Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 1 Peter 3:17-22 - How to Know if You Were Baptized With the Holy Spirit

Transcript

1 Peter 3:17-22 - How to Know if You Were Baptized With the Holy Spirit · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio Hi, faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast.
0:13
Speaker 1: You'll never guess what I'm doing right now. I have
0:16
Speaker 1: my heated blanket on. It's not even fall yet, and
0:21
Speaker 1: it's so cold outside that I have to use my
0:25
Speaker 1: heated blanket. I am so sad that summer feels like
0:28
Speaker 1: it's already over. hoping for a few more warm days
0:32
Speaker 1: before we get into the brutal winters of my area.
0:38
Speaker 1: But still, today's a beautiful day. It's kind of one
0:40
Speaker 1: of those like nice, crisp, rainy days, you know, where
0:43
Speaker 1: it feels like you want to curl up with a
0:45
Speaker 1: good book or the good book, which is what we're
0:49
Speaker 1: going to talk about today. First Peter chapter three, and
0:52
Speaker 1: we're finally going to finish up this chapter. We've been
0:54
Speaker 1: in this chapter for two weeks now. So yeah, today
0:58
Speaker 1: is the last day in 1 Peter 3. So we
1:01
Speaker 1: will get into this, but first, you guys know the drill.
1:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to play a sponsored ad for you guys,
1:05
Speaker 1: and I'll be back right after that. As that advertisement
1:10
Speaker 1: was playing, hopefully you guys got a chance to grab
1:12
Speaker 1: your Bible out of the version that you prefer and
1:14
Speaker 1: also your cup of water or a cup of tea
1:16
Speaker 1: or a cup of coffee, whatever you're drinking this morning.
1:19
Speaker 1: Go ahead and share that with me. Let's go ahead
1:21
Speaker 1: and read 1 Peter 3, 17 through 22 and finish
1:25
Speaker 1: up this chapter. In fact, today's portion is talking about
1:28
Speaker 1: kind of a perplexing topic, which is Jesus going and
1:31
Speaker 1: preaching to the spirits while they were in prison. So
1:35
Speaker 1: let's read 1 Peter 3, 17 through 22 together. For
1:41
Speaker 1: it is better, if it is God's will, that you
1:43
Speaker 1: suffer for doing what is right than for doing evil.
1:46
Speaker 1: Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for
1:49
Speaker 1: the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being
1:52
Speaker 1: put to death in the flesh, but made alive in
1:55
Speaker 1: the Spirit, in whom he also went and preached to
1:58
Speaker 1: the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient when God
2:01
Speaker 1: waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ship
2:03
Speaker 1: was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls,
2:07
Speaker 1: were saved through water. This is a symbol of baptism.
2:10
Speaker 1: which now saves you, not the putting away of the
2:13
Speaker 1: filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
2:15
Speaker 1: conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who
2:19
Speaker 1: is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven,
2:22
Speaker 1: angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. Now,
2:28
Speaker 1: this is a really interesting conclusion to everything we've been
2:30
Speaker 1: talking about over the past couple of weeks, because we've
2:33
Speaker 1: been discussing the idea of putting our personal comfort aside
2:39
Speaker 1: almost to the side in order to potentially bring somebody
2:43
Speaker 1: to Jesus. So our personal comfort does not matter as
2:47
Speaker 1: much as somebody else's soul. So Peter was giving a
2:51
Speaker 1: list of everybody we should be submitting to, depending on
2:55
Speaker 1: what area of life we're in. So for example, if
2:58
Speaker 1: we're a wife, we should be submitting to our husband.
3:00
Speaker 1: And in doing so, you submit to God. If you're
3:03
Speaker 1: a servant, you should submit to your master. If you're
3:07
Speaker 1: a husband, you should submit to God by being respectful
3:11
Speaker 1: and honorable towards your wife. And if you're just a
3:14
Speaker 1: normal citizen, you should be respectful to the governing authorities.
3:18
Speaker 1: And then Peter kind of wraps it up by saying,
3:20
Speaker 1: just be respectful to everybody. Essentially, as a Christian, we
3:25
Speaker 1: should be showing respect, not just to our fellow Christians,
3:28
Speaker 1: but essentially to everybody, but especially to our fellow Christians.
