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I will give you rest take my yoke upon you hear me and be blessed I am meek and come and trust my mind come my yoke is easy and my burdens line stumbling on the mountain dark with sin and shame stumbling toward the pit of hell's consuming flame by the powers of sin deluded and oppressed here the tender Shepherd come to me and rest come unto me I will give you rest take my yoke upon you hear me and be blessed I am meek and lonely come and trust my mind come and my burdens light on the fourth have you by temptation conquered Ben has a sense of weakness brought distress within Christ will sanctify you if you'll claim his best in the Holy Spirit he will give you rest come unto me I will give you rest take my yoke upon you hear me and be blessed I am meek and lonely come and trust my mind come my yoke is easy and my burdens good singing let's open up in a word of prayer Heavenly Father thank you so much for this day and for our church thank you for sending your son to die for us and to give us salvation pray that you'd please bless his service that you help us just to worship you from our heart we love you so much amen all right for a second song we'll go to 223 springs of living water 223 springs of living water song two to three springs of living water I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame and nothing satisfying there I found but to the Blessed Cross of Christ one day I came where springs of living water did abound drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul they satisfy drinking at the springs of living water Oh wonderful and bountiful supply how sweet the living water from the hills of God it makes me glad and happy all the way now glory grace and blessing mark the path I've trod I'm shouting hallelujah every day drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul they satisfy drinking at the springs of living water Oh wonderful and bountiful supply Oh sinner won't you come today to Calvary a fountain there is flowing deep and wide the Savior now invites you to the water free where thirsting spirits can be satisfied drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul they satisfy drinking at the springs of living water Oh wonderful and bountiful supply good morning thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church if you don't already have a bulletin we'd love to give you a bulletin our ushers have them just lift your hand nice and high and one of ushers can come by slip a bulletin in your hand on the front we have our Bible Mary passage John 1 verse 39 and we've been memorizing the entire book or the entire chapter John chapter 1 as a church family if you can quote the entire full chapter to a non family member you will receive a special prize and it's definitely a big chapter a lot of verses but of course that then rewards you with a big prize and the big prize is that you have John chapter 1 memorized okay I know that you're thinking about something else but we also still like to add on the church will give you a special gift as well so but the gift is the Bible memorization also children that are able to quote this at the midweek service just the singular verse as well also receive I an ice cream treat or some kind of candy and what's great about that is I mean children could literally get a prize like 50 weeks you know in a row and then get a big prize so it's a great challenge to give them help them memorizing things and it helps you also understand how to memorize big chapters of the Bible is that it's just one verse at a time you just kind of go one and after a while you end up realizing wow it is possible to memorize large sections of scripture all in one who's working on this one I'm just curious yeah we got hands all over the building so a lot of people and it's really impressive it's like when you get to like five and six year olds doing it you're like wow obviously we can do it too right and it's really impressive and it's great to see a lot of people working on that on the inside we are service times they're so winning times we have church wide soul winning that meets here at the building at 2 p.m. so if you'd like to join us we'd love to have you of course all our soul winning time silent partners are more than welcome to participate our regional times meet in different areas so definitely you can meet up with all the respective leaders there we also have our church stats continue to send in your information to your soul winning captains if you're unsure of who your captain is you can ask me for the Dylan or whatever ushers and they can help you figure out what tribe you're in because we'd like to divide the entire church into tribes that way you have people that are in communication with you praying for you helping assist with soul winning and making sure that everything that you need you have somebody that can really assist you well on the right we have the list of our expecting ladies as well as also our prayer list if you have any prayer requests that need to be added just email them or you can fill out a communication card slip it into our offering plate on the back we have the best announcement congratulations to the name family on the birth of Layla grace name yep Layla was born August 8 at 3 32 a.m. she was 7 pounds 5 ounces and measured 21 and a half inches long so congratulations to the family I've heard everybody's doing really well and it's great to see prayer requests turn into beautiful pictures like this so also we have our men's conference is happening this week and I'm really excited about it pastor Aaron Thompson is going to be coming even bringing a couple people from his church we have people coming from Oklahoma City from pure words and so I think we're gonna have a really good event it's it's one of the highlights for a lot of people that go they really enjoy the men's conference so definitely even if you can't go you could just pray that we'd have a good time and it's it's a nice refresher to just kind of get away if you are planning on riding with us or commuting with us we're gonna be meeting here and leaving at 9 a.m. so if you want to show up on Thursday morning you can go with us at 9 a.m. otherwise you can go out there however you want so and it's an open schedule you don't have to be there right when everybody else shows up so if you were working a half-day Thursday or something or whatever your schedule allows for that's definitely totally acceptable but if you'd like to ride with church transportation that opportunity is available there is lots of activities and just you can do whatever you want I do it send out brother Dylan helped us send out an email about a consent waiver that you do have to supply us just so when you get hurt you can't get mad at us okay just FYI also I'll try to send another email shortly this week so that way is just reminder of things you might think about bringing or maybe you could just forward it to your wife and be like will you please help me you know pack for me alright so I don't do very good at packing but my wife is excellent so that's just maybe that's just me at the end of the month we have our Sunday Sundays for soul winners so after the Sunday time we're gonna have Sundays and of course you're always welcome to join us for soul winning but that's an extra treat for those that participate on the last Sunday of the month also we have a soul winning marathon in Shreveport Louisiana September 24th and so that's gonna be a lot of fun again when we get a little bit closer we'll have the exact details as far as just where we're meeting what time and everything like that we just like for you to at least put it on your calendar if you'd like to participate Shreveport's only about three hours away we went last year and it was a great success a lot of people were telling me that was one of the most receptive places they've gone so winning in the United States and so I highly anticipate that it's gonna be similar and that it's gonna be a lot of fun going out there and it's you know it's it's always fun going so winning but it's definitely fun to go an area where people are very interested and very humble and the area is a pretty humble place a lot of people are interested in hearing the gospel so just keep that in your radar I do have a couple other announcements I want to make you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you 256 look to the Lamb of God 256 look to the Lamb of God 256 look to the Lamb of God 26 look to the Lamb of God 26 look to the Lamb of God 27 for he alone is able to save thee 28 look to the Lamb of God 29 when Satan tempts and doubts and fears assail 30 look to the Lamb of God 31 you in his strength shall overall prevail 32 look to the Lamb of God 33 look to the Lamb of God 34 look to the Lamb of God 35 for he alone is able to save thee 36 look to the Lamb of God 37 are you weary? 38 does the way seem long? 39 look to the Lamb of God 40 his love will cheer and fill your heart with song 41 look to the Lamb of God 42 look to the Lamb of God 43 look to the Lamb of God 44 for he alone is able to save thee 45 look to the Lamb of God 46 fear not when shadows on your pathway fall 47 look to the Lamb of God 48 enjoy your sorrow, Christ is all in all 49 look to the Lamb of God 50 look to the Lamb of God 51 look to the Lamb of God 52 for he alone is able to save thee 53 look to the Lamb of God Good singing this morning. As the offering plates are passed around, turn into your Bibles if you would. First Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter number three. First Peter chapter three. And as is our custom, we'll read the whole chapter before the sermon. First Peter chapter three. The Bible reads, starting in verse number one, you can follow along silently there, starting in verse one. First Peter three it 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 wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, and 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, adorned themselves, being in subjection under their own husbands, 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. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrawise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye 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. 