1 Peter 1:10-12

Introduction

Good morning, beloved! It is so good to have another opportunity to open our Bible’s together. I invite you to do just that. If you have a Bible, and I hope that you do, please open with me to 1 Peter 1. We’re continuing our verse by verse study of this wonderful letter written by the apostle Peter under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This morning we will focus our attention on 1 Peter 1:10-12. As always, we want to begin with reading the passage and then asking the LORD to bless our time together in His Word.

For the sake of context, I want us to begin reading in verse 3. So, follow along with me as I read beginning with 1 Peter 1:3.

READ 1 Peter 1:3-12

[Matthew 4:4 Responsive Reading - “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”]

PRAY

Like many of you, I love a good story. I am amazed by the work of authors like J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings) or C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) or Andrew Peterson (The Wingfeather Saga). They can string together a good story over multiple volumes and have everything fit together. The plot line is clear. The subplots all contribute helpfully to the overall plot. Things foreshadowed are fulfilled in surprising ways to the reader, yet according to plan in the author’s mind and imagination. Such stories captivate and inspire the attentive reader.

We are rightly intrigued and appreciative of such classic works. We extol the greatness and creativity of such authors. We rightly bestow honor and accolades on them for their hard work. Rightly, because it is good to esteem good fruitful work in so far as it reflects and points us to the goodness that is ultimately found in our Creator. He is the Author of life and all of redemptive history––the story in which we all find ourselves in. Do you look at the Bible with the kind of awe that so many attribute to the stories of men? We should, in fact, even more so.

Peter is in the midst of sustained praise to God for this great salvation He has worked for His people and for His own glory. That’s what we began last week with Pastor Tyler in verses 3 through 9. This morning we are looking at the conclusion of that praise in verses 10 through 12. It is here at the conclusion of this section of praise that Peter is seeking to draw us in to join him in praise to God for this great salvation. This great salvation that has been unfolding all throughout redemptive history according to the good and wise providence of God.

It is the greatest story of all human history, of all eternity. Every other author and story pales in comparison to what has been revealed to us in the Scriptures. From Genesis to Revelation, we are to be captivated as we see our great God fulfilling all of His eternal plans and purposes for His glory and the joy of His people in Him. That’s what Peter wants here for his readers. Thus, that is what I want for all of us here at New Journey Church. Such eternal joy and hope is what will steady you while living as exiles this side of eternity.

MAIN POINT––Be amazed at the glory of your salvation accomplished all according to God’s eternal plans and purposes for His glory.

Concerning this Salvation

Peter begins this section of his letter with these words––“Concerning this salvation.” To which any attentive reader will immediately ask, “what salvation?” This is why I had us read beginning with verse 3 this morning. Most immediately, Peter is referring to the salvation mentioned in verse 9 where he writes of “the salvation of your souls.” However, that salvation is what led Peter into praising God all the way back in verse 3. And so, we ask, “what salvation” this morning so that we might recall what we have read before “concerning this salvation.”

If you are a Christian, you should know this well. It is, as I already mentioned, “the salvation of your souls.” It is the “outcome of your faith” leading you to “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” It is “more precious than gold” and results in “praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…being guarded through faith” by God’s power. It is the “living hope” to which God has caused you to be born again “according to his great mercy.”

Non-Christian friend, it is the salvation that you need, like every human being who has ever lived or will ever live. To which, you might ask, “what salvation?” or “salvation from what?” If that is you this morning, you need to know that you need saving––whether you realize it or not. You will perish under God’s righteous judgment without this salvation. There is a God in heaven who created you and everything around you throughout the universe. He is deserving of your unfailing devotion, worship, and allegiance.

But you, like every other human being, have turned away from Him to go your own way. Living for yourself, you are rebelling against your Creator. As a consequence, you deserve God’s righteous eternal judgment for your treason and rebellion against Him. But, in His great mercy, He has made a way for you to be reconciled to Him by sending His perfect Son, the LORD Jesus Christ into the world. He lived the perfect life you cannot live. He died the death you and I deserve. God raised Him from the dead. He is ruling and reigning at the right hand of the Father.

This Jesus commands you to repent (to turn away from your sin and living for yourself) and believe in Him and what He has accomplished for you. That you would be set free from bondage to sin and the punishment that is due you for your sin. That you would be freed to live as you were intended to live––for Him and His glory in glad submission to and fellowship with Him forever. He has made clear that there is no other way to be reconciled to the Father. No other name on earth or in heaven by which we can be saved.

It is “Concerning this salvation” that Peter goes on to invite us to marvel at with him. That we would join him in the chorus of verse 3––“Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ!” He does so in a threefold manner. First, let me just ask you this question though. Do you marvel at this salvation? Do you stand amazed at what God has done for you in Christ? Do you wake up every morning with inexpressible joy and awe and wonder at the mighty works of God in your salvation?

Knowing myself in particular as well as human nature in general, I’m sure that the answer is at times no and other times not nearly enough. Yet over and over again that is what God’s Word calls us to do. Be amazed at Your God, beloved! At who He is and what He has done for you in Christ! It should cause you to sing with overwhelming joy. It should cause you to orient your life around praising God with fellow Christians as you marvel together at Him and His salvation. It should cause you to speak to others about Him and His ways.

