Welcome Suffering as a Part of Life: Glorious Effects of Christ's Sufferings Pt 2 - 1 Peter 3:17-22

1:56For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but a made alive in the Spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.

2:45Well, God willed for Christ to suffer. And there were four glorious effects of that suffering. We looked at the first couple last week. There was A glorious atonement that came out of it, verse 18. There was a glorious proclamation, verses 19 through 20. We're going to continue that this morning, looking at two more other effects that came out of Christ's willingness to suffer. And it's important to understand: had Christ not embraced suffering for righteousness' sake in his life, none of these glorious effects would have taken place. God's goal wasn't just that Christ could suffer for suffering's sake, but that he would accomplish something through that suffering which could not be accomplished otherwise. Same is true in your life, when you are identified with righteousness, and because of that, you suffer, just like what was going on in this letter and the congregation that had been, or the congregations that were scattered. So he brought forth a glorious atonement. His suffering brought a glorious proclamation, but it also affected a glorious baptism. And that is where we want to spend our time this morning. A large part of it will be on this third element, this glorious baptism. As Martin Luther said, that this is one of the most obscure passages in the New Testament, and it didn't. Just stop with him making a proclamation to the angels in darkness, but it goes on in verse 21, corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, with this, we're going to go deep into Peter's theology of baptism, and that's going to take us back to Noah's flood. It's going to take us through the ordinance of baptism, and it's going to give us a look ahead of the judgment and wrath that is coming.

5:13But he makes a profound comparison. Look at that, verse 21. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Corresponding what to what? Something is corresponding to something. It's the word anti-type. The type is the representation of the reality, points to the anti-type. It's the word used to describe a stamp, a stamp and the imprint that a stamp leaves. I'm going to try to make this make sense. I mean, we're baptistic, right? And so, or we got baptist in our title, right? So, we need to understand baptism. And I want to get a couple of volunteers.

6:01John, why don't you come up here? Do I have another volunteer? Okay, Elizabeth, come on up here. Okay, so what I have here is a stamp. Okay? This is what? And what do stamps do? They stamp you. They leave imprints, right? Okay, so, and don't worry, this is washable. I think it'll come off by Christmas time. But there's a stamp. Now, I'm going to stamp this, and I'm going to leave an imprint on your hand, okay? And you're going to tell me what picture is on this stamp, okay? I'm going to just do it on your back of your hand. Okay, don't say anything yet. See if you get the same thing. Okay, so you got the imprint. I've got the stamp. Now look at your hand and tell me what's on the stamp.

6:58A smiley face. What would you... A smiley face. The same thing. That's the imprint. This is the stamp. And what we're going to be looking at this morning is true baptism. And Peter gives us two pictures of true baptism. One is going to be the events associated with Noah's flood, and the other is going to be the ordinance of baptism that we celebrate. Here you go. You can take this. They'll sit down. Thank you. Thank you. Give them a big hand for their willingness to come up. Stamp. That's the actual language that's used here.

7:35But you get the picture. There is the type, that's the copy, the representation, and then there's the reality. The Hebrews talks about that Christ did not enter into the temple made with hands, but that was just a mere copy. He entered into heaven itself. And so baptism, true baptism, is not the external ritual of baptism, but it is being likened in some way to the Noahic flood event. The word baptism means to immerse. Baptizo means to immerse. Question is: how does Noah's flood relate to baptism? Well, as you know, we'll just go phrase by phrase through this passage and make sure we get this in our heads: the link, what is corresponding to what, so that we will understand Peter's theology of baptism. We want to understand Peter's concept of baptism. So we'll just go through, just starting in verse 20, looking back, corresponding to that in verse 21, corresponding to what? He's referencing back to what was in verse 20. The flood, they were those who were once disobedient, speaking of the spirits in prison, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark. In which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. There was widespread disobedience that formed the backdrop of Noah's world. Widespread disobedience to God. There was a profound deadness in the minds and in the heart and in the conscience of humanity.

