says now, dwell with
your wives according to knowledge. That is, use wisdom and good
sense. Your wife is not a slave, but
a loving companion. She's not a subject to be ordered
around by the rod of the law, but a part of you. to be helped
and instructed in love. In love. Dwell with your wives
according to knowledge. And I added this. Knowledge. Dwell with them according to
knowledge of her needs. A man needs to be, needs to know
and understand a woman's needs. A woman has needs. Certain needs. Needs of companionship. That's why she marries you. need of intimacy. I expect to
get some big amen out of these women in here tonight. There's
nodding of heads. Intimacy. Romance. Gifts. Special attention. These are needs. Hmm? Companionship. I believe
a woman, what she wants more than anything out of you is you. Right, lady? You're company. That's why she left dad to marry
you, old scallywag. She needs you, your companionship,
your intimacy, your friendship, the romance. This is all scriptural. This is all a picture of Christ
and his people. Christ woos us. We're drawn with chords, the
chords of love, it says, the chords of a man. You remember
the story of Boaz and Ruth? Huh? Where he played with her
cornbread and wooed her and enticed her. You remember the story?
Beautiful story. He romanced her. Did he give
her anything? Ha! Showered her with gifts,
special attention. All right, that's what it means.
Well, with your wife, according to knowledge is so much more. Not a slave, but a loving companion
with certain needs that we need to be. Not wise to. And then he says, give honor
unto the wife. Give honor unto the wife. Now
a woman. Has an honorable. Position. I know. Women, they don't think being
a wife and a mother is. But God said so. And it is. Some of the highest honors conferred
on human beings is that of a wife and a mother. She was created
by God. to bring joy, companionship,
comfort to a man, to a family. She's a man's wife. There's no
one closer. I'm still reading. There's no one closer or more
important to that man on this earth. Dad and Mom are gone. We've left our father and mother
to cleave unto the wife, Scripture says. Cleave, God said, cleave
unto. And she is a mother. What could
carry more honor and respect or recognition as far as this
world goes than to bring forth a son or a daughter in this world?
What could be more honorable? All right, she says, render honor,
give honor unto the wife, that's unto the weaker vessel. Treat
her, that is, she's not necessarily weaker mentally or whatever,
especially a bleeding woman as opposed to an unbleeding husband. She's certainly more knowledgeable
than he is about things that matter. But treat her as a weaker
vessel, that is, with tenderness, gentleness, kindness. I was watching a horse trainer one
time and he said it took me 30 years to figure out that women
and horses don't like to be slapped real hard. You see people whacking horses
on it, they don't like that. And he said, women don't either. Just lighten me up a little bit.
Lighten me up a little bit. This is a difficult subject.
But treat her with tenderness, gentleness, and kindness. Real
strength is being able to carry a great load
and at the same time caress a flower. A gentle man. And then it says,
give honor unto her as unto the weak or best one as being heirs
together of the grace of life. Heirs together. Joint heirs with
you of the grace of God. Now this woman, here's a good
way for a man to look at his wife. Especially us men who have
daughters. That woman is somebody's daughter.
How would you want a man treating your daughter? Huh? See? How would you want? That's how we're treated. Our
wife, who is someone's daughter, number one, she is God's daughter. And God doesn't take kindly to
ill-treatment of any of his own children. That's what he wrote
here. He says, you will incur the wrath
of her father. You mistreat her. And I'll add this to that. Any
abusive husband, physically, mentally, sexually, verbally,
whatever, is not a believer. It's just not believable. All right, now, verse 8, he says,
finally, finally, be ye all, husbands, wives, all of one mind. One mind. What might that be? Right, the mind of Christ, which
is found in Philippians 2. I'll just read it to you. It
says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, in the form of God, Mrs. God, thought it not robbery to be
equal to God, but made himself of no reputation. took upon him
the form of a serpent. There you go. And over there
in John, I believe 15 it is, where he washed his feet. That's chapter 13, where he washed
his feet. He said, Now thy, your Lord has
done this. Shouldn't you do that to one
another? Well, So all be of one mind, the mind of Christ. Servants,
servants. We marry not to get a servant.
