Water that Now Saves You 1 Peter 3:18-22

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Last week, we took a one -Sunday break from 1
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Peter to look at a passage that would help shed light on the passage in 1
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Peter that we find ourselves in this morning. In 1 Peter 1, actually it's actually in 1
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Peter 3, verses 18 through 22, Peter takes us back to Noah's flood.
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So last week, we spent our time in the passage from Genesis that he references, which is Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 through 8.
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In that passage, we saw what caused the flood. And what caused the flood was the great wickedness of mankind.
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What we looked at last week is what specifically was so wicked about that generation that led the
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Lord to send the flood on the earth. We saw three views as to what led to the wickedness of humanity.
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In order to figure this out, we had to learn the identity of the sons of God and these
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Nephilim who caused the major problems on the earth. One view is that fallen angels were the sons of God who impregnated female humans who had extra wicked children known as the
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Nephilim. The second view is that certain evil kings arose at this time and they were called the sons of God and their evil leadership led the world to be a place of great havoc.
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The third view, this is the one that I hold to, since I believe it best fits the context of the previous two chapters.
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In chapter 4, the line of Cain was shown to be a wicked line. At the end of chapter 4, an opposite line was presented, the line of Seth.
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The line of Seth was a righteous line. What I believe Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 through 8 is communicating is that the line of Seth, the sons of God, married any they chose, as the text says, and didn't remain within the boundaries of their own line.
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As offspring was born, this led the majority of humanity being utterly wicked, having the ugly stain of Cain's line all over the human race at this time.
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The Lord was very sorrowful over this. He grieved at what humanity had become.
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The Lord, as the righteous judge, he knew he needed to start afresh with the human race.
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So he sent a flood on the earth that destroyed the entire planet. He only spared eight people,
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Noah, his three sons, and their wives, and of course Noah's wife as well.
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Now in our passage in 1 Peter, Peter references this passage. So now we will have a better understanding of what he's getting at.
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What he is going to do is contrast this judgment from ancient times with something we are very familiar with, water baptism in our time.
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And there's actually a relationship between this judgment of water and the judgment that is pictured in baptism.
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So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to 1 Peter 3. We're going to look at verses 18 -22.
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And if you do not have a Bible, we do have those red Bibles, so please use one of those if you need to. This sermon is titled,
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Water That Now Saves You. And I'm going to begin by reading the text, 1
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Peter 3, verses 18 -22. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey when
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God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water.
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Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels' authorities and powers, having been subjected to him.
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Here's our big idea, what this text is calling each of us to do. Understand that the
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Lord rescues you from judgment. The Lord rescues you from judgment. We're going to see three ways how in this text.
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And the first way how, I'm going to give you the first point right at this moment, it's by saving you through Christ's substitutionary death.
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Saving you through Christ's substitutionary death. And I'm going to zero in on verse 18, where this is a very well -known verse.
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Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
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What the Apostle Peter quotes in verse 18, this is like an Awana verse, right? Eureka Baptist used to have
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Awana back in the days. Maybe you grew up in Awana. Very, very well -known verse in the
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New Testament. And as we look at the context, we can see why he writes about Christ's suffering.
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We just went through three Sundays in verses 8 through 17, where Peter describes the suffering that believers are going to experience as they face opposition from the world.
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With that in mind, Peter describes in verse 18 Christ's suffering. And Peter describes the most significant part of Christ's suffering.
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There are many pinnacle moments in human history, but probably the most significant moment is what took place at the cross of Jesus Christ.
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This was the event where God's plan of salvation came about. The Old Testament predicted that for sinners to be made right before God, the
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Messiah needed to suffer. Isaiah 53 verses 5 and 6 say,
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He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
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Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.
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We have turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
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Then verse 10 of this chapter says this, It was the will of the Lord to crush
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Him. The prophet Isaiah made this prophecy 700 years before Christ came on the scene.
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And 2 ,000 years ago, at the place in Jerusalem known as Golgotha or Calvary, this event was accomplished.
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As Peter once again writes, Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.
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This is not the first time that Peter has described this event in this letter. In 2 verse 24 he wrote,
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He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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By His wounds you have been healed. What Isaiah is explaining and what
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Peter is explaining is what in theology is called the penal substitutionary atonement.
