Baptism and Judgement - 1 Pe..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So let's read carefully, as I said, the section that we usually read that comes from chapter 3, verse 13, all the way until the end of chapter 4, verse 19. Let's read carefully, beloved of Christ, together.

Verse 13. Now, who is here to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are a slanderer, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

But it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he may bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit in which he went and proclaim 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.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, but they malign you And they malign you, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judging the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand.

Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling, as each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace, whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength of God that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad When in His glory is revealed, when His glory is revealed, if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none suffer. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer as a meddler.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will and trust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Amen. That's the reading of God's Word. And as I said, brothers and sisters, we're addressing what the Apostle is addressing by the Holy Spirit in verse 21 and 22, which is the topic of baptism, baptism as an ordinance that when the Lord Jesus Christ came in his first coming to visit the incarnate Son of God, came to the earth, that he instituted Brothers and sisters, when the Lord Jesus Christ came for the first time, He did not only establish by His perfect life, by fulfilling all the requirements of the law, by going to the cross, by dying upon that cross, by being buried and resurrected. He did not only establish what we call the new covenant, the better covenant, better than the old covenant. But he also gave to his people, under this new covenant, commandments and ordinances that were supposed to be observed.

fulfilled, obeyed both individually and also as a community. Many commandments the Lord gave us, many light the Lord gave to the commandments of the Old Testament. But when it comes to the community of the church, the Lord gave us two ordinances or two commandments that are to be observed until the second coming of the Lord. The first one is the one that we know and that we practice every first week of the month, which is the Lord's Supper. And with the Lord's table, with the Lord's supper, we are remembering what the Lord accomplished upon the cross, his death upon the cross and the institution of the establishment of the new covenant by his blood through which we are united to him.

And we obtain the salvation that can only be provided by God and obtained by God himself. That is the first of the ordinances that is the Lord's table. But the Lord, in his mercies, gave to the church, to the people of God, under that new covenant that has been established by his blood, a second ordinance that some other people will call sacraments, but that we call ordinance or commandments to the church, and that is baptism. Baptism was given to the church to be observed by the individuals who belong to that church. And that is the topic, and that is what we are addressing this evening, beloved brothers and sisters.

Baptism is not only a person going, being immersed into water and coming out of that water as a profession of the faith that they have in the person of Jesus Christ. Baptism goes beyond the simple act of actually being immersed in that water and coming out of that water, but baptism is a testimony, is a symbol of the union with Christ, of the person who by grace through faith has been saved. You see, when a person goes into the water, this is a symbol that that person has been baptized or united to Christ in his death. And then when that person is coming out of the water, that is a symbol of the union that that person has with the resurrected Jesus Christ. So this ordinance, beloved brothers and sisters, that Christ gave to his church is a glorious symbol of the eternal union that the person has with the second person of the Trinity, the beloved son of the Father, namely our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Going down in the water, being immersed fully in the water, that is a symbolism that the death that Christ died is the same death that we are dying in union with Him. That's what the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 6. And then coming out of that water is a symbolism that now we are being resurrected in newness of life. And the life that Christ lives now is the life that the believer lives. My brothers and sisters, I want you to see something very important of that symbolism, because that symbolism is, as I said, as a union with Christ, both in his death and also in his life, which are two terms that the Apostle Peter uses in the passage of the Scripture that we have here in front of us, that Jesus Christ died in the flesh, that he was made alive in the spirit.

That is, when a person is united to Him, brothers and sisters, that person becomes, by virtue of that union, partaker of the death of Christ and also partaker of the life that the Lord Jesus Christ now lives in glory. But brothers, if we are going to understand, and of course sisters, If we are going to understand the impact and the meaning of that union that we have with Christ through baptism, we are to understand what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Because when the Lord Jesus Christ died, he had victory over sin and death and Satan. And because he was God himself and because there was no sin in him, he triumphed over that death that he died. And by his death, he killed death and was powerfully resurrected in the spirit of God, never again to face death as a man.

brothers and sisters, if we are going to understand baptism, we are to understand a very important element of baptism, which is what the Apostle Peter uses here in this passage of scripture. You see, the most important element of baptism is not abundance of water so that we can immerse the person into it and take it out of the water. But a very important element of baptism is that baptism takes place in light and in a correct understanding of judgment. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, He received the judgment that you and I, those who are in Christ, deserve. He received the judgment that we deserve and because he was sinless and he was perfect, he was then powerfully resurrected.

