A lot of truth in those songs. And there's a lot of truth in the Bible. And we're going to turn now together to 1 Peter. We've been looking at 1 Peter chapter 1 and we're beginning our study of this book together on Sunday mornings. All this is about probably the fifth or sixth message from 1 Peter that we've looked at. And as we get ready for the reading today We'll begin in chapter 1 here in just a moment. I want to say a couple of things about the life of Peter and things that I think would set up our hearing of God's Word. We know that all of this is the Word of God, isn't that right? All of it is the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation, God used different writers at different times and different places. It's all inspired by God. But it is unique how that God wrote his word and inspired the scriptures and used human instruments to write it. When you think about Peter, there are a couple of things I want to remind us of as we get ready to read this. Peter was, as I pointed out in a previous message, just a common, ordinary, commercial fisherman. And so he was not a scholar. He was not a man of letters, as we say. He was not given to that, but God took him and made him the writer of two books of scripture. And when you read these and when you study those books that he has written, that God enabled him to write. You will be amazed as I have been in studying and preparing for these messages just how intricate and complex the language is of these letters. The first chapter of 1 Peter is as complex as anything you will find in the writings of the Apostle Paul. And we all know if you've done any Bible study you know that Paul is tightly reasoned and it's very precise language and it's almost like the language of the courtroom as he's building a case and it's very involved and it's just complex. Well, Peter takes no back seat as we read Peter. It is just as complex and just as tightly weaved together as anything you can find in the Word of God. And so I think that reminds us that this is the enabling, the equipping of God. This is the inspiration. of the scriptures through Peter. Something else that comes to mind, we don't read this in the scripture, but there's a strong church tradition that is in church history that this same Peter, you know, he's the one that denied the Lord, but what you may not know, Peter was crucified, but at his own request, he said, I cannot be crucified as my Lord was crucified. I'm not worthy to be put to death in the same manner that he was. And so he requested, and church history tradition records, he was crucified upside down. And so you have to ask what would cause a man to want to be crucified that way? What would cause a person to give his life even to the point of crucifixion and in that way only the grace of God. I think that ought to pique our interest to read whatever God would have recorded through a man like that, don't you? So let's come to this with all of our heart and all of our mind. We're going to begin in verse three, because this is so tightly knit together. And if we don't get the flow of thought, then we lose so very much. We're not going to preach on all this. We've done it before, but we're coming back and looking carefully at a few verses in the text. 1 Peter 1 verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently. who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into." This is quite complex language, wouldn't you agree? And just on first reading, there's no way you're going to get the abundance of truth. So we're going to slow down. We're going to try to pick down into some of the details. And that's where the riches are. So before we do that, let's bow in prayer before our great God. Father, you are our God, the great God, the only God, the true God, the living God. The author of your holy word, the scriptures, you inspired the word and you used men to pen it, to record it and write it down with great precision they wrote because you were enabling them and guiding them. And so it behooves us, Lord, to look at it with a precise vision, to look at it with great care and diligence. We don't want to just skim over the top. You gave these words for a reason. They have great meaning and put together as they are. We want to be able to understand it as best we can so that it will mean more to us in our hearts and lives. And then Lord, we'll be able to live upon it as we should, living day by day unto you and worshiping as we are right here. As we know your word, it is the fuel for our worship. We cannot praise you if we don't know what you have done for us and know it to the fullest possible extent. That's why you gave us your word so we would know who you are, what you've done, what you are doing, and what you will do. So we pray now for your guidance, for your instruction. May the same Holy Spirit who inspired it Illuminate your word to us. May you help us understand it and apply it. And in so doing, we pray all glory, all honor, all praise be brought to you through our lives and through our church. And we pray this in Christ's dear name. Amen. The title of the message this morning is The Wonder of Salvation. The Wonder of Salvation. I believe it's quite accurate to say that the wonder has been lost on some of the church. There is no sense of wonder as it should be among so many Christians. It's kind of like read it and yawn. Read it and then we say or we feel, well, I