3:32
Speaker 1: Because if we can't love one of our brothers and
3:34
Speaker 1: sisters in Christ, How are we ever going to love
3:37
Speaker 1: somebody that isn't a brother or sister in Christ? So
3:41
Speaker 1: we should just be respectful to all people. And so
3:44
Speaker 1: now we move into our portion for today, verse 17.
3:47
Speaker 1: So notice here it says, if it is God's will,
3:57
Speaker 1: you will suffer for doing what is right rather than
4:00
Speaker 1: for doing evil. So this doesn't mean that, you know,
4:03
Speaker 1: Christians have to go out and look for ways to suffer,
4:07
Speaker 1: because I don't think that it's always in God's will
4:10
Speaker 1: for us to just needlessly suffer. But sometimes God will
4:14
Speaker 1: use suffering in order to discipline us in some way.
4:18
Speaker 1: And when I say discipline, by the way, a lot
4:20
Speaker 1: of times that word has negative connotations. as if you
4:23
Speaker 1: did something wrong, but that's not always the case. I mean,
4:27
Speaker 1: think about the word disciple. You know, Jesus's 12 disciples,
4:30
Speaker 1: they were being disciplined by Jesus. They were following Jesus
4:35
Speaker 1: and he was discipling them. So when we go through
4:39
Speaker 1: discipline of God, it's not necessarily that we're doing something
4:43
Speaker 1: wrong per se. It could be, but it could also
4:46
Speaker 1: just be that he is training us to be more
4:49
Speaker 1: like him. So for example, you know, I was just
4:51
Speaker 1: with my sister and my niece recently, and I was
4:54
Speaker 1: just watching my sister correct a thank you note that
4:58
Speaker 1: my niece was writing. And it was a really cute
5:00
Speaker 1: and well done thank you note. But there are certain
5:03
Speaker 1: things that maybe could have been done better. Could the
5:07
Speaker 1: person who received the thank you note have understood what
5:09
Speaker 1: it was saying, even with a few misspellings? Absolutely. And
5:12
Speaker 1: did my niece purposely make those mistakes because she was
5:16
Speaker 1: in rebellion? No, it was her innocence. She didn't know
5:19
Speaker 1: how to spell certain words. So my sister was not
5:22
Speaker 1: disciplining her in anger, but she was encouraging her to
5:25
Speaker 1: do the work over again. She was disciplining her so
5:28
Speaker 1: that the thank you notes could be even better and
5:31
Speaker 1: benefit both the receiver of the note and my niece
5:35
Speaker 1: as she learns to spell even more words. So God
5:38
Speaker 1: sometimes disciplines us. And he'll do it through various means.
5:42
Speaker 1: But it's not always his will for us to suffer needlessly.
5:45
Speaker 1: Hence why Peter says right here, if it is God's
5:49
Speaker 1: will for you to suffer, then suffer to the best
5:52
Speaker 1: of your ability, but only suffer for doing something good.
5:56
Speaker 1: Don't suffer for doing something evil. That's what he says
5:58
Speaker 1: right here. It is better if it is God's will
6:00
Speaker 1: that you suffer for doing what is right rather than
6:03
Speaker 1: for doing evil. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Christians
6:06
Speaker 1: out there who do a lot of very silly and
6:09
Speaker 1: stupid things and then get humiliated or punished for those things.
6:15
Speaker 1: And then they claim persecution. And it's like, no, you're
6:20
Speaker 1: not being persecuted. You're just wrong. And you're suffering the
6:24
Speaker 1: consequences of the silly or stupid or untruthful thing. that
6:28
Speaker 1: you just did. So don't conflate the two. When you're
6:32
Speaker 1: being persecuted, it's because you're standing for the truth. It's
6:35
Speaker 1: because you're standing for something right. It's because you're believing
6:39
Speaker 1: in Jesus and you're not compromising on your faith. You're
6:42
Speaker 1: not giving in to what other people want you to do,
6:45
Speaker 1: but you're standing on your convictions. And if you are
6:48
Speaker 1: mistreated or ostracized or shunned, for standing on a conviction
6:54
Speaker 1: that you know and believe wholeheartedly is from God and
6:58
Speaker 1: it's in the truth of scripture, that then becomes persecution.