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Now that's a fancy way of saying it, but this is what it means. Jesus took our sins, every one of them, past, present, and future, and those sins were placed upon Him.
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It was as if the perfect one, Jesus, committed those sins, but He did not. At the end of chapter 2 we saw the sinlessness of Christ.
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As Peter recorded in chapter 2 verses 22 and 23, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.
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When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting
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Himself to Him who judges justly. What scripture is describing and what theologians call the penal substitutionary atonement is that Jesus faced the suffering that we as sinners were supposed to face.
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As Peter writes, the righteous for the unrighteous suffers.
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When He went to the cross, He stood in our place. He faced what only sinners are supposed to face.
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Romans 6 .23, another very common verse says, The wages of sin is death.
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What this means is that our payment, our punishment, what we deserve for our sins is death.
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And we know in that verse, Romans 6 .23, what kind of death is being referred to. In the second half of the verse, the
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Apostle Paul explains that those who trust in Christ as Lord and Savior receive eternal life.
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So therefore, those who do not trust get what they deserve for their sins, which is eternal death. That's hell.
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Eternal death. But what is this eternal death? It is described in Isaiah 53 .10,
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which I already read. It was the will of the Lord to crush
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Him. What this means is that Jesus bore the holy wrath of His Father.
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Now a sinner who dies in one's sins, never receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, experiences the wrath of God.
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And the experience of this wrath goes on forever and ever. This is what hell is.
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Revelation 14 .10 describes what takes place in hell. He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, pour it out full strength into the cup of His anger.
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And He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the
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Lamb. The Lamb being the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.
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Now many pastors don't like to talk about the wrath of God because they are concerned that it will scare people away.
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It's true. Any pastor who either doesn't talk about the wrath of God or minimizes it should not be a pastor.
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Let me just say it very plainly. You cannot understand the gospel, what took place at the cross, and what
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Jesus accomplished without understanding the wrath of God. It's not surprising that there was this movement a while ago, a few years back, in the hymn, in Christ Alone, there's a line in there that says, the wrath of God was satisfied.
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There was an effort by compromised Christians to say, well, let's put the love of God was magnified.
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If you think about how, you can see the compromise right there. When Jesus went to the cross,
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He faced hell for you so that you don't have to. Anyone who dies in their sins faces the wrath of God forever.
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This is what the Bible teaches. Once again, those who try to soften God's wrath don't like to highlight this.
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A famous pastor, Tim Keller, who frankly, largely speaking, pushed a worldly Christianity.
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This church is not a fan of him. I've been pretty critical of him.
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It doesn't mean everything he ever said was wrong, but he certainly caused a lot of problems.
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In his view of hell, he described hell as a place of missed opportunity. A place of misery because one missed out on heaven where they have to live with the fact that they rejected the wedding feast for all eternity.
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So in other words, he doesn't emphasize the punishment aspect of it. It is a place of punishment.
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It's not just a place where you miss out on the party. It's a place of suffering where God the
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Father is actually present. Not in the sense of His goodness being over you, but in the sense of His judgment being over you.
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The Bible is clear that hell is a place where God is very much present and it's a place where His anger is poured out on sinners forever and ever.
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While those in hell experience God's wrath, those in heaven experience the
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Lord's sweet presence for all eternity. What Jesus did at the cross is the only hope that humanity has.
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Many of you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have believed that He is your substitute.
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You have believed that no wrath from God awaits you because Jesus paid it all for you.
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This is the hymn we sing. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
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He washed it white as snow. And my prayer is that everyone in this room would believe this.
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You do not want to die in your sins. You want to die with your sins forgiven.
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A Reformer, Martin Luther, called what Jesus did at the cross the great exchange. Your sins go upon Jesus and His righteousness becomes your righteousness.
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This takes place because of the judgment that Jesus experienced that you and I deserve. Understand that the
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Lord rescues you from judgment and the first way how is by saving you through Christ's substitutionary death.
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The second way how you are to understand that the Lord rescues you from judgment is by showing that He once used water for judgment rescuing a remnant.
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A very small remnant. Eight people. At the end of verse 18,
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Peter writes that Jesus was put to death in the body but made alive in the spirit. What does this mean?
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When Jesus died on the cross, His spirit left His body. Just like when anyone else dies.
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In the Gospels, Jesus told the Father I commit my spirit.
