Humility Now, Glory Later •1 Peter 3:18-22

37:16 Teaching begins

Notes

Jesus made proclamation to the spirits in prison. Martin Luther said, who in the world knows what that means? Well!

Peter is showing us that we are going to suffer if we do what is right.

Jesus is the great example of this.

Jesus is also the example of how to get safely through this fallen, wicked world. That is, it’s all humility now, glory comes later.

We have three examples that all show us that this is true. Humility now, glory later.

Let’s read in 1 Peter 3 from verse 18.

1. Jesus humbled Himself to do the will of God, and He suffered, and was glorified.

A. The context is, it is better, if God wills it, that you suffer for doing right rather than for doing wrong.

B. You remember that Jesus existed in the form of God, the very essence of God. He is at the top, has all the authority, He commands, He doesn’t take orders.

C. Yet Jesus did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. He emptied Himself of all His rights and privileges as God, and He humbled Himself. He became born as a human being.

D. As a human being Jesus did only right.

1. He healed, He fed people, He taught what was right.

2. He continued to humble Himself. When His disciples are arguing who was the greatest, He washed their feet, a slave’s job.

3. Ultimately, He suffered for our sakes to bring us to God. The just died for the unjust. That is right. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jesus established the covenant God made with Abraham, and He fulfilled it, so that any sinner who comes to Him can receive that blessing, life forever, the forgiveness of sins.

E. Because Jesus was humble, because He suffered, God glorified Him (continuing in verse 21).

1. He raised Jesus from the dead, never to die again. Death is no longer master over Him. He died with an earthly body, He was raised with a spiritual body, He died in weakness, He was raised in power.

2. Especially He was raised in glory. He went into the heavens as King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is above all. He has the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow. All the angels will worship Him. All the demons will bow their knee to Him. The devil himself will kneel before Jesus and confess that He is the Lord God Almighty. All the authorities and powers have been subjected to Him.

F. This principle is expressed several times in Proverbs.

1. Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, and before honour comes humility.

2. Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honour .

3. Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honour .

2. The second example of humility now, glory later, is Noah.

A. Genesis 6:9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.

B. This is a time when men lived for centuries. Someone did calculations with the birth rate and length of life and figured that there may have been as many as seven billion people on the earth in Noah’s time, the same as our times today.

C. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

1. In Genesis 6 God gives the world 120 years to repent. He sets Noah the task of building the ark, a huge ship. The length was four football fields, the height 45 feet, or a four-story building. It had 1.88 million cubic feet of space, the equivalent of 450 lorry trailers.

2. During that time Peter says he was a preacher of righteousness. Evidently he let the world know that God was going to destroy the earth for their wickedness. Now is the time to repent and humble yourself before God.

D. That is always the right thing to do, but that is not what seven billion people did. They continued to do evil only continually. They were disobedient, unpersuadable. They quit listening to God.

E. And Noah finished 120 years of humility in the face of arrogance.

1. Can you imagine the contempt, the ridicule, the rejection of seven billion people against one man? “Really? You alone are right, and everyone else is wrong? You sure think you’re somebody! Who do you think you are? Who do you make yourself out to be? Spokesman for God! You arrogant pipsqueak! Do you think you can scare us? Are you going to legislate morality and force us to do what you want? You are sure dreaming, pal!”

2. Finally it comes down to ignoring, being thought of as nothing, a curiosity. “I’d order a hit on you and kill you, but you’re not worth the contract. I think I just want you to finish your big boat and sit in it. You know there’s no water here, right?”

3. Imagine how wearying it is to go against the flow of culture, to say no to what everyone else accepts as good. To be alone. No one to slap you on the back and say, “Keep plugging, man, you’re doing a good thing.”

4. Noah endured by trusting in God. Depending on God nourishes your heart. Your heart is sustained from above so that you are freed from your environment. If people reject you, it doesn’t matter, because your self-worth doesn’t depend on how others evaluate you. You look to what God says. His evaluation is the only one that matters.

F. Noah showed his family the right way, and they followed him.

1. Here’s his sons, their wives, they can see how Noah lives close up. They can see the abuse of the wicked. Which one do they want to be like? Is God real in Noah’s life?

2. Later on in Genesis God was about to destroy Sodom. He told Lot, Lot told his sons-in-law, “God is going to destroy this city! You need to come with me, right now!” They thought he was joking with them. He had become so much like everyone else in Sodom that it was out of character for him to suddenly be talking about God. “God who? What are you on about?” They perished in Sodom.

G. And then on one day, God blessed the humble and condemned the wicked.

1. All the fountains of the deep were broken up, the mountains were covered by water, and those fountains of the deep continued to gush forth water for 110 days. All life was wiped out. All seven billion souls were in the place of the dead.