7:03
Speaker 1: But in contrast, if you're hurting somebody or offended that
7:06
Speaker 1: somebody won't back down on their conviction because you want
7:10
Speaker 1: them to, or you mistreat somebody and you pay the
7:13
Speaker 1: consequences for it, that's not persecution. That's just consequences. And
7:18
Speaker 1: Christians need to be more mindful, I think, sometimes as
7:22
Speaker 1: to what is persecution and what is just consequences. So
7:25
Speaker 1: Peter tells us to avoid the consequences, avoid doing silly
7:30
Speaker 1: things so that we don't have to pay the consequences.
7:33
Speaker 1: But if you're persecuted for doing something that is right,
7:37
Speaker 1: then God sees that and he blesses you for that.
7:40
Speaker 1: That's what Peter said, going back to verse 11. Let
7:43
Speaker 1: him turn away from evil and do good. Let him
7:45
Speaker 1: seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the
7:47
Speaker 1: Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open
7:49
Speaker 1: to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is
7:50
Speaker 1: against those who do evil. God sees the righteous person
7:54
Speaker 1: and he sees the persecution that they are suffering. So
7:57
Speaker 1: it's better to suffer for doing something good. If it
8:00
Speaker 1: is God's will for that to happen, then it is
8:03
Speaker 1: for suffering for doing something wrong. Because when you suffer
8:07
Speaker 1: for doing good, Peter actually says you become more like Christ.
8:11
Speaker 1: Here's what he says in verse 18. because Christ also
8:13
Speaker 1: suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that
8:18
Speaker 1: he might bring you to God, being put to death
8:20
Speaker 1: in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit.
8:24
Speaker 1: So Christ had to go through the ultimate suffering for
8:28
Speaker 1: dying for sinful individuals. And it says that he did
8:31
Speaker 1: this once. So I don't believe that Jesus has to
8:34
Speaker 1: come down to earth to suffer for our sins over
8:37
Speaker 1: and over and over again. That is what some people teach.
8:40
Speaker 1: That is what transubstantiation is. I do not believe that's biblical.
8:44
Speaker 1: And Hebrews goes a lot more into depth about how
8:47
Speaker 1: Jesus only suffered and died for sins once. He is
8:51
Speaker 1: sitting currently at the right hand of God, and that
8:55
Speaker 1: is where he remains, which actually is what Peter says
8:57
Speaker 1: at the very end here. But anyway, everybody who wants
9:00
Speaker 1: to believe in Jesus is going to experience some form
9:03
Speaker 1: of persecution or another. And it's not always the extreme
9:08
Speaker 1: persecution that we hear about, like in Nazi Germany or
9:12
Speaker 1: in Stalin's Russia, or even in some of the Middle
9:15
Speaker 1: Eastern countries we read about today, it's not always going
9:19
Speaker 1: to be that kind of physical persecution. Sometimes it's going
9:21
Speaker 1: to be a lot more subtle. Sometimes it's going to
9:24
Speaker 1: be people who ostracize you, who reject you, who maybe
9:29
Speaker 1: cancel you, or just don't want to hang out with
9:32
Speaker 1: you because you're a Christian. It might be people who
9:35
Speaker 1: slander you, talk bad about you behind your back, gossip
9:37
Speaker 1: about you, try to get you fired from your job
9:40
Speaker 1: or kick you out of your church. Could be people
9:43
Speaker 1: who stab you in the back, people who you thought
9:45
Speaker 1: were your friends. Maybe even they say that they're Christians,
9:48
Speaker 1: but they hurt you and stabbed you in the back
9:51
Speaker 1: because you stood for a conviction that you knew was scriptural.
