Now we see him not, yet we believe,
not like we ought to, not like we want to believe, but we do
believe. We pray with the centurion, Lord,
I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. And we rejoice with a joy unspeakable
and full of glory. And it says in verse 9, and receiving
The goal of faith, and that is the salvation of your soul. The hope and expectation and
goal of faith is the salvation of our souls. And when God created
Adam, we became living souls. Scripture says that God breathed,
He made man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul. And when Adam sinned, he and
you and I, we became a condemned soul. Scripture says, the soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die. And if I live, continue in that
state, a condemned soul, if I continue to live only for the world and
not for Christ and not in Christ, I'll forever be a lost soul. Our Lord said, what shall it
profit a man if he gained this world? the whole world and lose
his soul, lost soul. What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? He told about the rich young
man who was prosperous in the world,
and he was lying in his bed at night thinking about what he
was going to do. to continue his prosperity, and
he said, I'll tear down the barns I have now and build bigger barns. And then I'll say to my soul,
soul, take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. And
that night the Lord said, thy fool, this very night thy soul
shall be required of thee. But if I can believe, this is
what it's saying here, whom having not seen, I can love, in whom
though now I see him not, yet I can believe, and find in him
my joy and rejoicing, no confidence in the flesh, but rejoice in
Christ Jesus, the end of that faith is the eternal salvation
of my soul. And then at death, my body will
go back to the dust from which it came. God made man from the
dust. But my soul, what did he say? Made Adam from the dust and God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became
a living soul. My soul will go back to him. who gave it, the breath of God,
the life of God. That's what that's talking about
there, receiving the gold, the object, the end of faith. And
that's the eternal salvation and glory of my soul, my precious,
valuable soul. And then verse 10 says, of which
salvation? The prophets. Going back to the
prophets. We have the prophet Amos, the
prophet Ezekiel, and the prophet Jeremiah, and the prophet Isaiah,
and the prophet Moses, and on back to the prophets. Of which
salvation, this salvation by grace, this salvation through
faith in Christ, is no new gospel, is no new plan. It's no new salvation. All of
these prophets have inquired and searched diligently into
this salvation of our souls. All of them have. Acts 10, 43
says, to him gave all the prophets witness. Abraham, Christ said,
these old Jews said, well, we have Abraham. He said, Abraham
Abraham saw my day. He rejoiced to see it. They said,
well, we have Moses. He said, Moses wrote of me. If
you are to believe Moses, you are to believe me. Moses wrote
of me. Of which salvation? These prophets
inquired and searched diligently into this salvation. And they
prophesied of the grace that should come to you and me. Of
the Christ who would come and redeem sinners. Of the Messiah
who would come, born of a woman, made under the law, redeem them
that were under the law. Of the Lamb of God who would
come. They prophesy of His coming. This grace that should come unto
you. And then verse 11 says, and they're
searching, searching. what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them. I've heard people argue about
whether or not the Old Testament believers had the Holy Spirit. They said, you know, our Lord
promised the disciples the comfort that would come, the Holy Spirit
would come, And He breathed on them and said, Receive ye the
Spirit. And then at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came. Well, I
know all that. And someday I'll understand all
of it. But I do know this. The Spirit
of Christ was in them, it says here. You know what I'm saying?
The Spirit of Christ was in them. And if you look at 2 Peter 1,
these prophets They searched and inquired diligently
into this coming Messiah and Redeemer, and Moses wrote of
Him, and Abraham saw His day, and they wrote the Scriptures.
How did they write the Scriptures without the Holy Spirit? It says
in verse 20 and 21 of 2 Peter 1, knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the Scriptures is of any private interpretation,
But the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Yes sir, when Isaiah wrote he
was wounded by transgressions, the Holy Spirit was in him. Holy
Spirit, Spirit of revelation, Spirit of illumination. And then
also if you'll turn with me to over here to 2 Peter, is that
where it is about Noah preaching? It's in, let's see, it's in 1 Peter 3. Let's see if it's 1
Peter 3. Yeah, 1 Peter 3. Now watch this.
