The hope of Salvation of the..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good morning, everyone. Would you please open up your Bibles to 1 Peter?

1 Peter chapter 1. This morning we're going to be moving into the section that starts in verse 10. We're going to be reading from verse 1 to verse 20 to get the context that we have read already and then the context that follows the passage that we're going to be studying this morning. But our efforts are going to be focused on verses 10 through 13. So with reverent hearts and paying much attention to the Word of God, I'm going to be reading 1 Peter 1-20.

This is the perfect, sufficient, and ever-endearing Word of God. an Apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion, in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 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 at 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 is tested by fire, might be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, though you have not seen him, you love him. that 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. Now comes the passage that we're going to study this morning. 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 had been now 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.

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. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He, that's Christ, was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last time for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raise him from the dead, and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

Amen, beloved. This is the word of God. As we have said now many times, as we have mentioned now a number of times, I want you to remember and have in your mind, beloved, that the first letter of Peter, written by the apostle Peter, is a letter of encouragement given to the church. It's a letter of encouragement. He's trying to bring comfort and encouragement to those who receive this letter.

We have addressed already how the trials test the genuineness of our faith for those who profess to be Christians and how those trials and sovereignly governed and controlled by the trying God, how God has a purpose in the trials that he put his children through. That's the testing of the genuineness of the faith of those who profess to be in Jesus Christ. Now, beloved, we're moving into a section in which the apostle Peter here in verse 10 is going to address the topic of salvation. Now, the apostle is going to continue bringing encouragement to the church. The apostle is going to continue giving that comfort, that encouragement to the church.

But now he's going to move from the topic of faith and he's going to go into the topic of salvation. Salvation is something that he has mentioned already in this chapter. In verse 3, for instance, the Apostle calls this salvation a living hope unto which we have been caused to be born again by the abundant grace of the Father through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has already addressed this concept of salvation. In verse 5, he says that this salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time.

And that for that salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time, God is keeping us and protecting us and guarding us by his power through our faith. Not only that, but in the end of verse 9, the apostle says that the outcome of our faith is this salvation of our souls. So faith produces an outcome, and that's the salvation of our souls. He, the Apostle Peter, has tried to give us encouragement with everything that he has said. But now, beloved, the Apostle is going to take his level of encouragement, or this level of encouragement, even deeper.

Because if faith is that which produces the salvation of our souls and he has addressed that which is related to faith. Now he's going to go even deeper and he's going to point us to that which is the foundation and the source of our faith that produces our salvation. That's what the Apostle is going to be addressing here from verse 10 onwards. And if I could summarize and just give you a thesis of what we're going to study, and it's something that I want you to get from this passage with something like this, that the hope of salvation of the New Testament believer. Pay attention, beloved.

The hope of salvation of the New Testament believer is set upon, is fixed upon, the promise that God has given by His Word. through his servants in the old testament by the prophets and in the new testament by apostles and prophets or new testament preachers as he will as he as peter calls him here in this section of the scripture so beloved the hope of your salvation if you are in christ the hope of your salvation is set upon is fixed upon the promise that god has given by his word from his holy mouth through his servants in the Old Testament, the prophets and in the New Testament prophets and apostles. So the New Testament preachers, he has communicated that this hope is for you. Now, I said something very important, that this is for the New Testament believer, that the prophets of the Old Testament were speaking of a grace that belonged to New Testament believers. Yes, the prophets in the Old Testament spoke of the grace that was brought to the people of Israel under the Old Covenant.

But what the Apostle Peter says here is that the prophets who prophesied in the Old Covenant or in the Old Testament were speaking of a grace that is yours. And when he says yours, he's speaking of new covenant, New Testament believers. So, if your hope of salvation is fixed upon the promise that God has given through His servants in the Old Testament and through His servants in the New Testament, we need to understand how that promise has progressed organically from the Old Testament into the New Testament through the servants of the Old Testament prophets, and the servants of the New Testament apostles and prophets, or as Peter calls them here, New Testament preachers of the good news, so that we understand how God promised this grace that is ours, even from when time started. Now, why is this important? Beloved, this is very important because remember that the people that received this letter, 1 Peter, they received this letter only 30 years after the Lord Jesus Christ was ascended and taken up in heaven.

