VICTORY THROUGH CHRIST’S SUFFERING

INTRODUCTION

Here we are again, mentioning suffering.

Suffering is a big part of the Bible. Job is just one example.

Consider the story of Job in the Bible, a man of great faith who endured tremendous suffering. Despite losing everything—his wealth, health, and family—Job remained steadfast. His story illustrates not only the reality of suffering but also the deep faith that can emerge from it. Job’s journey reminds us that even in despair, we may discover profound blessings and a closer relationship with God, allowing our faith to be tested and strengthened.

You and I experience suffering in this life - in different forms.

SICKNESS: 2 of our children have a had quite a time with allergies these last few weeks. They’ve been suffering physically…especially when they’re trying to sleep. This isn’t life-threatening, but it IS suffering.

Suffering has a way of revealing things beneath the surface doesn’t it?

10936 You rarely hear a man who has been through the real agony of suffering who says he disbelieves in God; it is the one who watches others going through suffering who says he disbelieves in God.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come

’Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and grace will lead me home

Beloved, I want us to consider for a moment though…suffering of a different category. Suffering on a completely different level than financial hardships, physical pain, emotional distress, psychological angst…something altogether different.

The suffering of the perfect and precious LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus Christ is the Son of God - revealed to us as the trinity unfolds.

He is the Son of Man - as prophecy foretold.

He has always existed. Before time was, He was. Before earth was, He was.

He was, He is, and He will always be the full expression of God to humanity.

He was sent into this world to be born of a virgin that He might be sinless

that He was born under the law,

He was sent to perfectly keep the very law that you and I break day after day, after day.

He never put anything or anyone above His relationship with the Father.

He never made or bowed to any idols.

He never took the name of the Lord God in vain.

He never forsook the Sabbath as God intended.

He honored humanity in principal and personally:

By loving and honoring His father and mother.

By loving and protecting life, He never murdered or hated to that end…

By respecting women as sisters and mothers, He never committed adultery, or lusted to that end.

By demonstrating contentment and love for those around Him:

He didn’t need to steal what didn’t belong to Him.

He told the truth and didn’t lie.

He didn’t covet…he didn’t have to have everything or anything…just because someone else did.

He succeeded in PERFECTION where you and I fail PITIFULLY.

The perfect, sinless, Son of God has perfectly met all the requirements of God’s law

YET, HE went to a criminal’s cross and there He was lifted up to die.

He went, ready to give His righteousness to us that we could have a perfect standing before God.

There upon that cross, the sins of humanity were transferred to Him.

And this perfect Jesus - who knew no sin; actually was made to be sin for us to absorb God’s holy and just wrath in our place.

He became sin (as it was) so that we might become the righteousness of God.

The worst about me laid upon Him, the best about Him now to be laid upon me as He shed His blood upon that cross.

When we speak of the cross, we also include the scourging, the tortuous rack that He endured that most men didn’t.

We think of the mock / sham trial assembled by the Sanhedrin with the sole purpose of conviction and execution.

We think of the disciples running and hiding.

We think of Peter’s denial.

All of this in the moment as a man - our Lord suffered…and all sin in this moment as the Savior - CHRIST SUFFERED ON OUR BEHALF.

But there is a beauty in this that Peter points us to.

This is the same Peter who in one breath was commended by Jesus and in the next rebuked…

the same Peter that tried to blend in with the world warming his hands by the fires of the crowds…

the same Peter that reacts instead of responds in the garden ready to kill instead of dying to self…

Peter - fisherman, made into to fisher of men who has spoken of suffering already - normalizing it for us - now takes us back to Golgotha to reveal it on another level.

God’s Word is constantly reminding us that…

1. His suffering was sufficient (3:18-22)

for the sin of the whole world (18-20)

1 John 2:2 ESV

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

SIN BRINGS ABOUT SUFFERING.

We spoke of suffering well earlier

Submitting to authority in a broken world

Serving broken people

It's quite remarkable that Peter has spoken much to a persecuted church on the art of suffering well.

For nearly 2 chapters now Peter has been calling the church to the difficult work of submitting to ungodly people in a broken world.