Here's the sufferings of Christ. Let's go back to our text just
a minute, let me read this right here. In verse 11, these men,
searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did signify, when it, that is He, the Holy
Spirit, testified beforehand, before Christ died, before the
cross, the sufferings of Christ. He testified in them and to them
and through them the sufferings of Christ. Now go to 1 Peter
3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Holy Spirit, by the Spirit, by which By which spirit? By which spirit? By the Holy Spirit. Also, he
went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were
disobedient when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water. In other words, when Noah, Noah
was a preacher of righteousness. When Noah preached to these people
while the ark was preparing, Noah preached to them the gospel
of Christ, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of the mercy and grace
of God to sinners by that same spirit, by that same, the Holy
Spirit. That's what he said, that Christ
didn't go down into hell and preach to people. It's saying
he preached to them through Noah, through Noah, the Spirit of Christ,
which was in them, testified to them of the sufferings of
Christ and the victory and the glory that should follow. That's
what verse 11 says. It's the same message. For example, let's go to Isaiah
53 a minute. The sufferings of Christ and
the glory which should follow. I tell you, if you want to If
you want a gospel sermon, Isaiah 53, that's where it is. Look
at Isaiah 53, verse 10. Isaiah 53, 10, Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul, he can save my soul by the offering
of his soul. an offering for sin, he'll see
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now watch this. Here's the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Here's the glory. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil of the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
All right, back to 1 Peter. These prophets searched what
or what matter of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify. When the Spirit testified before
it ever happened, before Christ came, the sufferings of Christ
and the glory that should follow. Now verse 12. Under whom? We're still talking about those
prophets. The Old Testament prophets. Under whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves. Christ didn't come in their lifetime.
And they knew that. It wasn't unto themselves, but
unto us they did minister the things, the glorious things,
the good things, things to come, justification, sanctification,
wisdom, righteousness, which are now reported unto you. Which are now reported unto you,
having been revealed to you. Who reported it to you? It's
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. Oh my. My, my. The Old Testament
prophets knew that they prophesied of future things. And the fulfillment
of all those prophecies is preached to us by the same Holy Spirit
that led them to write these things. Same Holy Spirit. Look over at Acts chapter 2 just
a moment. Acts the second chapter. Peter
preaching on Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2 verse 25 he
goes back and picks up the writings of David. Old Testament writings
of David. who wrote by the Holy Spirit
of the sufferings of Christ. In Acts 2, 25, for David speaks
concerning him, concerning Christ, and he said,
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
my tongue was glad, Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope,
because thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave, neither wilt
thou suffer thy Holy One to seek corruption. Thou wilt not abandon
my soul. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance." Men and brethren, Peter said, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David that he's dead.
His body is in the grave. He is buried. His grave is with
us to this day. Therefore, David being a prophet
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, that he would raise
up Christ to sit on the throne, David seeing this before us,
he wasn't speaking of his resurrection, he was speaking of Christ's resurrection. that Christ's soul was not left
in the grave, neither his flesh to seek corruption. And this
same Jesus has God raised up where we are witnesses as the
unity of those old prophets and the apostles, of those old patriarchs
and the preachers of God today. Same gospel, same message, same
salvation, same Christ. Holy Spirit reported to you. So, sufferings of Christ. I want to show you something
in verse 12, 1 Peter 1 verse 12, which things the angels desire
to look into. You know, you can comprehend
and take hold of something that is a mystery to the angels who
never fail. One of the hymn writers, Doddridge,
1755, wrote this, Around that bloody tree The angels press
with strong desire That wondrous sight to see The Lord of life
expire And could their eyes have known a tear in sad surprise,
they would have dropped it there. I know why he died. I know the
Son of Man must be lifted up. And angels desire to look into
that. These prophets, they knew something. But I tell you, we have a clear
revelation. Listen, gird up the loins of
your mind. Those fellas used to wear those
long skirts like, you know, Moses and all those fellas wore. When they ran, they gathered
them up. Somehow they tied them, I read, in one place. And they
could move with haste. And he says, gird up the loins
of your mind. Apply your minds diligently,
since we are so highly favored to have revealed unto us all
that the great prophets of God have talked about and wrote about
and hoped for and inquired into, since God has revealed to us
the mysteries which even angels desire to look into. Let's get
interested. Let's get these minds, put away
the sleepiness and indifference and taking things for granted
and sharpen your mind like you do a razor, gird up the lorns
of your mind, be sober, be serious, cut out the foolishness. And hope to the end, listen,
and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Lord, don't pass me by. While
on others Thou art calling, don't pass me by. Give me a thirst, lead me to
seek Thee, and seeking Thee to find Thee, and finding Thee to
love Thee, and loving Thee to continue to serve Thee, and serving
Thee to wake some day in Thy likeness. He gives us some instructions
here, starting with verse 13. Wherefore, since you are so avaricious,
gird up the lawns of your minds. And then verse 14. Now listen
to this. as obedient children. Don't try
to be like the world. Not fashioning yourself, fashioning
yourselves according to the former lust of your ignorance. Don't
try to be like the world. Live for the glory of God. Don't
copy the world. Don't try to be like them or
seek their approval. I remember back when I was in
the Navy, years and years and years and years and years ago,
but fellas in the Navy, it's popular to get a tattoo. Most
of them got drunk before they got tattoos, but everybody go
on liberty or leave and come back with a mom written across
here or a big ship over here, you know, or something out of
the whole chest. some kind of colossal revelation
on it. Thankfully, by God's providence,
I missed that. I am so glad I did. Because I
don't know a one of now that wished they could get rid of
it. I see men every once in a while with big scars. And I say, what's
that? He says, well, I had this tattoo removed. Boy, the scar
looks worse than the tattoo, you know. But he was ashamed
of it. Even girls are getting them now. And here this thing
swung around again, and I see all these fellas getting these
tattoos. Well, I say to our young people, take this from your old
white-haired pastor. You go ahead and get one of those
anywhere you want to, but I guarantee you, one day, you'll wish it
wasn't there, and it can't be removed. Cut your arm off and
get rid of it. but you can't get rid of it.
