1 Peter 3:19-20

• Main Passage: 1 Peter 3:18-22

• Key Theme: Christ's suffering and victory as central to the gospel, with a focus on the difficult interpretation of "spirits in prison."

• Acknowledgement of Complexity: The passage is challenging to interpret. Even Augustine found it perplexing. The preacher approaches it with humility and scholarly care.

• Rejection of Erroneous Interpretations:

  • Purgatory: Scripture does not support this idea (e.g., Hebrews 9:27).

  • Limbo: Patriarchs like Moses and Elijah were seen in glory (e.g., Mount of Transfiguration).

  • Universalism: Salvation is not granted post-mortem to all.

  • Mormon Doctrine: Extra-biblical claims (e.g., baptism for the dead) contradict scripture.

• Historic Reformed Interpretations:

  1. Disobedient Humans in Noah’s Day: Christ, through the Spirit, preached to them via Noah’s proclamation of righteousness.

  2. Fallen Angels: Spirits refer to imprisoned fallen angels to whom Christ proclaimed his victory (linked to Jude 6, 2 Peter 2:4).

• Application:

  1. Avoid speculative theology—focus on clear biblical teachings.

  2. Assurance of God’s justice—rebellion will not escape judgment.

  3. Encouragement in evangelism—faithfulness matters more than immediate results.

  4. Sobriety about life after death—repent and trust Christ today.

1. Introduction

• Begin by reading 1 Peter 3:18-22 together.

• Discuss the themes: Christ’s suffering, resurrection, proclamation, and ultimate victory.

2. Biblical Context

• Christ’s Work: Highlight how verse 18 encapsulates the gospel—Christ suffered "once for sins, the just for the unjust."

• Noah’s Days: Relate the disobedience of Noah’s generation (Genesis 6) to God’s patience and eventual judgment.

• Victory Proclamation: Discuss interpretations of "spirits in prison," linking it to either disobedient humans or fallen angels.

3. Theological Insights

• Sufficiency of Christ’s Atonement:

  • Supported by Hebrews 10:14—Christ's sacrifice is once and for all.

• Judgment After Death:

  • Refer to Hebrews 9:27; there’s no second chance after death.

• Victory Over Evil Powers:

  • Colossians 2:15 shows Christ triumphing over spiritual powers.

4. Westminster Standards

• Confession of Faith (WCF 8.1-8.5): Christ’s mediatorial work and its sufficiency.

• Larger Catechism (Q. 50): Christ’s exaltation and victory over enemies.

• Shorter Catechism (Q. 23): Christ’s role as a prophet and how he reveals God’s will for salvation.

5. Practical Applications

• Trust in Christ’s Victory:

  • Assurance that Christ has triumphed over sin, death, and Satan.

• Faithfulness in Proclamation:

  • Encourage believers to share the gospel, trusting in God’s sovereignty.

• Urgency of Salvation:

  • A call to examine one’s faith and respond to the gospel without delay.

6. Discussion Questions

• What does Christ’s suffering and victory teach us about God’s justice and mercy?

• How can the example of Noah encourage us in sharing the gospel?

• Why is it important to understand and reject speculative interpretations of scripture?

7. Closing Prayer

• Thank God for the clarity of the gospel and the hope of salvation through Christ.

• Pray for perseverance in proclaiming the gospel and living faithfully.

