Last week we studied about the reality that obedient Christians are going to suffer on account of Christ in this world. Jesus told His own disciples that, 2000 years ago, and the persecution of Christians in this world is all too well known and documented; in fact, according to the World Watch List maintained by Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors Ministries, last year: About 4800 Christians were killed for their faith (13 every day). About 9500 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked and/or destroyed. About 4300 believers were held without trial to be punished and/or imprisoned.

2Timothy 3:12,
“all who desire to live godly [lives] in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

John 16:33,
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

1John 5:4-5,
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

The Good News is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, paid the full penalty for our sins (past, present, future); and therefore, everyone who repents and believes in Him will be saved to live a life of faith in, and obedience to, God’s Word.

Read 1Peter 3:13-22…

Peter tells us how God sovereignly accomplished, through one divine act of sacrifice, the supernatural granting of forgiveness for sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord, to all those who genuinely believe.

Paul declares in Romans 10:9-10,
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 10:13,
“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Hebrews 7:27, “This He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

Hebrews 9:27-28,
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

Christ died for everyone, but only those who confess their sins and trust in Him for forgiveness will be saved.

Look again at 1Peter 3:18 a…

Christ gave up His life as payment for our sins, and He did this “once for all” [meaning - perpetually valid, not requiring repetition, fulfilling completely and forever], “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”

(see Hebrews 10:1-7, 10, 14-18).

God’s forgiveness was costly, e.g., God the Father was separated from God the Son, who had put on flesh and took upon Himself the punishment for our sins, as the Father poured out His wrath upon Him, on the cross

(2Corinthians 5:21),
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,”

(Romans 5:8),
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”

(Romans 5:10)
“…we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”

Look again at 1Peter 3:18 b…

God’s Son was put to death “in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,” i.e., Jesus Christ was fully God (Who cannot bleed or die); but He was also fully man (who bleeds and dies). The body of Jesus died on the cross and was then buried; but Jesus’ spirit (His eternal inner person) remained alive

(1Peter 3:19-20),
“in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

So, while Jesus’ physical body laid in the tomb, His living spirit went to proclaim His victory over sin, death and judgment to the spirits [demon angels] who haver been imprisoned since the Flood.

Read Genesis 6:1-4…

Genesis 6:2 says,
“the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose,”

(Genesis 6:4)
“and the women bore children to them.” These "sons of God" are identified as angels

(cf. Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4-7),

who came to earth and cohabitated with women through the bodies of mortal men.

In fact Jude 6 tells us these angels are bound and kept in gloomy prisons, awaiting their final judgment and sentencing to the “lake of fire,” which God prepared for all the angels who rebelled

(cf. Matthew 25:41).

In Genesis 6:5-8 we read,
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

So, some of the angels who had been kicked out of heaven when Satan rebelled against God, came to earth and cohabited with women by indwelling human male bodies; this unnatural union violated God’s order and plan in reference to human marriage, sexual relationships, and procreation

(cf. Genesis 2:24);

these angels brought God’s judgment upon themselves and are being held in the deepest hell.

2Peter 2:4-5,
“God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [tartarus- the deepest hell for the worst offenders] and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

Look at 1Peter 3:20 again,
“the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

Noah and his family were saved through the flood by being in the ark; they were in the ark because God had told Noah that judgment was coming and he needed to build and then get in the ark. If Noah and his family had not believed and obeyed God there would have been no survivors from the flood.

Look again at 1Peter 3:21,
“Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you— not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

You see, it is a good conscience [one without guilt, one cleansed of sin through forgiveness], one that trusts in Christ’s death and resurrection for salvation. Water baptism [baptizo, lit. to be immersed] doesn’t save anyone, it is merely an outward identification with Christ for those who are indwelled by God’s Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13,
“In Him [Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

2Corinthians 5:17,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

You must be in Christ to be saved from judgment, just as Noah and his family had to be in the ark in order to be saved from the flood.

Romans 8:1-2,
“There is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

John 5:21-24,
“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

John 6:28-29,
“‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”

John 8:24,
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

In John 10:30, Jesus said,
“I and the Father are one.”

In John 14:6-7,
He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

John 16:8-9,
“When He [the Holy Spirit] comes, [He] will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.”

Look again at 1Peter 3:22…

Jesus “is at the right hand of God he Father, having gone [back] into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”

John 1:1-5,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [overpower] it.” John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18,
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Jesus completed all the Father had sent Him to accomplish, the finished work of redeeming for Himself

(1Peter 2:9-10),
“a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy,”

(Titus 2:14),
He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

The only way to be saved from God’s judgment is to hear and believe the message of God’s Son, confessing your sins and trusting Him to save you. Our victory is in Jesus Christ, He is the Ark of Salvation, don’t miss the boat.

1John 1:8-9,
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

As Peter began to preach his first sermon

(Acts 2:21) he said,
“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,”

(Philippians 2:9-10),
“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Pastor Mike

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