1 Peter, chapter number 3, tonight the Bible reads in verse number 1,
Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not
the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives,
while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Now what
I want to point out verse number 1 here is that he talks about being won without
the word. Now let me start out by saying that the term soul winning is biblical.
Sometimes when you preach about winning someone to Christ or winning souls,
people will balk at that terminology and say that it's not scriptural to win
someone to the Lord. And a lot of times this is coming from Calvinists or people
who don't believe that we have the power to actually go out and get people saved
and pull people out of the fire and actually make a difference in people's
lives by preaching the gospel to them. They believe it's all predetermined and
God does everything, Christ does everything, you know, we don't do anything,
we don't win souls, it's Christ that does the saving and all that. But this is not
biblical, friend. The Bible uses this term winning someone or winning souls
repeatedly about getting someone saved, and in fact the Bible even goes further
and Paul talks about saving people. He says, I become all things to all men that
I might by all means save some. He said in Romans chapter 11 verse 14, if by any
means I might provoke to emulation them that are of my flesh and might save some
of them. So Paul said, I want to save these people, right? I want to get them
saved. Of course Proverbs 11 30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
and he that winneth souls is wise. Here it talks about the husband who's not
saved being won by the conversation of the wife, okay? So yes we do win souls, yes
we do go out and save people. Now of course this is not taking away from
Jesus as the Savior, but Jesus Christ has committed unto us the ministry of
reconciliation and because we are ambassadors for Christ, we go out soul
saving or soul winning as the Bible says. And so don't let people tell you that
that's not a biblical term. The holier than thou's want to pontificate and give
God all the glory. Well you know I'm so glad you're giving God all the glory for
the nothing that you're accomplishing. You accomplish nothing, you win no one to
Christ, you sit on your rear end letting the world go to hell and then give God
all the glory for salvation. Well good job for you giving God your whole zero.
Giving God the glory for all the zero that got saved and the zero that got
baptized. Now look, I give God all the glory as well, but I'm gonna use the
biblical terminology that Paul used when he said, I want to save some of them.
What about when Jude said, others save with fear. Others save with fear.
Go to Jude if you would. Keep your finger in 1 Peter 3, we'll come right back to it.
But look at Jude. The Bible tells us in this powerful verse, Jude 22, it says,
and if some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. So
recently I had mentioned in a video that I made about how this verse is just
completely butchered in the NIV and in the modern versions because of a
textual variant in the underlying Greek text. There's a corrupt Greek text out
there for this verse that says something completely different and so therefore
when you read like an NIV or a New American Standard or an ESV, this verse
reads completely different just because of a word change in the original. And so
basically in this verse of some have compassion, making a difference, the NIV
says something along the lines of, be merciful to those who doubt, which is
just obviously a completely different thought, okay. But it's funny, James White,
who is kind of the archenemy of King James onlyism, he scoffed at me making an
issue of this verse and he said, oh this is an obscure verse, this is a verse that
people don't really base a lot of their thought on evangelism on this
verse. I mean he acted like he couldn't even remember the last time he ever
heard this verse preached and that it's just an obscure thing, why am I making
such a big deal about such a minor verse. But what's funny about that is that when
you're an independent fundamental Baptist, this is actually not an obscure
passage because when I was coming up as an independent fundamental Baptist, I
can't even count the sermons on others saved with fear, pulling them out of the
fire. But we as a soul-winning Baptist, we love this passage. This is actually one
of our key passages that we keep turning to, our Bible kind of falls open here
because we keep turning to this passage and we keep preaching on this passage
because we believe in soul-winning. But obviously if you're a Calvinist, yeah
this is just obscure passage to you. Who cares about Jude 22? Big deal! Well it is
a big deal, friend. And when the Bible says of some have compassion making a
difference, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, what he's saying is
two kinds of people here. Some people you save by showing compassion to them, other
people you save with fear. You know the hellfire and brimstone preaching is
what's going to save them. Other people, love and compassion is going to reach
them, right? And so the making a difference is that you basically discern
or make a difference between these two different types of people. Some have
compassion making a difference, others save with fear, right? So there's two
different attitudes that you can have, two different methods that you can have
for reaching people, okay? And that's what this is teaching. But again he says save
with fear. Why is he telling us to save people if we don't save anybody? Isn't
that what the Calvinists will say? Well we don't save anybody. How can you talk
about winning souls or getting people saved? You're so prideful, you didn't save
anybody. Well yes I did save somebody. I saved somebody because Jude told me save
them with fear and I went out and I did what? I saved them with fear. And you went
out soul-winning and some of them you had compassion and you made a
difference, others you saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire. So don't
let anybody tell you, well you didn't get anybody saved, you did, well I just say
well I know you did it, but I actually did. And they say well that's not what
Jude meant, that's not what Paul, well that's not what I meant either then.
Because when I say I got someone saved I mean the exact same thing that Paul
meant when he said I might save some of them. And he also said in 1st Corinthians
chapter 7, How knowest thou, O wife, and I hope I'm quoting this correctly, if thou
will save thy husband? Or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy
wife? So he talks about saving your husband, saving your wife, getting people
saved, amen? So 1st Peter chapter 3, if we go back there, he says
likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not
the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife.
So this is basically a wife that has an unsaved husband, an unbelieving husband,
he doesn't obey the word, but the Bible says that he can be won without the word
just by the chaste conversation of the wife. Basically the testimony of a good
wife is so powerful that it's likely to lead to her husband getting saved. So if
there's a saved wife out there and her husband is not saved, if she is a godly
Christian, if she is subject to her husband, if she obeys her husband and is
a godly wife, she's very likely to win her husband to the Lord. Now what we want
to be careful with this verse though is that we don't misunderstand this, that
people get saved without the Bible. I've heard some people turn to this as a
proof text to try to say see you can get saved without the word, you can get saved
without the Bible. Folks that is false. Let me explain to you why. First of all
there are lots of verses that explain that the Word of God is what saves us.
