Promised Salvation

the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours

Those prophets of the Old Testament, the 39 books, they were speaking of the grace that is yours. He actually gets even more specific in verse 12.

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you.

That's pretty significant. And it all comes together as we see the Old Testament is all pointing to the person, Jesus Christ, as Jesus himself said. And now we, as the people who get to know of Christ, all the things that we're saying of the grace to come was for you. All the things that we're writing was to serve you. Christian, the Old Testament belongs to you. Or rather, you are underneath the Old Testament. The scriptures of God, they are written for you. Things are different. We're not celebrating the Passover, we're celebrating the Lord's Supper. Christ has come to bring a fulfillment to the Old Testament, but they were written for you. They belong most to you because if they're really all about Christ, if you don't have Christ, you actually can't understand what they're really about. If you do not see that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Messiah who came to suffer and is now glorified, you actually can't really understand how the whole Old Testament is meant to be understood. It most belongs to you. And pulling this all together isn't just that Christ is in the center, it's, notice in verse 11, the spirit of Christ that was in those prophets The Spirit was indicating when Christ would suffer and then the subsequent glories. The Spirit of Christ was telling them about the Christ to come that we now know. Think about that for a second. The Spirit of Christ is predicting Christ. How sure it is that God wanted to communicate to us. Now Peter tells us in verse 10, these prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, they searched and inquired carefully. This is Jeremiah, Isaiah, Malachi, Hosea, Daniel, and so on. And I'm kind of curious what kind of searching this means, because it could be as they're writing, as the Holy Spirit is carrying along their hand to write words for us, I believe there are times where they're saying things that they don't quite fully grasp how clear and how great it is and what Christ would come to do. So it could be they're inquiring their own words, but I also believe they're looking back and they're seeing, well, Moses made promises and we're trying to take what the law said, we're trying to apply it to this day. And they're also looking and saying, something more is still to come. Something better is still to come. They're looking at God's word the way we should and asking, what are you doing, Lord? What are your promises? The law has been now fulfilled, all the promises in Christ, what they long for, well, we now have fulfilled and clarified in Christ. It's important that we look back to the promises and we now see that they're fulfilled. To talk about the old and the new together, the new is contained in the old and the old is explained in the new. Another way of saying it is the new is in the old concealed and the old is in the new revealed. The promises of grace, most importantly, they're ours. In order to understand much of what the New Testament says, we have to have the Old Testament. Well, let's just look through Peter for a little bit. In chapter one, in this next week, we'll see the call to be holy. Well, that's just repeating what's already been said in the old. And the rationale is because he'd been purchased by the blood of Christ, who is without blemish. That's pointing back to the whole sacrificial system to show how much greater Christ is than that old sacrificial system. Or chapter two, verses four to seven, The church were built on the, we're a building of stones, we're a peace, we're a, we're a kingdom of priests. We're, we're, we have to understanding of ultimate worship and understand that language borrowed. Or chapter two, verses nine and 10 rate chosen race, a whole, a Royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people under God, a people of mercy. Much of that comes from the Exodus language in chapter 19. We have to understand the Old Testament, what was being said, and really understand fully and appreciate greatly what is now being said of us. Let's go back into this in inquiring what person or time. The Spirit of Christ was in these prophets indicating, so they were inquiring, they wanted to know more about the person and the time of the suffering and the following glories. Well, time is interesting. Because we could ask the question, and it's a fine question to ask, why did God take so long? Why so much time? Why is there 400 years of silence between Malachi and John the Baptist, or when Christ comes? Why the 400 years of silence? Why the hundreds of years between some prophets? Why between Moses and the call to Abraham all the way to David and then Jesus? Why so much time? What we know from the New Testament is a very important phrase, that at the right time, Christ came to be born of a woman. Why did God wait? We don't know. But here's a hypothesis, here's a, seems to be pedagogical. Because God made promises and then it kind of builds up like a snowball. He's clarifying those promises and they're building each other and he's clarifying more and more what kind of salvation he's going to bring. And I think that's really important because it's amazing the Creator made a covenant with His creation that rebelled against Him to enter into it and become part of it. That the Son of God would come and enter into this creation by taking on flesh and then dying for His creation? Rising again? I believe one of the reasons there was so much time was that all these promises built up this beautiful tapestry and picture of the one who's going to save is the prophet, the priest, the king, to just name a few ways in which God is building up this promise. And it seems as if God is making it so clear who the Savior was going to be that when he would come, they would say, wow, how obvious it is. And I think what should be terrifying for us is that the Word of God came and took on flesh and He came to His own and His own rejected Him. Even though God had built up promise after promise to bring such clarity about who He is. When we think about the when, we're thankful that there's a clear when, there's a at the right time. God had made these promises so we can now see all the things Christ has said and what he's done and how he fulfills them. But now let's think about the who. That's really the most important thing here. Who is that person the spirit of Christ in them was indicating? Who is this Christ who is predicted to suffer and then the subsequent glories? I'll spend most time on suffering of the Lord, but I want to make sure we first understand that the who is a son. From the very beginning, the promised savior, the one, the hope of all the world must be a who, it's a son. And this goes back to Genesis 3.15, the first promise of salvation, where God is promising before Adam and Eve to Satan,

Your child will strike the heel of the son of the woman, but she will crush your head.

