Sunday School Lesson

1. 1 Peter 3:13-22
“ALWAYS READY”
October 9, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

2. 1 Peter 3:15 ESV
15 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,

3. What’s the number one thing?
http://quotesthoughtsrandom.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/first-things-first.jpg

4. The Glory of God!
https://forgodalmighty.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/cropped-sunset1.jpg

5. 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
all to the glory of God.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6tzRiT-BrDs/TIGM_Ih3dAI/AAAAAAAAAX0/0AJWPvlAfqw/s640/Gods+Glory.jpg

6. October Memory Verse
Colossians 3:16 ESV
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching
and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.

7. References
•Missler, Dr. Chuck. “The Book of First Peter, Chapter 3,
Session 4, May 2016”; YouTube Video.
•ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Publishers,
2008).
•MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Study Bible
(Nashville, TN: Nelson Publishing, 1997).

8. Introduction to 1 Peter 3
•Letter written to Christians living in provinces under
Roman occupation (modern day Turkey).
•Christians were being persecuted because of their
religious practices – considered enemies of the state.
•Peter was in Rome when writing in 64 AD, shortly
before his upside down crucifixion.
•The Roman government was under Nero who was a
ruthless ruler.

9. Themes of 1st Peter
•How are Christians to live and act in an environment
that is hostile to you because of your religion?
•How do you deal with religious persecution?
•Jesus answered these questions by His example when
He was on earth.

10. Summary of 1 Peter 1:1- 3:12 (Prior Lessons)
•Christians are only sojourners and exiles on earth
because our citizenship is in heaven.
•Live your life in such an extraordinary way to please
God, that people will see that you are different.
•Use Christ as your example for how to behave while
suffering.
•Christians have a “living hope” for eternity in heaven
because of Christ.

11. Peter is describing for us a “Christian World
View” in his letters.
•Looking at the world and responding as Christ would.
• Truth is based on the Holy Scriptures.
• Decisions are made with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

12. What does Peter mean when he talks about
persecution, suffering and slandered?
•Christians were not looked upon with favor by non-
believers.
•Christians could be victims of assault, discrimination,
torture, robbery and murder with no justice from the
Roman government.

13. 1 Peter 3:13 ESV
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for
what is good?
•The government and people are less inclined to
persecute you if you are doing good.

14. 1 Peter 3:14 ESV
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake,
you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be
troubled,
•“even if” – Suffering and persecution can come even
when you are doing good.
•“you will be blessed” – Rewards in heaven.

15. How are we to face suffering for righteousness’
sake, even when we are innocent?
1. Do not fear man.
Matthew 10:28 ESV
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot
kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul
and body in hell.
2. Do not worry.
John 14:27 ESV
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be
troubled, neither let them be afraid.

16. 1 Peter 3:15 ESV (Preparing your answer)
15 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,
•Begin by having a Christ centered heart.
•Your life is so obviously different that others want to
know why.

17. Being prepared to give an answer (give a
defense).
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one
approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed,
rightly handling the word of truth.
•Apologetics – the systematic defense of the faith.

18. Peter explained the “living” hope within you
earlier.
1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us
to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an
inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and
unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power
are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time.

19. What should be your attitude when sharing
your answer for your hope?
•Gentleness – Soft answers, kind words.
•Respect – Never condemning or judging; loving.

20. 1 Peter 3:16 ESV
16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are
slandered, those who revile your good behavior in
Christ may be put to shame.
•The best defense against slander is to be innocent!

21. “when you are slandered”
•If suffering for doing evil, you brought that hurt upon
yourself.
•If suffering for doing good, praise God! You can use
that hurt as an opportunity to share Christ.
•Justified hurts (someone purposefully slanders you)
are the most dangerous and hardest to forgive.

22. Justified Hurts: What to do.
•Hanging on to hurts become resentments that bind
you to that person.
•Carry those hurts to the foot of the cross and leave
them there.
•Consider that God has probably forgiven you more
than you are asked to forgive in others.

23. 1 Peter 3:17 ESV
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should
be God's will, than for doing evil.
•It can be God’s will for you to suffer for doing good.
•Peter reminds us in the next verse that Christ suffered
unjustly because it was God’s will.

24. 1 Peter 3:18 ESV
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous
for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the
spirit,
•Christ (righteous) died for all of our sins (unrighteous)
so that we can face the Holy God as clean and
righteous.

25. Paul teaches resurrection for the believers also.
Romans 8:11 ESV
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells
in you.
1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

26. What is GRACE?
G– God’s
R– riches
A– at
C– Christ’s
E– expense

27. 1 Peter 3:19-20 ESV (Interpretive Challenges)
Two questions to answer in these verses:
1. Which spirits?
2. When did Christ proclaim (ESV, NIV) or preach (KJV,
NKJV) to these spirits?

28. Which spirits - Supernatural or Human?
•“pneumasin” – usually refers to supernatural beings,
but it is also used to refer to human “spirits”
Hebrews 12:23 ESV
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are
enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and
to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

29. Interpretation of “proclaim” vs “preached”
•Greek word is “kerysso” which means “to proclaim or
to make known”.
•1 Peter 3:19 indicates this is to proclaim or declare the
victory over death and not an offer of salvation in
Christ.