30 years after he died. So when you see that historically, Christianity was a brand new religion. they were called to have faith in a person who lived 30 years ago, who died 30 years ago, and they were called to renounce to everything that they believed and not to believe in a person that just lived just a couple of few years ago before when they received that. Now, because of that, the apostle is not only going to called them to have faith in this unseen Jesus Christ and in the promise that this Jesus Christ will return, but now he's going to encourage them, telling them and saying to them that this hope that you have is not something that was created or happened 30 years ago when Jesus Christ came and died, but rather this is a promise of salvation that was for you Even when time started and began, this was promised and given to you by the prophets of the Old Testament. So then when these believers, 30 years after this Christ, this unseen Jesus Christ was taken up in heaven, They believed in Him and they loved Him and they trust in Him and they rejoiced in Him in the midst of tribulations.

But when they are pointed to the promise that God Himself gave from the beginning of time through the Old Testament prophets and through the New Testament preachers, their encouragement is now rooted not in history, but is rooted in the Word of God. And this is something that we know, beloved, but the Word of God is perfect and is sufficient and can go deep into our hearts to make that truth that which we need to feel our hope of salvation and to empower our lives as Christians. I'm going to submit to you that we need to understand how the promise from the Old Testament move into the promise of the New Testament, from the Old into the New, from the Old Testament servants, that is the prophets, and the New Testament servants, that is the preachers. So we understand that the promise of our salvation comes from the mouth of God himself. Now, beloved, the Old Testament prophets did speak for the people of the Old Covenant.

They did speak for, they did prophesy for the people of Israel. But this is not what Peter is saying here. What Peter is saying that they gave prophecy of a grace that belongs to you. So the first thing that we need to see from the text is who is those you? Who is he referring to when he says that this grace is going to be And now, I've said that to you already, that these are New Testament believers, but I want you to see it from the text, because this is very important for the relationship between prophecy or the promise given under the Old Covenant and the promise given under the New Covenant.

So, beloved, Peter starts the letter saying that he is writing this to elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. He calls them elect and exiles. These are two terms that belong to the people of the covenant people of Israel. Yet, he calls these people who are in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, he calls them elect and exiles. One could conclude that these people are Jews who were in Gentile lands.

One could conclude that. However, the evidence from the text and in chapter 1 will show us that he's actually giving or attributing all covenant names or titles to Gentiles. He's saying that Gentiles are elect and exiles. If you go in your Bible to 1 Peter and you go to 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17, The puzzle is going to continue using this word exile and this morning we're going to see different verses and it's very important that we see them with our eyes so we understand the promise of God developing through the testaments. Look in verse 17 he says, and if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.

So their time of their exile was not the time that they were in these Gentile lands. Their time of their exile was their lives. He's calling them to be holy as God was holy. And to be holy is for our entire life. So he's saying that the life of the Christian or the life of the elect is a life of an exile, that we are foreigners in this present evil age, as Paul will say, in Galatians, and that we are walking through the wilderness towards the glory that is going to be given to us, towards that inheritance, and therefore we are sojourners, that we are exiles of this world.

And the apostle is going to keep pressing that term. If you go to chapter 2 in verse 9, it says, He's going to continue, beloved, giving to Gentiles names and titles that belong uniquely to the people of Israel. but you are a chosen race this is all covenant language a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light now pay attention to this verse because this verse is going to be important not only for this point that we're making in the beginning but also for something that we'll say in the end now he says Verse 10, in chapter 2, he says, once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Peter is speaking to Gentiles and he's using the language of Paul.

