Saved Exiles

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.

Many of the greatest main characters in literature and film have something in common. They all suffer for doing the right thing. Jean Valjean, Harry Potter, Aslan, Frodo Baggins, William Wallace, Luke Skywalker… all of these characters suffered in some way to save or bless others. 

I suspect that we love these kinds of stories because the Gospel themes resonate with us. This is what heroes do. Their suffering always has a purpose. 

Peter just finished telling us that we will sometimes suffer for doing the right thing. And now he’s going to remind us that Jesus also suffered for a purpose. 

[18] For Christ also suffered once for sins, 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,  

Christ also suffered. Peter means this as a great comfort, that our own suffering would remind us of Christ and our union with Him. 

The suffering of Jesus provided the atonement, a way for us to be reconciled to God.  

Jesus took the curse of our sin upon Himself so that we can be reconciled to God. 

This was accomplished by His death and resurrection. And notice, Peter says that Jesus suffered once for sins. It was a single, sufficient, and final action by Jesus to satisfy justice and provide grace. 

Notice also the clear language of substitution. Jesus the righteous One took our place. We are the unrighteous ones. And somehow this substitution was necessary to bring us to God. 

This is the Great Exchange, and the way I explain it in every Adoption Class is with two books.  

[Explain] 

That’s 1 Peter 3:18 – it’s a clear summary of the Gospel message. But the next verse is not so clear. 

[19] in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,  

Where did Jesus go, what did He proclaim, and who are these “spirits in prison”? Peter says this as if his readers know what he’s talking about. But I have no idea what he’s talking about. 

There are several theories. I’m only going to mention two of them, because they account for the next verse. “in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison” … 

[20] because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 

With verse 20 as context, the spirits in prison could be fallen angels depending on your interpretation of Genesis 6, or (and this is my preference) Peter is saying that those spirits are now in prison, but in the days of Noah they were the unbelievers who ignored Noah’s preaching and rejected the opportunity to be saved. 

Salvation was preached to them, and they ignored it, but now that message has been vindicated. Noah survived and they perished. 

The grammar is confusing, and no one really knows what Peter means by the “spirits in prison”. Maybe the early Christians understood him. Not all things in Scripture are equally clear. 

But the story of Noah’s family being saved by the ark and passing safely through the water is a setup for a different point, which is clearer to me but also very controversial.  

[21] Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,  

This verse is hotly debated. Catholic, Orthodox, and many Protestants believe that water baptism is necessary for salvation or is even the actual moment of regeneration. 

And it’s a worthy debate, because Peter says in simple terms “baptism now saves you.” He means something by it. If you take the view that baptism is only a symbol of something spiritual, then you will have a hard time explaining this verse. 

This is one of the reasons I appreciate the Presbyterian view of the sacraments. We see baptism as both a sign and a seal of God’s covenant with His people, our union with Christ, regeneration, and forgiveness of sins. 

Baptism is more than just a symbol. It also confirms and authenticates God’s promise. It doesn’t create promises or accomplish the work. 

And I think it best fits the metaphor Peter uses of Noah and the ark. He says that baptism corresponds to Noah’s family being brought safely through the water.  

We primarily think of water as pure and clean, but the flood waters were a symbol of judgment. The analogy is that baptism corresponds to the kind of salvation Noah’s family experienced – being brought safely through judgment. 

Then Peter immediately qualifies it, to prevent us from thinking of baptism as a mechanical ritual. It’s not the physical washing that saves, but the appeal to God. Not for a clean body, but for a clean conscience. 

The word “appeal” is important. It’s a legal, covenantal kind of word. And so, I understand Peter to be saying that baptism is a covenantal appeal to God’s promise through Jesus, as well as a commitment coming from a conscience that has already been cleansed.  

Paul says something similar about Abraham in Romans 4. He “received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” In both cases, this is more than just a symbol.  

When you begin to doubt your standing with God, you have something real to remember. 

There’s a real relationship between my wedding ring and my marriage. I look at my ring, and I’m reminded of the vows I took and the vows my wife took. “With this ring I thee wed”. 

There’s a real relationship between the sign and the thing signified. With baptism, that link is established through Jesus, as Peter says at the end of the verse – this appeal is through the resurrection of Jesus.  

In other words, baptism is not effective because of the water or because of the person receiving it. Baptism is effective because of Christ! 

The water didn’t save Noah’s family. The ark did! Or even better, God saved them by using the ark. It reminds me of Isaiah 43:2 where God says – “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”  

In the same manner, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Peter can speak of baptism saving us in the sense that it is a real covenantal appeal to Christ, just as stepping on the ark was an appeal to God’s mercy. 

I think this is a way to explain Peter’s words without saying that baptism does nothing or that baptism does everything. 

One last thing about this verse: notice the emphasis on the Resurrection. There’s a thread running through this whole passage. 

Peter is teaching us how to think about our suffering as Christians. Then he brings up Noah and Jesus. In both cases, there was a period of suffering followed by a moment of vindication. 

Noah was mocked and ridiculed for years while He carried out God’s will to build the ark, an extremely costly and difficult task. Noah also had to carry a lot of wood on his back during the construction process. But imagine that moment of vindication, when the flood waters started to rise, and his family was safe inside the ark. 

Likewise, Jesus was mocked and rejected by men while He carried the wooden cross He died on. But then came the Resurrection. 

There’s a clear pattern here that Peter wants us to see – suffering in God’s kingdom is always followed by vindication and glory. 

Peter ends this chapter by saying that baptism saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 

[22] who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 

In other words, Christ now rules over everything we could possibly be afraid of. Anything that could threaten us, Jesus is bigger. There is not even one stray molecule in the universe that is not under the Lordship of Christ. 

Not the government, not the economy, not war, not depression, not cancer… none of it is outside the providential hand of King Jesus. 

And so, the story we are living right now is one of trust, that in the end all the suffering of God’s people will be vindicated.  

Remember Noah. He suffered scorn for a hundred years, and then the waters came, and he was safe. Jesus suffered the cross, and then the tomb was empty, and now He’s seated at the right hand of God — with every angel, authority, and power subjected to Him. 

It’s not just a nice story. It’s your story, if you’re in Christ. 

You may be suffering right now for no obvious reason. You may be misunderstood, mocked, passed over, or worn down. But please don’t mistake that suffering for abandonment. It’s the pattern every faithful life will take before vindication comes. 

And you’re not waiting to find out if you belong to Him. You have a sign and a seal of it — your baptism, your appeal to God for a clean conscience, resting not on your own strength but on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

So, when suffering comes — and it will — remember who’s already been raised, and who’s already reigning. Christ suffered once. He was vindicated forever. And because you’re united to Him, so will you be. 

I want to end by just reading Psalm 46, because it is so encouraging and so on point with this sermon.  

[1] God is our refuge and strength, 

a very present help in trouble. 

[2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, 

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

[3] though its waters roar and foam, 

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. 

[4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, 

the holy habitation of the Most High. 

[5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 

God will help her when morning dawns. 

[6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; 

he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

[7] The LORD of hosts is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

[8] Come, behold the works of the LORD, 

how he has brought desolations on the earth. 

[9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; 

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; 

he burns the chariots with fire. 

[10] “Be still, and know that I am God. 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth!” 

[11] The LORD of hosts is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our fortress.