This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] Who brought a Bible with them here to church this morning? What a joy it is to be here to study the word together. I invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to 1 Peter 3:18-22. 1 Peter 3:18-22. It's on page 1016, if you've got one of our books. And the question that every single one of us is going to have to figure out, we're all going to have to answer, is how are you going to keep the most important thing, the most important thing? There's a lot of times people they get caught up in secondary issues. They get caught up arguing about things that seem urgent. They seem critical at the moment. But then when you step back and you look at the big picture, they weren't the most important thing.

[00:00:50] But now we've spent a lot of our life on things that are of lesser importance.

[00:00:58] What we're goigoigoing to find out here is what is really most important in 1 Peter 3:18-22, and it's going to be a great study for me and you to make sure that the main thing is still the main thing in our lives. And when I say the most important thing, I'm talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the good news of who he is and what he did. So if you're there with me, will you please stand for the reading of scripture? This is going to be our text together today. We're going to hear what God has to say to us in 1 Peter 3:18-22. I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because this is the word of God. Let me read it for us. Please follow along.

[00:01:39] 1 Peter 3:18: 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 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison because they formerly did not obey when God's patients 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. 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 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him. That's the reading of God's word. Please go ahead and have your seat there. And this passage is a source of like endless debate literally throughout the whole history of Christianity. Christians have been debating about what does this passage mean, particularly if you look at verse 19, where it talks about he Jesus he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. So who are the spirits in prison that Jesus winning proclaim the message to? And when exactly was that? Was that after he died on the cross for our sins? Was that way back in the days of Noah that he talks about here? And so there is a debate going on and there's a lot of confusion. I mean, people who are Bible scholars who believe all the same things, they'll still debate about this. In fact, here's what Martin Luther I don't know if you've heard about Martin Luther from the Reformation. Here's what he said about this passage of scripture. He said, a wonderful text is this and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the Testament. So that I do not know for certainty just what Peter means. I cannot understand and I cannot explain it. And there has been no one who has explained it. So is going to be a great Bible study here. Everybody. I mean, he's like, oh, what a wonderful text. I have no idea what it's talking about, right. I mean, I've had those conversations. You ever had those conversations after church? Hey, how is the service today?

[00:04:05] Oh, powerful. Powerful brother. Meaningful. Oh, great. What you get out of it? I have no idea.

[00:04:12] But it but it was wonderful. It was. It was moving, you know, ever have those conversations.

[00:04:17] That's what Martin Luther is saying about this text. This is classic church done wrong is what we're studying. I don't know if you've been a church long enough to know how the church people can be, but we are experts at arguing over secondary issues and missing the most important thing. And that's what people have been doing with this passage for hundreds and thousands of years, trying to figure out who the spirits in prison are when the emphasis is not on who the spirits in prison are. The emphasis is on the good news that's being proclaimed. Look at verse 18, here's something that's very clear that we can all understand from this passage. First 18 for Christ suffered once for since the righteous for the unrighteous. Why did he suffer for sins?

[00:05:05] To bring us to God being put to death in the flesh. Here's one thing we can say for sure, is that Jesus suffered when he was righteous. He suffered in your place when you were unrighteous so that you could be made right and brought to God. We know for sure that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Can I get a man from anybody on that?

[00:05:31] And remember, Peter is writing to people who are scattered.

[00:05:35] That's why we're going through this book, because we're more isolated, right? We're going through a trial like never before. That's what these people were experiencing.

[00:05:45] They're scattered in the last two weeks. He's been talking about them suffering. He's saying people are going to do evil things to you. You can't do evil back to them. You're going to do what is right. You're going to do it in Jesus name. And when you're doing what is right in Jesus name, people are going to want to come and say something evil about you. They're going to want to persecute you. You need to keep on doing what is right, even if that means you suffer for it. Now, that's a hard word to tell people who are scattered that you got to keep doing what is right, even to the point of suffering. That's what he said in verse 17. Look back at chapter three, verse 17, where he said it is better to suffer for doing good. If that should be God's will, then for doing evil. If you're doing what is right and you're suffering for it, keep doing what is right. Don't stop even if you're suffering. And then here's the encouragement because Christ suffered for you. You can keep suffering for Jesus because look at how he suffered for you when he was righteous. He was persecuted. He was mocked. Evil was done to him. And you know what that meant?

[00:06:56] Your salvation from your sin.

[00:06:59] You are now right with God. You have now been brought to God because of the suffering of Jesus. So if you're taking notes, if you can write in your Bible or you can take notes there on the handout in your goody bag, I would circle that word suffered because he's been telling the people to suffer. But now he's drawn their attention to the fact that Jesus suffered when he died for them. Look, what else is very clear about our passage. Go down to the end of verse 21. We'll look where it talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then it says this in verse 22, who has gone into heaven? Is that the right hand of God? With angels at authorities and powers having been subjected to him. Now, if you've been thinking through Peter with us right away, you should circle that word subjected. You should underline that. You should write that down, because we've been learning about submission. That's one of the themes of this book. We've been told by Peter, speak into the scatter. We're supposed to submit to governing authorities. Slaves are supposed to submit to their masters. Wives are supposed to submit to their husbands. And we've seen from our own experience, from our study of the word. It is hard to submit to authorities, especially when you don't think those authorities are doing the right thing, when you don't think they have their your best interest in mind, when you think maybe they're abusing their authority and they're not really caring for the people that they're leading.