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. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye 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, or as they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, but just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which some time 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. The like figure were unto even baptism doth also now save us, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, we just thank you so much for the morning service, Lord, for our church, and I just pray that you would protect us and lead us and guide us, and I also pray, Lord, that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit, and just give him clarity of mind to preach the sermon boldly that you've laid on his heart, and help us to pay attention, minimize distractions in the room, Lord, and enable us to apply the message to our lives. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. So I want to look back at verse 1 again, but I kind of want to just give you the big picture of chapter number 3, so that we can kind of understand a section of chapter 3 that's a little bit difficult to be understood, but it says in verse 1, I want you to realize, 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. Now, 1 Peter chapter number 3, verse 1, is talking about the importance of a wife submitting to her husband when he does not deserve it, when he's not doing right, when he's not right with God. I mean, notice what it very clearly says, if any obey not the word. So it's basically insinuating that even if your husband's a scumbag, even if he's not right with God, even if he's backslidden, even if he doesn't deserve it, a wife is still supposed to submit herself under her husband, because that's simply what God has ordained. That's what God has decreed, is that you still submit to your authority no matter how good your authority is. Otherwise, no one would ever submit to authority if it was subjective, like, well, if they're doing good, nobody would always argue and say, well, they don't really deserve it today, right? Or they're not good enough today. Whereas the Bible doesn't put that caveat, the Bible just simply says obey. Now, that's important when understanding what's happening in 1 Peter chapter number 3, that the Bible is going to constantly bring up scenarios in which you do good even though the situation isn't ideal, or you do good even though you may be poorly treated for your good, right? Is it really fair that a wife would submit to her husband and be in subjection to her husband and make him all the meals and be sweet to him and loving to him and meeting and satisfying all of his needs and he simply does nothing in return? No, that's not fair. I'm not saying that that's fair. I'm not saying that that's ideal or that's good. But you know what? It's good on the wife. It's a praise to the wife. I mean, praise God for the wives out there that do good under their husband when their husband doesn't deserve it. And really, that's the essence of this entire chapter. Now, it has several verses to bring this up, but look what it says in verse 7. Likewise, now what does likewise mean? In the same manner or similarly, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as under the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. It could be frustrating as well for a husband who is going to be naturally stronger, naturally more able to resist evil, naturally not as mentally weak, to endure hardship, whereas a wife is a lot more sensitive, a wife is a lot more emotional, and so according to the Bible though, as a husband, you're not supposed to be frustrated with her or to look down upon her or treat her poorly due to her insecurities, weaknesses, problems, or whatever. So kind of in a similar boat, is it really fair that a man can handle things and a man's strong and a man doesn't have these problems, but he basically has to condescend to his wife and basically lower himself or deal with problems or have to come down to her level in certain areas. Is that really fair? No. You know what? Praise God for men that are sensitive to and can lead on gently, that are temperate and meek and are willing to realize that their wife has great value even though they may be different than them, they may be more sensitive or emotional or struggle with things or not as strong. Notice what the Bible says, and maybe some of the men in this room need to like circle or highlight this verse, it says, giving honor unto the wife. Notice that it's saying that you're supposed to actually treat your wife like she's a prized possession, that there's something praiseworthy about her, even though she's weaker, because you know what? Being weaker doesn't make you worse or less, it makes you different. Okay? Some things are stronger, some things are weaker, and it's arguable which one's better because it depends on the situation. Dealing with children, being weaker is better because children can't necessarily handle how rough Dad is, okay? And so you have to realize that there's always a balance to every single thing. You know, there's certain roller coasters out there that some people won't ride because they say it's too rough, right? It's too coarse in its actions. And I would say that myself, like I love roller coasters and I'll ride the scariest looking roller coaster, but I remember back home in the Amarillo area, there's this small little theme park, and it's called Wonderland, all right? And Wonderland has this tiny little ride, it's not the big one, the big roller coasters are fine, but it's this little tiny one that you get in this little car, and it's called the Cyclone or something like that, and it's just constantly turning. But you're in this thing, and then all of a sudden it's just like, jerk! And you're just like, whoa! And then it's just like, jerk! And you just run into this metal thing that's rusting and sharp, and it's like, I don't really want tetanus, or like, I don't really love just getting jerked around for no reason. And so the ride's just a little too rough, okay? That doesn't make, that doesn't mean it's a better ride than the one that's not as rough, right? More enjoyable to ride the ride that's just fun, and you don't feel like you're jerked around and getting rust, you know, shoved into your arm or something like that. I mean, that sounds better. So just because a man might be stronger, more fit, or be more capable in certain areas, doesn't make him better than his wife. A wife and a husband have different roles, they're made differently, and they both have honor, they both have their place in this world, and even if your wife is a crappy wife, even if your wife is not where she should be, even if your wife isn't as mentally strong, even if your wife isn't as spiritually strong, even if your wife isn't making the best food ever or something like that, or she's not cleaning the house the most amazing way ever, or she's not the smartest person you've ever talked to in your entire life, you know what, you're still supposed to love her, and you're still supposed to give her honor, and you're still supposed to give her respect, and you're still supposed to treat her right. Why? Because the Bible teaches that you do right regardless of your situation. It doesn't matter how good of a spouse you have, you can still be the greatest spouse on the planet. Did you realize that? Did you know the only person stopping you from being a great spouse is yourself? And you know what, the Bible says, till death do us part, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. You know what, some spouses, they have no control over it, but they're very sick, or they have some kind of issue with their body or something like that, that just makes them a bad spouse in the sense that they can't necessarily perform all the duties that they regularly would perform. But you know what, then the other spouse just has to step up and just be a great spouse, and make up the hedge, and just be there, and be sensitive towards them, and love them, and be kind unto them, and because sometimes it'll flip flop. One time one spouse will be like the problem and the burden, and then later it'll flip flop, and the other spouse will be the burden and the problem. And you know what, that's what makes a good marriage, is when you're just always trying to be the best spouse you can possibly be. And you're just always doing right, you're just always being loving, you're always being kind. You know, if both parties had this mentality, you would have the greatest marriage. I mean, if you said, I'm going to treat you the best you could possibly be treated today, regardless of how you treat me, you would have the greatest marriage. But notice, here's the thing, that's probably never going to happen. You're probably never going to both be so equally yoked that you're just both on fire for your marriage, and at all times, but you know what you can do, you can just decide to do it yourself. And you will still have a very good marriage if you put 100% effort into your relationship, if you're doing everything that you possibly can, and you're treating them the best that they could possibly be treated, I guarantee your marriage is going to be so much better than it is right now. But you know what, our lives are simply not just to have a great marriage, because the Bible teaches that in the end times, you won't even remember you're married, it'll be like you weren't married, it's meaningless in the sense of the scope of eternity, marriage is just simply a relationship that God blesses us with in this life to enjoy life. And it's the most important relationship you'll have, and it's a very important institution in this world, and we need to treat it with respect, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that you're going to stand before God one day, and you're going to have to give an account of what kind of spouse you were to God. And you say, well, but I, you know, God kind of understands I had a crappy situation. Oh yeah, well how about when he told Hosea to marry a whore? And then the whore cheated on him multiple times, and then he had to literally pay his wife not to be a whore against him. I mean, that's a pretty rough marriage type situation. But you know what? Hosea doesn't want to stand before God and say, well, I treated her like crap. You know what? It'd be better to just say, I treated my spouse the best I possibly could while I was on this earth, I still did them good, and so that God can look at you and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And if you truly had a bad spouse, guess what? You have to stand before Christ, too, and you can get a little bit of your, okay, yeah, your turn. You know, it's like, I did a good job, let's see what they did, right? Okay? But you do right. Always do right. Look at verse 8. The Bible says, finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love his brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye 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. 