And now he thrusts us headlong to catch a glimpse of the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And his suffering for our sins.

Our suffering sets the stage… For the opportunity to point to Jesus.

His suffering, however, is for our salvation!

DIFFICULT TEXT: Before I moved to verse 21, let me acknowledge the difficulty Of verse 19. Look at the text again:

1 Peter 3:18–20 ESV

18 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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when 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.

Verse 18 is pretty straightforward and clear it's about the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Verse 19 and 20 are strange.

Who are these prisoners? Who are these spirits? What does it mean? They did not formally obey?

Quite a bit of ink has been spilled in quite a few commentaries… But I have to tell you it just isn't clear.

It isn't problematic! It doesn't create some other avenue of salvation, it doesn't conflict with the supremacy of Christ. It doesn't conflict with any of the doctrines of the church. It doesn't conflict with the inerrancy of scripture.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 3:19–20

Some believe Peter here referred to the descent of Christ’s Spirit into hades between His death and resurrection to offer people who lived before the Flood a second chance for salvation. However, this interpretation has no scriptural support.

Others have said this passage refers to Christ’s descent into hell after His crucifixion to proclaim His victory to the imprisoned fallen angels referred to in 2 Peter 2:4–5, equating them with “the sons of God” Moses wrote about (Gen. 6:1–2). Though much commends this view as a possible interpretation, the context seems more likely to be referring to humans rather than angels.

For what it's worth I don't believe it's profitable to spend a whole lot of time on obscure texts like this much more than just to make sure that it's not a problematic text.

As a word of caution, if you find yourself online going down rabbit holes, where professing experts in scripture seem to have all the answers to very minor text issues where scholars for hundreds of years haven't had answers, Be very careful!

On that note, one of the explanations that I read in my research over these past couple of weeks that I think was most helpful to me in my understanding… Goes something like this.

Remember in the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit would come upon people individuals for a certain task. Because Noah is mentioned here with such clarity and the arc… After the verse that seems veiled, when you take all of that into account with the context, here's where some of us have landed:

This could simply mean that the spirit of God had come upon Noah to proclaim salvation to those people alive in the 120 years that Noah pleaded with them to get on board. But they were evil, in their rejection of this incredibly loving God's invitation.

And God punishes evil. And like all who have died without Christ in rebellion against the holy God, these people await their final judgment.

Here's the truth that we need to understand. Jesus Christ suffered to pay for sin. And it was enough.

His suffering was not only sufficient to cover sin, it was totally sufficient…

for salvation (21)

1 Peter 3:21 ESV

21 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,

Spurgeon writes:

1 Peter Exposition

Not that baptism saves us, but it is another figure of how we are saved by death, burial, and resurrection.

Baptism is a most significant picture of regeneration, but it is in no sense the cause of the new birth. Baptism is a like figure of salvation, for it sets forth in a figure, and only in a figure, our death with Christ, our burial with Christ, our resurrection with Christ. Therefore where there is true faith and the soul has communion with Christ, we are buried with Him in baptism unto death, “that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life” (Rom 6:4).

Christ’s Suffering was sufficient for sin, sufficient to save, and sufficient…

to demonstrate His supremacy (19-20, 22)

1 Peter 3:22 ESV

22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

AFTER ALL THIS TALK OF US SUFFERING FOR CHRIST…Now, the tables have been turned. All angels and authorities and powers have been “subjected” to Jesus. Christ has been victorious.

Peter is shifting the focus now to Christ’s exaltation… to refresh and encourage weary followers of Christ by showing them the final outcome.

Jesus is embedded all throughout this letter

Initially in chapter 1 verses 18 and 19, his LIFE was a motivation for our personal holiness.

Then in chapter 2, verse 21 his DEATH was a motivation for LIVING HOLY & DISTINCT LIVES.

Now, 1 Peter 3:18–22 are NOT concerned with the difficult task of submission, or suffering, and death.

NO, This passage is about the FINAL VICTORY that comes because of them!