know that and I've done that or I understand that, let's move on. Give me something different. Give me something new. Give me something that has more of a thrill. This seems to be the tone of the church in the world today. But how wrong that is. If we understand what God has done in salvation, we, like the ones we have read about, and we'll be looking at more in more detail, there will be a sense of wonder, a sense of awe, a sense of being amazed. We sing the song Amazing Grace, but let's be honest, does God's grace really amaze us? I have found in my conversation with people, what really amazes people at large is not so much God's grace, but His wrath, His anger against sin. You go to talking to people about God's justice, God's wrath, God's anger, eternal punishment, which of course the Bible speaks of, those are the things that say, well, that can't be. No, that's not the God I would want to know and I would want to serve. Well, that's the God of the Bible. But what should really amaze us is not only God's wrath. That should amaze us. In fact, everything about God and his plan is amazing. But God's grace in salvation is truly amazing. But we've lost the sense of wonder. Let's think for just a moment about this word salvation. We're talking about the wonder of it all. I was looking back and I wanted this all to tie together. That's why we read verses 3 through 12. We're going to focus on verses 10, 11, and 12. But you will find the word salvation mentioned here three times. If you want to go back and mark those, it mentions in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. And there the reference is to the final chapter of salvation, the culmination, the climax to it all, which is when we are taken home to be with the Lord, ready to be revealed in the last time. So salvation is yet to be achieved in its fullest sense. That's verse 5. You'll also find salvation mentioned in verse 9. Let's read that one more time. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. The word end there means the goal. What is the real goal of all the faith that we have in God? It is that we might be saved. That is really what it's all about. It's not just a feel-good thing. It's not just something we try to talk ourselves into. Faith is not just a positive attitude. Faith is in the Word of God, what He has told us. But the ultimate result, the goal of it all, is that our soul is saved. And there's no way to be saved apart from faith. So that's how important faith is. The salvation of our soul rests upon it. So when he mentions salvation, verse nine, it's in the comprehensive sense, not just in the final aspect, but everything involved in the salvation of our souls. And then he picks up on salvation in verse 10 and begins to elaborate on this salvation and speaks of several things that are of interest to us today, because that's what we're going to focus on 10, 11 and 12. And so we call this. the wonder of salvation. As we think of the wonder of salvation, let me just throw this out as kind of a basis for our thoughts this morning. Has it ever occurred to you that salvation is the greatest work of God? You may have thought, and a lot of people do, that the greatest work of God is creation. Well, that certainly is a great work. And when you think of the greatness of God's work in creation, well, it's obvious because God merely spoke it and it came into being. That's the way the Bible speaks of it. And so you can believe what you want to. You can believe evolution if you want to. That's counter and contrary to what the Bible says. It did not happen with some kind of primeval substance and then evolution over a period of time. That's not the way it happened at all. God spoke it and it appeared. That's a pretty great work, wouldn't you say? But when you think about it, it really was very simple. You go back over in Genesis, it says in describing God's creation of all the heavens and heavenly bodies, it simply says this in very simple terms, he made the stars also. Like no big deal, billions and billions and billions of stars. So it is, we would all agree, a great work, but it's not his greatest work. When you think about salvation, that's his greatest work and think of it. He didn't just speak salvation into existence, far from it. When he saved the world, when he made a plan to save, all of these things had to come into place and it took time. And a lot of things transpired over a long period of time. First of all, God made the plan to save. That was an eternal thing. And we don't know exactly how that came about. We just know that from all eternity. God had planned it. And then at a certain point in time, Christ left heaven. He was born of the Virgin Mary. We understand that. And then he had to live a perfect life. That took time. Then he ministered and helped people, but ultimately his greatest ministry was what? His death. The son of God had to die. in agony and blood and shame on a cross. But that wasn't all, he had to be brought out of the grave. He was brought back to life and rose again. but still not finished because he went back to heaven, he ascended, he is seated at the father's right hand where he makes intercession for us. That is, he is our representative, he is our advocate so that the work he accomplished on earth, his death and his resurrection, he is pleading that to the father on our behalf. And therefore the Bible says in Hebrews that