9:24Genesis 6 describes this condition. In Genesis 5, or Genesis 6, verse 5, let me read to you a few verses. It'll give you a picture of what this disobedience looked like. In Genesis 6:5, God says this: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. What a dramatic picture of the disobedience of the hearts of Noah's world. Every intent, only evil continually. So in verse 6, the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things, to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them. So God says, I am going to cleanse the earth. Earth of the wickedness of man through water. But verse 8, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Going on in verse 11, Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. And behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood. You shall make the ark with rooms and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. And he goes on in verse 17, Behold, I, even I, am bringing the flood of water upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which the breath of life from under heaven, everything that is on the earth shall perish, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. So against this backdrop of this widespread human corruption stands the patience of God, his forbearance, his striving, his long-suffering. They were disobedient, but God was patient. He kept waiting. And the verb for kept waiting involves an anxious longing. Paul uses it to speak about the ancient longing of the creation that's waiting eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed. Again, in Romans 8:23, it's that eager waiting that we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, a intense, anxious longing.

12:24This is how Peter describes the heart of God in striving with sinful men. See, God does not delight in man's destruction. His desire is not for your destruction either. His desire is that you would come to repentance. And this is what delights heaven is when one sinner turns and embraces their Creator. Luke 15:7, I tell you in the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15, 10, in the same way I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And so that construction period of the ark, which lasted 120 years, served as a preaching point. And in 2 Peter 2, 5, Peter is going to refer to Noah as a preacher of righteousness.

13:30Every stick, every piece of wood that went on to the ark was an object lesson, a preaching point. Noah preached righteousness, and that righteousness involves sin, it involves judgment, and it involves salvation. And they thought, no doubt, that Noah was off his rocker. You see, it's a foolish thing to test the patience of God. Do not think that life as we know it is always going to be like life as you know it. There is coming a day of reckoning.

14:16So, against this backdrop of widespread corruption stands the patience of God, but also stood the faith of a few individuals. Look back at verse 20. Patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, a few, that is, eight persons, eight persons were brought through safely. And what Peter does is he skillfully draws a parallel between his audience and Noah's and his family. Just as Noah and his family were few living in the midst of a hostile world, so the readers of 1 Peter were few and Living in a hostile world. Yet they had faith in God. And this is what Peter is exhorting them to stay in. The true grace.

15:11Keep striving. Stay in. Hebrews 11, 7 says this about Noah by faith. Noah, being warned about things not yet seen in reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith. You see, the world had not seen anything like the great flood of Noah's time. It was hard to even conceive of. In fact, there is some evidence that they may not have even had seen rain before, not like we know it.

15:53They had not seen anything like it. Likewise, there is coming a great day of judgment, the likes which has never been seen or imagined before. And this is what the church's responsibility is to proclaim. There is coming a day of reckoning. There is coming a day of wrath through which you need to be spared from. And look at the few. They made it through. The few versus the many. So against this backdrop of matter. Destruction and loss of life, there is also this safe passage of the few in the ark.

16:39Verse 20, in which a few, that is eight, were brought safely through the water. There were souls that were brought safely through. And that word literally means to escort through. In Acts 23:12, there was a conspiracy that was formed against Paul. And these guys had taken this oath that they would not eat again until Paul was dead. Well, this news reached the commander, and the commander said, Okay, let's get Paul, provide some mounts, and let's bring him safely to Felix.

17:12And that's exactly what they did. Got these mounts, guards, and they took Paul and they escorted him to safety. That's exactly the same language that's being used here to speak about the ark that escorted, that carried, that took these few to safety. Now, as we're understanding a baptism that saves, recognizing that this event is nothing more than an imprint or a picture of the reality, let's let a few things sink in. Let's make some observations and let them sink in. No pun intended, right? Sink in. Let's just talk about the water, the water.

18:00The water brought about the destruction and the death of the ancient world. The ancient world was not just immersed under water, but under God's judgment. The water was the instrument of judgment. The water is an expression of God's wrath upon humanity, and anyone submerged under the water, what died. The ancient world was baptized in water and perished. So the water is symbolic of death. Water is symbolic of death. It's like God purified the ancient world by death.

18:55And the question: Was Noah exempted from the flood? Kind of a trick question. Was he exempted from the flood? No, he had to go through it. Noah was immersed in the floodwaters of God's wrath, but he experienced them from a perspective of safety because he was in the ark. So let's talk about the ark. Water, symbolic of death. The ark. The ark was the means through which the few were brought safely through the water. It was the means for Noah and his family to survive God's wrath and to come out of a world under judgment.