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 notice, again, the Bible is bringing up a context, a situation where people are doing you wrong and you do good unto them. They rail on you, you bless them. They say evil of you, you seek peace with them. You do good unto them. And then the Bible tells us, in verse number 12, that the eyes of the Lord are over those that are doing right, and his ears are open to their prayers, but he's against those that are doing evil. So it's like, oh, I want God to answer my prayers. Well, then do right. Hey, when someone does you wrong, you do right anyways, and then just keep praying to God and God will hear that prayer. But you know what? When you're rendering evil for evil, when you're rendering railing for railing, God's not going to hear your prayers. God doesn't care about your problem anymore, because you've decided to go outside of his boundaries and handle it yourself, and so then God will say, then fine, have fun dealing with this situation yourself. Whereas if you just do right and then complain to God, if you do right and make your positions known unto God, then he can actually fight for you. And I'll tell you what, I could never, ever get my enemies back as well as God can. Like, obviously at times I'm thinking like, man, it'd be nice to give an uppercut or a curb check or, you know, a manner of things. But my punch isn't as strong as God's. I can do damage, but not like God can do damage. I can hurt, but not like God can hurt. I can destroy, not like God can destroy. And we have to be patient and trust the Lord and say, you know what, I'm going to do good. And of course, in most situations where people are doing us evil, we're not even supposed to hope bad things happen to these people. We're supposed to hope that somehow they get it right and God blesses them despite their problem, despite their evil. This is the mind of Christ. Christ being on the cross wasn't sitting here thinking like, I really hope all these people get what they deserve. Christ was hoping that they would repent and that God would give them grace, that God would forgive them, that God would bless them despite their evil, despite their wrong actions. And that's how he looks at you and me despite a lifelong of sin, a lifelong of rebellion, a lifelong of spinning in the face of God, that God would extend grace to us and that we could live a blessed life after we get right with God. So why would I want different for other people? You know, why would I not want to do right and help people and do good? And when people lie about you and do evil, you know what? Our goal should be to love them despite that and do good unto them despite that and to refrain our tongue from evil and not speaking guile, doing good, seeking peace and praying to God. Look at verse 13, and who is he that will harm you? If you be followers of that which is good. Now, you have to understand that sentence within this context. It's not saying that harm won't happen to you, okay? What is the harm that he's talking about? People are not going to harm you for doing good in the sense that if someone is mad at me and then I bless them, if I do good on them, they're not going to harm me because I did good unto them. They're not going to be mad at me for blessing them. They're not going to be mad at me for seeking peace with them, okay? In the sense that no one gets mad at people like, man, this guy just came over here and mowed my lawn, so I'm really mad at him. Or this guy came over here and gave me 100 bucks, I'm really mad at him. And this guy told the boss that I was doing a good job and it helped me get a promotion. I'm really mad at him. You know, people don't get mad at you for blessing them. People don't get mad at you for doing good unto them. You know, you're heaping coals of fire on their head when you do good unto them and they don't deserve it, okay? So it's just basically saying, like, if you're doing right to your spouse, if you're doing right to the relationships you have in your life, if you're blessing those, even the people that are speaking evil of you, it's going to be hard for them to continue to be mad at you for the good that you're doing. But if you're doing evil, it's really easy for people to be mad at you, right? If you punch someone, if you yell at someone, if you rail on someone, if you lie to someone, if you're doing evil to them, of course it's real easy for people to be mad at you for that and to want to harm you for that and do evil unto you for that. But even if, even if you're perfect, as evidenced by Jesus Christ, even if you do no wrong and you only bless and help people, people will still try to hurt you, okay? And this is where they try to hurt you because they're envious of you. Or they're mad about your relationship with God. Or they're mad about your influence. Or they're mad about how much people love you. I mean, think about it. With Jesus Christ, why is it they wanted to kill him and they wanted to destroy him? It wasn't because he healed people. It wasn't because he gave people food. It wasn't because he preached the truth. It was because they were envious that everyone liked him because of it. They were envious that the whole nation liked him. They were envious of his position. They were envious of his power. They were envious of his inheritance. They were envious of his position with God. And because of that, and they envied him, they had to destroy him. Okay? So, the same goes with the world that we live in today, that when you're doing good and doing right, they're not truly mad at that. Even though they may say it, they're really just mad at your relationship with God. Just like Cain and Abel, Abel was killed by Cain because he was righteous and he had a good relationship with the Lord. The Lord had not respected him to Cain's offering. That angered Cain and caused Cain to want to kill Abel. Now, it says here in verse number 14, But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So he's just saying, like, you've got to understand verse number 13. Who's going to harm you if you do good? This is a rhetorical device of saying, what logic does it make, what sense does it make to bite the hand that feeds you? What logic does it make if someone's blessing you and doing good unto you to hurt that person? It makes no sense, okay? But then he makes it clear in verse 14, but sometimes it happens, right? Sometimes people are just so absent of truth and knowledge and righteousness that they literally hurt people that are doing good unto them. Your spouse is doing good unto you and you hurt them. Your family is doing good unto you and you hurt them. Your church is doing good unto you and you hurt them. Your pastor does good unto you and you hurt them. Your boss does good unto you and you hurt them, right? Your employee does good unto you, I mean, people hurt innocent people all the time. And it doesn't make any sense. But if it happens to you that you're suffering for righteousness' sake, notice what the Bible commands you, happy are ye, Happy are you and be not afraid of the terror neither be troubled but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asked 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 evil of evil Doers they may be ashamed that falsely accused your good conversation in Christ So the Bible is saying here in this passage is it saying when someone does you wrong? When someone's returning evil for blessing unto you that you're gonna be happy about it What's gonna happen is they're gonna be really confused. They're gonna be like why in the world are you happy? That I'm persecuting you. Why are you so happy that I'm doing evil unto you? And they're kind of confused about it. And then you have to explain to them like it says in verse 15 that you have hope Now what is hope hope is something that's not been realized it hasn't happened yet it hasn't unfolded yet, okay What is the hope the hope is that it's gonna somehow come out for good That God's gonna bless you or take care of your award you anyways And so you're believing that by faith you have hope that it's gonna turn out good So it's like even though something really bad's happened to me. I could still be happy about it And you're like, why are you so happy about this and it's like because I just know it's not gonna work out I just know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are the called according to his purpose You say well, how does that make sense? I don't I didn't say it made sense, but I'm so happy about it because I have hope Okay, and they're gonna be they're gonna be like well explain this hope to me and then you start showing in the Bible You start showing them faith. You start showing them. Hey, here's the children of Israel trapped up against the sea They walk through the Red Sea. Here's Daniel throwing a lion's den. He walked out He didn't have those lines didn't touch him He was he was petting them. It was a petting zoo Right Maybe he's praying the whole time. I don't know. I probably would be right. I Mean, it doesn't matter though because there's so many places in the Bible where you see people put in a bad situation Yet they can have joy. They can have hope they can have assurance I mean think about the boldness of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego When they're told they're gonna be throwing the fiery furnace and they simply say we're not careful to answer thee They didn't say like They're just like hey, hey, you know, we don't have to we don't have to talk about this no conference