he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth. So it's an ongoing work, salvation. It's a tremendous work. It's a marvelous work. All that was involved. Salvation has been called the grandest theme in the Bible. And for good reason. As we pointed out, it encompasses eternity as well as the present. It relates to all men everywhere. It's the theme of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It focuses on the greatest person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation, that word that is mentioned here three times, as we pointed out in the first chapter, is an all-inclusive word. Salvation is a broad term that includes so much else that's involved. And we've preached sermons on this. Justification, sanctification, glorification, reconciliation, adoption, regeneration. All of those are biblical words and biblical concepts under this umbrella of salvation. And yet some people in our modern day have said, well, that's just outdated language. We need to get beyond that kind of language. People don't understand that language. Well, they would if they studied their Bible. They would if they read their Bible, they would see these terms. These are God's terms. These are terms we embrace, we love. This is the week of love, isn't it? And of all things we ought to love is God and his word. He deserves our supreme love. And one reason we love him is because we know what he's done for us in salvation. It takes more than just the word salvation to explain it all. It is so wonderful. It's like a diamond with many facets. And when you put it under the light of the Holy Spirit, helping us understand it, then all of its brilliance, all of its wonder comes out. Salvation includes three phases or three stages or three aspects, however you want to look at it. Those are just different words to say it doesn't happen all at once. The Bible presents it as happening in stages. a past stage, and a present stage, and a future stage of our salvation. And this is the way it speaks of it. I'm not saying that we are more saved or less saved, but this happens over time in our lives. We have been saved from the penalty of sin the moment we receive Christ. That's settled. Isn't that marvelous? We have been saved. We are being saved from the power of sin. We will be saved from the very presence of sin and the possibility of sin. And salvation covers all three of those. What a marvelous range. So salvation is a magnificent work. It's the greatest blessing to those of us who have received it. It is the greatest tragedy and the greatest loss to those who reject it or neglect it. It will be the greatest loss ever to those who leave this world without being saved. And after this life is over, there's no more opportunity. And therefore the writer of the book of Hebrews poses a very pertinent question. Hebrews 2, 3 asks, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? That's a question we're thinking about. And maybe there are some here who have neglected this great salvation. You've just kind of let it go by you. You have not taken it. You've not received, you've heard about it, but you haven't received salvation. And if you would, you would understand then the wonder of it all. So let's look at this under four headings. We're going to see that Peter examines the wonder of salvation here from the viewpoint of four divine agents who were involved at some way or another, at some point or another in this matter of salvation. And you don't find it just in this kind of a surface reading, but you do when you dive in. So let's dive in. First of all, I wanna point out here as we begin with verse 10, that salvation was studied and described by the Old Testament prophets. Look at that again in verse 10. Of which salvation the prophets, that's the Old Testament prophets, have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. And the you there are the readers, the original readers of the epistle that Peter was writing. So he's referring to his readers, his original audience of this letter. They searched, they inquired diligently, they prophesied of the grace that would come unto you. And then it uses the word searching again in verse 11. So there's an effort here on the part of these Old Testament prophets to research, to read, to study, to ponder, to try to understand as best they could, diligently is the word used here in our King James translation. Who were the prophets? Well, the prophets were Old Testament spokesmen. That's the best way to think of a prophet. A prophet was a mouthpiece for God. A prophet was someone that God spoke to, and they in turn would speak to others. God can speak from the heavens. He's done that a time or two. He has spoken in an audible voice. But one of his chosen methods and used often was to speak through people. And that's who a prophet was, a spokesman on behalf of God. And so they prophesied of the grace that would come to these believers here in New Testament times, hundreds of years before it actually occurred, they were researching, they were examining, they were looking into and studying and describing in their writings and in their oral preaching, their verbal word of mouth preaching, what would yet come, but as they searched and as they inquired, they didn't understand it all. That's why they kept on inquiring. That's why they kept on searching. And if you've gone back and you've read the prophets in the Old