He Preached Unto The Spirits in Prison

Introduction: The Suffering of Christians and the Difficult Text

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, August 15th, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3, and I shall read beginning with verse 13 to the end of the chapter. And who is he that will harm you if you be zealous of that which is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, blest are you. And fear not their fear, neither be troubled. But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man that ask you a reason concerning the hope that is in you. Yet with meekness and faithfulness.

1:10 fear having a good conscience that wherein you are spoken against they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ for it is better if the will of God should so will that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing because Christ also suffered for sins once the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison that aforetime were disobedient when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved through water which also after a true likeness does now save you even baptism not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the interrogation or the inquiry or the appeal of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is on the right hand of God having gone into heaven

2:29 angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him now if you have been here for the last several expositions in this passage you should be able to anticipate how I'm going to introduce the message this morning are you anticipating some of you are looking at me quizzically some of you are giving me a very knowing grin yes you're going to hear the same words at one time or another in one way or another to one degree or another every real Christian will suffer for the sake of Christ it is this fact unmistakably affirmed by many passages in the New Testament a number of which I've quoted and briefly expounded in recent weeks which makes the book of first Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of 1st Peter the book of

3:44 For as surely as real Christians in every generation are a people who know themselves to be sinners, as real Christians are a people who know that Christ, the incarnate Son of God, living His perfect life, dying in their room instead, rising from the dead, is the only hope of sinners, as real Christians in every age know that they are bonded to Christ in the bond of repentance and faith, so all real Christians, sooner or later, as part of the common denominator of Christian experience, will suffer for the sake of Christ. And in our consecutive expositions of this letter of Peter's, we have come to that section, which embodies the fact that Christians are a people who know themselves to be sinners, and it embodies the fundamental, central, pastoral burden of the Apostle Peter. And what is that burden? It is to enlighten, to comfort, and to strengthen the people of God there in Asia Minor in the face of their present and future sufferings for righteousness' sake.

5:01 In verses 13 to 17, Peter gives some foundational perspectives regarding this suffering that he has experienced. For righteousness' sake, culminating in that encouragement of verse 17, for it is better if the will of God should so will that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. And then, beginning in verse 18, he turns their attention to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And he writes, because Christ also suffered.

5:38 And he sets forth, and he says, He sets forth the Lord Jesus in those areas in which there is a similarity between the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of His people. And then he focuses on those unique aspects of the sufferings of Christ on the behalf of His people. And it is in that setting that we come to our text this morning, verse 18c, the words beginning, being put to death, in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. Now, I need not inform you, I'm sure, that this is a very difficult passage. Martin Luther, in his typical, blunt, Luther-like way, wrote, A wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage, perhaps, than any other in the New Testament.

6:57 And when he thought of expounding it, you know what Luther said? I continue to quote him. So that I do not know for a certainty what Peter means, I cannot explain it, and there's been no one else who has explained it. End of quote.

7:15 Then Luther went on to say, It appears to teach thus and thus, and then went on and made a feeble attempt to explain it, and passed on to things that were more clear in the book of 1 Peter. I was talking with a contemporary pastor who recently finished expounding 1 and 2 Peter, and I was fascinated and said, Brother, I'm wrestling with this most typical passage. What conclusions? Did you come to?

7:41 He said, I came to only one, that I couldn't preach it. So I told my people I couldn't preach it, took an adult class and gave them all the possible interpretations, and passed on to chapter 4 and verse 1. Well, there's something very attractive about that way out. But I don't believe it would be a responsible thing to do, and as I have waded through many, many pages of commentary and discussion, I have discovered that some say, Well, there are five major interpretations of the passage.

Principles for Interpreting Difficult Passages

8:17 Others say no. Three major, tenable interpretations with various minor adjustments. And what do we do when we come to such a passage? Well, my deep concern is to obey the injunction of 1 Corinthians 14.