The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The
Bible tells us that he quickened us by the word of truth, of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a fine kind of firstfruits
of his creatures. In the parable of the sower, the Bible talks about how the
sower sows the word, okay. The Bible says he shall tell thee words whereby thou
and all thy house shall be safe. So you have verse after verse even all the way
back in Psalm 119 God's Word has quickened me and all throughout the
Bible and I could do a whole sermon on the fact that you have to have God's
Word to be saved. It's God's Word that saves us. It's faith that comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This is what they're missing in this
verse here. It says if any obey not the word they also may without the word be
won by the conversation of the wives. What that's actually saying is that
they've already heard the word. How can you not obey the word unless you've
heard the word and didn't obey it? So it's not saying this person's getting
saved without hearing any Bible. What happened is this person heard the gospel.
They heard the Word of God and they didn't obey it. They did not believe on
Jesus Christ. They did not get saved. Well what the Bible is saying is don't just
keep beating that person over the head with the gospel as a wife. Now it's time
to just show them the testimony. Show them the godly conversation. Show them a
godly example. That's how you're gonna win them over to the gospel. Not by just
preaching to them non-stop the gospel. Now look I believe obviously that if
there's a wife and her husband's not saved the best thing she could do is
preach the gospel to him. Preach him the Word of God. Give him the gospel. But
everything if he rejects the gospel, if he doesn't get saved, if he doesn't
listen, then at that point it's time to just be the best godly Christian wife
and example and win him over that way without the word. Okay now even when I'm
at work if I preach the gospel to somebody and they don't get saved I
don't just keep going through the Romans road with that person over and over
again. I don't just every time I see them all right here we go again for the fifth
time, sixth time, seventh time. What I typically do if I and I guess I don't
work with unsaved people anymore since you know except when Tyler Baker worked
here but anyway you know now that I'm a pastor but you know back when I was out
in the world and I was at working as an electrician when I was doing fire alarms
and I would work with unsaved people you know I would use opportunities I had to
give them the gospel. Now obviously you need to be wise about how you do this
you don't want to sit there and just stop everything on the job site and just
start preaching the Bible and you're stealing from your employer if you're
not putting work first when you're on the clock okay and you have to be
sensitive about the customer and the company and the rules to everything
there is a purpose and it's everything there is a season and a time to every
purpose under heaven so there's a time to preach the gospel and there's a time
not to preach the gospel and to shut up and dig the hole that you're supposed to
be digging okay amen but when you have those opportunities like for example
let's say you're on a long drive you know back when I was an electrician we
would often drive to job sites an hour two hours three hours away and you're
sitting in the car you're talking that can often be a great time to share the
gospel and I think a good rule of thumb is when you're alone with someone give
the gospel when you're alone with someone give them the gospel just in all
areas of life that's a good rule of thumb because that's usually the best
time to have a serious conversation with people and they're not worried about
what their friends think or anything like that so when you're in the work
truck give the gospel or another opportunity could be maybe when you're
sitting down at lunch you're off the clock you're on a break you can preach
the gospel but again you have to be careful that you're not cramming it down
people's throat that aren't interested if people aren't interested they're not
interested right try to give the gospel attempt to preach the gospel yeah I try
to get them interested but if they're not interested then sometimes you have
to know when to walk away okay and shake the dust off your feet and just talk to
the next person but let's say you give somebody the gospel and they don't
receive it which is gonna happen all the time you know you you get a chance in
the work truck or at lunch to go through the whole plan of salvation and they
hear the gospel but they don't get saved today I don't just keep preaching
the gospel to that person over and over again because that can seem a little bit
repetitive or redundant or like a broken record or even annoying to just keep
saying the same thing to someone over and over again so what I typically do
because I still want that person to get saved you know finally gave him the
gospel once I don't want that to be the end of it typically what I'll try to do
after that is just bring up other conversations down the road about other
biblical subjects because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of
God so what I've done sometimes is just told them other Bible stories hey let me
tell you an interesting story from the Bible I remember when I worked at
Roundtable Pizza there were guys there that had no interest in church no
interest in the things of God they did not believe the Bible they did not
believe on Jesus Christ but they would beg me to tell Bible stories just
because they were so bored and we'd be sitting there and we'd be folding boxes
or we'd be making rolling out dough or something and they enjoyed hearing
stories because I would really you know try to tell them in an exciting way and
I remember one time just spending hours while we were doing some menial task
just telling the whole story of Genesis just going through all the stories
talking about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and about how his
brothers didn't know who he is he's playing a trick on them and all that you
know and just go through look anytime you can talk about the Bible quote
scripture talk about the things of God where people don't necessarily feel like
you're just hammering them on salvation though you know what you're watering the
seed is what you're doing because you're you're getting the Word of God to them
any way you can and anytime other subjects come up you know you can put a
biblical perspective on and say well here's what the Bible says about
marriage or here's what the Bible says about child rearing or here's what the
Bible says about you know this current event that's going on or whatever and so
you can get the word to them in other ways without just giving them the Romans
road over and over again and then after you've kind of softened them up for a
while then you can attempt to give them the gospel again you know after you've
already talked to them and given them other things then sometimes maybe a few
weeks later you can try again with the main thing which is actually salvation
okay now that's for like a co-worker or a friend or whatever but I mean look if
this is someone that you live with you especially don't want to just beat them
over the head with the same thing every day I know people where their their wife
isn't saved their husband isn't saved and they just keep giving them the
gospel but you know at some point it can it can get to where they'll just start
tuning it out because it's like I've already heard this I've already heard
this so therefore at some point it can become better to just show a good
testimony be a godly person be a good son daughter mother father be a good
wife husband sister brother whatever the case may be and let your testimony speak
for itself now I'm not talking about lifestyle evangelism in lieu of preaching
the gospel you know I'm talking about I'm talking about first preaching the
gospel and then doing the lifestyle evangelism after you've already given a
clear presentation of the gospel now let's work on just showing them the
light of Christ through your life being that epistle of Christ known and read of
all men and especially if this is your spouse you don't want to just tell them
every night good night I hope you don't die in your sleep because you're going
to hell tonight you know if you die you know that's not the right way to do that
right you want to be you want to show love for your spouse and you want to
gently bring them along and give them the Word of God pray for them be a good
wife be a good husband preach to them other biblical things if they're