Testament, there's a big bulk of scripture that comes from their pens, you know. They would say a little here and they would say a little there. And we know from reading that some of the prophets would research the writings, the sayings, the teachings of other prophets. And so they were trying to piece it together. God had promised salvation and these writings existed, some of their own, some from other prophets, but they were trying to put it all together And it was very complex. It wasn't just stated all in one place and all in its fullness. You have to read all of this and see the picture together. You understand that if you've read and studied the Bible. There are prophecies here about this, prophecies there about that. And you put it together much like a puzzle or much like a mosaic. There's a part here and a part there. You put it all together, you get the picture. Well, it took much effort and much time The prophets spoke about different things. For example, they spoke about the sins of the people, the need for repentance, future judgments and future promises. But the greatest theme they ever touched upon and spoke about and wrote about was this theme of salvation. That was their main theme. And the main person in that theme was who? Jesus Christ. He was prophesied, wasn't he? And so they were trying to figure out, and part of their studying was basically two things. One, they were trying to figure out who is the one that we're writing about? Who will he be? What will his name be? Where will he be born? There's only one reference to that, only one prophet told us that, Bethlehem found in the prophet Micah, only found one time. the birthplace of Christ. So you have that little bit of information. But they were trying to figure out who is it and when. That was the second big piece of information they were trying. And they just didn't have all the information like we do. We have both Testaments, don't we? We have the full story. We have, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. and how much better off we are, but it wasn't always that way. And so Peter is reminding the readers here that for many, many centuries past, they searched it out. They inquired and searched diligently. They not only studied about salvation, but they actually obtained salvation. Let's make that clear. This was not something that was only for these readers. Salvation didn't come about just in the New Testament. Old Testament saints were saved, just like New Testament saints were saved. They weren't any less saved. If you're saved, you're saved. And they were fully saved, even though they were prophesying of something that had not yet come about in its fullness, that is with the Savior coming, with his death, with his resurrection, his ascension, all of that, they prophesied of that, but it had not yet happened. Notice if you will, in verse 10, he sums it up with this word grace, because that's exactly what salvation is, isn't it? It's all about grace. who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. So grace was a big part of what they prophesied, that is unmerited favor from God, and it would come to sinners through Christ. So even they knew, and even they experienced the fact that God's grace comes in salvation through faith, through faith, trusting God's provision, His mercy, His forgiveness, and a coming Savior. They didn't know exactly who it would be and when it would all pan out, but they understood that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, this coming Messiah. They understood that. And so it is. That's the only way that people are saved. And I have to repeat that often because there is so much confusion. We are not saved by being religious. We are not saved by being nice. I heard a comment in the doctor's office, was waiting the other day to see the doctor, which I ended up getting to see the doctor because he was so far behind, so I just rescheduled. But the short time I was there, I heard a conversation and it went along this line, and I'll just be very brief on this, but I think it was sad to hear it. It was over a ways, but he was speaking so loudly I could hear him. He said, I had a Christian upbringing. He was talking about the pastors that he had had and the churches he'd gone to. And there were several, you know, but then he said this sort of near the end of his comments. It was so very sad. He said, yeah, I've been a Christian for a long time. And my parents told me how to do right, how to act right, how to live right. And that was his testimony. how to act right, how to do right, how to be right, but not a word about salvation in Christ, not a word about the grace of God, not a word about anything except goodness. And a lot of people have been caught up in that misconception about salvation. We don't get to heaven, we're not saved by goodness. If we could be saved by human goodness, then why did Christ come? Why did he die? Why did he shed his blood? Why was he raised from the dead? It's not by human goodness, it's by divine grace. And that's what he's stressing here. They prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. And so they prophesied of grace that would come beyond the Jews. That was part of their prophecies that it wasn't just for the Hebrew people, but it was for the Gentiles as well. And there were glimpses of that, for example, in the book of Jonah. when the heathen Gentile city, the great city of Nineveh turned in mass, that is all the city was saved at the preaching of Jonah. That was a sign of things to come, how God was interested in those beyond the Jews. But we read about people in the Old Testament. They were not only prophesying, but they were the recipients of God's grace. In Genesis chapter six and verse eight, we read that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was spared of the flood of judgment. Moses was aware of that grace. He was a prophet in his own right, but he also had received God's grace as did the people that he led. For example, Exodus 33, 18 and 19. And he said, I beseech thee, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory, he prayed to God. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. God, in response, said this to Moses. I'll make all my goodness pass before thee and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And then the next chapter, Exodus 34, six, and the Lord passed by before him, that is before Moses, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. And as I pointed out, Jonah, he knew all about God's grace, even though he struggled to appreciate God's grace upon the very people he preached to. You ever read that story? has a strange ending. The whole town repents and comes to know the Lord and his spare judgment. And in the very last chapter, the prophet is pouting because they weren't destroyed, instead they were saved. But Jonah knew, here's what he says in that last chapter. Jonah chapter 4 and verse 2, and he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. So the Old Testament prophets understood God's grace, but they also knew There was coming a new fullness of God's grace, a new dimension of God's grace, a new climax to God's grace. Yes, grace in the Old Testament, but much more grace. That's why it says in the book of John, for example, that The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean there was no grace, there was no truth. Obviously there was in Old Testament time, but in New Testament times, there is a fullness of truth and a fullness of grace. And this is what the prophets were writing about and inquiring about and searching about is when would this be and who would bring it in? Jesus told his disciples this, and we'll move on, but I wanna give you this from Matthew 13, verse 17. For verily I say unto you, Jesus told his disciples that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them. So these Old Testament prophets, all they could do was receive God's grace as it was presented unto them, and yet they inquired and searched and wrote. all the while knowing it wasn't for them, it would be yet to come. Now, the second thing that we see, and it will be a little shorter here on this point, but I do want you to see it. It's a separate aspect of the wonder of salvation. Not only was salvation studied and then written about, diligently studied and searched by the Old Testament prophets, but notice that salvation was revealed by the Holy Spirit. Here's what it says in verse 11 of our text. Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them, that is in the Old Testament prophets, did signify when it, the Spirit of Christ, testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So the prophecies of the Old Testament were not the result of what the Old Testament prophets figured out on their own. It wasn't just that they were holy men with good ideas or religious people who had good thoughts about religious things. No, it went much deeper than that and much more was at stake. Accuracy was at stake, integrity and the facts had to be just right. And so God saw to it that the Holy Spirit, referred to here as the Spirit of Christ, but that's the Holy Spirit, which was in them, working in them, enabling them, educating them, showing them what to write. Even though they didn't understand the very things they were writing, how it would all transpire, yet the Holy Spirit revealed it to them or they wouldn't have recorded it. That's the wonder of this book, which tells us about the wonder of salvation. It is a book inspired by God. When we read this, we're not reading the words of men. Yes, they were penned by men, but inspired by God. without any error, without any flaw, perfect. And that's why it behooves us to look at every word because every word has its place and it's making its point. So they couldn't comprehend it all. They were predicting things they could not see, things that would come to pass long after they were dead, but the Holy Spirit ensured that what they wrote was accurate and eventually would be Notice their writings focused on two things, two big categories of the prophet's writings concerning the gospel, concerning the matter of salvation. And you see right here in the last of verse 11, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. If you don't know anything else about the Old Testament predictions or the New Testament fulfillment, if you get that, you've got the bulk of the theme right there. the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. The sufferings of Christ, of course, focuses upon Calvary. It focuses upon his mock trial, and then the beating, the scourging, the crucifixion, the agony, the shame, the blood, and why? The sufferings of Christ were prophesied that he would do that and bear our sins in his own body. He would take our punishment upon Himself. They prophesied of that. Whenever