1 Peter 3:18-22
What Matters Most
September 28, 2025
Introduction
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It is not a giving campaign.
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It is not all about tithing.
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It is four weeks long.
I. JESUS SUFFERED (v.18a)
1 Peter 3:18a – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”
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Romans 3:23
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Romans 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death.”
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1 Corinthians 15:45 – “the last Adam”
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Romans 5:17
a. His sacrifice was sufficient
“Christ also suffered once.”
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Hebrews 10:12-13
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Hebrews 10:14
b. His sacrifice was substitutionary
“…the righteous for the unrighteous”
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2 Corinthians 5:21
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Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2, 4:10 – “Propitiation”
II. JESUS DIED (v.18b)
1 Peter 3:18b – “…being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”
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Mark 10:45
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1 Corinthians 15:3 – “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”
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Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
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Nicene Creed – “He was crucified on our behalf under Pontius Pilate and suffered death and was buried.”
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Hebrews 9:22
III. JESUS PROCLAIMED (vv.19-21)
1 Peter 3:19-21 – “…in which he 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.”
a. Christ was preaching through Noah to sinners.
b. Christ liberated Old Testament saints.
c. Christ descended into hell to proclaim His victory.
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Descensus ad inferos
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The Apostles’ Creed: “He descended into hell.”
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Colossians 2:15
Key: “…during the days of Noah”
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Genesis 6:1-4
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Jude 6
1 Peter 3:20-21 – “He 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. 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.”
Truth: Every baptism is a public proclamation of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
IV. JESUS ASCENDED (v.22a)
1 Peter 3:22a – “…who has gone into heaven.”
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Acts 1:9
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Mark 16:19
V. JESUS REIGNS (v.22b)
1 Peter 3:22b – “…and is at the right of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
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John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”