A child is what we're waiting on from Genesis 3.15. There has to be a seed, a child is promised. Then God makes it more clear who is this child and what kind of child will this be and where will this child come from. We go forward to Genesis 12 where we meet Abraham, or sorry, Avram and Sarah. And he has no child. And God says,

I'll give you a child. Follow me.

Abraham believes and God blesses him with a child and it's Abraham and then Isaac and then Jacob and Jacob becomes Israel. We, we see now clarity. There's a promised people from whom a child we born that's going to fulfill the Genesis three promise. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob becomes Israel. Israel has 12 tribes. We then see a more narrowing focus in Genesis 49, where it's clear that from Judah, one of the sons of Israel, one of the tribes, he will have a son who will reign as king. Well, we see some development. So it's a child born of Eve. then a child born of Abraham, then a child born of Isaac, then a child born eventually of Judah, and then Ruth narrows in, introducing the family of Jesse. And 2 Samuel 7 is one of the most significant narrowing ends. David of the tribe of Judah, whose king, God promised to him,

you will have a child, a son, will reign on the throne of Israel forever and I will be like to him a father and he will be like to me a son.

We see again the narrowing in and the filling out of the promise of salvation. And then Ezekiel 34. God is so frustrated with the rulers of Israel who are selfishly taking the sacrifices for themselves. God says,

I myself will come and I will be your shepherd.

Friends, how could the Israelites not understand who Jesus is when he declares,

I am the good shepherd

? We see how God has built up this theme of there's going to be a son who's going to be a king that is the shepherd who rules forever on God's throne and yet they rejected him. Even Mary is told by the angel,

you're going to give birth to a son while you're a virgin. He'll rule forever. He's great. He's the son of the Most High.

See, we see this theme, there's a child who'll be born of a woman. What becomes more and more clear is this child born of a woman is also the very son of God, who's going to come and exercise his perfect righteousness. So that person, the Christ, is a child. That's one theme, but I want us to spend more time, more significantly here, as to what the Holy Spirit had been predicting, and that is the sufferings of Christ. Notice it is the spirit of Christ himself who is telling the prophets, who are informing us of who the Christ would be in his suffering. Again, that goes back to Genesis 3. That first child of Eve, that significant child of Eve, rather, he's gonna have his heel struck. He's gonna have a significant suffering. We see the theme develop even more when we get to Genesis 22, where Abraham, after being promised that Isaac, his son, who he longed for, who finally got fulfilled in bringing about his promise, his most beloved son, God says, go sacrifice him. And so they go up to the mount. And God tells, or Abraham tells Isaac,

God will provide.

And as he draws back his knife, the Lord says, stop. And they look, and they see A lamb. They see a ram in a thicket. There's a picture there already of how God is going to provide a sacrifice substitute for even his own people. One of the things you can study this evening, Psalm 22. One of the most significant Psalms that sounds like it's written by the New Testament because it's so clearly meditating upon the cross. Jesus quotes it from the cross. It makes clear allusions to the cross. It is one of these most significant declarations with great clarity about the suffering servant. Or the passage we just read earlier, Tyler read for us, Isaiah 52. A lamb will be sacrificed. All this is going back to that most important event of the Exodus, the last plague, where either the firstborn son dies or the blood of the lamb covers the doorpost so the judgment of God passes over. You see, these themes are coming together. The lamb without blemish must be put to death and the blood must go over the doorpost so that God's people would be delivered from his judgment. We see this picture of more and more a lamb who's going to come, then a suffering servant who's going to come, someone who's going to be treated harshly and must die and take lashes for his own people. We see even more clarity as we turn to the New Testament. The entire Old Testament worship was about every year a lamb would die, over and over again, sacrifice after sacrifice, in order to have their sins covered. And then all of a sudden, when Jesus walks towards John the Baptist, John the Baptist declares,

behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The Christ who would suffer was predicted by all those lambs, all those sacrifices. A constant building up of year after year. It obviously didn't fully take away sin because they had to do it year after year. It covered the sin of Israel. But then, this man, Jesus Christ, walks towards John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, and the declaration,

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Fast forward in Mark 6 to 9, it's one of the places we see Jesus making a significant prediction. He keeps predicting, he keeps telling his disciples,

the Messiah must first suffer. It's necessary that I must suffer.

