INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• It is easy to talk about how we are supposed to cling to God in the good times and the bad.
• The “Christian Thing” is to say that no matter what you are facing, keep your chin up and trust God.
• The folks Peter was addressing his letter to were facing difficult times and as we have talked about last week many were facing the thought of leaving their faith.
• AS Peter tries to encourage them to soldier on, in the section we will explore together this morning, we are going to reveal some encouraging issue that have to do with salvation, things that make salvation an awesome thing.
• It is one thing to realize that God offers us the opportunity to receive salvation; it is another to see why what we are offered is so awesome and why it is so worth anything we face in this life to stay with it.
• We have a GREAT gift from God or if you do not have this gift, God wants you to have it.
• The gift from God is so great that even in the process of waiting to receive it in full, even if we are called to suffer for our faith, the suffering is SO worth it!
• If you are struggling
• Turn to 1 Peter 1:10-12 with me.
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Peter 1:10-12(ESV) 10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12It 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.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
Salvation is so awesome because…
I. Salvation is based on grace through Jesus!
• As the people are going through difficult times, they are reminded of their salvation.
• I find it telling that Peter uses the word grace when he speaks on the subject of salvation.
• One of the reasons that salvation is so awesome is the fact that it is based on grace through Jesus.
• Throughout time man has tried do various ways to try to earn their salvation. The trend continues even to this day.
• Think about the futility of trying to earn your way into heaven. Where would you start? What would you do? What standards would you use? How would you know if you are good enough?
• Is God one of those teachers who say it takes 95% for an A? Does God grade on the curve?
• How many times can you fail and still make it?
• Going back to the issue of standards, whose do you use, can you just make up your own, and then how do you know that the standards you picked are the right ones?
• What if you FEEL that your chosen path is the right one only to find at the end of it all that you were WRONG?
• I do not think people really appreciate how awesome it is to know that our salvation is based on grace through Jesus!
• When you base your salvation on YOUR performance you have no assurances.
• As Peter tries to offer encouragement to those who are going through tough times, he wants them and us to know that one thing we do not have to worry about is EARNING salvation because salvation is based on grace through Jesus.
• To understand what this means, let us examine what the word GRACE means.
• Biblically speaking our short definition of grace is GOD’S UNMERITED FAVOR.
• Let us look at the words in that simple definition.
• GOD’S- this means this gift is God’s to bestow. If the gift belongs to God then God is the one who says who receives it. He also dictates how one goes about receiving it.
• UNMERITED- For those who were or are in scouts, you can get merit badges. How do you get those badges? You EARN THEM. If you are one who receives MERIT raises, how do you get the raise? You EARN the raise.
• The word MERIT means- something that deserves or justifies a reward or commendation; a commendable quality
• If you earn something that is what you get, in the scouts you get a merit badge, on the job you get a pay raise.
• UNMERITED then would mean that you get something you DID NOT earn.
• You do not have to EARN salvation; you just accept God’s gift and the terms of how to receive the gift.
• FAVOR- something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or for remuneration.
• So IF GRACE is a synonym for salvation and grace is God’s unmerited favor, then we find that salvation is not something we can earn, it is something that Jesus earned for us.
• SLIDE #4
• Romans 6:23(ESV) 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Is that not AWESOME! We do not earn our salvation, neither do we receive what we truly earn when we are in Christ!
• SLIDE #5
• Romans 5:15(ESV) 15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
• Notice that we are reminded that our salvation comes through Jesus and what HE DID!
• Salvation is not about doing, it is about what was DONE for you! Our life is about showing God we LOVE Him by the way we live for Him. We are giving our life to Jesus!
• SLIDE #6
• Galatians 2:20(ESV) 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• SLIDE #7
Salvation is so awesome because…
II. Salvation intrigues both angels and prophets.
• Salvation is awesome because even the angels and prophets are intrigued by it.
• In verses 10 and 11 tells us that the prophets who prophesied about the coming grace searched and inquired carefully.
• The prophets were God’s mouthpiece who spoke by inspiration.
• SLIDE #8
• 2 Peter 1:20-21(ESV) 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
• The very prophets, who were making the predictions in the Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah, did not know all the details.
• They inquired carefully meaning they “dug deep into” the prophecies they uttered, scrutinizing them because they wanted to know what it all meant. They wanted to understand fully what they were predicting.
• They inquired repeatedly!
• Verse 11 says they inquired what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
• Notice the credit is given to the Holy Spirit that inspired them.
• Jesus spoke of the Prophets of the Old Testament trying to understand what God was revealing to them.
• SLIDE #9
• Matthew 13:17(ESV) 17Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
• In verse 12 we find that somehow it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but they were serving those in the future and Peter applied that to his readers.
• Jesus in the Matthew passage is acknowledging the same.
• We also see in verse 12 that the angles longed to look and learn.
• Longing to look gives the impression that the angels were leaning in looking sideways straining to their necks to catch a glimpse of what was happening. They wanted a better view to the happenings of the making of salvation through Jesus!
• Is it no sad that the angels seem at times to be more interested in and excited about the salvation we have in Christ than we are.
• SLIDE 10
Salvation is so awesome because…
III. The same Spirit is still at work!
• The same Holy Spirit that was at work in the lives of the prophets who were able to predict the sufferings and glory of Jesus at least 700 years before they happened is the same Holy Spirit who inspired those who initially taught the readers of Peter’s letter.
• Isaiah 40-66, especially 53, Psalm 2:1-2; 26:8-11; Psalm 22-23; Daniel 9:2-27 are just a FEW written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
• That same Holy Spirit was predicted by Jesus to be given to us in John 16:13-14 and in Acts 1:8.
• The fulfillment came in Acts 2:4
• And we are told in Acts 2:38 the following. When Peter was asked by his audience what they needed to do to be saved he responded:
• SLIDE #11
• Acts 2:38(ESV) 38And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• When we give our lives to Jesus in baptism, we receive the same Holy Spirit that the prophets of old had upon them inspiring them as they prophesied!
• That same Spirit is at work in you when you belong to Jesus!
CONCLUSION
• Salvation is something to be excited about!
• Salvation is something that gives our faith excitement and it is something that gives our faith the hope to carry on!
• D you belong to Jesus?