He's saying that they are the true Israel. That the true Jew is not the one who is outwardly through the circumcision of the flesh, but rather the true Jew is the one that is inwardly through the circumcision of the heart. So in the world, there are true Jews and false Jews, and the true Jews are those who are circumcised in the heart. And then using that same thought of thinking or that train of thinking, the apostle is now going to say to these recipients of this letter that they are the true Jews. And then he's going to compare to those who are in the flesh and call those who are in the flesh Gentiles.

So if you continue in verse 11, he says, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh with which war against your soul. So he's going to compare that which is of this period with flesh and that which is of the flesh. In verse 12, he says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. they were gentiles and he says now you as the true jews as the ones who are exiles in this dispersion of this world now you the true jews by the spirit not by the letter not by the circumcision of the flesh not by keeping the law but by the promise in christ you who are the true jews conduct yourselves so that the gentiles those who are of the flesh will praise the name of god in the day of the visitation says here beloved Why am I doing this? And I'm going to require much of your attention and your patience with my words this morning, because this is a very important topic, not only for today, but then when we get into covenant theology on our studies on Wednesdays.

The apostle is saying in this section that we have here in verse 10, moving to verse 13. that the Old Testament prophets prophesied of a grace that was going to be yours or ours. And this yours or ours is speaking of new covenant believers. New Covenant members, not people of Israel by the law or by the letter, but people who are united to Christ by grace through faith. And what the apostle is saying that this promise was given from the Old Testament through the prophets corresponds to the promise that is now being preached through the New Testament preachers that is announced from the lips of New Testament preachers.

Beloved, I want us to read the text again, and I want us to see here how the apostle mentions the Old Testament prophets and how he mentions the New Testament preachers. And we are going to compare those two and then see how this one relates with the one that follows. So first, Peter. Verse 10. It says, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, search and inquire carefully, inquiring one person at a time, the spirit of Christ in them.

And I always say to you, pay attention to every word and how the argument is built. the spirit of Christ in them, that's the prophets of the Old Testament, was indicating when he, that's the spirit of Christ, predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you. It was revealed to the Old Testament prophets that they were serving not themselves, but you. in the things that have now been announced to you, that is the New Testament believers, through those who preach the good news, the servants of the New Testament, New Testament preachers, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look beloved.

The apostle Peter is going to make a very important claim that covers all the category of prophecy. In other plays, in a Bible study, we've said that prophecy is, or that a prophet is an appointed person from God who receives a message from God and then sends that person to communicate that message to a particular audience. In a different place, Peter would say that prophecy of scripture does not come from man's own interpretation. prophecy of scripture, that is the words of God that are given to a man that become scripture, do not come from man's own interpretation, but rather men of God, when they speak on behalf of God, they speak moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit. So God gives his promises, God gives his word to his people through his servants, and these servants are moved and carried by the Holy Spirit.

This is 2 Peter 1, verse 16. Now, here in this section, beloved, we're going to compare now prophets of the Old Testament and New Testament preachers, and pay attention to this. First thing that the apostle says, he says that the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about a grace that was going to be yours. And then they did this with the spirit of Christ in them. This is what he says.

The spirit of Christ was in them. And as the spirit of Christ was in them, this spirit of Christ was indicating that the Christ, that the Messiah will suffer and there will be subsequent glories. So the servants of the Old Testament spoke with the Spirit of Christ in them." So when we ask the question, what is the Spirit of Christ? Simply, what we say is that this is the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of Christ is the same Spirit of God. What the apostle is saying is that the Old Testament prophets spoke through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, for instance, if you go to Romans 8, and when he's given this treatise, beautiful treatise on the work of the Holy Spirit, and then the eschatological result, or the end times result of the work of the Spirit in the life of the Christian, He will say that those who are in the Spirit, that they have the Spirit of God, that the Spirit of God dwells in them, and that the dwelling of the Spirit of God in them is the same dwelling of the Spirit of Christ. That if they do not have the Spirit of Christ, They do not belong to Jesus, saying that having the Spirit of God is the same as having the Spirit of Christ. So these Old Testament prophets spoke and prophesied with the Spirit of Christ in them.

