Father, once again we thank you
for the privilege of allowing us to gather together to worship
Thee in spirit and truth. We pray that the Holy Spirit
would illuminate the scriptures today and teach us of Christ
and that our hearts and our minds would be directed toward Thee,
Lord. We love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn,
if you would, to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. We'll continue our study in the
first chapter of Peter. The name of the message is the
Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ. Let's start
in verse 3, and we'll read to verse 12. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein you
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom have you not
seen, ye love, and whom, though now ye See Him not, yet believe,
and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of the
which Salvation the prophets inquired and searched diligently
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching
what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferance of
Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed
that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the
things which are now reported. unto you by them which have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. So last week in
our study of 1 Peter, we looked at verses 6 to 9, where we saw
Peter bring forth the present state of believers. He was writing
to those who were in a season of heaviness. A season of heaviness. And note he said it was a season.
It would pass. And it was through manifold temptations.
And we saw how temptations in our text were trials. And then we considered the certainty
of the fact of our Lord's second coming. He is coming again. He's
coming again. The certainty of the fact of
our Lord's second coming. And while we have not seen Christ,
yet we love him. Yet we love him and we hope in
him. And faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. And so we have seen Peter, once
again, bring forth what they are going through in the present
for the believer. We're to look to the future.
We're to look to the second coming of our Lord. And it'll bring
us joy as we go through trials. And these trials that we go through
are trials of our faith. They're trials of our faith.
which we see in verse seven. And let us remember that when
we go through trials, They try our faith, and our trials refine
us just as gold is refined in the fire. That's why we go through
trials, to be conformed to the image of Christ. No one likes
going through trials. No one does. I have not met one
person who desires to go through trials, but we do. We do, and
then we look back and see what the Lord has done. And then we
looked at verse nine and we saw Peter pointing the believers
to when they will be in the presence of the Lord, which is the end
of their faith, to be in the presence of the one who is the
object of their faith. So the apostle brings forth the
fact that the believer will one day be in the presence of the
Lord, that God's people might be strengthened when they're
going through these manifold temptations and these seasons
of heaviness, that this precious truth, this precious truth might
strengthen them. and that they might remain steadfast
and immovable in Christ, knowing the absolute certainty of their
final salvation. And let us, who now are looking
at this letter today, rejoice in that, the absolute certainty
of our salvation in Christ, those who are resting and trusting
in Christ. This will help us as we go through
trials and tribulations, and it girds up the loins of their
minds, and ours too, and to hope to the end. to always have hope,
and our hope again is in Christ. So let's consider verses 10 to
12 today. Of the which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesies of the grace that
should come unto you? Searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves but unto us They did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Now it is the ignorance
or at least the inconsideration of divine things that makes earthly
things, whatever good or evil, appear great in our eyes. Because
when we contrast earthly things to our great God, they fade in
comparison. They absolutely fade in comparison. All the riches in the world are
nothing compared to the riches that the believer has in Christ.
Nothing. And so therefore the apostles
great aim is by bringing forth the certainty and the excellency
of the belief and hope that Christians have in Christ. It's to strengthen
his afflicted brethren to strengthen his no doubt Peter had heard
about what they're going through. No doubt he had. And it's to
strengthen his afflicted brethren against all discouragements and
oppositions. And this is what the scripture
does for us even today, doesn't it? It strengthens us. It strengthens
us. It gives us strength when we're
discouraged and when we have opposition. It gives us strength
to face what comes our way. as we feast upon Christ and we
look upon Christ and Him alone and He's our only hope. He's
our only hope. So the salvation we have, the
gospel we believe in, is no modern invention of man. It is the gospel
of God, purposed by God in eternity and accomplished by Christ 2,000
years ago. And we see in verse 10 that the
prophets inquired after it and foretold it. in former ages from
the beginning. Now let's set a premise here
quickly. The saints that Peter's writing to didn't have the New
Testament like we have. And I was thinking about this
today, this morning, I was kind of chewing on this fact that
here, these were letters that these saints received. And for
us, it's the scriptures, it's the holy scriptures, and it's
incredible. So think of how they felt when
they received these letters, which are now, And we know the
Lord, the Holy Spirit had Peter pen these letters and Paul pen
these letters. But think of how they would feel
when they received these letters. And now it's talking about the
prophets. All they had was the Old Testament.
