5-1-11 1 Peter 3: 15-22 Christ is risen! The text is from St. Peter s Epistle lesson: HE WENT AND PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON. This probably isn t one of your favorite memory verses, yet. But I guarantee that you will talk about this verse more from now on, and I guarantee you will always be able to find it in the Bible. That s because once you realize who wrote it, you ll understand what it means, and why you talk about it so much. St. Peter penned these words. Peter was the most privileged, not only a holy Apostle, but only he and the sons of Zebedee were with Jesus when He raised Jairus daughter, and on the Mount of Transfiguration, and close by when Jesus sweat those great drops of blood for us. Peter helped set the table for the Last Supper; Peter reached into the mouth of a fish and found the tax money for himself and his Master. Peter got to be the spokesman for the twelve. Peter got to walk on water. He tried so hard, and he loved his Lord so much, but things went wrong. Jesus said, I m Going to Jerusalem. Peter said, No you re not. Peter said, I ll build three shelters. The Voice in the Cloud said, No you won t. Peter said, I ll never deny you. Jesus said, Yes you will. Peter said, I ll forgive 7 times. Jesus said, No, you ll forgive seventy X seven. Peter cut off Malchus ear. Jesus put it back on. Jesus said Watch and pray, Peter fell asleep. Jesus told a parable, Peter didn t understand. The Father spoke through Peter, then the devil spoke through Peter. Peter confessed Jesus was God, then rebuked God. Out on the water, Jesus said, Come, and Peter sank. Why do things go so wrong? Why wasn t Peter s love and courage enough?
2 Jesus told him THOU ART PETER, AND ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT. But after Peter denied his Lord three times, and Jesus was crucified and buried, there was no rock, there was no church, but it seemed THE GATES OF HELL were PREVAILING, towering, swallowing and scorning, as Peter wept bitterly, disappointed with himself, and his cheapened love, ruined walk and stolen courage. Any kindred spirits? If you ve been a Christian for any length of time, you know why your love and courage are not enough. You ve developed a healthy frustration with your sin nature, a healthy caution concerning the fallen world, and a healthy hatred for the enemy of your soul, who started all the trouble, and you know it. You know you have a real enemy when you hear yourself talk. When life gets hard, even Words that should make us glad just bounce off. Take the part where St. Peter says, CHRIST ALSO SUFFERED ONCE CONCERNING SINS, THE JUST ON BEHALF OF THE UNJUST, IN ORDER THAT HE BRING US TO GOD. And annoyed, we look up for a moment from our trouble and say, That s nice. Somebody tell the devil. Huh? It s true that you have an enemy. It s healthy for us to believe what God s Word tells us about him. The devil would be perfectly happy if you didn t believe it. He d just as soon cheapen your love, ruin your walk, and steal your courage incognito. He s willing to do without the credit, as long as he has you. If he can t get you to ignore his existence, he ll get you to obsess about him, and ignore all God s Word says about him. And oh yeah, he ll never mention that he s cursed. That would be hurtful.