Now this is for both sides. A woman should think this. She
marries not to get a sugar daddy, not to get a servant, but to
be a servant. He marries not to get a slave,
but to be a servant. That's what it's all about. And
that's God's Word. All right, he said, now love
is brethren, verse 8. Love is brethren. That'd be a
good way to consider your wife or your husband, wouldn't it?
A brother in Christ. How would we treat our brother
or our sister in Christ? Love is brethren. Be pitiful. It means full of pity. Full of
pity. Be courteous. Courteous, you
know, after you. No, no, after you. No, I insist. You do. No, no, you. That's courteous. You remember that cartoon of
two little crows? You know, two little crows after
you. No, after you. No, after you.
We're courteous. That's what that means. I insist.
I want you to have it. Be courteous. Preferring, Paul
said this, in honor, preferring one another. That's what courteous
meant. Preferring their happiness to
your own. I want that. If we practiced
that, you wouldn't have a marital problem. You wouldn't have a
problem, period. All right, or you don't. Verse
9, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing. Now,
we're all guilty of these, aren't we? Of being, acting evil in
an evil manner and railing, unless you're very rare. We're all guilty of this. So
he says the way to deal with that is not render the same in
return. Not evil for evil. Don't be vindictive. I'll get you back. That's not
love. Love beareth all things. Love forgiveth. And not railing for
railing. The Proverbs says, you know how
to turn away wrath? A soft answer. Strength of the
flesh, strength of sins. It's meanness, law, and it's
just not, you know, if you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you, you I hope you young people are listening to this. Maybe
you'll marry someday. If you want a happy marriage, you do what God says to you.
All right? All right, we're called, he says,
to be a blessing. Called to bless, called to edify,
called to strengthen, called to build up, not tear down, not
act up, but build up. All right, verses 10 through
12 are a quotation from Psalm 34, nearly word for word. And I want
you to turn back there, okay? Psalm 34. I want you to turn
back there. Peter quotes this, because we're
going to look at something that David says, and then something
that Solomon says. So at the mouth of two or three
witnesses we have this. All right, Psalm 34. This is found in verses 12 through
16. What man is he that desireth
life? Peter says, he that would love
life and see good days. He that would love life. Or,
as David said, what man is he that desireth life, and loveth
many days, that he may see good? Well, here it is. He said, keep
your tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking God. Depart from evil, that is, eschew
it, Peter said over there. Eschew it, or Job, that was said
of Job, wasn't it? He escheweth evil, he runs from
it. He avoids it. He does everything
he can to avoid it. Depart from evil. Do good. Seek
peace. Seek peace. Be a peacemaker. Scripture says,
Our Lord said, Blessed are the peacemakers. They're called the
children of God. The fruit of righteousness is
found in peace by them that make peace. The fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace by them that make peace. You hear that? I just heard it. All right? It said, Seek peace. Pursue it. Pursue peace. Pursue it. You're a peacemaker. The eyes
of the Lord, he says, are upon the righteous. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. His ears are open unto their
cry, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. God will
hear, he says, and God will be merciful to the merciful. That's
the principle, isn't it? God be merciful to the merciful.
That's what he says. To the merciful I'll show myself
merciful. To the gracious I'll show myself
gracious. I'll show myself forward, he
said. So he said. God's ears are open
to the righteous. Be gracious, be merciful. If
you want mercy and grace. Well, he says now, look over
at Ecclesiastes. Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
chapter 1. Peter, David said it at the beginning
of it. Who is it that loves life? Do you love life? You better be careful how you
answer. Some think themselves real unworldly. They go, oh,
I hate this world. I don't love this life. I don't
love anything about it. That's not scriptural. That's
not biblical. He said, who is it that will
love life? God gave you this life. This life is God given and it's
for a purpose. The psalm says, this is the day
that the Lord made what we will do. We will rejoice and be what
in it? Glad in it. Paul said when he
was sitting in a jail cell, he said, I'm content. Paul, standing before his accusers
in chains and bonds, said, I don't think myself happy. This life is God-given. Wherever
you are, whatever you have, whatever you don't have, whatever happens
is God's purpose. We will be thankful and rejoice
in it. Paul says it many times, and
again, he wrote it from prison. Rejoice in the Lord. And again,
I say, rejoice. It's not being unworldly and
godly to be hate life. No, sir. Look at Ecclesiastes
chapter 1. Now, verse 13, Solomon, the wisest
man to ever live. Verse 13, Solomon said, I gave
my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things
that are done unto heaven. This sore travail hath God given
me. And he kept concluding vanity
and so forth. All right? Look at chapter 2.
