A WOW Moment with Vicki, Mercedes and Pastor Jeff

Can you see it from there? You'll get one verse per page. That's why it's so big.

But hey. You're on. You're on.

Hello everybody. We'll give it a minute. You should tell everybody about your new

Bible now. I'll hand model it. Where do you start in your studies?

Peter? At the beginning. In the beginning. No, I was going to start literally at the beginning of my notes.

In Acts? Yes. Alright.

Good evening everyone. Welcome to our Bible study. As you know,

I'm Vicki. I think you all know her voice. And you might know this is our lovely and very orange

Pastor Jen tonight. Because she wore an Alabama shirt. Go Vols. I'm going to play neutral here.

Anyways, tonight we are actually going to be in a study that Mercedes and I have been in for several months.

We started this study before COVID hit. And we were studying it every

Sunday. Then we started studying it every Sunday and Tuesday. Then we started studying it every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

And we decided we'd end our study tonight. Pastor Jeff, so if you have any comments, questions, or anything like that, tonight

I will ask you to please comment. Usually we do not do comments because we can't see the phone, but we have loving and caring

Miss Gwen here, and we have beautiful Miss Ashley here, and we have a handsome

Jeff here. So they're going to help us tonight with that. What I'm going to ask of you

Pastor is for you to let Mercedes get through all of the notes we have from the study.

And then we're going to let you loose. Okay. Good job. Richard Sammons is watching and he said, hey

Bishop. What's up Richard? Bishop, I'm sometimes

Medusa. That's what Rebecca calls me, Medusa, sometimes. Madam Medusa.

So, anyways, I want to thank Gwen and Pastor for having us.

This is the second time we've been here and it's always a joy to come to the shipments.

We're glad to have y 'all. So, Mercedes, we're going to pass a scripture tonight, read.

So if y 'all want to grab a pen or get some paper to just jot down as we go, that's great, because this is going to get real interesting and it may be longer than 30 minutes.

Just to give you a fair warning. Alright, where are we going to start out? Well, while we did this study,

I really learned what harmony did to us. And so, the key verses that are used a lot in the argument of if Christ descended into hell after his death,

I pulled at least a verse before and at least a verse after just for context purposes.

And I kind of realized that harmonies are super important when flipping between New Testament and Old Testament, because Old Testament's Greek.

I mean, Hebrew, New Testament's Greek. So things translate a little bit differently.

Some words apparently can have multiple meanings. So Acts 225 is one that is used.

But I went 225 through 28. Acts 225 through 28 says, for David says of him,

I saw the Lord ever before me, because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced.

Verse 27, because you will not leave me in Hades, or allow your Holy One to see the cave. You have revealed the paths of life to me.

You will fill me with gladness in your presence. Paul is quoting from Psalm 16, 7 through 10, which says,

I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my consciousness instructs me. I will keep the

Lord in mind always, because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my spirit rejoices.

My body also rests securely. For you will not abandon me to Sheol. You will not allow your faithful one to see the cave.

So, in Acts, the word

Hades is used. And in Psalms, the word Sheol is used. Sheol is Hebrew. I use the

Strong's Concordance as a KJV. And the definition it gave me for Sheol was the world of the dead, including its accessories and inmates.

Parentheses, grave, hell, pit. Hades is Greek, and it's the place or state of departed souls, also grave or hell.

So, in context with how Hades is used and how Sheol is used,

I'm really leaning towards both of these both mean grave. We know that your faithful one or your holy one is referring to Jesus.

He did not see the cave. He died. He was buried. He resurrected.

Well, just like in Acts 2, in this other, in my study Bible, in verse 27, it says, for you will not leave my soul among the dead.

Right. And we know David, he did die. He is in this tomb. His physical body has seen decay.

But he will not remain there because he will be resurrected again one day. Right. So, in my mind, that one kind of doesn't hold up.

It holds water. It doesn't. Then we've got

Romans 10, 6 through 8, verse 6 being the one that is, or verse 6 through 7 are the ones that are being used for this argument by a lot of people.

But 10 and 6 through 8 says, but the righteous that comes from faith speaks like this, do not say in your heart who will go up to heaven, that is to bring

Christ down, or who will go into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near in your heart. This is a message of faith that we proclaim.

