Okay, thank you for that, brother.
So if you look at verse number six there,
1 Peter chapter three in verse number six,
it starts by saying,
even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord.
Title for the sermon this morning is Sarah obeyed Abraham.
Now the book of 1 Peter here just continues to build.
It continues to build, right?
What did we see in chapter two?
How we're called to be submissive to the government,
to the authorities,
the institution that God has put into place, okay?
Then it goes into marriage.
Because if you look at verse number one,
1 Peter chapter three verse one,
it says, likewise ye wives, okay?
So the whole thing is about subjection, okay?
A lot of this book is just being submissive
to the authorities, the powers that God has put over you.
And look, you have multiple authorities that are over you.
Yes, the government is one.
Guess what?
The next hour, I've got authority over you right now, okay?
And in your workplace, you probably have a job,
you have a boss, you have some type of employer
potentially over you, okay?
I mean, children, you got mom and dad over you, right?
I mean, this is just part of life.
And there is a natural rebellious nature,
especially children that become teenagers
and adults that don't lose that teenage rebellion
because they go in and they just want to fight everybody.
There is this sort of rebellious nature in us
that wants, well, you know,
and says, we don't want authority over us.
But you don't understand,
God's put that authority in place, okay?
He's taught us multiple times in the Bible,
be submissive to those authorities,
even if they're doing you wrong, okay?
And this is important because if we're not submissive
to the authorities that we have on this earth,
how can we possibly be submissive to the authority of God?
I mean, God has a much higher standard of Christian living
than what your boss at work does
or what your parents even potentially have.
I mean, God has the ultimate standard, okay?
He calls us to live lives that reflect Christ.
And if you can't be submissive to earthly authorities,
how can you possibly be submissive to the Lord God?
In fact, it's the Lord God telling you to be submissive
to the earthly authorities.
So if you're not doing that,
you're not even be submissive to God, right?
And so we start off here about husbands and wives.
And it says, likewise your wives, okay?
Just like it's meant to be submissive to the government
in verse chapter two.
Now wives, you ought to be likewise submissive
to your husbands.
Let's keep going.
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.
Let's break this up.
There's two points in this verse.
Number one, wives, you be in subjection
to your own husbands.
You know, the authority in the house is not 50-50.
It's not half the wives and half the husbands.
The husband is the head of the wife, okay?
Why is it to be in subjection to their,
look at own husbands.
Wives, you don't have to be in subjection to me.
You don't have to be subjection to any man in this room.
It doesn't matter if they're married to some husbands.
You're not in subjection to every man, to every husband.
No, to your own husband, okay?
You say, well, you know, my husband's not,
you know, I can't be submissive to my husband.
Well, you should have married him then, okay?
But now that you are married, you've made the decision
that was part of your vows, okay?
Part of your vows is that you're gonna be submissive
to his authority.
The husband takes the head.
He starts a new family unit.
So that's important for you to understand, okay?
Men, you have the authority in your house.
And men here in this church, you know,
and even down in Sydney, if they're listening, you know,
I don't wanna hear about your rebellious wife.
Because, you know, yes, I can pray about you.
I can pray for you, okay?
But I don't wanna think less of you.
I don't wanna be thinking, well, where's your authority?
Where's your leadership?
Where's your love?
Why can't this woman follow you?
I don't wanna know about that.
That's your home.
That's your place of authority.
Listen, if this church is going haywire, right,
and we're losing control,
and no one respects the authority of the pastor,
you know, that's on me.
That's my problem.
That's something I need to fix as a pastor.
And listen, if your house is falling apart,
your children are rebellious,
your wife doesn't listen to you, you know,
that's your issue that you need to deal with, okay?
And, you know, wives, you need to listen to this, you know?
Because you'll soon see later that husbands
are also to be submissive to their wives,
and we'll have a look at the context of that soon.
But let's keep going to the second part of this verse.
It says, if any, obey not the word.
So this is now if a woman is married to an unsaved man,
okay, number one, ladies,
please do not marry an unsaved man,
number one to begin with, okay?
But some have made that mistake,
some have made that dumb decision, they've done that.
Well, you know, keep to your vows, once again,
still be subject in subjection to your own husband,
even if he's not saved, okay?
That was the first part.
But if you find yourself,
maybe you were both unsaved when you got married,
and then just the wife gets saved,
but the husband's not interested,
well, this is the direction for that woman, right?
If any, obey not the word.
And we had already, we already saw,
if you can just keep your finger there,
and go back to chapter one,
go back to chapter one, first Peter chapter one,
verse number 22, let's just remember what this is,
okay, the obedience here,
it's not saying that if your husband is disobedient
to the commandments of God, okay?
What this means is if any, obey not the word,
it means he's not saved, okay?
And we saw the context of that in chapter one,
verse number 22, it says here,
seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the spirit unto an unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with pure heart fervently.
And so you see here, we already covered this in chapter one,
but obeying the truth was obeying the gospel.
How do you obey the gospel?
You believe the gospel, okay?
And so what it's saying here that if any,
obey not the word,
it's saying he doesn't believe the gospel, okay?
This means he's heard the gospel.
Wives, you ought to, if you're saved,
you ought to give the gospel to your husband,
you know, let him listen to, you know,
Bible Way to Heaven,
there's plenty of those videos on YouTube or whatever,
you know, whatever tools you think it's good for him
to get saved, but listen, if he rejects the gospel now,
okay, it says here, they also may without the word,
so without the gospel, okay,
they'd be won by the conversation of the wives.
Now conversation doesn't mean that you're nagging him
to get saved, you know, every day you're giving him
the gospel and it's just like, yeah, okay, I relent,
I give up, can you stop talking about this, I'll believe it,
that's not what he means.
By conversation, it's your behavior, your lifestyle, okay?
If your husband is unsaved and he's not listening
to the gospel, well, he may very well be one
and yes, we are soul winners, right?
Proverbs 11 verse 30 says,
the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life
and he that winneth souls is wise,
hey, you can win the soul of your husband
when he sees that you don't just believe the gospel,
but this is true to your life,
that you live out, that you have a respect
that you're in submission to your husband.
