1 Peter chapter 3, and I want to
read a few verses here in this chapter. Verse 18 through verse
22. For Christ also has 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, made alive by
the Spirit. By which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while
the ark was at preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were
saved by water. The like figure were unto even
baptism doeth also now save us. not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards
God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven
and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him." If you're familiar at all with
Peter's epistle, he's writing to encourage and comfort suffering
saints. And he was telling them here
in this epistle just before I picked up my reading, not to be afraid
of their sufferings. Don't be afraid of the troubles
that you have to suffer. If you're suffering for Christ's
sake, if you're suffering for righteousness' sake, for conscience'
sake, because you're a Christian, then don't be troubled about
that. Don't be afraid of your sufferings. And he reminds us
here in verse 17 that some things about suffering.
Look what he says in verse 17. For it is better if the will
of God be so, if it's God's will that you suffer, that you suffer
for well-doing than for evil-doing. If you're going to suffer, wouldn't
it be much better to suffer for well-doing? It would really be
afflicting on the conscience if we suffered for evil-doing,
wouldn't it? He tells them here in verse 18 also that He reminds
them of this, that Christ Himself suffered. Christ also once suffered
for sin. He suffered. He was the Son of
God. He was the sinless Son of God and yet He suffered. We shouldn't
be so backward about suffering if our Lord suffered. Now He
suffered here for a reason and to a degree that you and I could
never suffer. He suffered for sins. We can
never suffer to atone for sins. But He did the just for the unjust. But look back up in chapter 2
and verse 20 through verse 23. Some of Christ's sufferings are
common to all the saints. He said in chapter 2 verse 20,
For what glory is it when, if you be buffeted for your faults,
you should take it patiently? But if when you do well and you
suffer for it, and you take it patiently then, this is acceptable
with God. For even hereunto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow His steps. And here is the difference between
Him and us. He did no sin, and no guile was found in His mouth.
When he was reviled, he reviled not again. And when he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself unto him that judgeth
righteously. So don't be backward, Peter says,
about suffering. And he tells us something else
here in verse 18, too, that's very, very encouraging to all
of us. Christ's suffering had an end. It answered a desired
end. Why did he suffer? the just for
the unjust in order to bring us to God. That's the end of
His suffering. And you know, our suffering has
an end. Our suffering doesn't come uncaused. Our suffering has a reason behind
it. Look in chapter 1 and look in verse 6. We're in and you greatly rejoice. You have this inheritance that's
been declared unto you that's laid up in heaven for you. wherein
you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Your sufferings
has a cause behind them. And it's this. God is trying
your faith. When He gives a man and a woman
faith, He's going to try it. And the reason He does is that
it may be founded to praise and honor and glory when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes again. And back over here in my text
in verse 18, Peter reminds us that the Lord Jesus gave the
ultimate sacrifice. He was put to death in His flesh. His flesh actually died. He gave
up the ghost. But notice here in the last portion
of verse 18, He didn't stay dead, did He? He didn't stay dead. Three days He saw no decay, and
then He was made alive. That's what that word means.
He was made alive by the Spirit. And you'll notice here this resurrection
is attributed to the Holy Spirit. He was made alive by the Spirit.
Now sometimes when you read about the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
it's attributed to one in the Godhead or another. Sometimes
it's attributed to the Father. Listen to what Peter said. Unto
you first God having raised up His Son Jesus. So it's attributed
to the Father. The Father raised Him from the
dead. Sometimes it's attributed to the Son, to the Son's power. He said, destroy this temple,
this body, and in three days I will raise it up again. I remember
that lesson in Romans 1. This was proof that He was the
Son of God because He raised Himself from the grave. We'll
read that in many different places. I lay down my life that I might
take it up again. And here in verse 18, being made
alive. He was quickened by the Holy
Spirit. And you know, this is our hope
of the resurrection. Because the Spirit raised Him
from the dead. And that's our hope. That He
who raised Christ from the dead will raise us up. Listen to how
He says it in Romans 8, 11. If the Spirit of Him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. He's going
to make your mortal bodies alive by His same Spirit which dwelleth
in you. That same Spirit that quickened
Christ and brought His body from the dead will quicken your body
and raise it from the dead also. So whether it's attributed to
the Father raising the Lord Jesus, whether it's attributed to the
Holy Spirit raising Him from the dead, or whether it's attributed
to Christ raising Himself from the dead, Really, it's all in
the same, isn't it? Because there's only one God.
