200232.ser
The Search for Our Salvation:
“HEAD SCRATCHING IN PROPHET LAND”
BREBC August 17, 2002 a.m.
Subject: Salvation
Theme: The Search for Salvation
Passage: 1 Peter 1: 10 - 12
It’s funny, this term - head scratching - it has nothing to do with having an itchy head. It is simply a figure of speech that speaks about questioning, wondering, puzzling over something. I suspect that like myself you scratch your head over many things that you see around you in life And I suspect that, like myself, there are many things in the Bible that make you scratch your head as you try to understand the ways of God. We haven’t got all the answers yet. One day when we are at home in glory, I suspect that we shall see clearly many things that are quite obscure to us now.
But do you realize that, when it comes to your salvation, you understand a lot of things that were very unclear to the people who lived in Old Testament times, before Jesus came to earth, before He died on the cross and rose again from the dead? For you live on this side of the cross; you know that God sent His Son from heaven and that He purchased your salvation with His own blood. You know that He rose again from the dead and that He is on the throne of heaven today. You know that He is coming back to receive us to Himself and to judge the world in righteousness. But do you realize how extremely fortunate you are? You have privileges greater than the greatest spiritual leaders, the prophets who were moved by God to write the Bible. You have privileges greater than even the angels in heaven.
This section of 1 Peter is “All about our Salvation”. Last week we saw “The Glory of our Salvation;” Today we want to look back to see “the Search for our Salvation”. In coming weeks we want to grasp “The Goal of our Salvation; The Cost of our Salvation and the Growth of our Salvation.”
1. The Prophets Searched for Salvation. 1 Peter 1:10 “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace [that would come] to you,”
From the very beginning of time, God has revealed to mankind the fact that sin and rebellion separated us from Himself, but that He was going to provide a full and complete salvation for all who trust Him.
To do this God called chosen men to be prophets. A prophet is one who is divinely inspired to communicate God’s will to His people. They served as Pastors to their generation, teaching them the law of God, admonishing and reproving them for their sin, showing the people their transgression, and calling them to repentance. They were watchmen on the walls, declaring God’s will, pronouncing judgement, defending truth, and promoting righteousness. They not only did this orally, but they also wrote down what God revealed to them, and thus they provided for us the Bible, as the inspired Word of God.
You have heard people dismiss the Word of God as just written by men. It is true - it was written by men, 40 different men, over a span of 1600 years, but the proof that it is inspired by God and not just human opinion is its unity. It all ties together. It is a progressive revelation, each part building on what has gone before, and with no part contradicting anything that has already been written. No other collection of human writings can make this claim.
But in addition to addressing the condition of their own day, the prophets also were given a predictive element. They foresaw the future, sometimes so clearly that, as in the case of Isaiah, they wrote in the past tense, as though what they wrote had already happened, even though it would not be fulfilled for hundreds of years.
Think of some of these prophecies:
Gen. 3: 15 To Satan God foretold the coming of His Son: “ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, but you shall bruise His heel.”
Genesis 49:10 He was to be a ruler. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”
Acts 3:22 "For Moses truly said to the fathers, The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. Acts 3:24"Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.”
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Psalms 22:1"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? [Why are You so] far from helping Me, [And from] the words of My groaning? 6 But I [am] a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying], 8 "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" 14 I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look [and] stare at Me. 18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. 19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me.”
Don’t you find it fascinating that those words were written almost 1000 years before they were fulfilled as Christ hung on the cross?
Or these ones:
Psalms 69:21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, [our] faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.: 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
2. These prophets did not fully understand much of what they wrote.
The word here says that they inquired and searched diligently. They really tried to understand what “the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.”
These were highly intelligent men, writing down truth that was revealed to them. They knew that the Holy Spirit was showing them glimpses of the grace of God, and they earnestly sought to understand the message they were given. But much was hidden from their eyes.
Oh, don’t be fooled, these men were all saved in exactly the same way that you are saved - by faith in God. They knew that all of the sacrifices they could make could never really cover their sin, and somehow they knew that there must be another and greater sacrifice than of lambs and bullocks. Yes, and they knew that Messiah was coming. They knew there was suffering involved. They knew that this suffering would bring glory such as the world had not yet seen.
