Don’t Take Your Hope for Granted
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
I love a good magic act. Oh sorry, I shouldn’t call it magic, um, a good ILLUSIONIST show. One act in a magic show that I particularly enjoy is how the magician makes a prediction about something you’re going to say, or a certain card you’re going to pick, etc. There’s usually a lot of setup involved, as the magician is getting you to pick a certain pre-determined card, or to say a particular thing. It’s always a crowd-pleaser. Predicting the future is a really neat thing! Makes your jaw drop, and it baffles you to try to think, “how did they do that??”
But that’s all a trick, right? That’s smoke and mirrors. In our passage today, Peter speaks of prophets who foretold of Christ hundreds of years in advance, and told of Him accurately.
Much like the predictions are a favorite among magic acts, some of my most faith-enriching times spent in the Word of God are when I read of prophecy foretold and prophecy fulfilled.
Same thing with Peter today. Peter wants to show his audience just how much the prophets and angels desired the revealing of Christ, which they could not have for themselves, so that his hearers would not take their hope for granted. Remember that 1 Peter is a book all about hope.
Let’s read:
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 from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Over the course of our message today, I want to paint the same picture Peter is painting here of the work the prophets did on our behalf through the inspiration of the Spirit. But I also want us to look at the example the prophets set and glean what we can. MORE HERE?
Know Your Hope
Know Your Hope
Let’s go back over that first part as we talk about what it means to know your hope.
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.
Exposition
Exposition
So the prophets set the example for us. Look what they are doing with the news about Christ. They wanted to know everything they could about this coming Messiah and the salvation He would bring! So they searched and inquired carefully. Now what were they searching? And who were these prophets? Scholars debate on whether these were the OT prophets who wrote the prophecies or some unknown prophets just before Christ who foretold His coming. You can go deep down a rabbit hole there, but it’s most likely he’s referring to Old Testament prophets. So they were searching and inquiring carefully of God to know these things.
Go down to v. 12 with me. See that?
This is a beautiful mystery even the angels long to look into.
Let’s use our imaginations this morning. Imagine with me for a moment what that must have been like from the angel’s perspective. The people that God had created, who had ruined God’s creation through sin, are then given grace to not only be forgiven, but grace to be RESTORED! Think about the time the great rebellion in Heaven happened! Satan was once an angel; Lucifer! And his rebellion resulted in his sentencing forever to the Lake of Fire, which is still yet to come. The angels knew this. I’m sure the moment Adam and Eve rebelled, there was quite the commotion in Heaven that day. “Oh, the humans have rebelled… What will happen now?” And then they saw the grace of God. Whoa, that’s not what happened with our elder brother!
Application
Application
As the prophets listened to God through the work of the Spirit, you and I can do that today, too, by studying God’s Word.
Forgive me if I sound a bit like a broken record for those of you who were with us last Sunday evening.
When is the last time you searched and inquired of the Scriptures to know the mind of the Lord on something? When is the last time you prayed carefully for the Spirit of the Lord to guide and direct your every step?
A Christian who wants to know his Savior seeks to know his Bible.
Understand that the opportunity to read the bible was not always an option for believers. Why? People, by and large, did not always know how to read! But we live in a day and age where most of us can read, so let us not take that for granted! Let’s read the scriptures! The angels longed to look into the mysteries we now know!
Consider what many of these prophets endured and went through as they prophesied about Christ.
Think about Jeremiah, who preached to people who wouldn't listen. Hosea, who was commanded to marry an unfaithful woman. Elijah, who ran for his life. Isaiah, who was told his message would harden the people's hearts.
These men spent countless hours searching the heart of God to understand truths about Christ that they themselves would never see fulfilled.
Can we just take a moment and put that in perspective? Why is it that these guys could do this, and we can’t be bothered to spend time growing in the knowledge of the Word of God?
How can we hear the lives and hardships of these prophets and take the hope that we have for granted? How can this not inspire us, believers, to be a people of the Word of God through and through, to cast off every worldly burden we think we may have, and chase after Christ, who is our living hope?
Here at the end of these verses, we come to this little phrase, “the subsequent glories.”
Grow in Your Hope
Grow in Your Hope
inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
So there are these glories, but they are contrasted first with the “sufferings of Christ.” This was confusing for the Jews who saw Jesus crucified on the cross.
Remember, Christ came not as a victorious king, as Israel expected. He came as a suffering servant. This is why so many Jews today deny Christ, because they are still hardened in their assumption that Christ was to be a conquering king who would free Israel from their worldly oppression.
This was not what was prophesied. Remember Isaiah:
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.
But even in spite of his worldly form, in spite of the fact that he was not what we expected, there were glories. The glories were simply after His suffering.
And “Subsequent Glories” refers to Christ’s resurrection and triumph over evil. (Schreiner) They are literally the glories that happened after Christ’s suffering. Brothers and sisters, Christ is triumphant. Christ accomplishes what He intends. And in our own lives, Christ’s triumph is over our sin.
His triumph begins at salvation. That moment when we trust in Christ as Lord and Savior, and we are saved!
But due note: there is a suffering that happens… The old us dies! The sinful self is crucified with Christ at the moment of salvation.
But after that, a new us is born! A subsequent glory. And that glory continues in our lives as we put sin to death and serve Christ. These are our acts of growing in our Hope!