God is using Peter to ENCOURAGE US by lifting our hearts and minds to Heaven where Christ is already seated.

“Take heart, you too shall one day win!”

RESULT: VICTORY over our past because of the Cross & Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Chapter 4 then takes us to a victory in the present…because of His Spirit.

The connection between the two sections is this: since Christ’s suffering is the pathway to glory, believers should also prepare themselves to suffer, knowing that suffering is the prelude to an eschatological reward.

Thomas Schreiner

2. Our suffering should be stewarded (4:1-5)

ARM YOURSELF

Ephesians 6:13 ESV

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

- renewed thinking (1)

Those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.

R. C. Sproul

1 Peter 4:1 ESV

1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

God wants to reprogram our thinking.

A Christian is a person who thinks in believing and believes in thinking.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

New Thinking

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We’ll know we’re thinking differently when we SUFFER differently. WE LIVE DIFFERENTLY!

We won’t think differen

- regenerated living (2-3)

At the end of verse 1, the Bible is screaming out to us…”STOP SINNING!”

1 Peter 4:2–3 ESV

2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

LIVE LIFE CONSUMED WITH God, NOT with the passions of the flesh!

God’s Will is BETTER…and when we set ourselves to be satisfied WITH HIM…

we can still be passionate people, driven people - but passionate about THE LORD JESUS CHRIST not the things that the world offers to our fleshly appetites.

This renewed mind and regenerate living is anchored in the fact that we know the judge of all the earth will do right.

- (REAL TRUST) trusting the righteous judge (4-5)

1 Peter 4:4–5 ESV

4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

They will give an account! We will all give an account.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Genesis 18:25 (ESV)

…Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

And just before we think this would give us permission to gloat in a “they’ll get theirs” type of attitude…

We are reminded that Christ suffered for our victory.

We have victory over our past, because of the cross and resurrection.

We have VICTORY in the present because of the Spirit - he’s renewing our thinking, making us into something new, enabling us to declare “I trust You, LORD!”

Just before we might relish that the wicked shall be punished…we recognize,

3. Our transformation enables us to tell others (4:5-6)

Let’s finish with the text of these last 2 verses:

1 Peter 4:5–6 ESV

5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

sinners sin (v4)

sinners scorn (v4)

sinners will stand before the Judge (v5)

THIS IS WHY THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL CAME.

He says, “Him who comes unto me I will in no wise cast out.”

Jesus loves to save sinners.

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

He is the friend of sinners.

He came to seek and to save that which is lost.

He DIDN’T COME to call the righteous, He came for the unrighteous. (Spoiler: there is none righteous, no not one.)

He came for you. He came for me.

He is a good physician. He did NOT come for the well but for those who are sick. (Spoiler: we are all sick to death with sin.)

He wants to heal you of your greatest disease today.

To call upon the Lord Jesus Christ is to look away from yourself, to look away from your “god” that you created, to look away from your church, to look away from your denomination, to look away from your baptism and your church membership, and all of your good works, and to look exclusively to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank God for the Gospel that came into our lives…BUT THE GOSPEL CAME TO US ON THE WAY TO SOMEONE ELSE!

We have found life in Christ!

We have found victory through the suffering of Christ!

Romans 5 tells us we have peace because of Jesus

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sins have been forgiven.

Our suffering counts for something.

Our transformation is so WE CAN TELL SOMEONE!

You’ve been transformed to TELL.

…saved to be SENT.

…Loved to LOVE.

…Forgiven to forgiven.

…rescued to JOIN IN THE MISSION OF GOD.

We praise God that HIS SUFFERING was ENOUGH!

We long to Steward our Suffering so that Christ is MAGNIFIED IN US.

AND WE WILL GO! WE WILL TELL OF HIS SAVING POWER.

…because people matter.

…pain can count for something.

…Jesus commanded us to GO & TELL.

…(most of all) WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS WORTHY - THE LAMB IS WORTHY TO RECEIVE THE REWARD FOR HIS SUFFERING - we will live on mission…because it has been bought and paid for - AND THERE IS JOY FOR THE TAKING!

LET’S PRAY!