Now, in our past lessons here
in 1 Peter, we've been reading about Peter's instruction of
following the example of Christ in times when we suffer and times
all through our walk through this world. But here in the last
verses, he's been talking about at times when we suffer. He said
in verse 14 that if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy
are you. That's a cause for to be happy,
not to be down in the mouth, but to be happy. That's contrary. That's why we need an instruction
from God's Word, because that's contrary to our flesh. And then
here in verse 15, Peter gives us some instruction for something
that we are to do when we're called on to suffer for righteousness
sake. Don't be troubled, he says, but
sanctify the Lord God. See that in verse 15, he says,
but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you. A reason of
the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Sanctify the
Lord God, Peter says, and that doesn't mean that we can do something
to make God holy. God is holy. He's holiness. He is perfect holiness. It's
not just that he has holiness. He is holiness. We don't make
God holy, but we do declare God to be holy. We declare God to
be who he is. We're like the seraphims that
fly around the throne of God who cry, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. And the Lord is sanctified when
we declare the scriptures who he is, who is he? He's the sovereign
ruler. He's sanctified when we declare
him. God is the sovereign ruler of
his creation. He dwells in a light that no
man can approach unto. That's who he is. We sanctify
the Lord when we declare what Scripture says. He's just. He's
good. He's merciful. God's faithful. God's love. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God sanctified
when we declare that he is wisdom. He found a way in His wisdom
to be just and justifier of them which believeth in Jesus. Through
the sacrifice of God's Son, He provided salvation. That's God's
wisdom. God provided Himself a Lamb for
the sacrifice. The Lord sanctified and we declare
Him to be the Creator. What John preached Wednesday
night. He's the Creator. He spoke and it was so. And everything God spoke into
existence, it was good. Like He is, like God is. This
world, everything we see here, didn't evolve. God created it
in His wisdom, in His power, and He sanctified and we declare
that. God sanctified as a sustainer of His creation. He created the
world and He keeps it full. He keeps it full of water, keeps
it full of the air that we breathe. Where does it come from? Scientists
have great big explanations, which I'm sure are largely true,
but I'll tell you where it comes from. God keeps it full of air,
oxygen, and just the right mix of everything. God keeps the
earth full of food. Everything's fed by the hand
of God. The sun keeps shining. The moon stays in its place.
The seasons come and go just right on time because God's a
sustainer of His creation. We sustain, we sanctify the Lord. We declare Him to be the provider.
We thank Him for everything we have. Everything we have, God's
given us. He's the provider. And the Lord
sanctified by his people, both externally and internally. We
sanctify the Lord externally by doing what we're doing this
morning, public worship, gathering together to worship him. We sanctify
him in our conduct and our walk through this world. We sanctify
him, we obey his commandments. The Lord is sanctified in the
eyes of others. by your walk, by the walk of
his people, by what you say and do, what they see you say and
do. But the Lord sanctified internally in the hearts of his people.
True worship springs from a true heart of love and gratitude.
You cannot worship God until he's worshipped in the heart.
That's where it begins. That's where he's truly worshipped
is in the heart. The Lord is sanctified in the
heart that meditates on God's loves God's Word, that looks
to Him. And that's what lets the believer
rejoice in Christ Jesus, to be happy even when you're suffering. Even in times of trial, you sanctify
the Lord. And people watch that and they're
going to ask you a question. What reason do you have for this?
What reason do you have in the face of such suffering to have
such a good hope? Here's all this suffering. What
gives you reason? What reason do you have to be
so confident in your salvation? Now, few believers, few people
at all, but certainly believers, are theologians. Nobody is a
true theologian, is not a believer, but few believers are theologians. Many people think they're theologians,
but few people are. There are a whole lot fewer theologians
than what people think. And even though we're not a theologian,
every believer, every child of God now can give a reason for
their hope, a good hope through grace. Every believer can give
that reason. You know it. Everybody may not
be as eloquent as somebody else, but every believer can give a
reason for the hope that they have. And when you're asked that,
now you make your answer a scriptural answer. It's not just, well,
that's what my parents taught me, or you're blessed if that's
what your parents taught you, but that's not why you're the
reason for your hope. It's not just because the old
preacher I listened to all my life said so, although you're
blessed if you had a man to do that, but he's not the reason
for your hope. The reason for your hope is found in God's Word.