We didn't take a vote. We're not giving you multiple options here. We're not gonna do it nuts to you Throw us in the fire He's like we're gonna throw you in the fire do it. It's like oh what? Wait, we'll give you a second chance and it's like still not gonna do it You want to give me a third? It's like it's not gonna happen why because they have boldness and it's like well that doesn't make sense it does make sense if you have hope in God and Notice that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they had hope in God. They would deliver them Notice that Moses and the children visit they have hope in God when they get in difficult situations that he will deliver them You know, it's that hope that keeps you Mentally in the right place even though you're going through adversity Now I want to explain something here because the happiness can sometimes be perceived in the wrong light I Don't believe that God is asking us to be sadistic about Persecution. Okay, and what that means specifically is that in the initial onset or the initial moment of Persecution evil or harm you will feel feelings of pain Suffering depression Sadness evil all of those are legitimate emotions that you can't help just like laughter If something's funny, you really can't help it. You just laugh right laughter is just an involuntary response So is all these other emotions anger sadness, you know depression all these type of emotions. They're normal. They're natural They're gonna happen Okay, there's nothing wrong with that but what's supposed to happen is after you've gone through the experience You reflect on it and you change your disposition and you don't allow that to turn into bitterness But rather you allow that to turn into joy. So I'll give you an example of this. Okay? Peter and John are called before the council and commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ They say that they're not gonna obey man. They're gonna obey God so they end up getting scourged By the council they end up getting beaten The Bible is not saying that when they literally crack the whip on their back that they're just like yippee Whoa That was a fun one, you know, no, I guarantee That they said ow, they screamed they cried They weep they gnashed their teeth. They writhed in pain. They writhed in pain. I guarantee it happened But this is what happened after all of that experience and they finally walked away they then leaped for joy Counting themselves worthy to suffer for Christ So they were happy but I'm not saying when getting beaten they were happy. Okay, that's bizarre folks And so I don't want you to have this weird opinion that like when something bad happens to you Or something bad happens to the church or some evil happens in our lives that your initial Emotion your initial reaction is just like whoa You know, it's okay that you're frustrated. It's okay that you're angry. It's okay that you're mad It's okay that you feel the pain you feel the woe of that particular situation But what you're not supposed to do is hang on to that emotion We're not supposed to do is cleave to that we were supposed to do is turn that into joy by realizing Hey, I'm being persecuted for rights and a sake here Hey, I should be counted worthy I feel honored that I'm kind of worthy in God's sight to suffer for this reason You know, if you're being persecuted for preaching the Bible, you should just praise God for that You know, we had we had a couple soul winners when not that long ago Literally just preaching the gospel to some person and the guy walks up and just punches him in the face Now I'll tell you what it didn't feel good They didn't like it. I Wouldn't like it, but you know what you should then take that as a great honor and be happy like wow God counted me worthy to suffer for preaching the gospel for doing that which is right and So we have to realize, you know, there's gonna be suffering in this world, you know, I'd rather suffer I'd rather be punched in the face for going soul winning then mouthing off to the wrong person I'd rather be punched in the face while going so winning then being punched in the face for stealing money from someone Then from lying to someone then doing evil then getting in a stupid fight or being prideful and going down to the bar I mean people go down to the bar and just get in fights for being prideful They don't even know why they're fighting each other. They just start punching each other You know I'd rather get punched for having done right and good Than for just being an idiot Then being a moron or being a fool or being punished for my sins and the Bible is teaching in this chapter You can only choose one Either you will suffer in this life for being an idiot moron and a sinner or You will be punished for being righteous and I know which one I would prefer. I Would prefer that people get mad at me because I was too godly I was too righteous because I believe too much of the Bible. Oh How dare you preach that part of the Bible well praise God if I have to suffer for it You know what? I'm ready to suffer for any verse in the Bible You know what because I believe in every verse of the Bible I'm not one of these Bible of the month Club people that keep changing it to fit the culture I'm not gonna just keep changing my Bible to say hey, what's the lowest common denominator or what's the lowest level morality? We can have or how can we reinterpret this chapter or reinterpret this verse? I mean, in fact you even have pastors out there They don't even know how to interpret Leviticus 2013, but they're still ready not to believe what the Bible says They don't even have an alternative scripture they're just like well it says that but I still don't know what it means It's like it still means what it says, buddy He's like Oh pastor Shelley, why don't you preach other parts of the Bible I am Why don't you get persecuted for John 3 16, well, you know what I have But you don't care about that the world doesn't care about that as much look I literally preach the gospel to a little girl She wasn't little she was like 16 almost or 14 or something. She was taller than me. Okay folks. I Preached her on the street corner at her request. I said look you want me to preach this to you're not her and she was welcome I preached her the gospel She was like Mormon or something Which was weird because her parents are like atheist and she just goes to a Mormon Church because her friend was Mormon So I thought like maybe there's a chance this girl could get saved and and rescued out of the clutches of the pit of hell Called Mormonism and I preached the gospel and made a lot of sense to her But she wasn't really ready to change her mind And I just said look if you don't believe this or your family doesn't believe this they'll go to hell if they don't change their mind So then I have a dad show up and it's like why are you screaming at my daughter? She's gonna go to hell and it's like well first of all, I you know Hello. My name is pastor Shelley, you know, I don't even know who your daughter is then it I didn't even realize that he was talking about me at first. I thought was some other soul winner I'm like, oh man, what am I so want to do? And then I'm like, oh, this is me And I'm like I said is your daughter so-and-so and he's like don't even use her name and I was like is your name Will Smith And then he's like he's like trying to fight me he's getting in my face wants to punch me He's talking now He's gonna beat me up or whatever like this and I'm just I'm just sitting here thinking like I Literally thinking like he's about to punch me and I'm like I don't know what to say because I I was not being confrontational. I try never to be confrontational and And it was just like this was only for preaching to the gospel folks It wasn't Leviticus 2013. It wasn't Romans 1 you can get persecuted for any verse in the Bible And you know what? I choose all of them. I Don't care if I had to get my head chopped off for a Bible verse. I don't care which one But I'll say this Leviticus 2013 is not a bad option Like that's a pretty cool one to go down for I'm just saying I'd rather go down on that verse than a lot of other Ones are these sissy little weak passes out there that wouldn't even go down for John 3 16 probably I'll go down for Leviticus Right because there's no point in backing away from the Word of God. What are you ashamed of Jesus now? What are you ashamed of the Bible? You know, that's what the Bible is teaching in this chapter is that we're supposed to do good and not care What evil befalls us because of that and notice it said in verse 16 Whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers They may be ashamed that falsely accused your good conversation in Christ be assured that when you're righteous They're not gonna say that you're righteous. They're gonna falsely accuse you They're gonna say you're wicked, you know, they didn't say Jesus was righteous. They said he was a blasphemer They said he was a malefactor. They said he was a perverter They said all manner of evil and falsely accused Christ over and over and over again. They said he was rebellious to The Roman system whereas he even paid taxes and I don't even think he made a paycheck. I Mean, we don't see any evidence of Jesus making any income at any point in time yet. He's paying tribute yet He's paying money. Maybe you just had to pay tribute just for being alive. I don't know how their legal system worked It almost sounds like the Jews were giving the Romans advice on the legal system How to do taxes That's anti-semitic no, it's anti false religion is what it is Now I've spent too much time on this to get through everything I wanted but I do want to kind of Explain the purpose of this setup. We've got the context of this chapter so well in our minds That then we would get a little bit further in this chapter We shouldn't just throw all that context away and just pretend like it's not there. What's the context suffering for well-doing? Okay, look what it says in verse 17 for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing Than for evil doing that's what the passage is constant bringing up and I could show you in this chat in this book That is the consistent theme through with first Peter first Peter is mostly mostly about Suffering for