SPEAKER_01 0:01

Such a wonderful body of Christ that ministers to people and all their giftings, and we have several men and women that can share the gospel. And uh we have uh Daryl gonna come today and share the gospel, share the message of the Lord as we continue the series in 1 Peter. So we want to thank God for Daryl and the blessing of the Word of God today. So thank you, brother. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

We'll try that. Can you hear me? Okay. Excellent. I'm gonna read from 1 Peter, which is where we are, have been, and will be. Um I'm gonna read 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 to 13. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him, and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 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 preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 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. Lord, we thank you for your word this morning. God, it is a light to our feet, a lamp to our path. We ask that you would uh use it to direct our steps, not just in the in the way that we should walk, but in who we should become, uh, which is more like your son Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. There are moments in life when uh you can look back and realize that you're living in a time of privilege, of uh extraordinary privilege. Um we have information at our fingertips, instant information. I'm of an age um when I still had to go to the library to do research for for papers. Okay. I had come I had a computer in my house too. I'm I'm kind of like a bridge, a bridge age, but I I remember going and spending hours uh in the library researching. You had to look stuff up in reference books. You couldn't just Google it, young people. Okay. Um if you needed groceries, you went to the store. There wasn't anything called an app where you could have someone do your shopping for you, right? Uh in the same way, as as time goes on, we are in a we are in a time of privilege spiritually. Okay. Um I want to say that as as we go through 1 Peter, and uh just as an aside, I really like doing preaching this way, going through a book. It it's not a right or wrong issue, but it makes it easy to keep things in context. So I can say, you know, Dan talked about that's just why I read from verse 3, not just I'm preaching verses 10 to 13 this morning. I started from verse 3 because what Dan said last week is important and it influences what we're talking about this morning. Uh but what as we go through 1 Peter, one of the things that um you read a lot about is suffering. Okay, Peter writes a lot about suffering, and Dan spoke on going through the trials last week. But the other thing that he talks about is hope. In the same way that John is called the apostle of love, Peter has been called the apostle of hope. Okay, so though we go through trials and sufferings, we have an assurance that gives us great hope in their midst. Um when when we're going through a book, uh it's important, I think, to keep in mind the theme of that book. And I'll just mention it here. Peter, uh, at the end of 1 Peter and 5, 12, he says why he wrote this book. I have written briefly to you, this is uh chapter 5, verse 12. I've written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. Okay, so that's why Peter wrote his letter. Now he wrote his letter to Christians who were experiencing hardship and persecution. Okay, they were that they were called a diaspora, they were scattered, they were misunderstood, and oftentimes they were suffering for their faith. But instead of beginning with despair, Peter fills their vision with hope. He reminds them that they're part of something far bigger than their immediate circumstances. Okay, they're part of the unfolding plan of God that the prophets foretold and that angels desired to see. So when I say that we're in a time of privilege spiritually, things that previous generations had longed for, had inquired about, uh, they anticipated are realities for us. Okay. We live in a time of the promises fulfillment. Okay? I want to go back very briefly just to bridge the gap between Sundays, as it were. Because our passage here in verse 10 uh starts with concerning this salvation. Concerning what salvation? Okay. When Dan talked last week, he talked about a jeweler. He gave the example of a jeweler, how he purifies the gold by heating it in the fire. Trials reveal the genuineness of our faith, uh he said. What does a genuine faith get us? Its outcome is the salvation of our souls. Right? From our passage this morning, we learn three, I think, powerful truths. Uh one is that the prophets searched for the salvation that we now know. Okay? The prophets searched for it. Second is that the angels marveled at the experience. And therefore, believers must live with focused hope and readiness. Okay. So first, the prophets search for the salvation we now know. Peter hints at this in his second letter, too, and I'll just uh read real quickly, it's in chapter one of Second Peter, verses 19 to 21. We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So Peter's talking about how prophecy and how scripture came to be. When God spoke through a prophet, the prophet was literally the mouthpiece of God. But what he says there, it wasn't open to their interpretation. It wasn't up to the prophet to determine the prophecy's fulfillment. The whens and the whys and the hows and the whos, they didn't necessarily know that. Their job was merely being used, which is why it says that the prophets inquired about the things they were prophesying, because they didn't know. Okay, that's why we read that this morning. So their job was merely being used by God, speaking through them. It makes sense then that they search and they inquire carefully. They had prophesied of the coming Messiah. We have the benefit or the privilege of hindsight. Every word of God proves true, the Bible says. Every prophecy concerning Jesus Christ has been fulfilled or will be fulfilled upon his return. Peter tells us that the prophets of old searched and inquired carefully about the salvation that would come through Christ. So if you think about figures like Jeremiah, like Isaiah, like Ezekiel, Daniel, for instance, okay? They spoke words inspired by God about the coming Messiah. But they didn't fully understand the timing or the manner in which those