[00:08:26] It can be so hard to willingly place yourself underneath an authority when you don't think they're doing the right thing. And now Peter flips it and he says, guess who has all authorities submitting to him?

[00:08:39] His name is Jesus because of the resurrection, because of his ascension into heaven, because he's seated at the right hand of the father with all authority in heaven and on earth ready to return.

[00:08:50] Here's a reminder that everything is submitted to Jesus Christ.

[00:08:55] Now, that's got to be good news when you're having a hard time submitting to authorities specifically here in verse 22.

[00:09:02] He's saying the demons, these angels, authorities and powers, these spiritual forces, Satan and the rest of the demons, they have all been submitted through his death, through his resurrection.

[00:09:16] Jesus has won a victory over Satan and the demons. Can I get any men from the congregation?

[00:09:24] Let me tell you something that's very clear from this passage that people have been missing the point about for a long time.

[00:09:31] We've got good news that Jesus died and rose again. And because he suffered for you, you can have salvation because he rose again.

[00:09:40] You can know that all authority is submitted to Jesus and ultimately he calls the shots. He reigns supreme and Jesus is in charge. He is the Lord.

[00:09:50] And so point number one. Let's get it down like this. Keep the emphasis on the gospel.

[00:09:56] Keep the emphasis on the gospel. We are the people of good news. We are not here to get bummed out by the bad news. We're not here to get distracted by the fake news. We're here to live out and to preach and to celebrate and sing about the good news of Jesus Christ.

[00:10:17] And this is what I've seen so many Christians, so many churches, they're going there on fire. They're pumped up. It really seems like they love Jesus. And then at some point, it's like the main thing stops being the main thing and they start making this a big deal. They start going off into this issue. And before they were just all about Jesus Christ and seeing people get saved and his name lifted high and then they become about something else.

[00:10:44] Is that happen to you? Or are you a person of the good news? Are you still celebrating what Jesus did for you and you're keeping that? The main thing, it is very easy for us to forget what is of first importance. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[00:11:05] Now know, this has been the story of our church from day one, we started September seven, 2014. So we're coming up on our six year birthday here on September seven. Twenty, twenty and for six years, I have been continually overwhelmed with how many people call themselves Christians, even go to church. And then if you asked him point blank, just straight to their face, you say, hey, tell me, what is the gospel?

[00:11:32] They look at you like they don't know what to say.

[00:11:36] Hey, so I've been out there knocking on people's doors. Hey, I want to invite you to come to our church. We'd love to have you. Oh, I'm a Christian. Oh, praise the Lord. You're a Christian. Can you tell me the gospel that saved you? And they look at me like, why would you ask me that question? Why would you put me on the spot like I'm asking you? Hey, what's the good news? And they're looking at me like, how dare you ask me that right now.

[00:11:57] Like, why would you bring that up?

[00:11:59] So, Amen, I ask you right now if if we got this michot and we said he wants to come up here right now and tell us what the gospel is, who's ready to share some good news with us? Would you be able to grab this microphone and say, hey, why don't you sit down for a minute? Hey, I'll tell you guys what the gospel is.

[00:12:16] Could you do that right now?

[00:12:18] Every single one of us should be able. We've believed it if the good news is what saved us, we should know it so well that we could at least say what it is.

[00:12:29] So under the gospel here, write down death and resurrection, these two things are always included in the in the good news of Jesus, the fact that he's suffered and died to pay for our sins and that he rose again to give us a new life. This is the good news of what Jesus did. And right here in this passage at the beginning, we have him suffering and dying. At the end, we have him rising and going to heaven where everything is submitted to him so we can take away. What's very clear from our text of scripture is that Jesus is the son of God and he's already paid for all of your sins. So you could be forgiven by God.

[00:13:10] And he's already rose from the dead. So you could have a relationship with God through Jesus.

[00:13:17] That's good news.

[00:13:20] And you can have that relationship with God right now here today. And it's sad how many people call themselves Christians even during this time. They're not keeping the main thing.

[00:13:34] The main thing I want to encourage you to be about the gospel to day and every day until you get in the presence of Jesus Christ. And then you'll know it's all about the good news of what he did. We like to say this here at Compas H.B. If the good news has become old news, then that's what that's bad news for your soul.

[00:13:56] There's one thing that should always be good to you.

[00:13:59] Grace should always be amazing. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died for me and I have a new life because he rose from the dead.

[00:14:12] So let's get now into verse 19, because this is where people start losing the plot here in verse 19. Who are these spirits in prison?