But the going into the grave and being ascended or being risen from the grave, it is something that happens in the context of judgment. So, brothers and sisters, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death, so that death is the judgment for those who have committed sin or are under the penalty of sin. Beloved of Christ, we are not going to understand the glories of baptism and what the Apostle says here in this passage about baptism if we don't understand what he's trying to communicate to us, and that is baptism, but in the context of judgment. That's why he, the apostle, by the Holy Spirit in the power, the inspiring power of the Holy Spirit, the apostle has given us the example of the days of Noah. He has pointed us now in the in the verses prior to the section that we have here to the judgment that took place in the days of Noah and the judgment of the days of Noah is the foundation of his explanation of baptism.

Now, brothers and sisters, there is lots of glory in the realities of baptism. May God give us the grace to see those things. But when I see that, when I'm saying to you that we can only understand baptism, the practice of going into the water and coming out of the water, we are to do it within the context of judgment. I'm saying to you that there is an aspect of a legal component in baptism. that there is a legal component in baptism, that there is something that connects baptism with that judgment.

Judgment is the penalty of sin. Death is the penalty of sin. That is a legal term of giving the penalty of the sinner. That is judgment. And if we are not going to see what the apostle is trying to communicate to us, then we're not going to see the glories of when a brother or sister goes into the water and comes out of the water.

That is the effort of the Holy Spirit through Peter to present to us clearly, first, before addressing baptism, the realities of judgment. That's why, as I said, he has already spoken and given to us the example of the days of Noah. And we had the opportunity last week to address something of the things that took place on the days or during the time of Noah. But if there's just three things that I want you to have in your mind every time that you think about the days of Noah, I would just say these three things. That is the first one is that the wickedness that was present in the times of Noah.

all the things that were taking place in the times of Noah. The second thing is the judgment that God promised and executed because of the wickedness that was taking place in the days of Noah. And the third thing, my beloved brothers and sisters, is the salvation that also God promised and executed or performed in the days of Noah. Those three elements are that which take place in the days of Noah. And that is what Peter is using to explain to us the glories.

of baptism, brothers and sisters, after we see these truths, and I hope by the grace of the Spirit, we will never be again, I hope by the Spirit, indifferent to the reality of a brother or sister going into the water and then coming out of it as a profession, as a testimony here today to brothers and sisters and to God, of the faith that exists within them by the workings of the Holy Spirit. The wickedness of the days of Noah and the judgment of the days of Noah and the salvation of the days of Noah is that which the apostle had in mind as he was writing that. It's very important for you to remember, beloved of Christ, that during that time, in the time of Noah, as we read it, and as you have read, I suppose, many times through Genesis chapter 6, that the wickedness, that the unrighteousness that was taking place in the days of Noah was such that even in the Hebrew, very strong words are used, that there was violence all throughout the earth, that the glorious covenant of marriage was violated by the people of the time of Noah, that when the Lord saw that He had created man, the Bible even uses the term that He regretted or that He was sorry that He had created man and that His heart was grieved. Imagine the amount and the level and the extent of the wickedness, the unrighteousness and the evil that was taking place in the days of Noah, that the Lord, who knows everything, sees all of these things that were taking place and that he regretted in his heart that he had created this man. Now this is what God does.

That is the judgment. He perceives, he observes all of these wickedness and righteousness that was taking place. And he comes to Noah and he says, I'm going to judge these people. My spirit will not contend with men anymore. And 120 years will be their days.

And therefore judgment will be executed. But Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Noah receives these instructions from God himself of the way and the means of how, brothers and sisters, salvation was not only promised to Noah, but was going to be executed. And you know that that was the ark. Build the ark following all of these instructions that I'm giving you. You and your family, you will enter into this ark.

And this is salvation, not only promise provided, but also executed when the waters came as judgment to all of these people. This is what is in the mind of the Apostle Peter as he's going to present to us, beloved of Christ, this teaching of this doctrine of baptism. But the question that we need to ask ourselves is why would the apostle, why would the apostle Peter go in his mind to the days of Noah to reference the doctrine of present baptism? Why would the apostle Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, why in his mind will he go to Genesis chapter six and to the things that took place in the days of Noah to teach the new covenant church, the Christians, about the doctrine of baptism, at least two reasons, brothers and sisters. The things that took place in the Noah generation, or in the days of Noah, are shadows of two things.