Wives, if you've got an unsaved husband, listen,
and you're not submissive to him,
you're not going to drive him any closer to the gospel,
okay, what this is saying is you can actually win
your husband and you know,
I'm against lifestyle evangelism,
like just, that's your primary way of winning souls,
but you know, in a marriage situation like this,
which should be a rarity, okay,
the way you live your life can cause that person
to reflect and say, wow, look at my wife,
she's more submissive than she's been before, wow,
she really is a help to me, wow, you know,
she's really a blessing, she's a better person now
since knowing Christ and that can lead him
to have an interest back to the gospel,
it's not about nagging him to death,
if you nag your unsaved husband,
you might even draw him away completely from the gospel,
so you've got to be careful about that,
look at verse number two,
while they behold, so this is the same situation,
while they behold your chaste conversation
coupled with fear, okay,
so your chaste conversation is they're beholding,
they're watching your good behavior,
it says here coupled with fear, okay,
and of course when we talk about fear,
we tend to think about fearing the Lord God,
the fear of God, there ought to be a fear of God,
hey, that should be driving you
to be submissive to your husband, the fear of God, right,
I mean, even just wanting to get him saved,
you know, just being submissive to get him saved,
and so when you have a fear of God,
it's going to cause you in a sense to have respect
and submission toward your husband,
when he sees that, he sees your good behavior,
he sees your submission, as I said,
it'll drive him to the gospel,
verse number three,
now this is of course a reference to every woman,
who's adorning, so ladies,
the Bible's about to tell you how to get dressed, okay,
how do you get ready for church,
you know, how do you get ready for life,
who's adorning, how do you adorn yourself,
let it not be the outward adorning of plating the hair
and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel,
now is this verse, just let's look at it,
is this verse saying don't put on gold,
it's saying thou shalt not plate your hair,
no, I mean you can't take,
it's not saying that number one,
but you can't take that because the last bit of it says,
or of putting on of apparel,
let's put it on clothes, okay,
so you can't say this is saying you can't do these things,
otherwise it's saying you can't even put on clothes,
then you'd be stark naked,
and that would make no sense of course in the Bible, okay,
but what this is telling us,
is that your outward appearance,
shouldn't be the priority in your life,
that shouldn't be the only thing you're adorning, okay,
there ought to be something that's more important
in your life that you adorn yourself with,
and of course this is covered in verse number four,
it says here, but let it be the hidden man of the heart,
okay, the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornaments of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price,
now I want every woman here,
my own wife, my own girls, and every lady here,
to when God looks at you, say wow,
that's a woman of great price,
hey that's a woman that's more worthy than a rubies, right,
that virtuous woman,
now that's what I want God to look down,
but what is it that's important to you?
The hidden man of the heart, what's that?
That's the new man, that's the spirit, right,
walking in the spirit,
the born again new man that God has put in us,
the whole New Testament is always telling us,
put on the new man, okay,
this is a commandment for everybody, okay,
but specifically for ladies,
the most important thing that you need to put on
when you wake up in the morning,
before you start fixing your hair,
before you start getting yourself ready for the day,
is put on that new man, okay,
and it says there, if you can also go back,
I should have told you, anyway,
go back to chapter one, first Peter chapter one,
verse number 23, it says,
let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible, okay,
what does that mean?
That means the outward appearance,
your gold, your apparel, the plane of hair,
all of that's corruptible, okay,
your flesh will become more and more corruptible
as the years go on, right,
you're gonna become more sick,
you're gonna get more wrinkles,
you're gonna have more defects, okay,
but there is that part of you that is not corruptible,
look at verse number 23 in chapter one,
first Peter chapter one, verse number 23,
just as a reminder, it says,
being born again, that's the spirit,
being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible, okay,
so the new man is incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever,
look at verse number 24,
for all flesh is as grass, okay,
now this is, you know, a lot of women spend hours and hours
fixing themselves up, fixing the grass,
that's what it's saying, right, flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass,
so think about it now for the ladies, right,
yes, you know, pretty yourself up,
you know, you spend all this time,
you make yourself more presents,
but nothing wrong with a bit of that, right,
but those that go overboard,
yes, you look like a flower,
yes, that's happened, wow,
you look better than you were before,
but then it says the grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away,
so I mean, I don't know how many hours some women spend,
I mean, some women literally wake up
super early in the morning,
I remember going to work, you know,
I had a lot of late,
I can't remember how many hours they would just take
getting themselves ready for work, all right,
you know, not even for their own husbands,
but just getting ready for work, right,
I mean, who are you trying to impress at work,
you know, it doesn't matter how you look,
it's the productivity of your hands
that matters more than anything in that place,
but look, you know, if you were to just look at your life,
let's say you live some 70, 80 years,
how many hours of waste,
you know, of fixing up the flower,
trying to make it presentable on grass,
and it all just perish, okay,
it's a waste of time,
use your time to put on the inner man, okay,
to have that which is incorruptible back to versatile,
chapter three, please, back to chapter three,
first Peter chapter three,
and what is in God's sight that of great price,
Eve, it said there in verse number four,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
now ladies, does that represent you?
You know, when people think of you,
do they think of you as that meek and quiet spirit?
Well, if it doesn't,
and I'm not telling you if it does or not,
but I'm just saying, you know, self-examination,
if that's not what people think of you,
if that's not how you're seen,
then you're not a great price in the eyes of God.
How do I have that meek and quiet spirit?
Let it be the hidden man of the heart,
you've got to put on the new man, okay,
the part of you that's not the meek and quiet spirit,
that's the flesh,
that's you living after the flesh,
living after the corruptible things,
all right, look at verse number five,
for after this manner,
so in the same way, in the same manner
that you've been instructed to do this,
in the old time,
actually, I should stop there, right,
because today in 2020,
what I just read to you,
they'll say that is old fashioned,
we don't do that anymore,
that's not, wives submitted to your husbands,
wives that were meek and quiet,
that's just, oh man, that's, you know, old fashioned,
that's not relevant today, okay,
but you know what, this was in Peter's day,
this was a modern teaching for him,
well, it wasn't modern,
because then he says in verse number five,
for after this manner in the old time,
there was an old time,
we think of this as the old time,
but for Peter, there was an older time,
say what is that older time,
after old time, the holy women also,
who trusted in God adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands,
you know, even in Peter's day,
this was not, you know,
this wasn't, what's the word I'm looking for,
this wasn't popular teaching,
okay, even in Peter's day,
so he's reminding them,
hey, even in the old time,
this was like this, okay,
and we're like now, 2020,
oh, that's just old,
no, this goes back all from the very beginning,
all the way to Adam and Eve, right,
this was the call for a woman
to be in subjection to her own husband,
and look at verse number six,
he goes as far here as Sarah and Abraham,
verse number six,
even as Sarah obeyed Abraham,
calling him Lord,
whose daughters ye are,
as long as ye do well,
and are not afraid with any amazement,
and so what we'll quickly do,
keep your finger there,
let's go to Genesis 18,
let's look at the quick reference there,
when Sarah called Abraham Lord,
and this might seem a little bit unusual for us,
because when we think of the word Lord,
we think of the Lord God,
all right, we think about him,
but even today,
we still kind of loosely think of,
