Let us open our Bibles again
this evening to 1 Peter chapter one. And tonight, the Lord willing,
we want to look at verses 10 through 16, 1 Peter chapter one. I ended the message last Sunday
evening with verse nine. where the Apostle Peter writes
that at the appearing of Jesus Christ, he says that in verse
seven, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, that believers will receive
the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. When the Apostle
Peter speaks of the salvation of your souls, It reminds us
that he is speaking of spiritual and eternal salvation. That is
salvation from sin, salvation from Satan, salvation from death,
salvation from hell, the salvation of your souls. That doesn't exclude
the body because we know the body also shall be saved. shall be resurrected at the appearing,
resurrected or changed at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he appears again, and we
know that his appearing draws near, and we look forward to
that, and we shall, at that time, those of us who know him as our
Lord and Savior, we shall receive the end of our faith, that is
the salvation of our souls, of our beings. Now let's begin with
verse 10 tonight and go through verse 16. Of which salvation
the prophets have 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 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. Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as
he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. I want to divide these verses,
my message tonight, into two parts. First in verses 10, 11,
and 12, let me just say there's one message of salvation. There's one message of salvation. The prophets of old, notice what
he says in verse 10, of which salvation the prophets. When
he speaks of the prophets here, of course he's speaking of the
Old Testament prophets. And notice what he says, they
prophesied, the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the grace
that should come unto you. When we read they prophesied
of the grace, Actually, they prophesied of Christ. He is the
grace of God. In John chapter one and verse
14, the scripture says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the
father. The only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth. They prophesied of the grace
that is of Christ who should come. That verse in John 1 and
verse 14 has a sort of a long parentheses in the middle of
it. I like to read it without the parentheses. And the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. The
law was given by Moses but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. The prophets of old, in other
words, the Old Testament prophets, Peter says they prophesied of
Christ, the grace that should come unto you. All of the work
of salvation is the work of grace. When we think about this, I tried
to list a few of these things. But redeeming grace comes through
the blood of Christ. Justifying grace comes through
the righteousness of Christ. Sanctifying grace comes through
the spirit of Christ. Pardoning grace comes through
the death of Christ. and delivering grace comes through
the life or the power of Christ. Full, the Lord Jesus Christ,
full of grace and truth. The prophets of old, they prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you. You know, on the day
of Pentecost when Peter was preaching, one thing he said in that message
But those things, and I quote, but those things which God before
had showed, things that God had showed by the mouth of all, A-L-L,
all the prophets. In other words, all the prophets
of old, they all spoke of him. They all spoke of the grace that
should come unto God's people. Peter said, God, before it showed
by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he
has so fulfilled. And notice in this verse here,
the things that Peter tells us about the actions of the prophets
of old. Number one, they inquired. They inquired and searched diligently
into salvation. Notice that in verse 10. Of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently. They searched diligently into
the salvation. They were prophets. They were
prophets of God, but they were men. They were men just like
you and I. They were men who needed to be
saved. They were men who needed to have
their sins pardoned and put away. So they searched diligently into
the prophecies, their own prophecies that God had given through them,
and the prophecies of other prophets who had preceded them. These
prophets of old, they didn't just record these prophecies
and take them as a matter of fact, but they searched into
them. They looked diligently into these
prophecies that they had been given and other men had been
given. And I say again, that they had
souls. These prophets, they had souls
that needed to be saved. Not just to deliver the message,
but to be saved themselves. And I thought about the fact,
as a preacher, my preaching doesn't add one iota to my salvation. It doesn't contribute in any
way to my salvation. I'm saved by the grace of God
through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like these
prophets of old. Yes, they prophesied. They gave
prophecies of the grace of Christ that should be brought unto them,
but they searched into their own prophecies as well as the
prophecies of other prophets. Let me show you an example of
that in Daniel. If you turn back with me to Daniel
chapter 9. Daniel was a prophet. He was
a prophet of God that God used. in many ways gave prophecies
and promises concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice here
in Daniel chapter nine, in verse two, we read, in the first year
of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books. Now what books is he
talking about here? He's talking about the Old Testament
books. In particular, the book of Jeremiah,
the prophecy of Jeremiah. I understood by books the number
of the years where of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah
the prophet that he should accomplish 70 years in the desolations of
Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord
to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and
ashes. He searched into the prophecies,
especially into the prophecy of Jeremiah, and he read that
God had foretold that the nation of Israel would spend 70 years
in Babylon. Well, God has said it's going
to be. I don't need to be concerned
about that. That's not the way he thought,
was it? No, he read. God said it's going to be 70
years. They're going to be captives. Your nation is going to be captives
in Babylon. So what does he do? He sets his
face unto the Lord to speak, to seek by prayer and supplication. The word of God and the truth
concerning the future things that God has promised these are
not to discourage us in prayer, but they are means of great encouragement
to pray. When we have a promise, we have
a promise from God. I think there's an article in
our bulletin today by Milton that speaks about prayer and
the promises of God. That's the best way to pray,
isn't it? We take God's promises and repeat them back. Now, Lord,
you said, and we have an example in Jacob, don't we? Now, God,
you said, you said to go back. I'm doing what you said to do.
