to 1 Peter chapter 3. We've been studying on Sunday
evenings in this first epistle of Peter for several months,
and we've come now to the end of chapter 3. I want us to look
at these last six verses, verses 17 through 22. For it is better if the will
of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. 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.
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which
sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah. while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like
figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. I've entitled my message this
evening, Five Lies Exposed. Five Lies Exposed. And I've had
some second thoughts about that title. Maybe it should be Five
Errors Exposed. But what I would like for us
to do tonight is to look at five lies or errors which have been
taught and show how that these verses of scripture explode those
errors, do away with those errors or those lies. First, it has
been taught and is taught, even today, that it is never God's
will for His people, that is for Christians, to suffer. That's something that is taught
by the prosperity gospel preachers. They teach that it's never God's
will for any of his children to suffer. That if you just believe,
if you just have faith, then you will be delivered. You will
never know suffering. But notice verse 17 declares
that this is not so. This is not true. Peter says,
for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer
for well-doing than for evil doing." It is a given with Peter
that Christians may suffer. And what he is saying here is
that if Christians do suffer, well, it's better that we suffer
for well-doing than for evil doing. The Apostle Paul said
much the same thing in his letter to the church at Philippi when
he said, for unto you, it is given in behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him. Faith is a gift. And Paul says
in this verse, it's not only given unto you to believe on
Christ, it is, but also to suffer for his sake. Now that's what
the word of God declares. The point that Peter is making
is simply this, if the will of God be so for you to suffer,
you're one of his children, one who he loves with an everlasting
love, who has always loved you and will always love you. If
it is his will for you to suffer, then it's better to suffer for
well-doing than for evil-doing. That just makes sense, doesn't
it? It's better for you to suffer for your faith in Christ, that
is, that you trust in Him, you confess Him, you follow Him and
His teaching, you love your enemies, as the scriptures declare us
to do, you do good to them that hate you and you suffer for your
faith. You suffer for well-doing. It's
better if the will of God be so for you to suffer that you
suffer for well-doing than for evil doing. And look in the next
chapter, chapter four of Peter and verses 15 and 16, He said, but let none of you
suffer as a murderer, let none of you suffer as a murderer,
or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's
matters. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. So this verse, verse 17 in our
text tonight, it exposes the lie that is taught, that it is
never God's will for his children to suffer. When you read and
when you look around you and think of some of our brothers
and sisters in Christ who suffer, some we know have suffered for
years. And if it's the will of God that
you suffer, it's better, Peter says, that you suffer for well-doing
than for evil-doing. But never believe, never take
in that lie that it will never be God's will for his children
to suffer. Stephen, the first martyr, first
Christian martyr, he suffered for well-doing, didn't he? He
was martyred. for telling the truth. Now the
second lie, the second error that is taught, that Christ,
now listen, that His one sacrifice for sins is not enough. That His one sacrifice for sins
is not enough. Look at 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. You might ask, has his one sacrifice
for sins, you say some people say it's not enough? Yes. Many churches, many preachers,
so-called, They tell you that His sacrifice, His suffering
is not enough, that you've got to add something to His sacrifice. Either your faith, your obedience,
your works, you've got to add to His sacrifice, that His one
sacrifice for sins is not enough. Not enough for what? Not enough,
Peter says, to bring us to God. It is enough. Let's look at that
verse a little more carefully. First, Christ hath once suffered
for sins. He did not suffer for his own
sins, because we know that he had no sins of his own. But it
was rather he suffered for the sins of his people. When the
sins of his people were charged to his account as their surety,
as he agreed to be our surety in that covenant of grace, then he suffered once for our
sins. The word once, I believe, points
especially to his death. The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ
suffered all the time he was in this world as a man, from
the cradle to the grave. His life was a life of suffering. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But we especially, when we see
this once, we especially think about his sacrifice on the cross. As we read in Hebrews 10 and
verse 12, but this man, After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Christ
hath once suffered for sins. He's never going to suffer again
for sins. He never needs to suffer again
for sins. The second thing we see here,
the just for the unjust. We know who the just is, don't
we? For Christ hath once suffered for sins. The just, the just,
when you look at the so-called trial of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he was betrayed by Judas, when he was brought before Annas
and Caiaphas, brought before Pilate, brought before Herod,
each and every one of those so-called judges before which he stood,
had to confess that he was the just one. Remember, Judas, he
said, I have betrayed innocent blood. Now, Judas was a man who
was with the Lord, his intimate friend, for a period of approximately
three years. He walked with the Lord. He ate
with the Lord. He had every opportunity to look
at the Lord Jesus Christ, to examine his life. And after he
had betrayed him, that's what he confessed. I have betrayed
innocent blood. In other words, the just one,
innocent. And then, of course, Pilate,
he declared that, didn't he? He said, I find no fault in this
man. And the high priest adjured him,
adjured Christ, the Lord Jesus, if thou be the Christ. Well, once he adjured Christ,
he had to speak the truth. And he did speak the truth, confessing
that they would see him on the right hand of God the Father. for the unjust, and we know who
the unjust are, don't we? That's you, that's me. That's
every one of his children, every one of his blood-bought children,
everyone who will enjoy heaven forever with God. The unjust,
he only suffered for the unjust. He only saves sinners. You know, this is a very essential
part of the gospel, isn't it? And I've said this before, and
I know you know this, and I hope you remember it always. But when
you hear the gospel, you will always hear these two things.