[00:14:21] KAKE has it says that Jesus, when he was put to death in the flesh and made alive in the spirit. He went and proclaimed his message, his victory, the gospel. He went and proclaimed it to the spirits in prison. And so there's this debate. There is this endless kind of dialog. Who are the spirits in prison? Some people think they are demons in hell. That's who the spirits are. So it's kind of like after Jesus dies, cause Satan and the demons, they thought that killing Jesus was going to be the good thing. They didn't realize that he actually just defeated death by death. He destroyed the power of sin by sacrificing himself and his righteousness to pay for our sins.

[00:15:02] And so this is like Jesus taken a victory lap among the demons, just a big old booyah to all the demons here, letting them know he just want to a great victory.

[00:15:11] Now, other people, if you keep reading here in verse 20, it talks about people who formerly whoever these spirits are, they did not obey back in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which only eight persons or you could literally translate that eight souls were brought safely through the water of the flood. So the other theory is that we're not talking about demons in hell. We're talking about people. They way back in Noah's day before the flood came and drowned the earth, people who heard the message but didn't respond to the message.

[00:15:49] So their spirits are now in prison, is it demons who are in prison or is it the people back in the time of the flood who didn't listen, didn't get on the ark with Noah and his family and now their souls are in a place of prison?

[00:16:03] Who is this that heard the message that they could be right with God? And people go back and forth and they debate. And the most famous one is the idea that we're going to demons in hell and we're speaking to them. That was mentioned to the Apostles Creed and church history. It's been a theory throughout the history of the church. The problem is, let me ask a follow up question. Are the demons in the house right now? Let's think about that for a second.

[00:16:30] Are demons in hell right now or are they wreaking as much havoc as they possibly can here on planet Earth right now?

[00:16:39] OK, so the demons are actually actively working right now. They're out there deceiving people. They're out there trying to make people miss the point so they won't listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So so we would have to be a special group of demons who were put in some kind of prison because we know that most of the demons are not in hell right now. So that's one of the problems with that theory. Another problem with that theory is when we go back to Jesus dying on the cross, let's picture in our minds. See Jesus up there, hanging there. He's got the nails in his hands. The nails in his feet. And remember, there's three crosses. There's a thief on either side of Jesus. And people are mocking them. They're making fun of him. So people are saying so much evil about Jesus when he's up there suffering for them. And the guys next to him, they start mocking him. But then one of the guys changes his mind and he says, hey, why are we giving Jesus such a hard time? He didn't do anything wrong. He's innocent. We deserve what we're getting. We deserve it. But, Jesus, what did he do wrong? And then he says, hey, Lord, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus says, today you will be with me.

[00:17:58] And where paradise. Does it sound like we're going to elder say booyah to the demons? Sounds like we're going to be in the presence of the father with all the saved souls.

[00:18:11] So it's hard to know what to think about these theories, but the answer to both of them is in Genesis six. So everybody turn with me to Genesis Chapter six, because this is where the idea of the spirits in prison come from. And this is where we see the people who did not obey before the flood. So we're going back now to Genesis six. It's on page five in the in one of our books. Everybody turn to Genesis six. We're go into the pre WB and world.

[00:18:39] OK. So if you want to impress people around, you, say so just throw pre Delu V in in conversation this week. All right. It's just a fancy pants way to say before the flood. OK. So there was a universal worldwide flood. That's what Genesis six, seven, eight, nine describe. Noah builds the Archey Archey. Anybody know what I'm talking about. Right. The animals come in two by two. Right. And God saved some of the animals. Eight souls. Peter wants to point that out. And then there's a second chance for planet Earth. There's the rainbow. But now we're going back to before the flood. And there's some disturbing things said here in Genesis six. Look at it in verse one, when man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. So notice how it's saying the sons of God like some kind of spiritual beings, the daughters of man we would think of as human lady.

[00:19:39] So it seems like spirits are looking at humans and finding them attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. And now God says my spirit shall not abide in man forever. For He is flesh. His day shall be a hundred and twenty years. And then it says this. The Nephilim or the Giants were on the Earth in those days. And also afterwards, when the Sons of God came into the daughters of man, they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. So we get this disturbing idea that some kind of demons are interacting with ladies and producing giants like the ancestors of Goliath.

[00:20:23] Walking on the air. So one of the theories is that this group of demons who went too far here on Earth got drawn into some kind of demon prison.

[00:20:33] And that's who Jesus goes to, is this special group of demons that is already busted for what they did in the pre Delu Vision world before the flood. That's one of the theories. Now, the other one here, though, gets into the people who did not obey because Peter refers to Noah. And second, Peter Chapter two as a herald of righteousness. So we get the idea that Noah was out there telling everybody there's going to be a flood. I'm building a boat. You can be right with God. You can come and get on this boat with me. You'll be safe. But nobody's listening to him. Here's that description of those people. Genesis six, verse five.

[00:21:12] The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And then every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It's how bad it got. The Lord regretted that he made man on the Earth and it grieved him to his heart.