if we think about the past,
we might think of Lords,
I think it was like Lords and ladies,
we still use some ladies,
but just men of reputation,
men of authority,
they would often be called Lords,
and even in Spanish,
if I were to just say sir,
just the word sir,
it's señor in Spanish,
señor is sir,
but if you were to call God the Lord,
you'd say el señor,
so in Spanish,
and I think in most other languages,
Lord and sir are the same word,
it's just that in English,
these two things are kind of separated,
and we tend to think of the Lord today
as the Lord God,
and so what Sarah is saying here
is basically calling her husband, sir,
that's the best way to understand it in 2020,
but obviously she called him Lord,
Genesis 18, verse 11,
now this is the story where Abraham and Sarah
are just past the age of having kids,
and then the Lord comes saying,
hey, don't forget the promise I gave you,
don't forget you guys are gonna have kids,
and you're gonna be a father of a great nation,
et cetera, et cetera,
look at verse 11,
now Abraham and Sarah were old,
and well stricken in age,
and it ceased to be with Sarah
after the manner of women,
therefore Sarah laughed within herself,
saying, after I am waxed old,
shall I have pleasure,
my Lord being old also,
so it says look, we're too old for this,
we're too old to have this relationship,
and to have children,
and even, when does she say this,
she laughed within herself saying,
my Lord, she said it within herself,
this wasn't even something that was spoken,
okay, and she's kinda laughing at the Lord God
reminding them that they're gonna have
that promised child, okay,
and what's quite interesting about,
what I love about this is,
we see that for Sarah,
you know, being in subjection to Abraham
wasn't just some outward thing,
it wasn't just some,
like, I'll turn this on,
and just call him Lord in the public,
you know, when other people are around,
when the Lord God is around,
that's when I'll call him Sir,
but, you know, at home,
you know, he's just, you know,
he's just whatever, he's just Kevin,
you know, whatever, right,
no, no, no, this is something
she says within herself, okay,
this is something in her heart,
you know, she had that hidden man
in the heart, right,
she had adorned herself with that,
and that's what gave her the ability
to refer to Abraham as Lord,
or as Sir, okay,
she saw him as the one in authority,
all right, so, how do I,
how can I be in subjection to my husband,
I find it very, very hard,
you have to put on the new man,
you can't do it without it, okay,
if you just have the flesh,
you don't live Godly,
you don't put on the new man,
you're not going to be able
to see your husband as the authority,
you're not going to feel the desire
to be under subjection,
it must come from the new man,
the hidden man of the heart,
and so, you know,
it's kind of like, you know,
ladies think, you know,
the Bible's kind of sexist,
I'm not saying you,
you're probably all good,
you're probably all fine with this,
I don't know, maybe I'm right,
I don't know,
I assume that all of you guys
are fine with what we're covering here,
because this is not some foreign teaching,
this stuff is found throughout the Bible, okay,
but you know, in 2020,
the feminist movement,
and even what is being taught in schools,
you know, they're kind of saying
that it's sexist,
you know, it's not fair
for women to be in subjection
to their husband,
but like I just told you at the very beginning,
subjection, being submissive,
is something we all are expected to do,
not just wives,
all of us are expected to do that,
like I said,
there are governments,
there are bosses,
you know, there are different authorities
that we have,
you know, even if,
you know, I used to work for a business,
and we have customers
that would purchase off the business,
and there was always the terms of conditions,
all right, you know,
this is how you can return the item,
but you gotta meet these conditions,
you know, there are terms of conditions,
what that is,
is the authority of the company saying yes,
we can do business with you,
as long as you're in subjection
to these terms of conditions,
I mean, we're just constantly being submissive,
to different things, right,
and I went to Bunnings the other day,
and Bunnings now,
because of COVID-19,
you know, you used to be able
to walk in any direction,
but now it's like,
well, that's the way you enter,
that's the way you exit,
so I'm going to Bunnings,
I'm going to the wrong door,
oh, sir, you've gotta go the other,
oh, no, you know,
I'm not gonna be submissive to you,
no, we're constantly in submission,
we're constantly in subjection,
it's so strange that the feminist movement
have taken the subjection of a wife,
and made it this unusual,
foreign, you know, caveman idea,
when this is just part of our life,
every day,
we're supposed to be in subjection
to the people that are over us,
for whatever reason,
you know, while I'm in Bunnings,
I've got it here,
I can't just take things,
put them in my pocket and walk out,
okay, I've gotta pay for those things,
I can't just start lighting things on fire,
destroying items,
I can't just take a hammer,
use it, break the hammer,
and just expect to bring it back like that,
and expecting to give my money back,
like, you know,
we're constantly in subjection,
we've, you know,
in every, just about every aspect of our life,
so it's so unusual,
and if you're struggling with authority,
you're struggling with being in subjection,
all that tells me,
is that you haven't got the new man,
you, I mean, well,
you have the new man,
but you haven't adorned yourself with the new man,
okay, you're still in the flesh,
you know, it's the same,
you know, if you're not submitting to the pastor,
with his COVID-19 response,
you know, you're struggling with that submission,
it's cause you haven't got the new man on,
that's all he means,
all right,
you know, if you don't like submitting to the boss,
even when the boss says,
do it this way,
and you know, hey, well,
actually, I don't think that's the best way,
but the boss is adamant,
no, this is the way you've gotta do it,
and you can't submit,
you can't do it the way he wants,
hey, that's cause you haven't got the new man on,
okay, you haven't put it on,
and it's easy,
you fix it by putting on the new man,
the new man desires to be under subjection,
to the authorities that you have in your life,
you know, even the Apostle Paul,
when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, 27,
he says,
but I keep under my body,
and bring it into subjection,
he says, look, my flesh is rebellious,
my flesh is rebellious against God,
my flesh is rebellious against authority,
so I've gotta even put my body under subjection,
okay, your flesh has to be under subjection
of the new man, okay,
I mean, we can do great things for God in this flesh,
it's wicked,
but the only way we do great things for God,
if we make it submissive to the spirit
that God has put in us, okay,
Jesus Christ also puts it this way,
the spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak, okay,
so again, if you're just contrary to authority,
you know, contrary to this idea
that the husband is the head of the wife,
it just tells me your flesh is weak, okay,
you're weak, you're weak in the flesh,
you're not allowing the spirit to do the job
that it wants to do in your life,
okay, let's go to verse number seven,
1 Peter 3, verse seven,
now onto the husbands, okay,
remember we saw the governments in chapter two,
then it says, likewise wives,
you know, the subjection thing,
we'll look at verse,
look how verse number seven starts,
likewise ye husbands,
what's the likewise?
The subjection, okay,
how does that work?
Well, let's have a look at it,
likewise you husbands,
dwell with them according to knowledge,
giving honor unto the wife,
hey, what did chapter two teach us?
Honor the king, authorities, okay,
well, you know what husbands,
you're to honor your wife, okay,
you're to dwell with them according to knowledge,
and so while your wife is meant to be submissive
toward you, okay,
you can't just treat her like trash,
it's not like she's just like some object
that you use for your own pleasures
and you get rid of, okay,
it says here dwell with them according to knowledge,
know your wife, understand her,
she's not a man,
you know, there are times
Christina brings something up to me,
and I'm thinking,
why doesn't she think this way?
Oh, because she's a woman,
that's why, you know,
yes, you know,
I can have a conversation with some men,
we can have that conversation done in 10 seconds,
but with a woman, it takes longer, okay,
and so you got to dwell with them
according to knowledge,
understand that they are different from a man,
it's not that they're worse than a man,
they're just different, okay,
they've been created with more emotions, okay,
they've got a heightened sense of danger,
whatever, you know,
that's just, ladies are like that, right,
you need to understand,
hey, what knowledge?