19:47So, in order to deliver Noah from the storm, he had to be in this ark, and the ark had to be able to withstand the flood event itself. So, the ark had to be pretty stout. I had some great pictures up here. I'm not going to show them to you. But you can picture in your mind's eye what was involved in the ark. This was a major, an extraordinary engineering accomplishment and construction accomplishment. It had to be able to withstand the full force of nature on an epic magnitude. Otherwise, it couldn't deliver Noah, right? It had to be stout. It was a large operation.

20:39It was a floating zoo. It was a masterpiece of engineering and construction. But it had to be able to withstand the crashing, the immersion, in order to spare those inside. So the ark depicts the means to spare human life. Water depicts death. The ark depicts the means to spare human life. And then let's think a little bit about the safe passage. We've got the water, we've got the ark, and then we've got the safe passage through the water. The safe passage, think with me, was from one world to another world, was it not? I mean, can you imagine what it was like getting off the ark after the flood?

21:33The old world under God's judgment was gone, along with all of its corruption. Just think about those moments after being on the ark for a year. Getting out a whole new world. You see, Noah and his family were spared of the world under God's judgment, and they were brought safely to a new world. And this is a graphic picture of salvation. In a way, we can think that there were two agents of salvation involved in Noah's event.

22:11Two agents. The water and the ark. We don't typically think of it in these terms, but the water, if you pause and think about it, saved the few from their corrupt world. It was the judgment of God that would not allow God. Unrighteousness to reign upon the earth. And so death brought about the salvation, or if you will, or the deliverance from a corrupt world. But we needed the ark to save the few from the water, right? So there's the water that saved Noah and his family from the ancient world, and then there is the ark that saved Noah from the water.

23:01You see, the water acted as a purifying agent, and it cleansed the world of the corruption that characterized Noah's world. But unless there was an ark, Noah would not have made it through the waters of judgment. You see, so in order to be saved from the water, they had to leave their own world behind and get on the ark. And by the way, Peter accepts the reality of the flood. He doesn't explain it, he accepts it as reality. So if you want to understand Peter's theology, it involves the ark, it involves Noah's flood, worldwide catastrophe, assumed, taken.

23:46So if you sit in judgment upon scripture in that area, you're beyond where Peter was. So he makes this profound comparison. And with this image in mind, with that, First imprint in our mind, we're ready to keep going on to our quest to understand Peter's concept of baptism. But let that first Noah's flood event set the backdrop. So then there's baptism. Also, that second imprint, the physical outward ordinance of baptism, which Peter's people participated in. And he was making a connection between Noah's flood and the current ordinance of baptism, which both depicted the reality.

24:39So look back at 21. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So a link is made that connects Noah's flood to the ordinance of physical baptism. So what does the ordinance of physical baptism portray? Let's talk about that for a little bit. It's a good question. We baptize all the time, right? We've got Baptist in our title. So maybe we ought to understand baptism. We just did it a couple of weeks ago. What does it portray? Well, water, death. The water depicts the same thing that it did in Noah's time: divine wrath upon a world under judgment. All who are immersed in water die.

25:34It pictures death of the old nature, the old world, the fallen flesh. And just as the floodwaters were necessary to deliver Noah from a corrupt world, so death is necessary for one to be delivered from our present world corrupted by sin. A death is involved. However, just as Noah needed to be delivered from the floodwaters, so we need to be delivered from the certain death of God's wrath upon our sin. We need to be delivered from death. There is death and there is life. We need death, but we don't need to stay there, or we have no life.

26:21And the Ark is Christ. And those in union with Christ are like those in the Ark. They experience God's wrath, but they experience from a perspective of safety. And just as Noah's Ark had to be able to protect those inside from the full force of nature, so Christ had to be able to protect those in him from the full fury of God's wrath unleashed. And so we should not be surprised. If you look at verse 21, look at the last little phrase at the end. It's through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation from death is through. The resurrection of Christ. It is his triumph over death that provides us the safe passage through the storm of God's wrath.

