47. The Glory of God in the Gospel Pt 4

Later today we are going to celebrate with Lauren her baptism. In light of this I thought it appropriate to revisit the subject from 1 Peter. I preached this in 2018 here so hopefully it will not be so fresh in your minds that it will not benefit you.

1Pe 3:14-17  But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,  (15)  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,  (16)  having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.  (17)  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

1Pe 3:18-22  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,  (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.  (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,  (22)  who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

There are three points this morning: 1) The Type of the Ark 2) The Antitype of Baptism and 3) The Reality as seen in the Resurrection.

We will take a very high level look at the first point to focus primarily on the second.

This text. It is rich and deep in spiritual meaning and blessing for us as believers. It ties the OT with the NT in using the narrative of Noah so that we are foolish to think that the OT has no real benefit for NT believers. When Paul tells Timothy through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that All Scripture is inspired by God, he means all; from the first verse of Genesis chapter 1 to the last verse of Revelation, though he himself wasn’t alive to see it written.

In the text we see the suffering of Christ for our sins and His resurrection and exaltation in heaven. Sandwiched in those verses are the beneficiaries – you. Those whom God has caused to be born again to a living hope through faith in Christ Jesus the Lord who has redeemed us with His shed blood on the cross. He is the forever lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

There are a couple of reasons why Peter, through the inspiration of the Spirit used the narrative of Noah in the context of his letter. When we look at this text, we ask the question why Peter, through the inspiration of the Spirit, included the narrative of Noah in his letter. One of the reasons is Noah was the preacher of righteousness for 120 years while he was building the ark God commanded him.

2Pe 2:5  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

His preaching preceded the judgement of God by the flood. God promised never again to judge the earth by means of the flood but there is indeed another judgement coming. Therefore, the command was given to be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you. (1 Peter 3:15) The application is being able to give your testimony of how God, through Christ, saved you. If you are unable to do this I hope it is something that you will work on so that you are able to articulate clearly and concisely the work of God in your hearts.

It has been said, “The OT is the NT concealed and the NT is the OT revealed.” The focal point of the OT was the coming of Christ. The focal point of the New is the resurrected Christ.

1Pe 1:10-12 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, (11) searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. (12) To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

Another reason the story of Noah is included is because the Ark narrative is a picture of God’s ultimate salvation in Christ.

There is still another. The Covenant God made with Noah reflects in many ways the New Covenant. What is a covenant? Between men it is more of a contract laying our duties and obligations between two parties. Concerning God’s covenants with men, it is broader. At its most basic level it is an oath bound promise God makes to a person or persons for blessing. At times there may be duties and responsibilities required on our side and at other times not. Sometimes there are covenant cursing should we fail to fulfill our side of the covenant. All covenants between God and men are gracious but not all are covenants of grace. What do I mean by this. Grace means God’s unmerited favor. If a covenant made by God requires activity on our part to fulfill it then it doesn’t meet the definition of grace. Why then is it gracious? Because any condescension of God to man is gracious. He is God and He is wholly other from us. By nature He is not obligated to communicate or have dealings with us but He chooses to are more He has loved us with a everlasting steadfast love. In the covenant made with Moses there was the promise of hardship, deprivation, and exile should they fail to keep it. They did fail and they went into exile not to return to Judah for 70 years. The covenant God made with Abraham required all the male children to be circumcised on the 8th day or they were cut off that covenant. But in the New Covenant, of which all believers are part, it is all grace. God is seen as the sole actor, and we are the beneficiaries. It is contrasted with the Mosaic Covenant.

Jer 31:31-34  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  (32)  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  (33)  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (34)  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

It is stated further in Ezekiel 36 what those blessings would be.

Eze 36:25-27  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  (26)  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

You will notice in all those verses God is speaking. Does God state a requirement of man? No. This is grace. God’s unmerited favor providing us the very things we need for salvation, being a new creation in Christ Jesus.

The covenant to God made with Noah is one of complete grace. God does the saving and we saw that in the type of the Ark.

