Well, last week, you know, we had to take a break with all the things that were happening. If you will, in terms of the schedule wise, because I know, again, that does affect some of you guys in terms of when you'll be able to attend and stuff, we're going to still end the first week of April.

So next week, we're just going to double up on the passages. So next week's passage is going to be chapter 4, verses 1 through 11. So just FYI on the schedule so that you know what's coming up. Okay? Well, I want to start off, you know, by saying that you can already tell going through this book, 1 Peter, that there is a lot of repetition.

Right? So much of it is trying, again, to minister to people who have been hurting. So much of the book is trying to constantly give both a rationale, it's both giving an encouragement, it's giving admonition, and it's giving a challenge. And we've been saying that in the beginning, he began with this great admonition to remember the salvation that we have.

But what's more, he's been raising the Christians to a higher standard of God that even in the midst of this kind of suffering, that God desires and calls them to these greater standards of both obedience, holiness, and love. Okay? So in line with that, by way of review, starting from chapter 2, verse 13, he had given a sequence of challenges for those Christians who are experiencing persecution and hardship.

And perhaps to some of us, that encouragement and challenge was a surprise. Because it wasn't just simply, "Hey, you have to persevere." It wasn't simply, "Hey, let's just try to make sure that we last until it ends." But rather, the apostle Peter and God through that had challenged them to say, "I want you to do something that's counterintuitive or even just simply counter-cultural, which is to actually in the heart of hearts, submit.

To be able to yield. And not simply wait underneath that, but actually thrive underneath that with the characteristics of God." And so in chapter 2, verse 13, he called everyone to submit to government and authority. Chapter 2, verse 13. And then in verse 18, he called the servants to submit to their masters.

Not only to those who are fair, equitable, and pays you, right? But even to those who are unruly, even to those who are unfair. And then he gave in verse 21 this example, because Christ suffered for you in this way, and he left you this example. And then the previous two weeks ago, we talked about how even in the home, even when an individual is married to an unbeliever and that unbeliever is being unfair, he says, "Know how to submit to husbands who are disobedient, who are unbelieving." That by your submission, by your character, you're glorifying God.

And through that, you're revealing who the Father is. So with that being said, God has been teaching this high standard that is again, perhaps surprising to us, that is challenging for us, because it goes against the natural inclinations of how we normally operate, okay? So we're gonna dive again deeper into that.

Let's take a moment to pray, we'll read our passage and then jump in. So let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we wanna pray that God, your spirit, your Holy Spirit would help us. God, we need your spirit that we might be introspective to examine and know ourselves. And God, that in our conscience, Lord, we would have clear eyes to see the things that are hurtful and sinful in our lives.

We also need your spirit to see truth, to see it clearly, and to realize, God, that we need to constantly abide in your word and truth. Help us tonight and always, Lord, to constantly receive and apply your word. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Okay. So I wanna read the passage in its total starting from verse eight.

So it's a little bit of a longer section. I'm gonna be reading out of the NASB and it says, "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. For you are called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

For the one who desires life to love and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed and do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled.

But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. And keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

In which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him.

Okay. Now that passage is a bit long and there's no way we're going to do a thorough, you know, phrase by phrase study through the entire thing. So I've broke it up into three sections and I hope to give a logical flow and rationale between the three sections that we have.

Here's the first section. Okay. The first section goes from verses one through 12 and he begins by saying, to sum it up, all of you be this, right? Be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, humble in spirit. So I left a little parenthetical blank for you there. And what I like for you guys to write, whenever you see a section like this, when he's summarizing, obviously that's something for us to take to heart.

That's something for us to say, I want to encapsulate his teaching and retain this. So you have to write emphatic summary command. Okay. Emphatic summary command. And that's where you want to give your attention to and block off sections like that so that you can say, Hey, this, I want to make sure I remember.

All right. Now, as you look at that, we want to talk about this. These character traits are actually heart attitudes. He expects you to be right. There aren't just simple actions for you to do for the guy who's hurting you. It is a heart attitude and perspective, a condition of even both your emotion, because a lot of those words are emotional.

This kind heartedness, brotherly love, sympathetic, a lot of that happens to be emotional. What's more, when you look at those commands, let me ask you a question. Do you see a similarity or theme behind those commands? Yeah, I think there is. When you look at things like harmony, sympathy, brotherly love, kind heartedness, and humility, he is talking about the realm of relationships and the community and the kind of attitude he wants you to have is a deep consideration for maintaining that peace within the body of Christ.

To the degree that when he quotes later on a passage from Isaiah, in that quote he says, seek peace and pursue it. So immediately there's a challenge for us. We know very well that when life is hard, especially when things aren't going right, that's when we feel permission to be nasty.

