We're going to read then from
1 Peter 1, and the first 12 verses. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, and to obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto 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 ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, who having not
seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 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. and to 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. Amen. May God be
pleased to bless to us this reading from his word. Our thoughts this morning are
going to rotate as the Lord will enable. Rotate around this little
phrase that we see in the 11th verse of 1 Peter 1. The sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. The suffering and the glory. the suffering and the glory. Peter tells us that the end of
our faith is the salvation of our soul. Salvation. Salvation. The salvation of our
soul. Are you saved? Are you saved? Is that an experience that you
can testify to? Is that an assurance that you
possess? Have you heard of the salvation
that is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ? Has this salvation
reached you? Are you able to testify that
the Lord Jesus Christ is your Saviour? That's the glory. that we in this world look forward
to. Salvation of our souls. That salvation of the soul, if
the Lord Jesus Christ has come into your life, if you have trusted
in Him, if you believe the promises that He has made, that salvation
of soul is yours, it's your possession. Peter tells us that it is an
inheritance that we have been given and it is incorruptible. It is perfect, it is holy, it
is wonderful, it is a wonderful salvation. And it is what our
faith, small as it might be, weak as it might be, little faith,
The Lord calls it, even in the minds of his disciples, ye of
little faith, and yet faith it is nevertheless. And though it
struggles and though it battles and though it fights against
so much of the argument that is set up in this world against
it, yet its very existence, though it be the size of a mustard seed,
is sufficient grace to lay the ground of this hope of eternal
life for the people of God. Our faith is leading us to see
a glory that is laid up for us in heaven. It focuses upon the
promises of Christ for us. And it rests upon those promises
and the sufficiency of our Saviour to accomplish all that is needful
for our deliverance from this sinful world and this sinful
flesh. Psalm 35, verse nine, speaks
about this salvation in the Old Testament, and here we see this
continuity and consistency that we remarked about in the children's
lesson, continued here in Peter's themes also. He says there, and
it's David that is speaking, my soul shall be joyful in the
Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation. The salvation that
is ours is the reason for our joy. It is the reason for our
comfort in this world that Christ has saved us. And it's not an
uncertain thing, this salvation. It's not aspirational. It's not something that we have
as an ambition that maybe we could achieve this, maybe we
can accomplish this, something that might or might not occur. It's a lively hope, says Peter,
and it is founded on sure and steadfast and faithful promises
that God has made to us that flow out of his love for us and
the grace that he has towards us in Christ. Our salvation is
the fulfilment of an old, old plan. It's the product of eternal
purpose. It's a covenant, a contract,
a covenant, forged, finished, and decreed in the everlasting
council of peace. the Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit, as it were rose together and agreed upon this course,
this purpose, and it will come to pass. This is the salvation
that we look to. It is majestic in its scope. It is wonderful in its proportions. It is breathtaking in its grandeur. It's magnificent in quality,
in quantity, and in nature. It's astonishing in the soaring
heights that it achieves, in the far-reaching extent that
it covers, and in the profound depth and exquisite detail that
it contains. It is richer, it is fuller, it
is more glorious than we can imagine or explain, and it will
thrill us through eternal ages. Our salvation is a great work,
and Christ is said both to be its author and its captain. He is the captain of our salvation. Earlier we spoke about the fact
that he was the governor. Well he's the governor all right
and he's the captain too. It shows us this rule, this reign
of Christ, his dominion in all of these things. We're not giving
some nodding, passing interest to someone who aspires to be
a king. He is the king. He is the captain
of our salvation. And our salvation is, and I've
scoured the scriptures, our salvation is said to be in him, by him,
of him, through him, and belongs to him. In fact, so integral
is salvation to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
that in numerous places in scripture, the Lord himself is said to be
our salvation. And that means that salvation
is not a thing, it's a person. Christ is our salvation. Psalm
62 verse six says, he only is my rock and my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. But not only, and this is pretty
great, not only is salvation, Christ our salvation. But do you know that Christ is
also the Father's salvation? Now how is that possible? What
on earth does that mean? Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 49
verse 6 And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
of Israel. I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth. So here is the Lord Jesus Christ
being spoken to by God his Father. And God says, thou shalt be my
