Look with me here now in 1 Peter. I'm going to pick up in verse
10. Left off last week in verse 9. The apostle has been writing
about the salvation that's given to us in Christ to all the strangers
scattered about. And to this point, he's talked
about our salvation from election. right down to the end of our
faith, right down to the salvation of our souls, and we enter into
glory. And everything that happens between that, the new birth,
our inheritance, our rejoicing in Christ, our faith in Christ,
and God's keeping power. And that's what he starts. He
starts where God starts and ends where God ends. And then he talks
about this salvation. He says, receiving, verse 9,
receiving the end of your salvation. The design of salvation, the
end of it, the fruit of it, when we get to the end of it, the
salvation of our souls, as the old timers used to say, then
we'll be plumb saved. Plumb saved. When we get to the
end of it, faith don't even need it anymore. But he says this
salvation that God has given us, This salvation that we've
received and that's what you do. You don't earn it. You don't
deserve it. We don't marry it. If we have
it, we received it. God gave it to us. And so we
received our salvation. And everything about it is the
salvation of our souls. And he says, now this salvation
that we received, this election, this blood of Christ sprinkled
to us, Our being born again and our inheritance and being kept. Everything that we have. He said
this salvation that we have, these prophets. The prophets
have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you. You see this salvation that we
received. The prophets prophesied about
it, taught about it, and preached about it. and searched into it. In fact, Hebrews 10.43 says this,
to Him, Christ, all the prophets give witness. They wrote of our
Lord's coming. They wrote of His salvation.
They wrote of our Lord's coming. I want you to look over in Romans
1.2 with me, just a minute. They wrote of our Lord's coming.
They wrote about the Lamb that would come. They wrote about
the man that would come. They wrote about the Lord's branch
that would come. They wrote about the king that
would come. They wrote about the governor
that would come. The consolation of Israel. I
mean, he was called lots of things. The branch, the righteous branch,
the root and offspring of David. The lion, the lamb, the savior,
the shepherd. They prophesied lots of things
about this salvation that was to come. That was to come and
the grace that would come with it. And look what he said here
in Romans 1 talking about the gospel of God and about Jesus
Christ being the message of it which he had promised for by
his prophets in the Holy Scripture. You see, that's the thing about
it. Everything that we know about our salvation, the prophets wrote
about it. That's why we can go to the Old Testament and find
our salvation. We can find our Lord Jesus Christ
wherever we look because that's what the prophets did. And look
in John 5.46 with me just a minute. John 5.46. You know, they searched or inquired
diligently into this salvation. They searched, they wanted to
know about it, they wanted to know who it was that was coming,
what was going to happen, what he was going to be like, and
who would he appear to. And so they said here in John
5, verse 46, Our Lord Jesus Christ, He told them there in verse 43,
He said, I am coming in my Father's name and you receive me not.
If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that only God gives a man? Do not think that I will
accuse you to the Father. There is one that is going to
accuse you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. And that is why he saw the Lord's
sin. You see these prophets, from Moses, From Genesis, the
very first prophecy in the Bible. Very first prophecy in the Bible.
Talked about our Lord Jesus Christ's suffering and triumph over sin
and over Satan himself and over all that that entails. And let
me show you one other thing about this here. Look over in Luke
chapter 2. And I tell you, this is what they said when they saw
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why they searched into
it, inquired diligently enough. They was interested in this salvation. They know there was a salvation
coming. Abraham knew there was a salvation coming. They knew
there was a person coming. Isaiah knew it. Samuel knew it. David knew it. Oh, how many times did David
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I said unto my Lord,
my Lord said unto my Lord, set at my right hand till I make
you enemies, you push to it. So how then does David call him
Lord and David his son at the same time? These are the things
that the prophets looked into. And they said, when he says,
Thou shalt call his name, he shall be wonderful, the Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
And upon his shoulders shall be the government. How in the
world, they looked into that and said, now how in the world
is that going to be? And then they said, behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son. And when he comes, he'll be known
as Immanuel. And they looked into those things
and said, how can this be? When's this going to happen?