That's when we feel perhaps an opportunity for us to just lash out. That's when we're least patient. That's when we're least understanding of other people. Rather we expect people to be understanding of us. That's when we sin a bunch. But in that pressure and in that moment he says, and I want to just run through these things as a way of application for us, he says be harmonious.

That term literally means to be of the same mind. To have the same mind. Now if you think about that, it's like so we're supposed to just think the same? If you've ever been in an argument, you know that once you get into an argument, you realize you think differently and then you're doing one of these and the other person's doing one of these and you're communicating and typically when that argument goes sour, somebody says, "Ah, forget it." It's like, "Whoa, I don't want to talk about it." You know?

Why? Because trying to understand each other is hard work. If you've ever been in an argument, sometimes you feel the frustration where you say, "Hey, I don't understand you." And then you don't want to continue the conversation. Are you harmonious to the degree where you're seeking to understand that individual even if it's frustrating to you, even if you're fed up, even if you're starting to get like, "Oh, your communication is horrible." But you're seeking that harmony where you can understand what the other person is thinking.

There's sympathy, right? The idea of carrying each other's burden and feeling the pain of another individual. Are you prone to typically sometimes, you know, there was this, you know, in my arrogance, if sometimes you're doing a lot and someone else says like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so busy." And you know, I automatically just be like, "Busy?" You know?

"Yeah, right, you're busy." You know? But rather than being sympathetic, yeah, they're experiencing busyness to a certain degree. You don't know. But are you prone to that kind of, you diminish everybody else's suffering because you feel like your suffering is greater? Or do you sympathize and say, "Man, I feel you." You know?

It's hard. And you almost want to carry that burden with them because you share that kind of experience with them. Is there a brotherly love? The next word is, you know, you guys probably heard the four different terms for love. This one is the one that's phileo. It's a brotherly love that shows a kind of loyalty, an attachment.

There is kind-heartedness, where an individual who is kind-hearted is tender. Actually in Ephesians chapter four, that same word is translated tender-hearted, right? Where there is a tenderness of giving mercy, a tenderness of giving compassion. Now it's not just a simple like, "Aww," you know, every time you see somebody doing something.

But it's an indication of you have this love to give. We are paying careful attention and you have pity on those who are suffering. You have care for those who are in need. And there is this kind-hearted intention in you. And lastly, there is this humility, right? A humility where in moments of suffering, there isn't this, "Look at my scars," you know?

I got my little scar right here that Pastor Peter mentioned in the sermon this past Sunday. I was like, "Yeah." Whenever you get bumps and bruises, there's a temptation for you to be proud of your scars, you know? And the fact of the matter is, you can. You can sit there competing with each other like, "Dude, I earned my stripes.

What about you?" "Dude, you have no idea what suffering really is." "Dude, X, Y, and Z," you can compete with each other even in the midst and context of suffering. That's how pervasive pride is. Well, I run through these to ask you, do these character traits, do they exist in your heart even when, okay, key term here, even when you're under pressure?

Even when you're the one suffering too? Even when perhaps you're suffering more than the people around you? And you just don't have that patience for the people who are complaining and whining around you because you feel like you're suffering, but he says, "This is what I want you to do.

Government's on you, systematic persecution. Your boss is on you, unfair treatment, not getting paid what you deserve, et cetera, et cetera. And even in the arena where you're most vulnerable, your house, even in the arena where you expect peace, even in the arena where you expect to be safe, in your home it's not there.

In those times, be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble." That's quite a challenge, isn't it? So every time I'm going through these passages and I keep thinking of this idea like, man, God is just challenging and challenging them to higher standards. Not standards that we set for each other and not standards that I think is natural for the situation, but truly ones that are godly.

And then in the next part in verse nine, he says, "Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead." And I left another parenthetical underlined section, little space there, and I wanted us to kind of get in the habit again of seeing flows of thought.

So here all you see is just, here's a command, right? Here's a command of, this is what you need to be in your heart. And then he says, "But not," right? "Not returning evil for evil." So there is a contrast there. And a lot of times when the Bible is giving you something emphatic that he expects really for you to pay attention to, he will do that.

He'll say, especially when you want to be super clear, "Hey, I needed you to do this, but it's just to make sure you get it. Not this, not that, but this." That's exactly how verse eight and nine reads. Do this, not this, not that, but this. I don't want you to return evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

Now that is quite challenging there. Why? Because to the Jew, hearing evil for evil, insult for insult, immediately he will think of what's called a lex talionis, which is eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. You hit me right here. It's coming right back at you. And again, that is what's natural.