So they're studying the Old Testament, looking for Christ. And look
what Peter writes to them here. He says, of the which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesized
of the grace that should come unto you. So we see that the
way of salvation by Jesus Christ, which is held forth in the New
Testament, which we can now read today, is that which the prophets
prophesied of, beloved. It's that which the prophets,
and they inquired, and they searched diligently, the scriptures. And
we know that what they were searching is the Old Testament scriptures.
And notice it's the spirit of Christ was in those prophets
of old. If you're a believer, that's
the same spirit that's in you. There's only one spirit. the
Holy Spirit of God, and here in our text he's called, or we're
seeing in verse 11, he's called the Spirit of Christ, the master,
our own master proclaimed, the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed,
and turn if you would, we'll turn there to John 5.39, I know
we've read it many times, but it's good for us to look at it
in this, in the context of the scripture we're looking at right
now. The master proclaimed this precious truth. I don't know
how many times when I was in religion, people told me the
Old Testament was for the Jews and the New Testament was for
believers. That's an absolute lie. That's an absolute lie. The whole book, Old and New Testament,
is all about Christ. It's all about him. And look
what the master said right here. And remember, when our master
said this, there was no New Testament. He's speaking of the Old Testament
scriptures, beloved. John chapter five, verse 39.
Search. What does search mean? The search
means you look, you diligently search. The prophets of old,
they searched the scriptures. And this is a command for us
as believers to search the scriptures. Don't just listen to what the
preacher says. Search the scriptures. Search the scriptures. I'm just
a man telling you what the Lord's done for me and what he's showing
me. But search the scriptures, beloved, because look what it
says. Search the scriptures. John 539. Search the scriptures. That's the Old Testament scriptures.
For in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they
which what testify of me. The Old Testament scriptures
proclaim Christ beloved. They proclaim Christ in types
and shadows. And the Old Testament prophets
were were taught of God and moved by the Spirit and they prophesied. They prophesied by the Spirit,
the Spirit of God prophesied through them concerning the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Just read Isaiah
53 and you can see that right there. And they sought to find
out when this would take place and to whom this great grace
should come. And the Holy Spirit and the Spirit
of Christ spoken in verse 11 is one. After the Lord ascended
up to glory, He sent down the Spirit, didn't He? He sent down
the Comforter. Comforter. And that's the same
Spirit that the prophets had. That's the same Spirit the prophets
had. When they penned the Scriptures and when they prophesied of Christ,
the Messiah, He comes from above. regenerating the elect of God,
and teaching us the things of Christ. This is what the Holy
Spirit does. And the prophets prophesied both
of Christ, who is the unspeakable gift of God's free grace. The
only one who is full of grace and truth. When it comes, that
which is spoken of in verse 10, who prophesied of the grace that
what? Should come unto you. should come on to you. Did you
look for Christ? Or did Christ send the Holy Spirit
to seek you out and to regenerate you? And then what did you do? You saw Christ, didn't you? Oh,
it's come on to you, beloved. It's come on to me. This is wonderful. Because there's none that seeketh
after God. That guy says this and I will shake all the nations
and the desire of the nations shall come and I will fill their
house with glory say at the house of the Lord chapter 2 verse 7
this wondrous grace comes to the redeemed by Christ and in
and through Christ alone and this is redeeming grace from
sin from Satan from death in the grave justifying grace which
only comes through his righteousness he being the Lord our righteousness
in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified in glory Jeremiah
wrote of that Lord our righteousness wrote of him the Old Testament
is full of Christ absolutely full of Christ the prophets also
spoke of regenerating and sanctifying grace in the given of a new heart
just read Jeremiah and writing of the laws of God to the inward
parts and pouring out the Spirit on God's elect, and they spoke
of preserving grace, saying that God is the one who saves us and
keeps us, bringing forth that they that fear the Lord shall
not depart from Him, and His love and kindness shall never
depart from us. This is all proclaimed. All these
things are proclaimed in the Old Testament. It speaks of eternal
life and glory, which is only in Christ. everlasting salvation,
which only comes through Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let us remember that the Holy Ghost is in Himself holiness.
He's absolutely holy. And the source and worker of
holiness, and the author of holiness, this is the Spirit of Christ.