But to understand it? No, This is why I entitled the message “Head scratching in Prophet land.” They longed to understand the salvation that you and I tend to take for granted. They would never have understood how people could become careless about something so utterly important as eternal salvation, and the coming of God to earth to live among us as one who was truly man, and yet at the same time, truly God.
Writing about the prophets and other servants of God from Old Testament days, the writer to the Hebrews wrote: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced [them] and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13
3. But they weren’t the only ones who didn’t understand what they wrote.
a. The Jews to whom the prophets spoke did not understand the prophecies but they persecuted the prophets anyway.
Acts 7:52"Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
b. The Jews of Jesus’ day did not understand the prophecies, did not recognize the Messiah about whom they wrote, and so put Him to death.
Acts 13:27"For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled [them] in condemning [Him].
c. Even Jesus’ own disciples did not understand the prophecies until after the resurrection.
Jesus tried to get his disciples and those to whom He spoke to recognize the privilege that was theirs:
Matthew 13:17 "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous [men] desired to see what you see, and did not see [it], and to hear what you hear, and did not hear”
After His resurrection, Jesus said to two of his followers: "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then He said to them, "These [are] the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and [the] Prophets and [the] Psalms concerning Me." Luke 24:25, 27, 44
But it was not until the Holy Spirit began to reveal the true meaning of the prophecies that the disciples began to understand them.
And this brings out a huge truth in regard to the interpretation of the scriptures. There are those who tell us that all scripture must be interpreted exactly as the writers intended them, but that method actually led the Jews to crucify their Messiah. Instead you find over and over again, that the Holy Spirit led the disciples to a new and fuller understanding of the prophecies that one would not have understood simply from reading them in the Old Testament.
That is why we must let the New Testament interpret the Old rather than the other way around.
4. But what they did understand was the importance of their message for those to whom the Gospel would be preached.
1 Peter 1:12 “To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into.”
God has always been in the business of saving souls. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But the full revelation of salvation could not become clear until Jesus actually came to earth, and offered His life as an atoning sacrifice. Only then could the Holy Spirit open people’s eyes to understand what the prophets had been saying. Listen to the apostle Peter:
Acts 10:43 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."
Listen to the apostle Paul Acts 28:23 ¶ So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at [his] lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.
Dear ones, do you understand the huge privilege which you have? For 4,000 years, the prophets spoke about this salvation which you enjoy. You live on this side of the cross. You have the full Bible. You are born in the time which the prophets foretold when the gospel would be poured out upon the Gentiles and would be sent to the ends of the earth. You have also been privileged to be born in a part of the world where the gospel is openly taught. You have churches and Bible Camps and radio and television, and the freedom to believe the Gospel.
But there is one more evidence of the importance of your salvation.
5. The Angels learn about the grace of God and His salvation by watching you.
“Which things the angels desire to look into”
Angels are spirit beings who were created by God to serve Him in the spirit world. They were created pure and holy to dwell in that land of purity and glory. They were also created to minister to the heirs of salvation.
But while the angels are totally holy and sinless, they are intensely interested in the grace of God. They were present when God created human beings on the earth. They have been aware of the fall of man by which we turned away from God. The angels watched with wonder the incarnation of Jesus Christ. They sang at His birth. They ministered unto Him in His suffering. Angels were present at His resurrection.
And angels have intense interest in human salvation It is by watching the grace of God in forgiving and transforming us that angels learn more about the One whom they serve. Ephesians says that it is through the church that angels learn “the manifold wisdom of God” and they will join us in praise and worship of God throughout eternity.
Rev. 5:11 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
Holy, holy is what the angels sing,
And I expect to help them make the court of heaven ring,
But when I sing redemption’s story, they shall fold their wings,
For angels never knew the joy that my salvation brings.
Dear ones, the salvation which you claim was the subject of earnest search on the part of those who foretold it; it is a subject of such importance that God was willing to send His Son to secure it; it is something so important that the apostles were willing to suffer any hardship in order to spread the word of it; and it is a subject that even the angels in heaven are fascinated by.
So how important is it to you? Is it all important, or do you take it for granted. Is it something that you are willing to hold onto just for yourself? Or do you share the desire of God, of the Prophets, of the apostles and of the angels, to spread the word so that others may enter into “so great salvation?”
Amen.