Now, our answer is a scriptural answer. I'm confident in my salvation
because of who the Savior is. That's the reason. Because Scripture
teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
Jehovah said, Can you? My sin is purged in the blood
of Christ. We have confidence because Christ,
our Savior, is the mediator seated at the right hand of the Father.
And when you give that answer, we're to give it humbly. Because
we didn't figure this out. We didn't figure this out. It's
revealed. We give our answer in fear. in
fear of the Lord to be sure he gets all the glory. And give
your answer in meekness. The person who's asking very
well may be one who's truly seeking the Lord. Maybe they're a smart
aleck, but could be they're a true seeker of the Lord. So give an
answer in meekness. And he says in verse 16, he goes
on, he says, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil
of you as evil doers, They may be ashamed that falsely accuse
your good conversation in Christ. Now, Peter lists two things here
in this verse that he calls good, a good conscience and a good
conversation, a good walk in this world. Now, a good conscience
towards God doesn't come because we've done things right. We've
got all our doctrinal ducks in a row. That's not where a good
conscience towards God comes from. Even after conversion,
that's not where it comes from. Let's go back to Hebrews 9, verse
14. A good conscience towards God
is a conscience that has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ.
Hebrews 9, verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? Our conscience is not purged
with our dead works, it's with the blood of Christ. That's where
good conscience towards God comes from. But as believers, we should
have a good conscience towards men too, that our walk should
not rightfully be able to be evil spoken of. We treat people
honestly, fairly, and so forth. And people will still speak evil
against you. I don't care how careful you are to maintain good
works that scripture teaches us to do. People will talk evil
about you. They'll slander you. They'll
try to hurt your reputation. They'll say all manner of evil
things about you. But you know, it's one thing
for somebody to accuse you of that. It's another thing for
it to be true. Peter said, now don't let it
be true. Spurgeon said, I don't care if somebody accuses me of
being an antinomian as long as it's not true. It's one thing
altogether different if it's true. But your enemies who accuse
you falsely, they'll be ashamed. People will see through it. Most
people will anyway. Eventually they'll see through
it and they'll be ashamed. But you think people ought to like
a man. Who does his best to follow the
example of Christ? He's honest. He's kind to people. He's hardworking. But don't be
surprised when people hate you anyway. Because they will. They'll lie on you. They'll do
those things. That's exactly what they did to the Lord Jesus,
isn't it? And you follow His example, they'll do the same
thing to you. Because you're following Him. And I'll tell
you this, if I suffer, I'd a whole lot rather suffer for well-doing
than for doing wrong and suffering the consequences for it. Look
at verse 17. He says, for it's better if the
will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil
doing. Now, the key to this verse is if the will of God be so,
if the will of God be so that you suffer. When we suffer, We
need to remember, this is not just doctrine now. This is not
just, you know, a catechism that we repeat. This is the doctrine
that we've clung to all the time, that the Lord's in control. The
Lord's in control. That's our comfort. That's our
peace. That's what we cling to. Everything that happens on the
face of this earth happens by the express purpose and will
of God Almighty. And that includes the times when
we suffer. And many times it is the will
of the Lord to be so, that we suffer. And the fact that this
is the will of the Lord for me ought to enable me to bear it
patiently. This is the will of my Father. This is the will of
my Savior. And I'd a whole lot rather suffer
as a child of God than an enemy of God. And if you don't think
that people will do their best to try to make you suffer for
well-doing, Look at the ultimate example in verse 18. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. Here is another time, all throughout
this epistle, Peter is showing us the Savior as our example
to follow. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
only perfect man to ever live. Perfect. He was perfectly sinless. He never harmed anyone. He only
helped people. He never thought an evil thought.
