So Great a Salvation (1 Peter 1.10–12)

The passage discusses the concept of salvation and the importance of gratitude towards God for it. It highlights how the Old Testament prophets researched and spoke about the grace that was to come through the suffering and glory of the Messiah. The passage emphasizes that our salvation is a result of God's grace and His plan from eternity past. The prophets were serving future believers by revealing these truths. The passage also emphasizes the significance of the gospel in understanding and experiencing salvation. Overall, the main point is to encourage gratitude and recognition of the privilege of salvation. I invite you to open your Bibles in the first epistle of Peter to the various churches throughout the Roman Empire. And we are going to read this morning verses 10 to 12 of the very first chapter. Peter writes, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you surged intensely, and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And angels long to look into these things. Let us pray. God, thank you for this morning and the opportunity we have to approach boldly your throne, boldly not in the sense of disrespect but in the sense of confidence, knowing that you will not cast us away, knowing that you will receive us even though we are sinners, even though we are impure and we are contaminated. You will receive us because as we read this morning, your servant our Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins and he gave us life. Isaiah wrote about him not knowing that he would be the Nazarene, but he wrote about it because you promised our salvation from the beginning of creation. And for that we thank you, Lord, and we pray now that you would guide us this morning as we study this passage, as we look at this passage. We pray that you would change our hearts and our minds and our attitudes above all things. May we praise you, Lord. May we give you honor. May we always give you thanks for what you have done for us. Amen. Well, this morning I would like to begin by asking you the following question. What does it mean for you to be saved? First of all, do you understand what does it mean that you are saved if you are saved? By that I mean a person is saved who has trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and who have asked for the forgiveness of their sins in repentance and believe in the Lord Jesus. The Bible tells us if a person believes that and surrenders to Jesus, this person is saved, meaning that you have been forgiven of your sins, you have been given life. The passage we just read is very theological, so I hope you have a little bit of patience because we might be talking some concepts that might be difficult, but I hope and I am pretty confident that we will be able to understand. And although the passage is very theological in nature this morning, my question is not theological. When I ask you what does it mean for you as an individual to be saved, I don't mean what does it mean theological, but emotionally. I guess the question I am after is what is the significance of your salvation in your life? What do you think about being saved, about being forgiven? What emotions does knowing that you have eternal life stir in your heart? That's the question I am after. I don't want you to give me a theological answer. Being saved means that I've been forgiven, justified. I know that and you know that. That's not the question I am asking. I am asking what is the significance of the fact that you have been forgiven of your sins for you, for your life, now? How does that make you feel? What implications does that have for your daily routine as you go about with your life? I don't know if you ever think about these questions. Most Christians don't, even if they did it during the first stages of their conversion experience. Sadly, we often go about our lives without ever pondering or reflecting on the greatness of God's forgiveness. And I suspect that we don't give it much thought because down deep in our hearts, we don't think that our sin is that bad. I mean, maybe we think of them as mistakes or some sort of unfortunate errors, right? Just a little mistake, a little white line, just some errors, you know? Error is part of being humans. We don't think of our sins as grotesque offenses against a holy God or murderous and destructive actions against our fellow man. And maybe that's why we don't give much thought to this question. What does it mean emotionally for me to be saved? I think if our view of sin were appropriate, the emotions that would be stirred in our souls and in our hearts as we realize, wait, I have been forgiven, would be incontrollable maybe. But they're not. I know if I ask you if you are grateful for your salvation, without a doubt, all of you will raise your hands and will say, yes. But do you feel that grateful? Do you truly feel that you are such a privileged one that gratitude oozes out of your pores? I suspect you don't. And I regard my suspicions accurate on the basis of some, as philosophers would say, phenomenological evidence, empirical evidence. From my interactions with hundreds of Christians, not just in this church, in many churches in Peru, in the States, in Thailand, in different places that I've been with, not hundreds, but literally thousands of Christians, from my interactions with them, it is appalling and tragic to know that many Christians are very ungrateful people. Some