30. 1 Peter 3:18b-20 ESV
18b being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the
spirit, 19 in which he (Christ) went and proclaimed to
the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not
obey, when God's patience 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.
•Let’s review Genesis 6:5-8 for Noah’s connection.

31. Genesis 6:5-8 ESV
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord
regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it
grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will blot
out man whom I have created from the face of the
land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of
the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them."
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

32. How does Noah factor into these verses?
•Peter uses Noah as an example of someone who
suffered for doing good.
•Imagine the ridicule Noah suffered for the 120 years
he had a boat building operation in his front yard.
•God gave the people in Noah’s day 120 years to
repent before the earth was flooded (Peter writes
“God’s patience waited”).

33. Let’s Read Again 1 Peter 3:19-20.
1 Peter 3:19-20 ESV
19 in which he (Christ) went and proclaimed to the
spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey,
when God's patience 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.

34. One Early Interpretation
•Clement of Alexandria in 200 AD taught that Christ
was sent to Hades in His spirit after the crucifixion and
before the resurrection to proclaim the message of
salvation to the souls of sinners who were imprisoned
for their sins before the flood.
•Problem: Scripture does not teach conversion of the
soul after physical death.

35. The Apostles’ Creed – began in 4th century.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven
and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin
Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died
and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third
day He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty…

36. What do we mean by Hell?
• Hell, Hades and Sheol refer to the place where lost souls go
after death awaiting final judgment.
Revelation 20:13-14
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and
Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were
judged, each one of them, according to what they had
done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake
of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

37. What would Christ do in Hell (Hades, Sheol)?
1. Some believe that Christ had to experience Hell
(Hades) for the price of our sins to be paid.
2. Some believe that Christ witnessed to those souls
in Hades to offer salvation.
3. Some believe that Christ went there to proclaim His
victory over Satan and His authority.
4. Some believe that Christ released some souls to go
to heaven.

38. Another interpretation for 1 Peter 3:19-20 that
ties the Holy Spirit to Christ and to Noah.
•During the 120 years while Noah was building the Ark,
Christ “preached” through Noah via the Holy Spirit to
the people.
•The “spirits in prison” were the lost souls living in sin
during Noah’s day.
•In Christ’s time on earth those people who died
during the Flood were spirits in Hades awaiting the
final judgment described in Revelation 20.

39. Another interpretation related to Noah’s time.
•The “spirits in prison” are the fallen angels of Genesis
6 who consorted with the daughters of men as Jude 6
explains.
•Between His death and resurrection, Christ visited the
fallen angels in prison and announced His victory over
Satan.
•Jesus announced their doom and His victory over
angels and His authority over them (1 Peter 3:22).

40. Genesis 6:1-4a ESV
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land
and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God
saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And
they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord
said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is
flesh: his days shall be 120 years." 4a The Nephilim were
on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when
the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and
they bore children to them.

41. Verses that support this interpretation.
Jude 6 ESV
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position
of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in
eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of
the great day—
2 Peter 2:4 ESV
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast
them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy
darkness to be kept until the judgment;

42. Had Enough??

43. 1 Peter 3:21 ESV
21 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,
•Baptism is used as an “Antitype” – An earthly
expression of a spiritual reality; a picture of a spiritual
truth.
•Baptism as an antitype of the resurrection.

44. Christ is the ark of your salvation.
•Eight people were in the ark and went through the
judgment of the Flood, and were unharmed.
•The Christian will go through the final judgment
unharmed because Christ paid the price for your sins
and you placed your faith in Him.

45. Parallels between the Flood and Baptism.
• As the Flood wiped away the old sinful world, baptism
pictures one’s break from his old sinful life and entrance
into a new life with Christ.
• It is not the going into the water that saves you, but that to
which the baptism speaks – the resurrection of Christ from
the dead.
• “Buried with Him in baptism and raised to walk in a new
way of life.”

46. 1 Peter 3:22 ESV
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of
God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been
subjected to him.
•“Session of Christ” – seated at the right hand of God
the Father.
•Christ has power and authority over all things.

47. Take Home Messages from 1 Peter 3:13-22.
•Suffering & persecution, both just and unjust, will
come to the believer in life.
•Christ set the example of how to respond – Follow
Him.
•Remember that our life on this earth is temporary and
our citizenship is in heaven.
•Be prepared to share your story of the hope of
eternity when asked.

48. Next Sunday, October 16 is Special!
“All In Sunday”
Goal of 1700 in Sunday School
Food in Elevator Area 8:30am -8:55am
Please invite those you have not seen lately!

49. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.”
John 14:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

50. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a ESV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life
to pay the penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death
explained in Revelation 21:8.

51. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Revelation 21:8 ESV
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for
murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,
their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8 ESV
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.

52. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 6:23b ESV
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 ESV
7 “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his
God and he will be my son.”
Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquers.

53. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 10:9-10 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 ESV
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.”

54. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
If you have questions or would like to know more, Please,
contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/