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Before Jesus died, He told the thief on the cross With this in mind, let's read verses 19 and 20.
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In which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when
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God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight persons were brought safely through water.
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So at first, this looks like it's referring to what Jesus did after His death. One of the views we covered one week ago teaches that demons took on human form impregnated female humans and believed that giants were born to them.
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By the way, not everyone believes that giants were born to them but there's a few different variations of that view.
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But this is one form of the view where these Nephilim were therefore hybrids between angels and humans and according to this view were held in glooming dungeons.
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The angels, that is, that caused all this they were held in glooming dungeons which is described in 2
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Peter 2 .4 and Jude 6. So this view says that Jesus proclaimed victory over these demons who really acted way out of their place after His victorious death where He conquered sin,
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Satan, and death. So with this interpretation the spirits in prison
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He proclaims victory over them because they did not obey in the days of Noah as verse 20 says.
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But as I explained one week ago and what I explained in the introduction is that I believe that what caused the flood what made the world so wicked at this time was the pollution of these two lines the line of Cain and the line of Seth which led to unprecedented wickedness that led the
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Lord to destroy the entire planet with water. So with this in mind we need to explain the identity of the spirits in prison that Jesus preached to.
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Once again, the previous view says that this proclaiming to the spirits in prison happened after Jesus' death when
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His spirit went to the netherworld to proclaim victory over these demons who went way out of place by taking on this human form and populating the earth.
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But the view that I hold to says something different. And as I say this it's okay to disagree with me
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I don't get every interpretation right but my goal is to do my best to find the truth of every passage and in my interpretation the spirits in prison are referring to the ungodly humans who were wiped out before the flood came.
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These ungodly were preached to they were preached to by Noah as he built the ark.
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The wicked world of this day had ample time to repent since it took Noah many many years to build the ark.
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But the text says that Jesus is the one who preached to these spirits in prison. But we know that Noah is the one who preached.
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We know of course that Jesus has always existed. He is both God and man.
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Jesus was there in the Old Testament. In fact, every time God took on human form it was likely the second person of the
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Trinity who was doing the work. So every theophany that's when God takes on human form it's called a theophany every theophany is a
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Christophany. So yes, Noah preached but Jesus was preaching through him.
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In chapter 1 verse 11 Peter wrote that Jesus preached through the Old Testament prophets.
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In 2 Peter 2 5 Peter calls Noah a herald of righteousness.
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One author also says this the context indicates that Christ was preaching through Noah who was in a persecuted minority and God saved
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Noah which is similar to the situation in Peter's time. Christ is now preaching the gospel through Peter and his readers to a persecuted minority and God will save them.
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So this view tells us that the spirits in prison are describing humans. And you might wonder can the spirits in prison be describing humans?
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The answer is yes. Humans are made up of both body and spirit.
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Ever since sin and death came into the world when a human dies his body and spirit are separated.
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That's what death means by the way. It means separation. Your spirit leaves your body.
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These humans in ancient times who rejected the gospel message that Christ preached through Noah are now spirits in prison.
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They are in hell awaiting the day of judgment where their body and soul are reunited.
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And at that point these ancient people and all unbelievers down through history will be thrown in the future into the lake of fire.
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The lake of fire is a future event. But there is a present hell where spirits go of the ungodly, those who die without Christ.
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These ancient people didn't listen to the preaching and so God sent the flood on the entire earth.
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So as we think about this judgment that these ancient people experienced we need to ask the question what is a flood?
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Understanding how God uses water is the key to understanding this text. A flood is when lots of water overtakes a place where everything in its path is destroyed.
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And during the global flood everyone died except for 8 people. Now we view water as a blessing.
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We need water to live. In this area farmers and people who have a garden know that water is essential for crops and vegetation and fruit.
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But an abundance of water in one place is deadly. We want a little bit of water.
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We don't want too much water. The most water that has ever been on this earth was during the global flood that happened about 4400 years ago.
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It rained 40 days and 40 nights. And not only that but Genesis records that water burst from underground as well.
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It rained 40 days and 40 nights and all this water came about. There was so much water that it didn't matter how high one was on the earth.
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In our day if a flood hits if you're on high ground you're safe. But people go to the highest mountains.