9:56
Speaker 1: All of these things are persecution. And every single one
10:00
Speaker 1: of us is going to experience that kind of behavior
10:04
Speaker 1: from other people when we follow Jesus. But this is
10:08
Speaker 1: not something to discourage Christians from following the gospel. In fact,
10:12
Speaker 1: it says in scripture that this is a cause for
10:15
Speaker 1: great joy in the future. Jesus said on the Sermon
10:18
Speaker 1: on the Mount, he said, blessed are those who are
10:21
Speaker 1: persecuted for righteousness sake, because they're just like the prophets
10:26
Speaker 1: of the old days that were persecuted for their faith,
10:30
Speaker 1: for their belief in God and for what they said
10:32
Speaker 1: about the coming Messiah. They were persecuted and blessed in
10:36
Speaker 1: the eyes of God. We also become more like Christ
10:40
Speaker 1: who suffered on our behalf and who was persecuted by
10:43
Speaker 1: the religious leaders and not just the religious leaders, but
10:47
Speaker 1: the Roman government as a whole. Both religious Jews and
10:51
Speaker 1: pagan Gentiles persecuted and mistreated and killed the Messiah. And
10:57
Speaker 1: we become more like Jesus when we suffer through our
11:00
Speaker 1: forms of persecution, whatever they may be. And Peter did
11:04
Speaker 1: say that we are going to be blessed for the
11:07
Speaker 1: persecution that we endure. Going back to verse 14, the
11:10
Speaker 1: first part of it, Peter says, but even if you
11:12
Speaker 1: should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. So we
11:17
Speaker 1: are blessed when we suffer persecution. And I don't know
11:20
Speaker 1: what that blessing entails exactly. It doesn't feel like much
11:23
Speaker 1: of a blessing here on earth when people mistreat you
11:26
Speaker 1: and ostracize you. But whatever the blessing is, I'm sure
11:29
Speaker 1: it's going to be far more amazing than anything anything
11:32
Speaker 1: we can ever imagine, because it's coming from Jesus, the
11:36
Speaker 1: giver of all good things on earth, the creator of everything.
11:40
Speaker 1: So he's going to bless you when you go through
11:43
Speaker 1: various trials, when people mistreat you for standing up for him.
11:48
Speaker 1: But moving on to these perplexing verses right here, verses
11:51
Speaker 1: 18 through 20, it says, Christ also suffered for sins once,
11:55
Speaker 1: the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you
11:57
Speaker 1: to God. being put to death in the flesh, but
12:00
Speaker 1: made alive in the spirit, in whom he also went
12:04
Speaker 1: and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were
12:07
Speaker 1: disobedient when God waited patiently in the days of Noah,
12:11
Speaker 1: while the ship was being built. In it, few, that
12:14
Speaker 1: is eight souls were saved through water. This is probably
12:18
Speaker 1: one of the most confusing passages of scripture that scholars
12:25
Speaker 1: just love to debate. And it is kind of confusing because, honestly,
12:30
Speaker 1: we don't really have a lot of information about this
12:33
Speaker 1: other than what Peter just said right here. That at
12:36
Speaker 1: some point in time, the Spirit went and preached to
12:41
Speaker 1: the other spirits, the ones that were disobedient, in the
12:45
Speaker 1: days of Noah when Noah was building the ark. And
12:48
Speaker 1: there's a lot of questions that arise from this passage.
12:52
Speaker 1: Was the Holy Spirit going and preaching to these other spirits?
12:56
Speaker 1: Was it Jesus when he was down in the grave
12:59
Speaker 1: for those three days? Was Jesus going and preaching to
13:02
Speaker 1: these spirits? Or was this back in the days of
13:04
Speaker 1: the flood? Was Jesus going and preaching to the Nephilim?
13:07
Speaker 1: Or was it the other lost souls? You know, just
13:10
Speaker 1: the average lost human being. Was Jesus urging them to
13:15
Speaker 1: get into the ark? So there's a lot of questions
13:18
Speaker 1: that surround this passage here. So let's break it down
13:22
Speaker 1: and look at it a little bit more in depth.