interested maybe if they say I don't hear about the gospel but if they're
willing to talk about other biblical subjects or if they're willing to read
scripture or something then whatever but you see what the Bible says here he said
especially with the wife because the wife is not the boss so she can't just
Lord over her husband and sit down and shut up and listen to the gospel if a
husband doesn't obey the word they also may without the word be won by the
conversation of life because they've already heard the word that's why they
didn't obey it because they heard the gospel already now it's time to show
them the lifestyle verse 2 while they behold your chaste conversation coupled
coupled with fear who's adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting
the hair and of wearing of gold or a putting on of apparel but let it be the
hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price for after
this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorn
themselves being in subjection under their own husband so the Bible saying
that Christian women should not be overly into their appearance right they
should not spend hours and hours getting dolled up and putting on the Bible says
gold and elsewhere the Bible says pearls costly array expensive clothing is
unbiblical friend that's what the Bible says all right the Bible says that women
should not put on costly array but that they should be dressed in modest apparel
modest humble apparel now you can still dress nice and dress stylish and look
your best but not going out and buying the super expensive brands and wasting a
bunch of money on gold and precious stones and pearls and gold and and the
fancy garment you know just wear sensible clothing and don't spend a ton
of time on your parents you know why because you should be spending more time
on the inside I mean imagine if you spent the time reading your Bible
praying serving your husband that you spend in front of the mirror applying
all that makeup and putting on all that apparel and all the jewelry and you know
get your priorities right it's the inside that matters work on your heart
more than on the outside is what the Bible is teaching here and he brings up
an example from the past he says in this manner also the old in old time the holy
women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection under
their own husbands and he brings up Sarah as the example now a lot of people
think this is outdated this idea of women being in subjection to their
husbands because of the feminist movement that women don't need to submit
to their husbands anymore but here's what's interesting first Peter was
written a little bit less than 2,000 years ago okay so people say well that's
outdated but here's what's interesting Sarah lived about 2,000 years before
first Peter was written so first Peter is going back 2,000 years and saying hey
be like Sarah so it's pretty easy for us in 2019 to go back 2,000 years and say
read first Peter why because it's the same thing 4,000 years ago as it is 2,000
years ago as it is today because God's Word doesn't change and God's view on
marriage has not changed so women are to be in subjection to their own husbands
the Bible says even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters
you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement now the
reason that this often strikes readers odd when it says that she called him
Lord is because in 2019 in our vernacular when we say the word Lord we
usually only say that about deity we usually only say that about God right
when we say the Lord we think God and obviously you don't call your husband
God all right that would be very extreme and it would even be blasphemous right
I you know I like your attitude but that's too much all right so when we see
Lord obviously that makes us think of God and that's why this strikes us as
weird but what you have to understand is that in the Bible the word Lord is
sometimes referring to God but sometimes it's just referring to a boss or a
master okay it's just someone who's in charge is the Lord the Bible will talk
about Lord with a lowercase L just talking about the Lord of this manner or
the Lord of the vineyard or the Lord of this servant or whatever we think of
lords and ladies right going back a few hundred years now in most languages in
fact in every language that I've ever studied and I've studied a lot of
foreign languages in every language I have ever studied the word for sir and
Lord is the same word it's only English where this is different where we have a
different word for mr. and sir as Lord if we're speaking Spanish señor señor
means sir and also el señor is the Lord el señor and then you would say mr.
so-and-so you would say señor he meant it right you would say say your
Rodriguez right mr. Rodriguez so in in it's that way in German it's that way
in Hungarian it's that way in Greek I mean it's that way in pretty much every
language except English okay so what you have to and it used to be somewhat like
that in English so when the Bible says here that she called him Lord basically
the equivalent would be that she's calling him sir or she's calling him
master or she's calling him by some kind of a title that would denote respect
and submission okay so obviously it's a little bit different for us in 2019
because the word Lord has a different connotation now so the the connotation
here would be like she called him sir basically okay in that sense she called
him señor if you speak Spanish right so Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord
whose daughters you are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any
amazement now I want to point out another key thought here in verse 5
where it says that the holy woman also who trusted in God were the ones that
were in subjection under their own husbands right they trusted in God
here's the thing a lot of women don't want to submit to their husband because
they think well if I submit to my husband bad things are gonna happen my
husband he doesn't know how to run things I need to run things because if
he runs things he's gonna mess it up isn't that the attitude of some women I
can't him let him lead because he'll you know take us the wrong direction or
whatever but this is where trusting in God comes in trusting in God says well
if God commanded me to obey my husband and submit to him even if I don't think
it's gonna work out good I'm gonna go ahead and trust God and submit to my
husband anyway because that's what God told me to do and all things are gonna
work together for good to those that love God so I'm gonna go ahead and
submit to my husband because I trust him no but I trust God okay so you say I
don't trust my husband okay well then trust God but either way you need to
obey and submit to your husband and that's gonna be for the best okay you
say well I'm not willing to take that chance then you don't trust God you're
not trusting in the Lord Sarah trust in the Lord so she's willing to follow
Abraham and this is a whole sermon in of itself and I want to talk about first
Peter so I don't want to go off too far on this tangent but you know what
Abraham did some pretty squirrely stuff as a husband well you don't know my
husband okay read Genesis and tell me if you want to be married to Abraham you
remember the stunts that Abraham pulled oh she's my sister and all that gets
you abducted into some strange household twice okay I mean look if Sarah can call
him Lord and submit to him you can submit your husband he was not the ideal
husband hey he was a great man of faith but he was not the ideal husband at all
by anyone's definition and so it's a great example to say hey Sarah trusted
the Lord and you know what Sarah ended up being blessed and be and living a
great life and everything ended up great even though Abraham did some really dumb
things along the way that put her in danger she ended up being okay why
because God was looking out for her so this is what I'm saying you trust in the
Lord and it's gonna be okay well I'm better at running things well you know
what I'd rather be in God's will with a bozo running things than to be out of
God's will with a skillful smart person running things because the blessing of
God is everything obedience to God is everything right so keep that in mind
ladies when you're tempted to rebel against your husband because you know
better well maybe you do know better but you know what it doesn't matter he's the
boss I'm not saying that your husband is always right I'm just saying that as far
as you're concerned your husband's always right I'm not saying that your
husband is smarter than you I'm saying that he's the boss even if he's not