To take the promises of God and repeat them, pray them back,
just like we praise God and honor God by saying back to Him what
He has told us about Himself. That's how we praise the Lord.
We say back to God, we repeat back to Him what He has told
us about Himself, that He's eternal, that He's sovereign, that He's
all-powerful, that He's all-knowing. That's how we praise the Lord,
isn't it, just to repeat back to him, what he's told us about
himself. So that's the first thing we
see here. Peter says that these prophets of old that prophesied
of the grace that should be brought unto you, first of all, they
inquired and searched diligently into this matter of salvation. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
spoke to some men of his day when he was here in the flesh.
religious people, and he told them, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. Isn't it amazing, and who could
doubt the depravity of man when we realize that most men have
very little interest in searching into the word of God? and finding
out what God has to say about ourselves, about Him, and about
salvation. The second thing that we see,
Peter says, they searched what manner of time was signified
in which Christ should come. That's the last, or the first
part of verse 11. 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. They wanted to know, obviously,
they wanted to know the time that Christ would come. And they
did know several things about the time, their knowledge Actually,
the knowledge that was given unto them was very limited. For
instance, in that prophecy that Jacob gave concerning Judah,
that spoke of Shiloh, the Lord Jesus Christ, the peacemaker,
that he would come before the scepter had departed from between
the feet of Judah. In other words, they knew that
the Messiah would come before Judah, the tribe of Judah, lost
their kingship or rulership over the nation of Israel. They knew
that. And they knew from Daniel, in
Daniel chapter nine, the 70 weeks, they knew that the Messiah would
come within that 70 weeks time period, 490 years, 70 weeks. But notice what it says here.
It's interesting here. They searched diligently what
or what manner of time. Not just the time, but what manner
of time. What would it be like when the
Lord Jesus Christ came? And evidently, they knew that
it was going to be a time of peace. a time of peace. That's the reason
when the Lord Jesus Christ was born, there was a great expectation,
not just in, well, maybe not at all in Israel, but yes, in
Israel, but all of the nations, they were expecting some great
person to come. And because Rome pretty much
controlled and kept under leash all of the nations, It was a
time of peace. A time of peace. And they knew
that. What manner of time it would
be. It'd be a time of peace. And they also knew from, I believe,
from what God told Isaiah. You know in Isaiah chapter six,
when, whom shall we send and whom shall go forth? And Isaiah
said, here I am. Here I am, send me. And then
he asked the Lord, how long? How long? And God told him how
long, until the hearts of this people have waxed hard. They knew that the manner of
time when the Messiah came, as far as the nation of Israel was
concerned, it would be a time of great blindness, of great
ignorance concerning the word of God, and of great hardness
of heart. And that's exactly what it was.
That's exactly the way it was when the Lord Jesus Christ came.
The religious leaders, those that the Apostle Paul refers
to as the rulers, the princes of this world, their hearts were
hard. And you read the scriptures and
you just wonder, How did they not recognize the Messiah? How did they not recognize him?
He was born where the scripture said he should be born. I mean,
just one thing after the other. It's almost, and when they came
to crucify him, it's almost like they had a manual they took down
and read and said, now, this is to happen, and this is to
happen, and this is to happen, and this is to happen, and fulfilled
all of those things, and yet were ignorant that they were
doing exactly what God had said they would do. Our Lord said,
search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, but they are they which testify of me, and you will not
come to me that you might have life. What manner of time? And third, They searched into
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. Think about that. Think about
those Old Testament scriptures that spoke of the sufferings
of Christ. They searched into those scriptures.