What's this person going to be like? They was writing down things
and they said, what in the world is this about? And that's what
they're saying here. And look here in Luke 2.25 with
me just a moment. And behold there was a man, and
this is after our Lord Jesus Christ, they went in to offer
him as a sacrifice or to circumcise him day to day and offer him
as a maybe the firstborn that opens the womb he's offered to
the Lord, given over to the Lord. And behold there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man was just and
devout. Now listen to this, waiting for
the consolation of Israel. You know where you find that
consolation of Israel is? Isaiah 40. There's going to be
a consolation coming for you, fellas. You've been worried,
you're troubled, and you're worried about your sins and your salvation. And when the Messiah is going
to come, and when He comes, He's going to be your consolation.
Now watch this. And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ. And he came
by spirit into the temple, and when the parish brought in the
child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took
him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine
eyes have seen thy salvation, listen now, which thou hast prepared,
before the face of all people. You find that in us and in Psalm
98, as in a light to lighten the Gentiles in the glory of
His people. All those things that the prophets
prophesied and searched into. And now these fellows, when they
talk about it and pray about it and rejoice in it, they're
quoting the Old Testament about what was to come. Now back over
in our text, let's look at this again. And then it says here
that which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently,
who prophesied or preached of the grace that should come unto
you. You know, there's no, there's not a prophet in the Old Testament that knew anything about free
will Anything about works, anything about law keeping, anything about
marriage, all in the world they knew about was teaching the grace
that should come. That's all. It starts out. Noah
found grace in the house of the Lord. Edi walked with God, and
one time, what was it that Larry Criss said? God said, come on,
spin the might wheel. He said he never went back to
the house again. And I'll tell you, that's what
happened. He said, but Lord, everywhere you find... How about
Abraham? Abraham was a heathen adult,
and God called him out of the area of the counties. All they
ever talked about was grace. They never talked about anything
other than Christ coming, and coming as the shepherd seeking
his sheep, and taking them in his arms, and burying them, and
saving them, and redeeming them. And behold, who is this that
cometh up from Bozrah with these robes, dyed red as he trembled
in the blood, and he trembled to the vengeance of Almighty
God by himself in his own arm, brought him salvation. And oh
my, and Enoch and oh Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Oh, Jacob have
a lot. How come you love Jacob? Because
I want to, because I will to. How come you love Abraham and
said he's going to be your friend? Because I will to. Why you call
him the father of many nations? Because he's going to be. I can
call the things that don't yet exist as if they've already been
done. And that's what he's talking
about. The prophets, all they prophesied of was grace that
was to come. Grace that was to come. And I
tell you, see, that's why they went all over the world. You
know, they say under salvation, say under Zion, thy God reigns. They didn't know nothing about
this God that couldn't do anything. Had to walk up and down the aisles
and beg people to let him into their hearts. Tell them how much
that he loves them and what all he's going to do for them if
they just let him into their hearts. No, no. He said, Go and
proclaim how beautiful upon the mountain are the feet that publishes
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. This air is undesigned
by God's greatness. Oh, and then you go through Isaiah
53 and see everything there. The Lord did, the Lord did, the
Lord did. And who did He do it to? For
His people, for His people. He stricken for His people, smitten
for His people, numbered among the transgressors, laid down
His life for His sheep. And oh, I tell you this, all
they knew about was grace. They prophesied of grace. And
that's why He said, when John saw Him, When John saw him and
wrote about him, you know what he said? He said, the law came
by Moses. Oh, I tell you, the law came
by Moses. Moses was a stern man, and I wasn't no getting around
him. But he said, I'll tell you something Moses wrote about.
He said, God's going to raise up a prophet. God's going to
send you somebody. You know that lamb we put out
that night to get us up out of Egypt? He says, God's got him
one. And he says, you know what? And
he'll provide himself one. And then when John saw him, he
says, you know, the law came by Moses, but here's the Lamb
of God. And this is Jesus Christ who's
full of grace and truth. And he gives grace for grace. He gives you grace and then he
gives you grace because he gave you grace. He gives you grace, and then,
regardless He gave you grace, He'll give you grace again. And here's what they searched.
Look at verse 11. They searched for what? For what
matter of time? The Spirit of Christ which was
in them. You see, beloved, these holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of Christ was in them.