smarter than you okay and some of you are not as smart as you think okay and
maybe you are smarter maybe you're not but I if I had a nickel for every woman
that I ran into who thought that she was way more spiritual than her husband and
then I met her husband and I walked away saying I think he's more spiritual but a
lot of women they just think they're way more spiritual and they think they're
the one who needs to lead when in reality if the husband were in the
driver's seat things would be going better okay because it's the natural
order of things that God has created it's the right way of doing it okay not
because men are better than women not because men are smarter women they're
not better than women they're not smarter than women they're just the ones
who God has ordained to lead and when you do things God's way you're blessed
and God's blessing will cover a multitude of foul ups from the husband
amen we've all made mistakes and but you know what at least if we do things God's
way God's gonna cover for us okay so the Bible says in verse 8 or verse 7 sorry
likewise ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honor
unto the wife as under the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of
the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered so the Bible says husbands
dwell with them according to knowledge know your wife get to know your wife
honor her treat her well love her nourish her cherish her do things God's
way as heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered
verse 8 finally be all of one mind having compassion one of another love as
brethren be pitiful be courteous now the word pitiful here it doesn't really mean
the same thing that it means to us today we say oh you're pitiful you're pathetic
when the Bible says pitiful here it means full of pity it means that you
have pity on other people it means that you feel sorry for them you have mercy
on them when something bad happens you weep with those that weep and you help
out those that are in need that's what it means to be pitiful and to be courteous
means to be kind and treat people well and polite and so forth verse not verse
9 not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing
knowing that you're there unto called that ye should inherit a blessing so
we could just continue this on marriage right because he was talking about
marriage at the beginning he was talking to the wives and the husbands how about
this when it comes to marriage don't render evil for evil don't render
railing for railing so your spouse starts yelling at you and saying rude
things to you don't just turn around and just say oh yeah well let me tell you
something buddy don't render evil for evil don't render render railing for
railing overcome evil with good knowing that you're there unto called that you
should inherit a blessing for he that will love life and see good days let him
refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile let him
eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it try to get along is
what he's saying here right a shoe evil hate evil do not rail and curse and have
your tongue participate in evil and guile eschew evil and do good seek peace
and ensue it okay ensue is sort of like the word pursue right see the sue on
the end there and the Bible is saying here that peace doesn't happen by
accident you have to be a peacemaker right strive to get along if husband and
wife are just going through life not caring about their marriage and just
living their life and not putting any effort into marriage it's not going to
be a good marriage right marriage takes work you have to seek peace you have to
strive to get along you have to actively love your spouse and work hard at having
a good marriage if you want to have a good marriage because it's not gonna
happen by accident and if you don't believe me then just look at all the
people they're getting divorced and look at all the people even that are married
and have a miserable marriage because it's not easy to have a good marriage it
takes effort right so you want to put forth that effort seek peace and ensue
it the Bible says in verse 12 for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous
and his ears are open under their prayers but the face of the Lord is
against them that do evil and who is he that will harm you if you be followers
of that which is good but and if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are
ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled but sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear
having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ so he
shifted from marriage to just talking about life in general he actually
shifted all the way back in verse 8 but a lot of this you can still apply to
marriage but he goes on to just talk about the fact that when you go through
this life if you do the right thing there are going to be people who
persecute you attack you lie about you falsely accuse you but if you have a
good conscience and if you do that which is right if as in verse 13 at the end
there you be followers of that which is good then who is he that will harm you
look at verse 13 who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that
which is good verse 16 having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil
of you as of evildoers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ instead of worrying what people think about us we
need to be worried about whether we're right whether we are doing well whether
we love God and are obeying the Bible is more important than what people think
okay because if you are getting falsely accused what's more important than going
out and proving to everybody that you're innocent what's more important is making
sure that you actually are innocent you know making sure that you're actually
doing right making sure that you actually are blameless because if you
are blameless and you are not guilty of the things that you're being accused of
you know what you can go to bed at night and lay your head on your pillow and
know that God's gonna take care of you there's a scoreboard in heaven it always
reads the right score and you know what there are people on this earth that are
gonna get things wrong and make accusations and and especially if you're
in a public position defending yourself could become a full-time job if you're
not careful and you know you don't want to just spend your whole life just
defending yourself against every false accusation I mean if I defended myself
every time someone attacked me it would be a full-time job literally I don't
even know if it would even be humanly possible because it just every single
day some video gets uploaded Steven Anderson lies Steven Anderson exposed
you know Steven Harrison's a heretic Steven has a false teacher you know but
guess what everybody who is well known gets attacked like that whoever they are
it's just the way life is I mean my wife was showing me there's this there's this
lady who puts out cookbooks and she never says anything controversial who is
this again the Pioneer Woman okay who knows the Pioneer Woman right so I don't
know anything about the Pioneer Woman but my wife has some of her cookbooks
and she has this blog and she has cookbooks and this woman's not
controversial to my knowledge she doesn't get up and speak out on politics
she doesn't get up and speak out on religion and rip face and tell she's
basically putting out a cookbook okay I mean it's just how to make food and she
doesn't say anything inflammatory she's just a lady cooking and putting out a
cookbook but here's the there literally our entire websites correct me if I'm
wrong here I want to get this right isn't there like a whole website just
attacking there are at least two websites attacking the Pioneer Woman
just eight sites directed at a cookbook so just stop and think about this if God
said that we're gonna be persecuted if we live right and all that will live
God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and if we preach the gospel
there are gonna be many adversaries and if we see all the Apostles getting
thrown in prison and everybody's suffering right then fast forward to
2019 you can just make a cookbook and everybody's gonna hate you make websites
against you thinking not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to
try you should I be surprised as a Bible believing preacher if people exist to
hate on me when people exist to hate on a woman who printed a cookbook I mean
they literally don't they criticize her because the foods too fatty you know
because she put she put in too much butter and they're not just giving tips