So I want you to think about this. When was the last time you got in an argument, you got a little angry, and you didn't feel justified to get angry? Every time we get in an argument, of course we feel justified to get angry. Every time we get into an argument at some point, it typically starts off with, "Well, because you said this, and because it's your fault, that's why I did what I did." I mean, that's how we normally talk in an argument, right?

And here, he's saying, "We are so prone that when we receive evil to give evil back, when we receive insult to insult back, someone calls you, 'Hey fool, what, you're the fool.'" And our natural reaction is retaliation. Our natural reaction is just that, a reaction. An impulse, fleshly reaction to what we receive, and it just bounces right back.

But the apostle is challenging us, and this is just kind of crazy to me. Because when I think about what he's challenging us to do, it would be one thing to say, again, "I know you're being persecuted, and I know people have evil intentions against you, but I want you to be patient and endure." Good, right?

That's a good challenge. But he's not just telling you to just absorb it, is he? He is challenging the Christians to when you receive evil and when you receive insult, not just to stop and hold your ground, but he says, "Rather, return with a blessing." And I'm so convicted by that.

Because he's asking us to go far above and beyond just taking it, rather to turn around and to give a blessing. If you guys remember, Matthew chapter 18, verse, well, let's turn over there. Matthew chapter 18, okay? It's the story about that servant who received grace from his master.

The parable that Jesus was teaching. Let's see here. Okay. I'm going to start reading from verse 23. So Matthew 18, verse 23. Jesus is teaching in a parable, and he says this, "For this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him." I don't know what the guy did to owe him 10,000, but that's just a lot of money. Verse 25, "But since he did not have the means to repay, his Lord commanded him to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment to be made.

So the slave fell to the ground, prostrated himself before him saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.' And the Lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But when that slave went out and found one of the fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii, when he sees him, he began to choke him saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should repay back what was owed.

So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to the Lord all that had happened." Now this is the portion I want you guys to pay attention to. From the perspective of the master, how did he see this slave who perhaps did what was just?

Because what was just was he deserves his money. He says this, "Then summoning him, his Lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you and all that debt because you pleaded with me. So do you not also have mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I have had mercy on you?' And his Lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.

My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." Now he is talking about forgiveness. He is talking about from brother to brother giving that kind of mercy, right? But it goes in line just with what we're talking about because the attitude of the heart that Apostle Peter expects us to have is one of what?

Harmony, sympathy, brotherly love, and kind-hearted compassion. And the opposite that he doesn't want us to have is this hardness of heart that wants retaliation, rectification, and saying, "You better recognize what you did to me." So here you go, right back at you. That is not just a, "Oh, you know, everybody does that." That's not just a, "All of us when we're tired, all of us when we're mad, all of us when we're angry, we do that." According to the other passage, that is a very wicked heart, especially in context, especially given the circumstance that you and I have received a blessing.

What's really interesting is in verse 9b, the second half of that, there are successive three fours starting from verse 9b. Four, you were called for this very purpose. And then verse 10, for the one who desires life, et cetera. And then verse 12, for the eyes of the Lord.

And the successive, these verses that come after kind of highlight this idea of why, right? Why you should be giving a blessing instead of a return retaliation. And he says, "For you were called for this very purpose." And what purpose is that? Were you called for the purpose of just being nice?

Were you called for the purpose of making sure everybody has an encouraging time? No. He says very interesting, "You were called for the purpose that you might inherit." That's you, without working, receiving as an inheritance, something that's free to you, a blessing from God. And given that context that you've received that, he says, "You need to give a blessing.

You cannot just do what everybody else is doing." That's the idea. And so he gives this quotation, "For the one who desires life to love and seek good days must keep his tongue from evil, his lips from speaking deceit, and you must turn away from evil and do good." You need to be doing good in the sight of God.

You need to make sure that before you're right with the other person and demanding justice, that you are abiding by the demands of the Father. And he says in verse 12, "For the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." So here's a practical exhortation for you.

Again, I don't know if you guys have ever been, I don't know, let's say in a heated argument with a family member, like an older brother, sibling. If you were ever in a really just deadlock argument with a good friend and you guys are all on the verge of breaking your friendship, I don't know if you guys have ever experienced, you know, for those of you guys who are married, of course, you know, at some point or other, maybe you misunderstood your spouse, got into this argument, couldn't understand, and there was no resolve, whatever it may be, you know?

In that moment, there has to be an intentional break from the natural progression of argumentation. There has to be an intentional break of trying to find and pinpoint, it's because you did this and that's why you're at fault. There has to be a break from whatever your flesh is saying, "I want to win." And two, "I want to do what's good.