8:33 With respect to all public ministries, the great concern of those who minister is to obey the injunction, let all things be done unto edification. And while it would no doubt be very satisfying to some of you who have a quirk in your brain that is fascinated with difficult passages, and it would be very satisfying to you, not edifying, but satisfying to have me give you the five major interpretations and why those interpretations are taken, it would not be unto edification. I'm convinced it would not be, and so I'm not going to do it. On the other hand, I am going to propose an interpretation that I believe is a reasonable understanding of the passage, and it passes the test that the exposition of any passage must pass, particularly difficult passages where there are differing interpretations. First of all, there is to be no torturing of the language of the text. In 2 Peter 3, Peter says, Our beloved brother Paul has written some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and the unlearned twist to their own destruction. No interpretation of the word of God is the right one

9:57 that needs to twist the language of the Holy Ghost. When you find a difficult passage, you must seek to understand the passage in a way that does not torture the language of the Spirit of God. For we do believe in, in plenary, that is, full verbal inspiration. When Peter sat to write this epistle, God the Holy Spirit directed all of his thought processes, all of the things that flowed into his vocabulary and his sense of grammar and Old Testament history so that the words of the original text are the very words of the Holy Ghost.

10:37 He doesn't give us his words to twist them because we find something difficult, in the passage. The second test is that there be no introduction of any doctrines contrary to the rest of Scripture. That's what we mean by the analogy of faith. And to introduce a doctrine of a second chance that the gospel is preached to people who are dead is to introduce a doctrine contradicted by the rest of Holy Scripture.

11:08 So any interpretation that mixes a meaning of the word of God with the word of God, the word of God, the word of God, the passage that overturns the general teaching of the word of God cannot be the right one. And then thirdly, any interpretation that is either indifferent to or negates the whole pastoral context of a passage cannot be the right one. Peter is writing as an apostle who has a commission from Christ to feed his sheep and to feed his lambs. And he is writing, as he says, at the end of his epistle, this word of exhortation to suffering saints in order to enlighten them, to comfort them, to encourage them.

11:53 So any position that does not flow with the contextual purpose of the author cannot be the right one. And so I'm going to offer an interpretation. It is not one for which I'm ready to spill my blood, but it is one that, to my judgment, does no violence to the language of the text, introduces no doctrines contrary to the overall teaching of the word of God, and is the most suitable to the overall context and purpose of Peter in writing this part of the epistle. And in coming to this position, I am unashamed in saying I have a debt that I cannot repay to Dr. Wayne Grudem, in his commentary on 1 Peter, especially his appendix. Now, perhaps you'd never think I would say from a pulpit that I loved another man's appendix, but I love Dr. Grudem's appendix.

The Introductory Contrast in Christ's Experience: Death and Resurrection

12:56 At the end of his commentary, pages 203 to 239, he has a most helpful, thorough treatment of the various positions taken on this passage, why he regards them as untenable, linguistically, theologically, contextual, and after wading through many of the other commentators, I found his argumentation very persuasive on the front end, but I couldn't stand and preach and say, well, I'm going to give you rehashed Dr. Grudem, take his word for it and take mine. But after plowing through reams of other material, I am persuaded that the position he sets forth is the most likely to represent the mind of the Spirit of God in the passage. Well then, let's take the passage in hand and I want you to note with me first of all what I'm calling this morning the introductory contrast in the experience of Christ. The introductory contrast in the experience of Christ. Peter has mentioned that Christ also suffered.

14:04 And he's encouraging the saints with the realization they are not the first ones to suffer. Christ suffered in the way of righteousness. Christ's sufferings accomplished much good. Christ's sufferings led to his exaltation and triumph according to verse 22.

14:22 There is the similarity between the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of his people. But then when he focuses upon Christ's unique sufferings, his suffering for sins, suffering a substitutionary death, a once for all substitutionary death, a death whereby we are brought nigh to God, he then gives this contrasting statement concerning Christ in his sufferings, verse 18c. Verse 18c. Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.

15:05 And in the original, it is a men-death statement. It is on the one hand and on the other. This is Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof weighing weighty issues in his family life. And he mumbles to himself on the one hand and he brings forward what he's thinking and then he says, but on the other hand.