Do you remember who denies this first or most loudly? It's Peter himself. who had a hard time understanding that the Messiah would suffer. And then in Acts 2, Peter himself declares in the first Christian sermon,

it is he, Jesus, who was delivered up by the definite plan of God and crucified by hands of sinful men.

The whole picture of the Old Testament is that our sin has caused such a great separation with God. And that this lamb, this sacrifice, this suffering that was taking place physically and the promise that someone would come one day to take on all the suffering to remove our sin, it's not being built up and it's now Jesus saying it's not only him, but Peter declares it in his first sermon. We see it repeated over and over again in the New Testament. Romans 5, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 2 Corinthians 5,

he who knew no sin became sin for us.

I believe this morning it's important for us to see in Matthew 26, Jesus declared when serving the Last Supper,

this is the new covenant made in my blood.

There's no salvation for us outside of Jesus Christ, God's own son, dying in our place to take away God's wrath that our sin deserves by taking it upon himself. The Messiah, it was necessary for him to suffer in order for us to be saved. He went through the suffering we deserve. As we think about the who, it's It's Christ. It's only necessary for him to suffer because God promised salvation. We must understand this. God did not have to save us. Except for he promised to save us and then he must because he cannot deny himself. When God promised to save us, it meant someone must come and die in our place to truly take God's righteous wrath so that he is still the righteous judge and yet also show great mercy. The saints of old longed to see this. Because if you remember, the saints of old, they had to worship from a great distance with great fear because they knew their sins had not truly been forgiven yet because the perfect sacrifice had not been given. The Old Testament saints longed to know of who and when this would happen because they knew something better was still to come. Christian, you live in the better. Don't believe me, just read Hebrews. better. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than Joshua. Jesus is the perfect High Priest who has provided the once-for-all sacrifice in the true Holy of Holies so that we now have bold access to come into the presence of God. One of the things we want to think about this aspect of Christ who must suffer On the cross, we see two of the most important attributes we know of God. He's holy, holy, holy. That's the characteristic of God. That's the attribute of God that's repeated three times in Scripture. God is holy, holy, holy. He's perfect and righteous. And God is love. We must hold those two together. Because when we come before Him in sin, He is the holy, holy, holy God who should punish us for our sin. But because of Christ's death on the cross and the love that we now know that He gives by dying for us even while we're sinners, we know we can believe in Jesus and the great mercy of God and be saved. He's a good God who shows mercy. But we cannot believe it's cheap. The holy blood of Christ is what has made us holy. Notice it's, they inquired of who and when. The spirit was telling them that the Christ must suffer. And then the subsequent glories. Well, let's take some time to think about the subsequent glories. We've seen the sun theme, we've seen just barely a taste of the suffering theme. He must have glory after. This sequence is very important for us to understand. If you want to know why the disciples and the Gospels seem to get confused, it seems they didn't get this particular sequence. They seem to just want the Messiah who will bring glory without the suffering. It's a significant problem to understand who Jesus is if we want glory without the suffering. He must suffer and then receive glory. And we'll see how the suffering and the glory go hand in hand, side by side. If you want to see the glory, there's a couple passages you can look at that are very clear. Psalm 110, the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.

There's a great glory to that Messiah. Daniel 7, the Ancient of Days, who's seated forever on the throne in glory. Isaiah 57.

For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy places, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the hearts of the contrite.

Remember Isaiah 52 and 53, what a picture of the suffering servant, he who received lashes for our transgressions, Isaiah 52 verse 13,

Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted.

Right there in Isaiah 52 and 53, that promise of the suffering servant that we know so well, even there in the middle of it, there's a glory that's going to come after the suffering. In the New Testament, we see this theme very clearly played out. Philippians 2, possibly an early Christian song, speaking of Christ

being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

, suffering.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We see their suffering in the subsequent glory. Even the great worship song that we long to sing one day in the heavens, from Revelation 9.

And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, and you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on earth. And I looked and I heard the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the voice of the angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain.

His suffering, and then the glory. Jesus is exalted now at the right hand of the Father, with a name that is above every name. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is to be praised forever. He has received glory, but we see in the salvation history, it's after He's come to suffer in this way. It's necessary for us to see this sequence. It's necessary for us to truly get a grasp of God's gospel and how dangerous and destructive our sin is that Christ had to come suffer for us and now He's in heaven forever with the Father. He's returned to the glory. We even see it in last week's text. If you go back to verse 6,

In this you rejoice

, that is your salvation,

though for a little while it is necessary you have been grieved by various trials of the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, honor, and revelation of Jesus Christ.

