The Great Privilege of Our Salvation WHAT MAKES A PERSON WANT TO GIVE UP ON THE FAITH?

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1 1 1 PETER 1:10-12 The Great Privilege of Our Salvation (1:10-12) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be your searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.. (ESV) WHAT MAKES A PERSON WANT TO GIVE UP ON THE FAITH? What are some things that have made you want to give up on the faith? What are some things that you are struggling with right now in that regard? What are some of the things that cause us to wonder if the Christian life is really worth it? What was it that caused the people of Israel, after they had been rescued from bondage in Egypt to complain after just a matter of days these words against Moses and Aaron: Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly? (Exodus 16:3) What caused Lot s wife to look back to her old life, when the Lord had provided her rescue? What made Jesus in Matthew 10 warn his disciples so sternly not to turn from Him? What took Demas in 2 Timothy 4:9 to desert Paul and ultimately the true Gospel? What was the reason that the Jewish converts written to in Hebrews were considering giving up on the faith and reverting back to Judaism? (Hebrews 2, 4, 6, 12) Look through Scripture of examples of people who are tempted to give up on the faith, or people who at least entertain the idea that perhaps following God is just not worth it; where does this temptation most commonly spring from? Hardship. Troubles. Trials. Sufferings. Difficulty. Peter s audience was not really that much different than us or any of these people in Scripture. They, like God s people throughout all of history, struggled with all sorts of things that made them wonder if following the Lord was really worth it. But what was it that made them, and that makes us today, question whether or not the Christian life is really worth it? What things lead us to even begin to entertain that question in our own minds? Peter says his readers were facing trails of various kinds. They were being treated unjustly by their masters (2:18). They were struggling in marriages with unbelieving spouses (3:1-6). They were being insulted and ridiculed by people close to them (4:14). And, on top of all that, they were facing the very real prospect of more intense persecution (4:12-18).

2 2 Welcome to the Christian life! Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me! But how do we know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this life is really worth it? How can we measure the value of the salvation that we have experienced and hope in to this day? We know it is good. We know it is certain. We know it is the fountain of all real joy. But just how valuable is it? Before we begin to answer that question from the text, let s take a moment to consider this statement: God followers on this side of the cross (post death and resurrection) are the most privileged God followers of all time! What privileges do we get to share in today, that God followers of the past (OT saints specifically) never got to experience? The whole story of the Gospel. (They knew vaguely what would happen, we know with complete clarity did happen!) Direct access to the Scriptures. (This only became a privilege 400 years ago!) Fuller explanation of the purpose behind the sufferings of the Messiah. More accurate understanding of God s coming Kingdom. Greater opportunity to learn from past saints. (1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.) Living in an age where the victorious coming of the Messiah is completely imminent (could happen in any generation.) Take other answers!!! What if I said to you, You are a more privileged saint that Isaiah was in his day? Or, You are experiencing something that Jeremiah deeply desired to experience in his day! Or what about this, The salvation that has been brought to you is something that even the angels in heaven long to experience themselves! These are absolutely huge statements! Old Testament saints who were given the privilege of recording the very words of God and communicating them to His people and angels in heaven who experience the presence and glory all the time; both of them want what you and I have! That s how valuable salvation as we have experienced it is! How do we know the value of our salvation? Peter gives 2 powerful answers in this text that I long for us to hear. Just how valuable is salvation as we have experienced it? Let s consider factor number 1. FACTOR #1 Our salvation is so valuable, that OT saints put great effort into finding how possible it was for the Messiah to come in their day! Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent form heaven (1:10-12b ESV)

3 3 Let me communicate the main point briefly here if I can. Peter is basically saying this, The writers of the OT who predicted the coming of the Messiah, were so excited about what was being written through them, that they searched and searched (evkzhte,w To exert considerable effort and care in learning something.) just to find out how possible it was for the Messiah to come in their day, though after a time it was revealed to them that the events they were predicting would happen much later, which now you can see through the preaching of the Gospel have now come true right in front of your faces! You have what they only wished they could see! What specifically is Peter talking about here? What exactly did they search and search for to see if it would happen in their day? Peter calls it the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Imagine what it would be like to be Isaiah as he sat down under the direction of the Spirit of Christ to write chapter 53. For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. But oppression and judgment he was taken away Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53 Selected verses) Or how about several chapters earlier in chapter 11: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1-10 ESV) Think about it: Isaiah, with as much revelation as he was given; in as close of a relationship as he was in with the Lord; with all the things that he had seen with his own eyes; a man who was caught up into the presence of the Lord and saw the Lord seated on His throne with the train of His robe filling the temple and angels flying around with