This is quoting from Deuteronomy 30, 11 through 14.

This commandment that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond reach. It is not in heaven so that you have to ask who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it.

And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it.

But the message is very near in your heart, or very near you, in your mouth and in your heart so that you may follow it.

This one, this one is saying that Christ is accessible as long as we have him and the word in our hearts and our mouths.

He is always accessible. Whereas heaven and our physical nature and the depths of the sea are not.

So it's kind of a compare and contrast. Not a compare and contrast, more of a contrast.

Both two places, inaccessible for us as humans, but God is accessible to us.

This doesn't, it doesn't seem like this holds up in my mind at all.

Any thoughts, Vicki, so far? Anything on that? No, this isn't the verse

I was thinking of. Go ahead. Let me have

Ephesians 4, 8 through 10. 4, it says when he ascended on high, he took prisoners into captivity, he gave gifts to people.

But what does he ascend mean except that he descended to the lower parts of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

This is quoting Psalms 68, 18. You ascend to the heights taking away captives.

You receive gifts from people, even from the rebellious so that the Lord God might live there. Um um so for this in Ephesians where it says he took prisoners into captivity, kind of thinking that would be maybe sin and death um and he gave gifts to people.

He gave us grace and mercy and forgiveness and life and peace.

All that encompasses. And that's the gift to give the captives. Yeah, that's the gift.

Um but also in Ephesians 2, 2

Paul talks about walking according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, meaning um and I kind of think well in 2, 2 when it says exercises authority over the lower heavens this is the devil's playground so to speak where we are.

Um and he has principalities and um what's the word

I'm looking for? Dominions? Is that the right word I'm looking for? Um and so if you look at Ephesians 2, 2 and see where he talks about the lower heavens and then you go to Ephesians 4, 10 where it talks about the lower parts of the earth

I don't think that's meaning hell. I think that's here. Not only that though, but to ascend you have to first descend.

He could not have ascended to heaven if he had not descended to earth. And he descended to earth in the form of a baby.

So if he would have gone to if he would have actually gone to hell then he would have descended. Right.

He would have descended, descended. Yes. Right? Descended, descended. That sounds right so far.

So then 1 Peter 4, 5 through 6 um says that they will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead so that although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm they might live by God in the spiritual realm.

I think this is talking about those who are spiritually undead separated from God who are now made alive no longer separated from God and while we walk that according to the ways of the

Lord on earth we will be judged by the unbelievers.

We will be looked at differently. Because we're supposed to anyway because we're set apart.

But I think that's what that's talking about. I don't think it's I don't see that as being another one

I could um point to him descending into hell.

We're okay. I'm with you. Are we? You're right. Okay. That's what we've discussed. I'm just trying to you know my brain doesn't work as fast as yours.

So you get that at home. Yeah, right. You'll get there one day but I didn't.

That's what I keep being told. So here's the meat of it for me. And this is where I've kind of come to a standstill.

1 Peter 3, 18 -20 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm.

In that state Joseph went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison who in the past were disobedient when

God patiently waited for the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. Then 2

Peter 2, 4 For God didn't spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment.

Then Jude 6 through 7 says and is kept within eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day of the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling.

Tartarus in the Strong's and Cornet's that I use is

Greek and the definition is to incarcerate in eternal torment or hell.

These three verses I'm sorry, these two verses are there two or three?

There's three. These three verses led me to Genesis 6, 1 through 4. We've been around the world a couple times.

When mankind began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful and they took any they chose as wives for themselves and the

Lord said my spirit will not remain with mankind forever because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.

The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind who bore children to them they were powerful men of old, the famous men.