15:31 And that's what Peter is doing here. There is an introductory contrast in the experience of Christ that leads into the difficult passage beginning in verse 18. Verse 19. And what is the contrast?

15:47 The contrast is this. On the one hand, he, Christ, was put to death in the flesh, but on the other hand, he was made alive in the Spirit. He was put to death in the flesh. He was subjected to a real, cruel, violent death.

16:13 And he was put to death in the flesh. And he was put to death in the flesh. In his real, tangible, human body and soul. He was put to death in the flesh.

16:24 He did not swoon. He did not fake it. He did not go through the semblance of dying. He was actually murdered.

16:35 He was actually put to death. But on the other hand, that same Christ was made, he was made alive in the Spirit. Now, if you have the New King James, it reads, he was made alive by the Spirit. You'll find a similar rendering in the New International Version.

16:57 Now, why is there this discrepancy in the translators? Well, again, without giving involved lessons in Greek grammar, suffice it to say, you have a certain case in the Greek language. You don't need a preposition to know whether it's of or of not. You don't need a preposition to know whether it's of or from, or whether it's in or at, with or by, to or for.

17:18 And this is in the case that could be translated in the Spirit or by the Spirit. And you have the same case for both being put to death in the flesh and being quickened or made alive in the Spirit. And some suggest that the way it should be rendered is put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. Others say, no, if Peter meant to convey that difference, he would have brought in a preposition which would have made it abundantly clear.

17:54 And I personally am convinced that it ought to be rendered on the one hand, put to death in the flesh, but on the other hand, made alive in the Spirit. Now, what is this word, made alive? It is a word which in a number of passages in the New Testament is almost synonymous with the word to be raised again. In John 5.21, two usages in that passage that refer to bodily, physical resurrection. Similarly in Romans 4.17 and Romans 8.11, 1 Corinthians 15.22, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. In a context of bodily resurrection. So Peter writes, whereas Christ was put to death in the flesh on the one hand, on the other hand, He was made alive. He experienced a real, physical, bodily resurrection in the realm of the Spirit's activity.

19:09 He was made alive in the Spirit. The emphasis is not by the Spirit, but in the realm of the Spirit's activity. And this is a truth taught elsewhere in the New Testament. Romans 1 in verse 4 is one of the pivotal texts that show in conjunction with the resurrection of Christ, the activity of the Holy Spirit.

19:36 Speaking of Christ, Paul writes, He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And here resurrection and the agency of the Spirit of holiness are brought into very close conjunction. Similarly in Romans 8 and verse 11. Speaking of the Father, Romans 8 in verse 11, But if the Spirit of God, but if the Spirit of Him, that is the Father, raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus, that is the Father, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you. Here we have again, the Spirit of the Father in close conjunction to the Father raising up Jesus from the dead, and ultimately raising the people of God from the dead. And it could well be that 1 Timothy 3.16 is referring to a similar reality.

20:50 Great is the mystery of godliness. He who was manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit. When was Christ justified in the realm of the Spirit? When He was raised from the dead and the Father made it evident that all of the claims of the law against the substitutionary sin bearer had been fully exhausted and His resurrection was the vindication of the complete payment made for our sins.

21:23 So then, as surely as He was put to death in the flesh, a real, cruel death, He experienced a resurrection that was real, bodily, physical resurrection, but it occurred in the realm of the activity of the Holy Spirit. You say, what in the world does that have to do with the difficult passage? Well, I hope you'll see. Look at the passage.

Christ's Additional Activity: Preaching to Spirits in Prison

21:51 For verse 19 begins with the words, in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison. So from this introductory contrast in the experience of Christ, we come secondly, to the additional activity undertaken by Christ. The additional activity undertaken by Christ. Look at the words.

22:20 In which. And what does that relative pronoun refer to? In which. Well, it agrees in gender with the word Spirit.