[00:21:29] So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. Wow. Can you believe that? God's looking at how people are living and remember, God doesn't see the way that we see. He doesn't see our skin and bones. He doesn't see us from the outside. God sees our souls. He sees whether we're right with him or whether we're not. And he's looking around at so many people on planet Earth at this time. And they're so evil. They're so desiring wicked continually. He says, no, we've got to judge all of this. And we got to basically start fresh. One of the sins that God hated that was happening was how people were killing other people. God is very clear that he doesn't think anyone should be killed. And if someone kills someone here, there's the death penalty, capital punishment. They should be killed for killing someone. And that was happening. People are killing one another. God, he's so sorry that he made man that he's. Think about this.

[00:22:33] He's going to send a flood to drown the entire world in water. And this is what Peter wants to highlight. How many souls were saved in the entire world? How many souls does he say we're saved? How many?

[00:22:49] Eight people. I want you to really think about that, because that's the part that people are missing. People are writing for pages and pages are. Is it the demons? Is it the people before the flood? Who is it? Here's the thing we need to get. Eight people got saved out of the entire world. Like, if that's not a wakeup call for every single soul here. I mean, Peter's pointing that out. Only a few made it through.

[00:23:16] Eight Salz.

[00:23:19] So here's what we can know for sure. Let's get these things down under point number one, under the idea of who are the spirits in prison? Are they the demons or are they the people before the flood? Well, one is let's get this down. Demons are real, OK? Let let's let's highlight that there are evil spiritual forces who right now have been defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. They've been submitted to Jesus, but they are right now not in prison. OK.

[00:23:46] And the demons, it's clear demons. Their goal is to deceive you. If they can do anything to get you from believe in the good news, to get you from keeping the main thing, the main thing, to get you distracted from the fact that Jesus died for your sins and rose again so that you in your soul could have a new life. The demons want to deceive people from believing in Jesus, and they don't care how they do it.

[00:24:10] They don't care if you get into sex, drugs, rock and roll. If you become a Satan worshiper or if you become a very religious person who thinks you're good and you're just fine without Jesus Christ, they don't care how they deceive you. As long as you are deceived, demons want to destroy your soul and take you down to hell with them. And they are actively working all over the world today.

[00:24:34] That's something that's true. Another thing that's true that we can see from what Peter brings up here is judgment is coming. Let's get that down for number two. Judgment is coming.

[00:24:45] He's referring to when it came before and only eight souls were saved through the flood. And the problem was the people did hear some kind of good news. The word did spread that Noah's building a boat. There was some kind of opportunity for them to get on the ark, but they did not obey. Go back to first Peter 3 and we got to see. That is the key line. Whoever these spirits in prison are, they made a major mistake. And this is why they're in prison, because they did not obey whether they are demons who fell from heaven with Satan or whether they're people who didn't listen to how they could be made right with God, the way of salvation that was presented to them. And first, Peter, chapter three, verse 20. The emphasis on the spirits in prison is not who they were, but the fact that they formerly at some time in the past did not obey. That's the reason they're in prison.

[00:25:45] Because when they had the chance to respond. People who have lived before the flood, since the flood. Throughout the last two thousand years. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus. How many people have sat where you're sitting right now? And they heard the good news. They heard about Jesus died on the cross. They heard about him rising from the dead. And they are a soul in prison right now.

[00:26:09] Because they didn't obey it. They didn't pay attention to it. They didn't say that's it right there. That's the good news.

[00:26:14] That's what I need. I'm going to make my whole life about Jesus and what he did for me. They heard it. Maybe they believed it. Maybe they thought it was good. But they went and they made their life about something else. And, oh, how they wish they could go back and rethink that. How they wish they were sitting in your spot right now where you have a chance to obey the good news of Jesus Christ.

[00:26:39] Where you have a chance to be right with God here today.

[00:26:43] How many souls are in prison thinking, I should have listened to the good news when it was presented to me?

[00:26:52] That's the point he's making. He wants everybody to think a people the whole world was covered in water. There were so many people doing so much wickedness that God said, I have to judge this. The whole world was drowned. And only a made it out.

[00:27:09] The majority of people are deceived, not believing the majority of people are heading towards judgment. How do you know that you're one of the few souls that are going to be saved?

[00:27:24] It's all through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[00:27:27] It's through keeping the main thing, the main thing. Have you responded to the gospel? Now, when I say have you responded to the gospel? I'm not asking you. Do you believe that two thousand years ago there was a man who was the son of God. And he really did die on that cross. And then on the third day, the tomb was empty because Jesus rose from the dead and he ascended into heaven. And he's at the right hand of God. I'm not asking you if you think that's true or not. That's what counts for being a Christian in America today. That's not what this book is saying right here. The demons know that's all true. It is true. It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. Can I get any Amen from anybody on that? If he doesn't need to be affirmed by you, he's affirmed by the father in heaven.

[00:28:18] He is God. Here's what I'm asking you. Have you died to your sin? And do you now have a new life in Jesus Christ? That's what I'm asking you.

[00:28:28] Like, the gospel isn't just something that happened to Jesus a long time ago, when you believe when you trust in Jesus. The Gospel happens to you because everybody here as well. Maybe you put on a mask. You seem like a good person on the outside. Everybody here has seen in their life and without the power of Jesus in your life, that sin will define you. It will run your life. It will be your master.