With 1 Peter 3, 18 through 20 my first thought was I had to take away the punctuation and read all of it kind of in one breath but made alive in the spiritual realm in that state he also went and made a proclamation to the spiritual races when the pastor disobeyed when

God patiently waited in the days of Noah. So I went okay, well maybe maybe it's saying that Noah while preparing the ark was preaching to the people around him about what was going to happen trying to get them to repent and give their life to Christ but it would be the

Holy Spirit that would be speaking through them because they were interested within their sinful lives within their sinful lives right but then when

I read 2 Peter in June and then Genesis 6, she went nuts my mind changed a little bit

I became unsure because we were set we were pretty set and so now

I've gone I've teetered back and forth and now I'm kind of right smack in the middle

Vicki I don't know where you stand I don't think with all of this

I'm still standing on and my thought is that Jesus didn't descend to hell he's

God, he didn't have to go there if he wanted anything from there that was my that was another thought

I've had too is the Holies don't have to go to the depths of he descends to hell,

Mike drops told you so proclaims victory but he's

God why would he need to do that I don't believe that when Peter denied

Christ three times smack in the middle of his last denial the ruse occurred and he went

Jesus didn't say I told you so he just kind of looked at them there was no I told you so because he didn't have to because Peter knew as soon as he said but we also know that once you're dead you don't have a second chance for repentance you don't have a second chance of going hey wait a minute

God can I can I have a do over well see and then there's and that's how this whole thing started is because I've heard different things about keys and of course

I've not read anything or seen anything scripturally about keys we haven't run across that but it's one thing that was brought to my attention whenever I first started discussing this with a few people so I kind of tossed that out the window but I see why you kind of did a boomerang on coming back around and questioning what we had studied thus far well and then

I think another question that should be posed is is hell empty empty right now

I mean if if he descended into hell there should have been

I'm assuming there would be a reason not just for the fun of it right so there's that right that's what

I got so that's where we've been since February and not only that but then we've just sat back and just discussed like I told you before we started this we squirreled so many times and went so many different directions we've now got a list of things that we want to study when we finish this because we've run across a whole bunch of other stuff yeah y 'all got into the

Nephilim I mean dang so you know I mean but there's an array of things because the

Bible it carries so much information it does and it's really really really really interesting very much so well

I give you A pluses definitely and that's the essence of systematic study of course it wasn't exhaustive obviously because we're never going to exhaust it but systematic theology systematic study is a great way to answer theological questions and also to give credence to a doctrinal understanding and I appreciate your adherence to a hermeneutical logic and a hermeneutical truth but I think you really already know what you believe because every time you read you said yeah that doesn't hold water yeah that doesn't hold water that doesn't make sense and so as the verses were coming out even though they have been used traditionally to talk about Jesus going to hell you through your studies and you did a great job you came to a conclusion based upon the comparison with the doctrinal truth found from Genesis and Revelation if I could just respond to a couple of things well first of all it's important to note that Jesus throughout his ministry continually alluded to and then there in the last part of it especially you get to the last half of the book of John John's really cool because the first half of John deals with everything and then the last whole half of the book of John, of the gospel of John just deals with the last week of Jesus' physical life and Jesus said many times

I'm going to be arrested, I'm going to be beaten, I'm going to be shamed,

I'm going to be killed, and I'm going to rise again and he was very specific on the sequence, he was very specific on what was going to happen the interesting thing to note though is that he never said

I'm going to hell, nowhere in scripture did Jesus ever say that we also know that what

Jesus did say of course is the thief on the cross he said to him today you will be with me in paradise and I don't think there would be anyone who would confuse paradise with hell.

The other thing about this is this has gotten so much over the years of course most people in churches today they're so doctrinally ignorant they don't even deal with studying some of these harder nuggets of theology but the reality is we have listened to this and we it gained traction early on in ecclesiastical history because of what was known as the

Apostles' Creed. If any of you guys grew up in the Catholic Church or some other churches you will actually remember saying he descended into hell and blah blah blah blah what's funny is the

Apostles' Creed was not written by the Apostles at all it was actually written to try to get an understanding of the church tried to make a creed and to sum up in one phrase the

Apostles' teaching that's why it's called the Apostles' Creed but it wasn't written by the Apostles and a lot of denominations have removed that phrase he descended into hell because it is vapors of of even verses that could even be turned to even believe that.

Wasn't it only mentioned once by Rufus? Wow One of the better theologians that talked about this is a guy named

Gruden he's very famous I encourage all of you he's someone you could definitely listen to.