Notice what he's saying there. We rejoice in this salvation. because we know suffering will result in the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let's take a little walk through Peter, as we see suffering and glory side by side. Chapter two, verse 21. Speaking of our suffering, he says,

for to this you have been called, because Christ suffered for us, and by doing so left an example for us.

Suffering is part of the way we participate in the full work in the ministry and the joy of Jesus Christ. But it's not suffering just for suffering's sake, it's suffering because glory is what comes after. Chapter four, verse 13,

but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings.

Why?

that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

2 to 5 verse 1,

so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

2 to 5 verse 10,

and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I believe it's important that we see that the gospel requires Christ to die, suffering at the hands of Pontius Pilate, suffering for our sake. And the glory is what comes afterwards. And it's important we see that's the pattern set forth for believers today. I believe we all have a funny tendency towards what we call the prosperity gospel. That suffering needs to be avoided. Or we want immediate gratification. Christian, the pattern set forth is very clear for elect exiles in 1 Peter is our Savior suffered and then was glorified. The pattern set forth for us. is that we get to participate in His suffering, and glory is to come. That's important to understand how to be elect exiles. If you're suffering right now for the name of Christ, that doesn't mean God's forsaken you. It's probably evidence He loves you. We feel the pressure of the suffering. We get to look to Christ. We get to depend upon Him and His grace. We get to think of Him who suffered for us, and we get to know that in His promises, this suffering isn't meaningless. This suffering, well, it leads to His glory, and it leads to something better for us. We need to have this clear pattern of what God has set forth. There's one more thing I want us to look at in verses 10 and 11 before we move on. I want to step back one more time. The holy God of love made promises. He's made promises. And one of the things that should always remind us that he is God and we are not is that he keeps his promises. He keeps his promises. He cannot deny himself. The way that the text reads, the spirit of Christ is indicating them these exact words. God has bound himself to his word to us. God has given us these words. God has committed himself in these words. God keeps his word. As we think about that, what should come to light is just how fickle we are. How we cannot keep our promises. We had a wedding yesterday. It was a great, joyful celebration of the rightful making of promises between a husband and wife and to God. Oh, to make promises so easy, to keep them so hard. Oh, but for the grace of God. We have to realize that how hard it is for us to keep promise. It's hard for us to even keep promises to ourselves because our hearts are so wicked and deceptive. This is why we constantly go back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We get so easily distracted. We deceive ourselves. We get confused. But God, he has promised to save us. That's our sure foundation. That's what helps us always remember God has made such promises. That's what he's doing by pointing us back to what he has said and now we know in Christ he cannot fail his word. Christian, as we look at the past and how Israel had to, well, worship from a distance. They had to worship with a lot of blood. How much greater confidence do we have today because Christ has paid the once for all sacrifice? We know our sins have been taken away from us as far as the east is from the west because they've been put on Christ. They've been paid in full. We should have so much more clarity of God's will and how good he is and that he brings his people into suffering for their goodness and in that place he shows us love. We have a whole new relationship with God now because we revere him as his children. Not distant in fear like Israel, but drawing near to be close to him. What a stewardship and a high calling God has given us as his promised people. Second point, salvation proclaimed. I want to go back again and remember here the prophets, they were speaking of the grace that was for you. And they knew that they were not serving themselves, but they were serving you now. And the things that have now been announced to you, he's he's dropping it down now. He's he's given just a so helpful what little things he said about how the Old Testament is promised in the New Testament fulfillment. So much more to unpack there. But now it's in the things you've now heard. in the salvation and

the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you.

The good news, we can go back to Mark 1. This is the gospel according to Mark. It's the good news. It's the Christ coming, Christ dying, Christ rising, Christ exalted, Christ will return. The good news is that God so loved the world, he sent his only begotten son. So believe in him, shall have eternal life. The good news has been announced to you. It's proclaimed now. The idea of good news is somewhat tied to a victory in war. It was a heralding of a victory. A runner would come back from the war front and announce to a town, we've won, we've won. It's a great declaration of victory. The good news of God. is that he has defeated our greatest enemies, and that is sin, death, and Satan. He's risen. He's exalted. The good news has been announced to you through the preaching of good news. Now, think for a moment. Who proclaimed that good news to you? Who is it that was proclaiming the gospel truth? God's gospel must be revealed in words. God's gospel is what God has done and God has given us the record of what he's done and told us what he's done. But the gospel must go out in words. Who was it? Think about it for a minute. Who was it that shared the gospel in words with you? A parent? Sunday school teacher? Friend, coworker, who was it? This is how God has acted. Just like the prophets of old were telling Israel, this is who God is and what he's doing, but it was the Holy Spirit who was empowering that message. God spoke through somebody to you at some point. So you heard the gospel and you believed. But notice what the text also says.

through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit from heaven.