4 4 their faces and their feet covered singing holy, holy, holy right there in front of the Lord Himself; even Isaiah could not fathom the things that you and I get to ponder every single day! This is the way it was with all the writers of the OT who prophesied about the future. Every little piece of revelation merely wetted their appetites for more! And even with as much as they were given; prophecies like this and others; what they wanted to see was what you and I have had spelled out for us in our neat leather bound NIVs and NASBs and ESVs and NKJVs and KJVs and NRSVs and NLTs and in MacArthur Study Bibles and NIV Study Bibles and Life Application Study Bibles and Reformation Study Bibles and Men s and Women s Study Bibles and 2000 years of books and commentaries and books on commentaries and sermons and 30-day devotional Bibles and My Utmost for His Highest and Systematic Theologies and Bible Encyclopedias and Bible Dictionaries and so on! We are a privileged people! We get access into things that prophets who saw things I cannot even begin to imagine longed to get just a peak into! That is how valuable salvation as we know it is. It is so valuable that OT saints searched and searched just to see if there would have been any possibility that their predictions might come true in their own lifetimes! This is exactly what Jesus was saying in Matthew 13. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13:16-17 ESV) Still, as amazing as this is; as much as this screams the value of our salvation to us; there is a 2 nd factor for us to consider when trying to assess the value of our salvation. FACTOR #2 Our salvation is so valuable, even angels long to just somewhat understand it. things into which angels long to look into. (1:12c ESV) The word Peter uses here, translated long means to desire something completely or absolutely. That is, their desire to look into these things could not be any stronger. They have a desire to personally experience what we get to experience that could not be any more intense. It can be translated covet or lust after, which shows how strong it is. Angels long to personally experience what we get to experience with a desire that could not possibly be any deeper! But there is more. The word translated look into (paraku,yai) simply means to stoop over and peak into. That is, they long to simply begin to understand what we get to experience. Do they want to experience it for themselves? Yes, but that s not all Peter is saying here. He is saying that the angels long simply for a taste of what we get to experience in full. They can see how good our salvation is that they long just to get a taste of it. Think about that! Angels, who can see the spiritual world and the physical world; who have insight into a world that we can barely begin to imagine; they long to taste what we have at our fingertips. They long just to begin to personally experience what we get to personally experience and talk about every single day! I appreciate what John MacArthur says here.

5 5 The angels, as it were 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 that they might glorify God more fully, which is their primary reason for existence. (John MacArthur, Commentary on 1 Peter) Are the angels unappreciative of what they do have? Surely not. I think the point Peter is making here is nothing more than saying that even the angels are in awe of the privilege that we are tempted to take for granted. Keep in mind, he is writing to people who are suffering; people who may be wondering, How do I know that this life is truly valuable? Or, How do I know that going through this kind of suffering is really worth it? Peter is saying to these people, no matter what you go through, you are the most privileged people that walk the face of the earth. The prophets whom you look up to; even they wished they could experience what you get to experience today. And the angels, who get to see all sorts of things our minds can t even begin to rightly process; even angels long just to get a taste of what you get to fill your stomachs with! Don t take your salvation for granted. Hold on to it with everything you have! No matter what else is taken away from you. No matter what else you lose. No matter who the sword of your commitment to Christ turns against. No matter what. If you hold on to anything, hold on to that which even the angels do not and cannot possess. Hold on to this great salvation! This is going to be the basis of the therefore in verse 13. Let s read the next few verses. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1:13-19a ESV) There is a thought to consider: We, who were given over to futile and sinful ways, we have been given something that holy men like the prophets just wished they could have gotten their hands on and holy angels, who do not know what it is to rebel against God, they cannot even begin to understand what we get to experience for ourselves. Who are we, to have been given a privilege so great as this salvation? Let s not take it for granted! Let s take some time to thank the Lord for the privilege of this salvation. QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION AND APPLICATION: Why is it so important for us to fully recognize how great of a privilege our salvation truly is? How might we cultivate an appreciation for this salvation that rises to the level of the prophets and angels longing for it? What can we learn from the prophets who searched and searched to find out more about this salvation? 1. Am I honestly searching and searching to find out more about my salvation?

6 6 2. How can I search and search to find out more about it? (Take time this week to consider how Jeremiah searched out the meanings of his prophecies in Jeremiah and Lamentations) Make a list of those things that make our salvation so wonderful and so magnificent. (Consider Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 32; Psalm 45; Psalm 65; Isaiah 60:15-22; Matthew 13:44-46; John 10:1-18; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 15:35-49; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; Hebrews 6:13-20; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Revelation 21-22) Incorporate these observations into your prayer life, focusing on the praise of God.