Concerning Salvation

I would argue (and I’d be right) that the best cast of characters in the history of the sitcom is Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.

Of course, you’d have to put Chandler, Joey, Ross, Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe in that discussion.

I could be convinced that the best cast is Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight, Toby, and Creed. Or maybe it’s Leslie, Ron, Ann, Tom, April, Andy, Donna, Jerry/Garry/Larry/Terry.

Lately, I’ve started to think that Eleanor, Michael, Chidi, Tahani, Jason and Janet could give all the others a run for their money.

A good cast of characters makes all the difference in a story. On the flip side, one wrong cast member can simply ruin a show (for instance, throw any Baldwin brother in the mix, and you can guarantee I’m not watching).

There’s a great cast of characters in our text for today—the best cast I can imagine. And you, Christian, might just be part of it.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to the letter of 1 Peter. If you are able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

1 Peter 1:10–12 NIV

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notice the cast of characters here:

The LORD God is involved in these verses; these verses look back to what was written in verses 3-9, verses about God’s mercy and salvation. His activity continues here.

The prophets are mentioned. These are those who spoke and wrote down the words of God.

Christ is mentioned throughout.

The Holy Spirit is here.

Those who share the gospel are included in this summary.

Even angels join the fun.

Talk about a cast of characters: the Triune God (Father, Son, Spirit), the prophets, preachers, and angels. And all these characters in three verses concerning salvation. The opening phrase—Concerning this salvation—tells us what this section is all about. It’s about salvation and all those involved.

God is the Source of Salvation

While God isn’t directly mentioned in the verses we read this morning, we know from the verses that come before (what we read last week) that salvation is from God.

Peter praises God the Father for His mercy. God the Father is the One who has given His people new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

It’s God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that what Jesus did was the sufficient, once-for-all-time sacrifice for our sins.

Speaking about Jesus, Paul writes in Romans 4:25, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Who delivered Jesus? God the Father.

Who raised Jesus to life? God the Father.

Who is the source of salvation? God the Father.

To whom do we owe gratitude for this salvation? God the Father.

Our salvation is a pure gratuity from God.

B.B. Warfield

God is the source of salvation. That is, salvation is from Him. And our salvation is from Him.

Salvation is a gift from God. But we are also saved from God—from His wrath, from His judgment that all who sin deserve to face.

God the Father has provided the way for sinners like us to be made right with Him. Salvation is from Him; He’s the source.

Spirit-Inspired Prophets Spoke of Salvation

Here, for the first time, Peter introduces us to the past Hebrew prophets—the prophets who prophesied or the prophets who spoke.

Beginning with Moses, we have a long line of prophets.

You remember, initially God spoke to the people of the Exodus at Mt. Sinai. But, as you and I would be, the people were terrified of God’s voice as it thundered before them. So they asked that God speak to them through Moses instead.

God granted their request, and in so doing, began the office of prophet.

All of Israel’s prophets stood in the presence of God, received God’s word, and then spoke that word in the presence of the people. Only a small portion of Biblical prophecy is a telling of what will happen in the future; most of it is spoken to the people who needed to hear it then and there.

But what Peter says is that the OT prophets’ best days were spent searching out salvation’s fulfillment, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing them when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

The prophets were given special insight into the mystery of salvation, and this by the Spirit of Christ.

The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit, the One who is speaking through the prophets. It’s the Spirit of Christ/the Holy Spirit who enabled God’s prophets to go on through much difficulty.

It’s the Spirit of Christ who enabled the prophets to pore over their own sermons and visions (like Daniel who went to great pains to understand what the LORD was showing him; Daniel even struggled to sleep at points because of the words the LORD spoke to Him).

The Spirit of Christ enabled the prophets to keep reading the scrolls of the prophets who had gone before.

The prophets worked hard, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to speak of the grace that was to come.

Peter is working to encourage his readers (then and now) to see their place (our place) in salvation history.

On this side of the cross of Christ, we can look back at what’s written in the Old Testament, and give thanks for all the ways in which the prophets point us to Jesus and the grace that has come to us in Him.

I’d love to know what Jesus said to the two men on the road to Emmaus after Jesus was resurrected. The Risen Jesus joined these two men who were on their way home to Emmaus. They were talking about everything that happened in Jerusalem over the prior few days, about Jesus being crucified and buried.

And unbeknownst to them, here comes Jesus, strolling along beside them.

Jesus speaks to them and, as Luke writes: “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27)

Every page of the Bible points to Jesus; every story whispers His name.

All the prophets worked diligently to point to Him, trying to find out when the Messiah—the Christ, the Promised One—would come.

In this way, Peter says, the prophets were serving us, speaking of the things what have now been told to us.

Salvation is Found in Jesus

It’s the person and work of Jesus to which the prophets pointed. They spoke about Jesus, even if they didn’t understand exactly when and where the Messiah (Jesus) would come.

They didn’t have the full picture, but they knew some truths about the One who would make us right with God.

It was the very Son of God, One in the line of David, who would sit on His father’s throne forever and ever. It was the eternal Son of God who would be born of a virgin. It was the Son of God, whom God would hand over to death for us.

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus:

Isaiah 53:4–6 NIV

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The LORD handed over to Jesus our sin.

Isaiah 53:12 NIV

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

For the sake of our transgressions, Jesus was handed over.

The prophets predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One of God came to us and suffered in our place. He faced the ultimate suffering on the cross—a horrible death, the weight of our sins on His shoulders, the abuse and mocking of the crowd, the denial and betrayal of His disciples, the full measure of the wrath of God against sin.

Jesus is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, the One who fulfills that prophecy. These sufferings were “destined for Jesus” (Forbes, 31).