well-doing and that's even the title of the sermon this morning suffer for well-doing You know if you're a wife that has a bad husband suffer for well-doing if you're a husband has a bad wife suffer for well-doing if you have a bad boss suffer for well-doing if you Have a you have a bad employee suffer for well-doing you have a bad neighbor suffer for well-doing you have bad It doesn't matter a bad family member bad friend Bad whatever bad country bad government bad state bad Representatives bad, whatever you just suffer for well-doing You just keep doing right look at 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 So, you know, you know did this Jesus you know suffered for well-doing the Lord Jesus Christ coming down here and Suffering all manner of evil and you know why he suffered all the evil because you and I deserve it Someone deserves all this this evil that happened him and it wasn't him. It was us It was the Jews that deserved it and he took the shield He was the shield human shield to just take all the evil and all the bad that happened and you know, I I Find it interesting How our society Doesn't appreciate human shields But here's the thing You really can't appreciate the shield because that's the whole point of the shield is they're taking evil that you deserve and you didn't realize it Okay now What do you think the consequence is of not putting reprobates to death? Having to deal with the most obnoxious Implacable people Constantly harassing you and trying to attack you and doing evil into you. That is the consequence now who deserves that America Who deserves that Joe Biden who deserves that Kamala Harris who deserves that the Supreme Court that overruled Lawrence versus Texas who deserves that Liberals who deserves that Hollywood who deserves that all of the Americans that gave all their money to Hollywood in support of this who deserves that people who watched will and grace who deserves that people who watch friends who deserves that people who love John Lennon, I Mean who deserves that the 60s crowd The free love crowd who brought in communism and brought in all this evil But let me tell you something all the people that deserve this are not really getting it But someone's gonna have to get it And sometimes it's just us Sometimes we have to be this human shield that gets all this evil and But think about it this way by us getting all that other people don't have to You know by Jesus getting all the attacks and Jesus getting all the hate and Jesus getting all the evil That's the consequence of the Jews poor actions. You know what Jesus didn't deserve that But you know He's suffering the just for the unjust and then ultimately the the the picture of this is his own life being sacrificed on the cross Going through all the evil going through all the shame going through all the humiliation that we deserve I mean, how am you humiliating to be drug up on a cross mocked and spit upon? naked Beaten and bruised. I mean, there's nothing worse and Jesus had to do that when he did nothing wrong his entire life Not only that he did all the good every good that's ever happened to any person. Jesus was responsible for The the body that they have the athletics that they have the food that they've enjoyed The earth and the sky that they so loved the animals that they worship and adore Jesus is responsible for all that goodness and all the the pleasure that they've had in their entire life and then he receives all the evil that they deserve the just for the unjust and Ultimately the culmination of that was being put to Beth in the flesh But notice verse 18 says but quickened by the Spirit We also know that Jesus while suffering it was a one-time event in that he came to earth once in human flesh Suffered one time in his ministry died on the cross, but then was resurrected So at the point of his resurrection the suffering is ceased Right at the point of his quickening quickening means to be made alive That's all that quick means we think of it being fast like I think I'm just running fast or something quickly But quick also can mean to be made alive. So when was Christ made alive in the tomb the third day, right? That's when all suffering ceased for Jesus Christ. When did it start? I would argue it started day one of his life and The Bible makes it clear that there was a lot of sufferings that he had to go through Don't take this verse to over literally where it says he have once suffered it's not like only the right nail in his hand hurt No, the left nail hurt. No the one in his feet hurt. No the crown of thorns hurt. No being whipped hurt No, the drinking the vinegar hurt. No walking up the Mountain every single step every single breath hurt. It wasn't a one thing. It was a it was a life of suffering He's a man acquainted with grief Notice what it says, let's skip a few verses cut We're coming right back to this verse, but just look on the other page or in the next chapter the Bible says and I have this written verse 12. Let's look at verse No, that's not the verse I'm thinking of Verse 13. Sorry, but rejoice and as much as your partakers have noticed this of Christ sufferings notice that is plural Why because Christ suffered in more than one way Lots of sufferings. Okay, some people would like to teach that there's only one suffering and it's just the cross look Okay, so I'm gonna whip you 39 times save one mock you and spit upon you and shove a crown of thorns on your head And drag you up a mountain carrying a cross and say that none of that was suffering No, no all that was suffering too, okay folks, you know, it was suffering In lots of things that he had to do, you know The Bible says Jesus wept and that was way before any of the cross stuff happened That was just for his friend Lazarus having died Jesus had the full human experience and he went through all the same sufferings that you and I go through He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities But you know, he was without sin He was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Okay now Look at the next verse it says by which also he went and preached under the spirits in prison Now now here's the thing you have to understand about first Peter chapter number three and Verses 18 19 and 20 it is one sentence Okay, 18 19 and 20 is one sentence Secondly this portion of scripture I believe is a very hard section of scripture to be understood because it doesn't make sense by itself and There's there's plenty of places in the Bible that don't make sense by themselves You basically have to use the rest of the Bible to interpret it and The way I liken this is like putting a puzzle together now who's put a puzzle together Yeah, who's put a puzzle over a thousand pieces? Okay. Now when you do puzzles with hundreds of pieces or thousands of pieces It's a very difficult task, especially since most puzzles they try to pick pictures that are all the same colors You know flowers with all the same colors and you're just like, oh well me my wife we did one not that long ago I remember and If you're good at puzzle making you typically start with an edge Like that's kind of the border is what you're supposed to do, right? Now once you have the border you could look at a piece There's no way to know how to pick one of those pieces up and then just set it right in the middle of that Empty borderless shape and know that's exactly where it goes. I mean, that's impossible folks No one can do it. And in fact when me and my wife were doing this puzzle, there was so many times Where we would have like a lot of it done and there would be like basically just one shape and We would look at every piece and be like it's not here We lost that piece like you just we just say you just couldn't see it Okay, but then when we finally got to the end and you're just like, okay, there's like two pieces in two spots It's like wow, that does fit there and it was like you just couldn't see it Until everything was all around it and perfectly formed and then you put it in there like I guess it fits We didn't lose a single piece and that puzzle we had every single piece and I kid you not there was plenty of times We had to press a button like we're missing pieces Like we don't have that piece like you couldn't see it, right? that is how the Bible works sometimes where you have a puzzle piece and you're just sitting here thinking like I I don't I don't get it. I don't see it You have to get the entire shape around it to then put the piece in you're like, okay now it makes sense Here's another important thing is you never make a doctrine out of one puzzle piece If you have a doctrine that you can only have one place in the Bible that teaches it. You're probably wrong Okay, apart from just simple statements or simple commandments from the Old Testament. You're probably wrong when you have a complicated Doctrine that is not self explained in the verse So look at the example the Bible says that you shouldn't print marks on your body I don't need other verses to interpret that verse for me because it was clear as a clear statement That I'm not gonna print marks on my body, right? But people will look at verse 19 and this is what they'll say the reverse 19 Okay by which also you went and preached in the spirits in prison Jesus after dying went down into hell and Preached to all the unsaved people to try and get them saved and I'm like, okay, let's read that verse again By which also went preached on the spirit. I'm like thinking like what that doesn't say that Okay, that was a that was like a foreign idea. Just being shoved into this verse Which is what the fancy theological terms called ice of Jesus Okay ice of Jesus is when you bring things into the text Exegesis is when you bring things out of the text. Okay. Now you don't have to remember that it doesn't matter What you what you want to remember is that I'm not gonna just run with the verse. I'm gonna let the verses Fit into the puzzle piece. What was the context of chapter 3 again? Wasn't it suffering for righteousness sake what does that have to do with Jesus going to hell and preaching the gospel unsaved people? Has nothing to do with it. Okay, so that doesn't really make a lot of sense What what could this mean? Well, keep your finger go to Isaiah 42 for a minute. Go to Isaiah chapter 42 Let's