22:31 Was He raised in the realm of the Spirit? In the realm of the Spirit's activity? Yes. Well, in that very realm in which He also did something else.

22:46 He was not only raised in the realm of the Spirit, in which realm He also did something else. And what did He do? He went and preached. Or a more literal rendering to give the sense of the Greek, having gone, He preached to the spirits in prison.

23:09 In which also He went and preached. Take note of the little words in the Bible. It is a description of an additional activity undertaken by Christ. In which also.

23:24 In which also. And now we come to the difficult part. And to wend our way through, we're going to ask and seek to answer four questions of the text. Question number one.

23:37 Who are the spirits in prison? Question number two. When and how did Christ preach to them? For our text says, In which also He, that is Christ, went and preached to the spirits in prison.

23:52 So, once we've identified who these spirits are, then we need to ask who, when, and how did Christ preach to them? Thirdly, what did He preach to them? What did He preach to them? And fourthly, what was the result of His preaching?

Who Are the Spirits in Prison?

24:05 All right. Question number one. Who are the spirits in prison? I'm going to give you an answer and then going to try to demonstrate the reasonableness of that answer.

24:14 They are the spirits of those who lived at the time of Noah, but who died in the flood in a state of impenitence and unbelief and are now in a place of incarceration awaiting the day of judgment. That's who the spirits in prison are. They are spirits who are presently in prison. They are the spirits, as we shall see, described very clearly by Peter as the ones who lived in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, etc.

24:54 And they are now spirits in prison. They are spirits who lived at the time of Noah, died in a state of impenitence and unbelief, are now in a place of spiritual incarceration awaiting the day of judgment. Now I've been surprised at how few commentaries who take the position that this was some post-resurrection appearance of Christ, preaching to those who died and were in prison and gave some second chance or some other kind of preachment, that they don't allow Peter to clearly make it known from his own writings that once we die, the next thing is judgment, not preaching. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. Peter is warning against the insidious influence of false teachers.

25:52 And speaking of these false teachers in verse 3b, 2 Peter 2, 3b, he says, Their sentence now from of old lingers not, and their destruction slumbers not. Their sentence is coming down upon them it does not linger, their destruction is wide awake waiting to overtake them. Their sentence does not linger, their destruction does not slumber. Now he's going to demonstrate from Old Testament history how it is that the destruction of false teachers and those who follow their teaching and all evil men is a matter of God reserving people for judgment. Now notice verse 4. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but what did he do with them? Cast them down to hell and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

26:56 Angels that fell down and the next event is judgment. Next example, verse 5, the generation that we read about in Genesis 6 and 7. Spared not the ancient world but preserved Noah with seven others a preacher of righteousness when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. He spared not the ancient world but preserved Noah and his family.

27:31 Third example, verse 6. Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow having made them an example unto those that shall live ungodly and delivered righteous lot. Now what's the summary of these three examples from the Old Testament? Verse 9.

27:52 If God did this with respect to the angels, with respect to the generation alive at the time of the flood, with respect to Sodom and Gomorrah, verse 9, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day when Christ will preach to them after his resurrection? No. Unto the day of judgment. People who die ungodly are those who in the next purpose of God will face God in the day of judgment. Peter knows nothing of any interim opportunity to hear the gospel, to have the gospel preached or some other kind of preaching. It is an overturning of the entire framework of the teaching of the word of God and clearly Peter's own understanding. Angels, the world of Noah's day, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the common denominator is that once they are cut off there is no recourse, judgment awaits them.

29:11 So who are the spirits in prison? Peter is writing about them in terms of where they are right now. Now look back at the text. After giving the contrast put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which realm of the spirit he went and preached unto the spirits that are now in prison.

When and How Did Christ Preach to Them?

29:36 He preached the spirits that are now in prison. But now, second question, when and how did Christ preach to them? And there are four qualifying phrases that answer this. When and how did Christ preach to them?

