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Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 4 * BOOK 54
I Peter 2:15 - 3:22 - Part 2
Okay, I Peter chapter 3 and we’re in verse 20. How God’s going to do it, I don’t know. All right now, I guess we’d better read verse 18 to get the flow.
I Peter 3:18-20
A hundred and twenty years, remember) eight souls were saved by water."
Well, it was the water, you see, that was the judgment of God on unbelieving mankind; but the believers escaped the judgment because of the ark floating in the water. All right, let’s go in to verse 21 and we can probably clarify.
I Peter 3:21-22
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22. Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."
While Noah was preparing the ark, a hundred and twenty years, every hammer blow, everything that was taking place was a sermon of coming judgment to the people of Noah’s day. Children. The other word for ark in the Old Testament is a coffin and a coffin is not shaped like a boat. Well, so was the ark of Noah’s time. All right, Genesis chapter 6 verse 13 and 14.
Genesis 6:13a
"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them;…" Violence. All right, and so God says:
Genesis 6:13b
Now then, verse 14. God’s instruction to Noah was to:
Genesis 6:14
The ark was a place of safety going through the waters of judgment.
That’s the whole idea of the flood - to teach us that God is going to bring through that segment of believers because of the pitch that sealed out the water of judgment. That the blood of Christ is what seals out the wrath and the judgment of God that’ll never touch us, no more than the flood water ever touched Noah and their families.
And so, here is the whole picture, that the ark became a place of salvation for these eight people in the midst of horrendous wrath and judgment on the rest of humanity. I Peter 3:20b
"…eight souls were saved by water." They were saved by or through the water, because the water destroyed all of the wicked generation, and the ark floating in the water was the salvation of these who escaped.
All right, now then, maybe this will help us a little bit - verse 21. Now remember, this is Peter, this isn’t Paul. Peter is coming out of that Jewish mentality of water, water, water. Wash, wash, wash in water. "That filthy Jordan? All right, the water didn’t do it; it was his faith. So then you come all the way up to Christ’s own baptism. Why did He demand baptism? II Peter 3:15. II Peter 3:15a
All right, so Peter is showing it even here.
II Peter 3:15b
People read and read and they don’t read it. II Peter 3:15c
"…even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;" What is Peter admitting? I think Peter was martyred just shortly after he finished this II Peter. II Peter 3:16a
Salvation! Peter says, "You go to Paul". All right, so you go to Paul’s epistles, where it’s speaking of these things pertaining to salvation. II Peter 3:16b
Hey, this is at the end of Peter’s life. God didn’t expect him to. Peter is still of that Jewish mentality. II Peter 3:16c
Well, Christ Himself was placed, by virtue of that water baptism, into a priesthood. It was a baptism. No water, but it was a placing "into." We have been so programmed (the human race over the last 2,000 years), that baptism automatically means water. It merely means when something is placed "into,"whether it was Moses’ leadership, Christ’s priesthood or Christ into His suffering and His Passion. Now we’ll see how Paul uses it as we are placed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Now the Body of Christ is the same way. We’re all brought into the Body of Christ and if one of the members hurts, we all hurt. Christ hurts. "For by one Spirit (Holy Spirit) are we all (not just a few, every believer is) baptized into one body,…" How? By a work of the Holy Spirit. No water. We have been placed into the Body of Christ, so that we can function under the headship of Christ.
The Head of the Body and the members of the Body. Well, for Peter, of course, the flood and Noah and everything - that included a lot of water - but he’s not putting any salvation on any kind of water baptism; but he’s using it as a figure that even as baptism:
I Peter 3:21
"Repent." With baptism. Repentance and water baptism. Hey, that’s the flesh talking. The flesh won’t save anybody. All right, verse 22 and, remember, we ended verse 21 with "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"
I Peter 3:22

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