prophecies would unfold, would be fulfilled. Isaiah wrote about in chapter 53, about the suffering servant. He described someone who would bear the sins of many. But Isaiah didn't know the name Jesus. He didn't know it. He saw the shadow before the reality appeared. So Peter says that the prophets asked two questions. One is, who would the Messiah be? And two is when would these things take place? They searched the scriptures that they themselves had written. They studied the revelation that God had given them, longing to understand more. John Calvin wrote that the prophets did not speak from their own understanding, but sought with reverence the meaning of what the Spirit had revealed through them. So imagine writing words that would change the world, but not ever seeing their fulfillment. You know, think about that. Centuries later, that happened. That was their experience. Peter tells us something remarkable that those prophets were serving future generations. They were serving us. They knew that the full realization, the full realization of the prophecies, of God's plan for salvation, would happen in a time beyond their own lives. What this teaches us is that is that God's plan unfolds across generations. A lot of times we get pretty narrow-minded on our own life and what's happening. But really, God's plan is much bigger than that. Many of us would would love to see the full results of everything we do. We want immediate answers. We want to see the impact right away. And we want fulfillment right away. A faithful parent may plant seeds in their children that will bear fruit decades later. I have a friend, a really good Christian brother, who was really wayward in his youth. And his parents prayed for him for a long time. His father came down with a debilitating disease and passed and never got to see the fruit in this life. Never got to see it. He will see him again, but he didn't get to see it in this life. A pastor can preach sermons whose impact will be felt down the line. You never know. A Christian can influence someone who leads many to Christ. You can influence one person and they lead many people to Christ. So we don't necessarily see the full outcome of our obedience. But like the prophets, we should keep in mind we're serving something greater than ourselves. Even when we can't see the end of the story, God's the author. He's writing it perfectly. So number two, angels marvel at the salvation we experience. Okay, Peter, this is really stunning, I think. Peter adds this statement, these are things into which angels long to look. Okay? Angels are powerful. They stand in God's presence, they worship him continually, they carry out his commands, they're ministering spirits. But Peter says here, they long to look into the mystery of salvation. Let's think about why that might be. In the gospel, angels can see something pretty extraordinary. You see God becoming human, right? Jesus Christ. You see a sinless son dying for sinners. You see grace freely given to people that could never earn it. Thomas Aquinas, who is a theologian, wrote that angels understand many things about God's power and holiness. But the depth of divine mercy displayed in the cross reveals something uniquely astonishing. Angels don't experience redemption the way that we do. They have never been lost and then found. They were never forgiven after rebellion. They can observe salvation from the outside, but we experience it from within. This is why Peter says that angels long to look. The phrase suggests someone bending down, really peering into something to understand it. Understand something that's beautiful, mysterious. The gospel is so magnificent that even heaven studies it with wonder. A lot of times as Christians, um, we get so familiar, I think, with the gospel that it loses its sense of wonder for us. You you hear the gospel being presented and you tend to think, I know for me personally, I I know this already. Like I've I've moved on from this. Uh you hear about grace so many times it can begin to feel ordinary. But if angels are marveling at the gospel, how much more should we? Okay. Imagine someone who received um uh oh, let's say a priceless painting. Okay, you you sh ship them a Rembrandt, okay? And it, of course, you would take precautions, you wouldn't just write an address on the back of the painting. It would be boxed up, right? I mean, we're talking priceless. So the this person receives this Rembrandt and never unwraps it, never opens it, just leaves it sitting in the box. Uh that is akin to what happens when we stop appreciating the gospel, appreciating the grace of God. Okay. The cross is not the starting point of Christianity, it's the center of it. Martin Luther said that the gospel is the, and I like this a lot, the gospel is the principal article of all Christian doctrine. Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually. It's pretty good. Okay. I've said this before up here. We don't graduate from the gospel. The gospel that saves is the same gospel that sanctifies, okay, makes us holy. Christians don't move beyond the gospel, we grow deeper into it. Every day we live by the grace of God that angels themselves marvel at. We see in verse 12 of our passage this morning, concerning this salvation, this great, great salvation, the prophets prophesied, the angels marvel at, we now preach. Okay. It was prophesied that the Messiah, that Jesus Christ, would come. We now preach and proclaim that He has come and He will come again. Okay. It was revealed to them, the prophets, but now it's announced to you through those who preach the good news. So we move from prophecy to preaching and proclaiming. And the third point is therefore, because of all this, what does this mean for us? Verse 13, 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. Okay. Again, we we say this many times, but it's true. Uh after describing the wonder of salvation, Peter uses the word therefore. When it says therefore, you've got to ask yourself what it's there for. Because the prophets anticipated this salvation, because uh angels marvel at it, believers ought to live differently. Peter gives, I'll I'll say it's two instructions because I think sober-minded is kind of underneath preparing your minds for actions. So two instructions is prepare your minds for action and set your hope fully on grace. The phrase Peter uses literally means to