like hey I think you should use a little less butter they're just like I can't
believe that you would make all this fatty food and all the butter and the
crayon so yeah so what do you expect if you get him to preach the Bible you're
gonna get attacked you're gonna get hated on but here's the and you're gonna
get falsely accused I'm sure she's been falsely accused of crazy thing I mean I
was walking through the store one time and they had some pioneer woman scandal
on the front of one of these magazines one of these tabloids I don't know if it
was the Enquirer or one of these kind of scummy you know oh we talked to her
second cousin twice remove and got all the dirt on the pioneer woman she's not
what she makes herself out to be and she's scum and I was just like it was
like this expose and a lot of it was just made up crazy stuff because it's
coming from the Enquirer and I'm not here to be an apologist for the pioneer
woman okay I don't even know if I've even eaten any of her recipes and I had
yeah my wife said I've eaten some okay so did I like them well you know I've
never I've never gotten it direct from her but I'm getting it secondhand
apparently because my wife cooked some of the recipes okay but I'm just saying
if you have a good conscience though you know what when all the attacks come it's
like water off a duck's back a lot of people I just had somebody say to me
yesterday pastor I don't know how you do it because you're constantly getting
attacked and bashed how do you do it I'll tell you how I do it I have a good
conscience so people can lie about me hate me attack me and call me names but
the end of the day I put my head on my pillow and I sleep like a baby because I
did what was right and I have a good conscience let the heathen rage let
people falsely accuse me it doesn't matter so just get that mentality where
you don't feel like you always have to defend yourself every single now there
are times when you should defend yourself there are times when you need
to defend yourself when accusations are serious or whatever but there are times
when you need to just let things go and say you know what who cares let God deal
with that I'm just gonna go on live my life I'm not gonna get hung up on every
time somebody attacks or criticizes me because if you have a good conscience
and if you're a follower of that which is good who is he that will harm you hey
if God be for us who can be against us so what you need to do is worry about
whether God's for you you need to worry about whether you're a follower of that
which is good you need to worry about whether you have a good conscience and
let the chips fall where they made that's what's important not just oh what
do people think about me what are people gonna think now it does matter what
people think but it matters a hundred times more what God thinks and it
matters a hundred times more whether you have a good conscience and there's no
substitute for a good conscience I wouldn't trade a good conscience for all
the money in the world and you know people that have a bad conscience they
would pay anything to get rid of their bad conscience having a good conscience
makes life sweet and it makes you sleep like a baby and don't trade that for
anything have a good conscience right do what's and if you and you say well
I've already said then confess it and forsake it we all sin all the time but
if you confess your sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness so okay yeah we sin but then we confess it
we move on and we go to bed with the good conscience amen because we get
things right with God and then we go to bed and go to sleep and wake up start
over his mercies are new every morning so the Bible says it's better according
to verse 17 if the will of God be so that just suffer for well-doing then for
evil doing what's he saying you're gonna suffer no matter what in life you will
suffer in life no one goes through this life without suffering everyone suffers
if you're a godly Christian you will suffer if you're a worldly sinful person
you're gonna suffer you don't think people who go out and get drunk and
party and fornicate and do drugs you don't think they suffer they suffer the
hangovers they suffer the shame and embarrassment and stupidity of the life
that they live and then Christians suffer persecution hardships trials
tribulations everybody suffers the choice is not to suffer or not to
suffer that is not the question friend the question is suffer for well-doing or
suffer for evil doing life is going to have suffering in it you want to suffer
for doing what's right or do you want to suffer for doing evil if you suffer for
doing well happy are you if you suffer for doing evil it's just bad on bad
well one to you there's no benefit to it so he says in verse 18 for Christ also
has one suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God
that he might they might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the Spirit so Christ has set an example of suffering and we
talked about this this morning in 1st Peter chapter 2 and 1st Peter chapter 2
really rolls right into chapter 3 because in 1st Peter chapter 2 if you
remember from this morning he talked about in verse 21 for even here unto
where you called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example
that you should follow in his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in
his mouth when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatened
not but committed himself to him that judges righteously do you see how that
rolls right into chapter 3 so in chapter 2 he says look Christ was righteous and
he suffered wrongfully but he did not return railing for railing he did not
render evil for evil but contrary wise blessing he said father forgive them for
they know not what they do so chapter 3 is really reiterating a lot of the same
things from chapter 2 about suffering wrongfully your authority tells you
something they get on your case hey just go with it why because God's watching
and if we have a good conscience and do right God will make everything right God
will bless us remember when Jacob's boss Laban kept ripping them off God
made sure Jacob got paid so God's looking out for us God is gonna take
care of us the Bible is telling us that we should suffer for well-doing and not
for evil doing and have a good conscience Christ did the same thing okay
now at the end of this passage so that's pretty much what this chapters about the
fact that if we do what's right we're gonna sometimes be falsely accused and
suffer wrongfully but God is gonna take care of us and in the end we'll be
blessed if we do what's right okay just like Christ he suffered wrongfully but
then at the end what happened he's exalted it says in verse 22 he is
exalted it says he's gone into heaven verse 22 who has gone into heaven and is
on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made
subject unto him so the Bible says if Jesus let this mind be in you which was
all which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not
robbery be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likes of men and be found in
fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the
death of the cross wherefore God also has highly exalted him so therefore if
you're a child and you become obedient under your parents even if you end up
suffering wrongfully God's gonna exalt you if you're a wife and you're obedient
to your husband and you end up suffering wrongfully God's gonna exalt you at work
you submit to the manager you submit to the boss you suffer wrongfully God's
gonna exalt you God's gonna lift you up that's what the Bible is teaching here
right so this is the same theme that carries from chapter 2 into chapter 3
now in the closing moments of this sermon I want to deal with the difficult
section at the end of chapter 3 so I think everything up to this point has
been pretty easy to understand hasn't it it's been the milk of the word up to
this point just explaining that wives need to submit to their husbands so that
they can win them to Christ if they're not saved and be a good testimony
husbands need to love their wives and treat them well and we need to seek for
peace and try to get along be a good person have a good conscience do what's
right suffer wrongfully be like Christ I mean it's pretty easy chapter right but
there's a little bit of strong meat of the word mixed in and this is what the
Bible is like friend the Bible is a mix of things that are easy and things that
are hard and the Bible is this way by design because if the Bible were all
easy everything were easy to understand you would get bored with the Bible you'd
love it the first time you read it you'd love it the second time you read it but