Substitution. That's what we have here. The
just suffered for the unjust. And satisfaction. He satisfied
God. He confessed, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Christ loved the
church, the Apostle Paul wrote. He loved the church, the church
which is his body, his mystical body. If you are a believer tonight,
you are a member of his body. He is the head. Christ loved
the church, he loved his body, and gave himself for it. So Christ once suffered for sins,
once. The lie is that that wasn't enough. And many so-called churches,
every time, I don't want to say what they call
the Lord's Supper, because it's not the Lord's Supper, the Mass.
Every time a mass is said, they are saying that his one sacrifice
was not enough. Every time, that's what they
are confessing. No, no, we must offer another
sacrifice, a bloodless sacrifice here in this hocus pocus ceremony
that we're going to have here. No. You know tonight that when
we observe the Lord's table, the bread is still bread and
the wine is still wine. When the Lord Jesus Christ, I
was reading about his first miracle yesterday, when he turned water
into wine, there was no question that water tasted like wine. Right? Why did it taste like
wine? Because it was wine. And why
does bread Tastes like bread and wine, like wine in the mass,
because it is still bread and wine. It's not somehow transubstantiated
into the actual body and blood of Christ. That's a lie. Christ hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust. And notice number three, that
he might bring us to God. Who are the us here? Who are
the us? And he might bring us to God.
The us are those for whom he died. He didn't die to make salvation
possible. That's what so many people are
being told today. Well, he died to make salvation
possible. No, he died to save his people.
He died for the unjust to do this, to bring us to God, whoever
the us are. He died to bring us to God. Look in 2 Peter 3, verses 8 and
9. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years. and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering,
now notice, to usward. Who's he long-suffering to? To
the same us in our text tonight. Christ hath once suffered the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And God,
the Apostle Peter tells us, is long-suffering to usward, not
willing, not willing, he's not willing that one of his chosen
elect members of his body, not one that he gave unto his son,
he's not willing that one of his sheep should perish, but that all should come to repentance. We know the day is going to come
when that last one, for whom Christ died, that make up the
us here, is going to come to repentance and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when that happens, that's
when we will all get to heaven. Right? When we shall all get
to heaven. When he comes again for his people.
Now notice the fourth thing in the text. that Peter tells us. Christ once suffered for sin,
the judge for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Number
four, he was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, we know,
is the God-man. He is both God and man in one
person. What is death? What is death,
according to the word of God? It's separation. That's what
death is. Physical death is the separation
of the soul from the body. When the Lord Jesus Christ, upon
the cross, dismissed his spirit, committed his spirit unto the
Father, his spirit was separated, his soul was separated from his
body, his flesh. You know that word flesh, it
means more than just flesh like we have on the, as it's used
in the New Testament. It means more than just like
flesh on our arms and on our bodies. The word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. It means that he was made truly
man, truly man with a reasonable soul and a body as well. When he dismissed his spirit,
Then there was that separation. Now, I read years ago this illustration
of a man takes his sword and pulls it out of his scabbard. When he takes it out of the scabbard,
the soul was separated from the body. But he was still God as
God in spirit, and God in flesh as his body. In other words,
a union between the eternal Son of God and his flesh, his body. When the soul and spirit were
separated, he was not separated from his Godhood. That body that
was laid in the tomb for three days was the body, if you please,
of God. And His Spirit, which returned
unto the Father, was God, because He is God. He was put to death in the flesh,
but quickened, the Scripture here says, by the Spirit. In
other words, by His Spirit, by His eternal Spirit as God, the
Holy Spirit, He was quickened by this spirit. And so he came out of that grave,
didn't he? He walked out of that grave and
the soul and body were reunited once again forever. That's the
way he is right now in heaven at the Father's right hand. There's
a man in glory. That's what the scripture says. There's a man in glory. And if
there's one man there and there is, then there can be many more
men there. You can be there. I can be there. There's a man in glory. So that's
the second lie that is taught, that that one sacrifice for sins
was not enough, that we've got to do something more. We've got
to add to it to make it effectual. The third era or lie, it's been
taught Look here in our text. It's been taught that the prison,
in verse 19, that this prison by which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison. Some have taught that there was
a compartment somehow in the bowels of the earth. There was
a compartment. I believe that the Roman church
calls it the limbus pactrum. There's a compartment there,
and the Old Testament saints, when they died, they didn't go
to heaven. Their souls went into this place,
and they were there until the Lord Jesus Christ rose Himself
from the dead, and they with Him ascended into heaven. But the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He spoke of believers who died before His death, He said they
were carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Abraham's bosom,
standing for a place of peace and rest. Now this text speaks
about preaching unto spirits in prison. And not a word said
about anybody being released from prison. No, it speaks about
spirits being preached to in prison. Well, what does this
verse teach us? It tells us that the Lord Jesus
Christ, by His Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Him from the
dead, in the days of Noah, through Noah, through Noah's preaching,
He was a preacher of righteousness, and through His building of the
ark, that by the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord was preaching
to that generation. Now, when Peter wrote this, that
generation was in prison. They were not in prison when
he preached to them. You know, there's those who teach
that, well, there's a second chance or second opportunity
that people are going to be given after you die, that there's going
to be another opportunity to hear the gospel and believe,
but the Bible doesn't teach that, not at all. In fact, in the book
of Revelation, the last chapter, we read this. And this is the
way it is when a man dies, when a woman dies. He that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. In other words, if he dies lost,
let him be lost. Not just for a few days, but
forever. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He which is filthy, never been
washed from his sins, let him be filthy still. And he that
is righteous, let him be righteous still. Here's a man, he's been
made righteous through the imputed righteousness of Christ. He's
been justified and he dies. He was righteous when he was
alive. He's still righteous, still righteous. Let him be righteous
still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. It was by our Lord's spirit in
Noah, who was, as I said, a preacher of righteousness. That that generation,
who were now in hell when Peter wrote this, they were in prison.
But the gospel had been preached unto them by his spirit in Noah. And not just his words, but also
Every time he drove a nail, if he drove nails into that ark,
he was testifying against an ungodly, wicked generation. That judgment's coming. And it
did come, didn't it? It did come. And there was not
anyone other than the eight souls in that ark who were saved. And
you know that's a lovely picture of Christ, isn't it? The ark. A picture of Christ, a type of
Christ. It's only those who are in Christ
who are saved. A fourth lie has been taught
that baptism is more than a figure. Notice in verse 21, the apostle
says, the like figure. whereunto even baptism doth also
now save us. It has been taught, and it's
still taught today, that baptism is more than a figure, more than
a type. Some, they teach that what we
call baptismal regeneration. And I would say most of the churches
that sprinkle infants, most of them, this is what they believe. that when the parents take that
baby up to the font and the priest puts his hand in that water and
puts a little water on his head and makes the sign of the cross,
that that infant has now become a member of the kingdom of God,
has been regenerated, has been brought into the family of God
by the baptism. And then we know that there are
those who teach that a person cannot be saved unless he is
baptized. There's a whole group of people
believe that. And they love to quote Mark 16,
16. I say they love to quote part
of it. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But
that's where they usually stop. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Who will be damned? Those who
do not believe. The thief, the thief who was
crucified alongside the Lord Jesus Christ, he died that day
and entered into heaven, never having passed through the waters
of baptism. Why? Because Christ is the Savior. Christ is the Savior. What is baptism then? Well, Peter
says it's an answer of good conscience toward God. In other words, when a person
is saved and he knows that the word of God teaches that a person
who comes to know Christ should confess Christ in baptism, and
I'm talking from experience here, I know this, then you just feel
you've got to do that. You need to do that. That's what
the word of God declares. When you're saved, you need to
be baptized. And your conscience feels guilty
until you surrender and ask the preacher to baptize you. And then when you come up out
of that water, which is also a picture of the gospel, I understand
that, but it's also an answer of a good conscience. Your conscience
is at peace. You've obeyed God. You've done
what he said you should do. Now the last, and I'm sorry I've
taken so long, the last lie or error that has been taught, it
has been taught that Christ will one day, one day, be Lord of
Lords and King of Kings. One day, one day. One day, one
day, he's going to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's
not what Peter said. Look at what Peter said in that
last verse. Who has gone into heaven and
is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
be made subject unto him. It's not he's going to one day
be king of kings. He is. He is king of kings. He is exalted to the Father's
right hand and all authority, he said, both in heaven and in
earth is given unto him. I trust the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here tonight. The main thing that
we concentrate upon is by one sacrifice, his one sacrifice,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And
that's what's pictured here tonight, isn't it? His one sacrifice. The bread and wine are separated
because the life of the flesh, the scripture says the life of
the flesh is in the blood. The bread represents his flesh,
his body, which was broken for us. But the cup is separate from
it. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. And when the blood is separated
from the flesh, there's death. And that's what we remember tonight,
is death.