He never did anything evil. He only did good. He was completely
honest with people. There was no guile found in his
mouth. When Pilate examined him, looking for cover, looking for
a reason to put this man to death, He had to admit, I find no fault
in him. Sinless. Yet he still suffered as no man
has ever suffered. Nobody suffered like the Lord
Jesus Christ. His visage was marred more than
any other man. Well, then why did he suffer?
If he was perfect, why did he suffer? Peter says he suffered
for sin. Well, now, wait a minute. I thought
you said he was sinless. Then whose sins did he suffer
for? Peter tells us, for the unjust. He suffered for the sins
of the unjust. The sins of God's elect. And those God's elect are the
unjust. We are the unjust. By nature,
that's who we are. The sins of the unjust were imputed
to Christ at Calvary. And he suffered the full penalty
of those sins. all the punishment that those
sins deserved. He satisfied the infinite wrath
of God against all the sin that was charged to him. And it must
be this way. It must be this way because God
cannot and He will not clear the guilty because God's holy.
Well, we're unjust. That means we're guilty. We're
full of unrighteousness. How is it that the guilty can be accepted
by God. We're guilty in Adam. In Adam,
we were made guilty. We're given a sin nature so that
we drink iniquity like water. So that we're guilty in our own
actions as well. How can the guilty ever be accepted
by a holy God? By being made not guilty. That's
the only way. By being made not guilty. Not just by a judge saying, well,
we'll overlook it even though he's guilty. We'll call him not
guilty. No, by being made not guilty in reality, not guilty. God sent his son into this world,
made of a woman, born under the law, a real man. And that real
man produced a perfect righteousness. And He took our sin, the one
who is sinless, who is perfectly just, took our sin. He was made to be sin for His
people. God made His holy, just Son guilty. Now, I can't explain that and
no human being can ever understand it, but it's so. who spoke the
world into existence. God, who does as he will, when
he will, made his son guilty. Now, I can't explain that, but
that's what God's Word said. He became guilty and he died
for it. He died under the wrath of God
because God made him guilty. And the flip side of that is
God made us, his people, everyone for whom Christ died, was made
not guilty. was given his perfect holiness,
his perfect righteousness, his perfect obedience. And in Christ,
you are made not guilty. That's the only way God would
ever accept us. One of the writers wrote this, he that knew no sin
suffered instead of those who knew no righteousness. We knew
no righteousness, yet God has made us righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that sacrifice that Christ
offered to the Father is effectual. It got the job done. Christ suffered,
Peter says, that he might bring us to God. Now, the only way
anyone can be brought to God is if their sins put away. They
must be not guilty. And the sin of God's elect was
put away. completely removed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he has brought us to God. Now, Adam, the first Adam, he
caused everyone he represented to be separated from God. Well,
how are we ever going to cross that separation? How are we ever
going to be brought back to God? In the second Adam, he died,
he suffered, he removed our sins so that everyone he represented
is brought back to God. We're reconciled to God. given
access to the Father, so that we come boldly before the throne
of grace, that we may obtain help in time of need, in time
of suffering, this time that Peter's talking about here. You
can come boldly before the throne of God, into the presence of
God Himself, because the Lord Jesus Christ has brought you
back to God. That's through His sacrifice. And our Lord Jesus God's Son,
life itself, actually died on that cross. When they took His
body down from that cross, they took down a lifeless body. Dead. Laid Him in a tomb. But He rose
again. By the Spirit of God, He was
raised again. And every believer who is in
Him, everyone He represented, is going to follow Christ. We'll suffer in this world just
like Christ suffered. will die and one day will be
resurrected. But the difference between us
and our Lord is Christ suffered for sin. His people are called
on to suffer for righteousness sake. It's still suffering. It's still real. It's still painful. But it's a whole lot better than
suffering for sin. And we won't suffer for sin because
Christ, our substitute, suffered sin for sin for us. The just
for the unjust. So we'll follow Christ in suffering,
we'll follow Him in death, and one day, we're going to follow
Him to glory, because He went there for us. Now look at verse
19, Peter goes on, he says, by which, by the same Spirit, also
He went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now the Lord
Jesus Christ, He was put to death in His human body, He died. He
died in that body that God made for him in Mary's womb. And that
same body that God made for him was raised from the dead. And
he ascended back to glory in that human body that God prepared
for him. But Christ didn't begin in Mary's
womb. He didn't begin in Bethlehem's
manger. He's eternal. Before Abraham
was, I am. And that same Holy Spirit who
raised Christ from the dead preached the gospel of Christ to the fathers
in the Old Testament. Sometimes it was by Christ appearing
himself, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. He appeared to Abraham.