after reading it 10 or 15 times you'd start to get pretty bored if everything
were easy and you understood everything you'd get bored so the Bible also
contains some very hard and difficult sections so that the more advanced
student of the Bible can stay engaged okay now I strive to make my sermons the
same way every sermon I preach even if it's a really difficult subject I try to
include some easy material so that even a baby Christian who comes and they know
much about the Bible they can at least get something out of the message they
can at least walk out of here and say hey you know what I learned that if I
obey my parents God's gonna bless me and even if they do me dirty you know what
God's gonna make it right and take care of it right so they could just take a
basic truth and then I also try to include more difficult truths in every
single sermon so that the advanced Christian student of the Bible isn't
just sitting there saying I already know all this I've already heard all this now
of course even if we do know these things we need to have our pure mind
stirred up by way of remembrance sometimes we just need to be reminded of
things that we already know I mean yeah every every wife knows she's supposed to
obey her husband if she's been in church or read the Bible but it doesn't
hurt to kind of hear that again sometimes because our culture is
constantly telling you the opposite so it's good to get a little refresher on
that okay we're on any biblical truth but there are some hard things in the
Bible now some people will point and say the King James is too hard and then
they'll point to a hard verse it's not the King James that's hard it's just the
Bible that's hard the Bible and the King James has some really easy verses too
Jesus wept any questions no there was a man sent from God his name was John
everybody got it in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth need
any help with that no so the Bible is a mix of easy and hard so yeah you can
point to hard verses in any version of the Bible because the Bible is just hard
in places and easy in other places amen so right here we have a hard passage and
I'm gonna spend just about 10 minutes here in the end on this difficult
passage and then we'll be done so we got the whole gist of the chapter and I'm
gonna tie in the difficult passage with the rest of the chapter because remember
scripture is not to be read in a vacuum or in isolation is to be read in context
part of the reason why people misunderstand scripture is because they
take it out of the context so now we understand the context now let's tackle
the difficult passage and see if we can understand it within the context of
chapter 3 because verse 22 goes back to what we were just talking about and it
all ties together so now let's look at the difficult passage the Bible says in
verse 18 for Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the spirit quickened means brought to life by the spirit by which
now the by which is talking about the spirit by the spirit by which also he
went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient
when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the arc
was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water the like
figure one to even baptism that also now save us not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ now there are some things in this that are easy
and some things that are difficult let's break this down let's start with the
easy stuff first okay verse 21 pretty easy verse 21 says the like figure
where on to baptism does also now save us not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ now this is pretty easy to understand that Noah's
arc and Noah being saved when the world was flooded by water is a picture of
salvation that's pretty easy to understand okay it's also the easy to
understand how the figure of baptism saves us now notice the Bible does not
say baptism saves it says the like figure where unto baptism does also now
save us so it's not baptism that saves us it's the figure it's what baptism
represents that saves us okay now do you see the parenthesis in verse 21 the
parenthesis is a thought that is outside the structure of the main sentence
okay that's what parenthesis are used for so let's read the sentence without
the parenthesis the Bible says the like figure we're on to even baptism does
also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ so we are saved by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ and what does baptism picture the wrap the
resurrection of Jesus Christ so the figure of baptism is the resurrection of
Jesus because when you're standing up in the water it's a picture of Jesus on
the cross when you go down under the water it's a picture of his burial and
when you come up out of the water it's a picture of his resurrection so the
figure of baptism saves us by the resurrection so what is it that saves us
we're saved by the resurrection baptism is a figure of the resurrection so verse
21 is not very hard and then when we add the parenthesis it gets even clearer the
like figure we're on to baptism does also now save us not the putting away of
the filth of the flesh so is baptism gonna wash away our sins and put away
the filth of the flesh no it's not it is not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ let me ask this does the answer come first or second second
question come first answer come second right so if we talk about an answer what
happens first do I answer my phone is the phone ring first the phone rings and
then I answer it answering is always something that you do next someone asks
you answer someone calls you answer answering comes second so the Bible says
that baptism is not the putting away the filth of the flesh but it is the answer
and what is it an answer to a good conscience toward God how do we get a
good conscience toward God how do we get a clear conscience toward God okay first
you've got to get saved you get forgiven of your sins then you get baptized so
baptism follows salvation okay it's an answer it's not the question okay it's
not the ringing it's the answer it's the thing that comes next first you get a
good conscience toward God then you get baptized all right and it's a figure of
the resurrection which is what saves us okay now let's tackle the tricky part in
verses 19 and 20 by which also he went and preached under the spirits in prison
which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight
souls were saved by water now what does this mean when it says that Christ by
the Spirit went and preached to the spirits in prison which were sometimes
disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah now
people have a lot of different views on this because this is kind of a difficult
passage they're all different opinions on this so I'm gonna give you all the
opinions that are out there okay I'm just gonna give you all the opinions
that are out there and then I'm gonna explain to you which one is right and
the one that is right is actually the traditional view that most people had
through the years most churches have had most Christians have had through the
centuries the traditional view is the right view in this particular stuff
traditional view is not always right but in this case the traditional view is
right okay but let me give you all the different views that are out there some
people interpret this as Christ preached to the disobedient people before the
flood when Noah was preparing the ark either Christ literally preached to
those people like Christ Old Testament appearance of Christ Christ went and
preached to those people just like Melchizedek showed up and talked to
Abraham or Christ appeared in the fiery furnace with Daniel other people say
that it was the spirit of Christ speaking through Noah the Prophet that
when Noah preached it was actually the spirit of Christ speaking to those
people back then they heard the preaching of God's Word at that time
other people believe that when Christ died on the cross that he went down into
hell and that the prison being referred to as hell and that Jesus went down into
hell and preached to the people in hell okay and he preached the gospel to them
but if you believe that you'd have to specifically believe that he's only
preaching to the pre-flood people because that's what it says okay so
there's that view out there and then here are some subsets of that view some
people think that he just went down there and preached to the spirits in
prison and just said see you suckas when he's done and pretty much say he just
preached to them and just left them in hell and just preached to them and just
moved on okay other people think that he went down there and he preached to