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If they did this in ancient times they would not have been safe from this flood. The highest peaks were covered with water.
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In these ancient days the Lord used water as judgment for those who lived before the flood.
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The spirits in prison who would not listen to the message of Christ through Noah. These people experienced the judgment that God poured out on the earth when he sent the global flood.
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Water which we value so much which we can't live without was used as an instrument of judgment on this earth.
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God used water to cleanse the world of the ungodly and start over. But what is remarkable is that a remnant was spared.
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As this judgment is happening a remnant was spared as they were put in the ark.
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As the end of verse 20 says eight persons were brought safely through water as the flood came on the earth.
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As the judgment through waters took place as God sent the flood on the earth the Lord showed by his grace by sparing he showed his grace by sparing
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Noah and his family. They were saved through the waters of judgment.
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So this is our second point. Understand that the Lord rescues you from judgment. The second way how is by showing that he once used water for judgment rescuing a remnant.
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You can see this picture here. This Old Testament picture of the flood. These eight people who are spared and how it points to the bigger redemption that the
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Bible describes. Here's our third point. The third way how you would understand that the Lord rescues you from judgment is by revealing that you too have been rescued through Christ's judgment.
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We'll see this in the final two verses. So we saw that the Lord sent an abundance of water as an instrument of judgment.
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Now there's new water that also symbolizes judgment. Verses 21 and 22.
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Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you. Not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
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So as we just saw the Lord sent an abundance of water as an instrument of judgment.
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Now there's new water. So Peter makes clear in the beginning of verse 21 that there's a relationship of the water of judgment in ancient times and the water today that we are very familiar with.
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This is of course referring to baptism as the beginning of verse 21 says. We are a
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Baptist church. It's in our name. Eureka Baptist. We used to be called
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Eureka Danish Baptist. They probably thought that was too exclusive, right?
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So let's invite people besides Danes to the church. Eureka Baptist Church. And we practice the biblical practice of baptizing people upon profession of faith.
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The Greek word baptizo means to immerse one in water. There's a reason we don't sprinkle water on people.
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We immerse them. This is what we do when someone becomes a believer in Christ.
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In Romans 6 verses 1 through 4 describes the inward reality of baptism. That passage says what shall we say then?
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Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?
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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. What baptism symbolizes is that as Christ has conquered sin,
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Satan, and death, so does a believer conquer because a believer is united to Christ.
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Before you came to faith in Christ, sin had dominion over you. But once you believe in Jesus, your sins are forgiven, and not only are you no longer under sin's penalty, but sin also no longer has power over you as it once did.
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Water baptism symbolizes this inward reality. You die and are raised with Christ to new life, and you're able to live the victorious life in the power of the
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Holy Spirit. Now the water does not have magic in it where you cannot be saved unless you go into the waters.
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Now this is the false belief known as baptismal regeneration, which means that you are officially born again when you enter the waters of baptism.
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That's not true. Salvation happens through faith alone. What water baptism is, is a symbol of the life you have in Christ.
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What Peter is doing is comparing the salvation that Noah and his family experienced in ancient times with the salvation that believers experience in Christ.
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Noah and his family, as I stated in the previous point, were saved through the waters of judgment. And what saved them was a boat, a big boat, known as the ark.
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In the same way, Peter's readers and all of us, as we put our trust in Christ for our salvation, for the forgiveness of sins, are saved through his judgment.
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Water baptism pictures the judgment that Jesus experienced as he bore the holy wrath of his father on the cross.
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He took our punishment for us, as we saw in the first point. He is our substitution.
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Just as Noah was saved through judgment, so we are saved through judgment.
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As one author writes, in both instances, believers are saved through the waters of judgment, since baptism portrays salvation through judgment.
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You could picture this here. The ark. Water. Storming the ark.
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Eight protected inside the ark. Jesus. Wrath of God.
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Storming over Jesus. Anybody who's united to him. Anybody who's in him is safe.
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You understand the picture here? Jesus is the ark. Christian leaders down through church history have highlighted this.
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They were spared from the judgment of the waters in ancient times. And believers, too, are spared from the judgment of the wrath of God as you're united to Christ.
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He is your forgiveness. He is your righteousness. You are secure in him because you are united to him.
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No judgment comes upon you. It comes upon him. And as I mentioned, the waters of baptism is not some magical event.