Please open your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3, if you're using the New King James Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 1078. This morning we'll be looking at verses 18-22, and I'll give you more information on that in a moment. So 1 Peter 3, beginning at 18. Brothers and sisters, this is the Word of God. For Christ also suffered once for sins. the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah. while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. Not the removal of the flesh, or the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Thus ends this portion of the reading of God's word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. God, you have given us your word, and it's true. Every consonant, vowel, syllable inspired by you. not just true as it affects our hearts, but true as it's written on the page. And so, Father, we pray that your spirit, though, would make it alive to us. Lord, that you would use it to give us strength and vitality, to direct our paths, convict us of sin, and train us in righteousness. Lord, we need your spirit, please help this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. My children have been reminding me as they were making fun of me the other night for putting on my reading glasses that I'm getting older and older. And I was talking to them, and I was telling them a story. They like to ask me, Dad, tell us stories. Tell us stories. And so one of the stories I was telling them is, I remember I used to, when I was in the Navy, for the days of GPS, and I would just drive and get lost in the Hampton Roads area. So it's a land full of rivers and peninsulas, and you never really know what you're going to find. You might cross a bridge and end up in a different community, all sorts of neat things. Well, the problem was one time I did this at night. And I drove until about 1 o'clock in the morning or so. Nothing to do, so I might as well just go explore. And I found myself at the edge of some body of water. Which body it was, I don't know. Could have been the Chesapeake Bay. Could have been a river. I had no clue where I was. It was 1 o'clock in the morning. I hadn't seen a house for miles and miles. And I thought, wow, this is really neat. There was a dock, and there was a beach, and there was rocks and water lapping up on the beach. And I got out of my car, and I just wanted to go look at the water. And the lights were on. The car was running. I go out to look at the water. And I think, man, this is amazing. And then I get back to my car, and the door's locked. I was lost in the dark. What was I gonna do? I had gotten myself confused and I didn't know where to go. So all I knew is, I knew that there was a rock and that was a window and there was a way I could find a way forward. I think that's what we find ourselves here in First Peter. We can find ourselves in First Peter, as I did this week, reading until I felt like my eyeballs were going to bleed and not having any more clarity where I was actually at. And sometimes we just need to stop and say, okay, what do we know? What do we not know? And what's our best path forward? So if we can get disoriented in the Bible sometimes, and there are things in the Bible that are not easily understandable. The Westminster Confession of Faith says, all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. There are parts of the Bible that are just hard to understand, and we've come to want those passages. Actually, Peter, this is really one of these things I think is interesting. Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 3, he writes, And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. And also, our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, has written to you. So Peter's saying, hey, Paul writes letters to you. He's got wisdom from God. But notice what he says in verse 16. And also, in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things. and then this is really comforting to me, in which are some things hard to understand. Paul sometimes wrote things that are hard for Peter to understand. And I think that's ironic because now Peter's writing something that's hard for us to understand. But he warned the people in 2 Peter about something that could happen with Paul's letters, difficult things to understand. He said, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction. as they do also the rest of the scriptures. And so people did this during Peter's time with Paul's letters. They would take the unclear things and they would twist it. And they would try to teach different teachings than what the rest of the scriptures seemed to indicate. And he says, that's happening in our day. And I'm saying that there are teachers who take the passage that Peter gives us today and they twist it and they twist the rest of the scriptures and they lead people into dangerous places. And so this is a hard passage. I just want to be blatantly honest with you. This is a hard passage. Whenever you open up somebody like Augustine and he says, this is one of the most perplexing passages of the Bible, I go, oh no, this is going to be a long week of reading. And for that reason, we're going to slow down. I tried to really like, OK, we're just going to get through this, right? That's normally my answer. There's something hard. Just get through it fast. Well, that's not teaching you all well or caring for you well, because there's big topics that this talks about. Death. Jesus in the tomb, resurrection, heaven, hell, the authority of Jesus, baptism. Like there's a lot of topics here that Peter talks on that different people have taken and twisted in bad ways. And so this is going to be a series of sermons through verses eight through 22. How many? I don't know until we find the way out. Right now I'm at six, maybe five, maybe we'll be able to find things. Maybe we'll have to slow down. But this morning, what's the goal? Why are we going to go through this series, through just these few verses? We're striving for clarity. As we get into this very difficult section of 1 Peter 3, 18-22, we are striving