אבנימ

Introduction

The last time I was here was Easter morning, and we looked at the first 9 verses of Peter’s first letter, which focus on the Living Hope we have in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.

Now, since I am a diehard proponent of exegetical preaching, I am going to simply continue where I left off, picking it up in chapter 1 at verse 10.

Please turn there in your Bibles: 1 Peter 1, starting at verse 10.

Exegetical Preaching

Before we read the passage together, I will explain what I mean by Exegetical Preaching, especially since the gist of our text bears directly upon it.

Exegetical Preaching, also known as Expository Preaching, is working through Scripture line upon line, going through a book of the Bible sequentially from beginning to end.

• Exegesis – (the Greek word ἐξήγησις) means to explain or interpret, literally to “lead out” the author’s meaning from his writing. Its opposite is Eisegesis, which means to read my own preferred meaning into the text.

• Exposition (expose-ition) – means to expose the author’s meaning, to lay it open before the hearers.

Exegetical preaching has sadly diminished in recent decades, which has a lot to do with the weakened state of the church at large. We should be particularly thankful to have a pastor who has always been committed to exegetical preaching.

In contrast, the all too common practice today is for a preacher to cherry-pick verses from anywhere in the Bible that suits his purpose, and then marshall them to support whatever point he wants to make. Any lazy and ignorant person can do this. Many have and many do. But this is not faithfully feeding the Lord’s sheep. It is not exegesis – it is not leading God’s meaning out of the text; rather is is eisegesis – reading my meaning into the text.

We may not take the easy road, or the lazy way, if we want to really grow in our faith. We must read and study God’s Word sequentially, systematically, and contextually.

What About Systematic Theology?

Is there then no room then for topical teaching or for systematic thelogy? Yes there is. For example, our recent series on Covenant Theology has been of great benefit to us. But this is only because it is based upon sound exegesis. Topical teaching and Systematics must be secondary, they must flow from faithful exegesis. Topical studies have value only to the extent that we understand the Word of God rightly through exegetical study. Otherwise we will inevitably resort to eisegesis, and thus misunderstand and misapply what God discloses to us in His Word.

The Lord is His wisdom did not reveal Himself to us in isolated bare propositions. Rather He speaks in story and poetry, in history and prophecy, in parable and proverb, and in letters which are personal and pastoral. And this is how we must learn to know Him, in His Word, as He has given it to us.

Again, there are no shortcuts here — we must apply ourselves with diligence and discipline to the study of all of God’s Word. God’s Word is Truth, and The Holy Spirit is our teacher. As we study to show ourselves approved, He will lead us into the whole truth, and we will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How this relates to our text today, you will see in a moment.

Testimony to the Word, and Prayer

At the end of this chapter Peter quotes Isaish:

""All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you." (1 Peter 1.24–25 ESV)

Prayer

Review

What is this letter about?

Before we go to our text, let’s reacquaint ourselves with this letter. Its primary theme is Suffering and Glory.

Suffering now; and glory to come.
Glory now in glimpses, but in full brilliance later.

As Christ the Captain of our salvation, walked through His sufferings which led Him to glory, so do we as His disciples. Peter introduced this theme in the first 9 verses, which we heard on Easter morning, and continues it here.

Why did Peter write this letter?

A group of churches in Asia Minor in the mid 60s A.D., were undergoing great suffering under the Roman emperor Nero’s official persecution of Christians. Peter is writing to strengthen their faith, and to encourage them in the face what they must endure for the name of Christ.

Under God’s providence it has come to us as Holy Scripture, applicable to the Church in all times and all places, including us. For as Paul says: “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3.12 ESV).

And so we find in this letter a model of how to encourage one another in the faith, when in the midst of trouble and difficulty.

How Peter encourages the saints

Following this, we find that the first thing Peter does is to rehearse the wondrous salvation that we have in Jesus Christ.

Follow with me verses 3-9:

• v3 – God is our Father, and he has caused to us to be born again to a Living Hope
• Our hope is living because Jesus Christ is living, risen from the dead
• v4 – Unlike any earthly riches, our inheritance is kept safe for us in Heaven: imperishable, undefiled and unfading
• v5 – Not only is this inheritance kept in Heaven for us, but we are kept for it – preserved and protected by the power of God through faith

Peter gives us the true perspective with which to understand our present suffering.
He sets before us our great salvation, and our status as the redeemed of the Lord, and only then does he begin to speak of our troubles, all within the context of our great salvation:

• v6 – Though grieved by various trials which are only temporary, we rejoice in this great salvation which is forever
• v7 – Our trials will purify us, and result in praise, glory and honor when Christ is revealed
• v8 – Believing in Jesus, even though we do not see Him, we rejoice with inexpressible joy!
• v9 – Our faith, perfected by these trials, will surely reach its TELOS, its goal and end, namely the salvation of our souls.

And this brings us to our text.

Text – 1 Peter 1.10-12

I am reading from the ESV.

“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 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.”

“Concerning This salvation” v.10

Peter proceeds to tell us even more about this salvation, which he has just extolled so magnificently in the opening of his letter.

“Concerning this salvation, he says, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully” (1 Peter 1.10 ESV)

This salvation is so great, that even the heaven-inspired prophets, who spoke of it beforehand, searched and inquired carefully to understand it more fully.

Did they have a different salvation?