Those things that took place in Genesis chapter 6, all the wickedness of the world that took place in that generation is a shadow of at least two things. And the Bible speaks of that, of those things that took place being a shadow of two things. The first, as you have probably read many times in the Gospels, in Matthew chapter 24 and in Luke chapter 17, I think it is that those things that took place in the days of Noah, in the generation of Noah, a shadow of the last days. So then Matthew and Luke will say that just as in the days of Noah before the flood, that people were giving themselves in marriage and they were eating and drinking and all of these things were taking place. So it will be in the day when the Lord comes or when the Son of Man will come.

These things that took place in the days of Noah are a shadow, are a type, are speaking of the last days when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. That is, that the wickedness and the unrighteousness and all of the things that took place in the days of Noah will also take place before the Lord Jesus Christ comes. That is a prophecy that this is going to take place. But the second important thing, which is what actually Peter is using in this portion of text, which is something that many times is not mentioned, is that the days of Noah also, or better, the judgment of the days of Noah are a shadow or a type of the individual judgment. That is, that the judgment that took place in the days of Noah is not only a shadow of the judgment that will come before the Lord Jesus Christ comes and the situation of the generation in the time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes for a second time, but also that the judgment that is taken or that took place in Genesis chapter 6 in history hundreds and thousands of years ago, it is also a shadow and a type of the individual judgment of the person.

Now, Peter has both in his mind. He has both. He has the end of the days, but he also has the reality of the individual judgment. So, for instance, if you see in chapter 4, in verse 7, after the apostle has explained all of this judgment that is going to be applied, in chapter 4, verse 7, he says, the end of all things is at hand. He has after he has spoken of judgment and after he has used the example of Noah and he has spoke about the judgment for the spiritually speaking Gentiles.

As we read this in verse seven, he says, the end of all things is at hand. This is this genuine reality of the coming of the Lord that was in the heart of our brothers and sisters in the first century that should be in our hearts. That 2,000 years of time that have elapsed or passed should not separate us and remove the reality that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand. However, this is not the type that the Apostle is going to use to speak to us about baptism. The Apostle is going to use the judgment of the days of Noah as they typified or as they reflect the judgment that is applied on the person, on the individual.

How do we know that? Well, because in verse 21, he simply says, baptism corresponds to this. That is so simple. Baptism is not something that you apply to the whole of the church, or it's something that you wait until the second coming of the Lord to apply to a person. You apply baptism in the present moment.

That's why he says he now saves you, now saves you. And that baptism, which is applied to one individual, is what the Apostle is attaching or connecting to the example of the days of Noah that he has just described in the two verses prior in verse 19 and 20. With all of this, brothers and sisters, beloved of Christ, what I'm trying to say is that we will not understand the glory of baptism if we remove baptism from the context of judgment. Judgment, not only in the end of the times when the Lord will come, but judgment that is presented to each person and to each individual. That is the judgment that is applied to every soul.

You see, in a sense, brothers and sisters, Baptism fulfills what James says in chapter two. In the middle of chapter two, he says that mercy triumphs over judgment. So when a person is actually going to the water and coming out of the water, that person is a living testimony that what James wrote or what he said is true. The mercy triumphs over judgment. So I'm saying to you, brothers, that We are to understand judgment first if we want to see the beauty of baptism.

It's that when preachers and people make the analogy that if you want to say something that is brightening and that is beautiful, that you are to see it in contrast with that which is dark so that you can see the glory and the beauty of that thing that shines. And in this case, baptism is that glorious thing that is shining. But we are to see it in the context of darkness of judgment. What things can we learn from the judgment of Noah as they are applied to the individual? What things can we learn of the judgment that was executed in the days of Noah as they apply to the individual?

Only three things I want you to pay attention to, because I think those are the three things that Peter has mentioned in the text and that are, of course, taken from the days of Noah. The first one, brothers and sisters, is fearful, is that no one is able to escape the judgment of God. That it does not matter where you come from, in the days of Noah, and also in this present time, that it does not matter where you live, in all the planet, it does not matter where you go, it does not matter the place that you get into, you cannot escape the judgment of God. The judgment of God is going to find you just as the waters in the days of Noah found every human being and even Noah and his family. It's not that they were not put through judgment.