Chapter 2. Now, in chapter 2, he starts
talking about dying and leaving everything he worked for, so
he has no good, worthless sons. That's what he's talking about.
He worked all his life, and he's going to leave it to a fool to
just blow it. Now, that happens a lot. I like the bumper sticker. I
read one time it said, I'm spending all my children's inheritance.
You better. They'll do it. Fast enough. Well, this is what Solomon is
lamenting here in chapter 2. He said, I'm going to die. I'm
going to leave this to a fool and he's going to blow it. And
verse 16, he talks about a wise man living a wise life and a
fool that both die. Both die, wise and a fool that
both die. As it happened with the fool,
so it happened with the wise, verse 16. And therefore, verse
17, look at it, verse 17, he said, Therefore I hated life. I hated life. Now, that's chapter
2. He's still learning. He said,
I hated life, but now wait a minute, he said, it's all vanity and
vexation of spirit. Verse 18, I hated all my labor,
everything I'd worked for. I'm going to leave it to the
man, and it'll be after that. Verse 19, the last line says,
well, this is vanity. They don't think like that. That's
what he concluded there. I don't need to be thinking like
that. Those are vain thoughts. That's
what he's thinking. Vain thoughts. So down in verse
24, he concludes this. Look at this. Verse 24. There's
nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink
and that he should make his soul enjoy good and its labor. He's
not talking out of both sides of his mouth here. He comes to
this conclusion. See, he's down in the mouth to
begin with. What good is it? Remember David in Psalm 73, he
said, I've cleansed my heart and veins, till I went to the
sanctuary. I was a fool, he said, I was
a fool. And Solomon realized that. He said, I'm going to die,
you know, it won't work at all, but I'm going to die. And then
I'm going to leave it all, and he's going to blow it and all.
He said, don't even think like that. There's nothing better
for a man than he should eat and drink, he should make his
soul enjoy good and his labor. This also I saw, it was from
the hand of God. Now there's the key, verse 26,
look at it. God giveth to a man that is good
in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy. God giveth. That needs to be first and foremost
in the mind, realizing who it came from. Who it came from. And we'll be thankful and rejoice
and enjoy it. Love life. That's what David
said, isn't it? He will love life. Peter said
that, he quoted him. But who gave it? Remember, in
this world, There's nothing wrong with this
world, except for sin. God created this world. What did God say about this world
when he created it? What'd he say? What'd he say? He said, it's good. I know what
you've called it, unclaiming what God's called good. If it
wasn't for sin, we're gonna live in another earth. There's still
much to enjoy about this world. Though sin mars this planet,
though sin permeates this planet, yet you can get up and see God's
Son and exalt and praise Him. Breathe His precious fresh air
and praise Him in the high heavens. Look at His stars and think about
Him and the work of His fingers and all that. Life's good. If you've got it, it's good. That's what David said. That's
what Solomon said. All right? Peter tells us that. Now, Peter tells us here. Now,
back in the text, Peter says, now, if you desire some good
days in this life, Peter would love life. He loved life. Incidentally, if you want to
love life, Christ must be your life. That way the disappointments
of this life won't just tear you down to nothing. Christ is
your life. Peter says, David says, if you
want to love life, look at verse 10, and see good days. Now, he
says days, because we're told to number our days. We don't have many. We'd better
make the best of it. That's back way of saying it.
We don't have many days. And so he said, here's the way
to see some good day. You want some good days? What's
left of your day? The burden? You ain't got much.
Really? You really don't? All right,
you want to see some good days? Take hold of that tongue. That's
what he said. All right, here's the, this is
going to be the instrument of more problems, all problems,
basically. That's what he said, though.