[00:28:51] We all have these temptations, these struggles. There's certain things that we just inside of us. We desire, we want we know they're wrong and yet we would keep going towards them again and again. We would go back to them. And when you believe in Jesus, you now see that sin and you think I'm dead to that now. You think Jesus already died? That scene is already been paid for, not only will God forgive me because Jesus shed his righteous blood to pay for me, but I am now, as I believe in Jesus, as I see how he died for my sin. I now see that I'm dead to that sin, that I don't have to live in that sin any longer. Yeah, it still might tempt me. I still might want to do it. But what I can do now that I couldn't do before is I could say no to it. I can put it off. I can put it away.

[00:29:40] That doesn't have to be me anymore because Jesus already suffered once for all of my sin. It's done.

[00:29:49] And then he rose from the dead. And so now it's like when I believe in the resurrection, I'm not just saying Jesus is alive. No, I'm believing in my soul. I've now been made alive. I now have a new life. It's an abundant life. It's an eternal life. It's a life now where I want to obey Jesus. I'm actually able I've been given a new heart. God's put his spirit in me now. Not only can I say no to the old bad things in my life, I can say yes to doing what Jesus tells me to do. I can obey him. I can actually put other people as more important than myself. That's a new life. I'm not asking if you believe the gospel happened at Jesus. I'm saying, when did the gospel happen to you? When did you die to your sin?

[00:30:39] When you rise again to a new life, how do you know for sure here today that you are one of the souls who saved by the good news of Jesus?

[00:30:51] Now, look where he goes. He's trying to he's trying to help us realize, hey, a lot of people don't obey this. And those spirits, whether they're the demons out there deceiving or the people who weren't believing, they're now in prison. Let's think about this. Eight souls got saved. Are you one of those people? Verse 21. He brings up this idea, baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. So let's try to follow his thinking. He's describing the flood and the flood as this water of death coming to judge the world for its sin. But then out of the flood comes one boat with eight souls in it who are saved. Now he goes to baptism. Well, we think of when we hear the word baptism, we think of water baptism, and we think of somebody going in all the way in, getting dunked in the water. That water of death that represents their their sin. Notice how he's going right from the water of the flood to the water of baptism. And we think about somebody going under the water. But then here they come back up out of the water, cleansed, wash, clean of all that sin.

[00:31:55] And now they've got a new life. They've been saved through the death of sin. Now they've been saved into a new life in Jesus Christ.

[00:32:04] He's saying, hey, remember how God brought Noah through the flood? Remember how he brought you through baptism? Now he makes it clear everybody needs to see this right here first, Peter.

[00:32:13] Three. Twenty one. Not as a removal notice. 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.

[00:32:28] Baptism saved you. I'm not talking about when you took a bath in the water when you got dunked.

[00:32:33] I'm talking about when you experienced the resurrection of Jesus. That's the real baptism he's talking about.

[00:32:42] Now, if you're taking notes, you should write this down. Baptism means to place into or to immerse. That's the definition of baptism. See, baptism is one of those interesting words in our English translation. It's actually the Greek word. And they just put it in English letters. So most of that all of this is Greek that we're reading in first, Peter. But it's been translated into English. But there's a few words that they don't translate. They just take the Greek word and they put them into the English language with English letters. Christ is an example. Christ means anointed one.

[00:33:18] Chosen one messiah. They don't say Jesus the anointed one. They say Jesus Christ. They just take the Greek word Christoph's and they throw it into English baptized. So is the Greek word. They don't translate it. If they translated it, it would say to immerse or to place into. But they just bring the word in and they say baptism.

[00:33:40] So baptism, we usually think of getting dunked in water, but that's just the symbol that you've been placed into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

[00:33:51] Go to Rome and six, three to four. And let's make sure we know what what baptism really is before we get to the symbol of water. What it means here that you've been baptized is that you've been immersed or placed into the gospel of Jesus. You have died with Jesus and you have risen again with Christ. Look at what it says. Romans six three to four. This is one of our favorite passages here at CompassHB H.B to explain the relationship that you have with Jesus through the gospel. Romans six, verse three. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Now let's read it translated OK. Let me translate some of the Greek that's still there. Do you not know that all of us who have been placed into the Anointed One Jesus were placed into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by being placed into death in order that just as the anointed one was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. It's saying, hey, don't you know what it means to be a Christian? Don't you know what it means to be in Christ, that you have died to your old life of sin? And just like Jesus came out of that tomb and he is alive. You now have a new life bursting out of your soul that you want to live for Jesus. Anybody think it's time for us to start baptizing people here at CompassHB HB again?

[00:35:25] That's what we're going to start doing. And if you haven't been baptized, Jesus commanded that everyone who is made a disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so it's a symbol. Once you believe in Jesus, you're baptized into Christ, you're placed into Christ. You die with him. You rise to a new life. And then the symbol of that is we come and dunk you in water as a symbol that you've been cleansed from your old life of sin and you've risen to a new life in Jesus Christ. The water is the symbol. Being in Christ is the real thing, the salvation.