just think about what this could mean and compare spiritual to spiritual now Thing you have to understand is that words can have multiple meanings prison can mean a lot of different things It's based term prison. Just someone that's locked up, you know in a they're they're they're bound in Essence prison could have a lot of different capacities most of the time in the word prisons using your Bible It's talking about what we would think of as a literal prison bars jail shackle people locked up, right? But the Bible sometimes could use prison To be a metaphor or another picture of being locked up. Okay, look at Isaiah 42 and look at verse 6 By the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and Give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes To bring out the prisoners from the prison and then that sit in darkness out of the prison house Let me ask a question Can you understand the Bible if you're not saved No The Bible teaches that the Holy Ghost has to enlighten you Okay, or you have to have a saved person explaining it to you and then you have to understand the spiritual eyes evidenced by the Ethiopian eunuch Asking or being asked by Philip understandest what thou readest and he said how can I accept some man should guide me? And then he has an inkling like is this, you know passages in Isaiah about Jesus or is about himself? You know Isaiah meaning is he who's he talking about? He can't figure it out You know that the Holy Spirit has to tell you. Oh, that's about Jesus. Okay now this passage Let me give you this the secret this is about Jesus now I Honestly don't even believe you personally need the Holy Spirit to even come to that conclusion and this particular verse But there are other verses where you would now this is why I say you don't have to in this one Because in Luke chapter number four it has this quoted and Jesus says it and then he says that he fulfilled the scripture Okay, and we're gonna look at that one second, but notice that it says that he's gonna bring out prisoners from the prison Can you find me a Bible story where Jesus Christ brought someone out of a physical prison? In his life When did Jesus visit prisons and bring people out physically now We have pictures of him bringing people out of prison in the book of Acts when he's not in heaven You know, we have Peter and John escaping prison and other things like that We don't have Jesus taking people out of a physical prison while he's on his earthly ministry Okay, go up with Isaiah 61 for a moment. Got Isaiah 61. So it's like, okay. Well, then what's happening? Well, we'll look at the Bible and we'll explain what the Bible saying by studying it Isaiah 61 look at verse 1 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings under the meek he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and The opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord All right. Now go to Luke chapter number four go to Luke chapter number four Let's see what Jesus says when he actually reads this, you know, well, we just read Jesus Christ read Why because we have the same Bible and God preserved his word for every generation It's the most important thing on the planet is the Word of God the Word of God is more important than I am So if I have been preserved how much more the Word of God Okay, Luke chapter number four look at verse 18 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the other anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and Covering of sight to the blind to set it liberty them that are bruised To preach the acceptable year of the Lord sound familiar, doesn't it? Same thing now in the New Testament Old Testament. Sometimes we use synonyms to convey the exact same point But it's the same scripture that we're talking about here. Notice what he had said in verse 18 to preach Deliverance to the captives notice how instead of taking people out of prison He says he's gonna preach and it's gonna be deliverance to the captives He's given a little bit of a different understanding here a little bit deeper understanding what he's talking about Now you say okay, so he's bringing people out of physical prison well, let's wait look at verse 20 and he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down and The eyes of all them that were in this synagogue were fastened on him and it began to say unto them This day is this for scripture filled in your ears? So, let me ask this question is Jesus bringing people out of a physical prison that day No, no, no, you know what he's doing. He's preaching the Word of God's unsaved people Giving them an opportunity to be saved and by preaching the gospel unto them He's helping live deliver them from the captivity of the devil from the captivity of the god of this world Okay Now go if you would to 2nd Timothy chapter number 2 2nd Timothy chapter number 2 So, what did Jesus do Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison Let me tell you what that means Jesus came to this earth and preached the gospel to the unsaved That's what that's saying He wasn't dead when he was doing it though Okay Now look at 2nd Timothy chapter number 2 and look at verse 25 in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God paired venture Will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves Out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will notice again a prison Type concept being explained Go to Ephesians chapter 2 go to Ephesians chapter number 2, so I'm just showing you how the Bible is real consistent here I'm I'm not going to teach you a doctrine that's found in 1st Peter chapter number 3 by itself Let me teach you an entire doctrine that has nothing to do with that passage and then explains you that's where that puzzle piece fits Right. Let's put all the puzzle pieces around it and then say like oh, yeah, this puzzle piece also fits with all the other ones Whereas okay show me Jesus preaching to unsaved people in hell Apart from 1st Peter chapter number 3 first and then maybe you can put that puzzle piece in there, but you don't have that do you? That's why they can't do it visions chapter number 2 Look at verse 1 and you have the quickened who were dead and trespasses and sins Wherein in time past you walked according the course of this world according the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience So the Bible also describes people that are the spirits in prison as being disobedient children okay, that's a synonym and It also says among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh Fulfilling desires of the flesh on the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others So we were a captive of the devil. We were locked in a prison Metaphorically speaking of our flesh and we were liberated by the gospel of Jesus Christ and you shall know the truth and the truth Shall make you what? Free here's my question free from what? Free From the prison of sin free from the prison of the flesh free from the prison of the will of the devil So we go back to first Peter chapter number three What is the primary way that Jesus Christ suffered for well-doing he suffered by dying on the cross? But here is a second way. Here's another way. Here's also How Jesus Christ suffered by preaching to the spirits in prison? So that was I mean well Think about this how much fun is it to go and preach to people that don't want to hear the gospel? How much fun is it to preach the gospel people and they slam the door in your face? How much fun is it to preach the gospel people and they punch you in the face? How much fun is it to preach to a generation? That's so wicked and evil and hates the Bible How much fun is it to try and show up at church and you have a whole group of people? They're already mad at you That's not very much fun, you know the same with Jesus Christ I mean Jesus Christ ministry wasn't the funnest in the sense that there was plenty times He preached and especially in Luke chapter number four as soon as he done preached that they drug him out to the edge of a Cliff to try and throw him out throw him off the cliff It's frustrating to tell people the truth and they just go Men are women Get your vaccine Where's the Ukraine flag Biden's competent It's just like you're an idiot It's so vexing. It's so frustrating and the Bible fairy tales Hey, the word homosexuality is never found in the Bible until the 1900s. It's never found in this book ever. You know, what is reprobates men with men sodomites Okay, folks, it's like it's so fresh. Oh King James was gay based on no evidence Based on a hater trolling him, but you know what? I know every single time I walk in here You know, it's screamed at me sodomite Shelley sodomite. Oh You know that helps me realize King James probably wasn't a fag It's probably a lie from a god-hating reprobate It's Not that hard to figure out folks I mean am I gonna just believe every accusation because then I'd have to believe that Jesus is a Blasphemer from all the people accusing on being a blasphemer and then I have to believe there was a pervert most people can't say he perverted the nation and I have to believe that he's Wicked and evil and he's doing magic by the power of the elves above but you know what? None of those things were true You know, it's frustrating to preach the truth to people that resist the truth because you know what it's only hurting them It's frustrating to see someone that you look at and you know And I know if you've ever gotten so winning there are people that you're looking out of the eyes and you want them to be saved You look at them and you feel a tear in your heart you feel just pain knowing this person is gonna split hell wide open and I'm just I Hate it that they're gonna do that Or a family member a friend you look at them and it's just so vexing It's so awful and you know what Jesus coming here being the literal Word of God being the creator of all of his creation and looking at them and preaching unto them and doing miracles before them and then rejecting him and Contradicting themselves. It's got to be one of those vexing frustrating things to ever go through Suffering So, how did he suffer he's died on the cross how did he suffer by preaching the spirits in prison? Okay Notice what it says in the next verse which sometime we're disobedient now Again