But it is difficult, isn’t it, to grow in Christ? I think of a diamond, and the process it goes through. It was formed by intense geological forces and pressure. The magnificence of God’s creation to do such things! And miners go deep into the earth to mine them, they pull them out, and when they do, they can be kind of ugly and rough. But then a jeweller gets a hold of it. He cuts it, polishes it, and then you have a beautiful diamond.
You don’t get the diamond without the pressure. You don’t get the finished product without cutting and polishing. The same is true of our growth in our hope. You are made new through the incredibly powerful work of Christ on the cross. Then, we endure the cutting and polishing of sacrifice and obedience.
And these acts have reverberating effects in our lives and in the lives of those around us. What kind of effects does it have? 5 effects:
The people around us should be able to tell a difference in us over time, whether they are believers or not.
We grow in our ability to embrace our brothers and sisters in Christ who are much different than us. I’m not speaking theologically different, you understand. I’m talking about believers in the same church who may otherwise be at odds with one another, whether that be a personality difference or a difference of opinion, or even a difference in the football team you pull for! Hey, I have seen something as crazy as a Georgia fan and an Alabama fan share fellowship together in a peaceful manner… ON GAME DAY! You talk about the grace of God!
As we grow in our hope, everything in our life will be affected. Even our work! Our work is affected by our killing of sin and growing in hope!
Putting sin to death is no easy feat. It’s not a small or trivial matter. Just this week, I was challenged to quit making excuses and embrace hard things. You see, I’ve never been much of an early riser. But now our kids are in public school and uh… It takes getting up much earlier! And that seems mundane until you consider that the spiritual life of my family began suffering because of our rushed mornings. I had to die to self and get up earlier.
But that’s why we have one another in the church body. We are to help one another put sin to death. The church is a community of faith meant to spur its members on, one of another! And the fifth effect is that when we get in the habit of killing our sin, we grow in our ability and passion for helping others kill THEIR sin, and THEY in turn grow in their hope!
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
This is a scripture on Christian community.
This requires believers casting off the barriers we hold between us in relationships and deciding, I’m tired of playing church, I want to BE the church! This is the kind of life that casts off the lie from Hell that Christian living is just about me and Jesus and declares, “No! I will allow my brothers and sisters in Christ to call me out in my sin and I will respond in faith and repentance.”
Pay attention to this verse, I just preached it last Sunday evening:
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.
This is not just a scripture on the nature of the Bible, it is ALSO a scripture on Christian community. What else could be meant by teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness?
EVERY good work. You can find what you need in the Scriptures. And trust that God will accomplish with your life what He intends through your simple obedience.
In fact, when we are confident in God’s Word, we don’t even need self-esteem or inner confidence to tackle life’s challenges. Instead, we depend upon the truths of God to get us through the day. The confidence we receive from the right interpretation of God’s Word is not arrogance but Christian confidence.
Every ministry of our church should be Christ-centered and Word-centered! Christ is our hope, the Word points us to our hope!
And speaking of pointing to our hope… We must finally point others toward our hope in Christ.
Show Your Hope
Show Your Hope
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, things into which angels long to look.
The Prophets had a tough realization as they wrote their prophecies. Even after all of their toil, they would not be the ones to see on earth the Hope they had foretold. It would have to be for other generations to receive and to thus pronounce.
But what a glorious thing to be able to take part in. They were granted the grace to be the ones to point to Christ. They longed to see Christ, they longed to be the ones to receive Christ, but in the end, they were merely the messengers!
We talked about the difficulties the prophets endured earlier. None of these prophets got into the prophecy business to make a name for themselves. Prophecy was not exactly a high-paying, in-demand job.
Prophets did what they did because they were called by God. And they were to tell the people of God the things they needed to hear. And rarely was it anything they wanted to hear!
But all of that led up to the coming of Jesus Christ, and here in this text, to the point where Peter’s audience was told the Gospel. And they believed!
Application
Application
Brothers and sisters, that gospel was not merely shared with Peter’s audience. It continued through that audience on down through the ages to get to where it is today… Preached across the face of the earth. Whether in a little-bitty underground church in hostile lands, the mega church in Atlanta, a country church in Manor, or even here at Sweat Memorial Baptist Church. The Gospel is being proclaimed.
And it must continue to be proclaimed. Our faith is not one to be scuttled away. It’s not one to domineer. It’s not one that we take and go off to some mountain and live far off from society. This is the problem with the old monks you’ve heard about. They would remove themselves from society, because they thought society would make them impure. No, friends. Our faith is meant to be lived out in the public square! So be one who shares and shares generously. Our faith is one to be proclaimed and shared. This is our service to God and others. Just as the prophets labored for our benefit, we too should labor to benefit our neighbors.
So we share in the public square. We share at work and with others wherever we go. We tell others and we live it out.
Conclusion
Conclusion
And it is that completed work of Christ I invite you to trust this morning. If you have yet to repent of your sins and trust Christ, I invite you: trust Christ! You may say, “pastor, you talk about Christians showing their hope, but I’ve known so many hypocritical Christians…” This is a common rebuttal to trusting Christ. But I invite you: It’s easy to criticize the poor examples of Christ-followers… But have you considered the good examples? Don’t get me wrong, no one is perfect… But I have seen all kinds of life-change in church life. I’ve seen adulterers find repentance. I have seen liars become truth-tellers. I have seen greedy men become the most generous people you could meet.
What if I told you this kind of transformation is not only possible, but it is guaranteed in Christ? If only you will repent and trust Christ to change you from the inside out.