Don't you think they looked at that scripture in Genesis chapter
three and verse 15 that spoke about the bruising of his heel? The seed of the woman, his heel,
would be bruised, don't you think they looked into, what could
that mean? What could that mean? And I know, I know, I believe
I can say this with great certainty, they surely looked at Isaiah
53. They surely looked at Isaiah 53 time after time after time.
What does this mean? He was wounded, he was bruised,
he was chastened, he was oppressed, and he was afflicted. What does
that mean? the sufferings of Christ, and
they saw His glory. I'm sure they read through Psalm
16 many times that spoke about His resurrection. Thou wilt not suffer thine holy
one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
peace, and in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right
hand there are pleasures forevermore. How could this be? How could
this be that one who is to suffer like the Lord Jesus Christ did
suffer, but then he entered into his glory? How? How's that? possible to be cut
off out of the land of the living and yet to reign in glory. I know they looked at that verse
in Isaiah 53 which said, he shall see of the travail of his soul
and be satisfied. Now some people believe that
refers to the Father. God the Father shall see of the
travail of his soul, that is, of Christ's soul, and he shall
be satisfied. And we know he is satisfied,
right? We know he is satisfied with
the sacrifice, the offering for sins that the Lord Jesus Christ
offered. But I like to think of that as
the words of God the Son, concerning God the Son. He shall see of
the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. Remember
hearing a preacher illustrate this years ago, and I'll give
it to you. I've given it to you, I'm sure,
before. But he spoke about a woman who
was pregnant and carries a baby for nine months. And the day
of delivery comes, and she gives, she travails, travails in delivery,
and gives birth to a child. And the doctor puts the baby
up on her stomach and says, I'm sad to tell you, but the baby
isn't alive. Would she be satisfied? Would she? I don't think so. Christ shall see of the travail
of his soul those he suffered for. those he died for. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and he shall be satisfied because each and every one of
them is redeemed and shall be saved, eternally saved forever. The fourth thing we see here,
they had it revealed to them, these Old Testament prophets,
they had it revealed to them that their ministration had reference
to the last days. Notice that in verse 12, unto
whom it was revealed, unto these Old Testament prophets, it was
revealed that not unto themselves, that their ministry mainly was
not for themselves or for their day, but for us. unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us, those of us who live now
since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, not unto themselves,
but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported
unto you by the apostles, by the ministers of the gospel after
the day of Pentecost, that preach the gospel unto you with the
Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. They had it revealed to them
that their ministrations had reference to the last days, those
to whom Peter wrote, and even down to us today. We reap the
benefits of the Old Testament prophets. encourages us and builds up our
faith when we read of a prophecy that was given 1,000 years or
600 years before Christ came into this world and we see how
it was actually, literally fulfilled. That builds up our faith, doesn't
it? We trust Him. more because of the ministration
of those Old Testament prophets. What they said, what they prophesied
came to pass. And we see that clearly. We see
that clearly. What they saw obscurely, we now
see clearly. Because we're looking back. They
look forward To the coming of Christ, to the sufferings of
Christ, to the death of Christ, to the resurrection of Christ,
to the ascension of Christ, they look forward and they saw these
things, but dimly, as through a glass. But you and I now, that
all of these things have taken place, we see clearly, don't
we? They ministered unto us. And then something that Peter
tells us here that is very interesting when he ends that verse by telling
us which things the angels desire to look into. As I looked at
that this past week, it reminded me, first of all, the angels
are not omniscient. They are spiritual beings, they're
powerful beings, heavenly beings, but they're not omniscient. God, he alone is omniscient. And so they looked in to these
things. They looked into these things
as they were being accomplished. which things the angels desire
to look into. And I thought about several things
that no doubt they looked into. Now remember, the eternal son
of God is their creator. And in heaven they have always
worshiped him and always praised him. And then they look into
this that he, their God, Their Creator, their Lord, has taken
a body, has become a man. He wasn't turned into a man,
I'm not saying that, but He joined His person, that body that was
prepared Him. There's their Creator the size
of a baby. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
amazing. They desired to look into these
things. And then they knew that all of
the angels that sinned, they were in chains of darkness reserved
for eternal damnation. There was no salvation for them. And now they hear that man that
is made lower than the angels, that he's going to be saved,
that he's going to be redeemed, and he's going to be forgiven.
