[This message was preached on April 24, 2016 at Boothbay Baptist Church and continues the series "Pilgrim Living in a Fallen World" on I Peter.]
Our Great Salvation
I Peter 1:10-12
Introduction: It wasn’t that long ago, you probably
remember the news reports. A cave in at the San Jose’ copper mine in northern Chile
on August 5, 2010 trapped 33 miners a half mile underground. For two weeks it
was feared they were dead. But they had made it to an emergency “refuge” room,
a reinforced safety area supplied with some survival necessities, food and
water. It would take over two months for them to be rescued... Three different
plans were initially worked side by side to save the men. Finally, after over two months, a narrow shaft
was drilled down to them, and one by one they were brought up in a small rescue
capsule. Each emerged to the television
cameras and cheers of the crowds. That was one of the greatest mine rescues in
history. However the greatest rescue plan ever was carried out long before, nearly
2000 years earlier, on a hill just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. In that case there was only one plan, only
one way, and it would make possible rescue of not only thirty, but of millions,
and probably billions, through the ages. It was a plan devised in the council
of the Trinity in eternity past, carried out in the incarnation, death, and
resurrection of Jesus, and applied to the hearts of humans by grace through
faith through the ages. Our theme today is “Our Great Salvation.” In God’s
timing, this afternoon we’ll celebrate the memory of Lorraine E., a dear sister
who went to be with the Lord at age of 94. She was ready to go to heaven. We
also have two ladies today taking the step of publically proclaiming their
faith in baptism...
The Maine Idea: God has planned and carried out an unimaginable
rescue mission, doing for us what we could not possibly do for ourselves,
sending the Son to die as our substitute, paying for our sins.
I. Salvation
Applied: it could only be by
grace through faith. God’s rescue plan
was woven into the revelation given to the Old Testament prophets.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets
who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired
carefully, 11inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in
them was indicating...
The
prophets were God’s spokesmen to his people throughout the Old Testament. They
were primarily called to call the people to walk in obedience to God and to
remind them that unfaithfulness would bring God’s chastening upon them. Along
with this “forth-telling” of the Word of God, the prophets also brought some
revelation about the future. Jeremiah,
for example, spoke of imminent disaster and exile, but he also looked ahead and
gave hope that a remnant would return to the land. Israel would be unfaithful
and incur God’s chastening. But God is
faithful, He keeps His promises, and in the fullness of time He would send the
promised One who would be a deliverer, a Savior.
But how
would this great salvation be applied? Not everyone is going to heaven! In fact
Jesus made it clear that it is a small minority of humanity. He said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and many are going that way. Narrow is the way that leads to life and few there
are that find it.” Remember the
tower of Babel? The people thought they could build a tower to heaven, that
they could come to God on their own terms, by their own effort. That is what
most people imagine today. Notice that the prophets prophesied about the “grace” that would be yours. Paul spoke
of it in his letters as well, for example in Ephesians 2:8,9...
“For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not as a
result of works, that no man may boast...”
“Grace” is
contrasted with “works.” Grace is
receiving what we don’t deserve. We don’t make ourselves good enough and then
come to Christ. We can’t be good enough. So we turn to Him, acknowledging our
weakness, confessing our sin. Trusting in Him. And like the father in the
parable of the prodigal son, God is waiting, watching, and He runs out to meet
us. That is grace! God has planned and
carried out an unimaginable rescue mission, doing for us what we could not do
for ourselves, sending the Son to die as our substitute, paying for our sins.
II.
Salvation Accomplished: it
required a Righteous Substitute, One who could enter history and do for us what
we could not do for ourselves.
11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ
in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the
subsequent glories...
The
prophets spoke of a suffering servant. We read of a Righteous Sufferer in the
psalms, of sacrifices in the Law, even of substitutes. In Genesis 22 God told
Abraham to take the son of his old age, Isaac, the son of promise, the heir, to
Mount Moriah, and to offer him as a burnt offering. It was a test for Abraham
to be sure, and even as he raised his hand, ready to plunge the knife into his
son, God intervened. And when they turned there was a ram caught in the
thicket. God had provided the sacrifice for the burnt offering. 2000 years
later another Son would carry the wood on which he would be sacrificed up a
hill outside Jerusalem, but this time it was shaped like a cross, and there
would be no intervention. The Son was also the Lamb. We see the parallels more
clearly than Moses possibly could have as he wrote down the stories of the
patriarchs. The “thread of redemption” was there, and the prophets searched
diligently to understand the full import of their own words. Perhaps nowhere
does the picture of a figure who would save us from our sins become more
explicit that it did with the suffering Servant in Isaiah 52:13-53:12...
Behold,
my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be
exalted. 14 As many were
astonished at you- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and
his form beyond that of the children of mankind- 15 so shall he sprinkle many
nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not
been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 53:1Who has believed what they heard from us? And to
whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a
root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. 4
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed
for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and
with his stripes we are healed. 6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened
not his mouth. 8 By
oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who
considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the
transgression of my people? 9
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD
to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand. 11
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge
shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and
he shall bear their iniquities. 12
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered
with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for
the transgressors.
It’s a long quotation, but such a beautiful “pre”-telling
of the work of the Son, innocent yet rejected, sinless, yet bearing the sins of
many. Isaiah wrote this 700 years
before Jesus was born! But God in
his grace made it known to the prophet, so that he could write it down and over
the centuries the people could wait for the coming of this Servant, and puzzle
over how it could be that He would bear the sins of many. It was an unimaginable, audacious, plan.