Proclaim, look at verse 11. Search in what or what manner
of time? The Spirit of Christ. That's the Holy Spirit, beloved.
which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
So let us observe here what an honorable testimony the Holy
Ghost here gives to the prophets for their diligent search and
inquiring after Christ and His salvation. And let us also observe
how and by what means they were enabled to do so. How were they
enabled to write what they wrote? How were they enabled to prophesize
of the things of Christ? by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them and
testified beforehand the sufferance of Christ and the glory that
should follow. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 52. Isaiah chapter 52. And I'll read Zechariah 13, 7. Awake, O sword against my shepherd.
Who's that speaking of? That's speaking of Christ, the
sword of God's justice. Awoken against the shepherd my
shepherd the scriptures proclaim. That's Christ Zechariah 13 7
a Waco sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my
fellow sayeth the Lord of hosts Smite the shepherd and the sheep
shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones And then look at Isaiah 52 verses 13 and 14 Behold my
servant The servant is a chosen one Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
As many were astonished that his visage was so marred more
than any man, and his form far more than the sons of men. Now
this speaks of exactly what Peter was writing, that they testified
of the sufferings of Christ. They testified of the sufferings
of Christ. They prophesied about the sufferings
of Christ. And let's go back in our text
here, it says, searching what or what manner of time the spirit
of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand
the sufferance of Christ and the glory that should follow.
Now notice in the text, the prophets searched the scripture. They
searched the scriptures. Searching what or what manner
of time, the prophets made a very diligent inquiry into the exact
time when Christ should come to work out the salvation of
his people. They search these things. They
search these things. And John Trapp brings out that
this searching is with the greatest judgment and diligence. And I
thought this was interesting. This searching is as hunters
seek for game. You guys who are hunters here,
you seek game out when you're hunting, don't you? Yeah. You seek them out. And then,
Trot brings out this too, and I thought this was good. As men
seek for gold in the very mines of the earth. They go down there
and they work in the sweat of their brow. They dig. Remember back in the old days
they had pickaxes back there. They'd be down there just in
the sweat of their brow digging away for gold. That's how they
searched the scriptures. That's how we should search the
Scriptures. Remember, this is a mine, beloved.
This is a vast mine full of jewels and gold and riches, and it's
all about Christ and Christ alone. And God was pleased to reveal
Christ to them as the Messiah, just as He has revealed Christ
to we who are born again of the Spirit. They searched diligently.
Again, searching here in verse 11, as one commentator brings
forth this, the words are strong and emphatic, alluding to miners
who dig to the bottom and break through not only the earth, but
the rock to come, the ore. And those holy prophets had an
earnest desire to know more and more about Christ. And they were
diligent in their inquiries after the grace of God. And this is
how we should be too, eh? We should desire to learn the
things of Christ, knowing that God, if he's pleased to reveal
Christ to us, and more and more of Christ, he will. And this
is why we pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate the scriptures,
because if he doesn't, we're not gonna learn anything. He
must teach us, beloved. He must teach us. He must guide
us in all truth. And so let us therefore consider
that the doctrine of man's salvation by Jesus Christ alone has been
the study and the admiration of the saints before us and of
the prophets of God. All the way back. If the inspired prophets search
diligently into the things of Christ, should we who are redeemed
of the Lord desire to do so too? Yes. And those who have tasted
the mercy of God by the grace of God, we desire to inquire
into the truths about our Savior, the things of our Savior which
are contained in his word. And we have the blessing of both
the Old and the New Testament. They didn't have that. They didn't
have, but yet they searched diligently, searched diligently the scriptures.
And that which was pictured in shadow and type for them, has
been revealed to we who are alive in the gospel dispensation. And
let us diligently seek, search and seek the truth of Christ
in the scripture. Let us desire to hear his word
proclaimed. And let us pray that the Holy
Spirit would teach us and guide us into all truth, beloved. And
note verse 11 brings forth the one who was the object of the
study of the prophets. It was Christ. It was Christ. Searching what or what manner
of time the spirit of things which was in them did signify
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. All the object of their study.
The object of the study of the prophets was Christ, Jesus Christ,
the main subject of their studies, because he's the Messiah that
the scriptures speak of. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
24. Luke chapter 24. They inquired about his condescension. They inquired about when he would
appear, his death, and the glorious consequences of that. Searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which is what
was in them, did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Look at Luke 24,
verses 25 to 27. Then he spake unto them, O fools
and slow of heart. Remember, this is the Lord speaking
to the two on the road to Arimaeus. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Who did the prophets speak of? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? It's all through the
Old Testament. It's all through the Old Testament.
