The Christian Life

This morning we'll be continuing in our series in 1 Peter, if you'd like to turn there. 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll be beginning in verse eight. We've been slowly going through the book of 1 Peter together, and I've mentioned in a couple of different sermons that in 2:12 kind of serves as a turning point in the book where he says, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable," and then he begins to spell it out in different ways.

Here we're seeing a culmination of that as it relates to the life of the Christian today. Let me pray for us, and then we will read from 1 Peter.

Our Father, Lord, as we turn our attention now to your Word, Lord, may the words of my mouth, the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing to your sight. Give us ears to hear. Lord, give us hearts that continue to grow in affection for that which our Savior did. Lord, let us not merely lament suffering and seek comfort in life, but seek the joy that you have set before us to live in accordance with your will. Amen.

Scripture Reading

If you would stand with me for the reading of God's Word, we'll read from 1 Peter 3, beginning in verse 8 to the end of the chapter. Hear now the Word of the Lord.

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless. For to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 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, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 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. 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, powers having been subjected to Him. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever."

You may be seated.

Sermon Introduction

What does the Christian life look like when following Christ might make life harder? It is one thing to love our neighbors when they love us in return. It is one thing to be kind when others treat us kindly. It is one thing to stand firm in our convictions when those convictions are welcomed or maybe even applauded.

But what happens when you are mistreated for doing what is right? What happens when you speak the truth and you are mocked for it? What happens when you respond to an insult with patience, only to receive another insult in return? Peter writes to Christians who, if you remember, are living as exiles in a world that does not share their deepest allegiance to Christ.

Since chapter two, he's been showing us how this actually plays out in the Christian's life. He spoke about our relationship to civil authorities. He spoke about the relationship with slaves and masters, with husbands and wives, and now he's turning and saying, "All of you." He gathers the whole church under one calling.

Bless rather than retaliate. Do good even when it brings suffering, and explain the hope of Christ. He does not leave us with duties to fulfill by our own strength. He directs us to Jesus Christ, who suffered for sins, rose from the dead, and reigns over every power. The Christian life is not built on the promise that doing good always makes life easier.

Wouldn't we love if that was true? If doing the right thing always made life easier? Frequently, doing the right thing is actually doing the hard thing or the thing that's going to take longer. This morning, we're going to consider this. It's outlined for you in your bulletin on page 26: the way of the Christian life, the results of the Christian life, and the Lord of the Christian life. Well, Peter begins, "Finally, all of you."

The Way of the Christian Life

"Finally" signals that he's bringing together all of the instructions that he started in chapter two, this common calling that we all share. You might not be a slave, you might not be a husband, you might not be a wife, you might not be a governing authority. All of you. He's catching everybody else. Peter calls us to a unity of mind.

Sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, a humble mind. These virtues describe a people being shaped by Christ their Savior. So we could ask, are Christians perfect? If you've ever met one, the answer is no. And if you've ever met a really good one, they'd even say, "I'm a sinner." The Apostle Paul even says he's the chief of sinners, recognizing that Christians are not perfect.

This unity does not mean agreeing on every preference. It means our shared allegiance to Christ is greater than what could even divide us. Sympathy makes the burdens of others matter to us. Are we always going to bear one another's burdens perfectly? I wish I could say yes. Even as today we receive our first members, I wish I could say to those of you who will take your vows today, "We will always perfectly have sympathy for one another."

The reality is we won't, but Christ always will. A brotherly love that the church is to have as a family. What do brothers typically do? Especially those of you who have multiple boys, what do they typically do? They end up fighting with one another, but their love keeps them together. The church is to have a brotherly love, tenderness, a resisting of bitterness, humility that refuses to make our preferences or our rights the center of everything.

This is how the church looks different from the world, because we belong to someone different. We belong to Jesus Christ. Christ who humbled himself for our salvation. So dear Christian, hear this clearly. Peter is not asking us to manufacture a pleasant personality or to manufacture a pleasant community. Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is asking for the church to reflect her Savior, that the Christian life would actually look like the Christ that they worship.