The Spirit of Christ wrote down what was to be said. Everything
that they wrote, the Spirit of God wrote in them. And the Holy
Spirit, let me tell you something about the Holy Spirit. This is
what it says in the New Testament and even in the Old. The Holy
Spirit, all he ever taught was the Christ. All he ever revealed
to these prophets was the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the genealogy,
All they talked about, the only reason they had the genealogy
is to show where Christ came from on his mother's side and
on his father's side. That's the only reason that is,
to prove that this was the Messiah. And oh beloved, the Holy Spirit
only speaks of Christ and only reveals Christ to souls. And
as he was a priest and taught by the Spirit of Christ that
was in them. And they talked about and wrote
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it says here, and
they wanted to know what manner of time Christ would come into
this world. And how it would be. And they
prophesied as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Look what
it says. And the Spirit that was in them did signify when
it testified beforehand of the suffering of Christ and the glories
of your Father. You know what the Spirit taught
these fellows and used through these fellows? They testified
and they preached about Christ's suffering. Now the Jews, they
could not get that and people still cannot get it. They despise
substitution. But it says that He testified
beforehand of His sufferings. And that's why the Jews could
not get it in their brain that their Messiah would come to suffer. He was to come to set up a kingdom. He was to come and to set up
a kingdom and the Jews were going to rule over the whole world.
That's why they asked Him, you know, when our Lord began to
ascend and said, Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom
right now, this time, back to Israel again? If you're the son
of David, you've got a throne. Let's sit on that throne. Let's
make these Romans. Let's make these Greeks. Let's
make all these Turks. Let's make all of them bow down
to us. But you know, our Lord Jesus
Christ said, Oh, listen. He said, Ah, my hour has not
yet come. He told his disciples, he said,
the Son of Man must go up to Jerusalem and must suffer and
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men. And the Spirit
before him testified of his sufferings. Oh, they plucked off my beard.
His beard was marred more than any of the sons of men. He gave
his back to the sliders. They say the bulls of Bashan
graffed around. And he cried, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, they talked about his sufferings. Talked about how that his soul,
his very soul, would be made an offering for sin. And oh,
listen, they talked about how he would suffer. And he suffered. I'll tell you something about
our Savior. He suffered from the moment he was brought into
this world until the day he ascended back to glory. Come out of the
tomb and ascended back to glory. He suffered. The day is Lord. His parents were so poor and
they laid him in a manger. Then they had to suffer because
Harry wanted him dead, wanted him killed because he didn't
want nobody at his throne because they was born a king. Over in
Bethlehem many heard, I've got to destroy this man. So they
carried him down into Egypt. He came back and was raised poor all of his
life. He said, he said, foxes have
holes, birds of the air have nests. But he said, well, I ain't
got no place to lay my head tonight. Everybody went to their own house
and the Lord Jesus went off to himself. Nobody said, listen,
I've got a good roast going over at the house. I've got some chicken
fried. I've got some good bread, baked,
fresh-baked bread. I've got some good butter to
go on it. Come on over and spend the evening
with us. Oh, he suffered, he suffered.