for clarity. So why would we do this? Because even the hard parts of God's word are profitable for us to teach us, to rebuke us, to correct us, and to train us in righteousness. Just because it's hard or difficult to understand doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. God's going to do a good work in us through his word. It doesn't return void. And so I wanted to give you a six-step method that I'm going to use through these series of sermons over each of these difficulties. And so each sermon is going to focus on a main question that comes up from the text. And then the second thing we're going to do is we're going to talk about where that is coming from. And then third, the method that's going to happen in this sermon series is asking, what is the debate over this topic? Fourthly, I'm going to talk to you about problematic answers. One of the things in theology that happens is sometimes it's easier to define or to get clarity by saying what something isn't. So it's called the via negatia. And so we're going to sometimes look at number four and it's going to be, what's problematic? What have people said that we could just say that's wrong? And fifthly, I want to give you possible biblical and theologically sound answers. And then the last thing we'll do in each of these sermons is have an application from that section. So, that was a lot of introduction. What's the question today? Coming out of verse 19 and 20. The main question is who are the spirits and what is the prison? Look with me at verses 19 and 20. by whom also he, that he is Jesus, he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. So when you've just come to verse 20, okay, so there's people who were, or verse 19, is Jesus, he's preaching, exhorting to spirits in prison. Well, who are these spirits and where is this prison? What is this prison? And as we work through this question, we're seeking to understand and identify who these spirits are and the meaning of the prisons. Because if we can't get to those two answers, we're going to be lost with the rest of the interpretation of the passage. And answering the question, who the spirits are and what the prison is, frames the scope of Christ's proclamation. And it clarifies the nature of what Peter is talking about. So, I've already told you the key text is verses 19 and 20. What's the debate? We're not living in a vacuum, right? It's not like, it would be unwise of me to think I was smart enough just because I could read the Greek to say, oh, I know exactly what this means. Actually, again, Agustin, when he was writing on this to one of his friends, he said, if you find anyone who is able to explain this perfectly, please let me know. Well, who are these spirits? I'd give you two different categories that people have argued. The first is humans. Disobedient humans, either at Noah's time, the patriarchs, or all people up to the resurrection, or even all unredeemed humans who have not been saved, right? So some people just have, well, it's humans, but then there's all sorts of different options for what you think it might be with humans. A second very different idea is that of, well, the spirits there aren't talking about humans, but it's talking about angels who are imprisoned. But then the debate over the prison is, is this a literal prison? Or is it a metaphorical? Is it literary? Or is it referring to the state of angels or of people, even people after death? So how do we make our way forward? Well, I'd like to propose to you that there's some areas that we can know that they're just wrong. And they're wrong, and we'll go through, because one of the things we look for as we try to figure out, is this a good interpretation? Does it harmonize with the more clear things in Scripture? One of the things that Colts are really, really good at is taking a very obscure, difficult, hard passage, and they'll give you all sorts of meaning and explanation of this very difficult passage. And then by the very obscure, difficult passage, they will start to interpret all the rest of the passages of the Bible. That's like eating your omelet with a raw egg. No, no, you cook the eggs first. And then you eat it. You go to the clear stuff first to understand the less clear. And so the first thing that this is not about is it's not about purgation or purgatory. This is an idea that came up when it says that Jesus went, he went and preached to the spirits in prison. There were those who believed, oh, maybe when people die, they're not yet perfectly sanctified, and so they need to go into a place that's neither heaven nor hell. It's this place where over a set period of years, who knows how long, they may need to suffer so that they are purged from their unholiness until they are holy enough to go to heaven. Well, that contradicts the rest of Scripture. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. No, if you're His children, you have been declared holy. Yes, He is sanctifying you, He's conforming you more and more, but you have been perfected forever. You don't need to wait in some type of purgation for eternity until God finally thinks you're clean enough to come to Him. No, that's what He did on the cross. The just for the unjust. And we don't need to look very far, right? That's just in verse 18. We should understand verse 19 by verse 18. Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. The just for the unjust. It was Jesus who did this work already on the cross. I don't think that Peter here is saying, okay, so Jesus died the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, but not yet. First they gotta go into this kind of weird place where they're not quite in heaven or hell. That's not bringing us to God, that's putting us on pause. It doesn't make sense what Peter describes here. And Hebrews 9.27 speaks of this when it says, and it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment. It's not that somehow the judgment is way far long off. No, no, when you die, there's a judgment day. Whether you were in Christ or not. Purgatory is not mentioned anywhere in scripture. It's an extra biblical imposition on the text. There's no need for further purification after death. That's not what this is speaking about. I get why, right? There's a certain amount of, and we'll talk about this with two more down the line. There's a certain amount of, we want people who we love who have died. I think about this with my own grandfather, right? I love him. I'm not sure he was a Christian. There's part of me that wishes that this would be true, that somehow maybe he could actually still come to Christ. But no, the hope we have is while somebody has air in their lungs. But after that, there's no more hope. So it's not purgatory. But there's also another theory that people have used here, and Augustine actually supported this, and I think he's wrong on this, is an idea of what's called limbus, or limbo. And this is the idea that when Jesus goes down, he's going down into hell. And he actually, Augustine uses this language. He calls it like the fiery place, right? And so when he's saying this, he's making two things that I think are dangerous assumptions here. Number one, that prison equals hell. And number two, that when Jesus goes and preaches, he's preaching salvation. Augustine makes two assumptions here that I'm not sure are founded in the text. That when Jesus is preaching to these spirits, it means he's saving them, and that that prison must equal hell. Because Augustine writes in his letters that the patriarchs and those who were faithful, when they died before the resurrection, they were in this state of spiritual waiting until Jesus went down and almost liberated them from limbo. And they're going to, this is later on, Augustine doesn't go so far as this, but he'll start this idea is that this is somehow tied together with Luke chapter 16 with Lazarus and the rich man and Abraham's bosom. Well, there's some real problems with this idea of the patriarchs being in some place like Limbus. The first is Jesus's life itself. Before Jesus even died, before he was in the tomb, before he rose again from the dead, if this is the internal hermeneutic we're going to use, that Jesus died when he was in the tomb, that's when he descended into hell, that's when he liberated them from Limbus. The problem is, Augustine mentions Elijah and Moses, but Elijah and Moses were with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration. They were there with him, very much alive, when Jesus was transformed before their eyes. They're not in Limbus. They're in glory. They're shining with Jesus. And so, no, I don't think that that's it. And Jesus very clearly says that, no, hold on. When He's correcting the Sadducees on the resurrection in Matthew 22, He says, but concerning the resurrection of the dead, you, have you not read what was spoken to you by God saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Not the dead in a spiritual prison of limbus and hell somewhere or something. No. No, that's not what Peter's talking about here when he speaks of these Jesus going and preaching to the spirits in prison. But there's a very similarly related idea that came up. It's an American homegrown type thing. We love American-made, don't we? And in 1918, out in one of the western states, a great idea came up by a guy who was studying this passage and said that he fell into a vision of what God was explaining to him. And this guy's name was Joseph Smith. Not the one you're thinking of, but named after him. His daddy's name was Hiram. And Joseph Smith was this Mormon, and the Mormons accepted this, and it's in their Doctrines and Covenants, chapter 138. I read through the whole chapter, I wanted to take a shower afterwards. He tells of this idea where he gets a vision after meditating on this passage, and it's revealed to him that Jesus descended to the spiritual prison, but he says that there's two different spiritual prisons. There's the spiritual prison for the righteous and the spiritual prison for the wicked. And Jesus spoke to Adam and Eve and Noah and Seth and Enoch. Jesus spoke to, oh, this is fun, he spoke to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and his father, Hyrum Smith. And he told them all about the gospel. And then they were commissioned to go to the other spirit prison and to go and preach the gospel to the bad spirits who didn't believe in God. That someday they might believe and get out of spirit prison. And now they've brought in, if you know anything about Mormons, and we'll talk about this in a little bit, in a couple sermons later, they'll come to this place where, well that's why they get baptized for the dead. So that way those bad spirits in the bad spirit prison can somehow, someday after their death, still be redeemed. I didn't find that in verse 19 anywhere. I mean, it's really creative, but it's heretical. There's no post-mortem opportunity for salvation. Again, Hebrews 9.27, it is appointed for man to die once, and after this, the judgment. There's no second chance after death. Christ's work is finished. The sufficiency of Christ's work means there's no extra need for additional opportunities for salvation through proxy ordinances or post-mortem evangelism. In Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says salvation is by grace through faith. It's not dependent on vicarious works of their sacraments, like baptism for the dead. You're not gonna find that anywhere in the teachings of scripture. And this is where we're going to say, right, we judge all things according to the standard of God's word for truth and life. And so if somebody comes to you and they have a teaching and you get the sense of like, this sounds a little bit off with the Bible, hold on here, lean into that weird feeling. Something's off, it may really be off. But then there's another view, right? If those were kind of very far conservative, there's another view that I just want to warn you about, a fourth view, that it's not all dead indiscriminately. This is the universalist and liberal view, that this is really being used as a literary way, and that the spirits aren't all the dead, but are specifically described as those who formerly didn't