Jesus Himself speaks of His sufferings:

Luke 24:26 “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

Luke 24:46 “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,”

It’s as we sang earlier:

“I beheld God's love displayed You suffered in my place You bore the wrath reserved for me Now all I know is grace”

But beyond suffering, after suffering, Jesus entered into glory—His resurrection, His triumph over evil, His ascension to the right hand of God where He reigns on high.

“The Christ of glory is the Christ of the cross. The sequence of our lives follows the sequence of Christ’s life. He suffered first, then entered into His glory. So must we.” - Edmund Clowney

The OT prophets took great care to point us to Jesus, the One in whom salvation is found. Salvation is found in Jesus, and in no other. One of the first sermon’s Peter preached was before the Sanhedrin, and he preached this truth:

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

We Preach this Salvation

All that Peter has said in verses 10-11 about the prophets and the Spirit and the Messiah leads up to verse 12.

Peter’s still speaking about the prophets’ work, about what they spoke about, namely the things that have now been told by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

It’s more than these prophets of old who were sharing about the salvation God provided through Jesus; there are also preachers. God sent prophets, yes. He sent preachers, too.

Those who have preached the gospel to you.

This is worthy of our attention for just a moment (or two…or three…Five minutes, tops).

Contrary to what I’ve read as I’ve studied and prepared this week, I don’t think this is speaking about preachers in the “guy we pay to preach at church” sense.

Those “preachers” are included, to be sure, if they preach the gospel. But this is not limited to men who do this for a living.

I’ll be the first to say that my life is different because of those men who preached for a living and shared the gospel with me (Carl, Earl, Daulton, Gregg, and Ty are formative figures in my life and faith).

But what Peter is speaking about isn’t just those who are the preacher/pastor of a church.

Peter writes about those who have preached the gospel to you. The word is εὐαγγελίζω which may sound to you a lot like “evangelism.” If it does, that’s good. Because that’s what it is.

This preached here means “shared the gospel.” You don’t have to be a preacher to preach. You only have to be a Christian who’s willing to take the gospel—the Good News about what Jesus has done—and share that with others.

I’m guessing there are many of you who heard the gospel first, not from a preacher standing behind a pulpit, but from a family member or a friend.

You know what? Let’s test this. If your first hearing of the gospel was from someone other than the preacher at a church, raise your hand.

Those who have preached the gospel includes more than just those who preach at a church, though it certainly includes those of us who do.

Part of Peter’s encouragement here is that these Christians, scattered all over Asia Minor, would not have to “wander off…without having the Word of God in their midst during difficult days” (David Helm).

God’s intention was to have in each church elders/shepherds to preach the gospel, keeping the local church tied to the Bible, making sure its members were each week centered on the gospel, the Good News about Jesus.

The salvation, given by God, through the suffering sacrifice of Jesus, handed down by prophets and preachers, through the Holy Spirit—that salvation is what we preach.

And by “we”, I mean all who go by Christ’s name. This is a task for all of us, Christians. This is a task for you, Christian.

We’ve received this salvation, by faith through grace, and now it’s ours to preach. And there is absolutely no higher calling.

Angels Marvel at Salvation

If I’m thinking about this passage in terms of casting (which I am; I tie just about everything back to Seinfeld and The Office); in terms of casting, the mention of angels here is almost like the listing in the credits: “with special guest appearance by...”

In 1 Peter 1, where salvation is discussed, Peter has talked about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, prophets, and preachers. And now, we have a special guest appearance by the angels.

Even angels long to look into these things.

I agree with others here who say Peter can’t contain himself. The message of salvation is so great, Peter writes that the angelic host stands at rapt attention as they watch all this unfold; they long to gaze into what God has done for us.

“The salvation of God is such a tremendous thing that even angels long to see it.” - William Barclay

Apparently, the angels have some knowledge of salvation and of those who believe. As Jesus was teaching, He remarked about the angels:

Luke 15:10 NIV

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Angels don’t experience the gospel in the same way as us. The OT prophets saw this salvation from afar, angels marvel when gazing upon what God has done in Christ, but Peter’s original audience and all of us on this side of the cross of Christ actually experience this salvation.

This salvation really is the most incredible truth imaginable.

G-M-C-R

Concerning salvation, Peter has a lot to say in these three short verses. There’s an entire cast of characters present in the discussion about salvation.

We cannot spend too much time thinking about the grace and the goodness of God to send Jesus to us to save us. We can’t think too much or give God too much thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit, the blessing of the inspired Word of God (the Bible). We can’t focus enough of the work of the Triune God in our lives, preparing, calling, and saving us.

This is where our focus should be most of the time.

But here, at the end of the sermon, I want you to think about another member in this cast of characters.

I want you to think about where you are in this.

Are you a Christian? Have you believed in Jesus and united yourself to Him by faith in what He has done? If so, then you’re there in verse 12—a recipient of the grace of God shared with you by those who preach the gospel.

If you are a Christian, you are called here to share the gospel; to tell about what Jesus has done.

This is your role to play.

I want you to think about where you are in this.

Maybe you aren’t a believer. Maybe you’re here today and you don’t know where you are with the LORD. But you feel Him drawing you. The Holy Spirit is convicting you of your sin. You’ve heard about this salvation, heard the gospel, and you’re ready to respond. Don’t leave this place without speaking to someone (elders, members who are available to talk with you after worship).

The greatest of all miracles is the salvation of a soul.

Charles Spurgeon

After I pray, we’re going to sing a song. Make this song a time of response. Respond to the LORD, whatever He’s calling you to do.

Perhaps today is the day you repent of your sin and believe in Him.

Maybe today is the day you commit to sharing the gospel with your co-worker or friend.

Let today be the day you surrender your life to Him.