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, and powers having been subjected to him.

A.  Christ’s Victorious Achievement for Us

          1.  Created a justified people: 1 Peter 3:18a, 2 Cor. 5:21, Rom. 3:21-26, 1 John 4:10

TODAY

          2.  Created a fellowshipping people: 1 Peter 3:18b, Eph. 2:11-22, Romans 5:1-2, 1 John 1:1-4

                          a.  The means of fellowship: Acts 2:42

                          b.  The goals of fellowship

                                                    –  To know our God: John 17:1-3, 1 Peter 2:1-2, 2 Peter 3:18, Jer. 9:23-24

                                                    –  To love our God: Matthew 22:36-38, Ephesians 6:24

APPLYING THE WORD

1. Is the victory of the Gospel a daily reality in my life?

2.  Is Christ’s authority in heaven my authority on earth?