27:11You see, it's not enough to just be baptized into his death. If Christ didn't rise from the dead, there is no safe passage through death. We're just baptized with him in death. But 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is talking about this. In verse 19, he says, If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

27:53So baptism is fundamentally immersion into Christ, a union with Christ. Got a wedding ring. What does this wedding ring symbolize? A marriage, right? Is it the marriage? No, it's not the marriage, but it is a testimony that a marriage exists between Nancy and myself. So baptism is a picture of a union. Has taken place. Baptism involves immersion into the judgment of God in the water. Just as Noah's flood immersed all people into the wrath of God, and yet some were saved, so there remains a future judgment, a final judgment, an ultimate judgment, the likes that we have never seen or even can hardly imagine except which is written in Scripture. And it's going to immerse the whole universe, as 2 Peter 3:10 through 12 is going to outline. But those in Christ are going to be saved, and they'll be taken into a new heavens and a new earth.

29:14You see, the safest place in any forest fire is where the fire has already burned. It's interesting. Let me read you something in Mark chapter 10. You remember, Jesus is speaking, the disciples are going on about who's going to be the greatest. I want to be the greatest. And Jesus says to them, You do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized? Speaking about his coming immersion into death, the penalty, full substitution, the wrath, taking it, wrath of man, wrath of God, taking it in his life. Are you able? To be baptized with that kind of baptism? We are.

30:05And Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink, you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized. Well, they're not going to go and save the world, but they are going to suffer for righteousness' sake, just like Christ was going to undergo a suffering for righteousness' sake. His baptism was into death. Paul's view of baptism very much lines perfectly in sync with Peter's. Let me read to you as Romans 6:1. Paul is in this argument, shall we continue to sin?

30:42He says, May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, If we have died with Christ, we believe that He shall also, we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over Him.

31:44See, the exhortation to us, friends, is that we need to die to a world that hates and crucifies righteousness. Do not be ashamed of righteousness, but know that there is a world out there that hates it and crucifies it. You see, the problem is within the heart of man, the problem's within us. The problem was still in the hearts of man after Noah and his family got off the ark. And all of this pictures what must take place in the heart of humanity. So, the question is: how does one die to sin? I think we've kind of gotten to that point: like, okay, I see it. How do I die? How do I die? I want to die. I see the advantages. I see what God says. Quite frankly, I'm frightened a little bit, and I know my weaknesses. How do I die to sin?

32:43Well, the answer is true baptism by being joined to Christ. You see, baptism is about union, it's about solidarity with Christ. So, what Peter does is he connects. Noah's flood to the ordinance of physical baptism, but neither is the reality of the baptism that saves. They are like an imprint speaking, pointing to a spiritual reality. Baptism, look at verse 21, baptism now saves you. Literally, baptism is to immerse. The word for saves is a present verb. The immersion that now saves you, or you could say the immersion that is currently saving you.

33:32And what Peter is describing, he goes on to describe baptism, true baptism, in two ways, by what it is not, and then by what it is. So let's look. First, at what it is not. It is not the external rite. Look at verse 21, corresponding to that. Baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh. Remember in Mark chapter 7, there was this external rite that they would practice the washing of hands, and the Pharisees really got upset with Jesus' disciples because they were eating their bread with impure hands. That is, they weren't washed. As if the greatest problem in mankind is that we don't wash our hands before we eat. Wouldn't that be nice if that would just take care of the issue? Just a mere external washing or rinsing, that this would save. Solve humanity's problems. No, that's not at all what's going on. That's not the problem. That's a mere external right. And so Jesus speaks to his disciples. He sent the crowd away, and the disciples came and he questioned them about this. And he said, Are you so lacking in understanding?

34:54Wow. Do you really think that this is what true spirituality is? Do you really think this is the problem of humanity? Just washing, rinsing, ceremonial acts? No, it's all about what's going on in your heart. He says, This, Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him because it does not go into his heart? And he was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, the fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man. We need a baptism that cleanses those things, and it's not some mere external ritual. The baptism that saves, as Peter is making very plain here, it's not an external act.

35:55It's something that deals with the heart. The outward sign of baptism is a Picture of an inward event that has already taken place in the heart of a believer. It's a little question as you're working your way through this whole passage. How does one enter the ark of God's grace? How does one go from being outside Christ to being in Christ? How does one enter into a union with Christ? The answer is a baptism of a spiritual nature, spirit baptism, the reality that all this points to.