13:24
Speaker 1: It says in verse 18 that Jesus was made alive
13:28
Speaker 1: in the spirit in whom he also went and preached
13:32
Speaker 1: to the spirits in prison. So who are the spirits
13:36
Speaker 1: in prison? Let's start with that. Well, it could be
13:38
Speaker 1: the Nephilim that's talked about in Genesis chapter six. Let's
13:42
Speaker 1: read that real quick. Genesis six, one through five. When
13:46
Speaker 1: men began to multiply on the surface of the ground
13:49
Speaker 1: and daughters were born to them, God's sons saw that
13:52
Speaker 1: men's daughters were beautiful and they took any that they
13:55
Speaker 1: wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, my spirit will
13:59
Speaker 1: not strive with man forever because he is also flesh.
14:02
Speaker 1: So his days will be 120 years. The Nephilim were
14:06
Speaker 1: in the earth in these days. And also after that,
14:09
Speaker 1: when God's sons came into men's daughters and had children
14:12
Speaker 1: with them, those were the mighty men who were of old,
14:15
Speaker 1: men of renown. Yahweh saw the wickedness of man was
14:18
Speaker 1: great on the earth and that every imagination of the
14:21
Speaker 1: thoughts of man's heart was continually only evil. And so
14:26
Speaker 1: after that, it talks about how God decided to flood
14:28
Speaker 1: the earth and how he talked to Noah to build
14:31
Speaker 1: an ark to save himself and his family because Noah
14:36
Speaker 1: was the only person, it doesn't even mention Noah's sons,
14:39
Speaker 1: Noah was the only person left on earth That was
14:43
Speaker 1: not fully corrupt. He was the only man on the
14:47
Speaker 1: entire planet that was actually walking with God and doing
14:50
Speaker 1: something good. So God was planning on saving Noah. But
14:55
Speaker 1: who are these sons of God mentioned here? Well, they're
14:58
Speaker 1: probably angels, specifically fallen angels. It's fascinating how scripture always
15:04
Speaker 1: connects with itself, by the way, because I'm going to
15:06
Speaker 1: be talking about this same topic tomorrow in the book
15:09
Speaker 1: of Job. as we get into the sons of God
15:13
Speaker 1: coming into the throne room and talking with God. So
15:17
Speaker 1: it's always crazy to me how scripture connects. But basically,
15:20
Speaker 1: the sons of God are probably the angels, specifically the
15:24
Speaker 1: angels that rebelled against God and fell. They wanted to
15:29
Speaker 1: come down to earth. They thought the women were pretty sexy.
15:32
Speaker 1: And so they came and had children with the women
15:35
Speaker 1: instead of following the plan of God. And these children
15:39
Speaker 1: became the Nephilim. And the Nephilim later on in scripture
15:43
Speaker 1: were considered to be giants. But it says right here
15:46
Speaker 1: that these Nephilim were mighty men who were of old,
15:49
Speaker 1: men of renown, whatever that might be like. And it
15:53
Speaker 1: says in verse 6 of Genesis 6 that Yahweh was
15:55
Speaker 1: sorry that he had made man on the earth and
15:58
Speaker 1: it grieved him in his heart because of just the depravity,
16:01
Speaker 1: the sinfulness, the violence, just the terrible things that were
16:04
Speaker 1: happening on the earth, possibly because of the influence of
16:09
Speaker 1: these fallen angels and Nephilim. as well. So a lot
16:13
Speaker 1: of people think, going back to 1 Peter 3, that
16:16
Speaker 1: these spirits in prison were the fallen angels, the angels
16:20
Speaker 1: that rebelled against God, came down to earth, had sex
16:24
Speaker 1: with human beings, created these Nephilim, and caused a lot
16:29
Speaker 1: of corruption, violence, and sin on the earth. But it
16:34
Speaker 1: could also be the men of Noah's age. Again, It
16:40
Speaker 1: wasn't just the Nephilim that were causing all of this corruption.
16:43
Speaker 1: It actually says in Genesis 6, 6 that Yahweh was
16:46
Speaker 1: sorry that he had made a man on the earth
16:49
Speaker 1: and it grieved him in his heart. So it wasn't
16:52
Speaker 1: just the problem of the fallen angels. It was man
16:55
Speaker 1: that was grieving God so deeply. So could it be
16:59
Speaker 1: that these spirits in prison are the men and women
17:03
Speaker 1: in the days of Noah that essentially were spiritually bound?