salvation unto the end of the earth. This is the covenant purposes
of God. This is the accomplishment of
the will of the Father for the salvation of His people, that
people chosen in eternity, that people loved from before time,
that people foreknown. by God in that unconditional
love which desired their redemption, their deliverance and their justification. All that was necessary for reconciliation
and peace before a holy God. Who was going to accomplish such
a thing? Why? My Son, my salvation shall
go forth to the ends of the earth, and he shall gather all my people,
all mine elect, and he will bring them safely home into my presence
and into glory. Child of God, the salvation of
our souls ought to amaze us. It ought to amaze us. It amazed others, It amazed others. For centuries, Peter tells us,
for generations, godly men caught glimpses of your salvation. Your salvation. They caught glimpses
of your salvation, and when they did so, they stood in awe of
all that it signified and all that it meant. They saw it vaguely
in a vision. They heard it whispered on a
voice. They discerned it in symbols,
in signs and in types. And when they saw it, they wondered
and they marvelled. Peter tells us here in verse
10 of chapter one, he says, of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you. These men, they inquired, they
searched diligently, about what this message was about, this
revelation, this salvation that they saw hinted at, that they
were able to glimpse. They wondered about what it meant
and what it would involve. Here's a wooden ark, a wooden
ark built in the middle of a plain where there's no water. And the door was shut by God. And those that had been called
were placed inside that ark when the rains started to fall and
those outside drowned and died. And here's a lamb. It's pure
and it's spotless. and it is to be slain, and it
is to be roasted, and it is to be consumed with bitter herbs,
with your coat on and with your staff in your hand. Its blood is to be painted on
the doorposts and the lintels of your houses. And here's a rock in the middle
of a wilderness, a barren desert. And Moses, the man of God, is
standing on that rock, and he's got his staff in his hand, and
he hits the rock, and the rock splits, and water gushes out
of that rock, sufficient to quench the thirst of a thirsty nation. Here's a city. It's called a
city of refuge. And it is set apart as a place
of safety for the guilty of Israel. And here are snakes, fiery serpents
that come into our tents, that get into the baby's cradle. that
cause all manner of illness and fever and disease and ultimately
death. And there is a brass serpent
on a pole. And when it is looked at, the
people live. And when it is ignored, the people
die. Here is a potter, modelling clay,
making a pot, then throwing it away. There's a shepherd boy, he's
got a sling in his hand and he's walking out before an army, alone,
to face a giant warrior with a sword and a shield and a spear
at his side. And now it's an exiled people,
defeated, broken, lost, but they're returning home. to build a temple,
to worship God. What did all these things mean? What did they signify? What did
they tell to Abraham and to Moses and to Job, to David and to Samuel
and Elijah and Elisha and Ezekiel and Daniel and Isaiah? all of
these men, all of these men that looked for these things, that
searched diligently, that inquired into the meaning of these things,
odd, peculiar, strange, in many ways unreasonable. And yet they
all saw that these things prefigured something that was greater, more
glorious, more wonderful than the mere incident. Miraculous
as it often was. Let me tell you. Let me tell
you what these men saw, what these men understood in these
things. They saw that it spoke of one
to come. They saw that it spoke of God's
work in the world. They saw that it spoke of grace
and mercy, of salvation to come. but they also saw that it was
somewhere in the future, that it wasn't yet, that it wasn't
now. The Lord Jesus Christ could say
in John chapter eight, verse 56 to the Pharisees that were
giving him a hard time. He said, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad. You see, the Lord's people have
always been glad to discern in the things that they witnessed
and had revealed to them that there was something grander,
something more wonderful, something miraculous coming down the line
to meet them. And this was the message that
made them glad. It made them glad in their hearts
and glad in their souls because they knew that in the midst of
the wickedness, in the midst of all of the troubles and the
problems of their world, which were undoubtedly just as many
and probably as intense as the troubles and the problems that
we encounter today, there was hope. There was a God who was
just, and whose mercy would be revealed in time. Luke chapter
24, verse 27, the Lord Jesus Christ says, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. You look at a snake made of brass
on the top of a pole, you look at an ark that preserved people
in the midst of a flood? You look at a pillar of smoke
that led them through the desert or a stone that split and gave
out water? What do you see? What do you
see? In all these things, in all the
scriptures, they concerned the Lord Jesus Christ. He said unto
them, these are the words which I speak unto you while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me. These prophets inquired and searched
diligently, we are told, and they were led by the Spirit of
Christ to do so. That's interesting, because that
tells us that here is Christ in the Old Testament. Just as
much as Christ is in the New Testament and he is writ large