I want to do what's right by God." It's not always just to yield, just to give up and say, "I'm so sorry." You know? If you do that, your spouse can get really frustrated too. "You're just saying that!" You know? You need to make sure you're thinking intentionally. Right here, right now, I'm not just trying to win, I'm not just trying to overtake this person, I'm not just trying to get the last word in.

I want to do what's right by God. Why? Not because if I do everything by God's way, then everything's going to work out in the end, and they're going to love me, and they're going to do this. It might turn out that it keeps perpetuating, but why? Because of the grace of God and His good pleasure is upon you when you do good, even in that crisis moment.

It's because God's good pleasure is worth it all. It's because His countenance, it says, "His eyes are upon those who are seeking this good, even in the moments when it's all bad." Right? That's the idea. So I want to challenge you. You guys know exactly what I'm talking about.

When your mind and the flesh starts running in an argument, it's so hard to stop. But you have to. You have to discipline yourself to learn to do that. Okay? All right. That was section one. So there was a lot. Again, we could have stayed there and studied more on that passage, but we're going to move forward.

So verses eight through 12 was a summary command for us to exhibit the character traits that's going to maintain the peace and good in your relationships in the community of God. Right? And then in verse 13 through 17, let's first read it. He says, "Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?" And I asked a question, "How could he ask that question?" You know?

"Who is there to harm you?" And there might be like all these people, that guy, this guy, this guy, you know? And he goes on to say, "But even if you should suffer," so he says, "Even if you should suffer," they are, "for the sake of righteousness," he redefines that and says, "you are blessed." And then he gives another quotation.

"And do not fear their intimidation. Do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. Do it with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

For it is better if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong." Okay? So, what he's done there is I kind of gave us just a two-part outline. Eight to 12 is a summary command. This is what you need to be.

Numbers 13 through 17 is an explanation rationale. Okay? A lot of times if you guys have ever been in a teaching moment, whether it's you're teaching youth or maybe you're teaching something in a class or whatever it may be, you know that asking questions is a great way to teach.

And asking questions, oftentimes you give a question to teach an important point. Well, here, he's got a rhetorical question. And he's using that by means of explaining and redefining what they perceive to be the reality. They're thinking, "Oh my goodness, we're suffering. Is God against us? Has he left us?" I mean, all these questions perhaps, you know, is pervading their minds.

And that's why chapter one, he went at such length to say, "No, God has blessed you. He has blessed you thoroughly and he's been working and he's chosen you." Right? Well, here he asks this question, "Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?" Now throughout this whole segment from chapter two, verses 13 and all the way, you're going to see that all the way to chapter four, verses 11, he's going to constantly repeat this idea.

In this circumstance, do good, do good. So it almost carries a command. Make sure that you're zealous for good. And by asking this question, he pretty much, you know, kind of states this case. Typically speaking, as you're seeking the good and seeking not simply your own ambition, not simply seeking your own security, not simply seeking your own ends.

When you're seeking what's good, peaceable, and all the things that he listed, who is there to harm you? That's typically what he's asking, right? But by contrast, so the rhetorical question, he kind of gives this explanation that regardless of circumstance, you need to be zealous for doing what is good.

And typically, typically people aren't going to harm you for that. But in contrast, even if you should suffer, you are blessed. And he gives this encouragement. He gives this, I guess, redefinition of reality. That even in the midst of suffering, they're actually blessed by God, right? Now I want to kind of get to the middle section, the second half of verse 14 and verse 16, by way of the explanation, by way of the encouragement, by way of admonition, right?

Typically the hurdle that arises for when we're trying to do good are the things that he addresses here. First he starts off with by saying, "Do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled." There's a quotation from Isaiah chapter eight, I'm just going to read it for us, verses 12 through 13.

This is where that passage is from, Isaiah chapter eight, verses 12 through 13. Isaiah says to King Ahaz, "Do not cause conspiracy, all that this people cause conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.

Let him be your fear and let him be your dread." Okay? All right. So as I kind of explain this a little bit, I'm going to try to make sense of verse 13 and then all of this. Okay, here we go. A little bit of context about that passage in Isaiah.

King Ahaz in his situation, he is king of Judah, southern kingdom. The Assyrians who are vicious, huge nation, overthrowing many kingdoms around the known region, the known world, is coming down. There is imminent doom. So northern kingdom says, "Hey you guys, they're not necessarily, they've already split. They don't have a good relationship." But they say, "Let's make an alliance with the Assyrians, with Israelites, with Judah, and then we can fight the Assyrians." And then King Ahaz says, "Forget you.

I don't want to team up with you." So what he does is he sends word and makes an alliance with the Assyrians themselves and he makes this pact. To that Isaiah is thinking, "Oh my goodness, are you serious? Why are you acting like those individuals who have no God?