In verse nine, we see this: "Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless." When someone wrongs us, our instinct is to return the favor. What do you do when someone calls you a name? You call them a name back. You try to be wittier than them. When someone's suspicious of you, what do you do?

You return the suspicion. When someone humiliates you, you humiliate them in turn. You found out they said something bad about you behind your back, you say something bad about them. No one has to teach us to do those things as a child, right, parents with young kids in the room? Nobody has to teach us to do that.

When we get called a name, we call it back. We may not retaliate physically, but we know how to wound with a cutting remark or an uncharitable account of what happened. We tell ourselves we are simply defending ourselves. But Peter says, "On the contrary, bless." We are not merely to refrain from retaliation.

We are to seek the good of those who wrong us, to speak truthfully without trying to wound, and to entrust justice to God. This does not mean calling evil good. It does not mean ignoring injustice. It does not mean refusing accountability. It means personal vengeance does not govern us. Why? Peter says, "For to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing."

The life of the Christian is someone who blesses and is the person who obtains the blessing. It characterizes you. It shapes you. We've been called to a life of blessing because we've received the undeserved favor of God in Jesus Christ. We were not reconciled to God because we made ourselves worthy. We were sinners who needed mercy, yet Christ suffered for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God. We have received mercy, therefore we show mercy.

We have been forgiven, therefore we are ready to forgive. This is not a bargain by which we earn God's favor by taking care of the difficult people that He's maybe placed around us. It is the life of those who have been called by grace. We live from the blessing that God has given us in Christ and look forward to the fullness of all the blessings even yet to come.

Peter shows us that this is not a new command. He quotes — it's almost a quarter of our passage. He quotes Psalm 34. Look back with me at that. "Whoever desires to love life," pause there for a second. I think everybody would love to love life, right? You never heard anybody going, "I'd love to hate my life."

"Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it." This begins with our words. We cannot claim faithfulness while our speech is full of contempt, while our speech is full of deceit.

We can avoid striking somebody and still wound them with our words. We can talk about peace while living a life that's full of conflict with every breath. Seeking peace does not mean avoiding difficult conversations. Do families, do brothers avoid difficult conversations? No, those are actually the people you feel most safe to have conflict with even.

Why? The relationship's secure. It's hard to get rid of a brother.

It's not that we don't answer, but the way in which we answer. Why can we do this? Because the Lord sees. Peter continues in his quote there, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." God sees those who do good.

Even when others fail to recognize their faithfulness, He hears His people when they cry to Him, when they pray to Him, and He will not allow evil to have the final word. Now, does that mean in all circumstances that evil might not get the final word? Maybe not immediately. Ultimately, yes and amen, that evil will never have the final word.

If you want a little pocket summary of the Book of Revelation: Jesus wins. He wins.

We belong to a God who sees, hears, and judges. Sometimes He judges swiftly. Sometimes His judgment is forthcoming. But if we pursue peace, we do good, we bless those who oppose us, what should we expect in return? Will doing good always protect us from harm? If this is the life of a Christian, Peter turns now to the results of that Christian life, and he prepares us for the possibility that faithfulness may bring suffering rather than immediate relief.

The Result of the Christian Life

Peter says in verse 13, "Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?"

Now, we've mentioned already that generally doing good should lead to good things. Christians should not look for trouble or provoke needless conflict, but sometimes doing what is right brings suffering. The world may mock or mistreat. And I wonder, dear Christian, have you ever felt this way? Have you ever felt rejected or cast aside, or as though, "I can't be a part of that"?

Why? "Because my lips aren't going to partake in the evil of that." And it might lead to less opportunity. It might lead to not being at that important work conversation because of the seedy place that they decided to be at. There can be real times where there are consequences of choosing what is good.

Peter provides a comforting word in verse 14: "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed." Now, there's the ultimate blessings that we will have, and also we hope in immediate blessings, the favor of the Lord and His providence in our lives. This echoes what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Peter does not promise that faithfulness will always make life easier. He says that even if we suffer, we are the blessed ones. Our blessing is not finally determined by our comfort, by our prosperity, by the approval we might get. It rests in God and that imperishable inheritance that Peter's been talking about, that's secured in Christ.