this suffering took place, it wasn't because He deserved it, it was because He took what we deserve. And that was a part of what they prophesied. Then the glory that should follow, that refers to the resurrection, the ascension, the exaltation, all of that. So you have both. his sufferings and his glory. That was revealed by the Holy Spirit. Let's move to a third thing that is a wonder in salvation, and that is the salvation that we know and the salvation that's recorded in the Bible was preached by the apostles, the New Testament apostles. Look at verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, we're still now speaking of the Old Testament prophets, It was revealed to them, it was revealed by the Holy Spirit. What was revealed? The sufferings of Christ, the glory that should follow, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. So after Christ died, as we pointed out, and he rose, and he ascended, then God continued his marvelous plan of salvation by raising up apostles whom he instructed to preach and empowered them to preach. My goodness, just take the one that we're reading from here today, the apostle Peter. He was one of those apostles. We know in and of himself, he was very weak. He was prone to get ahead of himself. He was prone to put his foot in his mouth. He was prone to speak before he thought things through. I mean, you see his humanness, you see his frailty. My goodness, he denied the Lord three times and yet it was this same Peter, this same one, that just a matter of a few days after that, the Lord enabled to stand up before the group that had crucified Christ and say, you're the one responsible for his crucifixion. He's the Lord of glory. Can you imagine what empowerment that is? For the one who at one time, just a short time before had denied he even knew Christ. And now he's standing up preaching saying, this is the one who's the son of God and you've killed him. because that needed to be preached, that needed to be proclaimed. And then he wrote as a part of his ministry and his preaching is through his writing, 1 Peter and 2 Peter. We know that Peter preached that message and he said, when they asked him, what should we do? They were convicted by the spirit of God. And he told them what to do. And I'm gonna read that for you because there may be some here who have not understood this and you need to know this in light of the fact that Christ died for our sins and rose again in victory to prove he was truly the son of God. And he had come to do and did do what he set out to do from the Father, all that being fulfilled, what's the response to that? They called out and Peter said in Acts 2.38, repent, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. The word remission means forgiveness, which is what we all need, repent. That's the key word, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul also is another example of the preaching of the apostles. And this pretty much sums up what the apostles did and the preaching that they did. They were consumed with the truth of salvation, weren't they? That's what the apostles preached. They preached the message of salvation. That was the great message. That was the message that the Bible itself, the whole of it focused on. And that's why Christ came was the good news that sinners could be saved and forgiven and be brought back to God. And so when Paul begins his greatest work, it's commonly understood as his greatest work, Romans, he says in that first chapter, verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. That's a summary statement, not only of Paul, but of all the apostles. They weren't ashamed of the gospel. That's why all but one of them, that would be John the apostle, they were all martyred. They were all killed for their stand for the gospel and for Christ. They were willing to give up their life to proclaim that message. It was that important. So the wonder of it, the wonder that the Old Testament prophets were inquiring and searching about it over a period of long time, And then the wonder of it that the Holy Spirit inspired those men to write down exactly what they needed to. And they told all about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And then these that Peter is writing to, they didn't know those Old Testament prophets, they'd never met any of them, of course not. And they may have had the writings, but then the gospel makes it all come together when the, that's really what the apostles did. You wanna know what did they really do in their preaching? Were they just fiery evangelists who got up and told stories and tear jerking this and that? No, not at all. Read sometime Acts chapter two. And you will see a great demonstration in Peter's sermon what these apostles did. They took the prophecies and made them plain. And they said, this was talking about that. And this was talking about him. Much like what Philip did with the Ethiopian. The Ethiopian was reading Isaiah 53. He couldn't make sense of it. Of whom is the prophet speaking? Of himself or some other man. Philip, who wasn't an apostle, he was a deacon. He was a preaching deacon. He began in Isaiah 53 where the man was reading and showed him it was talking about Jesus Christ. And that man was saved. So the whole point is to preach the gospel. And that's what they did. They preached the gospel because there is the power of God unto salvation to every single person. Now, the