They have wood, they have stone, they don't have a God. You have God. Why are you making an alliance with them? They're nothing." Right? They're nothing. They have no God. They're nothing. So the challenge here is, rather than fearing them, rather than being intimidated by them, whom shall you fear?

You should sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. So now that question, who is there to harm you, starts to make sense. You might be sitting there thinking, "Who's there to harm you? All these guys. The kings, the governors, the people, my boss, everybody, even my husband. They're nobody compared to Christ." In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, Jesus himself says to the disciples, "When you go out you're going to be persecuted to the degree," and he gives that description, "There's going to be a sword.

There's going to be division. There's going to be all these people who despise you." But fear not those individuals who only can harm the body. Fear him who can what? Destroy both body and soul. Who is there to harm you really? Just these people. And that's it. But rather the challenge for us, and this is the main point of section number two, the rationale behind the command, why you should, in the moment when your natural flesh is trying to fight back and you've taken taekwondo since we were young and you have always learned to defend yourself.

Nowadays it's all that crazy stuff. MMA, the crazy stuff. You have, what is it called? There you go. You guys know that. That stuff is crazy. You're going to kill somebody with that. You've always learned to defend yourself and what's natural to you since you've been taught when you're young is, yeah, if somebody tries to punch you, hurt them back.

Why should you now obey a higher standard? Why? Because it's Christ, the Lord whom you sanctified in your heart that even in that moment when your rationale is saying, "Fight back, fight back," you have a much greater voice to listen to. So here's a challenge for us. Here is an encouragement.

Here's a rationale of why you need to do these things that Apostle Peter is saying. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. What does that even mean? You guys know the typical definition of sanctify. If I sanctify this, I set it apart. So does it simply mean, does it simply mean to value him?

I want to be dedicated to Christ. I want to make sure he's the most valuable thing in my greatest allegiance. Yes, that's true. But do you guys remember the disciples' prayer? I like to call it the disciples' prayer. I learned that from our professor in seminary, Dr. Harris. Because although it's the Lord's prayer, he's teaching the disciples how to pray.

And it's our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now we're never ever going to change that prayer. But that word for hallowed be thy name, hallowed, in the Greek is the same word here as sanctify Christ. We need to regard Christ with an incredible amount of reverence, where we are giving consideration and thought to him.

What does my Savior Jesus Christ think of me in this moment? And you need to set him apart as Lord over your life. You need to set him apart both Lord over your heart in terms of both what you are thinking, feeling, and then therefore going to do. That's what we're talking about here.

That Christ needs to be set apart and hallowed in the same way that God himself was hallowed in our lives by the way that we behave, by the way that we react, by everything that we're doing that we're acknowledging him as a king over our lives. So right now I'm using a lot of analogy of conflict and strife.

In moments of conflict, before you make any demands that somebody, somebody should pay, that somebody should make things right, that somebody to do right by you, remember before you make any demands that God has a demand of you, before you think to enact justice on somebody else, remember God is going to start with you.

That his justice come first and whatever demand and expectation you have of the people, that takes a far, far second place. That's the rationale. Yes, you're given the circumstance where it's difficult. Yes, the people around you might be overbearing, pressing you, but even in that moment, you have a calling of the Lord that you need to abide by.

So as a challenge to us, I'm going to, for our memory verse, this is going to be our memory verse, verse 15, to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you, why are you operating by this crazy high standard here?

What is causing you to do something that's so natural? And you're going to be able to say, because I have set Christ as Lord in my life. So that's section two, okay? The rationale. So we have the first section, summary and command, second section, verses 13 through 17, the rationale and the exhortation for us, that Christ takes that place of Lordship over us.

And then we have this last section, verses 18 down to verse 22, which is a crazy one. And if you guys have thoughts about it, I want you to share. Verse 18, for Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

And then verse 19, in which, also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

And then verse 21, corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him.

Okay. As we read that, if you just kind of read it, and then you're trying to just think about it, you're just going to be like, what? How does this even fit? So I want you to think about that. He's talked about, okay, Christ has died and his sacrifice, you know, was the just for the unjust.

I get that. I believe it. Amen. That is the gospel. And he talks about how he went to make proclamation in the spirit. He brings up Noah. He brings up, you know, the patience of God's waiting and all these disobedient people are the people that are in prison. What is that all for?

So in the section heading, if you, if I were to make just an outline, I would just make an outline. I'm making a broad outline. You have section versus eight through 12 summary command versus 13 through 17 rationale. And this section, it begins with four, which is typically like a, because, but actually in this case, it's more of a, as in this case, meaning example.

So in the blank that I've provided you, you should put something to the extent of, and the example for us to follow, right? The example that will encourage us. You've been given the command, you've been given an explanation of why and et cetera, but here is the example further giving you that push so that you can receive this teaching.