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Like Twin Lakes suddenly becomes this place of magic when we go there. As Peter writes in verse 21, not as a removal of dirt from the body.
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But what it does accomplish is what he writes in the middle of verse 21. It's an appeal to God for a good conscience.
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And this good conscience is made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the end of verse 21 says.
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Because through his death and resurrection, he conquered sin, Satan, and death.
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And those allied with him conquer alongside him. It is not the mere act of going into the waters of baptism that gives you a clear conscience.
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But the acknowledgement that you are a sinner and that you are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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Water baptism itself doesn't save you. But when you are baptized with water, you have a clear conscience.
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You are proclaiming to the world your true faith in Christ. That you have allied yourself with the one who has conquered.
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Water baptism doesn't save you. But it is an important step of obedience for the
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Christian. Water baptism has been done by believers for 2 ,000 years. Following the pattern of the
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New Testament. The pattern is that you believe and then you're baptized. My New Testament professor once said, in the early church, there was no such thing as a
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Christian who was not baptized. They knew what Scripture taught. There was also no such thing as a
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Christian who didn't belong to a local church, by the way. All those who put their trust in Christ symbolize their new life in Christ through the public symbol known as water baptism.
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If you haven't been baptized before and you're a follower of Jesus or want to become a follower of Jesus, don't hesitate to be baptized.
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We have a baptism coming up on December 10th following the morning service. We're going to do that down at Taylor's Falls Baptist.
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And we would love for you to publicly proclaim what has happened to you inwardly.
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That you have been rescued by Jesus Christ. That you belong to Him. That you are united to Him. That you are secure in Him.
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He faced the wrath for you so that you don't have to. He is the ark. And just as the waters of judgment came over the ark, the wrath of God came over Him.
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And if you're in Him, you are rescued forever. So let's wrap this up here.
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Understand that the Lord rescues you from judgment. In this text we've seen three ways. How? By saving you through Christ's substitutionary death.
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That's the first way. The second way is by showing that He once used water for judgment. Rescuing a remnant.
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And as we just saw, by revealing that you too have been rescued through Christ's judgment.
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What we see clearly through the flood and through the reality of hell is that judgment is brought on the ungodly.
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I mentioned last week Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7. The Lord, the Lord, a God who's gracious and merciful.
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He is gracious and merciful. But His grace doesn't go on forever. That text says
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He will by no means clear the guilty. He does bring judgment on the ungodly.
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But through Jesus and through Jesus alone, just like in the ancient times, the ark was the only thing that was going to save anybody.
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It didn't matter if you went on top of a mountain. It was only the ark that was going to save people. In the same way, it is through Jesus alone.
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He's the only rescue. People pursue all these different religious pursuits. Every one of them fails.
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It's only in Christ that anybody will be spared from judgment day. He faced judgment for you so that you don't have to.
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And for everyone here who has found the refuge in Christ, rejoice this morning. Be forever grateful.
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And if you have not, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Now next
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Sunday, Pastor Doug Schmidt will be preaching. He's excited to bring this message to you and I'm excited for each of you to hear the message the
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Lord wants him to bring. He's going to be preaching from Jude, a tiny letter in the
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New Testament. So I'm looking forward to him bringing the word. And it's good for you guys to hear from someone other than me too.
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So that'll be next Sunday. And then the following Sunday, we have Harvest Service. And then it'll be at First Peter again.
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So we'll be taking a couple week break from First Peter. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
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Father in Heaven, we do acknowledge that without you,
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Lord, judgment will come upon us and that's the judgment that we deserve. And it's interesting,
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Lord, that it's not as if you can just forgive us. Something needs to happen to make forgiveness possible.
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And that's what the cross of Christ does. He is our substitute.
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He faced hell for us so that we don't have to. You are a just God and you consider what you did to your son 2 ,000 years ago, you consider that a full payment for our sins.
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And how wonderful that is that we can sing that song, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.
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Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. You made a way, Lord, and it's sufficient.
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And we give you praise and we give you thanks this morning. My prayer, Lord, is that everyone here would find that refuge in Jesus who truly is the ark.
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We must do that and that everyone would get inside the door of that boat.
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Apply this, Lord, to everyone right where they're at and we give you praise and thanks this morning for our substitute, the one who faces the judgment for us,