Greatness of Salvation
1-12-25
We have taken a slight detour the past few weeks from what we had been studying in order to focus on the holidays. We first of all took a few weeks to study some words associated with Christmas. Then we took a couple of more weeks for a couple of New Year's messages. Now, we're going to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. If you remember, back towards the beginning of November, we started a series of sermons examining the book of 1 Peter.
Before we actually get back to that book, let's first recap what we've already learned. Peter wrote this letter to believers who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. His purpose in writing this letter was to encourage and exhort his readers in the midst of the difficulties and trials they were facing as believers. They were suffering and they were going to suffer even more. So Peter was writing to remind them that even in the midst of potentially great suffering and hardship, they were still the chosen of God and as such they could face persecution in triumphant hope.
Peter also sought to encourage his readers that they could persevere and endure in life because God never changes. No matter what they were going through; no matter how bad life seemed to them and how horrible the trials and tribulations might have been, they could and would survive because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our circumstances and whatever difficulties we may be facing do not change God or who He is or how He responds or relates to us. For that, He deserves to be worshiped and worship of God helps us to live victoriously.
Peter went on to say that his readers could not only survive but that they could also persevere and thrive in their faith by dwelling on their eternal inheritance. When we're suffering here, we can know that we have a better place waiting for us in heaven, a place that has been personally prepared just for us by Christ Himself.
Another key way of persevering that Peter mentioned is by focusing on and experiencing the joy that we have through faith in Jesus Christ. We can always experience the joy that is available to us because of what God has done for us in salvation and through the Spirit's working in our lives. No matter how adverse our circumstances, nothing and no one can steal our joy. Since that is the case, Christians should never stop rejoicing over the greatness of what God has done for us spiritually.
The last time we looked at 1 Peter we stopped at verse 9. In that verse, the apostle spoke of the great salvation that God provides for us. That great salvation is not only the heart of the passage we're going to look at this morning, it is the heart of the entire Bible and it is at the heart of everything God has ever done, is currently doing and will ever do. It is because of God's great salvation that our sins are forgiven and our souls saved. It is because of God's great salvation that believers can persevere through the trials and sufferings of life. It is because of God's great salvation that He rescues us from sin, Satan, death and hell. It is because of God's great salvation that we can experience hope in our lives no matter how difficult the circumstances or how severe the persecution.
Salvation is one of the most blessed, hopeful, comforting and assuring words in all of the English language. The message of the Bible is that even though man cannot save himself from the eternal damning consequences of his sin, God can rescue us and God will rescue from condemnation all those who trust in Him and believe His Word. Not only does God love sinners, He alone is able and willing to rescue sinners. That is what salvation is all about. In the passage that we're going to look at this morning, we're going to see where Peter continues to elaborate on the greatness of God's salvation. Our main Scripture passage today is 1 Peter 1:10-12.
The first thing that Peter does in verse 10 is to refer back to the salvation of God that he had just mentioned in verse 9. He not only refers back to verse 9, he actually goes all the way back and refers to the OT prophets and their connection to God's message of salvation. God's great salvation was declared and prophesied by OT prophets who served as spokesmen for God and who prophesied of God's grace that was one day going to come.
Their prophecies contained some basic facts. First, they declared that the Messiah would suffer. Ps. 22 describes His crucifixion and Isaiah 53 describes other details of His suffering. Second, the OT writers prophesied that the Messiah would triumph. The Psalms say that God will set His King on His holy hill, where Christ will rule. Another Psalm says that God will not allow His holy One to undergo decay. Isaiah wrote that the government would be on His shoulders and He would be a mighty God. Third the prophets focused on a Messiah who would save. Isa. 61:1-2. Jesus read those words to the congregation in His hometown synagogue and proclaimed Himself the fulfillment of them.
Grace was a focus of the OT prophet's writings. Even though they wrote about it, they still sought to better understand God's grace and mercy in Christ. They longed to better understand His forgiveness, goodness, unmerited favor and blessing that God lavishes on undeserving sinners.
In order to better understand some of the deep mysteries of God's great salvation, the OT prophets dug deeper. Peter tells us that they made careful searches and inquiries. We do not know exactly what that entailed or how they did it. It would seem to make sense that they not only studied other prophets and the prophecies that they made, but they also could have pursued the meaning of their own prophetic writings as well.
Because the OT prophets were limited, they were all the more intent on studying their own writings to see the Messiah and comprehend the salvation He would bring. Even John the Baptist, considered the last OT prophet, sought truth. His disciples already knew about Jesus' ministry and had reported to him about it. Yet, John wanted to be sure. Matt. 11:1-3. In response, Jesus gave His credentials, which all fulfilled OT prophecy. Vv. 4-5.
Whatever steps they took, their desire was to know all they could about God's promised salvation. Of all the truth that these prophets received through divine revelation, the truth of salvation was their greatest passion.