of the biggest complainers in the world are found in the church. But that should not be the case. Because of all people should be the most grateful beings on the face of the earth. And the reason for that is because we are greatly privileged. Yes, you are greatly privileged. I'm not talking about white privilege. I'm talking about Christian privilege. You're greatly privileged in a lot of ways, but you are greatly privileged. We have experienced and we continue to experience the grace of God. We have received, as the writer of Hebrews would say, so great a salvation that all we are entitled to do is to give thanks to God. And this is precisely the heart of verses 10 to 12 of the very first chapter of the first epistle of Peter. Yes, it is true that this word gratitude is not in these verses. I just read those verses and gratitude does not appear a single time. Not yet, it'll come. It'll come in the epistle, but it's not there yet. However, as soon as we begin analyzing this passage, it becomes evident that the glories of our salvation, and that is our purpose, we'll think about that word, the glories of our salvation promise in the scriptures and summed up in the gospel, the historic gospel should breathe endless gratitude. In these three verses, Peter will describe God's activity in preparing and executing every detail that was necessary for our salvation, every detail that was necessary so that we may experience the forgiveness of our sins. Peter will provide a rational for the relevance of the Old Testament prophetic writings, particularly those writings that dealt with God's program of redemption. We just read one of them, Isaiah 53, which, by the way, Peter will quote later. We'll come to that, so I won't spend much time looking at that passage. So in these verses, he gives us this rational for the relevance of the prophetic writings of the Old Testament to our situation. Do they have any value to us, the Old Testament? New Testament Christians, New Covenant Christians, should we read the Old Testament? Well, Peter is going to argue, yes, and it has relevance to our situation. Yes, not all of it has direct application, but a lot of things do. And as Peter does that, he will emphasize our privileged position. Yes, you are very privileged. I just said in verses 2, Peter talks about our salvation, but his description, though not comprehensive of our salvation, is programmatic. I'm throwing some words to you that you're probably not used to, but sometimes I just don't know what's the right word to express what I want to say, and I think this word programmatic captures very well what I am trying to say. When I say that Peter talks about our salvation in a programmatic way, what I mean by programmatic is that Peter's description of our salvation covers all of the major things God had to do throughout history, as if it were a program in order for us to be saved. In other words, Peter's description of our salvation describes, without being redundant, God's program of redemption from the time of its prediction to the time of its fulfillment. Certainly as we look at verses 10 and 11, Peter states clearly that the program of God's redemption was announced and investigated by the Old Testament prophets. Our salvation is not something that happens at the cross. Yes, it's executed there and consummated, but it has quite a bit of history and background. Peter here goes back to the prophets, and as we study this passage, the prophets go back to the eternal counsel of God. In these two verses, Peter tells us concerning this salvation, he just talked about this salvation, the new birth, that it's incorruptible, that it's kept safe in heaven by God, and you yourself are kept safe. He says, this salvation, concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intensely and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It is a long sentence again. It's a long sentence in the translation, but this is actually part of the sentence that begins in verse 3. This long and tightly packed sentence contains many important thoughts and assertions about our salvation that I would like to discuss under two sub-points. The first sub-point I would like to talk about is the assertion that the Old Testament prophets, guided by the Spirit of Christ, spoke and investigated about God's coming grace. It is important to note that Peter speaks of our salvation, our salvation, remember concerning this salvation, how does he speak about our salvation? He speaks about our salvation as the grace that was to come. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, primarily to his readers, but really to all of us, new covenant believers. This salvation that was to come to you. It's interesting that he talks about the salvation as the grace that was to come. This expression highlights the magnitude and the lavishness of God's generosity in making our salvation possible. God's generosity in saving us is in fact given prominence in the text by the suffering of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. In other words, according to Peter, the grace that was to come to you, to me, included. The sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. And I believe the glories refers not only to the resurrection, the ascension of our Lord Jesus, but to us being incorporated in the new covenant, being part of the church, the body of Christ, having an inheritance and a future, all of that. But what