[00:36:03] And so we have these symbols to remember how important the gospel of Jesus is. So let's get this down for point number two.

[00:36:11] You want to remember the gospel, remember through baptism and communion. That's point number to remember, through baptism and communion.

[00:36:20] If we're going to keep the main thing, the main thing and we're going to keep the emphasis on the gospel here in our hearts here at our church as we gather together. If we're going to say the good news of Jesus dying and rising again, that's the most important thing in my life. That's the most important thing for anyone on planet Earth. Well, there's two ways. Two things that we're commanded to do as a church, like tangible ways we can almost like get our hands on or feel that would remind us of the good news of Jesus.

[00:36:51] One is when we get baptized and when we have other people at the church getting baptized and what we do here at our church, when somebody gets baptized before we do the symbol of dunking them in that water, that just like Noah has escaped and was saved through the flood, they've been saved from their sins and have a new life just before they. We do that. They always share their story of how Jesus saved them.

[00:37:15] That's what we always do here at the church.

[00:37:18] They talk about how they used to be dead in sin and then they met Jesus and now they have a new life because that's really when they got baptized, when they got placed into Jesus. Not when we're now giving them a bath in the water.

[00:37:30] That's what Peter says.

[00:37:33] And so the question for you is, have you like not do you just know what the good news is? Not you just believe the Jesus did it. But the question in your life is, when did you die and when did you rise again? When did you stop being you and started being new in Jesus. And did you get baptized? Can you remember can you go back and be like I remember how excited I was.

[00:37:56] I remember the day that I got dunked in water as a symbol and I knew what Jesus had done in my life. Now, another way that we remember that's not in our text, but we're going to do it today.

[00:38:07] So I want to talk about it. Go to First Corinthians 11 and let's talk about communion. And you need to pay attention to this because we're going to do it here in just a moment. First Corinthians, eleven verse twenty three is where we want to pick it up. Everybody turn there with me. Page nine hundred and fifty eight. If you got one of our books, First Corinthians eleven. And here's Paul right into a church, it's going to take communion.

[00:38:31] And let's think about this as we're about to do it. He says four I received from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed. So go back to the Last Supper the night before Jesus dies. He's there with his disciples. They're having that meal together. He's breaking the bread. When he was portrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And the same way also, he took the cup. He's passing the cup around after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

[00:39:13] So in your goody bag, we're going to get him out in just a minute.

[00:39:16] There's going to be this little prepackaged, sanitized corona virus save communion thing, and you're going to have this little WhiteWave four and this little cup of juice. And you know what that Ramit represents? Well, the white wafer where it represents the body that Jesus Christ suffered, he sacrificed himself. For your sin and the cup represents his blood that was shed, his righteous blood that had to pay for your sin. Now, remember, back in the law of Moses, they knew that the wages of sin was death. They knew that blood had to be shed if there was going to be atonement. Atonement is the idea of you being made right with God. If you're going to be right with God, basically because of your sin, there has to be death. That's the wages of sin. So if you're going to be right with God, something has to die. Blood has to be shed. So at the time of the law of Moses, if they wanted atonement, they would sacrifice an animal. And by taking the life of the animal, by watching the blood there of the animal to be spilled. That's them acknowledging I need to be made right with God for my sin. Well, now Jesus, is that sacrifice. And so we're supposed to remember that when we hold these elements in our hands, when we literally taste them by putting them in our mouth. It's to make us remember the most important thing that happened in my life was when Jesus suffered in my place. Either I'm going to die and be judged for my sin or Jesus died and was judged for my sin. I need to remember the good news.

[00:40:52] And look what Paul says about it here in First Corinthians. It's 11, if you keep reading here with me, first Corinthians 11:26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes every time we take communion.

[00:41:09] The point is to keep the emphasis on the gospel and to remember, hey, Jesus died for us. He's in heaven right now at the right hand of God. And he's going to return.

[00:41:19] And we proclaim that now this is a warning for everybody here. Look at verse 27. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

[00:41:35] Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

[00:41:54] Do you realize what he's saying there, he said they're taking communion at their church and some people, they're eating the bread and they're drinking the cup, they're not thinking about Jesus dying for them. They're not thinking about their sacrifice. There's they're doing things wrong between them and God. They're not right in their own hearts. And yet they're acting like all remember Jesus without it being a big deal while I'm still doing sin. All just remember Jesus. I'm familiar with it. I'm used to it. He say it because people did that in an unworthy manner. That's why people in that church got sick. That's why they got weak. Some people in that church died because they weren't putting the proper respect on the name of Jesus and how he died for them.

[00:42:41] So, see, there's a warning here, there's this there's this idea what happens to people who know the gospel? Is that good news becomes old news. And the fact that Jesus died for your sin, at some point you can hear that and you can think. But it's so it's no big deal if I sin. Now, that's the whole point. It's such a big deal that you sinned, that you were going to die. So God had to send his son to die for you.