17:08
Speaker 1: Their souls were imprisoned. And could it be at this
17:11
Speaker 1: point in time that God's spirit went across the entire
17:15
Speaker 1: earth preaching to these individuals, telling them to repent or
17:19
Speaker 1: get on the ark? But it's certainly not outside of
17:23
Speaker 1: the realm of possibility because God always waits for people
17:27
Speaker 1: to repent. You know, the ark took decades for Noah
17:31
Speaker 1: to build by hand. And during this time, I am
17:33
Speaker 1: sure that God was encouraging people to repent and turn
17:37
Speaker 1: away from their sins. Because again, God... always encourages repentance
17:42
Speaker 1: before he shows judgment on somebody. That is consistent throughout scripture.
17:49
Speaker 1: The only time we don't see that was the case of,
17:54
Speaker 1: I think his name was Uzziah. Was it Uzziah? When
17:57
Speaker 1: David was bringing the ark back into Jerusalem and that
18:01
Speaker 1: guy Uzziah reached out and touched the ark and God
18:04
Speaker 1: struck him dead. But even then, Uzziah was one of
18:08
Speaker 1: the priests. He had grown up with the ark. He
18:11
Speaker 1: was one of the sons of the man that was
18:14
Speaker 1: caring for the ark. So he knew how to care
18:16
Speaker 1: for the ark. So could it be that Uzziah was
18:19
Speaker 1: constantly getting a call to repentance from God for his
18:23
Speaker 1: behavior toward the ark in the past? And him reaching
18:26
Speaker 1: out and touching the ark blatantly against God's command was
18:30
Speaker 1: kind of the last straw that we see. And God
18:33
Speaker 1: struck him dead right there. We don't know. But every
18:37
Speaker 1: other time in scripture that we see, repentance was always
18:41
Speaker 1: encouraged by God before he brought judgment down on a person.
18:46
Speaker 1: And I think that's true also with the days of Noah.
18:48
Speaker 1: After all, God gave everybody ample warning time that he
18:51
Speaker 1: was going to flood the earth. He told Noah to
18:54
Speaker 1: start building that ark. And Noah took years and years
18:57
Speaker 1: and years to build it. And finally, God's judgment was
19:00
Speaker 1: pronounced and the rains came. So could it be that
19:02
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit or Jesus' spirit was preaching to the
19:05
Speaker 1: people in the days of Noah? Absolutely. And I think
19:08
Speaker 1: that that is definitely plausible. But it could also be,
19:12
Speaker 1: and this is the most popular opinion about this passage,
19:17
Speaker 1: is that when Jesus was down in the ground after
19:19
Speaker 1: he had been crucified and buried in the tomb, he
19:22
Speaker 1: was in that tomb for three nights. And a lot
19:25
Speaker 1: of people think during that time that Jesus went to hell.
19:29
Speaker 1: It could be. But it could also be that Jesus
19:32
Speaker 1: went to whatever prison this was. where these fallen angels
19:37
Speaker 1: were being kept by God himself and actually preached to
19:42
Speaker 1: these fallen angels. And not necessarily a sermon of forgiveness
19:48
Speaker 1: and repentance, but more a sermon of victory, that their
19:51
Speaker 1: plans did not succeed to become gods themselves, that Jesus
19:56
Speaker 1: reigns supreme, that God is the awesome and true and
20:01
Speaker 1: only God, and that his plan of salvation has come
20:05
Speaker 1: to fruition. Could it be that's where Jesus went in
20:08
Speaker 1: the three days that he was in the ground? Very possible.