36:391 Corinthians 12, 12, Paul speaks about this. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. Why? For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. It's a spiritual cleansing through being unified, sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. And this is how he opened up his whole book here: the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to the elect to obey Jesus Christ.

37:24So that's what it's not. It's not an external right. So what is it? Well, that's the next thing he goes to explain. Corresponding to this, the baptism that saves you is not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice three words: two, four, and through. The baptism, which is now saving you, is an appeal. It's an appeal to God. It's an appeal for a good conscience. It's an appeal through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's an appeal to God. God is the baptizer. There's not another person that can cleanse you, that can give you a spirit baptism.

38:11It's an appeal for a good conscience. Spent a considerable amount of time talking about the conscience weeks ago, but the conscience is that mechanism of your being that is constantly assessing and evaluating yourself or itself in the light of its highest standards or the highest standards that it knows. It's that mechanism that is constantly assessing and evaluating yourself. That is what the conscience does. It's like a window. Outside is the sun, right? That emits light. The conscience doesn't emit light. It's not light. It can only let light in like a window. It doesn't generate light, but it can let it in. And a good conscience allows the light of God. Of God's truth in, and it measures life by God's standards. That's the way a good conscience operates. It lets the light in. It does not seek to bar up the window. It doesn't seek to excuse or suppress or to look for ways around God's standards. It isn't interested in how close to the line of sin I can go without crossing it. Listen, young people, old people, and everyone in between, this whole idea of how far can I go to the line of sin without sinning is something that needs to be removed from your thinking. That is the way a profoundly poor conscience operates. It's the wrong question.

39:54A good conscience seeks to be above reproach, to put distance, flees from sin. A good conscience is aware of God's presence and is honest with Him. A good conscience desires to grow in knowledge and understanding of God's standards. It wants to bring more light in. It doesn't want to go beyond what God says, nor does it want to fall short. A good conscience does not condemn where God has forgiven. 1 John 1:9 understands the truth. If we confess our sins, he's faithful. To forgive us. And listen, one of the most severest pains a soul can experience is the whip of its own conscience cracking down on it. And yet, a good conscience understands the forgiveness and the redemption that is in Christ and settles the account based upon the baptism that Christ went through on our behalf. A good conscience draws near to God.

40:59Hebrews 10:22 says, Let us draw near with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. You see, the world needs a good conscience to God. That's what's wrong with our world. Our world does not have a good conscience towards God. You and I need this. And how do we get this? Well, we appeal to God for a good conscience. That's what needs to take place.

41:37Fundamentally, this word is an appeal. It's an appeal to God for a good conscience. And this is a very rare word in the New Testament. It's the only place it shows up in the New Testament. That's pretty rare. It doesn't show up in the apocryphal writings, or certainly as all my research did. I couldn't. It's a very, very rare word. Rare word. Classically, it was used as a technical term that involved making contracts. Read a lot about it. A lot of different people, a lot of different thoughts about what this word means.

42:17It certainly involves the language of a transaction. I liked how one guy put it, after waxing long and technical with many different options, comes to the idea that it's a usage from Roman law and it simply means to ask. After all this, it just is a simple word, means to ask, a simple legal appeal. This is what God has done in response to that. I ask, a transaction, an ask. The bottom line is very clear that it is an appeal. That this appeal involves an expressed desire for a good conscience based upon what God has done in resurrecting Christ from the dead. It's simply saying, God, I believe what you're saying. It's simply saying, God, I want this for my life. It is an appeal. Notice in verse 21, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

43:26It's an appeal based upon what God has done in the death and resurrection. Resurrection of Christ. God announced that he had condemned this world because of sin. God has announced that there is a way to survive his eternal wrath through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has opened the way for you to get into the ark of his grace and leave this world behind along with its pending judgment. And all you have to do is simply ask him. Appeal.

43:59It's a simple request to be in solidarity with Christ. It's simply saying, God, I want to be in union with Christ and all that that implies and all that that involves. I want to be in Christ. I want to go where he goes. I want to be joined to him. I want to be identified with him. And where he goes is where I want to go. And the implications of such an honest appeal implies many things. First of all, it implies belief or in agreement with God's word. It implies that you're in agreement with God's view of sin, the just penalty and our need of a Savior and the graciousness that extended to us in Christ. It implies a heart that is convicted with the truth of God's Word, that's letting the light in. It's not trying to suppress it, but to adjust the life accordingly to the light of God. It is a heart that recognizes its need. Need. It's a heart that wants to do what is right.