29:51 Look at the first one. That aforetime were disobedient. And Wayne Grudem and also N.M. Williams in the American Commentary of the New Testament give a compelling linguistic case to render this phrase when they formally disobedient. There is an adverb in the clause that points to the time reference. He went and preached to the spirits now in prison when they formally disobeyed. He preached to them when they formally disobeyed.

30:32 Second phrase. When the long suffering of God waited. When did Christ go and preach to the spirits now in prison? He preached to them when they formally disobeyed over the lengthy period of 120 years.

30:53 When the long suffering of God waited. And we'll see when we come to the end of the sermon this morning. It's a touching phrase. It is God's long suffering eagerly yearning and anticipating that perhaps some will take the period of respite given when God is still striving with them to turn and perhaps avoid the horrible promised flood.

31:19 It is when the long suffering of God waited that Christ preached to them. And it was, notice the third phrase, in the days of Noah. In the days of Noah. The days we read about.

31:33 In the days when the ark was being built. So these four qualifying phrases clearly answer the question when did Christ preach to them? He preached to them when they formally disobeyed. When the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

31:56 But you say, if that's when Christ preached to them, how did he preach to them? Did he come down in a pre-incarnate manifestation of the angel of the Lord and preach to them? Well, he could have done that and it might not be recorded in scripture. But we do not need to find recourse in that supposition.

32:18 Remember, Peter has already said, turn back to chapter 1, that when the Spirit of God worked through the Old Testament prophets, it was Christ, it was Christ himself bearing witness to himself. Verse 11, searching, speaking of the prophets, searching what time or manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them, did point unto when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them. It was Christ who was bearing witness through the prophets, the Spirit of Christ bearing witness of Christ long before Christ is incarnate in Mary's womb. It is the Spirit of Christ. Think also of two New Testament passages, John 10 and verse 16, Jesus said, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. They shall hear my voice.

33:34 Christ said that those whom he gathers from the other fold, not of the Jewish fold, we Gentiles who sit here today, we are gathered by Christ's fold. Have you heard Christ's voice? You say, no, I've heard the voice of my mom and dad explaining the gospel, my Sunday school teacher, pastors. I've heard Christ's voice speaking.

34:00 My friend, unless you hear Christ's voice, you're not part of the one flock under the one shepherd, according to Jesus. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. Well, yes, you have heard his voice. You hear his voice when anyone faithfully echoes the truth about Christ, in the name of Christ.

34:22 And therefore Paul can write as he does to the Ephesians, where he himself preached after Christ had gone back to the right hand of the Father. Look at Ephesians 2 and verse 17, speaking of Christ and his work of redeeming grace on behalf of his people through the cross. The Christ who died and slew the enmity between Jew and Gentile. Verse 17, of Ephesians 2, and he came and preached peace to you that were far off.

34:58 When did Jesus go to Ephesus and preach peace? When the apostle and his companions came to Ephesus and preached peace. Jesus preaches through his servants. This is not some forced exegesis.

35:14 This is allowing scripture to determine what was the thought in Peter's mind. He is saying, concerning his Savior in this statement of contrast, yes, he was indeed put to death in the flesh, but he was quickened in the realm of the Spirit, and in that realm he went and preached the spirits now in prison, and he did this in the days of Noah. And he did it, as far as we know from scripture, not by some pre-incarnate appearance, whereas we have many of those appearances in the Old Testament, but he did it through this preacher of righteousness described in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5. And here I want you to turn to this final passage under this heading, 2 Peter 2. God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, a kairos of righteousness, and the verbal form is used here in Peter, he went and kairos, so he preached, or having gone, he preached. And where and when and how did Christ preach? When Noah for a hundred and twenty years was a preacher of righteousness,

36:44 holding forth the character of God, the standard of the law of God, those standards that were being flaunted all across the face of the earth and violence filled the earth, when marital contracts were no longer made on the basis of godliness, but on the basis of what the eyes could see, and based lust, lust and violence, twin horrible sins always found locking arms as they are in our own day. And this man is a preacher of righteousness, he preaches that God is a God of holiness, God is a God of inflexible law and justice and righteousness. And remember, he comes after Enoch. Enoch, his great grandfather, was already preaching that the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones to bring judgment upon ungodly sinners. Being in the godly line, no doubt Noah had that stock of the preaching of Enoch that formed the stock of his own preaching as he was a preacher of righteousness. So in answer to the question when and how did Christ preach to these spirits now in prison that were alive when they formally disobeyed and when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah

What Was Preached and Its Result?