them and gave an opportunity for salvation he gave an altar call that's
one hell of an altar call again I mean when you're down in hell when you're
down in hell preaching the gospel I think everybody's gonna come forward I
mean think about this you go down there you say all right who wants to be saved
you've already been burning in hell for thousands of years now that's gonna be
pretty easy to get people to come down that aisle okay so these are the these
are the different views that people have you know it did did Christ go down and
preach to people in hell are those the spirits in prison now other people here
is yet a fifth view is that Christ went down to Paradiso Abraham's bosom okay
and he went down there and preached to people that were already saved under the
Old Covenant but they hadn't heard the New Testament gospel so they had to get
that straight from Jesus so they could get saved and he could take them to
heaven and so forth messing with that microphone again so obviously some of
these views are pretty silly okay now let's let's go through each of these
because I'm just putting all that now am I missing an option if there's somebody
out there and somebody heard a different interpretation that I'm
missing yeah but I'm talking about this passage so is there anything else that
I meant because that's the one I just mentioned the one where he goes down
there and preaches to the Old Testament Saints and then gets them the New
Testament gospel then brings them out okay is there any is there any other
option for this that I believe those are the five that people believe okay yeah
to the unsaved or the same okay so do they get to get out then but I'm saying
I'm saying do they do according to that view do they do they get to come with
them now that they heard it okay all right so anyway so these are some of the
views that are out there there's the view that he went down and preached on
people and they're just they're still in hell he preaches to them and they're
still there or he takes them with look let me explain to you why all of these
are wrong except one here's the thing about this the Bible said if we actually
look at what the Bible and I'm not trying I hope I'm not confusing you by
giving you all these crazy theories I'm just trying to show you all the
different options and use the process of elimination here but the Bible says
here that the people that he preached to were disobedient when once the long
suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing so we
see here that God was long suffering while the ark was a preparing remember
Noah built the ark for a hundred and twenty years and so those people had a
lot of chances to get saved because Noah preached for 120 years Noah was a
preacher of righteous and the Bible specifically says that it was God's long
suffering that's what it says here that waited for 120 years while the ark was
a preparing so it sounds to me like these people have been given ample
opportunity so why would they then get another chance that doesn't make any
sense the long suffering was back then that's when they had their chance to get
saved once they're in hell there is no second chance to get saved right
abandoned hope all ye who enter here all right if you go to hell you're done
okay when you're in hell you're in hell forever you have to get saved in this
life okay so this idea of these people from before the flood getting a second
chance I'm not buying it for one second because God was already long suffering
and waited and gave them a chance gave them a chance gave them a chance they
either got saved or they did okay now this attitude of well he went down there
and preached unto the unsaved and just told them you're doomed by here's why I
don't believe that that's what it's saying because if you go to chapter 4
and verse number 6 it says for this cause was the gospel preached also to
them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flood
watch this but live according to God in the spirit so whoever was preached to
lived according to God in the spirit so if he just went down there and preached
and said you're doomed you're done that wouldn't make any sense okay and this
idea that well he had to go down there and preach the gospel to them the saved
you know the saved needed to hear the gospel because they were saved under the
Old Covenant folks the gospel was preached to Abraham the Bible says
number one but number two the Bible doesn't talk about him preaching to the
safe it says he's preaching to those who were disobedient he preached to the
disobedient so to try to turn this into a passage of always preaching to the Old
Testament Saints so he can get him out of Hades and get him up to heaven that's
not what it says here these are the people who were disobedient when once
the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah these are specifically read
what the passage says folks these are specifically the people before the
flood in the days of Noah they disobeyed they did not get on the ark does
everybody see that let's go with what we know in the passage disobedient before
the flood they didn't get on the ark these people God gave them every chance
and they screwed it up everybody understand that's who we're talking
about that's who he preached to now what I believe is the traditional view
that says that this is Noah speaking by the Spirit of Christ before the flood
this is not Jesus did not go down to hell preach to people and get people
saved that's a strange doctrine and it does not fit the context why would Peter
in an epistle where he's sitting here and talking about loving your neighbor
loving your wife loving your husband suffering wrongfully be like Christ
endure suffering just all of a sudden say oh by the way let me roll out a
radical new doctrine that's caught nowhere else in the Bible that Jesus
went down and preached the gospel to people in hell and gave him a second
chance and got people out of hell all right now back to what we were talking
about it'd be like what did you just say in two
verses if Christ went down and preached to people before the flood and gave them
a second chance at salvation that's a dramatic doctrine that needs more Bible
than just one verse that has nothing to do with anything else in the chapter
okay what the verse is actually saying I'm going to show you how this ties in
bear with me we're almost done keep your finger here and go back to chapter 1
let's compare Scripture with Scripture go back to chapter 1 and let's get the
context in 1st Peter here in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 11 the Bible says
searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
did signify who's the them look at verse 10 of which salvation the prophets have
inquired and searched diligently verse 11 searching what or what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify so according to verse 11 of
chapter 1 the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets is that right the Spirit of
Christ was in the prophets watch this when it testified what's the it the
Spirit of Christ when the Spirit of Christ testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should fall so according to 1st Peter
chapter 1 verse 11 the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets and it
preached the Spirit of Christ preached through the Old Testament prophets
so then if we look at chapter 3 verse 19 by which also he went Christ went and
preached by the Spirit right because by which also he went and preached under
the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long
suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing so
the preaching took place while the ark was being prepared because it says he
preached to the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the
long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah Noah preached for 120 years and
that's when the long suffering of God waited as Noah preached to the spirits
in prison by the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Christ spoke through him that
makes sense because when Jesus Christ spoke he said the words that I say into
you they are spirit and they are life so Noah's preaching the Word of God he's
preaching in the Spirit of Christ okay now you say well why it says the spirits
in prison here's the thing saved Christians from the Old Testament or
saved believers or saints or whatever you want to call them they weren't in
prison it's like oh Abraham Isaac and Jacob you're such great guys now go to
prison Daniel great job Daniel go to prison you think God sent all the saved
Old Testament Saints to prison and by the way these are the disobedient from