He appeared to Samson's parents. He appeared in the Old Testament
because he's eternal. Salvation in Christ is no new
message, just like Christ is no new Savior, no new man. He's eternal. And the gospel
was preached to the fathers in the Old Testament. Now, Peter
says here is preaching to the spirits in prison, and that means
in hell. Now, people take that verse and
they twist it and they try to tell you that that means Christ
went after he died on the cross. He went to hell and preached
the gospel. No, he did not. That's foolish talk. The gospel
was preached in the power of God's Spirit to those people
before they were damned, before they died and left this world.
They didn't believe the gospel, so now their souls are in prison,
in hell. Now I'll show you, look on here
in verse 20. These people whose spirits are
now in prison, 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." Now these people, who we read
about in verse 19, in prison or in hell, were one time disobedient. When were they disobedient? When
the gospel was preached to them and the power of the Spirit.
They were disobedient. All throughout this epistle,
and this has stuck out to me in studying through this, How
many times has Peter called the unbeliever disobedient? They're disobedient to the gospel. And they were disobedient to
the gospel when it was preached and they wouldn't believe it.
And the consequences of being disobedient, of not believing
Christ, was it brought the judgment and wrath of God. And the example
of Christ coming and the Holy Spirit coming and preaching to
people in the Old Testament is Noah. Noah preached the gospel
for 120 years. 120 years while he was building
that ark. He preached it by the same power
of the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. 120 years. That's
a long time. By our standards, that is a long
time. God is so long-suffering. How long-suffering is he with
us? He allowed the gospel to be rejected
for 120 years before the reign came. I wouldn't allow the gospel to
be rejected for three messages. My patience is so short. Aren't
you glad God's not like me and you? He's long-suffering. But His long-suffering will find
an end. Because after preaching the gospel for 120 years, the
world was wiped out. Completely wiped out. With the exception of eight souls. Eight souls. Out of how many
people were on the earth, I do not know. By our estimation, Noah was a
failure. Wasn't he? He preached 120 years
and the Lord saved 8 people? Gosh, Noah, aren't you depressed?
You wasted your time. Not for those 8. Not for those
8, did he? That's a mighty low percentage
of people who are saved in the Ark. But it's 100% of God's elect. Not one was lost. Not one of
God's elect was lost. They were saved from God's wrath
in that ark. It's a picture of Christ. That
ark bore all the rain. It bore all of God's wrath against
the sin that was so rampant on the earth. And everyone in that
ark was saved because they were protected from God's wrath in
that ark. And when the waters receded,
And that ark settled on that mountain, wherever it is, and
they went out. There was not a doubt in not
one of those eight souls. There was never a doubt that
they were saved in that ark. Never a doubt. And every believer,
when you're called on to give a reason of your hope, every
believer knows beyond a shadow of a doubt, all of my salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in Him. We are saved from
God's wrath, because all of God's wrath for our sin fell on him,
and he bore it, and we are sheltered from it, and protected from it,
and saved from it in Christ, in Christ our Lord. Now verse
21, he goes on, he says, The life 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. Now I love the Old Testament
types and pictures. I mean, I just, I love them.