upon the pages of the Gospel and the Acts and the Epistles
of the Apostles, nevertheless, he was there in the Old Testament
too. And these men discerned him as we ought to, as we reflect
upon their writings and their experiences, for they reveal
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sometimes the fullness, and
sometimes they even tell us things that were not told in the New
Testament. They inquired and searched diligently,
led by the Spirit of Christ. He is ministering there in those
Old Testament days to those Old Testament prophets. He is illuminating
their minds. He is directing their thoughts. And though it is as yet darkly,
the mysteries of grace are beginning to blossom. They are beginning
to be seen. He is impressing on Abraham,
his servant, on Isaac, his son, how God would provide himself
a lamb. He was showing Job how it would
be that his Redeemer would one day stand upon this earth. And Peter informs us that there
are two great headings under which the minds of these prophets
brought together and categorised the things to do with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Their mind turned, as it were,
at the promptings of the Spirit of Christ to these two great
aspects of the coming Saviour. Salvation by the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. Salvation by the suffering
of Christ and the glory that should follow. And what wonderful
subjects those were for these prophets of olden times to diligently
search into and inquire about. You know what I'm going to call
the salvation by the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow. I'm going to give it a one word
name. Gospel. That's what it is. That's what they were inquiring
into. The sufferings of Christ that
would bring salvation and the glory that would follow. What
is that but the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? What else
have we got to say to the world today? That's exactly what our
message needs to be. Salvation by the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that will follow. You know what? If I repeat
that same message every week that I am here with you, I'm
telling you I believe most sincerely that those amongst you who are
true believers will never get tired of hearing it. And you,
like they, will be delighted to search diligently and inquire
after these things as you too are led by the Spirit of Christ.
Because this is the most glorious thing in the world, a wonderful
salvation by the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. The Old Testament saints, they
saw it and they believed. To the extent that they had light
in these matters, they believed. They believed the testimony of
Christ, that the Spirit of Christ provoked them and led them to
understand. They saw that Christ as God would
come into this world. And they saw that in coming,
he would suffer. But they saw that in his suffering,
there would not be defeat, but success. That he would accomplish
great things by his suffering. It was all hinted at there. but
it had yet to be realised. They saw the cross. They saw
the grave. They saw the resurrection. And
they saw the church, the kingdom of Christ and his rule over it. We read in Peter here in this
first chapter, not unto themselves but unto us did they 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.
That's a long sentence. but they weren't ministering
to themselves in these things. They were ministering to us.
They were ministering to those people to whom Peter was writing
and they were ministering to us also. So the Old Testament
scriptures have a continuing value as they teach us about
the Lord Jesus Christ, teach us about his sufferings and his
glory and the gospel. And there are two lessons that
I want just to draw to your attention quickly as we bring our thoughts
to a conclusion. The Gospel in the Old Testament
and the New Testament Gospel both look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't ever let anyone tell you
that there was another way of getting peace with God in the
Old Testament than there is in the New. There is a consistency
and continuity of the gospel and the revelation of Jesus Christ,
of the salvation by the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
would follow. The one anticipated it and the
other reported it. This is the work and person of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is front and foremost in the minds
of these men. The Apostle Peter tells us that
it is now being reported unto you by them that preach the gospel. It is what Paul calls the glory
which shall be revealed in us. It is about the sufferings of
Jesus, the salvation by Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And that remains the consistent message for all generations. In Hebrews 1, verse 1, we read,
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners speak in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, the governor, by whom also he made the worlds.
who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image
of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Now what is that except salvation
by suffering and the glory that should follow? he by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. The sufferings of Christ and
the glory to follow is the gospel of our great salvation, and it
is the consistent message of the Holy Scriptures. The second
thing I want to mention in that context is this. that the Gospel
in the Old Testament and the New Testament Gospel both require
divine power to illuminate and instruct sinners in the way of
salvation. How did these old men know about
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow?