There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three distinct
persons, but one God. Eternally, one God. Now look
in verse 19. I want to emphasize that because
he carries that over into verse 19. He was put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which by the Holy Spirit,
He, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went and preached unto the
spirits in prison. Now what in the world does that
mean? That's been a puzzle to so many theologians and commentators. Let me just say first of all
what it does not mean when it says Christ went and preached
to the spirits in prison. It doesn't mean that the Lord
Jesus Christ ascended into hell after He died. to preach to them. Some people, I read, one commentator
said, he was talking about some that say that Christ descended
in His human nature to preach to those in hell to give them
an opportunity to be saved. Now that's free will to its ultimate
conclusion, isn't it? It's appointed unto men once
to die, and bud, that's it, isn't it? After this is the judgment. Here is where men must share
the gospel. and be saved, not in hell. Why, he'd have cleaned hell out,
would he not? And neither is it purgatory.
This is one of the places where Catholicism gets its purgatory.
That men, at least some men, are held in a certain place and
then after a while they have suffered so much and they have
an opportunity to get out. But you'll notice here that this
isn't speaking of Christ in His human nature. is speaking of
Christ in His divine nature. He went by the Holy Spirit, not
in His human soul and preached to them, but He went in His divine
Spirit. Now, let's try to establish,
if we can, and get some light on this passage, if you're like
me and need some light on it, but let's go slow. Let's go slow. Let's see some things. First
of all, let's see this. How did Christ preach to the
people? Well, it says here, by His Spirit. By the Holy Spirit He went and
preached. But how did He do that? Well, through Noah. He preached
through Noah. He was in Noah. Now let me show
you a couple of scriptures. The reason I believe this is
exactly what this is teaching. Look back over again to the first
chapter and look in verse 10. 1 Peter 1 and verse 10, look at
this, "...of which salvation the prophets have inquired and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what, of what manner of time, the Spirit
of Christ which was in them." You mean the Spirit of Christ
was in those old prophets? In Noah and Daniel and Abraham? Yes, He was in them and He signified
the coming of Christ when it testified beforehand the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Now look in verse
12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but
unto us they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by them that have preached the gospel. How do we preach
the gospel? With the Holy Ghost sent down
from heaven. I tell you, no man has ever preached
the Gospel unless he's preaching by the Holy Ghost. He may not
know it, he may not realize it, but that's the only way to preach
the Gospel. There's a passage, I think it's in Ephesians 2,
verse 17, in there someplace, where Paul said, talking of Christ,
He came and preached peace to you, which were afar off and
to you which were near." You mean Christ preaches? He's still
preaching today, isn't He? He's preaching through His preachers. We preach with the Holy Ghost
sent down from Heaven. And the Holy Spirit is Christ,
so He could be said preaching. I'm speaking. But old Ralph Barnard
used to say, if my voice is the only voice you ever heard, then
you'll never be profited by it. But if you hear His voice through
my voice, then you'll be profited by it. So He preaches in His
preachers by the Holy Ghost. Look over in 2 Peter. In the light of that, look over
in 2 Peter. Look in chapter 2 and look in verse 4. 2 Peter
chapter 2 and look in verse 4. For if God spurred not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness to be reserved to the judgment of the great
day, and spurred not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth
person," now look at this, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in
the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Noah was a preacher. And how did he preach? By the
Holy Spirit. Christ was preaching through
Noah. In Genesis 6, verse 3 it said
this, The Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with
man, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. The Spirit
of God was striving, was preaching to those people in ungodly, disobedient
world in the days of Noah while that ark was preparing. Christ preached through Noah
by words by deeds to a disobedient and ungodly world, while the
long-suffering of God waited and warned people in the days
of Noah. So how did Christ preach to them? By His Spirit through Noah in
that day. No matter where men live or what
age they live in, God is preaching to them and warning them of the
judgment to come upon sin. Romans 1 said, The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. For that which
may be known of God is manifest to them, for God has showed it
unto them. Now listen. For the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and deity, so they are without excuse." I don't know
how this happens, but I just know the creation preaches. God
preaches to men everywhere through the creation, warning them and
instructing them against their sins, and the judgment to come. Listen to Psalms 19. The heavens,
the created heavens, declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
or language where their voice is not heard." So it's no problem
for God to preach to sinners everywhere, is it? And it was
no problem for Christ back yonder before the flood To be in Noah,
preaching to a world of disobedient, ungodly people, and who died
in their sins. That's the way he preached to
them. So I think, to me, that's very easily understood that way
in the Jew. We know he didn't go down into
hell in his human nature, because it's not talking about him preaching
to anybody in his human nature, but through the Spirit. And the
Spirit preaches through preachers. Now, in verse 19, He preached
to the spirits in prison. The spirits in prison. Now, let's
look at this in two ways. And let's read it like this.