And that's trying to be like the world. This is what I'm saying.
There's so many things that when we try to be like them, we got
to suffer the consequences. You just have to pay the price.
You have to pay the price. And it's not worth it. Because
someday you'll grow up. Someday you're going to be mature.
Someday you're going to be married, work, have a family. Someday
you're going to be in a place of leadership and you wish you didn't have some
of those things. Some of that baggage that you
took on trying to be like somebody or trying to impress someone.
Don't do it. If you want a role model, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the best role model. Be like Him. Don't fashion yourself after
the world. Don't do that. They've missed
it. They've missed it. But as He, verse 15, which hath
called you as holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Be like Him. Make the Lord Jesus
your example and your role model. I wrote a Scripture down here.
Let's look and see what it is. 2 Corinthians 5, on this particular point. 2 Corinthians
5, verse 8 and 9. Listen to what it says. Yeah,
let's try to impress the world. Let's impress Him. Be accepted
of Him. This is 2 Corinthians 5, verse
8. I am confident, and I say, and
willing rather to be absent from this body than to be present
with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor, that whether present or
absent, whether here or in glory, we labor to be accepted of Him.
That's it. accepted of him, because verse
16, 1 Peter 1, it's written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now,
let's look at verse 17. There are several things here
in verse 17. And if you call on the Father, and that is two references there. Number one, we call on Him for
mercy. God be merciful to me, a sinner. We call on Him for mercy. If
you call on God for mercy. But the second thing is here,
if you call God your Father, if you profess that He is your
Father, if you call on the Father, if you call Him Father, who without
respect to person, judges according to every man's work. In other
words, God's a true judge. Our ways and works are not hid
from Him. He looks on the heart, not on
the outward flesh. He knows us as we are. If you
really call on Him, call Him your Father who sees the heart,
not just the outward man, but looks on the heart. Pass the
time of your sojourning here. We are sojourners. We are not
here permanently. We are passing through. Then
spend your time here in reference. and in fear, believing Him and
walking with Him. Teach me, Lord, to number my
days, that I may apply my heart to wisdom. This world is not
my home. It's just a temporary place.
I'm here for a little while, but not for long, and nor are
you. All right, verse 18, for as much
as you know, Now please remember that Peter is writing to believers. They're strangers. The grace
of God has made them strangers for the sake of the gospel. They're
elect. They're born of the Spirit. They're
heirs of life. They're people who've been tried,
proven, who believe, love, and rejoice in Christ. And they know
some things. What do we know? Give what we
know, for as much as you know. We know that we were not redeemed
from our sins and our false religion with corruptible things, such
as silver and gold. From our vain conversation, behavior,
philosophy, citizenship, received by tradition from our fathers,
that's false religion. We were not redeemed from sin
and false religion By silver and gold. Well, how were we redeemed?
Well, we know verse 19 how we were redeemed. I know how God
saved me. With the precious blood of Christ.