There's another issue here and it gets into a doctrinal issue and once again

I encourage all of you whenever you have questions about God's word and this is an example of what you should do is don't listen to preachers, don't listen to whatever.

You dive into the word of God. Everything she was quoting was scripture and but the thing that you gotta look at is atonement.

When I hear people say well I have to do this to be saved, immediately a red flag goes up for me because it is by grace you are saved through faith not of yourself see and so when something violates the construct of a doctrine and remember doctrines are something that are spoken of from Genesis to Revelation and they don't contradict any other doctrine so if someone sits there and says well hey

Jesus went to hell, one of the red flags that should pop up to you would be atonement that would be one of the things when

Jesus died on the cross he said it is finished the atonement the reason

Jesus died, that substitutionary atonement, in other words he took my place there and the propitiation,

God's wrath turning from man turning to Christ the wrath of God fell on Christ but when

Jesus said it is finished, there would need no other action, it was needed by Christ to fulfill the salvation of mankind or the reconciliation, the bridge back to God.

Now some people say well what he did is he went to hell to give the Old Testament people a chance for salvation, well there's a problem with that too because the same faith that say to Abraham in the

Old Testament is the same faith that saved Paul is the same faith that saved me God didn't change anything

Jesus Christ was always going to cross in fact in the book of Revelation it says that Jesus was actually slain before the foundation of the world, the will of God is so immutable and so perfect and so sovereign that even though from our paradigm on a linear time frame

Jesus had not yet died before the foundation of the world by the will of God declaring it, it is as if it had already happened so the idea that Jesus had to go to hell to give people in the

Old Testament a chance is erroneous because we know, Romans chapter 4 and chapter 5 and many others that the same imputed righteousness that was given to Abraham because of faith is the same imputed righteousness given to us and that's really important because that righteousness is from the finished work of Jesus and Abraham was imputed 4 ,000 years before Jesus was born so So it was

Abraham's faith in God it's the same thing because Jesus and God are the same well correct but Jesus Jesus completed the physical work

Leviticus 17 and other places tell us that life is in the blood and without the shedding of blood

Hebrews 9, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin so Jesus had to come and be that sacrifice and all the sacrificial laws of the

Old Testament were a foreshadowing of what Jesus would complete however saying that you still had to have faith in coming

Messiah in the promises of God remember the first allusion to, well the first,

I shouldn't say allusion the first promise of God of reconciliation was in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 and it went on from there

Jesus completed, and that's what Ephesians once talks about, it's dispensation, the management of time, the dispensing of God's revealed will over time,

Jesus was always going to go to the cross, there was nothing that was going to stop that so the other thing is a couple of the verses you did a really good job

I'm really happy about some of the things you did just some things read again if you will

Ephesians 4 8 through 10 and let's go through that expository and let's see if we can't make some more sense of that 4 it says when he ascended on high he took prisoners into captivity he gave gifts to people but what does he ascend mean except that he descended to the lower parts of the earth the one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things right what's really cool is to understand this is that the advent of Jesus and that is his incarnation is his descending from heaven to earth when he and you actually said this when he became man when he became incarnate that was a descent from the regalness of his majesty in heaven to actually taking on a decaying body you know we all know through entropy that all mankind decays so some people say well he descended meaning that he descended lower into hell well that's not that's not at all what it's saying if you continue reading it kind of spells it out because as you read it started talking about the earth and so therefore

Jesus had descended from heaven to earth the other thing is and this is something

Christians that I hope you record this and play it back and write this down because it is confusing but I'll try to explain it 1st

Thessalonians and some other places it talks about the dead in Christ okay you have to understand that there are only two groups of people much to the chagrin of some of the more politically um motivated people today in identity politics there's not many races of people there's only one there's not a difference between male or female according to Galatians Jew or Greek bond or free that we are all one in Christ so there's only two groups of people by implication saying that we are one in Christ means by default that all

Christians are one and they are in Christ the other people that are not in Christ well those two groups are referred to as being alive and being dead okay

Ephesians chapter 2 tells us that we were dead in our sins and trespasses literally ladies and gentlemen if you are not a born again child of the living