They received judgment that they were taken safely through the judgment in the ark. No one can escape the judgment of God. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere in the things that you do and in the things that you think and in these things that you say. No one is able to escape the judgment of God. It is appointed for men to die, and after death comes the judgment.

Not even coming to the end of our days can remove us from the presence of the judgment of God. Just as in the days of Noah, nobody was able to escape the waters of the judgment of God, Nobody is able to run away from the present and the future judgment of God, and that future judgment is not going to be by water, but it's going to be by fire. The second thing, brothers and sisters, that we can learn from the judgment of the days of Noah is not only that no one was able to escape from that judgment, but it's that that judgment, it is according to the works and the thoughts of every person. In the days of Noah, the Lord saw the earth, had a look at the things that were taking place in the earth, And he saw, as we know from the New Testament, that people were giving themselves in marriage, that they were violating the covenant of marriage, that they were eating and drinking and doing all type of things. that they were doing all type of things that probably by the protection of our moral standards will say, oh, but we do not do those things.

But what the Lord says in Genesis 6 is that he saw the intentions of the heart of men and that their thoughts and imaginations were continually evil and wicked. The Lord Jesus, or the Lord, the trying God of heaven and the universe, did not only see the things that were taking place, but he also saw the intentions and the thoughts and the imaginations of the hearts, that which was within them. And he saw that everyone had taken a direction of unrighteousness. That took place in the days of Noah. Brothers and sisters, that will also take place or takes place under new covenant times.

And when the Lord not only comes, but when a person is faced with judgment, as I said, disappointed for men to die, And after that comes the judgment and the New Testament is very clear that we are going to be judged by the things that we do and by the secret things of our minds and of our hearts. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 speaks of the judgment of the Lord revealing the thoughts of the heart, revealing the things that are taking place in the mind. No one can escape this judgment. No one is able to run away from the judgment of God. And everyone is going to be judged according to their works and according to their deeds.

That judgment is sufficient for a person to be sent into captivity, eternal captivity, into the eternal prison, into the legal system established by divine justice to punish those who have broken the law of God. That by breaking only one of the commandments, it is like breaking the entirety of the law. Only those two things are sufficient for a soul to be thrown into hell and never to Make it out of hell by any power, strength, or might. But the apostle also has another aspect, which he has already explained in what we tried to say last week. And also he addresses in verse 17 and 18 of chapter four.

And that is that in the days of Noah, brothers and sisters, people of the judgment of God was not only general and universal. That's why the flood was universal. That was the flood was throughout the earth. But nobody was able to escape that judgment. And it was based on their works and deeds.

But it was also because they rejected the gospel. And this is the idea that I tried to explain to you last week, but that the apostle is going to express or explain more clearly for the reality of the present time, which is, as I said, in verse 17 of chapter four, it says, for it is time for judgment. to begin at the household of God. Brothers and sisters, for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, that is the household of God, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Brothers and sisters, this individual judgment is not only a universal judgment that no one is able to escape, that no one is able to run away from, a judgment that is going to be applied to works and thoughts and minds and hearts, but it's also an added judgment to those who do not obey the gospel. Remember what I said to you about the word obedience, those spirits in prison from verse 19 that I tried to explain to you last week, those spirits of those people in the times of Noah, when Noah, by the Spirit of Christ in him, was preaching righteousness to them. that they were disobedient to the preaching and righteousness of Noah, the proclaimer, the herald, and they disobeyed his message of righteousness. This is the same after the times of Noah. Those who have listened to the gospel, those who have heard of Christ, those who have heard of the message of salvation, yet They remain in disobedience to the message of repent and come to Christ, to the message of salvation that is offered from the fountain of blood of the divine person of Christ.

Those who reject the message of the gospel. And then the apostle says in verse 18, And if the righteous, that is, the person who does obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, if the righteous is cursedly saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? If the one who does obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is not disobedient, but the one who believes on the Son, Jesus Christ, on the Son of God, and his eternal life is given unto him, what would it be of the one who does not obey the gospel but remains as a sinner? John 3, 36 answers that question. The wrath of God abides on that person.