20:12
Speaker 1: So again, we don't really know what Peter means by
20:15
Speaker 1: this passage. I don't really know, but it is interesting
20:18
Speaker 1: to think about for sure. But he says right here
20:22
Speaker 1: to conclude all of this in verse 20, that in
20:26
Speaker 1: the floodwaters, you know, back in the days of Noah,
20:29
Speaker 1: when all of these people were rebellious, whether it was
20:31
Speaker 1: the fallen angels or the individual people in Noah's day,
20:35
Speaker 1: During that mass rebellion, there was only a few people saved,
20:40
Speaker 1: eight souls specifically, saved through water. And now this is
20:45
Speaker 1: a symbol of baptism, verse 21, which now saves you,
20:49
Speaker 1: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
20:51
Speaker 1: but the answer of a good conscience toward God through
20:54
Speaker 1: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right
20:57
Speaker 1: hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities
21:00
Speaker 1: and powers being made subject to him. Peter actually says
21:04
Speaker 1: right there, that the floodwaters in the days of Noah
21:07
Speaker 1: are a symbol of baptism. And not because of the
21:10
Speaker 1: water aspect of all of it, but because Noah and
21:13
Speaker 1: his family were brought through this destruction into a brand
21:18
Speaker 1: new life. God saved them from all of it. And
21:22
Speaker 1: Peter actually says that this symbol of baptism now saves you. Now,
21:27
Speaker 1: hold on a second. You might be like, Jen, baptism
21:30
Speaker 1: does not save you. Scripture says that The physical act
21:34
Speaker 1: of baptism cannot save. It's only believing in Jesus that
21:37
Speaker 1: really saves you. Yes, that's absolutely true. The physical act
21:41
Speaker 1: of baptism does not save you. But there's two forms
21:44
Speaker 1: of baptism. There's the physical. That's when you go into
21:47
Speaker 1: the water with the preacher and he dunks you and
21:49
Speaker 1: you come back up. That's the physical form of baptism.
21:54
Speaker 1: And that has a purpose and a place in the
21:57
Speaker 1: Christian's life. But the second form of baptism, which is
21:59
Speaker 1: the spiritual baptism, That baptism is when Jesus cleanses your
22:05
Speaker 1: inward being, when he cleanses your heart and your soul
22:10
Speaker 1: from the destruction of your sin to bring you into
22:14
Speaker 1: a new life. Just as God was wiping the earth
22:18
Speaker 1: clean in the days of Noah from the corruption and
22:21
Speaker 1: the filth and the violence and the depravity and everything
22:24
Speaker 1: that was going wrong on earth, He cleansed all of
22:28
Speaker 1: that and brought Noah through to a brand new earth,
22:33
Speaker 1: a brand new life, washed clean of the sin and
22:36
Speaker 1: the corruption. That's the kind of baptism that saves us.
22:40
Speaker 1: And that's the kind of baptism that Peter is talking
22:43
Speaker 1: about right here. Not the physical baptism, which is what
22:47
Speaker 1: he says right here. Not the putting away of the
22:49
Speaker 1: filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
22:53
Speaker 1: conscience toward God. So the physical baptism, The fleshly baptism, no,
22:58
Speaker 1: that doesn't save you. That's just a symbol of being saved, right?
23:02
Speaker 1: That's a commitment that you're making. One of the reasons
23:05
Speaker 1: we do baptism as Christians is you're physically portraying being
23:10
Speaker 1: washed of those sins that you once had in your life.
23:13
Speaker 1: So no, the physical fleshly baptism is not what saves.
23:16
Speaker 1: It is the spiritual baptism. That is what saves you.
23:20
Speaker 1: The answer of a good conscience toward God through the
23:23
Speaker 1: resurrection of Jesus Christ. So how do we get spiritually baptized?