Like Peter’s original audience we too are outcasts in a world that still lives in rebellion against God. Because of that, like them, we struggle to be amazed at this salvation. And so, like them, we need this reminder from Peter which provides concrete reasons for why we ought to be amazed at the glory of our salvation in Christ Jesus. So let’s look at that together. Peter gives us three reasons in these verses for why we ought to be amazed at this salvation.

This salvation, Peter tells us:

the prophets prophesied about it all along,

it comes through the gospel proclaimed to you (which you have believed), and

it produces cosmic awe in the heavenly places.

That’s the outline for the remainder of our time this morning.

Prophets Prophesied

First, the prophets prophesied about this salvation. It was the plan all along. We see that in verses 10 through 11. Look at that with me again. “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.” That’s what we want to unpack here.

Peter is referring to the writers of the Old Testament––from Moses (in the Pentateuch) through Malachi. All of them were writing about the grace that was to be yours in Christ Jesus. Jesus Himself made this clear in His own teachings during His earthly life and ministry. Following His resurrection from the dead, while walking along the road to Emmaus with two disciples who did not believe the resurrection reports, Jesus revealed Himself and rebuked them for their unbelief.

25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:25-27

It was a number of years ago that one well known preacher said that we need to “unhitch” ourselves from the Old Testament. Many Christians rightly recoiled at such a suggestion, affirming the ongoing importance and relevance of the Old Testament for our life and ministry. And yet, how many of us have functionally “unhitched” ourselves from the first 39 books of God’s holy, inerrant, and inspired Word? Either rarely or even never reading it. Content to allow it to go on as mysterious to our understanding.

We do so to our own detriment. When Paul wrote to Timothy saying, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” don’t you know that he would have primarily been referring to the Old Testament Scriptures? The New Testament had not been fully written and circulated yet. They were the Scriptures that Jesus used to teach others about Himself––the purpose and nature of His earthly life and ministry.

Oh beloved, take up and read when it comes to the Old Testament. Seeking to understand the Old Testament will serve to increase your comprehension of all that is revealed in the New Testament. You will find yourself understanding, appreciating, and loving the work of Christ on your behalf all the more if you will do so. It is where we find the progressive unfolding of God’s eternal plans and purposes that find their climax and ultimate fulfillment in Christ. In Christ, all God’s promises find their “yes and amen” for His people.

Now, don’t miss what Peter says about these prophets. It serves to bolster all the more why we ought to be amazed at the glory of what God has done for us in Christ. We see that the prophets were amazed at these things as well. Peter says they “searched and inquired carefully.” Whether the writings that preceded their own or even their own writings, these men searched and inquired carefully, trying to understand the fulfillment of what they were writing. The words Peter uses communicate an active effort to find what they were searching for.

They communicate the idea of a diligent search. Sort of like if you need to go somewhere and you can’t find your keys. You search diligently, leaving no cushion unturned or drawer unopened, until you find them. Because otherwise you’ll be stuck without them. That’s the idea Peter is communicating here. The prophets searched through their writings diligently, captivated by what was unfolding as God revealed it to them. Desiring earnestly to know the very things that you and I know now concerning the LORD Jesus Christ.

Unlike the prophets of old, you and I have the great joy of reading Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and so much more with eyes to see Jesus in all of His glory and majesty as we see the sufferings of Christ foretold. We read the likes of Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 marveling at Christ’s subsequent glories that followed His atoning work and are stirred to a greater awe and worship that the prophets could only see from afar as a dim shadow.

They searched and inquired carefully, but it wasn’t to be experienced fully by them. Look at the beginning of verse 12. Peter says, “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you.” Now, lest I be misunderstood, let me be clear. None of this, or what I’ve said means that the prophets, or people, of the Old Testament do not benefit from the work of Christ. They absolutely do. Just from a different vantage point.

The things that were revealed to them still stirred their hope as they looked forward in faith to the coming of Christ. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.” They too were recipients of God’s grace through faith in Christ, but from afar. Through their writings, Peter says, “they were serving you.” That is those on whom the age of fulfillment has dawned in Christ––New Covenant believers.

All the writings, all the prophets, written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit come together in such a way that they point us to the One who paid our ransom in His death on the cross. Each component contributes to the whole of redemptive history that we are to read and delight in with awe as we savor the glory of God in Christ revealed to us therein.

Imagine yourself a food critic going to a highly rated restaurant. If you were to be given a glimpse of the kitchen you would notice there’s one main chef in charge of everything with a number of subordinate chefs overseeing certain areas and other cooks fulfilling different roles, responsible for different components of the meal they are preparing. Then, it all comes together to form one cohesive meal. One that, when you taste it, delights you and leads you to write a praiseworthy review of the main chef who runs that restaurant.