last thing I want you to see, and this is a wonder in itself. All of these other things point to the wonder of salvation, but this last was kind of like the exclamation point. And it's really a very unusual statement near the end of verse 12. Look at it. Which things the angels desire to look into. So the fourth aspect of the wonder of salvation that Peter is writing about here is how salvation is examined by the angels. These things that being referred to here in verse 12, are the things of salvation. You notice he mentions the things back up earlier in verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you. That's the things of salvation, the things of the gospel. And these same things are a cause of amazement and wonder and inquiry to the angels. Let's think about angels here for just a minute. Sometimes believers wonder about what life would be like. I trust this may have crossed your mind, probably at some point. You don't dwell on it, most likely, but it's probably crossed our minds. What would it be like to be an angel? Well, you say, I'm married to one. Well, good for you. You might even put that on her card. You know, you're my angel. That's sweet. But I'm talking about a real angel. No offense, ladies. One man, I got to tell you this, one man said he was married to an angel, said, well, that's nice of you to say about your wife. He said, no, what I mean is she's always up in the air harping on something. We're not talking about the wives here. We're not talking about those kinds of angels. We're talking about angels who are really, really angel. By the way, people don't become angels. Angels are angels and people are people. And children, adults, mothers, the most precious ones, when they die, they don't become angels. Angels are angels. They're in their own category. People are people, angels are angels, and God is God. And so there is a rank here. And the Bible makes that abundantly clear. But maybe, getting back to what I was gonna say, and I'm looking at time here, I wanna talk just a moment here about angels. We may have thought, what would it be like to be an angel? And so that's crossed our minds, kind of a curious, it's just speculation, because we don't know. We know what they do, but to actually be one and to enter into that kind of existence, that's That's not who we are, and we really can't identify with that. But what it's telling us here is, by contrast, what we do know, because this is not just fanciful, this is stated as fact, that the angels actually, actually desire to look into the things that pertain to us and our salvation. They wonder. about what we experience, because here's the thing, they do not experience salvation. Angels are not saved. Angels can be broken into two categories. There are the evil angels, or sometimes referred to as the fallen angels. Sometimes they're described as demons. You have that category, and then you have the holy angels. Here it's talking about the holy angels. the ones that did not fall, the ones that did not rebel against God. Those who are holy angels need no salvation, right? They've never sinned. They're holy, perfect angels. And those who have fallen cannot be saved. They're beyond hope. When they sinned, when they rebelled against this holy God, they were consigned once and for all, case closed. That's what the Bible says. So it is a wonder that when man rebelled in Adam and Eve, and then all of us thereafter, we all in our own way rebelled against God. Why does God not in his justice punish us all? That's what the angels are aware of, that those who fail and sin against God were consigned to the pit forever. And we know the scripture that says that hell was prepared for who? For the devil and his angels. They had no second chance. There is no grace. But here we see the angels want to look into the grace and the salvation that's been extended to us. Now, this desire to look into, let's just unpack that just briefly. The word desire there is a very intense desire. It's not just an idle curiosity. It's not just that angels with time on their hands had nothing better to do. They're just saying, well, what is that about? No, no. The idea here is a very intense looking into, a passionate examination. They are eager to learn. And here's another thing. Angels are not like God. They are not all knowing. Only God is omniscient. Only God knows everything. That's what sets him apart from creatures. So angels are always learning. They're learning just like we're learning. Their knowledge is increasing. And so they are observers and they are intently desiring, longing to look into. And that is a description of someone who is peering into something. And it also implies that they are on the outside looking in. It's important we understand that. You and I have been saved, if we're saved, we're on the inside understanding. They're on the outside trying to figure out about those of us who are on the inside. You see that? They've never experienced grace. They've never experienced salvation. And they wonder, how are these people saved? And all that went into that. You know, angels were involved in the plan as it unfolded. They announced Christ's birth, did they not? They ministered to Christ in his times of temptation. They stood by the grave when he rose from the dead. They were present when he ascended into heaven. In fact, they're the ones that said, you