God you are dead in your sins and your trespasses so there are people who are walking around physically right now who are alive in Christ and then those who are dead but then you have a separate group of people and once again 1st

Thessalonians 4 is a great chapter for you to go and read this the dead in Christ now who are the dead in Christ well what that means in that prepositional phrase in Christ is really important it means those that have physically died yet are still in Christ meaning that our trichotomy, our body we have a mind, a body and a spirit, a soul okay and I know there is some discussion about soul and mind but let's just say we are a three part thing

Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 that we were created in the image of God God the

Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit we have a mind, we have a body, we have a soul right so when it says the dead in Christ it means that our bodies our physical bodies are dead thus releasing our spirit well if we're in Christ our spirit is with Christ and that hence is why

Jesus said to the thief on the cross today you will be with me in paradise so his body was taken down in fact that thief's body we know according to tradition and legal state he was thrown into the valley of Gehenna that physical body was thrown into the garbage dump yet his spirit was with Christ so you have

Christians who are alive in Christ and then you have Christians who are dead in Christ, they are physically dead yet spiritually alive they are physically alive and spiritually alive, does that make sense?

You mentioned Gehenna, I've heard that word can you define it? Gehenna is another word in the

Greek that is used for hell and what it was in the valley of Gehenna, here's if you kind of think of like this being kind of a hilltop and Jerusalem's up here, one of the valleys, when you go down the hill, one of the valleys here is called the valley of Gehenna or, excuse me,

Gehenna and basically it was the city garbage dump and you know you would throw stuff over there, have you ever watched what's it called when you put grass clippings and organic garbage together compost, if you've ever watched a compost pile of course a chemical reaction takes place to the breaking down of organic matter and it actually will start giving off heat, you have an exothermic reaction, it starts giving off that heat, well that was one of the pictures that Jesus used in describing hell he says where the fire doesn't go out, the worm dieth not that maggot, so those that picture that he is painting of hell, he was using that city garbage dump, that decaying burning mass and that maggot infested mass to describe hell, that's why

Gehenna it's a word that's used Is that the same basically the same thing with Lazarus and the rich man?

Okay, okay Sorry No, no, no

I tell you what, let's save that for another because Luke 16 in and of itself paradise and heaven, are they the same thing, are they different, the bosom of Abraham is all that the same, so I mean that's a beautiful discussion and I have a definitive answer

I believe for that but finishing this up because those enchiladas are smelling really good the other thing is this, is that Christ, the reason he came and died and was resurrected, he is the firstborn,

Corinthians tells us that Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, now that doesn't mean, firstborn means preeminence to be sure but it's also firstborn as an example

Jesus is glorified his physical body was resurrected and glorified that has not happened yet for Christians if you go dig up old

Charles Spurgeon right now, his soul is in heaven but his body is still laying decayed in a grave, we as an example will, because we're going to follow

Christ's example right, we, our bodies will be resurrected up now the question becomes if Jesus' life, if his death burial and resurrection is an example of believers the question then begs itself, if Jesus died and his soul went to hell and his body went to the grave then that is could be implied that that would happen to all people, hints from the book of Maccabees and some other places you have this false doctrine of purgatory and basically what purgatory states is that even if you are a

Christian it doesn't matter, in fact I think it was Pope Innocent III said if I will spend a lifetime in purgatory then how much more will you guys, meaning he was so holy and all that other garbage did you have to go to purgatory to still pay for certain sins that is not doctrinally scripturally sound yeah right

Christian listen to me if you don't understand the freedom that is in Christ now here even in a broken body your chains are gone, them shackles are gone, you have been set free, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus there you go your condition may waffle but your position in Christ does not, so once again another reason that I don't believe

Jesus went to hell is because the example said could not doctrinally apply to us now as Vicki kind of alluded to earlier, if the doctrine can't apply to us then how in the world can it apply to a sinless perfect example and sacrifice it is illogical both on a doctrinal and common sense standpoint so by the way

I didn't finish, so you have the alive in Christ, you have the dead in Christ but now you also have the alive that are going to hell and the dead that are already there, so that's the two groupings of people you're either a

Christian or you're not and those two subgroups is you're a Christian who's physically alive or physically dead or you're a lost person who's physically alive or physically dead and unfortunately also an eternity in death

I could go on I made a lot of little notes I could go on but I think it's important to also note this

I tried to cheat but I couldn't read your writing yeah I write kind of quick the

Nephilim and other things and of course this goes into the idea of did angels come down and have sex with physical women and they produced the giants we read that too now once again you can gain some traction from that, from linking certain things in the bible i .e.