So Peter goes on, "Have no fear of them, nor be troubled." Here Peter is alluding to Isaiah chapter 8, where God tells His people not to fear what the world fears, but to regard the Lord of hosts as holy. A people who are afraid, Isaiah goes to give them comfort and reminds them that God is holy. Here we have that same thing.

"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy." The Christian is not fearless because opposition is imaginary or suffering is insignificant. We are fearless because Christ is Lord even over those who oppose us. Here's the tension, Church. If the approval of others is our highest good, we will compromise when obedience becomes costly.

If our reputation matters most, we will feel compelled to answer every insult and correct every misunderstanding. If our security depends on controlling our circumstances, suffering will threaten to undo us. It'll turn us into a puddle. But if Christ is Lord, we are free to do what is right even when we cannot control the outcome.

We can speak the truth without demanding approval, endure mistreatment without repaying it, and entrust our reputation to God. Peter then tells us to be ready in that, because you might have to give an answer for that. You might have to give an answer because you, Christian, suffer differently. Because you, Christian, deal with conflict differently.

You might have to give an answer for that. Why didn't you call them a name back? Why didn't you punch them back? Here's what he says: "Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." Christians should be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it.

There is a real place for Christian apologetics. We should know the scriptures and be ready to explain why we trust, why we hope in Jesus, why we believe in the resurrection of the dead, why you can recite the Apostle's Creed with great gusto. Christian, what do you believe? Here are the things that I believe. Notice though, the setting.

Peter describes believers whose hope is visible under pressure. They suffer without despair, are wronged without retaliating, and continue doing good. Someone may ask, "Why can you suffer that way? What is this hope that you have? Things seem bleak right now. How is it that you can have hope?" They may see your good deeds and glorify God — 1 Peter 2:12.

Peter says to be ready to give an answer, and he adds onto this what that answer is to be characterized by: "Yet do it with gentleness and respect." The goal is not to win an argument for the sake of winning an argument, to score points in a debate, to humiliate your opponent. We can be right in what we say and still be wrong in how we say it.

We can defend Christianity, we can explain the gospel without contempt, we can even win a debate while failing to display the hope that we claim to possess. Peter tells us to be prepared, but zeal for truth is not an excuse for pride or harshness. Gentleness and respect. The Christian life changes not only what we proclaim, but how we proclaim it.

Hear me — Peter also tells us to maintain a good conscience so that those who slander our good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. We cannot control what others say about us. Even faithful obedience may be misrepresented, but we can seek to live with integrity before God and before our neighbors. And living with integrity before our neighbors is Peter's whole point in the second half of the book.

That they might actually end up glorifying God. A good conscience does not mean we are sinless. It means that we seek to walk faithfully in repentance, confessing our sins and refusing to make peace with hypocrisy. Peter concludes this section, look back with me. He says, "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."

Parents, isn't that the thing that you want your covenant children to know? That it would be better to do good and to suffer for it than to do wrong. He is not telling us to seek suffering, though. He's not saying, "Go out and find it. The way you can know if you're a mature Christian is your life should just be in shambles."

"People should be cursing you as you walk down the street." That's not his point. He's not telling us to seek suffering. He's instead saying that we should not abandon our obedience even if it comes with a cost. That's the result of the Christian life, that it is better to suffer while doing what is right than to avoid suffering by doing what is wrong.

The Lord of the Christian Life

But how can we live this way? How can we bless those who curse us? That's not our native posture. You push me, even as a reflex, I might end up pushing you back. Peter does not leave us looking to our own resolve. He directs us to who is the Lord of the Christian life. He begins in verse 18: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God."

The word "for" there, it's connecting Christ's work to everything else that Peter has said. Christ is our example, but He is much more than an example. He suffered for sins. The righteous one suffered in the place of the unrighteous. Jesus, who was without sin, yet bore the judgment of our sins, that we might be reconciled to God.