Let me read this like this. Let me paraphrase it like this.
Christ preached to the spirits which are now in prison. They weren't in prison when He
preached to them. But Peter was writing, he said, in my day,
they're now in prison. Their spirits are in prison.
Now, what's this prison? Well, it's hell. Listen to what
the Lord Jesus said about this prison in Matthew 5.25. He said,
Agree with your adversaries quickly while you're in the way with
him. Better be in agreement with God. lest at any time the adversary
deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the
officer, and you be cast into prison. Verily I say unto you,
you shall by no means come out from thence till you have paid
the uttermost farly." And that's where God casts the angels down
to. When they sin, God casts them down into chains of darkness,
and He holds them there. Their health are in the prison
until the judgment of the great day. These spirits, which are
souls, that word there means souls, were not always in the
prison of hell. They occupied bodies just like
you and I do today. They were born of their mothers.
They grew up just like you and I do. They had bodies and they
had souls, but they refused to heed the message. They despise
the long-suffering of God and they perish in the flood. And
what Peter is saying, these spirits are now in the prison of hell. That's the first way to look
at it. We can also look at it this way. Lost men are said to
be in a spiritual prison even while they live in the flesh.
It's not just prisoners who have left their bodies and now in
hell, their spirits, their souls shut up in that prison. But you
know the scriptures teaches that while lost men live, they're
in a prison, in a prison of sin and Satan. Isaiah chapter 14
verse 17, listen to this, this is talking about Lucifer, Satan,
when he fell and the havoc that he was doing in this world. And
it was said to him, you made the world a wilderness. you destroyed
the cities thereof, that opened not the house of your prisoners."
Satan has prisoners. The Bible teaches that so clearly
that there are men who are taken captive by him at his will. Well, we talk about the will
of man and try to exalt it sometimes. Man, we don't have the will over
Satan, do we? He's stronger than we are. He's
said to be a strong man that keeps His house. And the only
way to get out of His prison is for a stronger than Him to
come and overcome Him and bring us out of His prison. His prison
is a prison of darkness. And God has to deliver us from
the power of darkness and translate us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. Listen to how David said it in
Psalm 102.19. The Lord looked down from the
height of His sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and to loose
those who are appointed unto death. Here is the most blessed
passage of Scripture concerning the Lord Jesus. Listen to Isaiah
42.6, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and I will
hold your hand. I will keep you and give you
for a covenant of the people a light of the Gentiles to open
the blind eyes and to bring out the prisoners from the prison
house and those who sit in darkness out of their prison." And the
first message the Lord Jesus preached there in Luke 2, remembering,
He said, The Holy Spirit has anointed me The Father has sent
me to do what? To release the captives. So men
are said to be in prison if they are lost, and the prison to sin,
bound by Satan, bound to the curse of the law, and Christ
must come and preach to them. So either way we look at it,
if we look at it that the Lord Jesus preached to these people
while they were still alive, they could still be said to be
in prison. Peter said they used to be alive,
but now they are in the prison of hell. It does not change this
essential point. That He went by the Holy Spirit
and preached to those rebellious, disobedient people who later
perished and are still to this very day in the prison of hell. Now He says you are in the last
portion of verse 20. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 20. By which also he went and preached
to the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, wherein
few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." Eight souls
were saved by water. And this soul here means persons.
Eight persons were saved by water. It is said that these people,
these eight people, are saved two ways. In Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 7, listen to this. By faith Noah being warned of
God as things not seen of yet, moved with fear, prepared an
ark to the saving of his house. They were saved by an ark. And
here Peter says they were saved by water. What was this water? We know what this water was.
It was God's judgment, wasn't it? God saw the wickedness of
men that was great in the earth, and what did He say? I'm going
to send a flood, and I'm going to destroy every man. And that's
what He did. And the only people who were
saved were those eight people that were in the ark. This flood
was the judgment of God. That's what it figures to you
and me. So how were they saved? They were saved by the judgment
of God. But not on them, but on the ark
that they were in. That's the way they were saved.
The others suffered the judgment of God. They weren't saved because
they had no iron. God had to bring judgment because
He's God. He's a just God. What would have
happened if God don't judge men? I'd say it this way, brothers
and sisters, if God don't judge men's wickedness, if God don't
judge sin, He'll cease to be God. Will He not? The judge of
all the earth must do right. But when he judges a man, if
that judgment falls upon that individual, he'll perish. He'll
perish. Lord, if you should mark iniquity,
who could stand? Here's the only way to be saved.