The key to it is seeing some good days. Want to see some good
days with your wife? Some good days with your children?
Some good days with your husband? Bite your tongue. We're praying the tongue from
evil, the lips that speak no guile. Now, words hurt more and last longer
than bodily injury. They do. They last a lot longer. Words. You can mash your thumb. In fact, you can go to the job
at 8 a.m., wham, right out of the chute, you know, mash your
thumb, and still have a good day at some point, when it quits
hurting. Right? When it quits, when the pressure
eases, you can still have a good day. But, my buddy, hurtful words. Stay with you a long time. Don't. The Proverbs says, a brother
offended is harder won than a city. My, my. Do you know how they,
the root of bitterness, spring up? Oh, how trouble. And words
are the cause of more bitterness than anything else. So he says,
refrain your tongue. Verse 11, let him which chews
evil do good. Chew evil, avoid it, do good.
Seek peace and sue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. The Lord is against them that do evil. Verse 13,
who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which
is good? But, and if you suffer for righteousness' sake, hath
the argument. Now, in context here, what's
he been talking about? We've been talking about acting
right. That's the context, right? Acting right. Righteousness. It's still in the context, isn't
it? You suffer for righteousness'
sake, right? Be happy, don't be afraid of terror or trouble.
But now, we know this is talking also, because Peter's all through
this book. He's talking about persecution
for the truth's sake, for the gospel's sake, right? That's
what he says back in chapter 1. He talks about suffering persecution
and so forth. Well, he says, if you suffer
for that, happy are you. Do you remember when, Peter, how can you say that? He said
it from experience. You remember when Peter and the
apostles were threatened, they were standing before the Pharisees,
Sanhedrin, and they said, if you keep preaching this gospel,
we will throw you in jail. And they said, I think I hear
Peter now. He said, is it right, should
we obey God or you? And boy, they threw him in jail.
Sure did. And his junja. Well, the angel of the Lord let
him out. Remember? He let him out. And
where'd they go? Right back to the synagogue.
Went right back to the temple. And what'd they do? Start preaching
the gospel again. And somebody came and saw him
and heard him, and ran and told the Pharisees. They're in the temple, and they're
preaching this gospel. Well, they went and apprehended
them again, and brought Peter and the boys before the Pharisees
again, and said, didn't we tell you not to preach in this name
again? What you going to do to us? So
they threatened them, and it says that they beat them. Beat
them. It's a cat and iron table, and
a bee was beating them back there. Beat them. You know what the
scripture says that they did when they let them go? They beat
them and threatened them and said, now get out of here. Don't
preach that gospel anymore. You know what the scripture says
they did? Said they went on their way rejoicing. They just got out of jail just
taking a thrashing with a whip. and men threatened with an end
to their life, so they went on their way rejoicing, that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." We shall
learn more about that. Verse 15 says, now, it says,
"...sacrifice God, the Lord God, in your heart, and be ready always
to give an answer to every man, and ask you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear." Settle it in your heart that
God is God, that He's your God, and that everything in your life,
everything about you according to His all-wise, good, and sovereign,
unchangeable, perfect purpose. Settle that in your heart. If
you do, you can do it. That's the way it's done in Confucius.
Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Let it be settled that
God's God, that you're not. He does what he does because
he does, and it's the best thing to do. And he doesn't give an
account of it to anybody. He's God. Sanctify him in your
heart. And sanctify God in your heart.
Give a reason. Be able to give an answer to
every man. Ask your reason of the hope that's in you. We believe
a God that's set apart from the idols of this day. No. A God
that's set apart. And it's got to be in the heart
or you won't say it, it won't come out of the mouth. We believe
in God who is first and foremost holy. The world doesn't have
a clue about this and don't care. But we do, don't we? This is
his essential attribute and it must be declared, it must be
honored, it must be exalted, his holiness, his justice. He's
sovereign. We believe in a sovereign God
as opposed to one who's subject to man. Our God's set apart. We believe a God who elected
a people as opposed to one who's running for election. Right? We believe a God who purposed
all and fulfills everything according to his purpose, not one who's
a bystander to man's whims. We believe a God who sent his
Son to this earth to fulfill that certain purpose of saving
God's elect people, not a mere martyr, but one who was sent
to sexually atone for and redeem the souls of those people, not
one who made a down payment. Not one who made an attempt.