[00:43:08] And if that doesn't mean anything to you when you're taking these elements, if you do it in an unworthy manner, it says, hey, you better examine yourself or God will judge you.

[00:43:20] So this is should be saying to all of us.

[00:43:23] How much how important it is to keep the gospel in the first place and then to evaluate myself, am I acted like I'm dead to sin? Am I acting like I have a new life? Am I right with God? Am I really experiencing atonement? Go back to first Peter three and you'll see that's the whole point of this passage. That's the whole point.

[00:43:43] The suffering, how everyone submitted to Jesus, the spirits in prison who did not obey the fact that we need to get baptized into Christ into water. What is all of that building towards? It leads to this verse 21 when it says an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[00:44:06] This is what you're going to do in response. You can make an appeal to God that your conscience between you and God would be clean, would be good, would be right.

[00:44:19] You can know in your soul. I'm right with God because Jesus paid for my sin, because I have that new life and Jesus. That means as I sit here today. Me and God are right.

[00:44:34] And I can appeal to him the word appeal there, it means to to ask to make a request.

[00:44:40] So if you really know the gospel, if you really see if your eyes are open to what Jesus did when he died for you and when he rose again, you then appeal to God and you say God based on the good news of Jesus, will you make me write in my soul with you?

[00:44:57] I've got guilt. I've got shame.

[00:44:59] My conscience is heavy because I know I have been wrong before you. I know that I have sinned against you. And I see how Jesus died for that sin. I see how there's a new way I could live in Jesus. And so I appeal to you. God. Can I please be right with you because of the good news of Jesus? Point number three. Let's get it down like this because of Jesus. You can go to God. That's actually what we're here to do right now. We're here to go to the presence of God. And the only reason we can go to the presence of God. I mean, God is holy, God's in heaven. God's perfect. How could sinners like us here on Earth dare to go into the presence of only God? Well, the reason is Jesus is there at the right hand. And he was already the sacrifice that paid for our sins. Well, now he's the priest welcoming us into the presence of God. And he says, hey, I've paid for their sin. My righteous blood is covering them. They have atonement with you. And so when we come and we pray and we appeal to God, we make our request to God. God, I want to be right with you. Jesus is there interceding for us. And we can be right with God because of the good news of Jesus. Now, this should never get old you right now, as we take this communion, as we remember the body and the blood of Jesus. You are going to go examine yourself in the presence of a holy God.

[00:46:28] And you can go right into his presence.

[00:46:31] And make your appeal to him that you and God would be right, that your conscience would be good before him, not based on what you've done, but based on the.

[00:46:41] Gospel of Jesus.

[00:46:43] Go with me to Hebrews 10 19. Everybody turn to Hebrews 10 19. Let's end with this, because this is the picture of what we do in response to the gospel. This is this is why Jesus died.

[00:46:56] This is why he rose it so that you and I could enter into the relationship that Jesus has with the father. The father and the son have a perfect relationship of love. The father loves the son. He's perfectly pleased with him. The son obeys the father and does everything to please his father. They have this perfect relationship and you and I get to be brought into that relationship through the gospel of Jesus. Here's what it say and we're about to do in Hebrews. Chapter 10, verse 19. Look at this, everybody. Hebrews 10 19.

[00:47:28] It says, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he is open for us through the curtain that is through his flesh.

[00:47:41] Norris is talking about there the blood in verse 19. It's talking about the body in verse twenty. Hey, because of the body and the blood, we can go into the holy place since we have a great high priest over the house of God. He's at the right hand. He's ready to be our priest to mediate between us and God. So verse twenty to let us drawn here with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[00:48:12] You see, what it's saying is you can bring that guilty conscience. You can bring all that shame of your sin. And you can come to God and make your appeal to God and your conscience. Your evil conscience gets cleaned by the blood of Jesus.

[00:48:26] Talks about your baptism, the symbol of you being washed, of you being cleansed. And now you could pray to God the holy God in heaven. Jesus right there, you could go before him in full assurance of faith.

[00:48:41] You can know as you sit here today that you are right with God because of Jesus Christ.

[00:48:48] You can know that if you died today, if today were your last day, you would not be afraid because you have full assurance of faith that you would be in the presence of God.

[00:49:00] Because of Jesus Christ. This is the good news, the you and God are right because of Jesus. This is an experience that you can have every time you go into the presence of God for assurance of faith. I got to ask you, the most important question is, do you have full assurance of faith?

[00:49:25] Are you hearing everything we're saying as we review here? The good news, maybe it's of the first time you're hearing it, but let me talk to those brothers and sisters. You've taken communion before. You've heard the gospel before. Well, let me ask you. Do you have full assurance of faith right now?

[00:49:40] Do you have 100 percent confidence?

[00:49:42] Are you letting sin creep into your life that you need to appeal to God for a for a renewed conscience? Right now?

[00:49:50] Where are you at with God? This is what it's going to come down to. I guarantee you, when it's all said and done, when you stand before God, the only thing that's really going to have mattered between the day you're born and the day you die.