obey. And so it's anyone disobedient gets preached to, and everybody's able to be saved. Everybody will eventually, Jesus will preach to them as a spirit in prison and they'll be saved. But that doesn't seem to be the case. No, we know that Jesus, we sadly, we learn more about hell, and I say sadly because it's emotionally difficult. We learn more about the doctrine and the place of hell from the lips of Jesus than we learn from anywhere else in the Bible. Jesus is very clear There's two groups of people, those who are saved and those who are not, and he knows who are his. So what's the historic reformed interpretation? What do we think is a biblical way to understand this? Well, there's kind of a majority way and a minority way of understanding this, an older way and a newer way to understand this. So the first is that these spirits who are in prison, were disobedient humans in Noah's time. I like to call this interpretation the time warp theory. Okay, so the time warp theory. So disobedient humans during Noah's time. Look with me again at verses 19 and 20. By whom also he, that being Jesus, went and preached to the spirits in prison. who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water." The text itself identifies who these spirits are as the souls of those who rejected God's call to repentance in Noah's day. Noah, and Peter calls him in 2 Peter 2.5, a preacher of righteousness. So later in his second letter, Peter will call Noah a preacher of righteousness. So we know that he was proclaiming, the same word here, he was proclaiming to them that their death was impendent. It was going to come. It was the Spirit of Christ preaching through Noah that the judgment was coming for sin. And that the only hope they had was to believe in God and get in the ark. And he patiently preached that message for decade upon decade upon decade. This is what I believe verse 20 is talking about, who formerly were disobedient. Who were the formerly disobedient? Well, they were disobeying when? During the days of Noah. And this was a long suffering that God waited patiently. God could have told Noah that thoughts and the intents of man's heart are only wicked continually, and so tomorrow I'm wiping them all out. But instead, for decades, Noah preaches. For decades, Noah calls the people to repentance. Again, why do I think that this is the most likely interpretation or hermeneutic of this passage? It's because of the time markers specifically in verse 20. I think we understand verse 19 by the time markers in verse 20. Who, what's the who? Who were formerly disobedient. Who's the who? The spirits in prison. When were they formally disobedient? When were they in prison? When once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah. Well, what were the days of Noah? While the ark was being prepared. That's the time of the patience. That's the people being disobedient. That's the time period that I think God is talking about here. God is patient during those days of Noah. And the wicked afterwards do die. And make no doubt about it, I'm not saying that we cannot understand the idea of hell as a prison or the afterlife as a prison. I think that that does have some marking to it. I think this is the most intertextual interpretation that stands up But there is another interpretation that more modern reformed people have come to, and not just reformed people, this is kind of the scholarly consensus on this now, is that this is actually speaking of spirits being fallen angels. So when it speaks of spirits, the idea is that humans typically aren't referred to as spirits, although I would say we do have a spirit. And so, but they would say, this is not the normal way in which we talk about people. And so they would point us to Genesis chapter six, verses one through four. And there's a interpretation of Genesis chapter six, verses one through four, that when it says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, and they took them to be wives, and they had children, and they became giants in the land, that these sons of God are angels, and these angel dudes are marrying human women, they're having kind of these angel baby human offspring. I'm not sure I buy that, but that's an interpretation. So if you're gonna accept this, you gotta accept also that part of it. And there are Christian people who do, actually one of the leading commentators on Genesis chapter 6 and the World Bible Commentary that specifically argues that this is specifically the view that you have to hold, and I'm not sure I agree. But I do find some appeal into it for why. Not the Genesis 6, I'm not sure I hold on to that part, but why would God go and preach to spirits, fallen angels in prison. Well, the fallen angels theory, I like to call the victory lap theory. If this is what Jesus is doing, it seems like it may line up with Jude verse 6. Jude 6, it says, And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness. And then in 2 Peter 2.4, it says that God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness. So it seems as if both from Jude and from 2 Peter, that God really did imprison those rebellious angels somewhere because of their sin in gloomy darkness, in eternal chains. And what does God say happened with Jesus at his resurrection? Colossians chapter two, verse 15 says, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. The understanding of this is that when it says in verse 19 that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, it's not saying he preached to them like, hey, look, there's good news, you can still be saved, but it's, hey, look, there is good news and I won. and your days are numbered. I gotta say, there's a certain amount of manliness to that that I'm attracted to, but I'm not all the way there. Okay, man, this is a lot. And this is what it's gonna be like for the next couple weeks, so I hope you eat your Wheaties and come in having a banana beforehand and you're ready to think, right? But what does this mean for your life? How does this apply to us? I wanna warn you, first of all, I wanna caution you against speculative theology. There's a