Verses 18 to 19 to 20 I do not believe you can just pick up these verses and just like I know exactly what all this meaning Because it's just it's just like it's really a lot of things being said without anything Explaining in between the lines and I I know of this of myself I sometimes preach this way and I'm not saying it's right when I do it. The Bible is always right Okay, but but for me like sometimes I'll like have like three connected thoughts and instead of explaining how they all really make sense I just kind of like say them all and then I'm thinking like if people don't weren't following my train of thought they're not even understand what I just said and I think that sometimes the Bible can be similar in the sense that it has a certain train of thought and if you don't have That train of thought it's good. You just you have no idea what's going on I'm not saying it doesn't make sense. I'm saying it doesn't just make sense immediately just on the surface You have to kind of figure it out. Okay but When he finished verse 19 notice he had spirits in prison. I believe in verse 20 It's when it says which it's talking about the spirits in prison. Okay, folks now remember Ephesians chapter number two that They were the children of disobedience, right? Spirits in prison if we just understand what is that? That's just unsaved people and really it represents everyone because we were all quote unquote a spirit in prison at one point in our lives Okay, which were what some time? We're disobedient, right? Not everybody was this obedient for forever because some people got saved some of the spirits in prison were capped were led Out of that prison. Okay, but a vast majority or not So if we're talking about just spirits in prison Which were sometime Disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was repairing we're in few that is eight Souls were saved by water now This is what I this is what I personally believe versus 18 through 22 is a tangent The point of 18 is to explain that he suffered for well-doing 20 was a second way he did it and then he just goes on this tangent Where he's just explaining a lot of the concepts he brought up He brought up the spirits in prison which are sometime disobedient. Why would he bring up Noah? Like this is just it just feels it just feels a little unnatural or just feels like what just happened I don't understand when it says when once the long suffering of God way in the days of Noah But think about this just think about the concepts What and what way is Noah similar to Jesus Christ? isn't Noah preaching to a very resistant crowd for a long period of time and And here's another similarity. What is that anticipation of Noah's climax? It's him getting on an ark and everybody else dying What is the climax of Jesus Christ preaching to the spirits in prison and them ultimately rejecting him? 8070 the entire destruction and desolation of the Jewish people Okay, so it's like similar in the sense that they both are preaching this warning message trying to rescue these people They don't want the rescue and then impending destruction of the false them similar to Jeremiah Jeremiah preaching to a hostile resistant crowd and then destruction Noah preaching to a hostile resistant crowd destruction Jesus preaching to a hostile resistant crowd destruction and let me tell you something in times us preaching to a hostile resistant crowd destruction Okay, and you say well, why is it take so long? That's the long suffering of God while the ark is preparing and Why is it that we're waiting for the ark the ark is what saves us? Noah was saved by the ark if if God had brought judgment before Noah was done building the ark. He would have died if God had brought judgment on the Jews before Jesus Christ died on the cross They would have all died we all died and gone to hell because we wouldn't have the gospel So we had to wait for the ark of the gospel to be completed before God could you know? Bring that destruction and in fact even wait a little longer to get all the Jews out of Jerusalem first Before then he dropped the hammer, right? I mean all the Jews have basically been ran out of town by the time the hammer drops in 80 70 Just like lot gets out hammer drop Noah gets on the ark hammer drop Jesus and the Apostles get out hammer drop right once all the Christians get raptured It is a hammer drop my friend. Okay, so you have to kind of understand the pattern that God goes through So he's bringing up the spirits in prison picture. He's bringing up how they're disobedient He's bringing up how it's similar to the long-suffering that God explained in Noah And again, the Noah passage is not something that Jesus did It's a picture and you say why do you say the picture look at us? We're on the like figure figure means it's a picture Okay, so he's not he's not don't get overly literal here people say that Jesus went to hell to preach the spirits in prison He's like those were the spirits that got killed in the flood right and it's like No, that's just not I mean it doesn't it doesn't fit plus what does that benefit Like I try to explain this and I said if I went to like one of these reprobate pride parades over here crowds the aids community and I preached to them by myself and No one recorded it. What profit would that be? You know Jesus preached to reprobate crowds, but only in the audience of other people that could benefit from that conversation When he was alone with Herod, he didn't say anything Because there's no point Okay, what's what's the point in going into hell and screaming at a bunch of people that aren't gonna get saved and don't care and already? Rejected you. I mean, this is weird. It has no benefit You know, there is a benefit to Jesus coming down here and preaching to us to try and get us saved Right pull people out of the prison that makes a lot of sense It makes a lot of sense for Noah to try and warn people and trying to get him on the ark So they could have been saved it makes a lot of sense for Jeremiah to try and warn the children of Israel and children of Judah to Get right with God before the impending destruction of Nebuchadnezzar It makes sense for us to try and get people saved now before the impending wrath of God is poured out Okay, so that makes sense what they're suggesting a lot of people suggest in this passage makes no sense But even if let's just say and I don't believe this for even one say it's not true Let's just say this passage is bring up Jesus going to hell Well, what was the context of this passage suffering for well-doing what's so funny to me is if you even thought this passage was making Mention that Jesus went to hell you would have to believe he was suffering because that's the whole context of the entire passage It's so weird to take an entire Chapter of the Bible dedicated to the suffering of Christ and suffering for well-doing suggest that Jesus didn't suffer It's like what no, of course Jesus went to hell and he suffered now, of course When did that suffering cease at the resurrection acts chapter number two says having loosed from the pains of death Okay, he was loosed at the resurrection and of course he suffered once in verse 18 Right hath one suffer for sins adjuster than just they might bring us the debt to God being put to death in the flesh but Quickened by the Spirit and let me tell you something You know, what also hurts is death because death is a state of being hell is its location Jesus Christ, I don't know if you realize this he was risen from the dead in order to be dead he had to be in hell and Nowhere nowhere else. Are you finding anything in the Bible that suggests hell is a fun place? There's an escape hatch There's a special bubble. There's no eye of the storm in hell. Like well if you're in this one spot, it's just like oh Found it, you know, no the center of hell is the hottest Right, there is no escape. There is no secret compartment. There is no paradise in hell. Okay that some people have lied about Okay, this passage is just a clear passage about the suffering now It says in verse number 21 the like figure wherein to even baptism to 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 Who has gone into heaven is on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made subject on him. So Just like Noah was saved by the ark Just like we're saved by the gospel Baptism is a picture of salvation now The Church of Christ gets this wrong because they think that you're actually saved by being physically baptized That is false doctrine because the Bible says we're saved by our faith not of works. Let's any man should boast But salvation can mean multiple things. It doesn't have to just be a spiritual salvation of going to heaven It could be a different salvation and the salvation mentioned here is a salvation from continuing in the flesh continuing in the same sins Continuing down a dark road and what baptism is picturing is that good conscience in the sense that you've been a spirit in prison Your whole life you've been doing wickedly against God But now you say I want to get baptized and I want to walk in newness of life That's what it says in Romans chapter number six. That's why baptism is so important That's why we're Baptist is because we said you know what we're gonna watch the filth of This world spiritually off of us and we're gonna walk in newness of life. We're gonna be separate say the Lord We're gonna come out from among them. We're not gonna be like the world even though we're in the world We're not gonna act like the world even though the world treats us like garbage. We're gonna do good We're gonna suffer for well-doing. We're gonna be righteous. We're gonna follow God's commandments. We're gonna be different We're gonna be a bright and shining light in a dark world. That's what we're gonna do. That's what baptism pictures That's what it saves you from and notice that even says in this message not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God and also baptism is a picture of The sense that you didn't get the judgment you deserve think about this. No, I didn't get the judgment He deserved Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He got in the ark while everybody else died. He got saved Jesus Christ while being killed and died on the cross he was Resurrected