Concerning This Salvation

INTRO.- ILL.- Professional golfer Tommy Bolt (known as Thunder Tommy - March 31, 1916 – August 30, 2008) was playing in Los Angeles and had a caddy with a reputation of constant chatter. Before they teed off, Bolt told him, "Don’t say a word to me. And if I ask you something, just answer yes or no."

During the round, Bolt found the ball next to a tree, where he had to hit under a branch, over a lake and onto the green. He got down on his knees and looked through the trees and sized up the shot.

"What do you think?" he asked the caddy. "Five-iron?" "No, Mr. Bolt," the caddy said. "What do you mean, not a five-iron?" Bolt snorted. "Watch this shot." The caddy rolled his eyes. "No-o-o, Mr. Bolt."

But Bolt hit it and the ball stopped about two feet from the hole. He turned to his caddy, handed him the five-iron and said, "Now what do you think about that? You can talk now."

"Mr. Bolt," the caddy said, "that wasn’t your ball." Dumb, dumb, dumb. He wasn’t watching or thinking. He was only interested in playing the game. He wasn’t listening to the one person who could help him with his game.

And so it is with us in life. We often blindly go our own way, ignoring the one person who can direct us and bless us in life. And we know who that person is. The Lord said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." And "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God."

Concerning this salvation of ours, there is only one way, one approach and that’s through Jesus. But many people ignorantly deny Him. Many people live in ignorance of the God who created them and wants to save them.

ILL.- One day the preacher visited a certain Sunday school class. He asked, “Who broke down the walls of Jericho?” “I didn’t, mister. Honest!” a startled little boy blurted. The SS teacher said, “This boy is honest. I can vouch for him. He didn’t do it.”

Later, the preacher recounted the experience to an elder. The elder replied, “Hmmm, sounds incriminating. But I’ve known the boy and his teacher for a long time. I’m sure neither one is guilty.”

Appalled by this time, the preacher took the matter to the Chairman of the Board. The chairman said, “Why make a mountain out of a molehill? Let’s have the walls repaired and charge it to upkeep.”

The worse ignorance of all is spiritual ignorance. And this is the world that we live in. Spiritual ignorance abounds. The worst of all is when people don’t recognize Jesus as the Son of God and savior of the world!

Our text reveals a certain amount of spiritual ignorance, however, it’s from the people that you would not expect.

PROP.- Let’s consider the spiritual ignorance of some we would not consider to be ignorant. 1- The prophets searched 2- The angels longed

I. THE PROPHETS SEARCHED

10Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It 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.

ILL.- A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were extremely mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.

They boys’ mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.

The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"

They boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer.

So the preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy’s face and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?" The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"