45:07All this implied in simple asking. It implies a heart that is longing for a new world, like Abraham. You remember Abraham? Hebrews says this: By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Kind of like us, right? By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, and fellow heirs of the same promise. Is that not the life of the church? We have left this world behind, fellow heirs of the same promise. He was looking for the city which has its foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He had to leave the world to go. And that's what a heart, when it appeals to God for a good conscience, it's saying, I agree with you. I want to leave this world behind, and your judgment is right. And so I appeal to you to do what is necessary in my life. Give me this good conscience. Put me in solidarity with Christ. Because I know where Christ is, there is safety. There is salvation. Whatever.

46:30That takes on. So, Christ's willingness to suffer brought forth a glorious atonement. It brought forth a glorious proclamation, and it brought forth a glorious baptism. But it also exalted him to a glorious position. And don't worry, I'm not going to spend the same amount of time on this one as I just did. We're kind of through some of the more difficult parts. Very straightforward. Verse 22: a glorious position, a position that reigns, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. Having gone is the passive. Literally, he went, he was led to the right hand of God, and it's the same verb that was used to say he went as he was led to make a proclamation to the spirits in prison. He went into heaven. That is the place where God dwells in his radiant glory and splendor and power. He went to the right hand of God, and he went there after the angels and the authorities and the powers had been subjected to him. The authorities that had crucified him were now subjected to him. The angels that were opposed to him now subjected to him along with all others. All things were subjected to him.

47:48And this is why we can be encouraged to welcome suffering as part of life because he is the exalted at the glorious position. And he has a purpose. You see, the road for glory involves suffering for him, and the road may involve suffering for you at times. If it does, welcome it. Welcome it, because God has a purpose, a glorious purpose for any suffering that you do on account of righteousness. Now, I'd say don't go looking for it. I mean, don't go looking for the next train of suffering that comes along, but certainly the exhortation is: God will perhaps bring it. You identify yourself with righteousness, you be in union with Christ, and you go where that takes you.

48:45And if it brings suffering, then welcome it. You know, in conclusion, my mind goes back to those of Noah's time who witnessed the construction of the ark. It was a very big engineering and construction event. Couldn't help but ask in my mind: were there those who worked on it that didn't enter it? Were there those suppliers of materials that didn't enter? I would say, likelihood, yes. Don't know for sure. It's hard to imagine the size of this.

49:31That there wasn't some interaction with the world. What a tragedy, if it were so. Certainly, we know that there were those who saw it going up, probably made fun of Noah, in jest, some light-hearted, some more severe. But the tragedy is they didn't enter because of unbelief and the love for the fallen world, and because of that, they perished. And likewise, I can't help but think of those throughout the church age who have been loosely connected to the church. Maybe they grew up in the church, maybe they sang some of the songs that we sing.

50:13Maybe they even gave financially to the work of the church. And yet, because of their unbelief and love for this fallen world, they will not enter into God's rest. And I wonder here today: are there those among us you sing our songs, you fellowship among us, but you have not truly made the appeal to God for a clean conscience? That for you, it's the mere externals. But there is still a deep-seated root of unbelief and love for this world. And the message to you this morning is you can come out of that. Appeal to God for a good conscience in Christ. Jesus. Repent of your sins and call upon him. And he will save you like that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this extraordinary picture that you've left for us to understand the spiritual reality of the spiritual depths of our being and the root problem of man. And Father, we're all too familiar with it ourselves because we can honestly look in our own hearts and see all the seeds of death and destruction.

51:36And yet, Father, we also see this glorious promise. We see the Ark in the midst of the wrath. We see Christ in the midst of divine wrath. And we know that there is a safe haven being in Christ. And so, Father, we ask by your Spirit that you would awaken, that you would do whatever is necessary, God, to bring us into a right relationship. Make us willing, God, give us a heart that yearns and calls for you. And we ask you today to give us a good conscience as a church.

52:11Redeem us. Redeem those among us who are not saved. In Jesus' name.