picturing his salvation from that and he was never gonna have to suffer ever again. He only once suffered He's a one-time sacrifice for all He never has to do it ever again And now he's been saved and when we get saved we're saved one time Then when we get baptized at the picture of how we can be saved from the filth of sin It's not just a bath folks people take baths every well some people take baths every day Some people have been dunked even in the name of the Father Son Holy Ghost But they didn't believe in Jesus Christ and it wasn't a baptism because baptism is not just a ritual It's not an exercise in futility rather It's a symbolistic picture of the fact that you are trusting Jesus Christ death from resurrection is your salvation and that you want to Walk differently than you did before It's why baptism is such a beautiful picture and If you look at verse let's let's read a few more verses here No, I'll finish verse 1 it says for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh Arm yourselves likewise at the same mind now notice how that tied back exactly to verse 18 Didn't it say in verse 18? They have once suffered for the sins the just of the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the Flesh so brings up the flesh verse 1 of chapter 4 for as much as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh So Christ went through the same human experiences that we went through now Some people would say well, why does this passage not bring up? Jesus suffering in hell Okay, if that's what you believe. Well, number one the Bible doesn't have to bring up every doctrine in every place Okay Number two, there's plenty of places in the Bible. I can show you where Jesus went to hell and suffered So I don't need this passage, but number three you and I will never go to hell So we can't learn from Jesus example of going to hell of how we Are supposed to react when we go to hell because we're not going to hell ever I'm never going to hell for one second and there's not really there's not really a plan of like Here's how you handle it when you're there. You're just gonna scream bloody murder until forever There's no like getting prepared for it. There's no anticipation There's no better way to enjoy hell like ten tips while in hell It's like doesn't exist But you know what? We do have to suffer in the flesh and Jesus suffer in the flesh So it's really bringing that up because that's a parallel experience that we have to go through So there's no real need for him to emphasize a whole bunch of stuff that we don't have to go through We don't know what it's like. Okay, we don't need to know what it's like But we need to realize that he suffered in the flesh and we also for he had a suffered in the flesh that sees from Notice that when you're suffering in the flesh for righteousness sake you're not sinning because if you're sinning you're suffering for wrong doing When you're doing right and suffering That's the right response right verse 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walk in lasciviousness lusts excess of wine revelings banquings and abominable idolatries Where and they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same exes of rights being evil of you Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead for 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 now Slow down. Let's pay attention to our puzzle Chapter 3 was why suffering for wrongdoing Husband suffering for wrongdoing all of us suffering for wrongdoing Jesus suffering for wrongdoing. Let's put those few passages on hold Chapter 4 verse 1 Jesus suffering for wrongdoing us suffering for wrongdoing Then notice it even brings up. This is the whole reason why the gospel was preached to those that are what dead Okay, so we have suffering on all sides We have a mention here of the gospel being preached to people that are dead spiritually because we have the quick and the dead picturing those that are saved and those that are unsaved and Then how does that not fit perfectly? With verse 19 when it says he preached in the spirits in prison when you compare it with a verse a few verses later saying This is the whole reason why I brought that up Okay That they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit now Why is he saying that because God is gonna judge? unsaved people and save people To the example of those that were saved and lived godly He has a standard Okay, you living godly you living righteous in an unrighteous world is a standard by which God is gonna judge other people He's gonna you're not gonna have these excuses of like well, it was just too sinful and too wicked for me He's gonna be like job Well, it's too sinful and too wicked for me Noah well, it's too sinful and too wicked for me John the Baptist Well, it's too sinful and too wicked for me, you know steadfast Baptist Church These other churches aren't gonna be able to just stand there and just say like, oh, but you don't understand the culture God steadfast Baptist Church And they're like, oh I thought you were ashamed of them. Nope No, I'm ashamed of you No, because you were ashamed of me and my words I'm ashamed of you. And you know what God has to have a standard to judge people by he's gonna judge everything Righteously and you know what if all of us were just wicked to all of us are just in the flesh Then how can he really be mad at the unsaved for living the same as the saved? No, he's mad at the unsaved because they're not living like the saved Because the saved are righteous because the saved are doing that which is godly the saved live differently then hey Abel is different than King You know why King killed Abel because he was righteous That's what the Bible says Not just because he was the same no because he was better than him because he did that which was right That's why he was mad at him and you know what this passage is a really important passage a really important message for us to think about because our church if We are gonna strive to be a godly church if we're gonna be a holy church if we're gonna believe all of the verses of The Bible there is something attached to that we will have to suffer for well-doing Ironclad guarantee and A wicked and adulterous generation we will suffer for righteousness sake if we're righteous The only way to escape the suffering is for us to not be righteous You know what our church could just change its name get an NIV Bring up all the girls in miniskirts and we could sing our God is an awesome God and I'll just preach about John 3 16 without really explaining it and we'll be barely persecuted We still probably would I mean hey Preston would Baptist Church still has protesters first Baptist Church of Dallas with Robert Jeffress still gets protesters for saying stuff like you know homosexual eyes of sin I Mean how watered-down do you want to get I mean the the more watered-down? Yeah, you can limit your persecution by watering yourself down right the more you get watered down It's like skim milk. Okay. It's water lying about being milk. Okay It's like you can water it down all the way where there's no calories anymore You know what? I like the calories that come with milk because it tastes good Milk is good. I'm hungry. Okay, and you know what? I want this church to be vitamin D milk Red top I sound like Tony Hudson but You know what? It's right. Okay The Bible is described as milk And you know what? I'm not gonna water it down With the NIV not gonna water it down with lame preaching. I'm not gonna back up and decide not to drink it I'll just work out a little bit more to burn off those calories. You know what I mean? And Our church needs to suffer be willing to suffer a little bit. Hey be willing to suffer a little bit. I Mean you haven't resisted on the blood yet As the Bible says no one's asking you to get a crown of thorns shoved on your brow and walk up a hill and get crucified yet probably never So we should Follow God's commandments be steadfast not let the world deter us and live our lives doing right regardless of what happens to us If you never come back to my church, so be it but do right no matter what? When someone does something bad to you today do right when someone does something bad to you this morning tomorrow morning this week Do right when your wife or your husband? Didn't listen to the sermon and is a jerk to you as soon as we're done with this service you do, right? There's no excuse it's closing prayer Thank You Heavenly Father for the Word of God. Thank you for this example that you set for us through your son the Lord Jesus Christ I Pray to be constantly reminded of how he suffered for us How he was a human shield for us how he died on the cross for us how he went to hell and suffered for us But he was resurrected How Noah is an example of those that suffered, but it was eventually saved how Jeremiah suffered But was eventually rescued and delivered how the Apostles suffered, but were delivered out of the mouth of a lion I? Hope that we wouldn't have the wrong mentality when it comes to Christianity, but rather we would be willing to be sheep led to the slaughter We'd be willing to lay down our lives. We'd be willing to suffer for righteousness sake knowing that at the end of the day There is a righteous judgment coming in Jesus name we pray Amen Song 145 it is well with my soul 145 it is well with my soul 145 it is well with my soul When peace like a river Attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say It is well It is well With my soul ladies on the first It is well With my soul It is well It is well with my soul Though Satan should buy No trial should come Let this blessed Assurance control that Christ has regarded My Estate and hath shed his own blood For my soul It is well With my soul It is well with my soul My sin Oh the bliss of this glorious thought My sin not in part but the whole Is nailed to the cross and I bear it No more praise the Lord Praise the Lord Oh my soul It is well With my soul it is well it is well With my soul nice and loud on the last year And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be side the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound and the Lord shall Resend even so it is well my soul It is well With my soul it is well it is well My soul Great singing god bless you are dismissed