Text:
1Peter 3:18-19:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
Theme:
Preaching In Hell
Introduction:
- The First Epistle of Peter is believed to be the masterful handiwork of the Apostle Peter, that boisterous, loving, aggressive disciple of Jesus upon whose name (and even person) the Church itself is built.
- The epistle is completely reflective of the dynamic spiritual background and personality of Paul in that it has numerous references to both the Old Testament and the Pauline letters.
- The epistle begins with one of the most concise yet comprehensive testimonies of the theological understanding of God and His ultimate love for His creation. Hence we have our text!
- Peter made it clear from the beginning through our text that He knew the power, purpose, and prominence of Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection à his time spent with the Master was not for naught.
- The text refers specifically to a critical in Jesus’ commission à Going to “Hell”
- What is “Hell”
- The word “Sheol” (Hebrew) means a “hollow subterranean place,” therefore “Hades” (Greek) or “Hell” must mean the same.
- God made the “place” to be the resting place of the souls of those who die called “Paradise” or “Abraham’s Bosom”!
- Luke 23:43, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
- Not Heaven yet, but “protective custody”
- Luke 16:23, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
- Luke 23:43, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
- Satan’s sin of pride changed the original plan.
- Satan wanted to take God’s throne so God “kicked” him out of Heaven and put him and his cohorts in “Hell”
- Matthew 25:41, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”
- Hell has a dual purpose à two distinct and separate existences:
- 1) the “Protective Custody” of the souls of saints
- 2) the damnation of sin sick souls to the enemy
- g., Luke 16:22, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;”
- Satan wanted to take God’s throne so God “kicked” him out of Heaven and put him and his cohorts in “Hell”
- Holds the Devil and his cohorts until Judgment Day
- Jude 1:6, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”
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- Who goes to the “Hell” that Satan governs?
- Psalms 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
- Who goes to the “Hell” that Satan governs?
- What is it like to be in “Hell”?
- 2Thessalonians 1:9, “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”
- What is “Hell”
- Given this scary concept of “Hell” often misunderstood by many, let’s look at it in the context of ministry …hence, PREACHING IN HELL!!!!
Body:
- Jesus’ job: Preaching the FOLKS out of HELL
- Jesus went to Hell
- Part of the ordination of Jesus’ coming in the flesh was for Him to go through the full human experience…even in His death!
- The first part of our text says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit…”
- After being born…after growing up in obscurity…after baffling the priests and scribes in the temple…after working obediently with His father from 13 to 30…after walking the roads of Galilee and Samaria from 30 to 33…after being arrested and bound…after being accused and placed on a rugged cross…after the last seven words spoken by our Savior…after He gave up the ghost è Jesus went to Hell
- As we all must go, after “giving up the ghost” (Matthew 17:50), the person is sent to the Bosom of Abraham in order to await the coming Messiah in the safety of God’s “protective custody”.
- Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
- This is the “Paradise” that Jesus was referring to when speaking with the penitent thief on the cross.
- Luke 23:43, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
- Part of the ordination of Jesus’ coming in the flesh was for Him to go through the full human experience…even in His death!
- When Jesus got there, Jesus preached to EVERYONE (all the spirits) in Hell.
- After fulfilling His human requirement, Jesus seized the opportunity and stepped into His Divinity!
- The second part of our text says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;”
- This is the turning point of the crucifixion story!!
- Jesus turned from being the suffering Son to the reigning Savior!!!!!!!!
- Acts 5:31, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
- The Word went out to every spirit (or everyone) in Hell
- Isaiah 55:11, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
- God gave those in Hell “another chance”
- Ephesians 4:7, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”
- What Sermon do you think that Jesus Preached to the spirits in Hell?
- Maybe, 2Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
- Maybe, the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:2, “And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
- Maybe, His own trial sermon in Mark 1:15, “… The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
- Maybe, the words of Peter in Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
- Or Maybe, the words of comfort in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
- After fulfilling His human requirement, Jesus seized the opportunity and stepped into His Divinity!
- The Word was only heard by those whose hearts were soft to the Word of God…those in Paradise or the Bosom of Abraham
- Hebrews 3:8, Hebrews 3:15, “…To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”
- Those who Hear the Word à Luke 8:15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
- Jesus then freed them from Hell and their “protective custody”
- Jesus’ sermon caused all those in Hell to convert and be freed!!! What a Sermon!!!!
- Prophesied in Acts 2:27, Psalms 16:10, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
- Ephesians 4:8, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”
- Jesus’ sermon caused all those in Hell to convert and be freed!!! What a Sermon!!!!
- Jesus took the “Keys”
- Before no man could put one in or take one out of Hell. Death is a sentence that no one could overcome.
- Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
- Jesus, being all God and all man at the same time, “broke the chains” or “took the keys” à Death could not “hold” Him!
- 1Corinthians 15:55, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
- Therefore, Jesus metaphorically or metaphysically “Took the Keys” è merely because of WHO HE IS!
- Because of who He was, He was able to call Lazarus and others from the dead!
- John 11:43-44, “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”
- If He had not specified who, His power would have brought everyone out THEN! J
- Revelation 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
- Because of who He was, He was able to call Lazarus and others from the dead!
- Before no man could put one in or take one out of Hell. Death is a sentence that no one could overcome.
- Jesus went to Hell
- Jesus then went back to the earth from Hell and Hades and after conquering death to appear as the resurrected Savior!
- Ephesians 4:9-10, “(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
- Jesus is coming back again to do what He did after His crucifixion!
- 1Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”
- The difference then is that Jesus will NOT go to Hell or preach another sermon!
- So, those in Hell of Satan’s dominion will NOT hear the Word to give them liberty!!!
- Then He will get those living
- 1Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Conclusion:
- Our job: Preaching the HELL out of FOLKS
- We can’t do as Jesus did because He did that job then and will be coming back to do it again for eternity.
- 1Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ SHALL rise first:”
- Must preach against the things that reflect the existence of and lead people to…Hell!
- Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
- We are to LOVE THE SINNER but HATE THE SIN
- Love the liar but hate the lying
- Love the murderer but hate the killing
- Love the gossiper but hate the gossiping
- Love the adulterer but hate the adultery
- Our preaching must separate the sinner from the sin through God’s Word.
- As Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
- God’s Word WILL do it!!
- God’s Word will…
- God’s Word will…
- God’s Word will…
- We can’t do as Jesus did because He did that job then and will be coming back to do it again for eternity.
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