38:12 while the ark was being built, it was Christ preaching through his servant Noah. And fourth question, what was the result of his preaching? And here's where I trust we begin to see the pastoral relevance. Here's the result of Christ's preaching through Noah, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved through water.

38:45 The marginal reading of the ASV renders the original more accurately into which, with reference to the ark, into which few, that is eight souls, that is eight souls, were brought safely through or escaped through water. Into which few, that is eight souls, escaped through water. The world remained an ungodly world as is described in 2 Peter 2.5.

39:15 God said my spirit will not always strive with man his days or a hundred and twenty years. And we have every reason to believe that in that hundred and twenty years Noah was a preacher of righteousness not only by his lips, but according to Hebrews chapter 11, he was a preacher by his life as well. Hebrews 11 and verse 7 says, By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world. He was preaching by his building of the ark and by his declaration that judgment was coming from almighty God. And the result of his preaching is that he only prevails upon his sons and upon their wives and his own wife. Eight souls were saved. According to our Lord's words in Matthew chapter 24 verses 37 to 39 and all the rest, it was life as usual.

40:30 Listen to these sobering words of our Lord Jesus. Matthew 24 and verse 37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man, as in those days that were before the flood. Now notice what our Lord highlights. He doesn't say they were indulging in every form of licentiousness and violence.

40:55 No. He says they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall be the coming of the Son of Man. What does our Lord highlight?

41:16 There's no indication in the biblical literature, though extra-biblical literature has some tales of how Noah was taunted and maligned and opposed. We do not know that from the biblical record. But according to our Lord, we know this much. He can go on building his stupid ark.

41:38 I've got a belly to fill. I've got a honeymoon date to keep. Life as usual. Noah with his ark, Noah with his flood.

41:50 Ignore him. We've got more important things to attend to. That's what our Lord highlights. And they knew not until the day came and the flood took them all away.

42:04 What was the result of Christ preaching through Noah? Eight souls were saved. Eight souls were brought safely or escaped through water. The water that inundated the then known earth and every breathing living thing bore them safely above its turbulence in the ark.

42:30 And that's what suggests to Peter this type being a type of another type. And he launches into the next verses on the baptism that saves us. But that's for another message. Well, that's my effort to answer the questions.

Pastoral Application for Suffering Saints

42:44 Who are the spirits in prison? They are the spirits of those men and women alive at the time of Noah's ministry, cut off in the flood, now in prison. When and how did Christ preach to them during that period of 120 years? What did Christ preach to them?

43:06 He preached righteousness through his servant, Noah. And what was the result of his preaching? Only eight souls were saved. Now we come to the obvious application to the suffering people of Christ.

43:20 The obvious application to the suffering people of Christ. But remember, this is Peter's pastoral burden. It is better if the will of God should be done so will that you suffer for righteousness, for well doing than for evil doing. Christ also suffered.

43:39 But now Peter says he not only is your fellow sufferer, Christ also suffered. He also went and preached. And he preached in what kind of an age? In an unbelieving age.

43:52 In an age preoccupied with the now and with its earthly and sensual pleasures. And we have every reason to assume though we cannot prove it from Scripture that there was opposition, at least the opposition of indifference to Noah. And more likely the opposition that comes when a holy man dares to live a holy life in the face of an unholy generation. And there are tremendous words of comfort to God's people in all of this.

44:24 In his excellent treatment of the passage, Wayne Grudem makes no fewer than seven parallels without stretching the biblical data between the saints in Asia Minor and Noah and his family and Christ preaching through Noah in the days before the flood. But I want to isolate just a couple of areas of encouragement. First of all, words of comfort and encouragement to the saints of God who suffer for righteousness' sake. For that's his pastoral burden.