There must be an ark. The judgment must come because
it's just. But there must be an ark to hide
out in. must be an ark to float above
the judgment. And that's the way Noah and his
family were saved. Every living thing God destroyed
on the face of the earth, except those who were in the ark. You and I are saved by the just
judgment of God, falling not on us, but on our substitute,
Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior. And when God's judgment
comes to destroy the world by fire, and it will because God's
a just judge, then the only salvation will be in the Lord Jesus Christ. No place else. They were saved
by water and they were saved by that ark. Peter is saying
here in verse 20 that water baptism is a figure. That's what he's
saying here. Notice that. Let this sink in just a little
bit in verse 21. The lack figure. Water saved
them. The lack figure. What is water
baptism? Is it not a figure? It's a figure
of something, isn't it? A figure simply means one thing
that represents something else. What is a figure? We've got passages
of Scripture to tell us what a figure is. Look over in Hebrews.
Look over in the book of Hebrews, back to your left just a little
bit, and look in chapter 9 in verse 24 of Hebrews. Hebrews talks about figures.
I wonder sometimes if Peter didn't write the book of Hebrews, but
I'm not about to do anything but just suggest that. Look over
in Hebrews chapter 9, look in verse 24. For Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Christ is not entered until the
most holy place made with hands. Remember the temple? They had
a holy place. Then the priests went into the
most holy place. That's where the altar was, overlaid
about with pure gold where they sprinkled the blood. What did
that figure? What does that represent to us?
It represents heaven. It represents the presence of
God. Christ is not entered into that
holy place made with hands, which are the figures. It's the figure
of heaven. And we don't want to confound
the figure with the reality, do we? That will get us in trouble.
Look over in chapter 10 and look in verse 1. Hebrews chapter 10
verse 1. Having a shadow, having a figure
of good things to come and not the very image of the thing can
never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the comers there unto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in
those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year,
for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should
take away sins." Why is it impossible for the blood of bulls and goats
to take away sins? They're only figures. Well, why did He give it to them
then? To represent something greater than bulls and goats. What is the blood of bulls and
goats represented to us? Redemption. Atonement. It represents to us the real
person whose blood can atone for sin. Whose blood can take
away sin. It represents to us the Lord
Jesus Christ. When you saw that priest going
into the Most Holy Place, that was a figure. What was it a figure
of? When Christ died, He ascended
to Heaven, there at the right hand of the Father. And the Scripture
says, He offered Himself without spot to God. His blood was sprinkled,
and His blood purchased our conscience from dead works. Look at Chapter
8. of Hebrews. Look in verse 4 and
verse 5. Chapter 8 and verse 4 and verse
5. If he were on earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer gifts
according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things. So what is a figure? It's something
that represents to us something else. It's not the real thing
itself. It represents something else
to us. Water is a figure that represents
to us so many things that's real and essential to our salvation. It's not the thing itself, but
it's an image of the thing. Let me give you some examples
of what I'm talking about. Water is a figure of life in
the Scripture. Revelations 22, 17. Whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely. I don't know
why the Lord Jesus chose to use the figure of water to represent
spiritual things, but He did. Maybe it's because water is so
essential. You can't live without it. So He chose that figure to
represent that everlasting life. Let him come and take of the
water of life freely. Remember what the Lord Jesus
told that Samaritan woman? Whosoever drinketh of this water
shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I will give him shall never thirst again. But there
shall be in him a well of water springing up unto life everlasting. Now boy, if we confuse the figure
with the real thing, we are going to be asking some silly things.
Because when the Lord said, there's going to be in you a well of
water, she said, Lord, give me this water that I don't have
to come here and drink. What was she asking for? A well
in her? That's how silly we are though, isn't it? I get so almost life sometimes
when I'm reading some of these commentators. And they go over
in John 3 where the Lord said, except you be born of the water
and of the Spirit. You cannot see or enter the kingdom
of heaven. And they start trying to figure out how literal water
figures into the new birth. When they could go other places
and see, water is a figure. It's a figure. It's a figure
of life. Water is a figure, get this,
of the Holy Spirit. John 7. If any man thirst, let
him come into me and drink. He that believes on me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this he spake of the Spirit."
The Spirit. Water is like the Holy Spirit.
Water in the Scriptures figures washing. It's a figure of cleansing. Christ put mud upon that poor
blind man's eyes and said, Go wash in the pool, didn't He?