We were not brought near because we had become good enough, not because we had learned to love our enemies or achieved some degree of obedience. We were sinners who needed a Savior. And He's going to give us the example in just a moment of Noah, someone who needed saving from a world that was about to face God's judgment.

Christ suffered once for sins. His sacrifice is complete, sufficient. Nothing we can do adds to Christ's atoning work. And why did He suffer? Look what verse 18 says: "That He might bring us to God." Salvation is not merely an improvement of our circumstances or a lesson in endurance. Our greatest problem was that we were sinners alienated from a holy God, and our greatest blessing is that Christ brings us near.

That is the free offer of the gospel. By Christ's work, He brings us near. This transforms Peter's command to bless those who oppose you. We were unrighteous, yet Christ suffered for us. We were alienated from God, yet He brought us near. You are the ones who are blessed. The gospel does not merely command us to bless our enemies, it shows us the blessing God gave us when we were His enemies.

Christ's suffering does not mean we will never suffer. It means He has accomplished what our suffering could never accomplish. He bore our sins, reconciled us to God. Our suffering is not a payment for sin, and our obedience does not add to His finished work. We endure hardship as those who are reconciled by someone else's work.

We know this Lord of the Christian life. We've been given that blessing in Him. Peter explains Christ's triumph by taking us back to the days of Noah. He writes that "Christ went and proclaimed to spirits in prison, those who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared."

We're going to follow Peter's words closely here. First, notice that when these people disobeyed, Peter identifies them with the generation of Noah, when God's patience waited while the ark was being prepared. And it just, in the Lord's providence, that was our Old Testament reading for our public reading of scripture this morning — God's waiting as we see His grieved heart. Second, do you remember what scripture tells us about Noah?

2 Peter 2:5 calls Noah a herald of righteousness, a preacher of righteousness. Noah was not merely constructing a boat. He was a witness to his generation, proclaiming righteousness in a world that had turned away from God. And who was at work through Noah? Here's what we read in our passage in 1 Peter 3: "Christ Himself, by His Spirit, was at work through Noah."

Peter has already told us that Christ was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. The Spirit through whom Christ is now at work was at work in the days of Noah. This God of grace has been ministering and proclaiming His grace from beginning to end. So when Peter says Christ went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, He's pointing us not to Noah.

He's pointing us to Christ, who by His Spirit proclaimed a message through Noah to the people of Noah's generation. They rejected that message, and they are now spirits in prison, awaiting final judgment. And God's patience did not mean that He would overlook their sin forever. The people continued in disobedience, and judgment came.

The flood swept away that generation, but God preserved Noah and his household. Peter tells us that only eight persons were brought safely through the water. And in 2 Peter, he actually repeats the same thing again. He wants to make sure you know there's eight people on that ark. And it's a striking picture of the Christian life that Peter uses here.

Noah lived in a world where the vast majority rejected God. The people that Peter is writing to, elect exiles in dispersion, feel alone and isolated. They feel like Noah. And there's times, dear Christian, when you have suffered, when you are reviled, that you might feel like Noah.

Their obedience might be appearing foolish to those under Nero, and the world around them might seem secure, but the apparent strength of the ungodly does not mean that the ungodly will prevail. This is not a weakness on God's part, it is His patience. So why does Peter remind suffering Christians of Noah?

His readers are a small minority living in a hostile world. So what happens when you do that and nobody listens? What happens when people reject truth, mock your faith, or make life harder because you belong to Christ? These are the things that he's answering for them. You might begin to wonder whether or not it's worth it, or whether or not the people opposing you will ultimately win.

Peter points us to Noah, that God was patient with Noah's generation, but His patience was not indifference. Their rejection of the truth did not mean God's Word had failed, and Noah's smallness did not mean that he was on the wrong side of history. Do not confuse God's patience with His approval, or the world's present strength with ultimate victory.