horrendous, humiliating, and criminal for Jesus was for us unending generosity. The sufferings of the Messiah are counted as part of the grace that was to come to you. The ugliness of the cross was beauty for you, for me. That is why I said in the introduction of this sermon that the glories of our salvation promised in the scriptures and summed up in the gospel should breathe endless gratitude. God's grace toward us was planned from eternity past, even before we existed. God in His grace chose to forgive us even before we showed our true colors. You take a risk, right? I'm going to love this child or this person, I don't know how they're going to turn out. God knew how we would, and the difference between us and God is that He would knew, He did know how we would turn out to be. In spite of that, He chose to pour His grace upon us. When you look at the mirror yourself, unless you are full of vain and conceit, you normally don't like you. I don't mean physically, some of you might really like how you look. But sometimes emotionally, you look at your souls, you look at your life, and sometimes you're disgusted with yourself, why am I this way? Why do I keep failing and giving up and just doing the same things? I know better. I've received good counsel. I know that's not convenient for me. And I know that is not God-honored, why do I do it? We don't like ourselves, and actually God knows how we are, yet He spoke through the prophets of the grace that was to come to you, that included the sufferings of the Messiah and many, many glories. It is important to also notice in this passage that the prophets of the Old Testament search intensely and with the greatest care about this coming grace, and they did it as they were guided by the Spirit of Christ in them. As Peter observes, it was the Spirit of Christ, which I take it to be the Holy Spirit, I understand he refers to the Holy Spirit here, it was the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Christ, who was pointing these prophets to understand and to write about this grace that was coming. In other words, the realities of our salvation, described here as the grace that was to come, which included the suffering of the Messiah and the subsequent glories, were foretold by God through the Holy Spirit who conveyed His message to these prophets. This means that the promises concerning our salvation will never fail, because they are promises that come from God's very own mouth. Moreover, they are recorded in the Bible as inspired scriptures. It is the Spirit of Christ revealing to these prophets and guiding them to research intensely with greatest care. There we go, there is one good verse to get a Ph.D. in New Testament or Old Testament. Research, they were researching, studying intensely, and they were guided by the Holy Spirit. Now what the prophets of the Old Testament, guided by the Holy Spirit, were searching with great intensity was, Peter tells us, the who and the circumstances that were related to this coming grace. And this brings me to the second point, or subsequent point, whatever, namely that God's future and impending grace was connected to the person of Jesus, His suffering, and the subsequent glories. I know that the NIV says, the time and circumstances, if you're reading the text that I am using. However, when you look at the Hebrew text, well, the Greek text here, first of all, that preposition, or that, what is it called, relative pronoun, it's actually a relative pronoun, the what, often refers to a who, rather than to a what. So, I think the NASB, the New American Standard Bible, captures this verse better. They say that the prophets were seeking to know what person, the who, what person, or what circumstances, or what time, the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. Now, what this means is that the Old Testament prophets' research was concerned with the person responsible for our salvation and the circumstance He would go through to accomplish our salvation. This means a lot of things. It means that there's quite a lot of material about Jesus in the Old Testament. Therefore, we should be careful that we don't ignore the Old Testament. They were researching intently about the who, the what person, and they wrote about these things, guided by the Spirit. Yes, it is true that they did not know who the Messiah and the Savior was going to be. Yes, they didn't know that He was going to be a carpenter from Galilee, whose name was Jesus, and who was going to be known as the Nazarene. Yes, it's true that they didn't know these things, but they did know, however, that He was going to be a descendant from David. They did know He was going to be born in Bethlehem. They did know that He was going to suffer greatly, and that He was going to die, and that He was going to live somehow after His death. Isaiah writes this. We just read it. Although he doesn't call it death and resurrection, but when you read the text, the Messiah dies, but then He is living again. The prophets of the Old Testament knew that the Messiah's body would not see decay. In other words, the Holy Spirit rewarded the prophets' research by revealing to them how the Messiah was going to suffer, and how, after His sufferings, He was going to rise again and sit at the right hand of God's throne. Now, what is the implication of this? I mean, what is the practical value? Or what is the application of this amazing reality that the prophets