In the same way, beloved, for those who are in Christ, we have been served by the Author of life through the prophets who served us in their writings. As we take up and read what they have served us, we are to taste and see that the LORD is good. We are to be amazed at what He has done as we survey every component of the feast He has given us in His Word through those who served us from afar.

Gospel Proclaimed

Second, we should be amazed at the glory of our salvation because it comes through the gospel proclaimed to us. Look again at verse 12––Peter says “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 from heaven. In this we see something of the unity of both the Old and New Testaments.

The prophets who prophesied did so with the “Spirit of Christ,” working in and through them. That is another way of referring to the Holy Spirit. Likewise, in these last days, the days since the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the good news (the gospel) has been proclaimed by the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets of old inspired those who have given us the New Testament. Both writings center on the person and work of the LORD Jesus Christ. That alone should further our amazement at what God has done.

But I think there’s more to this that further fuels our amazement at these things. Beloved, when you faithfully proclaim the good news (the gospel) to others, there is a sense in which you do so in the power of and by means of the Holy Spirit. I don’t mean that in the sense of how the biblical authors wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That time period of redemptive history is closed. There is no further inspired writing to come from the Holy Spirit.

But what I am saying is that, in so far as you faithfully share the gospel as one who has been indwelt by that same Holy Spirit, you are serving as God’s mouthpiece in proclaiming the good news to others. And as ordinary saints like you and me faithfully do that good work of gospel proclamation, God is saving His people the world over as more people come to Him in repentance and faith upon hearing that good news.

Beloved, this ought to not just fuel our amazement at what God has done for us, but also stir in us all the more a desire to proclaim this good news. If we are truly amazed at what God has done for us, we cannot help but speak of it to others and share it with them that they too might taste and see that the LORD is good. We ought to stir one another up to this good work and esteem one another when we faithfully do this work.

Paul writes in Romans 10:15, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” This is true of all God’s people who faithfully open their mouths to proclaim this good news. From pastors to Sunday school teachers, to nursery workers, to faithful believing employers and employees, to believing teachers and students, to believing parents and stay-at-home moms seeking to raise up their children in the discipline and instruction of the LORD. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Cosmic Awe

Finally, be amazed at the glory of your salvation because it produces cosmic awe in the heavenly places. Look there with me at the end of verse 12. This salvation that is ours in Christ Jesus and of which we are to be amazed are “things into which angels long to look.” What Peter reveals to us here is astounding. He’s referring to the sinless heavenly host who have no need of redemption and thus will never experience it the way we do.

Don’t misunderstand him here. It’s not that these angels are clueless as to what God is doing. They’ve been his captive audience and instruments of service to these ends throughout human history. From their vantage point, they’ve watched the unfolding of redemptive history and know all of its details as faithful observers of it. But, having never sinned, these angels are not participants of the grace received in Christ as we are. They are merely onlookers in wide-eyed astonishment and wonder at the glory of God revealed in this great salvation.

It is, as Wayne Grudem put it, a “holy curiosity to watch and delight in the glories of Christ’s kingdom as they find ever fuller realization in the lives of individual Christians throughout the history of the church.” Paul speaks of the same idea in Ephesians 3:10. After a long section describing the eternal plans of God to reconcile both Jew and Gentile through faith in Christ as one new man he says that God did all of this “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Jesus gives us a picture of this as well when he said in Luke 15:10 “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Beloved, the angels rejoice at the salvation of men. They are amazed, in awe even, at what God is doing. As those who are the recipients of this grace, are we too amazed in the same way?

I love baseball and am so happy that it is back in season. I love hearing the crack of a bat and the cheers of the crowd as the home team hits a walk off home run to win the game. It is good to enjoy such things, as creatures made to enjoy God’s good creation in right measure. With that picture in your mind, just imagine a cosmic arena full of angels in the stands looking down on the playing field where God’s redemptive plans and purposes are being worked out. Every one of them enthralled by what they are witnessing as God saves those who rebelled against Him.

They saw the thief on the cross, once reviling the LORD, repent and believe as he hung on the cross. They saw cowardly Peter who denied the LORD, restored by Him. They saw doubting Thomas believe as he touched the LORD’s hands and feet and side. They saw Saul, while ravaging the church, suddenly stopped and saved on the road to Damascus. They’ve watched Jew and Gentile, reconciled into one new man, being built into a dwelling place for God.

They’ve watched your salvation and that of every believer of New Journey Church and every believer in every corner of the world throughout history. And all of it has captured their attention with wide-eyed wonder and awe and praise to our triune God Beloved, no earthly arena, or the cheers that fill them, could rival this cosmic theater in which God’s glory is displayed and marveled at by all the host of heaven. We would do well to likewise marvel at this great salvation. To be more and more amazed at what God has done for us in Christ.

Conclusion

This, beloved, is the greatest story ever told. The greatest symphony ever conducted. The greatest feast ever prepared. The greatest display of glory that is worthy of praise and adoration. The prophets prophesied concerning it. It has been proclaimed to you who have believed. It is marveled at by all the hosts of heaven. Beloved, be amazed at the glory of your salvation accomplished all according to God’s eternal plans and purposes for His glory.