way in which we are able to treat the scriptures and we're able to have a right intent. We want to study, we want to read, and then we come up with formulas, we come up with interpretations, we come up with ways of thinking, and we dig in our heels and we become so entrenched in our ways of thinking that then we end up following our own imaginations rather than actually being stuck to the Word of God. I think this passage is a warning to us, and the history of interpretation of this passage warns us against adopting speculative interpretations like purgatory, limbo, universalism, or spirit prison. It doesn't add anything to the clarity of Scripture. Indeed, they just muddle the waters. Faithful interpretations ground got our confidence in the plain teaching of God's word. There was an ancient theologian by the last name of Occam, and he had this rule of thumb, Occam's razor. What's the most simple and clear explanation of the passage? That's the one we're looking for. What is a clear, and it's called Occam's razor, and I don't think limbo or purgatory, spirit prison, I don't think any of those pass that test. But we must also use the rule of faith. When you come to God's Word, use God's Word as the measure for God's Word. It's really easy. God created us to be creative people. He made us to create things and come up with stories and to be imaginative. I love seeing the kids' drawings. I love seeing movies and finding out the stories that people tell. But when we come to God's Word, we're not invited to use our imagination to create what we want out of God's Word. No, we're Christians who believe that there's propositional truth. That God said something and the words on the page mean something. And they still mean that same thing today. And so we want to go to his word and we want to understand less clear scriptures by more clear scriptures. But secondly, more personally, I hope that you'll have an assurance of God's justice. Whether you hold to Jesus speaking by his spirit through Noah, or Jesus declaring his victory over the angels, I think the prison language reminds us that God's judgment is certain. He takes sin seriously. Whether referring to disobedient humans or fallen angels, I think this passage underscores that rebellion against God will not go unnoticed. Romans chapter 1 verse 18 says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And this is not to make us go to the, fly over the legalism like, okay, well then I got to do absolutely everything right. No, no, remember, the just for the unjust. You're categorically the unjust, and you need Jesus Christ. You're never gonna be perfect until glory. But neither does that give us the right to just say, oh, you know, I've heard the message of salvation, and I'll play around on the outside of the ark, and someday the rain will come, but I'll get in the ark on that day. No, get in the ark now. Follow him now. Christians trust and the ultimate justice of God, knowing that no evil will escape his righteous judgment. Thirdly, I want to encourage you though, as you specifically think about verse 19, if the interpretation that this is Jesus by his spirit being preached, or preaching to the disobedient people through Noah of his day, that when you share the good news with others, it's not just you speaking. But the Holy Spirit is working through you. And that you don't need to worry about what the effects are, what the end goal is, right? And I gotta say, this is a hard thing for me when I preach, or when I do evangelism, or when I do Bible studies, or I have conversations that I'm sharing the gospel with someone, I'm disappointed when they don't believe right away. It's heart-wrenching. But our job isn't the conversion of those people. Our job is to be faithful, to speak the words of Christ, to offer Christ, to hold out Christ, to proclaim God's word, even though people may reject it. They rejected Noah. They rejected Jesus. They may reject Jesus when you preach him to. It's okay. God will save his elect. God will call his people to himself. As one of my mentors said, Brian, your job is not the fruit, your job is the faithfulness. You just tell people about Jesus, he'll bring his people to Jesus. And fourth application, lastly. I pray that this will give you a sobriety regarding life after death. For it is appointed for every man to die once, and after this, the judgment." I don't know if maybe even one of you have been holding Christ at an arms distance, thinking, well, someday, finally, I'll believe. I'll get my life, and I'll get my act together. Someday, when I know that things are really getting bad, then I'll do it. Don't wait. The day is today. They didn't know when the rain was going to start falling, and neither do you know when the day of death is going to come upon you. I plead with you. Believe in Jesus Christ today. There is hope today. There is salvation today. Do not wait until the shackles are upon your wrists and you're in the abyss forever. There's life to be had in Jesus Christ today. So repent and believe. There's life for you if you trust in his son. Let's pray. Father, we do confess that we, when we talked about this last week, we're no better than the verse 18. We don't have a righteousness of our own. We need Jesus. And so, Father, we pray that you would please help us. Lord, we confess that we believe and we pray that you would help our disbelief. There are times in which we doubt. There are times we scratch our heads, times which we wonder. And times even, Lord, that we start to stray away from you. Lord, we plead that your Holy Spirit would take a grip, a hold of our hearts. That we might hear the preaching of Jesus. and how we might believe. Lord, if we've strayed away from you, please draw us back. You are the good shepherd. Lord, when we know that we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we pray that you would wipe away the tears from our eyes because we know that joy comes in the morning. Lord, please keep us from the foolish ways our hearts would want to go. And let us trust in you alone. We need you to do it, Lord. In Jesus's name, amen.