How? How can that be? How can that
be? How can God be consistent in
his justice and yet exercise mercy? How? Oh, you and I know how. The only
one way is through the person and work of Jesus Christ. They
desire to look into these things. They have an interest. You know,
there's an old belief, I guess, that every person has their own
angel. We're not told that in the word
of God, so we can't say that. But I do know that there are
ministry spirits sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation. And probably, probably, I said,
one day in heaven we'll have it revealed unto us maybe how
angels have preserved us and kept us in this world. Many times, almost every Christian,
almost every believer can remember one at least, maybe many more
times when it seemed like they were going to be destroyed and
yet I won't say miraculously, but a person believes it's like
a miracle. They were preserved. They were
saved. I've told you before about the
Green Angels. Green Angels. That's a service
they had in Mexico years ago. There was two men and a truck,
and the truck was painted green. They drove the highways of Mexico,
and they were especially to help tourists whose car was broken
down or something. And I tell you, if you ever needed
one of them, and we did one time, you would think they were angels.
They were angels. The angels desire to look into
these things. And then the second part of the
message, I just say there is an appropriate response of those
who received the gospel. First of all, there's only one
gospel message, the message the prophets preached, same message
we preach today. And there's an appropriate response
to those who received the gospel in these last verses. You know,
there are a few people like that thief that was being crucified
alongside the Lord Jesus Christ. And the word, if you study the
word, you see that when they were nailed, all three were nailed
on a cross, he was blaspheming Christ along with the other thief. But you see God's sovereign grace
in saving that one thief. And the Lord told him, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. We sang that hymn this morning.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And that second verse, it's always
moving to me. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Think about that man. He was
saved, and almost immediately, the same day, he was in paradise. What does that tell us? That
tells us that the work of Christ is what saves us. The work was
finished. When the Lord said, it's finished,
his salvation was finished. There was nothing that needed
to be added to it. He was there. He didn't need
to grow till he became ripe. Somehow grow in sanctification
till he became ripe for heaven. No, he was ready immediately
and went to be with the Lord. But most of us are not like that.
There's a few, no doubt, a few who've been saved on their deathbed. But not many, not many. Most
of us, we are left here to work out our own salvation with fear
and trembling, remembering that it is God who works in us, both
to will and to do, of his good pleasure. Peter says, gird up
the loins of your mind. Remember, several years ago,
a book entitled The Battle for the Mind. And Satan, no doubt,
does battle to get a believer's mind. Gird up the loins of your
mind. Keep it. Keep it. Don't allow certain things to
even be interjected into your mind. When you hear those things
or read those things, Gird up the loins of your mind. Put those
things away. The picture here, of course,
is men in that day who wore long robes. If they needed to run
or if they needed to fight, they had to gird up that robe so they
could move and be active. Gird up your minds for the race
that is set before you, the spiritual battle that you're in. You're
in it whether you recognize it or not. And the battle is for
your mind. Be sober, Peter says. Look at
these things. Gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober. We know that sobriety is usually
taken with intoxication. That is, a person is intoxicated
by liquor or strong drink or something like that. But you
know, some people are intoxicated by the world, by the things of
the world, the riches, all the things of this world. Be sober. Recognize these things, they're
just passing things. Don't be overcome by the cares
of this world. You'll soon be gone. I'll soon
be gone. Hope to the end, Peter says,
hope to the end. No matter how severe the trials
may be that God brings your way, hope to the end. Expect, expect
to the end, because you've been begotten again unto a good hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hope to
the end. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you appear with him in glory. And
then lastly, Conduct yourselves as becomes the children of God. Your father is holy, be ye holy. Conduct yourself. You know, I
was reading the other day something about adoption. A man can adopt a baby and give
that baby his name, give that baby his inheritance,
But a man cannot give that baby his nature. He can't do that. God, he not
only gives us his name, he's our father, but he gives us a
new nature, a new nature, a nature like his. love righteousness
and hate evil. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts to all of us here this evening. Let us sing a hymn.