The enmity of God abides on that person. And it is better for a person to suffer any type of suffering from men. than to be recipient of the eternal judgment of God without the intermediary work or absent of the intermediary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, all of these realities of the days of Noah is what make baptism beautiful. Because in the same way that all of these realities were taking place in the days of Noah, in the same way that all of this judgment was universally applied by divine justice, that God was a seer of the things that were taking place in the hearts of people, and that He was an observer of the things that people were doing, and that He punished in righteous and perfect judgment.

The disobedience to this message of the gospel, the same God says in Genesis chapter 6 that He found grace in Noah. He also provided salvation. These days of Noah, as they portray or typify the judgment that is applies to the individual, also provide The option of salvation, the provision that was provided or the art that was provided as means of salvation for Noah and his family are also brothers and sisters. the means of salvation, not the ark, but the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, of salvation for the one who is unable to escape the judgment of God, whose works and deeds are going to be revealed in the date of judgment. If that person does not remain in disobedience to the message of the gospel, that's why he starts now saying in verse twenty one, he says, baptism corresponds to this.

Baptism corresponds to this. That is, brothers and sisters, that the salvation that was provided to Noah, that the things, the ark as means of salvation, and all the time that passed while he was building the ark, and then in the ark, going through the waters of judgment, that all of that experience of salvation is equivalent to baptism. Think about it and think it down. That the salvation that was provided to Noah is equivalent to baptism. That's what the Apostle says.

It says baptism corresponds to this. Everything that he has said in verse 20, because they formally did not obey. When? When God 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. All of that experience of salvation, of these eight souls being brought safely through water, It is what corresponds to baptism.

And my beloved brothers and sisters, as you know, we're doing a teaching on the types of Christ during our Bible studies. The word that we have there corresponds is actually a very interesting word, because you have the type and then you have the fulfillment of what they call the anti type of you have the type or the shadow, and then you have the reality and the substance. That word that we have there is the word that people that study these things use to come with the concept of anti-type, because baptism is the fulfillment of the things of the salvation that took place in the days of Noah. Brothers and sisters, I don't know if this creates the discomfort that created in my mind when I was just going through the text, because he is saying that baptism that is going into the water and then coming out of the water is the fulfillment of the salvation that took place in the days of Noah, not only going through water, but the entire process of salvation, because brothers and sisters, Noah and his family were not saved by virtue of the strong and beautiful art that they built. They were not saved by the materials that they used for the ark.

They were not saved by the strength and the quality of the materials that they were instructed to use, not even by the obedience of a planet. They were saved by the pure grace that was applied to the heart of Noah 120 years before judgment came, when the Lord spoke grace unto him, his eyes were opened, and he said, I will do as you say. That is the moment when salvation started for Noah. And this whole experience of salvation is what is equivalent or it is the fulfillment of baptism under the New Testament. So the difficult question that we need to ask ourselves is, what does the apostle mean?

Because we know clearly from the New Testament that salvation is by grace, through faith, and this is not of works. This is nothing that can be done by men, so that men will not boast. Salvation comes from God completely, utterly, and is fulfilled in Christ himself alone. There's nothing that a person can do in order to obtain divine salvation. So what does the apostle mean?

What does he mean? Well, in his wisdom, he's going to tell us first what it does not mean. He's going to tell us the negative so that we will understand the positive. He says baptism, which corresponds to this, he says now saves you. He's not talking about some romantic or metaphorical language.

He is indeed meaning that baptism, which corresponds to that, now in the present time, New Testament believer, saves you. He gave the first qualifier. He's saying, not as a removal of dirt from the body. He says what baptism is not. He says the baptism is not the removal of dirt from the body.

Now, brothers and sisters, here we have two very important words. The first word that I want you to see is the word body. Because that word body actually means flesh. If you put your eyes in the end of verse 18, remember when Christ says that Christ died in the flesh and that he was made alive in the spirit? Remember that in the end of verse 18?

Well, the word body actually means that type of flesh. That is the type of flesh that the apostle is speaking about. So he's not saying that baptism does not remove the dirt of your body when you have not taken a shower in a prolonged period of time, as if water is going to remove that and that's going to make you acceptable before God. What the apostle is actually saying is more spiritual than the dirt of the external flesh. He's speaking about the filthiness and the wickedness of the internal flesh, that it is the system of the world.