44:57 And here's the first word of comfort. Noah was part of a minority community in the midst of a majority community that was indifferent to his message, and yet he was faithful. He was faithful. Christ also went.

45:21 And could this be part of the sympathy that Christ feels with you, the Christ who seeing an impenitent Jerusalem wails over it and says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you? As a hen gathers her chicks and you would not. Christ also went and preached and preaching through his servant Noah, preaching the message of righteousness, calling sinners to repentance. Noah was in the minority.

45:58 He was part of the minority community. Eight souls were delivered or escaped through the water that came upon the then known world. So people of God, do you feel alone? He had already told them in chapter 2 and verse 12 that among the Gentiles you find they speak against you as though you were evil doers.

46:20 Let your life of good works be such that in the day of God's visitation they'll glorify him. You have companions as part of the minority community. You have Noah and the members of his family. Noah was part of the minority community in the midst of a hostile and indifferent majority, but he was faithful.

46:47 Follow the pattern of Noah. Noah and his family were preserved and rescued from the judgment that destroyed the world. And isn't this what he's already told the saints? That they've been blessed with a salvation that brings them into possession of a living hope, unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed.

47:19 Noah and his family were brought through those troublous times and they were saved with a salvation that in terms of the ark was typical. In terms of Noah we know that it was an internal, real salvation. He's put in the list of those who are the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Whether or not there was true saving faith in the rest of his family members on that issue we must be silent for the Bible to my knowledge is silent.

47:49 But in that typical salvation the flood waters that came and drowned the then known world are the very waters that bore Noah and his family to safety in the ark. You people of God in Asia Minor, you need to come afresh to that rest of faith that you too will be preserved and rescued from the judgment that will yet come upon the unbelieving and impenitent world. And just as Noah was a mouth priest through which Christ spoke his message of judgment and of grace, had he not just told them in verse 15, sanctify Christ as Lord, ready always to give to every man who asks you a reason of the hope that is in you, you be ready to be the mouthpiece of Christ. Christ will not speak to men this side of the second coming except he speaks through his written word and through his people. That's how he speaks. And that's a sobering as well as a thrilling reality and they need to understand that.

Instruction on Reading Old Testament History

48:58 Christ went and preached to that unbelieving generation. Now you saints there in Asia Minor, be comforted in the fact that you too are privileged to sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts and to be a mouthpiece of his grace to others. But then there are also not only words of comfort and encouragement to saints but words of instruction as to how we read and understand Old Testament history. Two things are very clear in the way in which Peter handles the Old Testament account of Noah.

49:32 And it's clear from all the apostles and our Lord when they treat Old Testament history. Old Testament history is just that. It's an account of realities that actually happened. Creation, fall, flood, Abraham, deliverance from Egypt, the opening of the Red Sea, Jonah and the great fish.

49:51 None of this is treated as though it is just symbolic or this is history that's not real history. Peter assumes that when he speaks of Noah and the preparation of the ark, when he speaks of the incident read from Genesis 6 and 7, this is real history. And so must we. And if we are looked upon as being stupid and antiquated, we stand with our blessed Lord and with his apostles in that view of the scriptures.

50:23 But then we must also recognize that Peter wrote this with the conviction that Christ is central to the Old Testament in its entirety. Christ is central to the Old Testament in its entirety. Who of us, in reading the Genesis account and reading what is written in 2 Peter 2.5, that Noah was a preacher of righteousness would say, but that was Christ who went through Noah and preached to his generation.

50:52 Peter would have us to understand that all of God's overtures of mercy to men in every age are overtures that come through Christ. God's message of mercy to men always comes in and through Christ. And I was struck in my own devotions this morning rereading Luke chapter 24, how our Lord dealt with those two on the road to Emmaus. And he made them from dejected, discouraged, despondent disciples to disciples with a burning heart.

