The Triumph of Christ's Suffering, Part 3 B

Paul put it this way, thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. He will always cause us to triumph. And welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. To help explain why God allows trials, the evangelist D.L. Moody once gave this illustration.

He said, "...when projected pictures are to be viewed by an audience, the projectionist darkens the room so that the pictures may be more fully seen. So God sometimes darkens our place on earth, and then before our souls he makes to pass the splendors and glories of the better land." Well, certainly the sufferings that we experience on earth make us long for our heavenly home. But trials also strengthen us to serve God and minister to His people, and today on Grace To You, John MacArthur will help you see that even when you're persecuted for your Christian faith, you can find the path that leads through suffering to triumph. That's the title of John's study, and with today's lesson, here is John.

First Peter 3.18 through 22. Now we've been learning that the time of our Lord's greatest suffering was also the time of great triumph. And the lesson for us here is plain. Don't despair in the times of difficulty. Don't despair in the times of persecution. Don't despair in the times of unjust treatment. Don't despair in the times of rejection.

It could be the time of your greatest triumph. That's what Peter wants his readers to understand. He's writing to persecuted, rejected believers who are being treated unjustly, unfairly, and with great hostility, and he wants to encourage them by reminding them that the time of our Lord's unjust treatment when He was crucified was also the time of His great triumph, and we need to look at our own difficulty as a time of triumph also. Look with me again at our text in 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 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 a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, freedom 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. Now in examining the triumph of Christ and His suffering, Peter focuses on four aspects. A triumphant sin-bearing, a triumphant sermon, a triumphant salvation, and then in verse 22, a triumphant supremacy.

We come to the third area in which our Lord triumphed and we'll call that a triumphant salvation, a triumphant salvation. Just as these people in the ark went through the waters of judgment, so the believer is carried safely through judgment, the judgment of God. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Now if we were to change that word, baptism, and say immersion now saves you, we'd begin to move toward the meaning here.

Now let me say something at the outset. I don't think he's talking about water baptism because water baptism doesn't save you. I don't think he's talking about water baptism symbolically. I think he's talking about immersion into an ark of safety that went through judgment.

Peter makes it clear in that qualifying statement when he says, not the removal of dirt from the flesh. We're not talking about some external right but an appeal to God for a good conscience. It is a confession of faith in desiring a covenant with God. An appeal to God for a good conscience. Sinful men have only an evil conscience. The point here is the sinner is sick of his evil. He's sick of his sin. He is sick of his accusing conscience. He wants to be delivered from the burden of sin. He wants to be delivered from the guilt of sin, from the crushing, intimidating, fearful anticipation of judgment. He wants to have a good conscience. He wants to experience what Hebrews 9 14 says, the blood of Christ will cleanse your conscience. Hebrews 10 22 basically says the same thing. It says, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

What is he saying? He is saying in verse 21, there is an immersion into Christ that saves you. It isn't an external ritual of washing. What puts you into Christ is not a water baptism. What puts you into Christ is a pledge to God, an appeal to God for a clean conscience. In other words, it's a pleading to be forgiven for what? For your sins. It is repentance.

That's what it is. What saves you? Not water baptism, but immersion into the ark of safety who is Christ in whom you go through the death and burial and resurrection and the judgment of God falls, but it falls on the ark and not on you. What saves you? Not some external ritual or external right, but a heart longing to be delivered from the crushing burden of sin that plagues your evil conscience and wants to covenant with God to live an obedient life. And it leads you through the judgment, out the other side, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That celebrates, that completes the salvation triumph.

I was reading a book and the writer was discussing some of these things and gave an interesting personal account. He said, some people think that this particular passage illustrates how today people are saved by baptism in water. Then he writes this, I once asked a Mormon elder who advances this idea if he would please tell me who were baptized in Noah's day, the saved or the lost.

Fair enough. Who got wet? Not a drop of water, he says, touched Noah and his family. All those who went into the water were drowned. It puzzled him a bit and he replied, then what does it mean when it says they were saved by water?

The answer is that it means just what it says. They were saved by water but not the water that fell on them for none fell on them. They were saved by the water that fell on the ark. The water burst from beneath, typical of man's hatred and wickedness that nailed the Son of God to the cross. And the waters came from above, typical of the judgment from above which our blessed Savior bore on the cross. Yes, those waters typify the waves and billows of judgment which lifted Christ, our ark of safety up on the cross. It is by that redemptive work that we are saved. Those waters of judgment fell on Him, not on us.