23:29
Speaker 1: A lot of people say, well, you know you're spiritually
23:32
Speaker 1: baptized when you can start speaking in tongues, because then
23:35
Speaker 1: you know that the Holy Spirit is with you, that
23:38
Speaker 1: he's given you your spiritual gift, and that's how you
23:41
Speaker 1: know the baptism of the Spirit has come. But Peter
23:44
Speaker 1: doesn't say that right here. He says, you know that
23:47
Speaker 1: you've been spiritually baptized when you have a good conscience
23:51
Speaker 1: toward God. So in other words, when you believe in
23:54
Speaker 1: Jesus as your Savior, And he washes you free of
23:59
Speaker 1: those sins. And you just feel this burden come off
24:03
Speaker 1: of your heart, essentially, when you can come before Yahweh
24:07
Speaker 1: as a new creature, becoming more like his son every
24:12
Speaker 1: single day of your life in all the things that
24:15
Speaker 1: we do, whether it's just being respectful to other people
24:18
Speaker 1: and showing love to other people and standing for truth
24:22
Speaker 1: to even the persecution that we suffer through. As we
24:25
Speaker 1: become more like Jesus, having a clean conscience toward God,
24:29
Speaker 1: that's how we know we've been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
24:35
Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, I've got one last closing point
24:37
Speaker 1: about 1 Peter 3 that I will get to right
24:40
Speaker 1: after this last sponsored ad for today. So Peter mentions
24:47
Speaker 1: one last verse right here at the very end. He says,
24:50
Speaker 1: through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the
24:53
Speaker 1: right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and
24:57
Speaker 1: authorities and powers being made subject to him. This ties
25:01
Speaker 1: in perfectly with Hebrews chapter four, verses 14 through 16,
25:07
Speaker 1: which says, having then a great high priest who has
25:09
Speaker 1: passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let's
25:13
Speaker 1: hold tightly to our confession. For we don't have a
25:16
Speaker 1: high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of
25:19
Speaker 1: our infirmities, but one who has been in all points
25:21
Speaker 1: tempted like we are yet without sin. Let's therefore draw
25:25
Speaker 1: near with boldness to the throne of grace that we
25:28
Speaker 1: may receive mercy and may find grace for help in
25:31
Speaker 1: time of need. In order to draw near to the
25:35
Speaker 1: throne of God's grace, we have to have a clean
25:38
Speaker 1: conscience before God, as Peter was talking about. And also,
25:44
Speaker 1: It connects perfectly because Jesus is sitting at the right
25:48
Speaker 1: hand of God the Father, and he is our high priest.
25:52
Speaker 1: You know, think about that. In the Old Testament, what
25:55
Speaker 1: was the purpose of the high priest? The purpose of
25:58
Speaker 1: the high priest was to be a mediator between the
26:00
Speaker 1: person and God. Somebody that was essentially confessing the sins
26:06
Speaker 1: of the person to God and asking for God's forgiveness
26:10
Speaker 1: on behalf of that human being. That's what Jesus now
26:14
Speaker 1: has become for each one of us. So if we
26:18
Speaker 1: believe in Jesus, being spiritually baptized, we can come before him,
26:24
Speaker 1: telling him about our sins, asking for grace, asking for
26:28
Speaker 1: help when we need it, all with a clean conscience,
26:31
Speaker 1: knowing that Jesus is our Savior, that he is our
26:35
Speaker 1: high priest, and that he is our mediator, talking to
26:39
Speaker 1: God the Father on our behalf. And that is not
26:43
Speaker 1: something we did for ourselves. That was Jesus, 100%. He
26:48
Speaker 1: allowed us to be able to come to God with
26:51
Speaker 1: a clean conscience because of the sacrifice that he made
26:55
Speaker 1: on the cross on our behalf. So I think today's
26:59
Speaker 1: passage was a really interesting one. And hopefully you guys
27:02
Speaker 1: were able to think about it and maybe were a
27:04
Speaker 1: little bit convicted. And if you were, share it on
27:06
Speaker 1: your social media platforms and tell people that the Bible
27:09
Speaker 1: Explained podcast is exists. I thank you guys so much
27:13
Speaker 1: for being with me to the very end. I hope
27:15
Speaker 1: you guys tune in tomorrow for another episode from the
27:17
Speaker 1: book of Job. I am so excited to dive more
27:20
Speaker 1: into this passage. And again, we're going to talk about
27:22
Speaker 1: the sons of God in the book of Job. Just fascinating, again,
27:27
Speaker 1: how scripture always connects with itself. I'm amazed every single
27:30
Speaker 1: time it happens because, you know, the book of Job
27:34
Speaker 1: is possibly the oldest book in the Bible. It's And
27:37
Speaker 1: the book of 1 Peter was written only a few
27:39
Speaker 1: decades after Jesus died. And yet the two books connect
27:44
Speaker 1: so perfectly. All right, faithful listeners, I hope you all
27:46
Speaker 1: have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your Tuesday. As always,
27:52
Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
28:00
Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
28:02
Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact,
28:05
Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio.com, You'll find dozens of other
28:08
Speaker 1: faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
28:12
Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.