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto
them and all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Now, I remember talking to Brother
Norm Wells and saying, well, I wish I could be a fly on the
wall in that conversation. He says, you have it all right
here. Just, if the Lord's pleased to
reveal it, and we're not gonna learn everything. But as the
Lord's pleased to reveal himself to us in the Old Testament scriptures,
we just marvel. We just absolutely are marveling. Matthew Henry brings forth this,
that this inquiry would lead them into a view of the whole
gospel, the sum whereof is, this, that Jesus Christ was or
Christ Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. And the gospel is good news,
isn't it? It's good news. It proclaims life, eternal life,
proclaims the suffering and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it proclaims that this is
the only means of salvation. There is no other way. There
is no other way but Christ. And it is Christ who is the one
who has worked out the salvation of his people by his perfect
life and by his his substitutionary death, his atoning death for
his people on Calvary's cross and also by his resurrection
is good news. Good news. And this is what the
prophets and the apostles make the sum of all their salvation. of all their doctrine, Christ
and Christ alone. Christ and Christ alone. He's
all our righteousness. And this is what the believer
does, doesn't he? I ask you, is he not all your righteousness?
Is he not all your redemption? Is he not all your sanctification?
Is he not all your salvation? Well, this is the same, this
is what the prophets proclaimed too. and had the same spirit
within them as we have, beloved." It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Now let's consider verse 12,
unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto
us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you
by them which have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire
to look into. unto whom it was revealed, it
says here. The salvation they searched and
inquired into through the studies of the scriptures and the grace
of this salvation. The time of its happening and
sort of times they would be when Christ should come among the
Jews and the Gentiles through the preaching of the word and
also the cruel sufferings the Messiah should undergo and what
great glory should be put upon him afterwards was revealed to
them by the Holy Spirit of God as they searched the Scriptures.
And then they penned. Jeremiah penned the book of Jeremiah.
Isaiah penned the book of Isaiah. It's wonderful, isn't it? They
prophesied of these wondrous things that would occur. all
by the Spirit of God, all by the Spirit of God. And it was
revealed to these Old Testament prophets that the services they
rendered in the coming of the Messiah of which they spake would
not be fulfilled in their day, but in the later day. Unto whom
it was revealed that Not unto themselves, but unto us they
did minister the things. Therefore, those who lived in
the days of his coming would recognize the Messiah from the
fulfillment of their prophecies in all Old Testament types and
pictures, as he is pleased to reveal himself through the preaching
of his word. Beloved, they were ministering
to us. They were ministering to us. The text continues. The
things which are now reported unto you. things which are now
reported unto you, that which the prophets looked into, Peter
brings forth. They are now accomplished facts.
May the gospel never become commonplace to us. May we never reach a point
where we say, oh, I know that. May it always leave us in awe. Because if we reach a point where
we say, yeah, well, I already know that, that's, you know,
we're in a heap of trouble. This gospel is wondrous. This
gospel is incredible. And it's purported unto us. These
accomplished facts and the things which relate to the person and
offices of Christ, beloved. This wondrous salvation which
has been wrought out by our great God and King. I remember hearing one preacher
say, you know why we need to be told about what Christ done
at Calvary. And we're all guilty of it, because
we forget so easily. Because we're in this flesh and
we struggle, don't we? And this is gospel preachers,
we get up and we proclaim Christ and it's wondrous, it's wondrous. And then something will come
up and we get worked up, don't we? Oh, but who's in control? God's in control, beloved. He's
in control. We so soon forget, don't we?
We're so prone to this. The things which are now reported
unto you, beloved. The salvation wrought out by
him. The salvation wrought out by
him. His incarnation, the fact that
God became a man. We were looking at that, brother. Christ is the God-man, two natures
intertwined, fully human and yet fully man. We're never gonna
understand that, but it's truth. And that he did that to redeem
us, to purchase us. He came to die. The believer says, he came to die
for me. His incarnation was for me. It's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. His
perfect obedience. Think of that, too. We can't
keep one law. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. Christ, the sinless one, lives
an absolutely perfect life. Can we even fathom that? Perfect. And this is a fact, beloved.