After your enemy ruined Adam and Eve, THE LORD GOD SAID TO THE SERPENT, BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS, YOU ARE CURSED BEYOND ALL CATTLE AND BEYOND ALL WILD BEASTS. ON YOUR BELLY YOU SHALL GO, AND YOU SHALL EAT DUST ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE. 15] AND I WILL PUT EMNITY BETWEEN YOU AND THE WOMAN AND BETWEEN YOUR SEED AND HER SEED. HE SHALL CRUSH YOUR HEAD, AND YOU SHALL CRUSH HIS HEEL. We were supposed to hate this enemy. Real love always hates the right things Simon Peter had his chance to step up to the plate and hate. No sooner did the Heavenly Father speak through him, THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, that Satan spoke through him, and rebuked Jesus for His talk of BEING PUT TO DEATH... BY FLESH. How could this happen? How could Peter, the mouthpiece of God, the hot coal from the Altar having touched his lips, listen to the SERPENT, and mouth the lies for him like a dark marionette. Where was the ENMITY? Why don t we hate what we re supposed to hate? The devil has more ENMITY toward us than we have toward him. That s dangerous. He lies. We listen. We end up acquiescing to a monster that s hunting us; and our only Savior, who bled out His pores for us, we treat indifferently. I know God s Word says, bla bla bla but..but.. but. Think of your own child, and these monsters on the internet, trolling for your flesh and blood. What if your child disobeys you and goes on an internet chat room and hears lies until he or she starts to believe the lies, and love the lies? Suddenly they re a different person who is distant and cynical toward you! You would be insulted by that child and outraged at them and sorrowful about them and frightened for them. But that s nothing compared to the deadly intentions you 3
would have for the monster who s seeking your children to destroy them. God has children too. How does He feel about the monster who filled their heads with things they should never, ever have known about? I know there s no excuse; Adam and Eve weren t kids, and it s appalling that they or we would ever stop and chat with anyone who called our God a liar. God ought to be angry with us for buying it. But how angry is He with that serpent who stole our innocence, and screwed us up, and lied to us about the One who loved us, and catechized us to distrust our Maker? How does God feel about that scum that taught us how to hate and hurt each other, and to hide in sins, and roll our eyes and lie and gossip like serpents ourselves? I know there s no excuse for what we ve done, but how does God feel about the MURDERER who taught us how, and who taught us because he knew that sin would kill us? How does God feel about the one who killed His children? Lethal. But He promised that EVE S DESCENDENT WOULD CRUSH THE SERPENTS HEAD. 18 CHRIST ALSO SUFFERED ONCE CONCERNING SINS, THE JUST ON BEHALF OF THE UNJUST, IN ORDER THAT HE BRING US TO GOD. And indifferent toward our Savior who bled out His pores for us, we look up for a moment from our trouble and say, That s nice. Somebody tell the devil. Huh? I m gratified that I have a Big Brother who can take the school bully, but don t tell me, tell the bully. Somebody did. BEING PUT TO DEATH ON THE ONE HAND BY FLESH, BUT MADE ALIVE ON THE OTHER HAND, BY THE SPIRIT, 19 BY WHOM ALSO HE WENT AND PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON, 20 WHO FORMERLY WERE DISOBEDIENT, WHEN ONCE THE DIVINE LONGSUFFERING WAITED IN THE DAYS 4
OF NOAH, WHILE THE ARK WAS BEING PREPARED. Do you recognize your creed? The instant HE WAS MADE ALIVE, He descended into Hell. Before He even rose up and walked out smiling to meet the rest of us, first, One of us invaded Hell. He descended into Hell and THE GATES OF HELL COULDN T PREVAIL! Blessed Martin Luther said, God came fishing for a monster. For His human nature was the tender worm, and His divine nature was the steel hook. And the old fish took the bait and drove the hook into his own brain. VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAITH THE LORD! He walked into hell like He owned the place, and not to be nice. Jesus, true God and true man and preached 100% LAW: serving notice on your enemy and everyone who ever mocked God, that you are off limits. For like those EIGHT WHO WERE SAVED THROUGH WATER, - BAPTISM NOW SAVES YOU (NOT THE REMOVAL OF THE FILTH OF THE FLESH, RATHER AN APPEAL OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE TOWARD GOD), THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. Real love always hates the right things, and man, you don t want to get on the bad side of someone who s just risen from the dead! I can imagine the Roar of Aslan echoing through the damned caverns of Gehenna. Actually, one of us human beings, gloating with life, commanded the SERPENT, ON YOUR BELLY! DEATH, I WILL BE YOUR PLAGUE! This is what our Lord Jesus spoke of when He said, WHEN A STRONG MAN, FULLY ARMED, GUARDS HIS OWN HOMESTEAD, HIS POSSESSIONS ARE UNDISTURBED, BUT WHEN SOMEONE STRONGER THAN HE ATTACKS HIM AND OVERPOWERS HIM, HE TAKES AWAY FROM HIM ALL HIS ARMOR ON WHICH HE HAD RELIED, AND DISTRIBUTES HIS PLUNDER. Luke 11:20-21 5