51:27 And what made their hearts burn? Not the memory that he made himself known in the breaking of bread, but they said did not our hearts burn within us while he opened unto us the scriptures? And in opening the scriptures, what did he do? Luke tells us, he showed them in all of the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Application to the Unsaved: God's Long-Suffering Still Waits

51:51 They had not been reading the scriptures with Christ central in their perspective. And while it is ludicrous for people to try to find Christ in every blade of grass on the hills of the land of Canaan and under every single figurine in the tabernacle in the temple, and that's a ludicrous approach, we must nonetheless read our Old Testament knowing that Christ is central in its entirety. And the Lord Jesus, before he went back to the Father, opened the minds of his disciples that they might understand the scriptures and showed them in Moses and the Psalms and the prophets the things concerning himself. Now someone may be thinking, Pastor, I know you're coming toward the end of the message, you've been in the application. What about the application to those of us who are unsaved? And as I was prayerfully considering that in the earlier hours of the morning, I thought, suppose I said I have no application for you who are unsaved today.

53:03 Suppose I were to say, I am tired of letting my spirit be wrung out, pleading with you to face your sins, to face the claims of Christ, to flee from the wrath to come. I'm tired of it. You've heard enough. You've heard it dozens of times.

53:26 You've had preachers of varying temperaments and backgrounds and mannerisms stand in this pulpit and plead with you with tears. Suppose I were to tell you, I'm tired of it, I'm done. You want to go to hell? Go your merry way.

53:45 You'll never again have me stand in your way. Suppose I were to do that. Well, if I were to do that, I'd be doing two wretched things. I'd be misrepresenting my God.

54:02 And I'd be violating the instincts of my own renewed heart. I want you to look now at this phrase as we close this morning, back in our text. When Peter is describing when Christ preached to these spirits now in prison, one of the descriptive phrases is this, he preached when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. And the verb used in the tense in which it is used pictures God for that period of a hundred and twenty years yearning and keenly anticipating will someone heed the preacher of righteousness. And my unconverted friend, I would misrepresent the heart of a long suffering God if I did not again say, why, why will you die? Why remain wedded to your sins? Why remain in your state of vulnerability to the wrath of God?

55:17 Why remain in the place where that generation was? Knew not until the flood came and took them all away. I could not fix my mind long upon what the scene must have been like. With tens of thousands of bloated bodies floating on the face of the deep.

55:42 Children and toddlers and adults. What a horrible picture. But my friend, it's nothing compared to what the day of judgment will be. When if you go to that day unclothed in the righteousness of Christ, unremoved by the spirit of Christ, to hear the words, depart from me you cursed, I never knew you.

56:08 I say I cannot misrepresent the heart of a long suffering God. The long suffering of God waits this morning. Think of it. Almighty God who as we heard in the previous hour owes us nothing.

56:25 And we owe everything. Yet he waits and says all the day long have I stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people. But he stretches it out still. May God grant that this morning as you think of Christ going and preaching through Noah and the great lessons that contains for the people of God though in the persecuted minority to cling to their Savior.

56:58 To be faithful in their witness. To have the confidence that they will be preserved until the coming of the Lord Jesus. To bear true and faithful witness to him. My unconverted friend let those scenes that we read from Genesis 6 and 7 be a call to you to say by God's grace I'll not be part of those who eat, who drink, who marry, who are given in marriage until it is too late.

57:33 Let us pray. Our Father we thank you for your word we confess our own sense of ignorance when we come to passages that are difficult for us to grasp. We are confident that when we see our Lord Jesus face to face and when we know even as we are known if there will be laughter of that kind in heaven surely we will laugh at how blind and ignorant we were and how simple many things will then appear that now appear so clouded to us. But we pray that you would humble us in the light of our ignorance and by your grace help us to walk in the light of what is clear. And we do thank you for the consolations of scripture and pray that you would take this portion of your word and use it for the encouragement and strengthening of your people and as a means in your mercy to call some unto yourself. Seal then your word to our hearts we plead in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

58:51 Amen.