Goliath is supposed to be a descendant of one of these people and blah blah blah here's the problem with that it's not doctrinally spoke of the sons of God are the godly line of Seth, in other words the incest was over so in other words generation after generation after generation after generation the line of Seth, i .e.

the other son born or one of the many children the next son born after the whole

Cain and Abel thing to Adam and Eve is a young man named Seth and he saw the daughters of men so what it's saying is that godly line of Seth that Adamic line that went all the way down and of course it goes all the way through to all of us but in particular

Jesus were marrying folks that maybe weren't doing so hot but in no way does that mean that angels were having intercourse with human beings angels don't marry, they don't have sex that's not that was not what they were created to do and we don't turn into angels when we die does angels even have sex?

I don't know but I Lisa Edwards has a question so anyways, alright

Lisa her question is are people who died in their sins already in hell?

thank you Lisa for the question the question was repeat the question one more time please are people who have died in their sins are they already in hell?

okay, so in other words a person, let's, if I could do they go to hell right away when they die? correct, if I could

I think for everyone, I think what she's asking is this, in other words if someone who does not have

Jesus Christ, let's word it like that because that's more definitive someone without Jesus when they physically die, do their souls immediately go to hell?

The answer is yes absolutely and once again, you can call that different things but we know once again from Luke 16 and some of you preachers out there need to listen to this one

Luke 16 is not a parable okay, it's not a parable Jesus talks about a specific man named

Lazarus and Jesus never said it was a parable he said that a rich man was in torment and hell and he physically describes the torment and the hell and he was conscious about the fact that he was thirsty and he was conscious about the fact that he was thirsty he was conscious and he knew that his brothers were still living on earth so yes, if you die right now without the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, yes you will go to hell and I'm sorry,

Jesus isn't coming to hell to rescue you, he's already rescued you one time through the propitiation of God's wrath on him instead of you you have that opportunity right now the

Holy Spirit is talking to you right now and do not harden your heart against the

Holy Spirit of God, you need to humble yourself and you need to come to trust

Jesus Christ for your salvation because he was trying to send him an SOS to his brother what's really cool is it actually says,

Abraham says even if someone rose from the dead they would not believe and what's so powerful about that is we see that in scripture, in fact we talked last night in Acts chapter 4 where the

Sanhedrin was about to punish Peter and John because a guy who was lame for 40 years was standing right beside Peter and John and Peter and John said

Jesus did this they totally discounted that and were just trying to keep a hold on their power, your heart can get that heart in fact we know in the book of Revelation even after God has said this is everything that's going to happen and when those things start transpiring it says that people are actually going to hate

God, they're not denying his existence anymore but they hate him your heart can become that hardened by sin can you maybe help me flush out 1

Peter 18 through 20 1 Peter 3? yes, 1

Peter 3, 18 through 20 well let's flush that out together shall we we shall and I'm looking in my new old man bible specifically 19 through 20 alright 1

Peter let's go chapter 3 and let's go

Roy alright so what is 1

Peter 3? first of all who wrote it? jump right out and say it Peter, there you go it's ok, don't be scared, jump right out and say it so to whom is he writing?

to everybody well ok, let's say he's writing to believers but specifically if you look back here to the temporary residents dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia Asia, Bithynia what he's writing to are the

Jews that have been dispersed because of persecution over the years so Peter, a

Jew, is writing to fellow Jews but who are believers and he's giving them instructions how to live a godly life and of course chapter 3 starts with that famous part in the same way wives make your husband sandwiches with mayonnaise no no no it goes through and it's telling us how we should behave you get to verse 13 and there's a transition of chapter 3 and who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good who's going to harm you?

but even if you should suffer for righteousness you are blessed do not fear what they fear or be disturbed but honor the