Right? And why do I say this as an example? Because reading in context is always good. If you take a look at your Bibles and you go to first Peter chapter four, verses one, look at what he says. It's just, it's a, it's a running thought. It doesn't just stop there, but he says, therefore, look at this, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, then arm yourselves also with this same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

So actually this idea of suffering and it says idea of purpose of that suffering is all still tied in. And then he says, since therefore you need to arm yourselves with that same purpose. So you see what I'm saying by, I think this is him saying, look at this example that he's given you in this case with what Jesus has done.

That's going to encourage you to keep obeying what is hard, which is to exhibit this kind of kindness and harmony and this composure even in the midst of persecution. Right? So let's take a look at that a little bit. First in verse 18 he says for Christ also died and this part, I'm just going to read like a running commentary and then get to an emphatic point.

He says Christ also died for sins once for all the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the spirit. If you take a moment to stop there, he is still drawing our attention just like he did in chapter two verse 21 I don't want you to forget if you're still feeling emotion like Oh, I'm so like my life is so hard.

Where is God? Has he left me? Is he against me? But Christ also suffered and God loved Jesus Christ. He was well pleased with Jesus Christ. So it doesn't just go to say as an encouragement to you just because life is hard, that does not mean God has forgotten you.

No way. Right? As a matter of fact, he can be showing his love on you. He could be guiding you, teaching you, disciplining you, waking you up, whatever it may be. It could be a plethora of things, but he has not forgotten you just because things aren't going right.

As a matter of fact, and he's thinking here, look at all the injustice wrapped up in this short little verse. He died. He died for sins. Those weren't his sins. It was the just for the unjust. It was he who was inculpable, sinless for those who were culprits, for those who are unjust so that he might bring what?

He might bring us successfully to the Father. And he says, "Having put to death and the flesh the mouth made alive in the spirit." You think about all this and think about the injustice and the things that were suffered by our Savior. When he was put on trial, even his trial was unjust.

When he was mocked, when he was beaten, when he was spat upon, everything was so magnanimously unjust. Okay? So as we think about that, he's constantly bringing our attention back to this idea, Christ suffered also. Don't you forget it. Okay? But as we think about this, remember, this is an example that's supposed to somehow encourage us.

Okay? That part completely makes sense. I'm going through certain sufferings. Jesus went through suffering far beyond what I can imagine. I'm going through suffering, some of which I deserve. Jesus deserved none of it. It makes sense now. Just knowing, or at least just knowing that, you know, these things are still in the plan of God.

But in verse 19, the example goes further to describe, he says, "In which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, and who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few," that is eight persons, "were brought safely through the water." Okay.

Now, as we're looking at this, I'm going to take a little detour. Okay? This little passage has elicited a lot of debate and a lot of questions. Namely, what is he talking about? Namely, who are these spirits? Did Jesus, when he died, died, sorry, when he died, grammar, when he died, did he go to like the abyss?

Did he go to hell and like preach to demons or dead people, or what did he do? Now, there's a lot of research that can be done, and for the sake of our own Bible study, I'm just going to say that there are various views, which I will summarize now, but I'm not going to get into every single one.

If you are interested, you can do research, and I'm going to post up in that drop box articles that you can follow. Okay? But here's view number one, which I've listed for you there. View number one is, hey, there's nothing crazy supernatural going on here, except that any time there is a preaching going on by prophets, by apostles, the spirit of Christ is there.

So view number one essentially says is, in spirit, Noah preached, and Christ was spiritually preaching through Noah. And as he preached, people were disobedient, and because they were disobedient, they went to hell. That's it. There was nothing crazy about that. Okay? Now, that view has some grounds, because again, yes, when Jesus says in the Great Commission, "Preach, go make disciples, lo I'm with you," when you preach, you got to believe Jesus' presence is there.

And as a matter of fact, other passages that talk mainly about everything about the Old Testament would talk constantly, refer to the fact that this was Jesus, that was Jesus, and so was the presence of Christ there in the Old Testament as the preaching was going on. Yes. But unfortunately, that view doesn't take into account some of the other details about this passage specifically, and it doesn't take into account the fact that other passages in the Bible, namely like 2 Peter and the letter of Jude, it references the same incident with Noah and the people who were disobedient, and which God particularly saw as wicked.

Okay? So, view number two is, in his bodily death, Jesus spiritually went to prison, which is called the pit of abyss in Revelations, to proclaim victory, not the gospel, between the three days before his resurrection. Okay? So, that view simply says, no, like he literally went to some place spiritually, which is the abyss, and he preached.