2. Eight people went safely through that catastrophe because they were humble and trembled at the word of God.

3. The third example of humility now, glory later, are these spirits now in prison.

A. The opposite way to express this is in Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.

B. Where these spirits are is called in Hebrew, Sheol, the place of the dead. You don’t want to go to Sheol. This is what it says in Psalms 88:5-7 Forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves.

1. Just to go to Sheol means God forgets you for doing you good. His wrath rests upon you. And that wrath is like waves rolling over you.

2. From Ezekiel 32 we see that it’s a place of weakness and shame. Ezekiel 32:29-30 “There also is Edom, its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit. “There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

3. When Satan goes down to the pit, this is what will be said to him, Isaiah 14:9-11 “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; it arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all respond and say to you, ‘Even you have been made weak as we, you have become like us. Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering.’

C. Peter says that after Jesus was crucified He went in His spirit to Sheol and He made proclamation to these seven billion spirits. We are not told what Jesus said, but we can make some educated guesses.

1. He did not preach the gospel to them. There is a word that specifically means preaching the gospel; this word means only to proclaim. That would contradict Hebrews 9:27 which says, it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. There is no idea here that these arrogant, wicked spirits were given a second chance to believe in Jesus. There is no support here for purgatory or any kind of second chance after you die. They made their decision when they were alive during that last 120 years.

2. Jesus did the will of the Father. The Father had something to say to these spirits, which He had Jesus proclaim.

3. Jesus told them the truth. He is the truth, therefore what He told them was the word of God that is true.

4. So I think there was nothing encouraging in that proclamation, there is nothing encouraging for anyone who ends up in Sheol.

D. Now, those spirits might have said, “Well, here we are, what about You? What are You doing here?” And Jesus might have made proclamation about Himself as it says in Psalm 16:8-11 I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

E. These spirits in prison awaiting judgment prove the flip side of the coin is true: pride and arrogance first, and shame and destruction afterward.

4. Peter shows that the only way through this life and through judgment is humility now, glory later.

A. He says baptism is like the ark of Noah.

1. It’s not a magic washing that’s going to protect you, or wash you or do anything for you. It’s just a symbol of a reality.

2. The reality is you have asked God for a clean conscience. The only way to have a clean conscience is to trust that Jesus died for your sins. A righteous penalty has been paid to God, adequate, acceptable. You ask God to cleanse you and accept you in the name of Jesus. Then you are baptised into Christ. The true meaning of baptism is you go into Christ. You share His death to sin, once for all. Then you share His new life, raised from the dead. You are no longer going to Sheol, the place of the dead. Your citizenship is in heaven. That’s where you are going.

3. The point is that just as eight people stayed in the ark and went safely through judgment, you stay in Christ. Then you will also go safely through judgment because Jesus went safely through judgment.

B. As we abide in Christ we will learn humility, because His Spirit abides in us. He will transform us to think and act like Christ, and that means we will be humbled. Because even for the Son of God, born as a human being, it is humility first, and afterward glory.

C. For Jesus Christ it was not isolated pockets of humility every once in a while. Anywhere from being God is way, way down! He lived humility from being conceived in Mary’s womb, to dying on the cross. It was all humility His whole earthly life. Since we are in Christ, we will learn humility every day of our lives.

5. So what?

A. Jesus made proclamation to seven billion spirits in prison, kept for the day of judgment. You wonder, why are we told this?

B. Not for their sake. It was too late for them on that day when they entered into judgment and lost their lives forever. They serve as witnesses of what not to do.

C. This was written for us, the ones who believe in Jesus. He is the example of how to live safely through this life and through judgment. He suffered shame and agony. He died. He went to the place of the dead. And now He is raised and glorified above every name that is named, in this age and in the age to come. Jesus is the certainty that life is humility now, glory afterwards.

D. Here’s how to know if you are on the right track.

1. Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Is He the Lord of your life?

2. Are you being humbled? Are you learning that you are not as good as you think you are? It’s an unpleasant shock, but it is true.

3. That is balanced with learning that God loves you even though you are worse than you thought you were. God loves you anyway!

4. You become less and less in your own estimation, and God increases more and more. Other people seem better than you. You seem like the worst sinner of anyone in the room. But God loves you, so you keep going. Is this happening to you?

E. If it is, then you can see God is humbling you and you are going to come safely to heaven. If you ever start thinking you are hot stuff, you are headed for a fall.

F. Just like Noah, as you depend on the Lord He will feed and satisfy your soul. The promise in James 4 is true: Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. It’s all humility now, and afterwards, glory forever.

Let’s pray.