Like Noah and his family, we who are believers are safe and secure in Christ. We are saved by the baptism of judgment. Christ knew it, Calvary, not by the baptism of water. The text in 1 Peter does not say we are saved by baptism. It says that baptism is a figure.

Both Noah's ark and baptism prefigure the same thing. That is the work of Christ as He bore our sins and rose victoriously from the dead. So you see in the cross, triumph. Not only a triumphant sin-bearing and a triumphant sermon, but a triumphant salvation was provided for us. Do you realize that while hell was throwing at Christ all of its fury and venom, and while the wicked men of this world who wanted Him dead were casting their hatred at Him, while all of that pinned Him to the cross, He was for all the redeemed of all the ages an ark of safety. And all of them in Him went through the judgment without a drop ever touching them.

Glorious truth. Because of our union with Jesus Christ, we were safe in Him. And we came out the other side through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed, a triumphant salvation provided for us.

Finally, the fourth point. Peter looks at the cross. He sees not only a triumphant sin-bearing and a triumphant sermon is preached to defeated demons, and he sees a triumphant salvation accomplished as when Christ Himself is undergoing all of the fires of judgment and all of the hatred of demons and men. He is an ark of safety for all who believe for all ages. He sees yet beyond that a triumphant supremacy. Verse 22, this resurrected 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.

Now, beloved, there is the glorious final note of triumph. Who is at the right hand of God? Do I have to say to you that all throughout the Old Testament and on into the new and all throughout eternity, the right hand of God is always seen as the seat of highest preeminence? The right hand of God is the place of strength. The right hand of God is the place of authority. And it simply says that when Jesus had accomplished His work at the cross, He was exalted to the right hand of God, the place of prominence, honor, majesty, authority and power. Notice Hebrews 1. In Hebrews 1, verse 3, it speaks of the Son of God, namely Christ, and it says He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's nature. Then He upholds all things by the word of His power. Then this marvelous statement. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

There's the same thought. And He had become much better than the angels. In fact, all the angels of God are told to worship Him in verse 6. Yes, when Jesus Christ entered into the glory of the presence of the Father after His resurrection, when He ascended to the right hand of God, He did so as the Supreme One. In Hebrews, again, this is a constant theme. In Hebrews, we are reminded in chapter 10 and verse 12 that He, Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. We find also in chapter 12 of Hebrews, verse 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Numerous times it says He went from the cross to the right hand of God. That is the seat of honor. That is the seat of authority.

That is the seat of power. Romans 8 says, Christ Jesus is He who died, verse 34. Yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God.

Over and over it says that. He died, He rose, He went to the right hand of God. And at the right hand of God He has given all authority over the angels and over all created beings.

It tells you how exalted His position is. Philippians 2 and verse 5 talks about Christ and His humiliation. And then in verse 9 it says, in response to His humiliation and His death on the cross, verse 8, verse 9 says, therefore because of His death on the cross, God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. From the cross to the grave, out of the grave to the right hand of God to be proclaimed Lord and every knee shall bow. And so says Peter that this one, Jesus Christ, marvelously triumphed even in the midst of His dying and He is at the right hand of God, look at the next phrase, having gone into heaven.

That's speaking about His ascension. Acts 1-11 says He was taken up into the air and a cloud into heaven. Hebrews repeats over and again the fact that He ascended into heaven where He sits. Hebrews 6-20, He has entered having become a high priest forever.

And of course He is interceding for us. Hebrews 8-1. Now the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Hebrews 9-24, Christ didn't enter into a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. And so listen, beloved, when Jesus went into the grave and out the tomb, He ascended to heaven.

And there is in that a triumphant supremacy. Every knee bows to Him. And what is He doing there at the right hand of the Father in the place of authority and power? He is interceding for whom?

For us. You see, because He was willing to submit Himself, God highly exalted Him. And it was through His suffering that He triumphed in that He now ranks above all beings. And so verse 22 says, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. I believe that looks back not only to the moment that He descended into the pit and declared His triumph and announced His victory, but to the fact that it was through the cross and the resurrection that all those spiritual beings called angels, authorities, and powers and those last two words are just different terms for angels, have been subjected to Him. All ranks of spiritual beings must submit to Christ.