And what he preached was victory. But in view number three, it's same as number two, but it expands to say that not only did Jesus just simply go, but specifically in the time of Noah, there were these spirits, these demons who were particularly wicked and vicious in the eyes of God, namely Genesis chapter six, when it says that in that time of Noah, there were sons of God who came down and they saw the daughters of men, they saw what they liked, they saw they were beautiful, and they had sexual relations with them.

And then it talks about how these individuals were wicked in the eyes of God, and then God felt the need to eradicate that generation. And so many people believe that that generation was like a half-breed, a demonic breed, and that generation was demonized by these disobedient individuals who left their abode and did that crazy thing.

Okay? So those are some of the popular views. Any questions about that? Good, because I got no answers. I'm just kidding. If you're curious, I'm going to post up a bunch of research articles and stuff, just don't have time to go over all that stuff now. But I wanted to address that because that's where a lot of people's attention goes to, but I want to come back to this idea.

But that's weird, because this is supposed to somehow encourage us to obey. This is supposed to somehow encourage you to persevere in the midst of suffering, to still hold your composure, be peaceable, be hopeful, be so secure that you could bless somebody even when you're being hurt. How does that even work?

Right? Well, let's observe what we know from this passage. Here are some of the things that we know. During the time of Noah, clearly there was some kind of vicious disobedience. So specifically, was it demons? Specifically, was it all just people being nasty? I don't know the exact details, but it was heinous.

It was disobedience, and God was incredibly upset and angered by that. But the patience of God was there. Now, because God was patient, for that time being, guess what? Noah and his family suffered. They suffered ridicule. They suffered great toil. They had to build. They had to X, Y, and Z.

Realize that because of the patience of God in this generation, you have to suffer. If we desire for us to say, "God, remove this suffering right now," you got to realize that that's also saying, "God, stop being patient. I want you to enact justice right now." I'm not sure if you guys ever thought about it that way, but the patience of God entails that the people of God bear alongside God.

Does that make sense? Secondly, you notice that he's talking about this idea that Christ suffered, but after that suffering, there was this proclamation. And so the thing that you should be thinking about is triumph. The concept that should be entering your mind isn't like, "Who are these demons? Who are these spirits?" What you should be thinking is victory.

Through that which Christ suffered, it wasn't just he suffered, and then life goes on. Ta-da, ta-da, whatever will be, whatever be. And sometimes whatever will be includes hardship. That's the way that some people think about existential Christianity, which is life sometimes is horrible, but you just got to be Christian anyway.

That's not what the gospel is trying to teach us. That even the suffering that we experience is very purposeful, is very intentional, and Christ at the end of that is giving victory by what he's proclaiming to all those who would oppose the gospel, "Look what I have done." And in that, we too have victory as well.

That there is the encouragement. That there is the challenge. You think about the days of Noah and how many people, I mean talk about standing against the grain, how many people actually entered that ark and survived? Eight. So for you, if you feel like you're alone, if you feel like there's nobody with you, if you feel like the world is against me, if you feel like the suffering is so immense, if you feel like the suffering is so long, remember this story.

Remember this story. My expectation was that if you try to live a life of godliness, you many days will feel alone. I mean think about this even for a little bit. If you so desire to take everything in the scripture seriously, and you stopped doing things like the rest of the world, so not only just worship, scripture says don't worship like the world, but do you realize scripture also says basically don't party like the world?

Don't hope like the world, don't grieve like the world, don't even eat like the world. Your every single thing is going to be different because of your savior. When you do that, in this generation here in America, even amongst Christians you'll feel isolated. Even amongst Christians you'll feel a sense of like hmm, there's not, I don't know, it's not everybody.

But the fact of the matter is, scripture has already given us warning. Scripture has given us expectation, right? Super wide is the gate, and super narrow is this one. But if our expectation was like, but I wanted to do this and I wanted to do that, this is where we need to constantly change how we perceive life to be.

And then in verse 20 to 22, this is what he talks about, that Jesus Christ through the resurrection who is now seated at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him. Current circumstance. Satan is not all powerful, he's not omniscient, and he is not free.

Did you know that? Yes, does Satan roam around like a lion and all that kind of stuff, waiting to try to snatch and try to take the seed? Yes, but he is still completely underneath the sovereignty of Christ. I mean just think about all the stories of Christ. You get out, you out, and then everyone's just like, wah, pigs, and die, you know?

At the very word of Christ, demons shudder. That's an encouragement. Christ proclaims victory to the spirits. And should they feel like the world is crumbling and the dark forces of the world is winning, Apostle Peter is saying, look at the actual reality spiritually. That's not the case at all.

