Sermon Tone Analysis

Suffering is an equal opportunity employer isn’t it?

No human has ever existed that has ever escaped the ravages of suffering.

Unbeliever and believer alike have all experienced some sort of suffering.

Some bring it on themselves.

Others have suffered at the hands of evil people.

No where in Scripture will you find a promise that God will surround you with bubble wrap, eliminate all your enemies, and make life easy for you.

In fact, Jesus said the opposite is true…John 16:33 ““These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.

In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

Jesus wants us to take courage in the heat of the battles…he has overcome the world.

What I find interesting in the statement is that Jesus said it before He died and rose again.

He was already proclaiming victory over the world BEFORE His death.

How could he do that?

He knew what was coming!

He knew what He was going to experience on our behalf.

He knew that the path to glory was being paved with His blood.

He knew that sin causes the people of this world to think and act in evil ways because they are separated from God.

Jesus wanted us to know that Victory is ours in Him.

He also knew that we would experience some of the same suffering that He did…because we all live in that same fallen world.

The difference is now we have a guaranteed path to victory and how we handle the suffering is what proclaims the truth of His victory!

I invite you to turn with me to 1 Peter 3:18-22.

Peter has been talking about how we handle that suffering/tribulation that Jesus spoke of in John.

Do Right In the Midst of Your Suffering

Peter has been stressing the importance of living a holy life even though you live in a world that is hostile to Christ and you.

In 1 Peter 1:6-7, Peter stresses that even though you have been distressed by various trials, it is proving your faith as genuine.

In 1 Peter 1:13 — prepare ourselves for action…fix our eyes on Jesus

1 Peter 1:16 — commanded to be holy

1 Peter 2:4-12 — live within our identity as God’s chosen people, there is a difference now…there is an expectation that you and I will live our life so others would see God’s glory...

1 Peter 2:13-20 — live righteously while living under an imperfect government, and while working under an imperfect employer...

1 Peter 2:21-25 — follow the example of Christ… we are to keep entrusting ourselves to God who judges rightly.

1 Peter 3:1-7 — this holds true in our marriages, even when and especially if your spouse is not doing what is right.

1 Peter 3:8-12 — not going to return evil for evil or insult for insult

1 Peter 3:13-17 — not going to be afraid to do what is right even when the pressure is on us to forsake Christ…we are going to keep our relationship with Christ at the front, we are always going to be ready to defend our hope.

We want to maintain a good conscience — v 16

Suffering is the pathway to Glory!

The main idea of the previous paragraph is that believers should not fear, even though the hostile world around us may cause us to suffer.

Instead we are to set Christ apart being ready always to answer their questions.

The reason we need not to fear is because we understand that God will reward and bless those who suffer for doing right.

It is better for us to suffer because we chose to do the right thing, than to suffer because we did what was wrong.

This text before us this morning is linked to all of that…notice the connecting word “for”… Peter is now going to draw our attention to Christ, not as an example to follow, but as a source of encouragement…

Main Point: Jesus’ Victory Over Suffering Makes You Victorious Also!

What Peter is going to show us here is that the suffering of Christ was also the means by which He was exalted.

Just as suffering was His pathway to exaltation, suffering is also our path for glory!

Let me say this at the beginning…our troubles in the present are only temporary.

Our victory is sure because Christ has triumphed over death and evil.

Peter presents us with three truths that ought to provide us with the encouragement to do what is right in the face of suffering!

Jesus Suffering Paved the Way for Our Salvation (18).

1 Peter 3 18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

This verse gives one of the Bible’s shortest, simplest, and richest summaries of the meaning of the cross.

It begins with the fact that Jesus died.

In this verse Peter affirms five important facts about the suffering of Christ.

His death was sacrificial

He died “for sins.”

This expression finds its root in the earliest Greek translation of the OT, the Septuagint, where it speaks of the effects of sacrifices.

The death of Christ served as the perfect sin-offering for the sins of others because Jesus himself was sinless.

Note carefully how Peter puts it....He did not die for his own sins, for he never sinned.

He paid the penalty for our sins.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

His death was a sufficient death.

When Peter says he died “once for all,” he means Christ’s death was sufficient for all time and therefore could never be repeated by anyone else and it also was sufficient to provide salvation for all who believe.

Not even Christ himself could die again for our sins…

This points back to the Old Testament sacrifices that were made repeatedly, but Jesus died once for all.

His death was a substitutionary death.

His death was “the just for the unjust.”

for here means in behalf of, for the sake of

The emphasis here is the innocence of Christ, “just” — without sin, the sinless one died once and for all for those who are not sinless, all humanity

2 Cor 5 21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Because he had no guilt of his own to pay, he could be the substitute that could die in our place…he bore the punishment we all deserved.

It was a reconciling death.

He died for our sins, in our place, that he might bring us to God.

This is the ultimate purpose of His death…without Jesus, our sin would keep us separated from God forever.

Jesus died to bridge the gap between us and God.

He led us out of the enemy territory into the delightful kingdom of God.

He opened the way to introduce us to the Father.

By removing sin as the cause of our separation from God, He provides access to God and makes us acceptable in His sight.

Remember, in the Old Testament, there was a thick veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

The veil was a visual reminder that no one but the High Priest could come into God’s presence, and he could only come once a year, and only on the Day of Atonement, and only with the blood of a bull or a goat.

When Jesus died, the veil was ripped apart, signifying that his death opens the door for anyone who believes to come to God.

Jesus paid the full penalty for our sin.

When He died, God’s wrath against sin was expressed against His Son.

God was satisfied with Jesus’ death, which would all those who turn to Him in faith, to be once for all and eternally forgiven.

From the moment we believe, we stand forgiven.

The guilt of our sin has been removed and we stand before the Holy God as completely righteous in Him!

This would be a good spot for an AMEN or Hallelujah!

His resurrection guaranteed our salvation!

the last part of v 18 Peter says “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit”…Peter adds an exclamation point to this verse: The resurrection secures and guarantees the results of His death.

His death on the cross initiated the path for salvation; his resurrection guaranteed it!

Transition: If that is all true, then our suffering must indicate something has gone wrong.

Is Jesus work on the cross really sufficient enough to accomplish our complete and final salvation forever?

Admittedly, this is the hardest passage in the New Testament to interpret.

The exact interpretation of this text has been debated for centuries…we are not going to resolve that debate here this morning.

For centuries people have asked many questions of this text that we just don’t have answers for…this is one of those texts where we will have to be content with an unresolved tension.

However, I think we can walk through this carefully and be confident we can understand what Peter is saying if we consider the next few verses as illustrations of what Peter is referencing regarding Jesus.

I believe Peter shares this information ans illustrations to reassure his readers (and us) who were suffering and whose suffering would intensify, that Christ’s victory is ours and that our salvation is secure!

Jesus Victory Over Death and Evil Secures our Salvation (19, 20a).

1 Peter 3:19-20 “in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

Illustration 1: Jesus proclaimed His victory over death and evil in the face of disobedient angels.

This text finds a parallel in Jude 6,7.

This text has created much debate over the centuries that at least 18 theories major theories have been suggested (so buckle up as we examine all 18! Just kidding)

You may not agree with me about this, but that is okay.

I will still love you…I want to simply walk you through what I see in the text and you are free to draw your own conclusions…