gird up the loins of your mind. Gird up the loins of your mind. And in those days, uh people wore long robes. So if they had to work work quickly or run somewhere, they would tuck their belt, they would gather from from their around their feet, and they would tuck it into their belt. They would gird themselves up so that they could move, they could move freely. So Peter is applying that picture to uh to our thinking. Okay, we shouldn't have loose, distracted minds. We must think clearly about truth, about eternity, about the promises of God. A.W. Tozer said that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The battle for Christian living often begins in the mind. Who remembers uh Robin Leach? Younger people, again, you're not gonna know. I'll date myself. The lifestyles of the rich and famous, right? I uh I remember having a friend who he told me I I can't believe I remember this, but he told me that his his wife would watch stuff like that, and there was a show called MTV Cribs, which was like a similar type of thing. And when his wife would watch those shows, she became very materialistic. That that was something that they had to deal with, and they figured it out and she quit watching those shows. Dan talks a lot about uh doom scrolling and binge watching, okay? And he's right. Um, if if our thinking is shaped by the world, our lives are going to follow the world. However, if our thinking is shaped by the truth of scripture, our lives are going to reflect the character of Christ. So, what is preparing the mind? What does this involve? Okay, it involves studying scripture. Meditate on what it means. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal its truth to us in a greater way. It involves guarding what influences our thinking. Okay? Ask yourself, what am I watching? What am I listening to? Okay, and we're not legalistic here. I've never heard anybody say anything legalistic from up here. We're not legalistic. But the stuff matters, it has an impact. You know, listen to worship music. Focus on eternal realities rather than temporal distractions. Okay, we deal a lot of times with a lot of minutiae from day to day. That can lead us to making mountains out of molehills, as it were. If if something goes wrong at work, am I gonna let this steal my joy? That's what I have to ask myself. And I'm gonna be right back in the same place tomorrow. I'm gonna have this moving packages coming from the same place, going to the same places. You know, it's like, does this really matter in eternity? Peter says, under preparing your mind to be sober-minded. This doesn't merely refer to avoiding drunkenness, although, of course, that would be included. But what what it means is living with uh spiritual clarity, awareness, alertness. Okay. We have to be attentive to our spiritual life. The world is constantly pulling our attention away from God. You have endless distractions, like we talked about, entertainment, then there's worries, your own ambitions, fears, like any any of those things can cloud your spiritual vision. Peter calls us to a life of clarity, a life of self-control, a life of watchfulness. Finally, Peter gives the central command of this passage set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Our hope is not partial or it's not uh uncertain. Okay? It's fully fixed on the future grace that will be revealed when Christ returns. It's different when you in the world when people say, uh, you know, I hope this works out for you. That's pretty uncertain, right? Biblical hope means confidence. Uh it is the assurance that God will complete what He has promised. J.I. Packer described Christian hope as the confident expectation. Of divine blessing based on the promises of God. Confident expectation. That's our hope. Peter reminds suffering Christians that their story is not finished. The final chapter will be written when Christ returns. And on that day, grace will be revealed in its fullness. When believers fix their hope on Christ's return, several things happen. One is, and this is important, again, to remember what we talked about last week, but one is we gain strength in suffering. Okay? Fix your hope on Christ's return. You get strength in suffering. Peter's readers were experiencing persecution, but the hope gave them endurance. Hope reminds us that suffering is temporary, but glory is eternal. We resist the temptations of the world. When our hope is anchored in eternity, the temporary pleasures of sin lose their power. And we live with purpose. When we know where history is headed, our lives gain direction and meaning. C.S. Lewis said that if you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought the most of the next. You ever heard that saying that this person was so heavenly minded they were no earthly good? You ever hear that? I'd heard that, I've heard that many times, and I gotta tell you, I've never known one person like that. I never met anybody that that applied to. When believers focus on eternity, they actually become more faithful in the present. So let's step back, in closing, we'll let's see the full picture that Peter paints. The prophets searched for our salvation. Angels marvel at it. Believers are called to live in the power of it. We live in a privileged moment in God's redemptive story. We know the name of the Messiah, we know the meaning of the cross, we know the promise of the resurrection. The prophets anticipated it, the angels study it, but we experience it. So we are called to respond, to prepare our minds, to live with spiritual clarity, to set our hope fully on the grace to come. Our lives should reflect the wonder of the salvation we have received. Imagine standing among the prophets of old. Imagine Isaiah next to you, asking you what had happened after his prophecies. Imagine angels listening in as you describe the grace that you experienced in Christ. What does my life say about the value of that salvation? The gospel isn't merely something we believe, it's something we live. So let us live as people who understand the greatness of the grace we have received. If we're dealing with trials, let's rejoice, as James says, for the opportunity to prove that this great salvation has taken hold of our lives. Let us fix our eyes on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed in glory. And until that day, let us set our hope fully on the grace that is coming. Amen.