before the flood because I'm just bringing that up because that's one of
the interpretations that's out there
hell you say well hell is the great prison well does the Bible really spend
a lot of time talking about hell as prison not really no okay so when you
read prison you can't just automatically say oh that's hell there okay the
spirits in prison are just unsaved people because the Bible says that if
you sin you're the servant of sin you're in bondage the Jews said we've never
been in bondage to any man and he said well the Sun has to make you free okay
so I think about the song that we sing long my imprisoned spirit lay fast
found in sin and nature's night so we see that the imprisoned spirit is the
unsaved person's spirit Noah preached to the disobedient through Christ or Christ
preached through Noah you could look at it that way preach to the disobedient
spirits while the ark was preparing that makes sense than rolling out some
radical new doctrine that Christ went down and preached to people in hell and
they got a second chance and yeah I know that he had long suffering back then
they don't need another chance they had their chance just like if you die
without Christ you had your chance okay now how does this fit the context
because the context is about people suffering like Christ suffered and then
Christ was exalted right you do what's right you're blessed you do what's wrong
you're cursed okay and the Bible talks about how Christ was put to death in the
flesh at the end of verse 18 he was put to death in the flesh and he was
quickened by the spirit okay does everybody see that and then he explains
how you know Christ went by that same spirit and he preached to the spirits in
prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that his
eight souls were saved by water now let's tie in verse 6 for this cause of
chapter 4 verse 6 of chapter 4 for this cause was the gospel preached also to
them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but
live according to God in the spirit what I believe this is referring to is the
people who died in the flood they were judged in the flesh but they lived in
the spirit what do I mean by that because I believe that there were people
who heard Noah's preaching and got saved but they did not get on the ark now
here's why I believe that because anytime you preach the Word of God
you're gonna get results every time we look at any prophet in the Bible when he
preached the Word of God people got saved people got right there's never
been a preacher who just got up and had no results if he's preaching right
because the Bible says God's Word will not return void okay the Bible says he
that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him so I heard from many preachers that
Noah preached for 120 years and didn't have a single convert I don't believe
that for a second because that makes absolutely no sense Noah would have to
be the worst preacher ever if you preach for 120 years and get no one saved I
guarantee you that Noah got people saved but guess what getting people saved and
getting people on the ark are two different things think about how many
people get saved but they don't want to go to church they get saved and they
don't want to obey God in other areas right so Noah got up and preached and
people got saved but it doesn't mean that they did right and it doesn't mean
that they lived right and they still needed to be punished so I believe that
there were a lot of people who were judged in the flesh but they lived in
the spirit you know they got saved so they went to heaven when they died and
so I don't believe that everybody went to hell except Noah okay I believe that
there were people that got saved but they got judged for their sins and think
about it this way folks and I'm trying to hurry up because I know we're out of
time but this is a hard passage and you may disagree with me on this because
this is difficult passage but but here's the thing about it let's say everybody
in America got saved which obviously will never happen but let's say
everybody in America got saved but let's say America just continued to have just
gambling drunkenness abortion wouldn't God still judge America you judge it
more see if you have a saved guy who's a drunk and an unsaved guy who's a drunk
who's gonna get punished more the same guy right if a saved person commits
adultery and an unsaved person commits adultery who's gonna get the worst
punishment the saved person right because unto whom much is given of him
so much be required so let's say you have ungodly people before the flood
sinful people before the flood worldly people before the flood Noah's a
preacher of righteousness he could still preach and get people saved he could
preach and get people believing the Lord worshiping the Lord calling upon the
name of the Lord because they called upon the name of Lord all the way back
to Genesis chapter 4 people called upon the name of the Lord to be saved so
if they're still continuing in their sinful life though God might still drown
them all and wipe it out and only bring Noah on the ark because he said the only
have I found righteous in this generation so the rest of the people
were too sinful they were too wicked it doesn't mean that none of them were
saved because we're not saved by works we're saved by faith okay so therefore
you know I know this is a tough passage but I believe that when it says the
gospel is preached to them that are dead it's not saying he preached them after
they were dead he's saying they preached to him and then they died they
drowned okay but it's not saying that God that Christ went to hell and preached
to dead people because that wouldn't make any sense if you went and preached
to dead people and it's just like sorry you guys are doomed then then how do you
how does that jive with verse 6 when it says live according to God in the spirit
if they're just gonna stay in hell so that theory doesn't really jive does it
and if you went down to hell and preached to them and gave them an altar
call and said hey who wants to get saved do you think anybody's gonna be like
well let me think about it if you went down there and preached if you went down
there and preached and gave people an opportunity to be saved every single
person would get saved so then just all those wicked violent horrible people who
had all that chance all that long suffering before the flood and then it's
just like oh you guys all get to go to heaven because you get this awesome
altar call after you burn in hell for several thousand years kind of soften
you up a little bit for the gospel okay that's those are both don't you think
those are both kind of silly right there those two are kind of silly about
leaving them in hell or hey let's give you an opportunity to get an altar call
to get out of hell those are both silly don't jive with the Bible okay the other
one that says oh well he's picking up the Old Testament Saints and taking them
to heaven that's just not what this passage says at all because this passage
says they were disobedient before the flood it doesn't say Old Testament
Saints see what I'm saying that's just a complete turning of the passage on its
head so if we eliminate those possibilities then pretty much all we're
left with as a reasonable interpretation of this passage is that Noah is in the
spirit of Christ preaching to people before the flood or that Christ himself
literally made an Old Testament appearance and preached before the flood
those are really the only two options that are reasonable and make sense but I
think in light of 1st Peter 1 11 it makes more sense that it was Noah doing
the preaching and it was the spirit of Christ preaching in him so that's what I
believe about this difficult passage but it is a hard passage so here's the moral
of the story don't base what you believe on a hard passage base what you believe
on a clear simple passage that you know what it means and then hard passages
like this take a lifetime to study and understand and fully grasp so don't get
too hung up you when you come to something like this in the Bible just
don't get too hung up on it focus on the part about submitting to your husband
and loving your wife amen you understand that all right good let's
borrow some word of prayer Lord we thank you so much for your word Lord and and I
pray that people would understand Lord I hope that I made things clear with this
difficult passage Lord and I just pray that you just bless us as we go our
separate ways help us to put these things into practice and be willing to
suffer for what's right and and and have a marriage that would honor and glorify
you and to live our lives peaceably in this world in Jesus name we pray amen