Mirroring Jesus-2

MIRRORING/Emulating JESUS-II—1Peter 3:18--4:6

Attention:

Trusting Grandma:

Johnny was at his first day of school. The teacher starts the day with the pledge of allegiance, & instructs them to put their right hands over their hearts & repeat after her.

She looks around the room as she starts the recitation, “I pledge allegiance to the flag...” When her eyes fall on Johnny, she notices that Johnny's hand is over the right cheek of his bottom.

The teacher disappointedly says to Johnny, “Johnny, I will NOT continue till you put you hand over your heart.”

Johnny replies almost in tears, “But ma’am, it IS over my heart.”

The teacher pulls him aside & asks, “Why do you think that is your heart?”

“Because every time my Grandma comes to visit, she picks me up, pats me here, & says, 'Bless your little heart,' & my Grandma wouldn't lie about my heart being back there!”

•Like Johnny trusted & wisely acted on his Grandma’s word, so God’s people must mirror Jesus!

Christians are to mirror Jesus for the sake of others, who DO NOT KNOW HIM—that they might be saved—& for those who DO KNOW HIM—that they might be built up in their faith.

Need:

When your heart is set apart(‘sanctified’) to discovering & living out God’s will, then others, who have never heard or have merely ‘heard of’ God’s truth, will hear it from & thru you & the ministries to which you are called & in which you are involved.

Peter calls his audience to mirror/reflect/emulate Christ Jesus.

God’s people will strive to intentionally mirror/reflect Christ Jesus.

What of Christ Jesus are God’s people to reflect/mirror?

How are we to mirror Jesus?

Some reflections of Jesus which His people mirror.

Previously we have found that ‘Mirroring Jesus reflects’...

1. CHRIST’s SACRIFICE(:18)

*Today we’ll find that...

2—Mirroring Jesus reflects...?CHRIST’s DECLARATION Of VICTORY(:19-20)

Explanation:(:19-20)

:19—“by whom also He went & preached to the spirits in prison,”

“By whom also”—Or ‘In which also’

Jesus, by means of, or ‘in”(en) the same “Spirit/spirit”, that was instrumental in Jesus’ being considered alive after His physical death & burial(3:18—“But made alive by/in [the] Spirit”). This same Spirit is the One “by whom” or ‘in which’ Jesus Himself “preached to the spirits in prison.”

“...He went...”

Jesus’ in “spirit” &/or by the Holy “Spirit”(having been separated from His physical body), now pursues another task. He determines.

•Jesus is not caught up in some helpless state of existence. Jesus is not floating around in some mindless, void unable to affect action of any kind.

•Thus if you have put your trust in Christ, when you die... when a Christian dies—when the spirit of one of God’s people is separated from their body—neither will they helplessly, mindlessly float around in some untouchable, meaningless, uncontrollable state of existence.

“...& preached to the spirits in prison,”

Though Jesus indeed “preached to the spirits in prison”, He certainly did NOT preach to them a message that was personally applicable for them. Jesus’ message to them must have been that of a triumphal saving Good News, because His spiritual audience was & still is incarcerated “in prison.”

•The “prison” spoken of here, is the “prison” which contains the spiritual enemies of God. It is ‘probably’ the Abyss or Bottomless Pit of Lk. 8:26-31; Rev. 9:1-2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1-3.

Lk. 8:26-31—Jesus & His disciples were in the land of the Gadarenes, which borders the Sea Of Galilee. There Jesus meets a certain man who had had demons for a long time. “Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.”

Rev. 9:1-2—“Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, & smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun & the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.”

Rev. 9:11—“And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon[destruction], but in Greek he has the name Apollyon[destroyer].”

Rev. 11:7—“When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them[God’s 2 witnesses], overcome them, & kill them.”

Rev. 17:8—“The beast that you saw was, & is not, & will ascend out of the bottomless pit & go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, & is not, & yet is.”

Rev. 20:1-3—“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit & a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil & Satan, & bound him for a thousand years; & he cast him into the bottomless pit, & shut him up, & set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”