Precious blood. As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. I know that I'm redeemed by the
Lamb of God. As a lamb without blemish and
without spot. That's how I was redeemed. In Genesis 22, the Lamb is prophesied. Abraham said, the Lord will provide
himself a lamb. In Exodus 12, that lamb was typified. The Passover lamb was selected
without spot or blemish, and it was slain, and its blood put
on the door. In John 1 29, that lamb was identified. When John the Baptist pointed
it, the Lord Jesus Christ said, behold, the lamb of God. In John
19, 18, that Lamb was crucified, lifted up on a cross, the Lamb
of God. That's how God saved me. In Revelation
5, turn over there with me, the Lamb is magnified. In Revelation chapter 5, John
wrote, Revelation 5 verse Verse 11, And I beheld, and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beast, and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands and thousands, saying with a
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power
be unto him, the Lamb, that sitteth upon the throne, to the Lamb,
forever and ever. We know we were not redeemed
with silver and gold. but with the precious blood of
Christ. Now watch this. And we know He's
a Lamb without spot or blemish, without sin, a perfect Savior.
Verse 20, we know this. He was barely foreordained before
the foundation of the world. He's the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. And He was manifest. He was promised. He was prophesied. All those
Old Testament prophets talked about the sufferings of Christ.
And then he was manifest in these last days. You know when the
last days are? The last days are from the time
he came. We've been in the last days for 2,000 years. He was
manifest in these last times. And I tell you, I tell you for
whom, for whom he came. It says, and he was barely foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but he was manifest in
these last times for you. There's no comma, there's no
period, there's a comma. The sentence is not ended, he's
not through. He said he was manifest for you. Who? By Him, by His grace, by His
Spirit, by His mercy. Do believe. Folks can talk all they want
to, all they want to, about the general atonement and all of this sort of thing. And
God wants to save everybody, but He can't unless they let
Him. And Christ came down here and did
the best He could, now it's up to you. But this, I know, we know, I
know some things. I'm not redeemed from my sins
and my tradition that's handed down through the generation by
my forefathers, religious tradition, with silver and gold. I was redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God. The Lamb prophesied,
and the Lamb typified, and the Lamb identified, and the Lamb
crucified, and the Lamb magnified, the Lamb of God in the midst
of the throne. And he was barely foreordained,
appointed, anointed, identified before the foundation of this
world. But he was manifest on this earth when he was born of
Mary and the angel said unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. And when he died on that
cross, God shook the heavens and covered up the sun and opened
the grave and raised him from the dead and took him back to
glory. And He was manifest in these last days for you, who
by Him do believe. Not folks who ought to believe,
folks who do believe. And they believe in God that
raised Him from the dead. They believe in God who sent
Him. God who ordained him, God who
commissioned him, God who anointed him, God who bruised him, pleased
God to bruise him, God who raised him, God who called him and said,
come sit thou at my right hand till I make your enemies your
footstool. God that raised him from the
dead, and listen, and gave him glory. I believe in that God
that gave him glory. And gave us glory in him. And
the glory which you've given me, I've given them. This is, listen, that your faith
and hope might be in God and not in me. A fella said to a
friend of mine one time, my friend said, what is your hope for eternal
life? You don't believe the gospel?
He said, well, he said, my hope is in my priest and the church.
I just turned my salvation over to the priest and to the church.
That's in his hands. It's not mine to fool with, I
just leave it up to him. And my friend said, well, what
if he's wrong? What if he's an imposter? What
if that priest is wrong? Well, he said, that's his tough
luck. It's yours too, fella. If the
blind lead the blind, the blind are not going to fall in the
ditch, they're both going to fall in the ditch. Not just the leader,
Don't trust men. Your hope and faith in God. Alright, what's these last two?
Here's two instructions before we close. Two vital, vital instructions. Alright, seeing that your souls have been purified. in obeying the truth, believe
in the truth, believe in Christ Jesus through the Spirit, unto
unfeigned, unfeigned means genuine, not hypocritical, not phony,
unfeigned love of the brethren. Two things. See that you love
one another with a pure heart perfectly. That's the first thing.
Love one another. Love Christ and love each other.
Now here's the second thing of great importance. Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass.
The grass withereth, the flower falleth away. But the word of
the Lord, the word of the Lord, endureth forever. And this is
the word of the Lord, which by the gospels preached unto you.
And I sat and looked at those four verses, seeing you have
purified your soul, verse 22. What am I going to do? Number
one is love. Love Christ, love each other.
Second, get into the Word. See that word love is used twice
right there in verse 22 and the word Word is used three times
in those last two. Word, the Word of God. I don't
know of anything more vital in this believer's life than those
two things, than those two things, love and the Word. Loving Christ, loving one another. being saturated in His Word and
a willing student of the Word.