knew all of these details about our salvation that God foretold, and that they were researching and recording, trying to understand, just like we do today as we read Scriptures, trying to understand. What is the relevance of this? Well, from eternity past to eternity future, God's plan of salvation included the suffering and the subsequent glories of the Messiah. Perhaps the prophets did not completely understand it, but God revealed these things to them hundreds and even thousands of years before our Lord came. In His grace, God was preparing everything that was necessary so that we may experience His forgiveness. As you can see, you were not loved by God for just a short moment of sacrifice in history. You have been loved for endless ages in the eternal plan of the Father and the Son to save sinners who trust in Him. Now, shouldn't you be grateful for that? That is the reason why the glories of our salvation promised in the Scriptures and summed up in the Gospel should breed endless gratitude from our part. My sermon this morning has five points, but don't worry. Only the first point was designed on purpose to be extensive, because I had to deal with that. So, we're going to look at the next four points very briefly. After explaining the Old Testament prophets' activity of research and teaching concerning God's salvation of humanity, in verse 12, Peter characterizes this prophetic activity as a service, a means of helping God's people. So, we can see then that the program of God's redemption was investigated for the benefit of future believers. For your benefit, he says, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, they were not serving themselves, but you. When they were researching and speaking about our salvation and all of these prophecies, the prophets were not serving themselves. They were serving you. The prophetic predictions were not without relevance for the original hearers. Of course, when Isaiah wrote to Israel and to the people, yes, he had relevance to them, but they would give comfort and hope to them as they looked forward in faith. However, Peter tells us that these predictions, Isaiah 53, for example, Psalm 110, Deuteronomy, Zechariah, so many passages. These predictions were primarily given to minister to you, that is, to new covenant believers. Why would he say that, that the prophets were serving you? Because Peter wants you to realize that you are greatly privileged. You are greatly privileged in the glories of our salvation. They were promised in the scripture and they are encapsulated in the gospel. That's why we should breed with gratitude in our daily lives as we approach everything, as we face everything. We should be grateful people. One of the most important things that Peter says in this passage is that the program of God's redemption is encapsulated in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter says that the prophets of antiquity spoke of the things that have now been told to you. What things? The grace that was coming, these things concerning to salvation that the prophets wrote. He says that the apostles, they spoke, or the prophets spoke of these things that have now been told you by those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. There are two things here in this verse upon which we need to focus our attention. The first thing is that the heart of God's program of redemption is the historical truths of the gospel. That's the heart of God's program of salvation. If we have to reduce the whole message of the scripture into one small chunk, that would be the gospel. And I will give you that chunk in a minute. That's the first thing that we have to focus our attention. The second thing upon which we have to focus our attention is that the historical truths of the gospel are what the Spirit revealed as fulfillment of prophecy. Notice that Peter says in verse 12 that it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. When they spoke of the things that have now been told to you, the gospel that has been preached to you by those who have preached the gospel, I take them to be the apostles primarily and other prophets, to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Now what does that mean? It means two things. This is what I believe. This is what Peter is saying. You see what the prophets wrote about our salvation was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Then those who preach the gospel to you, primarily the apostles, as they look at those scriptures in the Old Testament, they understood that to be the gospel. How? Because they were guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit as well. That's why through the Holy Spirit. And that's why the New Testament scripture, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is in the Old Testament as predicted. Inspired by the Spirit and understood by inspired, guided man in the New Testament. If we have to reduce the whole program of God's redemption into one passage, that passage would be 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 to 11. And let me read it to you. This is a question that I ask people when they are going to get baptized. One of the questions that I ask when they come and talk to me, I want to get baptized, Pastor. One of the questions that I ask them is, what is the gospel? It has happened that how many times I've been baptized, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit, Some people have told me, well, the gospel is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I tell them, well, those are actually the gospels as a genre, not the gospel as the gospel message. What is the gospel? Well, Paul tells us. And I want, as I read, I want you to pay attention to the phrase, according to the scriptures. Meaning, according to the Old Testament prophetic writings. Verse 1. Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you. There we go. I want you to remind you of the gospel I preach to you, which you receive and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel, you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. And what is this gospel that he preached to them? For what I receive, I pass on to you. That is, I preach to you as of first importance. What's the first thing? That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. If you ever have any questions that the Old Testament predicts that Jesus was going to die for our sins, well, go there. He tells us that he died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James and to all the apostles. And last of all, he appeared to me as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by grace, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without effect. Now I work harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether then it is I or they, this is what we preach. And this is what you believe. Peter tells us, It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told to you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. All of these things concerning the program of redemption, which is a big theological thing in the Old Testament, can be summed up, encapsulated, and captured in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel of Jesus Christ are the historical reality of his work on the cross. It is not just a belief, it's a historical fact. Jesus died on the cross for you, according to the prophetic writing, to the inspired scriptures. Jesus was buried, we just read in Isaiah, with the rich, with the rich, according to the inspired scriptures, a historical fact. Jesus was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. And this is what the prophets were searching, looking intensely. And this is what we preach. The glories of our salvation promised in the scriptures and summed up in the gospel, the historic facts and truths of the gospel, of the message, should breed endless gratitude. And finally, in this passage, Peter hints that the program of God's redemption is an awesome reality that angels long to experience. He says, at the end of verse 12, even angels long to look into these things. Now, what does that mean? This does not mean that angels want to look into these things, but they can't. Of course, they can. They can look down, we see that. What it means is that they want to because, in a sense, they are outsiders to the drama of sin and redemption. You see, they've never sinned. And they love to watch the great work of God's salvation unfold in history and in the lives of the saints, as the Lord would say, through Luke, when a sinner repents, there is a party in heaven. There is a party. The widow who once finds the coin, goes and calls her neighbors and her friends to celebrate, I have found my coin, let's have a party. For a coin? The shepherd who finds the lost sheep, he wants a party with his friends, let's come, let's celebrate. And then the prodigal son, a sinner who has wasted his life, a sinner who has wished the death of God, it's found in a situation and the father is waiting for him with open arms and he comes and the father says, let's celebrate, let's get the fattened calf, let's throw a party, let's get, put in the best clothes, give him the ring, let's throw a party because my son was dead but now he lives. Angels long to look and to experience that. They don't know what it means to be forgiven. They don't know what it means to be dead and polluted with our sins and be washed by the blood of Christ and forgiven. Peter says, let's celebrate, let's have a party. And forgiven. Peter's point is this, if angels get excited about our salvation, how much more should we? If angels love to look at the work of God in saving sinners like us, even though they will never experience it and know it firsthand, how much more should we who are the very beneficiaries of that salvation? We're not just onlookers like the angels. How much more should we love to look into it and be thankful for it and say with Peter, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for he has given us new birth. Yes, the glories of our salvation promise in the scriptures and sum up in the gospel should breed endless gratitude and excitement. For we are greatly privileged. That's why we are doing Awana on Wednesdays. That's where we're putting all of our energy to see more children and their families to recognize their need of Jesus Christ. Because we're Baptists and we like parties. We want a party in heaven. We want for God to open the dance floor so that all the angels there dance together as we celebrate that one more sinner has been forgiven. And that is the mission of this church. It is my prayer that together we would never take lightly the very fact that we have been forgiven. And it is my hope that our hearts would be steered with this excitement and joy of what God has done. The love he has given us, not just at the cross, but planned from eternity past to eternity future.