But now, this Spirit of Christ in them, the Apostle says here in 1 Peter, that was indicating two things. that was indicating that the Christ was going to suffer and after the suffering there will be subsequent or glories that will come after the sufferings of the Christ. Some other translations will say the glories to follow the sufferings of the Christ. Why would they say that? Why would the Old Testament prophets say that about the Christ, about the Messiah, about the Anointed One who will come and bring salvation to people?

Why? Because this is what God Himself said of the offspring of the woman. You might remember in Genesis 3.15, after through the disobedience of one man sin entered into the world and then through that sin death spread to all people in the state of sin, then God gave the first promise of salvation to the woman. This is the first gospel that was given to humanity.

And he says that he will put enmity between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent. That the offspring of the woman, speaking of the Messiah who will come and who will save us, will bruise or crush the head of the serpent. But the serpent will do something also. Will bruise the heel of the offspring of the woman. The servant or the Messiah will suffer.

He will bring salvation. He will crush the head of the serpent. But as he does so, as he destroys the serpent, he will also suffer. His heel will be bruised. And then as we progress through the Old Testament, we see, beloved, how the prophets, we see how the prophets communicated and spoke of these sufferings of Jesus Christ.

There is a glorious chapter in scripture that we love and that we always think about and meditate upon it. And this is Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 speaks of the sufferings of the servant. And he says that this servant, that this Messiah, that this offspring of the woman that was promised by God Himself in Genesis 3.15, that then that was confirmed in Genesis 12 to Abraham, and now that is prophesied throughout the Old Testament, that he will be rejected.

that he will be despised, that he will be a man of sorrows, as we sometimes sing here in church, that he will be a man of sorrows, that he will be acquainted with grief, that this man will be destroyed, that he will die, that he will be crushed for our transgressions, that through his wounds we will be healed. Beloved, the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the sufferings of this glorious Messiah who would bring salvation to the people. But not only the sufferings of Christ, they also prophesied of the subsequent glories of this Christ, because that Christ, that Messiah who was crushed, who died for the transgressions of his people, it was the will and he pleased Yahweh to crush him, so that through his crushing and his death, he will be powerfully resurrected, his body will not see corruption, his body will not remain in the grave on a shield, but he will be powerfully resurrected and in his life, He will be crowned as the king that was promised not only to Abraham in chapter 12 of Genesis and 13, but also he will be the descendant and the offspring of David. 2 Samuel 7 speaks of the promise of the eternal king given to David that from your loins, from your offspring, I will raise a king and his kingdom will last forever. This is the resurrected Jesus Christ that after suffering he receives the glory that is due to him.

The glory that he shared and he had in eternity past with the Father is now in his humanity given through him after his resurrection when he's seated at the right hand of the Father. reigning, He is King and He's going to come and return and even the glory that has been given to Him will increase at the revelation of Jesus Christ when the glory of Christ is perfectly manifested among those who were created, those people. Beloved, the prophets of the Old Testament in the spirit of Jesus Christ prophesied of the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories And they don't only prophesy about that, but Peter says here that they search and inquire carefully. that they search and inquire carefully. Two things.

Who and when? And it totally makes sense. If you receive the promise that someone will come that is going to bring salvation to your people, what you want to know is who is this person and when is this person coming? And this is what Peter says here. Peter says that these prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about the grace that was going to be yours, New Testament believers, and that with the spirit of Christ in them, They search and inquire carefully, wanting to know what time and what person.