He is preeminent. It says in Ephesians 1, remember these words in verses 20 and 21, I'm sure you will, it says that Christ was raised from the dead, seated at God's right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come and He put all things in subjection under His feet. So it was through unjust suffering that Christ found the path of triumph. It was through unjust suffering that Christ gained His great and glorious victory. It was through unjust suffering that He triumphed in sin bearing, He triumphed over spirits, He triumphed in salvation and He triumphed as the supreme being at the right hand of God.

What is the point of this? Peter is saying, look on your unjust suffering as the path of triumph. Look on your unjust suffering as the path of victory.

It was for Christ, it will be for you. Listen to Romans 8, 17. It says, and if children we are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, listen, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. It is for us through the path of suffering to reach the place of glory as it was for Him. Remember the words of Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.10, for this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

It is a trustworthy statement for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. The path of glory is always through suffering.

Jesus is our example. Do you remember Philippians 1.29? For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Beloved, Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 2.14, thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. He will always cause us to triumph even as Christ triumphed in the midst of unjust suffering. He triumphed over sin to bring us to God. He triumphed over all of the spirit beings that would stand against God and His people, put them in their place as it were. He provided an ark of safety in order that He might triumph over the judgment of God.

And He entered into the supreme place at the right hand of God. Don't underestimate the potential triumph in unjust suffering. It may be that when you suffer unjustly, you too might have the opportunity because of how you take that suffering to lead someone to Christ. It may be that when you suffer unjustly, the Lord will give you great and glorious triumph over the demons with whom you wrestle. It may be that when you suffer unjustly, you might become a source of safety for someone else who sees how you weather that storm. And it will be that should you suffer triumphantly, the Lord will exalt you and lift you up. So look not away from the suffering.

Look through it to the triumph. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, with a series he calls Through Suffering to Triumph, here on Grace to You. Now, John, as we bring this study to a close, it has become clear that suffering is not just a result of random forces. There is a purpose in our pain, and there's a pattern we can follow for experiencing triumph.

Isn't that wonderful to realize, Phil? There is a purpose in our pain. I think people, even Christian people, think that pain somehow interrupts the purpose of God. Oh, isn't the gospel promise health and wealth and prosperity and pain-free living? And shouldn't you be just claiming your healing all the time and claiming prosperity and claiming blessing and writing your own lottery ticket, expecting God to just do nothing but pour out showers of blessing on you nonstop?

No, you shouldn't pray that way. There is a purpose in pain, and it's a profound purpose. It's what conforms you to the image of Christ. If you want to be like the Savior, you can only become like him through suffering. You must participate in the fellowship of his suffering. We have been looking at suffering and the triumph of suffering, and I don't know that most people would even connect to triumph with suffering. But coming through the other side of suffering to triumph is exactly what makes the Christian advance in Christlikeness. The title of our series has been Through Suffering to Triumph. It's come from 1 Peter 2 and 3, and what we've learned is that suffering comes in all shapes and all sizes and at all times in life. Whatever it may look like in your life, rest assured that if you belong to Christ, you're not alone in your pain, and God has a purpose in your pain if you apply the spiritual means and resources that God would have you apply in the midst of it. Christ is our model for how to respond to suffering.

You need to be encouraged because whoever the Lord loves, he puts through discipline and suffering. This is such an important series because life is hard and suffering is everywhere. Again, the series we've been doing is titled Through Suffering to Triumph. It is available from Grace To You.

Free of charge, you can download six MP3s from the website. You're going to know people all around you all the time who are trying to figure out the reason for suffering. Christian people, you would do well to get these messages and make them available to help folks understand that God has a triumphant purpose.

That's right, and remember, friend, if you belong to Christ, you're not alone in your pain, and you aren't without powerful resources, as John's study Through Suffering to Triumph has been showing us. To study these lessons again, download the free MP3s and the transcripts. You can do that today. Just go to our website, gty.org, and again, the MP3s and transcripts are free of charge. Not only the lessons from the series Through Suffering to Triumph, but all of John's sermons.

That's more than 3,500 messages, all of them available for free download. The MP3s and the transcripts at gty.org. And friend, thank you for remembering that we are able to bring you radio programs like you heard today, and offer free books or booklets through the mail each month, and do much, much more because of faithful friends like you who support us. Thank you for praying for John and our staff, and if you're benefiting from Grace to You, and you can support our work with a donation, know that we take that stewardship very seriously, and your gift will translate into Bible teaching ministry in communities like yours. To express your support, write to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or call us at 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Look for our television program every Sunday, check our website for airtimes, and then be here Monday as we launch a series on some of Jesus' most compelling parables, with another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.