He's saying that baptism is unable to remove the dirt or another translation and filthiness or the wickedness of the flesh. That it is that baptism, in and of itself, it is completely unable to remove the dirt and filthiness and wickedness that does not make you acceptable in the presence of God. In other words, the apostle is saying, Baptism in and of itself does not save you. He has said that baptism now saves us. Well, because he's going to explain that to us.

But baptism, according brothers and sisters, this is very important. Baptism, not only according to Peter, but according to the whole New Testament Scripture, in and of itself, is not able to remove the wickedness and unrighteousness of the flesh, which is that which is preventing our access to the presence of God. We cannot use water to make us acceptable in the presence of God. That is, that if a person is not truly saved and that person goes into the water and comes out of the water, there could be a party around that celebration that is taking place. If that person has not truly been united to Christ, That person will never be saved by just simply going inside of the water and coming outside of the water.

Why, brothers and sisters? Because baptism saves us insofar as it corresponds to the same experience of salvation that Noah experienced. You see, Noah was saved not only because he went into the ark, but Noah was saved because he believed, because he had faith in the things that God has said to him. And by virtue of that obedience, he spent hundreds of years in obedience, knowing the things that the Lord was going to do. And then when he went through the waters of judgment in the ark, that was the final consummation.

That was the external manifestation of an existent reality that had already taken place in the heart of Noah. He had already been saved by faith. So, brothers and sisters, baptism is an external manifestation of a reality that had to have taken place already within the soul of that person. And before we move into the next clause, where the apostle gives us the positive, I want to point you to a text that is going to expand to us the type of faith the type of faith that Noah had that was that which set him towards the ark that was the symbolism of baptism. Go to place to Hebrews chapter 11, in which the author of Hebrews is going to give us even more light about the salvation of Noah.

Hebrews. 11. Now, brothers and sisters, the question that I want us to ask ourselves is what type of faith? is the faith that Noah had that saved him and put him into the ark with his family, that is, that saved him through the judgment, which is that which the apostle uses. to represent the baptism that is necessarily attached to faith, which is what now saves us.

What is that type of faith? What are the elements of the faith that Noah had in the days of Noah, in that generation that saved him? Because I submit to you by the authority of the Word of the Creator of this universe, that these are the elements that the faith of the person that goes into the water and comes out of it ought to have, not with the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the membership of a church, but with the purpose of fulfilling the principles that are given to us by holy and perfect scripture. Chapter 11. Chapter 11, verse 7, it says, By faith.

You see? By faith. Faith was existent before the judgment of the waters came. By faith. Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.

The author of Hebrews has defined faith in verse one as now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Now in verse seven, he says, by faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Beloved of Christ, please, with your eyes and with your ears and with your hearts, see these three things in this text. The first thing is that by faith.

He says when he was warned by God concerning the yes unseen, The first thing that I want you to see here is that when Noah heard the warning of the things that were going to take place, Noah entered into agreement with God. By faith, he agree with God. He did not say, I don't believe you. In other words, he say, I believe. That is that Noah enter into agreement with our divine creator in that he said, what I'm seeing in this world is wicked.

It is unrighteous. It is filthiness in the heart of people. And therefore, the execution of my judgment is necessary. When Noah heard those things, he entered into agreement with God Beloved of Christ, genuine faith requires agreement, not with the traditions of men, not with religion, not with someone who is influential in your life, no agreement with someone that you want to be like. But genuine faith requires agreement with what God says that he is able to do to you and to the world.

In the case of Noah, that righteous judgment was going to be poured over the earth. This is required of faith, agreement with what the divine person says, not agreement with your conscience, not agreement with the world, not agreement with religion, not agreement with Christianity, no religion with your family or with your spouse or no religion with any institution, even if they call themselves to be Christians. Faith requires agreement with the things that God says that requires that your heart is open, that when God speaks is like when the apostle is writing grace unto you and your eyes are open and then you enter into agreement with that. Because when you enter into genuine and divine agreement, not with religion, not with practices of men, but with God, It comes what happens after in the life of Noah that says, In reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. He, by faith, the text says, that he had already agreed to the warning that God was giving him.

Yet, the response to that agreement, the response to that prophecy that God gave him that he was going to execute judgment, and also he said to Noah, I'm going to save you. I'm going to save you and your family. Yet, by the conviction that judgment will come and that he was going to be saved, he lived his life in reverent fear. And how did he do it? Obeying.