• Why is human righteousness insufficient before God? Human righteousness is insufficient before a holy God because, as Romans 3:10-12 and Genesis 6:5 highlight, we are all inherently sinful. Our thoughts, intentions, and actions consistently fall short of God's perfect standard. We are prone to evil, and even our best efforts are tainted by selfishness and pride, meaning we cannot achieve a state of righteousness that would satisfy God's justice. This demonstrates the dire need for an external source of righteousness.

• What is meant by 'substitutionary atonement' in the context of Jesus' suffering? Substitutionary atonement refers to the concept that Jesus, who was completely righteous, willingly took the punishment for our sins upon himself. As Isaiah 53:4-6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 show, he suffered and died on the cross as a substitute, bearing the consequences of our wrongdoing. This act of love and sacrifice satisfied God's justice, allowing us to be reconciled to him. Christ's suffering was not merely a demonstration of love but a means of payment for the penalty that we deserved, hence the "just for the unjust".

• How does Christ's resurrection impact our hope and justification? Christ's resurrection is vital because it proves the completeness and success of his sacrifice. Romans 5:1-5 and Philippians 3:9-11 describe how it demonstrates that God has accepted Jesus' atonement. It signifies not only the forgiveness of our sins but also our restoration to a right relationship with God. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, the believer has been given an "alien righteousness", one that was not earnt by them, but imputed to them by God through faith. It is through Christ's resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life, having been both acquitted of our sin and declared righteous in God's sight.

