Saturday, March 30, 2013

Dr John MacArthur exposition of 1 Peter 3:18-21

Dr John MacArthur exposition of 1 Peter 3:18-21

http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-261/christs-triumphant-death

1 Peter 3:18-21
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
18 For (A)Christ also died for sins (B)once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might (C)bring us to God, having been put to death (D)in the flesh, but made alive (E)in the [a]spirit; 19 in [b]which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the (F)patience of God (G)kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of (H)the ark, in which a few, that is, (I)eight (J)persons, were brought safely through the [c]water. 21 (K)Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—(L)not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God [d]for a (M)good conscience—through (N)the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Summary of Dr MacArthur exposition:

And, secondly, we said God should be feared because of hell. And I want you to notice what Peter says about that. Back to verse 18, "Having been put to death in the flesh," that is Jesus was killed on the cross physically but alive in the spirit. Jesus you remember died on the cross that Friday afternoon, he was buried, was there on a portion of Friday, Saturday, Sunday morning and then he rose from the dead. While his body was in the grave the question is where was his spirit? He didn't go out of existence. He's the eternal Son of God. He was alive. What did he do? It tells us in verse 19, "He went his spirit 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." He went to a prison, a fa loc a. He went to a prison, is what it is, a prison with spirits in it. The word spirits never used of a human in the New Testament. Who are these spirits? Who are imprisoned spirits? Well it tells you they were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. Back in the days of Noah there were some spirits who were disobedient. They, therefore, would not be holy angels they would be demons, Satan's legends of demons.

If you go back to Genesis 6 you will read about their bizarre conduct. How they came, these demons, and infested the bodies of men, cohabitated with women, polluted the world with their demonic, perverted sexual activity. And God determined that they had gone too far. God keeps his controls on even Satan in his kingdom. And they had gone too far, too vile, too wretched. And so he took the demons that did that and found them, Peter says, "Elsewhere in pits of darkness." And Jude says, "In everlasting chains." There are demons running loose in the world but there are some that are bound. Demons don't like to be bound that's why the demons that Jesus confronted one day said, "Don't send us to the pit." They don't want to go there until they have to. They know, ultimately, in the end he will send them all to the pit, which is the lake of fire, ultimately, which is hell where all Ungodly sinners and all Ungodly spirits will dwell forever. But there are already some occupants in that place because God sent them there in the days of Noah. And when Jesus' body was in the grave his spirit went to hell. Went into the place, the prison, and made a proclamation.
Galatians 2:15 Paul tells us, "The proclamation was that he had triumphed." That he had triumphed. Maybe there was a party going on with the spirits in hell because Jesus was dead. Maybe they thought they had defeated God and there would be no salvation and hell would be literally occupied by everyone. And Jesus showed up at the party and said, "That's not the way it is." He proclaimed his triumph over them. The end of verse 22 indicates this, "Angels and authorities and powers were subjected to him." Jesus literally showed up in hell to tell them they had been conquered and hell was not going to be occupied the way they thought it would be. Millions would be rescued from eternal punishment. Fear God because of what sin can do but Jesus takes care of sin. Fear God because of eternal punishment in hell but Jesus rescues million from hell.

And, thirdly, we said fear God because of death; death and then the judgment. God wields the power of death, even though he delegates it to Satan and there are many causes of it. He, in the end, reserves the power. Notice how Jesus' work on the cross and through the resurrection ends our fear of death. Verse 20 in the middle, Peter talking about the demons who were incarcerated in the days of Noah is also reminded that at the time of Noah there was the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is 8 persons, were brought safely through the water. Peter remembers how that incredible event happened when God drowned the millions of people in the world and saved only 8. God told them to build a boat, well actually a barge, and to get inside because something was gonna happen that had never happened in the history of the world - rain. Not only rain, but the whole crust to the earth, the whole service to the earth was gonna break up and massive vaults of water in the core of the earth were gonna come out and flood the surface, as well as the water canopy around the earth inundating and flooding the earth in immeasurable deluge. God was gonna drown the whole world. And he said, "I'll spare you 8. You get in the boat. The water will come down on top and the roof will protect you. It'll come up from the bottle and the bottom of the boat will protect you and you'll sail right through the middle of the judgment. And the rain will stop and the water will recede and you'll walk out in a new world." That's what happened. That's exactly what happened. Millions were dead, drowned in the flood, but one day Noah and his family walked out into a new world, having been literally taken through the flood and the safety of an ark.

And in verse 21 Peter writes, "And corresponding to that, very like that, baptism now saves you." Now when you see the word baptism you think of water baptism immediately because that's the common Christian concept. So he quickly says, "No, not the removal of dirt from the flesh. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about a right or a ritual." The word baptism means immersion, and it could be used metaphorically. You could be immersed in your studies, you could be immersed in anger, you could be immersed in happiness. There're a lot of uses of the term. What he's saying is there is an immersion, there is a being put into that saves you, not water, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. What's that? Repentance. I'm tired of my accusations. I'm tired of my guilt. I'm tired of the burden of sin. I want my conscience cleansed. And you cry to God for, not an outward washing, but an inward cleansing, which is available through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, you recognize Jesus died for you and he rose again and that, therein, is the provision of salvation and the sinner comes and says, "God, through the work of Christ, wash me on the inside."

God, in his grace, places you into Christ and literally you go through judgment in Christ. The judgment of God falls on him. He's the ark. It hits him from the top, it hits him from the bottom, but it never touches you. You literally go through the judgment of God in Christ like Noah's family went through the flood. And in the end judgment is over and you step out into eternal life. So death then is really simply the ark of Christ that transitions you from this world to the next. That's why death has no fear. And so it is that at every point where we have to fear God Jesus comes to remove our fear. We fear God because of our sins. Jesus bears our sin away in satisfying the justice of God. We fear God because of the dread of hell. Jesus rescues us from hell and announces the triumph over it. We fear God because of death and the judgment. Jesus is our ark who takes us through the judgment into eternal life.

Further Summary:


Christ only need to go to the cross once.

He never sin but he died for sinner so that we can be with God.

He suffer physical death, but was raise to life in the spirit.

When Jesus body was in the grave, His spirit when to hell and proclaim His triumph victory to those spirit whom God has sent to hell because they have disobey God during the time of Noah to stop celebrating His death for He is going to defeat death in the following two days when He is risen. A proclamation to Satan that Satan has lost and not won the battle.

And correspond to Noah day during the deluge. Where there is water all over the place covering the ark while you are save inside the ark, this symbolises immersion into the water i.e baptism. However this immersion is not simply the removal of dirt from your body by the water. The water doesn't saves you in this way.



But as a response to God for a good conscience. i.e repentance. not an outward washing, but an inward cleansing, which is available through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In other words, you recognize Jesus died for you and he rose again and that, therein, is the provision of salvation and the sinner comes and says, "God, through the work of Christ, wash me on the inside."

God, in his grace, places you into Christ and literally you go through judgment in Christ. The judgment of God falls on him. He's the ark. It hits him from the top, it hits him from the bottom, but it never touches you. You literally go through the judgment of God in Christ like Noah's family went through the flood. And in the end judgment is over and you step out into eternal life. So death then is really simply the ark of Christ that transitions you from this world to the next.

That's why death has no fear. And so it is that at every point where we have to fear God Jesus comes to remove our fear. We fear God because of our sins. Jesus bears our sin away in satisfying the justice of God. We fear God because of the dread of hell. Jesus rescues us from hell and announces the triumph over it. We fear God because of death and the judgment. Jesus is our ark who takes us through the judgment into eternal life.


That said, the water in baptism doesn't saves you. It is Christ that saves you.

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