In reverent fear, he constructed the ark that the Lord had told him that he was supposed to build. It is because genuine faith moves because it happens and a divine agreement that it is not in the mind, but it is in the soul and in the heart of that person, then that person is utterly transformed to be in obedience towards the God that has initially saved the person. Do not remove from there, brothers and sisters, the word reverent fear. Because in the days of Noah, when he was building the ark, he was in reverent fear of the judgment that was going to come. of the judgment and the things that God had said.

God had said that he had repented or regretted or be sorry that he had created men and the judgment was going to come to destroy all flesh. So in reverent fear, he constructed the ark. And you see what the author says, the purpose of that obedience for the saving of his household. When genuine faith already exists within the soul and heart of a person, that person is genuinely and divinely moved to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. Or as the Apostle Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1, that we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of both spirit and body, growing in holiness.

How? in the fear of God, that Christians who have genuine faith are to cleanse themselves, are to in reverent fear grow in holiness both in spirit and in body. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, lest there be in any of you a heart, an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God. You see, given salvation is not the antithetote to removing the fear of God. It actually opens your eyes to the holiness and perfections of God and the things that are to come so then that you walk in love towards him, but also in a reverent fear, not a sinful fear as the fear that we have to our sinful parents or authorities, but a perfect and holy fear that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Second or third thing that I want you to see from that text is not only that he and Reverend Fear constructed the Ark for the saving of his household, but he says, by this, that is, by enduring in the construction of the Ark, remember that this took hundreds of years. Well, more than 100 years. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. That is, brothers and sisters, that he endured in his initial saving faith that was given divinely, in his reverent fear, and that he endured in the construction of the ark, and by finishing and completing by saving faith that through love produces obedience. He completed the arc in which he and his family enter and they were finally saved or they were the heirs of the righteousness.

And I love what it says here, because if you see the verse, The first word or the second word, which were the verses starts, he says, by faith, that is the initial moment. And then the conclusion of the arc, it says the righteousness that comes by faith. Why? Because the gospel of God is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Right.

And the just shall live by Faith, this righteousness of God, according to Paul, is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, so that the just, so that the person who is in Christ shall live not only initially by faith, but the life that now I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The life that I live in the flesh now, I live it by faith, the same saving faith that united me to Christ in the very beginning. brothers and sisters, when the person that goes into the water and comes out of the water has experienced by the divine power of Christ and the Spirit and the decree of the Father genuine salvation, then that person can say that the genuineness of that salvation, in a sense, is saving the person just as the Ark saved Noah. It was not the materials that Noah used to build the Ark, was not the strength of the glue or whatever he used to put together the Ark and the materials of the Ark. It was 120 years before that, saving faith that concluded in faith, and he was saved.

And that takes us to the most glorious part of the text, because if you go back, brothers and sisters, he has said to us what is not. And I try to explain to you from Hebrews what it is, but the apostle is going to give us something. Glorious, and that is found in the end. After he has given the negative, now pay attention to these brothers and sisters, because the apostle says baptism, which corresponds to these now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body. And then he's going to give us the positive.

And I said to you that the glory of baptism is that because it is connected to faith, as we have seen it in the case of Noah, he has an aspect of a legal instrument in and of itself. Baptism, because it is an outflow of real saving faith, because baptism as an obedience to a commandment is and requires and must be connected to genuine saving faith, it has a legal component of it or in it. I've said to you that baptism in and of itself cannot save you. Even if a person dies with genuine faith and that person is unable to be baptized, that person is saved. That person does not require baptism because if they die, just like the thief on the cross who is next to the Lord, who has been saved by the grace of Christ, who says, today you will be with me in paradise.

That person was not baptized. And then that person, of course, is saved without the necessity of being baptized. But a person who, by the providence of God, has been genuinely saved. and by the providence of God can be partaker of this obedience to a commandment, then the baptism is legally connected to the genuine faith that has already saved that person. The apostle puts it in a nice and beautiful statement.

He says, but it says, if you read it, this is baptism, which corresponds to this now saves you. He gives a negative. And then he says, as an appeal to God for good conscience. It says that this baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience. And this is glorious, beloved of Christ, because appeal, and even you use that word in a court system, when someone, a judgment has been given to a person, and then that person is going to appeal that judgment.