Messiah as Lord in your hearts always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason of the hope that is in you however, do this with gentleness and respect keeping your conscience clear so that when you are accused those who denounce your

Christian life will be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be

God's will than doing evil so stop right there so some of the new converts, the new

Christians basically maybe the older generation and some of the more snooty

Jews are sitting there going you sold out your people how can you do this except it's Jesus God, man

God has told it that Jesus is God and they wouldn't listen and so Peter is giving them a word of encouragement hey man, don't get tired stay strong so it says this for Christ also suffered for sins once and for all see he didn't have to go back to hell he suffered once for all so as you read this read it in context he suffered sin once for all the righteous i .e.

Christ, for the unrighteous i .e. Alabama people that he might bring you to God that in itself is the entire gospel right there, the entire gospel after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm in that state he also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison who in the past were disobedient when

God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared in it a few, that is eight people were saved through water baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the pledge of the good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ so what just happened there, what is

Peter saying he's giving them a great illustration and then he gives an illustration to the illustration yeah, and so he sits there and he says

Jesus died once and for all and he was put to death but made alive in the spiritual realm, in that state that spiritual realm, the proclamation of Jesus Christ in his death was made that justice and the truth and the fulfillment of God's covenant plan for that atonement was now complete in Jesus Christ and everyone knew it remember all the demons they came running up and they would call

Jesus the Holy One, they knew who he was, they knew why he was there, right, the finished work of Jesus Christ is a proclamation to everything, okay in the spirit, his flesh his flesh was in the grave, right but his spirit made a proclamation to everyone the spirits in prison who in the past were disobedient now, when it's saying that it's talking about in the past it's talking about specifically the people in the days of Noah okay, this does not mean that Jesus went to hell and talked to the people in the days of Noah, it is an allegory of of the salvation was a proclamation by God the finished work of Jesus Christ just like water baptism is a proclamation of your salvation, but in and of itself it does nothing okay, in other words, salvation is there and available but you recognizing that and you accepting that are two other things, no one was without an excuse, the proclamation the availability of the blood of Jesus Christ is available to anyone, if you do not accept it, you by default have rejected it, so you can't claim later on, well

I didn't know, Romans 1 says that people are without excuse, and so what this discussion here is that Peter is making is, and don't get hung up on those three words okay, don't get hung up on those three words, the proclamation is for all, that it is finished once and for all those people who are still dead in Christ those people who are still encased in sin, those people who are still,

Jesus no longer has to walk in the flesh to make that proclamation, his finished work, his spirit declares that there is freedom in Christ, you can be set free from the ball of sin and death, even as a lost heathen and God is so loving so loving that he actually will save folks from Huntsville I'm from I'm actually from Mississippi Wow that explains a lot

I'm really surprised you bowled it out right out said that I'm from Mississippi you want some juniper back there would you like a championship oh oh man well it's okay because as we just read do not do not let people when they persecute you, we know who

God's people are, that's right absolutely, you have the Mount Zion, you have

Mount Moriah, you have Neely Stadium there you have it well

I'm going to tell y 'all I guess the final word that I have heard tonight is that if you're lost you better be absolutely that's the most important thing, we can talk theology but at the end of the day that is the most important thing that if you're lost, there is a way for you to be found and it's through not churches or stupid preachers it's through the blood of Jesus Christ once and for all, and guys remember if you are truly truly saved, if you're truly saved you are truly truly free you are no longer prisoners and the

Spirit of God declares this right, just repent repent, daily, absolutely hourly, oh man hourly every 15 minutes if you got to if you drive in Memphis it will be by the minute true, it was for me yesterday on my way to work, mile marker 3 you better be on number 3 repentance laughter well

I want to thank y 'all again thanks for coming tonight I've really really really enjoyed this

I can now say that this study is over we can go on to one of the other minis that we've actually there's a couple answers that we got for a couple of our studies and just this one let me say this to y 'all, if you want to study the

Nephilim that's great but before you do that, study the word Elohim Elohim, it's the word used for God, in fact in Genesis 1

God created Elohim but it's also used in Genesis 11 and Genesis 31 it can also be translated as idols or judges or angels and that's important that you understand that that in the