It revealed indescribable love. Yet
before the universe was created, God had it all laid out. He had designed it
all. For us. God has planned and carried out an unimaginable rescue mission,
doing for us what we could not possibly do for ourselves, sending the Son to
die as our substitute, paying for our sins.
III.
Salvation Announced (in the
fullness of time): The prophets looked
ahead to the Coming One – “How long O
Lord?” The apostles proclaimed, “The Messiah, the Deliverer for whom we have
been so long waiting, has come. He is Jesus.” Read verse 12,
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not
themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through
those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,
things into which angels long to look.
The
church preaches the Good News of our Rescuer. Peter could tell his readers
that this salvation, this “rescue plan” which was preached to them, the message
of the New Testament apostles and prophets, is the “Gospel” of Christ. It is the message that saves us, and the
message that has been entrusted to us. If we have believed that message and
received Him, God can no longer be pushed off into a corner of our life. The
believer should live a Gospel Centered life.
Perhaps
you’ve heard the story of the old preacher was visiting a church one Sunday
evening, and the pastor of the church told the congregation that the old man was
a dear childhood friend. He asked the older visitor if he would like to share a
greeting, or whatever was on his heart, with the congregation. The elderly minister stepped up to the pulpit
and began to speak.
A father, his son and a friend of the son were sailing
off the pacific coast. Suddenly a fast approaching storm over took them and
blocked any way of them getting to shore. The storm worsened and the waves were
so high that even though the father was an experienced sailor he could not keep
the boat upright and it capsized.
The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact
with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service started,
looking somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister continued his
story...
Both boys had been thrown away from the boat. Grabbing
a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his
life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the lifeline? He had only
seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and
he also knew that his son’s friend was not. The agony of the decision could not
be matched by the torrent of the waves. As the father yelled out, “I love you
son!” he threw the line to his son’s friend. By the time he had pulled the
friend back to the capsized boat his son had disappeared beneath the raging
swells into the blackness. His body was never recovered.
By this time the two teenagers were leaning forward in
their seats, hanging on every word as the old man spoke. He continued,
The Father knew
his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought
of the son’s friend stepping into eternity without Jesus. Therefore he
sacrificed his son to save his son’s friend.
With that the old man sat down in his chair and the
room grew silent. The pastor walked
slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief message. Within minutes of the service ending the two
teens walked up to the old man. Politely one of them said,
“That was a nice story, but I don’t think it
was realistic for a father to give up his son’s life in hopes that the other
boy would become a Christian.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old
man replied as he glanced down at his worn Bible. “It sure isn’t realistic, is it? But I am standing today to tell you
that the story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to
give up His only Son for me. You see... I was the father, and your pastor was
my son’s friend.”
His life was
a living gospel illustration. But if you know Jesus, so is yours. You’ve been
rescued by the Father, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all. That is a rescue plan that we would not have imagined, but it was in the
mind of God from before the creation of the world.
Even
angels “long to look...” The word
here translated “look” is used of describing the first witnesses of the
resurrection stooping down and looking with awe into the tomb (Lk 24:12; Jn 20:5,11).
The disciples stooped down, and looked intently, with wonder, into the empty
tomb, they saw the grave clothes, they questioned in their minds and hearts
what this could mean. Our salvation is that amazing, even to the angels of
heaven! Edmund Clowney eloquently said that
in our text Peter pictures “...angels
peering, as it were, over the battlements of heaven to behold what God has done
in Jesus Christ” (Clowney). How much
did the angels understand, and when? The Bible doesn’t tell us. Peter here
pictures angels looking searchingly, inquisitively, with wonder, at God’s
audacious rescue plan. Such is the Father’s love for us, love beyond all
measure!
What is God
saying to me in this passage? God has planned and carried out an
unimaginable rescue mission, doing for us what we could not possibly do for
ourselves, sending the Son to die as our substitute, paying for our sins.
What
would God have me to do in response to this passage? Are you over-whelmed by the truth of the Gospel, the
Good News of Jesus Christ? Could it be
that you are here today and have not yet received the new life God is offering
you in Jesus? If so, it is not by chance.
This is a divine appointment. God planned this moment in your life. You
are one of those miners trapped under a half mile of solid rock. God has devised
a rescue plan, a way out of the darkness and into the light. You are the
Son’s friend in the stormy sea, and the Father has sacrificed his son and
thrown you a lifeline, will you take it? Faith reaches out and receives the
gift of life. Unbelief turns away, “It’s not that far to land,” or “The water
is not so deep...” or “I’d rather do it myself!” Take hold of the lifeline! He gave his Son
for you! The message is as simple as it is astounding, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son
into the world that we might live through Him...” (I John 4:9). “For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life...” (John 3:16). Paul said, “Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved...” You can do that
now, where you sit. “Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and you will be saved...”
And
believer, could it be that you have been trying to compartmentalize your faith,
keeping God off in a corner? It can
happen because we get busy with life. The time has come to stand up and say, “I have decided to follow Jesus...” There
is no call for half-hearted Christianity in the New Testament. Jesus said count
the cost. “Take up your cross and follow
me...” Two will take the step of baptism today. They are standing up and
saying “I am His, and He is Lord.” It
also means choosing to live in the light of the Gospel. Forgiving, because we
have been forgiven. Loving one another, because He has loved us. Being
gracious, because we have been shown grace.
And get this, he has entrusted the message, the Good News, to us. Who in
your sphere of influence, the 8 to 15 people that you regularly interact with,
needs to hear? Throw out the
lifeline! AMEN.
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