Knowledge how to treat your wife,
knowledge how to live with your wife,
you know, this is one of the dangers of going through life
being unmarried for a long period of time,
because you become stuck in your own ways,
and you don't want to adapt anymore,
and have the knowledge of how do I live with a wife,
you know, the knowledge of how to honour your wife,
you know, learn to appreciate your wife,
if she's helped you,
if she's supported you,
hey, if you've been able to accomplish things
because your wife has helped you along,
reward her, you know, tell her that you love her,
tell her thank you,
don't just be, well, that's expected
because you're meant to be submissive to me,
honour her, okay,
and listen, if you honour your wife,
if you dwell with her according to knowledge,
she's going to want to desire even more
to be submissive to you,
I mean, if you treat her like trash,
that's going to cause the flesh to come out, all right,
and not be submissive towards you,
so we're called, yes, as men, likewise,
yeah, honour the government, wives, honour your husbands,
but husbands, honour your wives, okay,
and have the knowledge that she's not
like some other man that you deal with in the workplace,
she's going to have different needs,
she's going to need more time with you, okay,
for certain things,
and what does it say here,
giving honour to the wife, let's keep reading,
as unto the weaker vessel,
your wife is weaker than you,
she's going to need you to open that jar
from time to time when she's cooking,
well, I don't know, maybe some wives are like,
I can do that on my own, I don't need a man, right,
good on you if you can do that, right,
but sometimes she's going to need your strength,
you know, your physically,
generally speaking, men are physically stronger,
you know, even men that don't even work out,
men that don't even spend time in exercise,
generally speaking, just physically,
you know, you are going to be stronger
than the average woman, okay,
and not just physically,
well, let me just finish the verse there,
I've missed where I'm up to now,
yeah, verse number seven,
as being heirs together of the grace of life,
that your prayers be not hindered, okay,
being heirs together of the grace of life,
you know, God wants you to live your life together, okay,
God does not want, you know,
where's your husband, oh, I don't know,
he's out doing his own thing,
where's your wife, oh, she's out doing her own thing,
it's like, have you seen marriages like that,
where it's just like, are you guys living together,
or you're just like two single people,
you know, just your own group of friends,
you know, your own bank accounts, your own,
you don't even know what's going on,
you know, you're just living totally separate lives
away from each other, you know,
maybe your husband's come home,
they can't even stand being in the house,
they'd rather just get out and do whatever they want,
no, God wants us marriage,
is that we can live together, right,
live together, spend time together,
that your prayers be not hindered,
husbands, understand this,
if you're not dwelling with your wife
according to knowledge, if you're not giving her honor,
if you're not understanding she's the weaker vessel,
she needs your support, she needs your strength,
not just physical strength, but your mental strength,
not just your mental strength, but your spiritual strength,
you ought to be the spiritual guide in the house as well,
you know, that your prayers be not hindered,
listen, if you don't do these things,
your prayers are gonna be hindered,
if you don't treat your wife properly,
you know, if you don't honor her,
you don't give her the due respect she deserves,
then when you're asking God and you're praying to God
for your needs, they're gonna be hindered, okay,
this is something serious,
this is something that hinders your prayers
if you don't treat your wives properly, okay,
so, you know, I know ladies, the world anyway,
you know, women don't like this chapter,
listen, there's a demand on husbands as well,
it's not like they can just do whatever they want, okay,
just like any authority and we'll see at the end of this,
that Christ is the authority over all powers,
over all authorities, okay,
and wives, if your husband is not honoring you,
your husband does not love you,
doesn't spend time with you,
you need to take that to Jesus, take it to his head,
let him bring down the chastisement
and correct your husband, all right,
let's go to verse number eight,
it says finally, now, we're moving away
from the husband and wife aspects,
but what we're reading still applies
to husbands and wives, okay,
what we're about to read is more of a general submission
to all authority, okay,
so, of course, this ties in with the government,
this ties in with the pastor at church,
this ties in with wives being submitted to the husband,
all these things, okay,
but finally, now, that's more of a general sense
because it says this,
finally, be ye all of one mind,
having compassion one of another,
love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, okay,
so finally, be ye all of one mind,
so now, it's covering everybody and everything, right,
all to do with being submissive here
and I just want you to notice
where it says be pitiful, okay,
so being pitiful is someone that is full of pity,
pity, full, full of pity, all right,
what is pity?
Pity is compassion to those
who are struggling or suffering, okay,
so this is something that we're called to do, all right,
when someone's struggling,
it's not for us to beat them down,
you know, if a Christian has fallen,
it's not our job to kick them while they're down, okay,
it's our job to be compassionate toward people,
listen, struggling, suffering is a part of life,
you know, someone's struggling, suffering,
I don't think, oh, they're not right with God,
oh, they probably deserve it,
now, they're being chastised, I don't think that,
now, it's possible they could be chastised by God,
but how do I know these things?
All I know is I'm called to be pitiful,
I'm called to love the brethren,
I'm called to have compassion
and be courteous toward the brethren,
you know, if you're struggling with something,
I'm not gonna beat you down, okay,
I'm not going to try to, you know,
hurt you or cast you down, discourage you,
if anything, I'm gonna try to prop you up, okay,
let's keep going, verse number nine,
it says here, not rendering evil for evil,
again, this has to do with all the authorities
that we're under, right,
if your authority does evil,
don't render evil back in return,
or railing for railing,
but contrariwise, blessing,
knowing that ye are there unto God,
that ye should inherit a blessing,
brethren, you wanna inherit a blessing,
you know what, then what do you do,
when your authority rails on you,
when your authority is evil towards you,
you know what you do, you bless them in return,
and God will make sure that you inherit a blessing,
I don't wanna miss out on that blessing,
what about, yeah, maybe temporarily,
I feel better if I rail back,
if I do back in return,
but this reminds me, this is basically a continuation,
let's look at the previous chapter,
first Peter chapter two, verse 23,
first Peter chapter two and verse 23,
speaking of Jesus,
who was in subjection to his corrupt government,
it says who, when he was reviled,
reviled not again,
when he suffered, he threatened not,
but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
okay, so if this is, we put these two things together,
well, when Jesus did this,
he inherited a blessing, okay,
and when you're submissive to your authorities,
even when they don't treat you well,
wives, be submissive,
even if your husband does not honor you,
now they are called to do that,
but if you're still submissive,
and you don't do evil for evil,
the Lord God will give you a blessing, okay,
there'll be something in your life that God gives you,
that you wouldn't have had if you,
you know, if you had rebelled against the authority
that you have in your life, okay,
look at verse number 10,
back to first Peter chapter three verse 10,
says here, for he that will love life and see good days,
you wanna be that person?