• What does it mean for a Christian to be "blessed" in suffering for righteousness? According to 1 Peter 3:13-17, suffering for righteousness is a blessing because it means our lives are aligning with Christ's teachings, and we are participating in His suffering. When we are persecuted for our beliefs, it is not a sign of God's disfavor, but rather a testament to our faith and a confirmation that we are following Christ's example. It gives us a unique opportunity to testify to the hope we have in Christ. Instead of fearing such suffering, we are to view it as an honour and an opportunity to glorify God.

• How should Christians respond when they face evil or persecution? Christians are called to respond to evil or persecution not by retaliating, but by exhibiting compassion, humility and love. 1 Peter 3:8-12 says, instead of returning evil for evil, we should bless those who persecute us. We are to seek unity and pursue peace, trusting that God is ultimately just and will avenge us. The focus should be on reflecting the character of Christ, showing grace even when facing injustice. This includes being gentle and respectful when defending our faith.

• Why is the concept of Christ's finished work so crucial for Christians? The "finished work" of Christ means that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection were all sufficient for our salvation. This means our righteousness is not based on any personal achievement, but a gift given freely by God. As the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms point out, Christ's obedience and sacrifice fully satisfied God's justice. Because of this, we can have full assurance of our salvation. There's nothing more we can or need to add to what he has already accomplished. This frees us from the burden of trying to earn our salvation and establishes Christ as the sole foundation for our relationship with God.

• How should the assurance of Christ's finished work influence our daily lives? The assurance of Christ's finished work should lead us to live with a deep sense of gratitude and confidence in our relationship with God. Knowing we are righteous because of Christ, not ourselves, should cultivate humility and motivate us to pursue a life that is pleasing to him. We should seek to display unity, peace, and love in our interactions with others. In our lives, we must seek to give a defence to others for the hope that we have in Christ, in meekness and fear. This should inform the way we approach every aspect of our lives.

• What is the practical application of the phrase "the just for the unjust" in our lives? The phrase "the just for the unjust" highlights the central tenet of Christian faith: Jesus, being perfectly righteous, took the punishment that we, being unrighteous, deserved. This realisation should foster a spirit of gratitude and humility. We must acknowledge we have no merit of our own, and our salvation comes entirely through grace. The just one took our place so that we might be brought into the presence of God. The application is that we can never rely upon ourselves for our own righteousness, and so must place our full trust in Jesus. This should lead to living lives that honor God's grace.

• Justification: God's act of declaring a sinner righteous in his sight through faith in Christ, not through their own good works or merits.

• Imputation: The act of crediting or transferring something, in this context, God credits Christ's righteousness to believers.

• Atonement: The reconciliation between God and humanity through Christ's sacrificial death, which covers the debt of sin.

• Substitutionary Atonement: The doctrine that Christ died as a substitute for sinful humanity, bearing the punishment and penalty for their sin.

• Righteousness: Moral perfection and conformity to God's law. In Christian theology, it's seen both as a standard and a gift of God through Christ.

• Sanctification: The process of being made holy, where God works in believers to transform them into Christlikeness over time.

• Passive Obedience: Christ's willing submission to suffering and death as part of his obedience to God's will, not limited to simply his active obedience to the law.

• Alien Righteousness: A righteousness that is not inherent to the individual but comes from an outside source. In Christian theology, it refers to the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers.

• Reconciliation: The restoration of a relationship to harmony, specifically, the bridging of the gap between God and humans through Christ.

• The Spirit: In the context of this study, refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who is believed to give life and bring about spiritual regeneration.