He's writing to them saying, "Keep doing good. Keep bearing witness to Christ. Do not conclude that your faithfulness is wasted simply because others might reject it. The Lord sees, the Lord knows, and the Lord will judge justly." Christ Himself is the supreme confirmation of this truth. His suffering appeared to be a defeat.

He was rejected by men, He was condemned, and He was put to death. But the cross was not the end of the story. God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him, as our passage ends, above every power. We must not judge the final outcome by the present circumstances. When you suffer for doing good, do not conclude that God has forgotten you.

When your witness is rejected, do not assume that His Word has failed. Christ has triumphed and will bring all things under His rule. Peter moves from Noah's deliverance through the waters of judgment to baptism, the salvation we have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 21: "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you."

Baptism saves you. We should take Peter's words seriously. But He's immediately explaining what He means by baptism saves us. He says, "Not as a removal of dirt from the body," not because you were physically washed, "but as an appeal to God for good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." What is the sign pointing to?

In Noah's day, God judged a sinful world through the flood, yet He brought Noah and his family safely through that baptism of the whole world flooding. Peter says baptism corresponds to this. When someone is baptized, water is applied to the body, visibly portraying a cleansing, like the cleansing of the flood, of what we need for God to provide in His grace.

But baptism's not the removal of dirt from the body. Water can wash your skin, but it cannot wash away your guilt before God. The water's pointing to something else. The outward act by itself cannot give you a clean conscience. So how does baptism save you? Peter describes it as an appeal to God for a good conscience.

A good conscience is not one that has never sinned. It is not one that can stand before God forgiven and at peace because of anything that person did, but only because of Him, only because of His grace. That peace comes not by becoming good enough to deserve it, but through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That's where He calls your attention. Our living hope. We were there in chapter one in 1 Peter a couple of weeks ago. Our living hope because Christ is raised from the dead. You don't rest in your baptism. You rest in what your baptism points to, the reality that it points to, the picture of God's grace.

Now picture the flood. The rain has fallen. The waters have risen. The ground that once seemed so solid has disappeared beneath the judgment of God, whose heart is grieved. People are clinging to whatever they can find. There's a problem with a lot of our picture books about Noah and the flood. When I was in Bible college, I took a children's literature class.

I went through 30 or 40 different books on Noah's Ark. There was one from the '70s that showed destruction, debris in the water, trees ripped up from the ground and floating on the surface. What's the nursery photo when you think of the flood? It's a boat and just clear water. When we think about Noah and the flood, there is God's grieved heart and His wrath poured out, and also His grace.

Those cleansed and washed in the ark that was built by His measurements and His design. So the rain's fallen, and there is Noah and his family, eight people, all safe inside with the animals. The same flood that brings judgment upon the world is the flood by which God's grace washes them. What's the difference between those inside the ark and those outside the ark?

Did Noah earn God's favor? No. By God's grace, He preserves eight persons through the ark.

Noah was not without sin. His family was not without sin. They did not have some sort of hidden strength that protected them from judgment. The difference was the grace of God. God had warned Noah in His mercy. God had provided the directions for the ark. God brought Noah and his family and the animals into it and preserved them through the waters of judgment.

Their salvation depended on God's gracious provision. Similarly, if you step back and go, "Can he steer the ark?" You get the directions — we read the directions this morning in Genesis chapter 6. Is there oars? Is there sails? Is there a captain's cockpit to be up there with a steering wheel? Is there a rudder?

It's fully trusting in the God who even delivered the message that the flood was coming, is going to preserve them as they're in the ark. That's the picture that Peter places before us when he speaks of baptism. We too stand under God's judgment because of our sin. We cannot cleanse our own guilt. We cannot make ourselves fit to stand in His presence.

We need a salvation that we cannot provide for ourselves, and God has provided that salvation. And what does the sign of baptism point to? To Christ your Savior. The water of baptism does not save you by some sort of mystical power found in a bowl, but by the God who has appointed it, sign to things signified, promise to His acts of grace.