I wanna be that, I wanna be a person that loves life,
I don't wanna be a miserable person, right,
I wanna love life, I wanna see good days,
we're in 2020, yeah, I mean, you know what,
if you turn off the TV,
you're probably gonna have wonderful days,
you get off the YouTube, you get off the websites,
you're gonna probably just not even gonna realize
what's going on in the world, right,
and you have good days, you know,
you need to switch off that TV from time,
maybe just throw it out the window, okay,
well, do something, right, if you can't help yourself,
but listen, there are some Christians
that just do not love life, they're miserable,
and they just want the whole world to burn,
all right, let's just burn it now,
listen, God will burn it in due time, okay,
but you're gonna be raptured before he burns it, okay,
you're gonna be raptured, listen,
I wanna be someone, I wanna love, I do love life,
I really do, I do love my life,
I think I'm having good days,
I just feel like every year that goes by,
yes, even 2020, it just gets better,
I just, this is how I feel, I don't know, you know,
but how do we do this, okay,
how is it that we can be people that 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 ensure it, okay,
hey, you wanna be happy, you wanna have,
love life and have good days,
don't rebel against the authorities that God's put over you,
don't go and fight them, don't go and just rebel
and revolve, listen, I mean,
there are some places like the workplace,
if your manager or your boss is that bad, just quit,
just put in your resignation,
see out the few weeks that you have to see out,
do the best job you can for those last few weeks,
apply for some other job elsewhere, okay,
if it's that bad, if it's that horrible, okay,
but here's the thing, even if you put up with it,
like with soil, that God will give you a blessing,
and you will see those good days,
you will learn to love life,
because listen, no matter where you go for work,
that boss at some point is going to rub you the wrong way,
at some point he's gonna do something,
you're not gonna like him,
at some point, if I haven't already,
you're gonna get frustrated at me as a pastor, okay,
I'm not intentionally trying to do that,
but you know, it could come where I just frustrate you,
and you're gonna be like tempted,
well, let's just go find another church,
listen, that other pastor is also a fallen human being,
even that pastor has got a sinful nature,
he might not tell you,
I'm open to tell you I've got a sinful nature,
I'm open to tell you that,
you know, my heart is desperately wicked,
who can know it, okay,
some other men think,
wow, they've made it, they've achieved,
no, you know, all men, you know, can make mistakes,
all men can cause you to maybe be upset,
or, you know, I'm not trying to discourage you,
by my actions, by my words, without thinking maybe,
I could discourage you, I don't know, all right,
but listen, if you just deal with it, put up with it,
you know, return a blessing, you know,
God's gonna bless you, God's gonna give you a happy life,
he's gonna cause you to love life,
and see it, and have good days, okay,
let him, verse 11, let him shoe evil,
let him put away evil, do good,
and let him seek peace and ensue it,
you know what that word ensue means,
it's kind of like the word pursue,
let's say if you're pursuing something,
but pursuing is kind of more of a negative connotation,
whereas ensuing, you're trying to capture that, right,
it says here, if you want peace in your life,
you've got to seek it out, you've got to capture it,
you know, you're not just going to have a life of peace,
all right, you need to go and get that life of peace,
you've got to get rid of the wickedness,
you've got to get rid of the reviling and the,
and the, you know, the rendering evil from evil,
and those, get that out of your life,
and that way you can capture peace,
you can have a peaceful life, okay,
so I want you to have good days,
you know, I want you to have good days
at New Life Baptist Church especially,
look at verse number 12,
for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their prayers,
but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
so how do we put up with authorities
that might not be treating us right,
well, his ears, or his eyes are over the righteous,
his ears are open to your prayers,
so you've got to go to the Lord, like I said, ladies,
wise, if your husband's not treating you right,
you go to the Lord, you take it to his authority,
and then it says here, but the face of the Lord
is against them that do evil,
so the Lord knows, you take that to him,
he will deal in due time in his right time,
the garment of vengeance, his chastisement,
those things are going to come at the right time,
keep your finger there, let's go to Psalm 34,
I need to speed up a little bit, go to Psalm 34,
because what is being quoted here is a Psalm,
okay, maybe if you're familiar with it,
it's a very familiar passage,
it gets repeated a couple times in the Bible,
let's go to Psalm 34, verse 12,
keep your finger there in 1 Peter, chapter three,
Psalm 34, verse 12, it says here,
what man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days,
that's kind of the idea of what we saw, right,
seeking the good days, that he may see good,
keep thy tongue from evil,
and thy lips from speaking guile,
depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it,
so there's the same thing being repeated there,
verse number 15, the eyes of the Lord
are upon the righteous, and his ears are open
unto their cry, that's what we saw in verse number 12,
in 1 Peter, chapter three, but look at this,
verse number 16, the face of the Lord
is against them that do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth,
let's keep going, verse number 17,
the righteous cry, and the Lord heareth,
and deliverth them out of all their troubles,
do you hear that, brethren,
you need to go to the Lord in prayer,
if your authority is doing you wrong, okay,
it's not that you go and fight that authority,
you take it, you cry to the Lord, the Lord heareth,
you deliver them out of all their troubles, the Bible says,
all their troubles, all of them, okay,
so if you think you're rebelling against authority,
that's gonna get you out of trouble, no it's not,
it's you just putting up with it,
waiting for the blessing of God,
waiting for him to step in,
he will deliver you out of all trouble,
verse number 18, the Lord is nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit,
maybe you've got a broken heart, wives,
I don't know, maybe your husband's
not been loving you the way,
maybe he's not been honoring you the way you should,
maybe it's giving you a broken heart,
take it to the Lord, the Lord is nigh,
knee unto them that are of a broken heart,
look at verse number 19,
many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord deliver him out of them all, okay,
don't forget verse number 19 at the beginning,
many are the afflictions of the righteous,
you're gonna be afflicted,
you're gonna be constantly afflicted, okay,
just accept that's the reality of life,
God can use this affliction for his purpose,
maybe I'm far from God,
maybe through this affliction he can draw nigh to me,
hey, maybe through this affliction
it's causing me to pray to him,
because I haven't been praying to him
the way that I should,
back to 2 Peter chapter three, verse number 13 now,
2 Peter chapter three, verse number 13,
remember there are two aspects to the Christian life,
there's your position with God,
son of God, that can never change,
you've been born again, you're in God's family,
once saved, always saved, eternal treasures in heaven,
this life is a vapour,
it's gonna be gone one day
and you're just gonna spend all eternity
in heaven with the Lord,
so there's that aspect,
but then we've got our life that we live,
the walk that we do, right,
and the next couple of verses kind of deal with that topic,
because it says in verse number 13,
and who is he that will harm you
if you be followers of that which is good?
So it's saying here, if you do good,
who's gonna harm you?
So he's saying, who can harm you?
Because there's that part of you, right,
that can never change, right,
that you're the son of God,
nothing will change, you've always got him,
you've got the Lord God at your right hand,
you know, you can be established in life,
you know, even the harm that people try to do,
really, as a Christian, you know,
you know, especially now in 2020,
any kind of persecution you may face is so insignificant,
it is truly so insignificant, right,
but then it says in verse number 14,
but, and if you suffer for righteousness,
so you will suffer for righteousness sake, right,
happy are ye, what?
Yeah, happy are ye, and being not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled.