Old Testament prophets search and inquire diligently in their writings and in the writings of other prophets, trying to discern who is this Messiah that is coming. There is a glorious verse in Ezra 7, chapter 7 verse 10, I think, when he says, well, he said of Ezra that he studied and inquired diligently scripture or the law of God. But the best example that we can see of the prophets inquiring and searching diligently who is this Messiah that is to come, beloved, we can see it with the last of the Old Testament prophets. The last of them, the last that came, and that is John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets.

And he got the privilege of seeing Jesus Christ with his eyes. And he said, behold, this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But then after that, he's put into prison. And then in prison, he starts to doubt. He is not sure now.

So he will send a couple of his disciples to go and inquire and to ask the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it you, the one that we were expecting? Is it you, the one that we were looking for? Is it you, the Messiah? So then the two disciples come to Jesus Christ and they actually ask that question.

Is it you, the one that we were expecting? Is it you, the one that we were looking for? Or do we have to wait or expect or wait for someone else? And then the answer of the Lord Jesus Christ is glorious. Because what he does is that he doesn't say yes or no.

He says, look all the things that I have done. The blind can see the death is resurrected. Look at all the mighty works that I have done. Why? Because all these mighty works that I have done were written of the servant in the Old Testament that will prove to the people that this is the Messiah that was coming.

So then the Lord Jesus Christ would say to his disciples in Matthew 13. Prophets and righteous men of all, speaking of the old covenant, desire to see the things that you are seeing. Prophets and righteous men of old, that is the old covenant, decide to hear the things that you are hearing. They did not see them. They did not hear them.

Speaking beloved of the glorious and majestic ministry of the New Testament preachers, the Old Testament prophets received all their promises and received all their a special revelation of God that was sufficient for them to be saved. They had everything that they needed. But under the glorious new covenant with the apostles, now we have Jesus Christ being fully revealed. In other times, a long time ago, in diverse manners and in different ways, God the Father spoke to the fathers through the prophets. But in this last time, He has spoken to us, new covenant believers, through the Son, Jesus Christ.

And the Son, Jesus Christ, has witnesses. And these are the apostles who shared the ministry with Him. Now, Old Testament prophets spoke in the Spirit of Christ. The text says here, Peter says here, these New Testament preachers speak or announce the good news through or by the Holy Spirit that was sent from heaven. So, Old Testament preachers speak in the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God.

These New Testament preachers will speak, or will communicate, or will prophesy by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Truth, as the Lord Jesus Christ will say in John 16. This is Spirit of Truth that will guide you, and that will communicate, or will tell you the things that He hears from the Father. And he does not speak of his own authority, but everything that he hears from the Father is what he tells you. He will guide you in all truth. John 17, this is spirit of truth that then is given for empowerment of the church in Acts chapter 2.

And then people prophesy of the wondrous things that they speak in tongues for those who are not of the people of Israel, as our brother explained to us a couple of weeks ago. This spirit that is sent from heaven is now the means by which New Testament preachers will now speak of the things of the Messiah. But revelation goes even deeper and is more majestic, beloved, because Old Testament preachers, Old Testament prophets, they search and inquire carefully. They wanted to know who and when They wanted to know who and when will be the person that will come. But beloved, keep your attention with me.

But beloved, the apostles, they were not asking who and when. They knew it. They knew the person. But think about this. Remember the story.

Matthew 16. The apostles or the disciples are with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Lord Jesus Christ asked them, who do people say that I am? You remember the story, right? He asked them, who do people say that I am?

And then they will answer and say, some people say that you're John the Baptist, that you're Elijah, that you're Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And then Peter will come, or the Lord will ask, but who do you say that I am? And then Peter will say, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. We know that part of the story, but the verse that follows, beloved, the verse that follows the Lord Jesus Christ will respond something back to Peter. And He says, Blessed are you, Peter, or his name, I don't remember, Simon, Barjona.