Not one who's just an example. Our God's set apart from the
God of this world. Now this is the answer we need
to give. This is the answer. We believe in a God who is right
now, Christ, who's right now seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high, reigning and ruling, expecting everything
to be fulfilled just as he purposed it. Not a God, not a Christ who's
knocking at anybody's door. He's not knocking at anybody's
door. He sees it. That's a God set apart. That's
what we tell them. That's our God. And he says,
do it with meekness and fear. With meekness. You know anything about that?
Leakness and fear. We have to say that to people,
not in anger and arrogance. Ah, boy, I need to learn this.
Talk to people with leakness and fear. Well,
he says in verse 16 and 17, having a good conscience. A good conscience. They speak evil of you as evildoers.
That's all right. If you're talking about the gospel,
that is. That's fine. You're in good company. Our Lord
said in Matthew 5, He said, Oh, blessed are you when men shall
persecute you and say all men are evil, falsely against you
for my name's sake, for so persecuted they were prophets before you. You're in good company. John. John the Baptist. Good company. Verse 17, it's
better the will of God be so you suffer for well-doing than
for evil-doing. Christ, verse 18, here's Christ
our substitute and Christ our example. Christ also once suffered
for sin, just to the unjust. Christ suffered for sins. Who
sins? Not His own. And he didn't have
to, because he was telling us here, Christ suffered for sin,
the just and the unjust. Why? Not just as an example,
no, no, no, no, but to bring us to God. He hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. just, unjust, that God might
be just and justify. Do you understand that? This
is the answer we need to be able to give, the reason and the hope
that's within us. All right? He says, He put the
death in the flesh and quickened by the Holy Spirit. By which?
Now, these next few verses, I want to cover these, because... Can
you give me a few more minutes? Because these are some of the
most misunderstood and misinterpreted and misapplied, or all of them
are. But these are some of the most
misunderstood, misinterpreted scriptures that I know of. All
right? Verse 19 says, "...by which,"
or that is, he just talked about the Spirit, didn't he? "...by
the Holy Spirit also he," Christ, Now, notice, listen carefully,
by the Spirit Christ went, not himself, but by the Spirit. Are you with me? Are you looking
at it? By the Holy Spirit he went and preached unto the spirits
in prison, or that is, men and women in hell. Which, now here he's going to
tell who these people are, verse 20, which sometime were disobedient
when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah. He's talking about the people
in the days of Noah. that Christ, through the Spirit,
preached to. All right? He didn't go down
after they died and went to hell. Christ didn't go down there in
hell and preach to. That's not what this is saying.
It's saying in the days of Noah, see this? In the days of Noah,
Or that is, those who are now in hell right now, those who
lived in the days of Noah, Christ was back there in the Spirit
preaching to them. Hebrews says that. They heard
the gospel, even like we did. See that we said in Hebrews?
They heard the gospel of chapter 2. All right? Everyone that preaches the gospel
does it through the Holy Spirit. That's what Peter said in chapter
1, verse 12. He said, those who preach the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost. All right? No, that was
a preacher, wasn't it? Now, what scripture is it? A
preacher of what? Righteousness. Who's righteous? Well, it wasn't man. God's righteousness. He says in verse 20, he said,
Noah, while the ark was prepared, and he said, this is when Noah
was preaching, that is, Christ was preaching through the Holy
Spirit. Christ said, they will hear you
or hear me. Isn't it? Noah was speaking for Christ. It was Christ speaking through
Noah. All right? Noah was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years,
Noah preached the gospel. That's who he was talking about
back then. All right? And Noah preached the righteousness.
He preached the holy and just God, didn't he? What'd he say?
What'd Noah say? You reckon for a minute Noah
stood up and said, He built an ark. He built an
ark. A symbol of God's wrath. Judgment's
coming with every pound of his hammer. Judgment's coming. God's
holy. God's angry with this world.