And look what they've done to him, and oh, they've talked about
it. But it's not only should he suffer, but then they also
talked about the glory. That's your father. He not only
suffered, but he's going to have glory. He's going to have life
when he says, Father, I finished the work that you gave me to
do. Now give me the glory that I had with you before the world
was. And oh, the glory that he had. What glory that he had. I'm telling you, beloved, that's
what I quoted him once. He said, the Lord said unto my
Lord, set in my right hand He says, you know, the Lord shall
make him rule over everything. The government will be on his
shoulder. And his dominion will be from everlasting to everlasting. God gave him a name. It's above
every name. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
said Himself over in Luke 24, He said, I told you, I told you,
told you about what the Psalms and the Prophets and Moses wrote
of Me, how that the Son of Man must suffer before He enters
into His glory. And oh, I tell you, they sought
to find out when and whom this great grace would come to. And
I tell you what, beloved, I thank God that He did suffer. Had He
not suffered, We'd have never been saved. Had he not suffered
for our sins, we'd have never been saved. Had he not suffered
under the justice of God, we'd have never been saved. Had he
not suffered the wrath of God, we'd have never been saved. If
he had not suffered bearing our sins in his own body, we could
have never been saved. And then if he'd have stayed
dead, we could have never been saved. But because God justified
him in all of his words and all of his promises, God raised him
from the dead. And set him at his own right
hand. Now our salvation is sure. And that's what them prophets
was looking at. That's what they was trying to see. How can this
be? Go so low to go so high. Suffer
so greatly to have such glory. How can he be warned as a Prince
of Peace and at the same time put his enemies down? Oh, listen, I'm still searching these
things myself. But look what else they said
about him. And then they say, Glory that should follow. And
then it says there in verse 12, unto whom it was revealed, All
the sufferings of Christ, the Spirit of Christ and His sufferings
and His glory unto whom it was revealed. Now listen to this,
that not unto themselves. They wrote these things, you
know, not to minister to themselves. But they wrote these things and
had these things revealed to them. But unto us they did minister
the things which are now reported. Who has believed our report that
is now being preached? You know what it says is that
these things that these fellows wrote, we now, they've done it
to teach us, to minister to us, and to instruct us. And there's
now these things, the sufferings and glory of Christ, who He was
and what He did, how He came, why He came, what He did while
He was here, is now being preached unto you by them that preached
the gospel unto you. Preach the gospel unto you right
now. Have preached it, do preach it
and will preach it. Paul preached it. You look in
the book of Acts when you get time and you look at Peter's
message on the day of Pentecost. I don't know how many Old Testament
scriptures he used about the suffering of Christ and the glory
of Christ. And that's what they've done.
And he says, and so see, all these things were revealed. Then
he preached the gospel by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
And that's what we do. These same things that these
fellas preached and taught, now they ministered us and we see
them and we know them and we preach them by the gospel and
by the Holy Ghost. And that's what we do. And oh
my! And that day of ministry, they
prophesied that when Christ would come, men would recognize Him. There's only one man, one man
that's ever been on this earth, that the garment that's woven
in the Old Testament concerning Him, He's the only man who could
wear that garment. The only one that ever prophesied. The only one who everything was
pointed to. could wear the garment that the
Old Testament writers wove together. Over a period of 1,500 years,
40-something men all talked about the same time and the same thing
over all these years, not knowing what was going to say for centuries
later. Only God could do that. And oh,
listen, and I tell you what, and see, that's what we're saying
is we have the same gospel that the prophets do. That's why Paul
says, we preach, you know, God called me to preach the gospel
of God. He promised this before by the prophets in the Holy Scripture.
What is this gospel? It concerns his son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who is of the seed of David. Seed of David. And then look what he says now.
So we preach the gospel. Look, and this is what's amazing.
Look at the last part of verse 12. So you know we preach the
gospel, they just minister to us by the tithes and the fulfillments
and the pictures and all the things that they preach that
we can see Christ and recognize Him by what they minister to
us with and which things the angels decide to look into. When
God saves a sinner, when God does something for a man and
the Holy Ghost comes on a man, the angels know nothing about
it, they just stand in wonder and amazement. They do the beck
and will of God. They're angels who always behold
the face of the Father in heaven. And they say, there's our Lord,
there's our Master, there's our Glorious Creator, Sustainer. The One who made us, the One
we delight to gather around His throne. Look at Him go down there
and look what He went for. Look what He went after. He went after those worms. He's
despicable, depraved, God-hating, Christ-rejecting, men and women
full of pride and self-righteousness. And they resisted Him and despised
Him. And yet He'd come and He'd overcome
everything that was against Him. Oh, I'd like to die. Oh, I'd
like to die. And they just look and look and look and say, And okay, let me wind this thing
up here. Verse 13, look what he says.
Since light of this, since this great salvation that we have
received, this salvation that the prophets searched and looked
into and prophesied of the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ
and we was revealed unto us so that we can now preach the gospel.