Blessed are you, Peter, because this has not been revealed to you by blood or flesh, but this has been revealed to you by the Father. Beloved, the fact that Peter had the ability to come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, was the Son of God sent, that was promised in the Old Covenant, it was not something that could be performed by the ability or intellectual ability or not by even the fact that we could see Him with our eyes. Actually, this was revealed to him by the Father. That's why Peter, by the way, says, though you have not seen Him, you'll love Him. Because there is a sense in which having Jesus Christ in front of us is not sufficient for believing in Him.

It is a supernatural work of the Spirit in our hearts that makes us believe in Him with the eyes of our hearts and our spirits. So, beloved, Old Testament prophets, they inquired who and when. New Testament preachers, they knew by revelation of the Father. Now, Old Testament preachers, beloved, they knew that the Messiah will suffer and then there will be subsequent glories, right? We've read this in the passage.

Old Testament prophets, they knew that he will suffer and there will be subsequent glories. New Testament preachers, They were partakers of the sufferings and the glories of Christ. Paul says in Philippians that he counts everything as loss, as rubbish, just for the worth of knowing Jesus Christ, that he might share in the power of his resurrection and share in his sufferings. And the same Peter, as he develops his argument from this section of Scripture, he's going to call himself a partaker of the glory of Christ and a witness of His glory. I want you to see it.

Go to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. Now here, the apostle Peter, beloved, is given an exhortation to the elders of the church, but he's going to say something very important about him. 1 Peter chapter 5, it says, So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. And he says, A witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Beloved, Peter is saying, Old Testament, he's not saying clearly there, but implicitly, Old Testament prophets inquire who and when is the Messiah that is coming. They knew by the spirit in Christ of them that the Christ will suffer and there will be subsequent glories. Us in the New Testament, in this new covenant, We are partakers of the sufferings of the One who was to come. We are partakers of the glories that He receives and that He will receive. And it's not only for the apostles, because He makes a similar claim for the believers in chapter 4 in 1 Peter.

Chapter 4, verse 13, just a couple of verses before that, He says, But rejoice, speaking of the sufferings of the Christians. Speaking of the sufferings of the Christians, he says, but rejoice in verse 13, insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. Beloved, this is glorious because The prophets, they desired to see, they desired to hear the Son of God who will come and who will bring the salvation that God the Father had promised from Genesis 3.15 onwards. He had given a promise of that salvation.

And now we, people of the New Testament, believers of the New Covenant, we are not only awaiting for that Christ, because He has already come, we are awaiting for His advent, we are awaiting for His second coming. But beloved, we are partakers of the sufferings of the Messiah. We are partakers of the sufferings of Christ. And we are also partakers of the glory. We share the heavenly blessings in Christ, but we are also partakers of the subsequent glories that are yet to come.

Beloved, the Apostle says something very important also in the text that we have not addressed. He says, that the promise of this grace was to be yours, or that the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about a grace that was going to be yours. And the apostle also says that these prophets, that it was revealed to these prophets that they were not serving themselves, but that they were serving you, speaking of New Testament believers. Now, this speaks of the progressive, organic, and natural development of the special revelation of God that starts in Genesis 3.15, this promise of salvation that is later given in more light and more revelation until the New Covenant, until the New Testament comes, beloved, because The people, as I have proved to you, I hope by the grace of God, that as I have proved to you, the people that are receiving this letter are Gentiles.

And now the Apostle Peter says that Old Testament prophets spoke of the grace that was going to be yours. How come? How do we understand that? Because under the old covenant, the promises were for the covenant people of Israel. The things that we have studied in Genesis, that in order to keep entering into the covenant, a person needed to be circumcised, Genesis 17.

And then circumcision is a shadow of the Mosaic law that it will be given in Exodus 20. So then by keeping the law is how you belong to the covenant of God with the people of Israel. How come then, Peter is saying here that Old Testament prophets prophesied about a grace that was going to be yours, Gentiles who did not belong under the old covenant to the people of God. Beloved, we've addressed this already in a Bible study. But the promise that was given from the very beginning was not a promise that covered only the people of Israel, but covered the people of God.