So by way of challenge, he's given this exhortation in this specific event of the case of Noah, which there's a lot of questions still. There's a lot of questions still. But I think what that tells me is no matter the scheme, no matter the attempt, no matter the strength, no matter the numbers, even if Satan threw all that he had, Christ is still powerful, amen?

Christ is still victorious. He is still triumphant, and that's what we've got to believe. Now by way of conclusion, every time I'm preparing a lesson in 1 Peter, and I, you know, like the whole idea with sermon prep is first I got to see, like, I always ask myself, what's my personal fallen condition in all this?

You know, like I asked myself the question, like, hmm, how do I respond to suffering? How do I, and I'm going to be 100% honest with you, half the time I'm sitting there thinking my life is really good. I mean, at max, I might be, I don't know. Honestly, my life is really good.

Like I don't have crazy people trying to kill me. I don't have people stripping me of my goods and property. I don't have the risk of losing my wife. I don't have the risk of having to lose my home, run away, be a refugee, but these people had their families broken, their children ripped away from them, their property confiscated, and they're run out of their home, and they're now scattered across Asia.

So half of me always sitting here as I prepare these passages, like, man, how do I apply this stuff? I'm going to be honest, we're very well protected here, you know? And we have to remember, we really are a minority in all the world. To live in this kind of security, this kind of comfort, we're insulated with like a layer of protection, you know?

And the fact of the matter is, yeah, we can freely worship, and I know some of us, especially in this time, are thinking like, but the liberals are coming, and they're getting pervading into everything from education to this and churches, and we got to get America back, you know?

Honestly speaking, we have it so good. We have it so good, and even statistically speaking, I mean, we have it the best. I mean, we're literally the minority, like 2% of all the world, of the 7 billion people that exist. We have great freedom. So as I think about that, I want to conclude, as we hear these admonitions for us, first, let's be incredibly grateful.

Let's be so thankful that Christ is my Savior, that He has had victory, and He's guiding me to be something greater than my flesh wants to bound me to, right? Let's give thanks. Even if we're not suffering, even if we're not being persecuted, let's make our hearts so grateful and continue to sanctify Christ in our hearts and say, "Thank you that you are my Lord." And I get to worship you as Lord freely.

But number two, let's prepare for future suffering and never assume and never presume that God will make tomorrow exactly as it's happened today, right? Let's prepare for things to come. Let's make sure that we won't be surprised as Apostle Peter would say, "Don't be surprised. Don't sit there shaking your head like, 'What's going on?

Why? What's God doing?'" I think Apostle Peter would say, "Man, I've gone through several chapters trying to explain to you what's going on. This world will never accept you as their own. Never. Never accept you as your own." But number three, and this is a challenge, we have the freedom to be like hardship-free, but let's take upon the hardship of others.

Let's take upon the burden of others. Let's take upon the burden of loving an individual to go and speak to them the gospel and see that as a burden I will voluntarily carry, for that is the great example of Jesus Christ. It was the just for the unjust, but it was the just voluntarily taking the unjust pain.

It was the righteous voluntarily taking the burden and suffering that he did not deserve, but rather we deserved. That was not something circumstantially he just had to go through. He took that upon himself. And so for us, we can do the same. That in our gospel preaching and ministering to others, we just assume if I try to get involved in your life, I'm going to get hurt, but I want to.

My Savior did so and he's given me love in my heart for you and I've got love to give. That's the way we should be thinking, especially if we're blessed, that we would take upon the burden and we would take upon the suffering and when he calls us to be harmonious, sympathetic, you know, to bear along with side people, that's what he's calling us to do.

So for a generation who have been privileged and given much, I believe Christ will also expect much of us as well. Let's take some time to pray. Heavenly Father, we do want to thank you. God, we thank you so much that you had pity on us, that you had mercy on us, and that you desire to help us.

That in our feeble and weak and helpless state, Lord, that you condescend to us. Lord God, I pray that if we have a worldview that is not in line with Scripture, if we have a worldview that has been so bordered up by this world and constructed out of, you know, fantasies that we've learned from the world, I pray God that you would take those things and put them away and give us, Lord, just the expectation that in this life we will go through much suffering and difficulty, but there that, Lord, that we are waiting such a reward, that we're waiting such an inheritance to be found in Christ our Savior.

Lord, I ask that you would challenge every single one of us, that God, we would be ministers of the gospel to people around us, Lord, that we would never simply be content of being safe but rather, God, that we would take upon your call for us to be a light, that we would proclaim the excellencies of him who's given us such grace.

And Lord, if there's anyone here feeling this need to continue to follow after you, would you give them that conviction in their heart through the Spirit, Lord, that you have called us first and foremost in this life to be a great light to your gospel. Lord, we thank you it's in Christ's name we pray, amen.

Okay, before we wrap up the study, is there any questions?