I. The Type of the Ark.

1. The Ark shows God’s provision of salvation in Christ.

Gen 6:13-14 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (14) Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.

Before the Flood came, God had ordained that Noah and his family should be saved in the Ark. Noah was told to construct it before a single drop of water fell. So, also, salvation through Christ was not something God thought of after man sinned. From eternity past God had purposed to redeem a people unto Himself, and therefore, in the counsels of the Godhead, Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The Ark was God’s provision for the salvation of Noah and his family, as Christ is God’s provision for the salvation of sinners and has been so in the mind of God “from the foundation of the world.”

2. The Ark shows that we are spared from God’s wrath through Christ, our substitute.

Christ Jesus suffered the righteous wrath of God for us. As we are in Christ He takes the full blow of the stroke of God’s justice not us. The ark is a picture of this. The waters of judgement fell on and all around the Ark. All life perished on the earth except for those who were in the Ark.

3. The Ark shows that Christ is the only way to enter salvation.

Gen 6:16 "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

The Ark had only one door in it.

They all had to go through that single door to enter the Ark. One door was all it had. Noah and his family, as well as all the animals, had to enter the Ark through that single door. Likewise, this points to the fact that there is only one way to escape from the wrath to come.

Christ said in Joh 10:9  I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

4. The Ark shows the atonement of Christ.

Gen 6:14  "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

The word “pitch” is translated from the Hebrew word “kaphar,” which means “to cover.” “Kaphar” is translated seventy times in the Bible as “to make atonement.” The simple meaning of “kaphar” is “to cover.” The atonement was made by the Blood of Christ, which provides a covering of sin. Sin must be covered by the Blood of Christ.

Rom 4:7  "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.

When you come to Christ, your sins are covered by His Blood, as the Ark of Noah was covered with pitch.

5. The Ark shows the absolute security of those who are in Christ.

Noah and his family did not have to preserve themselves. They were protected from the Flood by the watertight Ark which was covered “within and without with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). No matter how hard it rained, or how high the water rose, all of those inside the Ark were safe. This speaks typically of the convert’s eternal security in Christ. As Noah and his family were safe in the Ark, so “your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Once you are “in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:30) you cannot lose your salvation!

6. The Ark shows our resurrection in Christ.

Gen 8:16-17 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. (17) "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

As Noah and his family went through the judgement waters safely in the ark, the sin that provoked God is removed. Noah and his family step out into, figuratively speaking, a new creation. Such is the imagery of Noah and his family entering in a new creation that God restates the command given to Adam and Eve. Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Just as Jesus, in His resurrection, was no longer clothed in mere corruptible flesh but incorruptible; Him being the first fruits of the Resurrection, so we will be like Him when we too are raised from the dead.

1Co 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— (52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

II. The Anti-Type – Baptism – v.21

An anti-type is something that is foreshadowed by or identified with an earlier symbol or type, such as a figure in the New Testament who has a counterpart in the Old Testament.

1Pe 3:21  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,

In other translations ‘corresponding to this is translated as ‘antitype’ NASB, ‘like figure’ KJV,

There are denominations that use this one verse to state categorically that baptism is necessary for salvation. It’s called Baptismal Regeneration. If we use a verse out of context to develop and doctrinal position, it often leads to error. Before we dive in let’s define baptism.

1. Baptism Defined – the word comes from the classical Greek which means to dip or immerse and was used in describing the dying of fabric. Other denominations have broadened the meaning of the word to mean pouring or sprinkling as a mode of the rite of baptism. The broadening of the definition does not stand up to scrutiny either in the study of the Scripture or in any common usage of yesterday or today. The word is the mode, and the mode is the word. For example: When we hear the statement of someone in war who said they were baptized under fire; we understand that to mean that it was no mere skirmish, but they were in the fight of their life. They were immersed in combat.

Mar 10:35-39  Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."  (36)  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  (37)  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  (38)  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  (39)  They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

One cannot read this text and come away with any other conclusion that the idea conveyed here is one of complete immersion in the suffering and persecution of Jesus Christ.