It wasn't just that you got to hear the good news from somebody's mouth. God himself was speaking to you that day. As for many of us, we heard the gospel numerous times until we finally believed it was God who spoke that day. It was by the Holy Spirit taking those words, penetrating your ears that sometimes have difficulty hearing, loosening that stiff neck, crushing that heart of stone, so that you would receive that word as a dead person, the words that bring life. I want to say this very clearly. Repent of all deistic notions of God. He is not distant. He is not passive. He's a God who has moved towards us with great power to bring about a great salvation. We must repent of all deistic notions of God. He is a God who draws near and pursues his people with power. If anything, by the Holy Spirit means it's with power. Jesus said that after the resurrection, he says,

don't go anywhere. Wait until you're clothed with power from the Holy Spirit.

In Acts, he tells them again, wait for the Holy Spirit to be clothed with power. In Acts 2, 4, before the first sermon, Guess what happens? They're filled with the Spirit and the Spirit gave them utterance. How sweet it is that God is still speaking. We need to be very careful here. You're not looking for a new revelation. You're looking to know and understand and enjoy what God has already said by the power of the Spirit. How good it is that God is empowering proclamation. Praise God, he is empowering proclamation. The very power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very power that lets you hear the words and receive the great mercy of God. If you're not a believer this morning, the words you must hear is that you're a sinner and there is a great judgment because God is a righteous God. And he will punish every sin. He either punishes us for our sin, or we've believed in Jesus who suffered on our behalf, who died in the place of sinners so that we wouldn't suffer that punishment. He does. So that we would be forgiven and be brought into a relationship with God of love. Hear that word and believe. Patterns are important in scripture. As we just saw, there's suffering and then there's glory. Jesus came to serve and he calls us to serve. Jesus came to love and so we love one another. Well, the good news this morning is Jesus came and that word was reclaimed to you by the Holy Spirit and so ought you to proclaim that same good news. If you believe in a God who's not worth sharing, you don't really believe in a God. It's not really good news if you don't want to share it. Brothers and sisters, be encouraged to elect exiles. God could take his finger and write the gospel truths in the clouds. He could align the stars tonight. He could take that full moon and just move it around so the gospel truths can be known, if he wanted to. But instead, he wants you to know the beauty and the power and the glory of sharing his good news. What an invitation to not only believe, but to get to share. Oh, God doesn't need us at all, but how God desires to use us. And again, I appreciate the great trepidation I hear regularly of, I'm afraid I'm going to mess up the gospel. All right, we can walk through that. We can help that. We can regularly be so involved in each other's lives that we're speaking the gospel truth to each other that it just comes out naturally one day. But I fear too often we're afraid of sharing the gospel because we're afraid of what somebody might think of us. They're the challenges. Christ is worthy to be praised. Whatever we think of that suffering, there's a glory to come after. Learn to speak of the gospel church. Learn to trust His promises. What an incredible promise, Jesus says, that the Holy Spirit from heaven, the Holy Spirit of Christ, He'll give you the words you need to say. He'll remind you of the very gospel truths in the moment you need them. And oh, man, I praise God for this, that you can stumble and bumble your way around. If you just get somewhere close, it seems like God's power, when he wants to save somebody, he saves them. We can look at a promise in 1 Peter. Alluding back to the Old Testament, he says,

for all flesh is like grass, and it's glorious, the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.

And it concludes from this.

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Oh, how good it is that God has given us his promises. And by giving us his promises, he's given us himself. We know him and we can make him known. Praise be to God. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We can look back and even after Adam and Eve sinned, you pursued them in grace. You begin speaking words of grace and we can see throughout your entire history you've been declaring truths about yourself and the salvation that was to come and the salvation that now is for us. Oh Lord, help us to trust you and your promises. The promises that have made even now that your spirit will sanctify us? Your regenerating power will renew us? That we can know you, speak to you, enter boldly into your presence? We can make you known that your word does not return void? Most of all, Lord, as we sung earlier, Christ is returning. We thank you that we can see his death and resurrection and his exaltation was promised and that's been fulfilled. And Lord, help us to be a people expectantly waiting, faithful, knowing you will fulfill that promise at the right time. Help us sort of live, waiting for that day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.