He says, wherefore, since you have this gospel, since you have
this great salvation, since it was always there, and now you've
heard it by the gospel, heard it by the Holy Ghost, wherefore
gird up the loins of your mind, since you are so greatly blessed
to witness these things, to see these things, and grasp these
things, and rejoice in these things, When you've been a witness
and been taught and been blessed to see what the great prophets
taught, hoped for and inquired into, since you have revealed
to your heart mysteries that even the angels decided to look
into. That's why our Lord said, Blessed are your eyes, for many
prophets and kings and righteous men have desired to see what
you see and have not seen. And oh beloved, he says, gird
up the loins of your mind. You know what that means? That
means focus your brain, focus your mind. Apply your mind, apply
your heart to this salvation that's been given you. This salvation
the prophets prophesied. Apply your mind to it. Apply
your mind and heart to what we have in Christ. This great salvation. And then look what else he says,
be sober. I mean, that's what he means
is take these truths seriously. Seriously. And set your hope. Set your hope to the end. Set your hope on Christ because
He's the one that brings that blessing grace. When Christ is
revealed, when Christ comes, He's the one that brings this
grace. And then look what he says. And then not only gird
up the loins of your mind since you've been a witness to these
wonderful things. Listen to Him. Apply your mind to Him. Seek
Him. Be sober about Him. Be serious
about Him. Set your hope on that grace,
on Christ and His revelation. And then, you do that, and you
do this as obedient children. Children. That's what we are.
Just children. God's children. God's children. How many times
did our Lord say children? He said to them, children, have
you got any bread? John said, little children. As obedient children, he says,
don't do like you did before. Don't fashion yourselves. Don't
act like yourselves was before you were ever converted to the
former lusts in your image. You was ignorant when you didn't
know God. Ignorant in religion, ignorant
in sin, ignorant in the world, ignorant in everything that you
did. Now you're not ignorant anymore. Act like obedient children. Now look what else he says. But
as he which hath called you, God called us. Called us by grace. Called us by Christ. Called us
by the Holy Spirit. Called us out of darkness into
light. Called us from sin to righteousness. Called us from
death to life. But as He which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Oh, you
be holy and honored in what He is saying is in all manner of
conversation. The one who saves you, let us guard and let us
be God-honored in our conduct, in our conversation, in how we
live in this world. He says He's holy, so you know,
you understand that He's holy. And watch what you do in this
world, watch how you act in this world. And then because it is
written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. I know that we grow in
grace. I know that. But at the same
time, we've got to watch our conversation. And let me show
you where our holiness is at. And this gives us no excuse whatsoever. Look with me in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30. And I'll show you this, and I'm
done. Be ye holy as I am holy. God help us to watch our
conversation, our conduct, our manner of life in this world.
Look what he said here in 1 Corinthians 1.30. But of him,
this God who is holy, So you, you be holy, but of him,
of this God who is holy, are ye in Christ Jesus. Old Scott
said, how did you get in Christ Jesus? God put you there. That's
what he's saying. And then God made this, when
he put us in Christ, he made God, God made Christ unto us
wisdom. That's that Old Testament wisdom
where we see Christ in the scriptures. Made him our righteousness. There
ain't but one. Made Him our sanctification,
that sanctification to our holiness being set apart. And our redemption,
that's the redemption of our bodies, that's the redemption
of our souls at the end. And here's the reading it did,
that according as it is written, He's that glory. If you go boast
in anything, let him boast in the Lord. What else is there
to boast in? Amen. Amen. Our blessed, blessed Savior.
Oh, stand in wonder and amazement at this gospel that's all through the Old Testament.
There wouldn't be a New Testament without the Old. Those men would
not have had a message had not they read the prophets and understood
the prophets and were blessed by the prophets, blessed to understand. And Lord, that's why we can read
the scriptures and so blessed when we find Christ and see Him
clearly, plainly, powerfully. And Lord, thank You for these
dear saints who have come out tonight. God has strengthened
them. Lord, encourage them. Thank You for what You're doing
for us, how You keep us standing, how You keep us cleaving, how
You keep us believing. And for the grace, that's new
every day, and Your mercies that's new every morning for us in our
home. God, thank You. Be with You,
dear children. We ask You in Christ's name.
Amen. upon Jesus, look full in His
wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely
dim in the light of His glory and grace. It really will. Good night and
God bless you.