Luk 12:50  But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!

This is an emphatic statement of Jesus indicating the depth of the pain and suffering that was to come. He was not sprinkled in suffering. He did not have a little suffering poured on Him, but He was immersed in it body and soul.

When the Bible speaks of baptism it should be taken as immersion in water.

Mat 3:16  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

If baptism were sprinkling or pouring what need would there have been to go down into the water?

Act 8:35-38  Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.  (36)  Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"  (37)  Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."  (38)  So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

2. It’s Meaning - what Peter is refencing here in regard to baptism is not the rite of daily cleansing and purification, which was a common practice. He was not indicating that baptism had any salvific effect at all. Peter makes this clear in the first chapter.

1Pe 1:3-7  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  (5)  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (6)  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  (7)  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

What he is referencing is the inward reality marked by the outward sign of Baptism. How do we know this? Peter says ‘an answer to God for a good conscience’. Let’s look at this phrase. The KJV and NKJV translate the Greek word as answer. The ESV and NASB translates it as appeal. The Greek word conveys the sense of an inquiry. Not the inquiry of the one baptized but the inquiry of the baptizer to the one being baptized.

According to Robinson’s Greek Lexicon It is “spoken of a question put to a convert at baptism, or rather of the whole process of question and answer; that is, by implication, examination, profession”. It is designed to mark the spiritual character of the baptismal rite in contrast with a mere external purification, and evidently refers to something that occurred at baptism; some question, inquiry, or examination, that took place then; and it would seem to imply:

(1) That when baptism was performed, there was some question or inquiry in regard to the belief of the candidate.

(2) That an answer was expected, implying that there was a good conscience; that is, that the candidate had an enlightened conscience, and was sincere in his profession; and,

(3) That the real efficacy of baptism, or its power in saving, was not in the mere external rite, but in the state of the heart, indicated by the question and answer, of which that was the emblem.

Col 2:10-15  and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  (11)  In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,  (12)  buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  (13)  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  (14)  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  (15)  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Outward sign of an inward reality which is understandable considering the questions put to the one being baptized.

Rom 6:3-5  Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  (4)  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Baptism has value but not to salvation. It is a token or sign of entrance into the New Covenant and its visible expression in the local church. What make baptism have any mean at all is found in our next point.

III. The Reality – through the resurrection of Christ

What gives baptism meaning? It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we have seen in verses read earlier Jesus suffered and died in our place and baptism is figurative in that we suffered and died with Him. Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

The ordinance of baptism has meaning because it is the visible representation the same power of God that raised Christ Jesus from the dead that is working in you to believe and confess Christ as your only hope for salvation. It is the same mighty working of God granting you repentance and spiritual fruit.

Eph 1:19-20  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power  (20)  which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

Gal 5:22-24  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23)  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  (24)  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The glory of God is revealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that in that agreement established between the Godhead in eternity past has been realized and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In the infinite wisdom of God it was predestined according to the kind intention of His will that the 2nd Person of the Trinity would be clothed in human flesh, stand as our federal head, having humbled himself to the point of death, having suffered the consequences of our sin everyday of His entire life. All the effects of the fall He felt, He was made sin, though He himself was sinless so that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. God’s justice is satisfied. As the Scriptures teach, Cursed is everyone who hangs upon the tree. He was not cursed because He was hanged on the tree, He was hanged on the tree because He was cursed.

How do we apply this? First, let each of us evaluate ourselves in light of what we have learned to make sure of confession and calling are sure. Do we really believe? Does our daily walk reflect our faith in Christ? Is living the Christian life a drudgery or a joy? Do you resent the commands of God as restraining you from what you want to do or do you embrace them with joy as that which is holy right and good?

Second, meditate on your beds, in your daily commute, discuss with your spouse and your children often the depths and the riches of God’s grace shown to you. The Lord has, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ made sure and steadfast our hope in every storm.

Thirdly, let this be a reason to sing, making melody in our hearts to the Lord. Our hearts should be full to overflowing with thanksgiving, praise, and adoration.