You can be happy even when you're being afflicted,
you can be happy even when you're suffering
for righteousness sake, even when you've done right,
and someone is persecuting you for doing right, right,
it says you can be happy,
listen, maybe in the workplace, you've done right,
you've done the job,
maybe it's someone else in the workplace
that has messed up the project or whatever,
but the boss comes down and criticizes you,
he says, you're right folks, you know what,
you can be happy,
because you know you're suffering for righteousness sake,
okay, you've done right,
you know, the greatest thing,
and we're gonna look at this shooting,
yeah, look, oh wait, let's keep going,
verse number 15, we're nearly there,
verse number 15,
but, so when you are being,
when you are suffering for righteousness sake,
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, okay,
so what this is teaching us,
and I really want to look at verse number 16,
actually let's go to verse number 16,
I'll preach on that,
and then we'll go back to verse number 15,
it says here, having a good conscience,
okay, so if you suffer for righteousness sake,
you have a good conscience,
you've done what's right, okay,
having a good conscience,
and listen brethren, I've taught this before,
the best life you can really live,
best life now, is that, no,
but the, you know, the happiest life you can have,
honestly, without worrying and being stressed,
is just having a clear conscience,
just having a good conscience before God, all right,
it says here, having a good conscience
that whereas they speak evil of you,
as of evildoers, that they may be ashamed
that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ,
for it is better, for it is better
if the will of God be so,
that you suffer for well doing,
than for evil doing, okay,
so a good conscience is gonna get you,
it's gonna keep you happy,
I've been criticized, you know,
we've all been criticized,
I'm not trying to say I'm special,
we've all been criticized, right,
we've all had false accusations made about us,
you know, false ideas,
you know, sometimes I hear from my mother,
oh, you know, so and so in Chile,
and extended family said this about you guys,
like who cares, who cares, you know,
I honestly, because I know I'm doing right,
I know I have a clear conscience,
I know that thing that they're accusing me of is not true,
so it doesn't bother me,
you know, I don't feel like I need to defend myself
every time something, someone says things about me,
okay, I don't know,
did you guys know that our church is on,
what's that hate list in America?
That that faithful word, what is it?
Southern poverty law,
they've got a list of hate organizations,
and because we're friends,
we're faithful with Baptist Church,
I'm friends with Pastor Anderson,
I invited him to come and preach,
you know, was it last year, I think it was,
for our anniversary,
we're now on that list,
maybe you don't even know that,
you know why you don't know about it,
because I don't care,
I've got a clear conscience,
I don't care about that,
all right, we're serving the Lord,
we're doing what's right,
that's all that matters,
and if someone says oh,
you know, you're not raising your kids,
you know, they're not getting the socialization,
or whatever it is that people say
because you homeschool your kids or whatever,
I'm like, I don't care,
honestly, are you telling,
look, I look at my kids,
you know, my kids make mistakes,
they're sinful human beings as well,
but I think they're pretty good,
I think we're doing a good job,
I don't care what you have to say,
honestly, I have a clear conscience,
oh, COVID-19, are you worried?
No, I have a clear conscience,
you know, not having church open for the six weeks,
whatever we had here,
I have a clear conscience,
I do, I don't go on and on about it,
oh, I'm going on about it now,
because it's touching this topic,
it's a Bible verse,
the Bible still has to go,
all right, so it's here,
but otherwise, look,
I'm ready to move on,
and whatever other restrictions might come,
we deal with,
I'm gonna have a clear conscience before God,
you know, I'm not trying to impress man,
okay, I'm not trying to,
oh, look how persecuted I am,
I don't care,
you know, and you're gonna notice
that's what's gonna give you a lot of joy in your life,
when you just have that clear conscience before God,
I really please have that,
you know, don't be that person
that's just constantly defending themselves,
every time someone says something to me,
and I've known many people,
I know someone very specifically right now in my mind,
that is just constantly trying to defend himself
every time some accusation is made,
you know why they do that?
Because they don't have a clear conscience,
you know why?
Because they've done something wrong,
and they know they've done something wrong,
and they've gotta try to,
you know, cover it up by some other way,
you know, defending their reputation,
I don't care, I don't care,
I don't care for a reputation in this world,
I just want the Lord to look down
and be happy with my life.
Let's go back to verse number 15,
very quickly,
the second part of it,
be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asks if you're a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear,
you know, you should always be ready
to tell people why you behave differently from the world,
why?
Because I'm saved,
because I have the confidence of Christ,
I know I'm going to heaven,
why don't you care?
I'm a stranger and a pilgrim in this world,
I'm not living for this world,
I'm not trying to amass as much riches as I can,
I'm not trying to live a worldly, carnal life,
okay, have that,
you know, be ready to give that answer
when people come and speak to you.
You know, I once took that verse,
and this is something that prevented me
from sowing on a regular basis,
because I thought this verse was telling me
that any question that comes out the door,
any Muslim, any Catholic,
I've gotta have an answer for the JW,
I've gotta have an answer for the Mormon,
I've gotta have an answer for the atheist,
I've gotta have an answer for,
you know, if they just turn to some random verse
in the Bible,
I've gotta have an answer for that verse,
that's, you know, that's not what it's teaching.
I still don't have every answer for every verse.
I still wouldn't be soul winning if that's the case.
You know, actually,
someone actually,
I won't say who it is,
but told me, you know,
I'm just not ready to come to church,
I'm just not ready to go soul winning,
because I still don't know all the answers in the Bible.
It's like, what in the world?
How are you gonna get the answers
not doing the things that God wants you to do?
Anyway, let's move on from there.
Verse number 18.
For Christ, and again,
you know, the remembrance here,
because it's hard,
where we do naturally want to rebel against authority
when we don't agree with what they're doing,
we want to naturally rebel.
And so like we saw in chapter two,
you know, being submitted to the government,
when you want to naturally rebel,
remind yourself what Jesus did.
Hey, he was in subjection to a corrupt government, right?
He allowed himself to be falsely accused
and even put to death as an innocent man.
Well, the same thing here, okay?
And this is for the wives,
being submitted to husbands,
husbands honoring your wife,
and spending time understanding they're different,
dwelling with them with knowledge,
and all the other kind of forms of submission
that we may have.
Again, it brings us to remember
what Christ has done for us, right?
Verse number 18.
For Christ also have suffered once,
have once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust.
Hey, that's you, you're the unjust, okay?
He was just, he suffered for you, the unjust.
That he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened in the spirit, okay?
So we know Christ died on the cross in his flesh,
but then he was made alive quickened by the spirit, okay?
So you can see that the Holy Spirit
also played a part in the resurrection of Christ.
Not only did Christ resurrect himself,
not only the Father resurrects Christ,
but even the Holy Spirit resurrected Christ, okay?
Now, what we're about to read,
verse 18 is simple to understand.
The next couple of verses are a little bit challenging.
And you know, if I'm honest with you,
I didn't really understand it till,
I think I didn't really understand,
like, I think even after I started this church,
I didn't really understand these verses still.
And I just, I can't remember exactly
what helped me understand it.