[00:50:03] The only thing that really matters is whether you know the good news of Jesus Christ. But from between birth and death, that's the one thing that makes you right with God.

[00:50:14] And this is what I'm thinking about as I'm reading, I'm reading so much stuff, I'm watching all these videos and this guy saying, well, I think it's the demons in this guy's saying. I think it's the people back in Noah's day.

[00:50:25] And I'm thinking we're all missing the point, because the point is that those spirits, whoever they were, they did not obey. They did not listen. They heard the word. They knew the good news. And they did not get it. And now their souls are in a place of prison. Everything in this book is trying to tell you that there is a worst case scenario that could come for you. There is a place you want nothing to do with. It's a place where the fire does not stop burning. It's a place of outer darkness where you don't even know what's going on around you. It's a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth and it never ends. And you could end up there.

[00:51:13] And people the majority of people are not listening.

[00:51:18] They're not obeying. They're not paying attention. They're not getting it. They're even hearing it and then going on and living like it's not the most important thing they ever heard.

[00:51:31] I wonder how many people that are here today. I really saved what is the number of souls that guy would put on this group in the parking lot?

[00:51:42] And how many of us who are here today someday will wish we'd really heard this message?

[00:51:50] And we'd really made that appeal to God. Based on Jesus Christ, like being right with God was the most important thing in my life. I think that's what Peter's getting at. He's saying, hey, a lot of people did not obey. Only eight people were saved. Have you made that appeal to God for a good conscience? Have you been made right with God because of his son, Jesus Christ? Do you have here today full assurance of faith?

[00:52:18] So go ahead, reach in your goody bag and pull out that prepackaged communion. You got to kind of open it up twice. And there should be one for everybody there in your seat. You want to spread that around. You've got to pull out the white for on top and then you can open it up and get ready for the drink. But before we remember the body and the blood, before we proclaim the Lord's death, until he comes, before we take communion, there's something that we learned today. You got to do first. You got to examine yourself.

[00:52:46] And you got to answer this question right here, right now.

[00:52:50] Are you right with God? Do you have a good conscience between you and God? Can you draw near to him now?

[00:52:59] With full assurance of faith based on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Based on the fact that, you know, Jesus is there to intercede for you. Can you draw near to God and know that you are right with him?

[00:53:14] This is for you to do so, they're going to come and sing a song. But this is a moment for you to examine yourself. Let me pray for you. And then you pray for yourself. You pray to God. You make that appeal. That request. And let me just say this very clearly, that the reason we have this little piece of bread and this cup is for us to remember the gospel.

[00:53:36] If you haven't died to your sin, if you don't have a new life, you should put that stuff back in the bag because you don't need the little symbols to remember.

[00:53:47] You need Jesus.

[00:53:49] You need to make a request right now. I don't have a new life. I'm still living in my sin. God, I appeal to you based on Jesus. Please, God in my soul. Make me write with you. I don't want to be judged apart from you. I don't want to keep living in this sin. I need Jesus. This is your time to ask.

[00:54:11] To make your requests for your soul. Before God don't miss the opportunity to do the most important thing. In life. Let me pray for you right now, father in heaven. We want to thank you so much, Father. For given us the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. And God, I pray that you would just put it on everybody's heart here today, that this is the most important thing. This is the thing of first importance. If we miss out on many other things, this is the one thing we can't miss out on. That we need a sacrifice for our sin. And his name is Jesus, and he's at your right hand and he's going to return and rain and judged the world, and we need to be right with you through your son. Jesus, father.

[00:54:59] Please put it on our hearts right now. God. Will you please forgive us?

[00:55:07] Four make it all the things that seem important right now.

[00:55:10] More important than the gospel, you please forgive us for getting caught up in the urgent things, in the secondary things, in the selfish things, in the sinful things.

[00:55:21] When our salvation, when our soul. Being right with you. That's the most important thing. God, I pray that we would be a church that lives that way, that every one of us as individuals, we would be able to say, I've been saved by Jesus Christ. He died for me. He rose again. I am right with God.

[00:55:41] And so God let us examine ourselves.

[00:55:45] And I pray for all my brothers and sisters, God, that you will renew them, that you will revive them, that you will rebuild this church from the parking lot, and that they will be able to say here today I am right with God based on Jesus Christ. And that is the most important thing in my life. And if there is any sin, I'm putting it away because I'm in a live in the resurrection power of Jesus name.

[00:56:10] Make us those people. Let this be that church.

[00:56:15] And God, I want to make an appeal to you, I want to make a request on behalf of the souls who are here, who still need you on behalf of the spirits that are here, that someday when they leave their body, they may end up in a prison.

[00:56:28] God, will you speak to them right now through your spirit and put it on their hearts to speak to you, to cry out to you in the name of Jesus?

[00:56:36] Everyone who calls on you in the name of Jesus will be safe.

[00:56:40] God, please save people today.

[00:56:43] So let this be a real time of prayer. Let people really come into your holy presence. Let us examine ourselves. Let us confess our sins. And let us be right with God here today. Let us have full assurance of faith and draw nearer to you. We pray in Jesus name.