Yes, in the old dispensation, it pleased God that through the people of Israel, people will be saved. But the promise that was given originally was for the people of God. And then when the Lord confirms this promise to Abraham in chapter 12, and 13 and 15 and 17, He will speak that, I will make a great nation of you and I will bless in you all the nations of the earth. Beloved, the promise of the salvation of those who were not under the old covenant was from the very beginning. The God of this universe intended and decided to save people from all tribes, from all tongues, from all nations, from all nationalities and backgrounds from the very beginning of time.

And the prophets in the Old Testament, they prophesied about this. But it was not as clear to them as it was then revealed to the prophets and the apostles of the Old Testament. Now I want to point you to a couple of glorious prophecies that was given about the New Testament Church by Old Testament prophets. So then we can see the connection here with what the apostle says. So go please to Isaiah 49.

Isaiah chapter 49. Here we can see, we're just going to see two Old Testament prophets speaking of this grace that is going to be yours, that is New Testament believers. Isaiah 49 verse 6. Isaiah 49 verse 6. And then after that, we're going to go to Hosea chapter 2.

Hosea is just after Daniel. Now, Isaiah 49. Verse six, it says, he says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant. This is speaking of the servant or the Messiah or the anointed one from chapter 43 and chapter 53. Speaking of the servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved the preserved of Israel.

I will make you that's the servant as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. God has promised through the lips of Isaac the prophet that once Israel is brought into salvation, this salvation will be brought for all the nations. Salvation was not exclusive of the people of Israel, but salvation was available for all the nations. In you, Abraham, I will bless all the nations of the earth. And now, beloved, If we go to Hosea, Hosea chapter 2 verse 23, we're going to see a glorious statement.

And I'm going to submit to you that this is what Peter has for sure in his mind in the end of chapter 1. Hosea chapter 2 verse 23, the ESV does not translate it very clear, but I'm going to read it to you. It says, I will sow her for myself in the land, and I will have mercy on no mercy. So the ESV is just transliterating a name. I will have mercy on no mercy, and I will say to not my people, you are my people, and he shall say, you are my God.

Another translation puts it a little bit more clear. It says, Then I will sow her for myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on the one whom I had not obtained mercy. And then I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people. And they shall say, You are my God." Now go to 1 Peter.

Go to 1 Peter 2. Verse 10. Pay attention to the language of the Apostle. He says from verse 9, But you are a chosen race, speaking to Gentiles and giving them titles of the Old Covenant. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you might proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people. But now you are God's people speaking to Gentiles. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Same vocabulary that Hosea uses in chapter 2 and verse 23, beloved. This is glorious.

We have 2000 years that separates us from the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, and we have been born in a Christian society in which we inherently receive the fact that we know of this Christ. But the people who received this letter were believing in a man who died 30 years before they received this. Christianity was rather a brand new religion. And they were called to give their lives entirely. They were called to rejoice in the midst of tribulations for obeying upon the truth that was given to them of a man who came to this world claiming to be God and claiming to take all their sins and wash them away and giving them salvation.

What does the apostle do? He does not say just, you love him, you have not seen him, you love him, you have not seen him, you believe in him. He roots the faith of the believer in the promise that was given from the mouth of God, from the Old Testament prophets, and that has now been proclaimed by New Testament preachers. And that promise that is given by the word of God, by the mouth of God, is called the word of God. The faith of the believer, beloved, is rooted in the Word of God.

This is the glorious treasure that we have of God given to us. Our faith, beloved, is rooted in the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of God. It is the promises of God from the Old Covenant as they are progressively revealed and given into the New Testament. The ones that are the foundation of the hope of salvation that we have.

And how did this grow organically, beloved? In the old covenant, salvation for the Gentiles was not available and was not clear. But under the new covenant, salvation is for all the nations of the world. As Paul will direct or speak in Ephesians, let's actually read it together. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3 and we will finish there.