God's going to destroy all workers of iniquity. But there's one
way of salvation. There's one hope. There's one
refuge. There's one safety. There's one place of safety.
There's one... You better hide. You better get
out. And he expounded one message, one text, one message. He expounded
on that from every angle, didn't he? That ark is Christ's. God is holy. God is just. God
does not love everybody. God is angry with the weak. God
is highly displeased with sinners. But if you get in the ark, you'll
be saved. Get in the ark, you'll be hidden
from the overflowing scourge of God's wrath when it comes
to us. Get in the ark, man, get in the ark. And so, that's what
he preached. That's what he preached. We've
got a hope, we've got a refuge, one way, in the ark. Now, verse
twenty-one, he says, "...the like figure whereunto even baptism
doth also now save us." The figure. Now, he puts this parenthesis
here, doesn't he? Let's read it this way. He says,
in a baptism, the like figure were unto even baptism, talking
about water baptism, doth also now sabre, not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh. Baptism doesn't put away sin.
That's what he's saying. It doesn't put away sin, but
it's the answer a good conscience toward God. What does that mean? of one who really
trusts Christ and believes Christ and confesses Christ, a good
conscience toward God, faith toward God, repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a good conscience
toward God is being obedient to His divine command. That's
what we say every time. You notice every time someone
confesses Christ as a Baptist, what do I say? I got this from
my pastor. in obedience to the divine commandment
of Christ Jesus my Lord, and upon your profession of faith
in Him, I baptize you, my brother and my sister, in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." He says, this light
figure, baptism is the answer of a good conscience. Here's the figure, baptism. Noah
and his family got in the ark. God called, God called, because
God was in that ark, reconciling them unto himself. God said,
Come thou. He didn't say, Go thou. He did it there in Genesis. He said, Come thou. and all thy
house into the ark." God was in that ark. God was in Christ.
Well, he said, come back. And so Noah and his family went
in. They did what God said. Come. And they came. And they
went in. And a believer, come to Christ.
Confess it. And we did. We did. We do what he said. And we confessed. We come in. He says, God, show
me. God shuts the door, shut him in. And then that water,
the deluge came. And they were in that ark. And
you know they were buried in water. Eight people were in that
little boat. And, boy, the floods came and
they were literally underwater for forty days. Yes, they were. That's a picture of baptism,
you see. We're crucified with Christ. The ark bore the wrath
of God. The ark bore the rain. The ark
bore the wind. The ark bore all of the deluge. Everybody outside of the ark
was perished once they were drowned in it. Everybody in the ark was
saved. And those in Christ, by faith,
are safe. And that's what this is a symbol
of. I'm a Profession of Pride. They go under the water, they
crucify the Christ, buried with him. They said, when Noah went
in, when Noah went in, when God brought him in, God shut the
door and waited seven days. And I didn't hear a word. Look
what he's doing. He's not raining. Old Nolan,
dead and buried. Old Nolan's a fool. He's gone
off his rocker now. He was crucified to the world.
And the world to him. Right? That's what that's a symbol
of. That's a symbol of Christ. Now
wait a minute. Forty-some-odd days later, the
ark landed on dry ground, livid, and the door of that ark flew
open. And Noah and his family walked out, new life, the walking
newness of life, saved, ha, by the ark. That's what he's saying
here. By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, we're speaking with him in the heaven, who's gone into
heavens on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and
powers being made subject unto him. He started out with subjection
to him. Subjection to what? All of it. And he ends up with, I'll tell
you who it's all in subjection to. All right, I kept you too long,
but I wanted to...couldn't leave anything out. That's Grace Leo. Grace Leo. Grace professes. Okay, let's stand. We've heard it now, send your
Spirit to make us. I knew it was going to work.
Lord, we need this help. We need your aid and strength.
Without Him we can do nothing. Nothing. We need the fruits of
the Spirit. Send your Holy Spirit. Lord, we ask that you will not
allow the fowls of the air to tear this life. take away this work completely,
that it fall onto the ground, heart prepared, before this work
is not followed. So if you're going after the
crossroads, then you're going the wrong way.