men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This same Jesus is gonna come as you've seen him go. Those were angels speaking, they were there. And now we know that angels are ministering spirits, ministering to those who are the heirs of salvation. So they minister to us in ways that we are not even aware of. They protect us from all kinds of things and minister in ways we can't imagine. But we know they do because the Bible tells us that. But as they minister to us and as they have been a participant in a way in the life of Christ and the death of Christ, the ascension, all of that, the resurrection, they saw it all. They know that. They still marvel that it happened. And now even in heaven, they're a part of the group. Listen to what it says in Revelation 5 verse 11. And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels That's important, these are angels. Round about the throne and the beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. That's angels praising. And they recognize Christ as the lamb who was slain. And it doesn't state it, but he was slain for a purpose, for the salvation of those who are there. Can't you imagine the angels see believers when they're saved and they wonder how can God take away the guilt and stain of their sin and spare them? And then angels welcome believers when they come to glory. And one by one, one by one, loved ones in Christ go. And angels are there. And don't you know, they're wondering why would God allow these sinners to enter this perfect place? It's a wonder, isn't it? It's a wonder. The reality is, here's the reality. Angels wonder about our salvation, and they've never been a participant in that. They've never experienced salvation, and yet they wonder about it, whereas we who are saved have experienced it, and we don't wonder. But we should wonder. That's the point of this message. It should amaze us. We're not on the outside looking in, we're on the inside looking in. We're in grace, we're in Christ. Let me say this about angels and we're gonna wrap this up. Angels, like I say, they've learned, they've observed. They understand the power of God. They understand that so very well. They understand the wisdom of God. They understand the holiness of God. Do they ever? But they have never experienced the grace of God. And the grace of God, the mercy of God, the patience of God, that's what's on display so greatly in our salvation. and they wonder at it. Well, it all makes sense when you realize what are angels created for? Well, they minister to the saints, they minister to the believers, that's one thing, but their primary role is what? It's worship, isn't it? And so knowing about God's grace enhances their worship. Even though they haven't experienced grace, they praise God for his grace toward saints, toward the believers that have been saved by grace. They praise him for everything else as well. So what is 1 Peter about? We've already said and we've already seen, and we're going to see more of it. It's about the trials of our faith. Back in verse 7, he mentions that. So no matter how difficult life's trials are, and they are going to be pretty difficult, For this group here, we know much persecution lay ahead. But what he's saying here, that Christians can endure and face these trials, no matter how tough, with joy and with peace, because they know they're saved. If you're saved, nothing can equal that. It's a salvation the prophets studied. The Holy Spirit inspired, the apostles preached, and the angels continue to investigate. That's a wonder of salvation. One last thing, and we'll pray. Look back at verse nine. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And that is to remind us this great salvation, the wonder of it all, will do us no good unless we've received it. And we receive it by faith. And we receive salvation by receiving the Savior. There's nothing more important than the salvation of your soul. Nothing, nothing. And I think it might've been D.L. Moody, one of the great evangelists who said, and this is the right observation. He said on occasion, if I can get a person to think about their never dying soul for five minutes, they are likely to become a Christian. That's the problem. We do not think about our soul. We think about so much more. Receive. the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. Father, we thank you and praise you for our salvation. We thank you for this marvelous truth. It is a word, it's a word we use often, but there's so much packed into that, the salvation, the grace, the forgiveness, the eternal security, the right standing with you, the adoption into your family, all of that, so much more, the new birth, the new heart, the new life, salvation from the penalty of sin, the presence of sin, the power of sin, all of that over time, that's a part of our salvation, the wonder of it all. And yet, Lord, we're so aware that so many people do not have it. Or if they have it, they don't appreciate it. So may it be said of us that we are saved because we've trusted in your son. We've turned from our sins as Peter preached, as the Bible says, repented of our sin, trusted in the Savior. And then we know we're saved. And then may we be diligent in our study of scripture. We have the whole scripture. and all of it so precious to tell us about what you've done and who you are and what you have in store for us in the salvation of our soul. We pray this in Christ's name.