But types and pictures aren't dead. We still have them today.
We still have baptism and baptism pictures Christ our Savior, his
death, his burial and his resurrection. We still have the Lord's table
that's given to us as a picture of our Savior, his broken body
and his shed blood that was shed as remission for our sins. And
Peter's talking about baptism. Baptism is an ordinance that's
given to the church, given to believers. It's not a staining
sacrament. It doesn't wash away the filth
of sin. Only the blood of Christ can
do that. Baptism is a picture of our salvation being found
in Christ. Just like that ark pictured salvation
in Christ, baptism pictures the exact same thing. Noah and his
family were surrounded by water. Above and beneath, they are surrounded
by water. And they emerged safe in the
ark. Well, baptism pictures the same
thing. It pictures Christ putting away the sin of His people. And
we are baptized. We're publicly confessing Christ
is my salvation. My salvation is me being in Him. What He did, I did. When He died,
I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
And when he rose, I rose in him to walk in newness of life. Now,
what is baptism to the believer? What's the answer of a good conscience?
That's what Peter tells us. It's the answer of a good conscience,
a conscience that's been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. The
believer's answer to having your heart sprinkled with the blood
of Christ is to confess him publicly in believer's baptism. It's the
answer of a clear conscience. No believer can have a clear
conscience as long as we've not obeyed the first commandment
to repent and be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Baptism, I know, does not add
to our salvation in any way. Yet the believer still can't
have a good conscience until you publicly confess the Savior. And this is especially true for
people who grow up hearing the gospel. The Lord reveals himself. And there's this internal struggle,
whatever you want to call it, that goes on and finally they
realize, I've got to do this. I mean, I cannot go on until
I confess my Lord. And you do it and you say, boy,
I wish I'd done that a long time ago. Why do so many people say
that? Because now your conscience is
clear. You've obeyed the Lord's first command and now you can
grow. Now you've sanctified the Lord
publicly in confessing Him, Christ, to be all your hope of salvation.
By confessing Christ who, Peter says in verse 22, is gone into
heaven and is on the right hand of God. Angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto Him. Now this is our comfort. in times of suffering. Our Savior
is seated on the throne. He's on the throne of glory. And everything, every power is
subject unto Him. And there are no accidents. There
has never, ever been an accident to happen on the face of this
earth. Not one. Everything happened according
to the purpose of our God who sits on the throne. And when
we go through these times of suffering, it's not just a period
of bad luck. It's not just an accident happened
to us. It's the providence of our Savior. This is our comfort. This is
the providence of our Savior who loved us and gave himself
for us that we might live. You reckon he's going to let
anything harm your soul? He gave himself for you. He's not going to let something
harm your soul. That's our confidence. The one
who's on the throne has willed this. Then it's not going to
harm you. It might cause pain to the body.
It might cause emotional distress, but it will not harm the soul
of a believer. You can bank on it now. And our
Lord sits on the throne at ease because the work's finished.
Your salvation is not left to chance. It's not left to chance
whether you come through this time of suffering. The work's
finished. He's not worried about it. He's
sitting on the throne. He's gone away into glory to
sit on the throne. So he'll send the comforter.
It's expedient for you, he said, that I go away. For if I go not
away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I send back to the Father. When I depart, I will send him
unto you. It's not, well, you know, maybe
I will, if you ask. No, I will send him unto you
because he's sitting on the throne. He's ascended back to the Father,
ever living, making intercession for his people. He's ascended
back to glory, seated on the throne, having taken possession
of heaven for his people. And he sits on his throne, preparing
a place for you. Christ our Savior, our example,
suffered, and then He's sending back to glory. And every one
of His people who are in Him, every one of His elect, all those
who love Him, who look for His appearing, every one of them
will follow in His steps. There'll be time of suffering,
and that's temporary. One day, we're going to follow
Him to glory, and that's eternal. And that's what we look forward
to. in these times of suffering.