This word that we have there in this section of scripture is the only time that that word is used. And that word is indeed used to speak of contractual or even legal interactions between people. An appeal that is brought to someone, it is a confirmation of a contract that has been already established. And the other aspect of the sentence that we have here is that that appeal or that confirmation or another translation will say a response. It is an assertive, a confirmation, an agreement of something that has already taken place.

That appeal is done before or to God. And another two very important words are used. It says, for a good conscience, for a good conscience. These words, brothers and sisters, are very important. Even our brother quoted those words from Hebrews, that the sprinkling blood of the Lord Jesus Christ now purifies your conscience and gives you a good conscience so that you might present in good works.

Paraphrasing what he quoted, every time that the Bible speaks of a good conscience, it is a conscience that is now clear Now, remember what Paul says in Romans chapter two of the conscience, that the conscience is the God given divine instrument into each person which condemns a person. A person does not meet the law clearly, but the person only needs the work of the law in their heart, which testifies of righteousness and unrighteousness. The conscience of a person convicts the person as guilty before God. Brothers and sisters, when a person has been utterly and completely taken by the power of the Spirit, as the Spirit opens the eyes of that person and says, that which is required of you has been fulfilled already by Jesus Christ, then that person, by virtue of this real saving faith, can come and say, I believe. And not only that.

But my conscience is completely removed of all guilt that can condemn me. So when the person goes into the water, according to what Peter says, and when then a person comes outside of that water, that is when that person is partaking of baptism, that it is a testimony not only to the brothers and sisters, but also is a response and a confirmation of that brother or sister to God that they say, I am not guilty, and this is not because of me, but this is because of Christ is the person by saving faith is publicly proclaiming that they have been found righteous completely by God and not because of their own works, but that through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, brothers and sisters, when a person is united in the likeness of death and going into the water, and when that person is united in the newness of life of Jesus Christ and coming out of that water, that person is proclaiming that the divine court has found him or her. innocent, not by virtue of the life to which they had died inside of the water, but by virtue of the water that now they receive when they are coming out of the water, which is the life of Jesus Christ. And praise God for that.

Because now it is the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to that person. So that person, as Hebrew says, with confidence and with certainty can approach the throne of grace and say, I'm innocent. Not because of my life, but because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did upon the cross. And not only I believe that, I believe that that's sufficient. Just as Peter started saying that once we're all for sins, the righteous were the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, to make us acceptable to God.

In His flesh He was put to death, but He was made alive in the Spirit. becoming a life-giving spirit, so those who by grace through faith are united to Him can with certainty say, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And coming outside of the water becomes the greatest of the rejoicements, because now, if that person genuinely has faith, he or she can come before God and say, I am saved. I can enter into your presence. I can have access to you.

And not because of me, but because of what the Apostle says next, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only Jesus Christ, But the victorious Jesus Christ, the one who came down from heaven to defeat sin and death and Satan, to the one whose victory does not require a second fight, does not leave a second foe. The one who has conquered sin and death and the powers of Satan on behalf of his people. This is Christ the victor. Christ, the one who has triumphed over death and make those who are in him victors over dead.

For that reason, just as Christ has gone into heaven and it is established that the right hand of God as the accepted sacrifice of God the Father, it is constantly and ongoingly making intercession for those who, like Noah, are still building the ark in this present evil age. Those who, like Noah, are being reviled and accused by the disobedient spirits who are imprisoned in their bondage of their sins. Those like Noah are being persecuted for righteousness sake. Those like Noah are proclaimers and heralds and preachers of the righteousness of Christ with the spirit of Christ in them. Yet the world hates them as the world hated the Lord Jesus Christ, but The blessedness of suffering in the Lord Jesus Christ is not established upon the temporality of sufferings.

The blessedness of suffering is established upon the greatest reward that we have in heaven, and that is that the one that we love and we have not seen, We are going to see and be united to Him in the divine court in which He is now reigning, in the court in which He is establishing His kingdom. Brothers and sisters, when a person goes into the water and comes out of the water, This is divine. This is spiritual. This causes rejoicement because a human being who was not able to present him or herself before God can not only present himself or herself before God, but can, in the power and authority of Christ, make an appeal to God saying, my conscience is good and clean. And when the question is asked, why?

Not because of you, but because of your beloved son, Jesus Christ, whose righteousness has been imputed to me. Amen.