I kind of think it may have been with some of the men
when we have our Bible studies in the morning.
I think even just hearing you guys talk about it,
put some thought, that's as best I remember.
I can't remember somebody,
I can't remember a specific sermon that clarified this to me.
I can't remember like a one-on-one conversation with anybody.
I think it was just a general conversation that was had.
But look, the next verses are challenging, okay?
And again, if you're gonna wait to have an answer
for every verse,
you're not gonna do anything for the Lord, right?
There are some verses that are challenging.
And listen, for people that have a contrary view
to what I'm about to teach,
I don't think they're idiots.
I don't think you're some ungodly heathen,
stupid, why can't you agree with us on this?
Because I recognize these are challenging.
I recognize that I had a challenge
understanding these verses.
And some people need to hear.
And look, there is a lot of bad preaching
on the following verses, okay?
So let's just read it,
and then I'll tell you what I understood,
what I thought he was,
and then I'll tell you what it actually is.
But verse number 19, it says here,
so we just finished talking about the fact
that Christ died and rose again.
Verse number 19,
by which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison, okay?
Now I think most positions out there on this
is that this took place,
I'm saying most, I'm not saying this is the correct one.
I'm just saying this took place
during the three deaths, uh, three deaths,
three days of Christ being dead, okay?
So that most people say, well, this is,
because he just finished talking
about his death and resurrection, okay?
So while he was dead,
what did Christ do for those three years?
Common question people like to ask, right?
Some people take the thought,
well, he went to preach to spirits in prison.
And that was a view that I kind of held as well,
that wrong view, okay?
And then it says,
let me just tell you what I thought this was first.
So I thought, yes, okay,
this must be about the three days,
and the Bible tells me that the soul of Jesus went to hell.
And so while he was down in hell,
this was my understanding,
because I'm thinking, spirits in prison,
this is not a positive thing, okay?
If you're a spirit in prison, this is not right, you know?
And so he went, okay, he was dead,
he must have gone to hell.
I'm talking about the flame where things are burning.
I'm not saying Abraham's bosom or something like this, right?
He must have gone there and preached to those people.
That's what I thought.
And so to say, well, what are you saying?
Are you saying he gave him the gospel,
gave him a second chance to be saved?
No, just preaching them, hey, you rejected me,
you're gonna be damned for all eternity.
That's what I thought he was preaching in hell, okay?
And so there were other views out there.
Some people say, well, no,
this is him preaching in Abraham's bosom.
If you don't know that doctrine has gone into paradise,
they believe that the souls of the ultimate saints
did not go to heaven,
but they went basically to the, I don't know,
to the nice part of hell where things aren't on fire, right?
And he preached there.
But I was like, the spirit's in prison.
I wouldn't call, like, if you call it paradise,
that's paradise, okay?
You call that prison as well, that makes no sense to me.
So I never believed that either, okay?
What else is there?
Yeah, some people think that, I think some,
this might be more of the liberal Christianity,
believe that Christ has given people
a second chance to be saved,
except we know that when the rich man was in hell,
Abraham said that, hey, if you're in hell,
you can't pass to heaven.
Those in heaven, they can't pass to hell.
So that would be an inconsistency in the Bible.
And so what I have understood from this,
this is not teaching,
so, you know, where I'm connecting this
to the death of Christ, okay?
When actually, that's not what it's about.
When it says here, at the end of verse number 18,
it says, but quickened by the spirit, okay,
this is about the method, okay?
So Jesus was resurrected by what method?
By the spirit.
It's the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit
that resurrected Christ.
That's the focus of this passage here, okay?
Then it says here in verse number 19,
by which, what which?
The Holy Spirit.
So by which, or by the Holy Spirit,
also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.
Now, has the sentence finished?
No, it keeps going, right?
You can see the semicolon there.
It says here, so what is it?
Verse number 20, which sometime with disobedience,
so these spirits in prison were disobedient.
Let's pause there for a moment.
We're in the same chapter,
where it talked about the husbands
not being obedient to the word, right?
They're not being obedient to the gospel,
and so what is the disobedience here?
Yes, you could say it's sin,
but I personally believe, again,
just keeping it within the context,
that it's disobedience to the gospel, okay?
These people that they weren't obeying the gospel.
But then it says this,
when once the long suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, hold on,
this is not about Christ being dead for three days.
The timing of this is, back in Noah's day,
while the ark was a-preparing,
wherein few, that is eight souls,
were saved by water.
There's a lot to cover here, okay?
So when it says at the end of verse number 20,
eight souls saved by water,
some people think, well, see,
you gotta get baptized to be saved.
You know, some stupid,
and you'll soon see,
because baptism is mentioned in the next verse,
but let's not go to the next verse just yet.
Let's understand what's going on, all right?
So the Bible says that Noah
was a preacher of righteousness, okay?
He was a preacher of righteousness.
Now again, keep your finger there.
Let's go back to chapter one,
First Peter chapter one and verse number 10.
When we're trying to understand things,
let's always try to stay within the same chapter,
but if that chapter doesn't really give us the answer,
stay within the same book, okay?
If you keep these simple rules,
you're going to get most of your answers,
and if that book doesn't answer it,
we'll see if that same writer wrote other books,
so like Peter, he also wrote Second Peter,
so we might want to turn to Second Peter sometimes
to understand something, right?
Or John, John wrote about the Gospel of John,
but he also wrote First John, Second John, Third John,
and also the Book of Revelation.
Sometimes it's best to just stay to the same author,
because the Lord has worked within him
for certain truths to get them out, all right?
But if that doesn't help you there,
of course, then you go to the whole Bible, okay?
You know, when you're trying to understand,
don't just start going to the whole Bible everywhere
and try to find an answer.
First just try to keep it as close to the context
as you can, and so we're staying within the same book,
First Peter chapter one, verse number 10.
Remember, these things are building off each other, okay?
So when we're reading First Peter chapter three,
God expects you that you read chapter one, right?
Look at verse number 10, it says,
"'Of which salvation the prophets have inquired
"'and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace
"'that should come unto you,' verse number 11,
"'searching what or what manner of time
"'the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,
"'when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ
"'and the glory that should follow.'"
So what is he teaching us?
That the Old Testament prophets,
we saw this in chapter one,
had the Spirit of Christ in them as they preached, okay?
Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
so what did Noah have in him?
The Spirit of Christ, okay, the Holy Spirit.
And so, that same Holy Spirit
that resurrected Christ from the dead
is the same Holy Spirit that preached to people
through Noah in his time when he came to build the ark.
That's what he's teaching, okay?
And guess what?
When we go, now, as I'm preaching behind this pulpit,
and as we go and knock doors and preach the gospel,
it's the same Holy Spirit in us
that's given us the ability to preach his word, all right?
That's how it comes together.
Now, Brother Jason gave me this passage,
so just to honor Brother Jason, let's go there.
Keep your finger there.
Let's go to Nehemiah chapter nine, verse 30.
Nehemiah chapter nine and verse 30.
So if this is the only part of the sermon
that you like today, thank Brother Jason, okay?