How did they know about the gospel but by the promptings of the
Spirit of Christ? It was the Spirit of Christ in
them that led them to understand these things, to look at a piece
of metal on a stick, to appreciate the significance
of eating roast lamb with your coat on, to see that in the picture of
the ark upon the water and the mass destruction of the world
around about them was a picture of Christ. How would you begin
to possibly understand that? How would you begin to understand
that? But they had the spirit of Christ
leading them. And that same message is true
today. How is anybody ever going to
understand the significance of the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that will follow except God the Holy Spirit reveals it
to them? It needs that spiritual work,
that divine work to illuminate and instruct sinners in the things
of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is the living
word. And he testified to the prophets
of long ago. The Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven testifies of the Gospel to our generation here today. And here we have the testimony
of Scripture, that the convicting and converting power of the Gospel
lies not in its bare declaration, Not in the bare repetition of
words or the stringing together of a certain form of vocabulary. That's not what makes the difference. We could preach to men and women
with some orthodoxy till we're blue in the face and it won't
mean a thing. until and except the Spirit of
God comes and attends that ministry. And that's what happened in the
Old Testament and it's what must happen in the New Testament and
in our own days. The message attended by the power
of the Spirit, the Word and the Spirit together. In 1 Corinthians
2, verse 14, the apostle says, And that's true in conversion.
And it is also true in all subsequent spiritual revelation. Okay, now
this is important. If we are going to know anything
about the Lord Jesus Christ, we need the Spirit to guide us,
and we need the Spirit to guide us into the truth. We need the
Word and we need the Spirit combining together. Ephesians 1 verse 13
says this, In whom he also trusted, after that he heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
There's the word of truth that is sealed by the Holy Spirit
of promise. And we have faith in the things
of the gospel of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
will follow because that word that is declared to us is attested,
is verified, is applied by the spirit of truth coming together. The Lord Jesus Christ ministers
to his church and his people through the gospel ministry. And when he is pleased to bless
his word to the people, he speaks to them with an inward grace. Our ears are engaged in listening
and attending to the word preached and the Spirit of God applies
it to our souls and strengthens our spirits and gives us a confidence
and a peace in hearing it. If you have a burden for your
soul and you ought to have, you ought to have. If you have a
burden for your soul, and I'm not talking about your conversion,
I'm talking about today, I'm talking about this morning, I'm
talking about in this coming year that lies before us. If
you have a burden for your soul, and you ought to have, and if
you have a burden for the souls of others, and you ought to have,
then you need to be and they need to be where the gospel is
preached because it is the word and the spirit combined that
enables this growth in grace and development of spirit to
occur. We have a desire to grow in grace
and in a knowledge of truth. well then be where the gospel
is preached. Be where the sufferings of Christ
are lifted up before your gaze. Be where the glory of Christ
that should follow is faithfully, frequently, and seriously declared. There's one last little phrase
at the end of verse 12, which I think is interesting. It says,
which things, this gospel, this sufferings of Christ and the
glory that would follow, this gospel, which things the angels
desire to look into? The angels desire to look into
these things. Brethren, This gospel which is
ours, this wonderful gospel which is ours, this wonderful salvation
that is ours is intriguing to the angels. They long to look
into these things. They desire to look into this
great salvation. When I said earlier that the
salvation of our soul ought to amaze us, and that how for centuries
it amazed the Old Testament prophets. Peter is also telling us here
that it amazes the angels. Our salvation amazes the angels. I want you to take that home
and think about it when you go home today. Our salvation amazes
the angels. I believe that angels are constantly
learning about the work of Christ and constantly amazed at the
salvation of sinners. I believe that the angels wonder
why God doesn't just destroy this world right now. I think
they're standing up there saying, Let us go and do it. Send us
out. Send us out with our swords drawn.
We'll blot out this iniquity from before your side in an instant. And they're amazed that that
word of command doesn't come. The angels stand before the face
of God. They worship Christ. They see Christ in all of his
holiness. And yet, it appears that their
knowledge of his redemptive work is not gained, is not derived
from anything that they see in heaven. but when they come to
the church on the earth on a Sunday morning at half past 10 and watch
what is happening in this building. Now get your heads around that,
because that's exactly what Peter is telling us here. Paul says
something very similar in Ephesians chapter three. He says this,
verse 10. To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places. Okay, principalities
and powers in heavenly places, that's the angels. To the intent
that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. The church is teaching the angels. the manifold wisdom of God, according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ our Lord,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow.
And from that, it seems to me that the angels attend the assemblies
of the Lord's people, where Christ is proclaimed in his fullness
and his glory, and they listen and they learn and they rejoice
in beholding the conversion of sinners, which brings such glory
to the Lord. They shake their heads in wonder
at the salvation which comes to you and to me. They desire
to be here, to look into these things and to rejoice. Brothers and sisters, our saviour
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by the power of
God. The angels desire to witness
our salvation. How more wonderful could it get? May the Lord bless these thoughts
this morning to our hearts and to our souls. Amen.