And it's reported unto you and I through the scriptures and
through the preaching of the gospel. And for the believer,
it's reported that Christ did this for you. It's wondrous. And in his sin-atoning death,
all his sufferings, his death, that the perfect one, the sinless
one, died for sinners. And the believer says, that was
me. That's still me. I'm still a sinner, but I'm a
safe sinner now. I'm trusting in Christ. Oh, my. It's wondrous. And then His glorious
resurrection, proving that God was absolutely satisfied with
the sacrifice that He made. The one who came to die, died
for me, and then God raised Him from the dead, telling me that
He's satisfied with that sacrifice. Oh, may this always be a wonder
to us, that we who believe are included in that number. while so many others are just
left to perish in their sins. It's wondrous. And then his wonderful ascension
into heaven and the fact that he's now seated at the right
hand of God. And these are true and faithful
reports in the gospel. These are facts, beloved. These
are facts. The world thinks they're fiction,
but they're gonna perish in their sins unless God grants them faith
to believe. And then those who God grants
faith to believe will be just like us, believe in just like
us, be in awe. But it's wondrous, the salvation
is absolutely wondrous. And they've been preached unto
you. Look at our text continues, by
them, that have preached the gospel unto you." And Peter's
talking about himself here, too, and he talks about gospel preachers
and the rest of the apostles and those who have been called
and sent out by Christ to preach glad tidings and publish peace,
which they had done in several parts in the world, both the
Jew and Gentile, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
The Holy Spirit is sent down by Christ and by Christ alone,
from the Father. particularly at the day of Pentecost
when the apostles had an extraordinary and plentiful effusion one commentator
said of the spirit qualifying them to preach the gospel to
to those which they were called and sent. Now we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God and we just proclaim the things Christ
has done for us. That's all they did too. And
the fulfillment of these things is reported unto you by the same
Holy Spirit, who inspired them to prophesize of Him. So the
same Holy Spirit that inspired the prophets to prophesize of
Christ, the same Holy Spirit that was in Peter when he preached
the Gospel, is the same Holy Spirit that's in every believer.
And does it not testify of these truths, the Spirit that's within
us? Does it not testify of these wonderful truths? Yes. Turn if you would, the first
Thessalonians chapter two. Excuse me. We proclaim the gospel
by the same spirit. Gospel preachers proclaim the
gospel by the same spirit. Believers proclaim Christ by
the same spirit. is they which prophesied and
promised the gospel. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verses
8 and 9. So being affectionately desirous
of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel
of God only, but our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our
labor and travail for laboring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached the gospel God
and they were able to preach the gospel of God by the same
Holy Spirit, which is in us So very things the gospel preacher
proclaims and the redeemed of the Lord Marvel in The angels desire to look into
look at the latter part of this verse here and which the angels desire to look
into. Now, the angels here spoken of
are, without doubt, the elect angels, and they are infinitely
beneath God. They're just created beings,
and yet they're far superior to us, to man, in wisdom and
strength. And they find their happiness
in contemplating, one commentator said, the divine excellencies,
and in doing the divine will of God. And scriptures declare
that these angels are desirous to look into the things pertaining
to salvation, the salvation of the redeemed from among men by
Christ. John Brown brings this forth. The original expression
is very beautiful. They are with earnest desire
bending down, fixing their gaze on these things. A peculiar mode
of expression probably alludes to the figures of the cherubim.
Now remember this, the figures of the cherubim above the mercy
seat who with downcast eyes, right, they were looking down
at the top, were represented as looking on the mercy seat
as if seeking to penetrate the mystery of wisdom and kindness
which the fiery law covered by the blood-sprinkled golden perpetuary
embodied. looking upon that mercy seat. That's the same kind of expression
when they desire to look into it, the things. So we have seen
today that the prime subject, both of the Old and New Testament,
which the prophets diligently searched for, and which gospel
preachers are to proclaim, is Christ. Christ. and we proclaim the free grace
of God manifested in God giving Christ for sinners and also in
his powerful irresistible drawing of his people by the Holy Spirit
of God and that through Christ the believer has received pardoning
grace for all their sins born again by the Spirit of Christ
which is the Holy Spirit of God the same spirit which guided
the prophets and by which they believed is the same spirit by which we who are born again
believe. They testified the same Christ. That we believe is wondrous. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank you for this time. Pray you be glorified and magnified
in the preaching of your word in Jesus name. Amen.