What kind of passion do you have for God's great salvation? Are you passionately pursuing the things of God in your life? Do you diligently read Scripture? Do you have an effective prayer life? Are you witnessing to others about the gospel and about what God has done in your life? We need the same kind of passion for truth that the OT prophets had.
God's great salvation was proclaimed and experienced throughout the OT. From Moses who wrote the first five books of the OT all the way to Malachi the last book at the end of the OT, all of the OT prophets were fascinated by the promises of salvation. We do need to understand that this wasn't a situation where they didn't have salvation and wished they did. They had experienced salvation grace and were actually and genuinely saved born again believers, to use our modern terminology.
One question that seems to come up a lot in biblical circles is how were people saved in the OT before Jesus? We of course talk about the need to understand Jesus and His life, death and resurrection. We talk about trusting Him and submitting to His lordship in our lives as a vital aspect of what salvation means. So how were people saved before the coming of the Lord?
The OT saints and prophets were saved just the same way we are saved today. They were saved by faith in God. They were saved when God in His election chose to pour out His grace on their lives to forgive their sins and save their souls. God has always by grace offered forgiveness of sins to those who repented and believed, although the new covenant was not ratified until the cross. OT believers were saved by a future grace, NT and beyond believers are saved by a past and present outpouring of grace. The cross is the pinnacle and center point of redemption.
But even though the OT prophets were genuinely saved by faith, they obtained God's salvation without seeing its full fulfillment. They didn't see Jesus; they didn't have a relationship with Him like we do today. Though the prophets wrote of the Messiah, they never fully comprehended all that was involved in Christ's life, death and resurrection.
As you think about God's great salvation, are you truly saved? Has God revealed to you and poured out His grace and mercy on your soul? Have you responded to His work of salvation in your life by trusting in Him alone and by repenting of your sins? If you're not saved, today is the day and now is the time.
God's great salvation has always existed. Even though the OT prophets prophesied about the grace to come associated with God's great salvation, and even though they may not have completely understood it (let's be honest do we really understand it?) that doesn't mean that saving grace didn't exist in OT times. God has always been a gracious God. Ex. 34:6.
Noah received grace from the Lord. Gen. 6:8. Moses was fully aware of grace when he recorded the principles of God's law. Ex. 22:26-27. The prophet Jonah struggled to accept the Ninevite's repentance, but sill acknowledged God's grace. Jonah 4:2.
Salvation has always been available to sinners. It has always and only been available by grace. So there was never any question during the OT whether or not God was gracious. But the great manifestation of His grace would come with the arrival of His Son.
If the greatness of salvation yet to come was the intense, pre-occupying study of all the prophets, then it ought to be just as precious if not more so, to those believers today who have the full revelation. Is the greatness of God's salvation precious to you?
Not only did OT prophets eagerly seek truth concerning grace and salvation, the holy angels are also interested in God's great salvation. We often wonder and talk about what the angels know and what they experience in the spiritual and invisible realm. We know some of what they do. They oppose demons; they carry messages from God; they perform other divine service. Christians desire to have eternal holiness and experience glory and fellowship with the Trinity, just as the elect angels do. But angels wonder what it is like to experience the grace and glory of salvation and God's forgiveness of sin. In fact, Peter tells us that they look with fascination into salvation's greatness.
The word translated long in verse 12 describes having a strong desire or overpowering impulse that is not easily satisfied. The term indicates that the angel's interest in salvation is not whimsical or a mere curiosity, but a strong passion.
The angels want to get close and look deeply into the matter related to salvation. They have a holy curiosity to understand the kind of grace they will never experience. The holy angels do not need to be saved and the fallen angels cannot be saved. But the holy ones seek to understand salvation so they might glorify God more fully which is their primary reason for existing. Rev. 5:11-12; 7:11-12.
The angles have been involved in God's plan of redemption. They announced Christ's birth; they ministered to Jesus during His times of testing; stood by the grave when He arose from the dead; they attended his ascension into heaven and now serve Him by ministering to all believers. They rejoice and praise God whenever He saves a sinner.
The holy angels will join the song of redemption even though they have not experienced salvation. They have been witnesses to the greatness of God's salvation and they long to look further into it so they might praise and glorify Him more. Does the thought of God's great salvation cause you to sing praises to God for all that He has done in and through your life?
No matter how difficult life's trials are, Christians can face them triumphantly because of the greatness of God's grace in giving us salvation. That is the salvation that the prophet's studied and that the angels continue to investigate.
As our singer and musician come now, we invite you to not only experience but to investigate further God's great salvation that He graciously and mercifully pours out on our lives. If you need to make any kind of public profession or decision this morning, we invite you to come talk to me about that now as we stand and sing.
Prayer.