1st Peter Chapter 3 verses 18 to 22.

For Christ also died for sins once for all,

the just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but 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 arc, in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water.

And 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.

This text has some difficult parts to it.

So I want to make sure that we get the main thrust of it

clear right at the outset.

And then as we dig into some of the more difficult parts,

maybe the ambiguities or the uncertainties will not cause the big picture to lose its force. Now to get the thrust and the big

picture I think we need to ask what leads into this text and how does Peter lead out of it.

So let's notice the connections at the beginning at the end.

Look at verse 17, that's the verse just before what Greg started to read. It is better if God should will it so that you

suffer for doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong. So he says there, sometimes God wills that Christians suffer

when they've done nothing to deserve the suffering. Sometimes he wills that by doing right we suffer. The next

verse that Greg read was for Christ also died or literally Christ also suffered for sins.

And that little word four shows you that Peter is beginning to give an explanation or a basis or a ground

for why it is that sometimes Christians have to suffer for doing right.

For Christ also suffered.

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