The rest is my work, but this is Brother Jason.
Nehemiah chapter nine, verse 30.
Because what's really awesome about the Bible
is when the Old Testament is basically telling us
the same truth as the New Testament, okay?
And you can see the consistency.
You love how it comes together.
Nehemiah chapter nine and verse number 30.
I'll give you one more moment to turn there.
Nehemiah chapter nine and verse number 30.
The Bible reads,
"'Yet many years didst thou forbear them
"'and testified against them by thy spirit in thy prophets.
"'Yet would they not give ear,
"'therefore gavest thou them into the hand
"'of the people of the land.'"
So you know what, brethren?
If you're going out preaching the gospel,
you know, you're going out there for an hour,
two hours, three hours, and no one's hearing you,
not interested, not interested, not interested,
and you get discouraged, just remind yourself
the prophets also did the same thing,
and people did not hear them, okay?
Hey, remind yourself that Noah did the same thing.
Hey, who else came on the ark of Noah?
Nobody, okay?
Look, I'm sure other people got saved on the ark,
got saved during the time of Noah's preaching
because he preached over 100 years.
Of course, you know, as a preacher of God's word,
going 100 years without salvation would be unusual, okay?
He definitely got people saved,
but they did not believe the message of the flood,
they did not get on the ark, and you know,
and people, listen, you know, you get people saved,
at the door you get them saved, but then many of them,
most of them are not gonna come to church.
They're not going to continue to grow.
They're not going to get into the ark
and continue to learn about the Lord,
and so that is the, I believe that is the only
legitimate understanding of that passage, all right?
And so talk about there the spirits of, in prison,
but look at verse, let's go back to 1 Peter 3 and verse 21.
1 Peter, I don't wanna spend too much time with this,
but you can see how these passages
can be a little bit challenging to understand,
and so that's why, you know, please be patient with people.
You know, I'm not talking about like clear
black and white doctrines, all right?
If someone's trying to teach you a false gospel,
I'm not saying be patient with that person,
I'm just saying like there are passages
that can be challenging.
We need to learn to have patience with each other
and to teach one another.
Look at verse number 21.
So we just finished talking about the eight souls
saved by water, okay?
So what does that mean?
Well, of course those eight souls is a family of Noah
that went on the ark, all right?
And instead of drowning in the water,
instead of drowning in the rain,
hey, the waters, they were saved by water
in the sense that the waters in the ark lifted them up
and they were saved from the destruction
that was taking place under the water, okay?
So this is not about a spiritual salvation.
They weren't saved, going to the ark
did not save that person back in those days.
It's not some other dispensation.
They had to believe on Christ
and enter the ark to be saved.
No, okay?
The salvation there is a physical salvation.
Hey, but that was to picture something else, okay?
And then we get to verse number 21.
It says the like figure.
Now, when you hear those words, something like that,
the shadow, foreshadowing, whatever in the Bible,
just stop for a moment.
Don't just keep writing, keep reading, you know, quickly.
Just stop, okay, this is a likely, this is an example.
This is a picture about something else.
The like figure were unto even baptism doth now save us.
Oh man, see, baptism saves us.
That's like me saying, get it on the ark, save their souls.
No, it's the same thing.
These things are like figures of something else, okay?
Now what we're about to read is a passage in parentheses,
but let's not read the parentheses right now, okay?
Because even without the parentheses,
without that, you know, the sentence is complete
and the parentheses is only there
to add more information, right?
So let's just read it without the parentheses for a moment.
Verse 21, the like figure were unto even baptism doth
also now save us.
What saves us?
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It's the resurrection, okay, the Holy Spirit
that gave Jesus the power to be resurrected.
That's what saves us.
So what is baptism?
A picture of the resurrection.
When we stand in the water, it pictures Christ crucified.
When you go under the water, it pictures Christ in the grave
and you lift it out of the water,
it pictures Christ's resurrection by the Holy Spirit.
It's a like figure, okay?
When you get baptized, you are testifying
that I have placed my faith on the finished work of Christ,
which includes, of course, the resurrection.
Without the resurrection, we could have no salvation, okay?
And what was the ark picturing?
Again, being elevated by the waters
that picture of resurrection,
the eight souls being saved in a physical sense,
but that is a picture of salvation once again.
You know, getting to the ark was a picture of
having your faith, of course, on the finished work of Christ
and his crucifixion.
So I hope that makes sense.
I know these things can be a little confusing.
Now let's read the parentheses.
It says here, so what saves us?
The resurrection of Christ.
What doesn't save us?
It says here, look, not the pulling away
of the filth of the flesh.
You trying to clean up your life from sin
is not what saves you, okay?
But the answer of a good conscience toward God.
So what, does it say you shouldn't get rid of
the filth of the flesh?
No, it says that this is the answer
of a good conscience toward God.
So now that you are saved, okay,
the answer or the response to that salvation
is that we put away the filth of the flesh.
Understand?
This is not teaching, it says not to put away
the filth of the flesh, okay?
The pastors that stand behind the pulpit
and say you gotta repent of your sins to be saved.
Wrong.
What they're saying is you've gotta put away
the filth of the flesh to be saved.
That's wrong.
That's for false doctrine.
That's another gospel.
That'll damn your congregation to hell.
At least it'll confuse people.
They won't understand what you're talking about.
Now listen, I know a lot of pastors
that are good, safe pastors that still use
that phrase today, but they mean it something different.
Okay?
But listen, that phrase is not in the Bible.
I think that phrase is in the Book of Mormon.
Tim, is that right?
Book of Mormon, okay?
Pastors that say you gotta repent of your sins,
you might as well just open the Book of Mormon
and preach from that.
The most important doctrine of salvation,
no, what saves us is the resurrection of Christ.
It's our faith on that finished work of Christ.
Say, well, Pastor Kevin, you're telling people
they need to live in their sins.
No, if you wanna have an answer to that,
you wanna have a good conscience before God,
now you put away the filth of the flesh.
Now that you are saved, now that you have placed
your faith on Christ, put away the filth of the flesh.
Verse number 22.
And I love verse 22, it summarizes it very well,
because Christ was submissive, we saw that.
We're being called to be submissive,
the whole chapter's about that,
submissive to the authorities over us.
But with Christ being submissive,
verse number 22 says this, who is gone into heaven,
so of course Christ ascended to heaven,
and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him.
So the chapter started by,
we need to be under subjection of the authorities,
you say, well, I don't like that authority over me.
Pastor Kevin, I can't always submit to my husband.
Well, Jesus Christ is in heaven,
and he's been given authority over all powers,
over all authorities, over all angels,
any power, any authority that you may face in your life,
yes, even bonnets, yes, even the government,
yes, even the husband, even your workplace,
even this church is under the authority of Jesus Christ.
He's the boss, he's the boss of it all.
And so brethren, if you're struggling with submission,
or that person that you're meant to be submissive to
is not treating you the way that you need to be treated,
once again, you go to the authority of that person,
you take it to their boss, which is Jesus Christ.
Okay, let's pray.