There was no life raft that could save the wicked in the days of Noah. No one could swim hard enough, climb hard enough, or hold on long enough to escape God's judgment. There was only the ark that God provided, and the same is still true. So let me ask you: do you have a life raft understanding of grace or an ark understanding of grace?

Is it little and small, or is it as big as God's grace that is poured out? A life raft understanding says, "I know I might need God's help. I might not even be sure who He is, but surely there is something I can do to contribute to it. Look, the floodwaters are rising. The rain is pouring out. Quick, let me find something."

"Where is an oar?" That's a life raft understanding of grace. I need to do something to contribute to this. I need to work harder. I need to do things. Surely God will take that into account. I was a good person. Perhaps your life raft is even religious activity. Hey, I tried. What's that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when the guy with the glass eye who can't read is flipping through a Bible?

"Oh, you can't read. It's the Bible. You get credit for trying." Maybe you know some of the right answers, but it's a life raft. It doesn't actually show that Christ is Lord over your life. Perhaps your life raft is just being a good neighbor. But beloved, none of these can bear the weight of your sin. It cannot escape the waters of judgment.

Your morality cannot atone for your guilt. No religious activity can make you righteous before God. A life raft understanding of grace leaves you looking at yourself, always asking whether you've done enough or are good enough. So let's compare. What then is an ark-sized understanding of God's grace? See, God knew that Noah could not save himself from the coming judgment, so God provided the warning, the directions, the resources, the animals.

He provides all of the things for the ark. Noah's hope was not in his ability to conquer the flood, but in God's promise and provision, and that is where the gospel directs us. God has not told sinners to save themselves. He has provided His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived in perfect righteousness, bore the judgment of our sins, the wrath of God, crying out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

All the way to saying, "It is finished," when He died upon the cross. We don't add to that finished work when we have an ark-sized theology. We recognize that God has provided us something that we could not provide for ourselves. This is why a life raft theology falls so short. How can I just escape turmoil that might be coming?

What floating door or tree or piece of debris could I climb on to escape the waters? There is no escape. There is only those who have received the grace of God and are in the ark, Jesus Christ, and those who are clinging to life rafts or things that they hope might float and might save them. Do not cling to a life raft of your own making.

Flee to the Savior that your baptism points to. His cleansing work, His blood shed for you, a sufficient Savior, a risen King, who Peter's not going to let us miss it. Look back at verse 22: "Who has gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him."

There is a confidence in the grace. The guarantor of what your baptism points to is set above all things forever. What do you do when you suffer? You let your suffering overwhelm you. It might be for a time. Christ will be seated on that throne forever. There is a great confidence that Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, wrote to the church that we might know this, that we might actually see that provision that God has given of His grace and mercy poured out, and that even if there might be days that are bad days, difficult days, like Paul uses the expression, even like a thorn in the flesh, that we would turn our eyes with great living hope to the one who's been resurrected, to Christ, who is seated above all things.

Our Savior has passed through death. He has triumphed over every power, and not one of His people will be lost. Think about that raft situation versus the ark. What does Christ say? That He's come to find all that the Father has given to Him, and not one of them can be taken from His hand. There is a great comfort there, dear Christian.

Not one can be taken from His hand. We get to hold fast to Christ knowing that He is holding onto us, and that though floodwaters might rise in our life, that we will surely arrive on the shores of His glory, as He is the one who reigns over all things. If you are someone gathered here today, and you would say, "I do not know this hope. I live my life jumping from life raft to life raft, broken tree limb to a random door that I find, looking for comfort," I'd love to talk to you after service. I'd like to get a coffee later this week. I'd love for you to begin reading through one of the Gospels, and even just asking the question: Who is this resurrected King?

Closing Prayer

Join me in prayer. Our Father, Lord, we do thank You that Christ is our resurrected King. Lord, that even as You saved eight persons through the ark by Your grace, You continue to pour forth Your grace through an even better ark than Noah could have ever imagined, through Your own Son. Lord, help us. Move in us by Your Holy Spirit that we might take these things to heart, that You might form us more and more into the image of Your Son, even through our suffering. For we pray this in Christ's name, amen.