And He went and washed. We wash. Water is to wash us
with. So the Spirit, the water, represents
regeneration. Paul said, Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. In regeneration,
there's a washing, there's a cleansing. That's why water figures regeneration. Water figures is a figure of
refreshing. Listen to this. As cold waters
to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Water represents so many things
in the Scriptures to us. Water baptism is a figure of
something else. What's it a figure of? It's a
figure of salvation. It saves us figuratively. Wasn't that what he said here?
Baptism doth also now save us. You know he said there in that
same place that Noah was saved by water and Noah was saved in
the ark. But that was a physical salvation.
That had nothing to do with regeneration. That was a physical salvation.
And when he's talking here about water baptism, he's talking about
something that's figured by water baptism. What does water baptism
figure? Let me read this passage to you.
Me and Brother Baker talk about this a lot. Acts chapter 22,
verse 16, Ananias speaking to Saul of Tarshish. Saul had been
praying for three days. Ananias came in and laid his
hands on him. This scale fell from his eyes. And then Ananias
said this to him, Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins,
calling on the name of the Lord. Now wait just a minute. Wait
just a minute. Here's why it's so important
not to get the figure confounded with the reality. Peter said
water won't even wash away the filth of the flesh. Didn't he
say that? Water baptism won't even wash away the filth of the
flesh. Brad come in this morning and he said, I'll be honest with
you, he said, I haven't took a bath since yesterday. I said,
Brad, I'm not going to give you a bath in this thing. I don't
have any soap with me. It wouldn't wash the filth from
him, would it? Water baptism didn't clean his body. How much
less can it reach the conscience of a man? What is it that reaches
the conscience? It's the blood. The blood of
Jesus Christ purged our conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. This is a figure of something
that had already taken place. What Ananias does here, he interrogates
Paul. This word, the answering of a
good conscience, it means to interrogate. It means to seek
out an answer. And that's what he was doing
to Paul. And here's what he was saying to Paul. Paul, do you
believe in Christ? Has the Lord Jesus saved you?
Has He revealed Himself to you? Has He purged your conscience?
Are you clean through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Then
here's the outward figure of that inward washing. And Christ
commands you to obey it. Come, therefore, and confess
the Christ that you believe in. And here's the way you do it,
by being baptized in water. It's an open profession. of what
takes place inwardly. And if a man goes to the baptistry
to have his sins literally washed away, and he's trusting in that
figure, then he'll come out of there
in his sins just like he went in. Water baptism does not wash
away any sins literally. It's only a figure of what does. Do you see that? Only one thing can give a pure
conscience, and that's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
water baptism is a figure of that cleansing. It does save
us, but figuratively and not in reality. The Old Testament
believers, they looked through those figures and they saw the
reality in them. They looked at the blood of goats
and bulls. And their faith looked beyond
the blood of goats and bulls to the blood of Christ. They
looked to the priesthood, to Aaron, and they looked beyond
Aaron, and they saw Christ going into the most holy place and
sprinkling His blood before God and obtaining redemption for
us. So there are figures, and they are figures of that which
is real. And that's what this means. One
more passage of Scripture I want you to turn to concerning water
baptism and what it represents. Look in Romans 6. Romans 6 and
verse 1. Water baptism represents to us
the grave. We've all heard about the watery
grave, haven't we? The Scripture talks about that.
The dead that are in the sea shall give up the dead that's
in them. But look here what water baptism represents. Look in Romans
chapter 6 and look in verse 1. What shall we say then? Since
this abundant grace has brought to us righteousness and justified
us and give us peace and reconciliation with God, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin because grace has saved us? That more
grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein. Know you not that so many of
us as were baptized unto Christ were baptized unto what? His
death. What is water baptism? It's a
burial, isn't it? Christ died upon the cross. We
died with Him. Now that's a mystery. That's
union. And what a mystery that is. But we show that we died
with Him when we profess Him in water baptism. That's why
we don't sprinkle. That's why we immerse. Because
when you immerse somebody, you put them all the way under, don't
you? You put them in the ground, underneath the ground. Paul said
we are buried with Christ by baptism unto His death. Therefore,
we are buried with Him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life." We not only put somebody
on the water, we bring them up. We bring them up. And they walk
in newness of life. Now, did Remy really die with
Christ this morning in that water? No, he was already dead with
Christ. But that water was a figure of his death and the burial with
Christ. Look in verse 5. For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For
he that is dead is freed from sin. If you then be dead with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. And when Remy came up out of
that water this morning, he was professing, there's coming a
day that I'm going to live with Christ. I'm going to live with
Him in heaven. I hope this has been a help to
you, a blessing to you. I feel sorry for that whole denomination
of Kemalites