It s all over the New Testament in so many words. But Simon-Peter is the only one in the Bible who wrote these words: HE WENT AND PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON. How do you suppose he came by that information? When did he come by that information? Come to think of it, in Luke 24, when the two disciples return from Emmaus and tell the rest about HOW THEY RECOGNIZED THE LORD IN THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD, and they responded, THE LORD HAS RISEN INDEED, AND HAS APPEARED TO SIMON. When was that? The Bible doesn t give us the details of that meeting between the risen Lord and Simon Peter. But somehow Peter knew from then on that his enemy was a fraud that had been put in his place. And somehow Peter wrote as if his bully, and your bully was pounded with many blows, and had his teeth and claws pulled! THE LORD HAS RISEN INDEED, AND HAS APPEARED TO SIMON. Yeah. Does that comfort you? It should. How many times, even when we re not in trouble, do we worry? What if I screw up? I m no good at this! I m perfectly capable of messing this whole thing up on my own- What if the devil blindsides me? Does Jesus have my back, really? Look at the change in Peter. Because Peter, who was perfectly capable of messing this whole thing up on his own, Peter, who the enemy once played like a cheap $2 banjo, also writes, BE SOBER, BE ALERT. YOUR ENEMY, THE DEVIL, PROWLS ABOUT LIKE A ROARING LION, SEEKING SOMEONE TO DEVOUR. 9 BUT RESIST HIM, FIRM IN FAITH, KNOWING THAT THE SAME EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING ARE BEING ACCOMPLISHED BY YOUR BRETHREN WHO ARE IN THE WORLD. 1 Peter 5:8-9 Yes, we will ACCOMPLISH EXPERIENCES OF SUFFERING, but that doesn t 6
change the fact that once Christ descended into hell, YOUR ENEMY, THE DEVIL, is still a fraud and a pawn that will only make us better against his will. LIONS that actually know they can hunt and kill don t ROAR. They don t want to scare you. they want to eat you. But a lion that ROARS, ROARS because that s all he can do to you. RRRRRRRuFFF. So next time he roars at you, say, Christ is Risen. How did that work for you? St. James says the same thing when he writes, RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU. James 4:7 Just as the crucifixion of Jesus which appeared to be the loneliest and most humiliating point in His life, but really HAVING DRAWN THE STING OF ALL THE POWERS RANGED AGAINST US, CHRIST EXPOSED THEM SHATTERED, EMPTY AND DEFEATED IN HIS FINAL GLORIOUS TRIUMPHANT ACT, RESISTING THE DEVIL, resisting temptation to sin, which appears to be the loneliest and most humiliating point in our lives, is really us saying to the enemy of our souls, Hey! (clap) Go on, get outta here. Scat! St. Paul says the same thing when he writes, WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS SCHEMES. 2 Corinthians 2:11b Maybe we should post his most recent scams on the email. We warn our friends of everyone else s scams! Hey, listen to this one: He got a bunch of Churches to open Holy Communion to everyone, under the guise of being more loving, welcoming, and accepting. He turned the wine into water and they all bought it, and now there s no wedding! WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS SCHEMES. Luther says the same thing when he explains the meaning of He descended into Hell. Jesus delivered me and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil 7
And from now on, every time you confess the Apostle s Creed, you ll remember this verse, that CHRIST WENT AND PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON. And you ll know remember where to find it, because St. Peter wasn t afraid anymore, and you ll remember: This world s prince may still scowl fierce as he will. He can harm you none, He s judged; the deed is done. One little word can fell him. Because you ll remember what your enemy can t forget: CHRIST IS RISEN! Amen. 8