Ephesians chapter 3. Here in Ephesians chapter 3, beloved, the apostle will speak now clearly of this reality of the coming together of Gentiles and Jews. In chapter 2, as we've addressed also in other place the apostle is speaking how Jesus Christ destroys the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles and how through the Lord Jesus Christ these two are made one man and these two are the temple and the abiding place of God and then he says that this is the church of the living God that it is built upon Christ Jesus the cornerstone and the foundation of the apostles and the prophets this is the argument of Paul in chapter 2 and then in chapter 3 as we've read In the past, he says, for this reason, chapter 3, I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, speaking to Gentiles, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation. As I have written briefly, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets. This mystery was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, that is, the prophets of the Old Testament, as, or with the same amount of light, that it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets.

Old Testament prophets compared with New Testament preachers, apostles and prophets. This mystery is, in verse 6, That the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ, the Messiah, the one who was going to come and suffer and have subsequent glories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. But beloved, continue, because this is glorious. Then in verse seven, he says. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power, His Holy Spirit, through Paul.

To me, though, I am the very least of all the saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Pay attention to this. and to bring to light, that is to reveal for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages in God who created all things. What is the purpose?

So that through the church, Read carefully what he says. So that through the church, that is the new covenant or the New Testament believers or the New Covenant, New Testament people, that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to who? To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The Church of the Living God is the foundation, is the pillar, is the fortress of truth, the Apostle Paul will say in 1 Timothy. The Church of the Living God is the one that communicates the truth of God, not only to the world, but also to those who belong to the Church.

And the Church makes known the wisdom of God to the authorities in the heavenly places. I don't know exactly what Peter means when he says that the angels long to look into this. Commentators give many options. I don't know. But what I know is that Paul here says that through the church, the wisdom of God is made known for everyone.

So the angels may look to the undesired to see this glorious or this glory that is being given to the church and revealed progressively because The subsequent glories, beloved, of Christ are not fulfilled yet. The subsequent glories are yet to be fulfilled, and the angels are awaiting for that. When the glory of Christ is fully revealed, this glory will also be the glory of those who are in Him, by grace, through faith. So the Apostle concludes this section in verse 13, saying, Therefore, put your eyes in the text, please. After, beloved, after the apostle has now given encouragement to the believers, saying that the trials are for the testing of the genuineness of your faith, and that your faith is rooted in the promise that was given from the Old Testament into the New Testament, he says something.

Therefore, And he's going to give three clauses. And the first and the second clause will move into the third one. The first one and the second one will be the basis of the third clause. He says, preparing your minds for actions. Second, and being sober minded, he addresses the mind of the New Testament believers.

He says, being sober-minded and preparing your mind for action. Why? Because the promise that fills our hope comes from the mouth of God, as it was revealed from Old Testament prophets and New Testament preachers. A message that is not mystically given to the person, but it is given through the Word of God, as it is received from the mind and then into the heart, being sovereign minded, being ready for action, be watchful and ready. We are to set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The apostle started this section saying the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about the grace that was to be yours Now the apostle closes the section saying, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, I wish and I pray that we may know the value of the book that we have in our hands. Every experience, every fruit of the Spirit, everything that we are supposed to produce and live by, it is explained and contained in this book. This book informs to not only our heads but also to our hearts and our souls of the God who has saved us. And our confidence is rooted, is based, as I said in the beginning, the hope of salvation of the New Testament believer is set upon, is fixed upon the promise of God as he was given in the Old Testament through his prophets, Old Testament, as it was given through the servants of the New Testament, New Testament.

And we have the joy that we have the fullness of that revelation in our Hence, and then we can have confidence that that which God has promised, He will accomplish because it's not according to our works, but it's according to the abundant grace that caused us to be born again through the resurrection of the suffering Messiah who will receive the glory that He deserves, Christ Himself. Amen.