Since the prophets searched it out, does this mean that their salvation was different from ours?
Was the faith of Abraham, and Moses, and Samuel and David, and all the prophets something other than ours?

Absolutely not. In fact, this is one of the chief points of Covenant Theology, as we come to understand all Scripture as a unified whole. There is only one covenant of grace. There is no other salvation, except through faith in Jesus Christ and His work of atonement.

Our Lord said:

“Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” (John 8.56 ESV)

And Peter, the author of this letter, declared to the rulers of the Jews:

“there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4.12 ESV)

Our fathers had the same faith in Christ as we do:

• they were looking forward to the future consummation of God’s promise
• we are looking back upon its past completion

• They were scanning the horizon in hope, looking for the first gleam of dawn
• We are standing in the noon-day sun of the gospel

• The prophets saw faint glimmers of the Light to come,
• but for us the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4.2 ESV)

“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11.39–40 ESV)

There is only one gospel which was first proclaimed to Adam in Genesis 3.15 – then it was a thin outline. The depth and detail was filled in over the centuries in the progress of revelation; as it was brought to light by God’s prophets who spoke in many portions and in many ways.

And what did the prophets say? (v.10)

The prophets prophesied about the grace that was to be yours…

This is the grand theme of the Scripture from beginning to end: the grace of God for our salvation, manifested and revealed in Jesus Christ.

This is what the prophets were speaking about, though they themselves did not fully understand it.

Our Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, said:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5.39 ESV)

The prophets prophesied of grace.

The testifies to:

The Unity and Continuity of Scripture

An uninspired page?

There is a page in the Bible that is not inspired, and some have even suggested that we should tear it out. Which page? It is the one in between Malachi and Matthew, which says “The New Testament.”

You can leave it there, but be aware that this page can be very misleading.
It seems to suggest that there was an old covenant and now there is new covenant.

But there is only one covenant of grace, one gospel of grace, and it is proclaimed all throughout the Bible beginning at Genesis 3.15.

The apostles preached the gospel from the Hebrew Scripture, and they would never have called it “the Old Testament.” To them it was the Living Word of God, which everywhere proclaims of the gospel of grace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost?

• He preached it from the prophet Joel and the Psalms of David

Remember Phillip’s evangelistic encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch?

• The man was reading the prophet Isaiah, and Phillip “beginning with this Scripture told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8.35 ESV)

What about the noble-minded Bereans?

• Luke tells us that “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17.11 ESV)

What was the Word they received? And what were the Scriptures that they examined daily to see if these things were so? What we call the Old Testament.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable

We must not allow ourselves think of the “Old Testament,” (so called) as in any way passé, or as somehow less important. We are often urged to do just this.

Sometimes we hear the phrase, “…oh, we’re not under the Law, but under grace.” The person telling us this does not mean at all what the apostle Paul meant. Rather he is dismissing the first 39 books of God’s revelation as irrelevant! What would Paul think of this? These 39 inspired books were the Word of God by which he preached the gospel!

After I was converted at the age of 17, there was a little green book that I read all the time, more than any of my college textbooks. It was a King James New Testament, supplied by the Gideons.

I appreciate the Gideons and all the work they have done to bring the Word of God to many, many people, including me. But what is implied by the publication of the New Testament by itself? It suggests that it is somehow more the Word of God than the Old Testament, and that it can stand by itself.

It cannot.

Example of John 3.16

Let me illustrate this with the example of the most common text of Scripture used in modern evangelism: John 3.16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3.16 ESV)

The first word of this verse is “For”.
This means that there is a logical connection with what precedes it, and if we do not trace that connection, then we simply cannot fully understand what John 3.16 means.

This is what precedes it:

“…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3.14–15 ESV)

You see the dilemma?
17-year old Andrew with his pocket New Testament is reading the Gospel of John as a new believer, and how will he ever come to understand the full meaning of John 3.16?

• He won’t know about the venomous serpents which God sent to judge His rebellious people in the wilderness
• or the remedy God prescribed: the bronze serpent, a symbol of sin, lifted up on a pole as a type of the cross
• or that as the people of God were quickly perishing, only those who turned and looked to the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, the symbol of Christ becoming sin, were saved from the bite of the fiery serpents

With the New Testament only, he will never be able to connect the dots, to understand this instructive illustration of our faith, which teaches us that we must behold the Son of God crucified, and thus be delivered from death.

This is just one example which shows that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction…” (Romans 15.4 ESV).

In short, we cannot understand the last 27 books without the first 39.

There is no break in continuity between the last verse of Malachi and the first verse of Matthew – God’s Word is a complete whole, like a magnificent symphony, in which the grand theme is quietly introduced in the beginning prelude, and then carefully and intricately developed and expanded in the middle movements, and at last fully set forth in the grand finale.

The prophets prophets of grace, and …

They inquired carefully (v.10)

They “searched diligently” or “intently” or “carefully”

The Greek word ἐξηραύνησαν means “to exert considerable effort and care in learning something — to make a careful search, to seek diligently to learn, to make an examination.”

These men, moved by the Holy Spirit to write the very words of God, if they carefully searched out their own prophesies concerning the person and the coming of Christ, how much more so should we who have received their words as Holy Scripture?

The noble-minded Bereans are commended in Acts 17 as examples to us of searching the Scriptures, as well they should be, but what about the prophets themselves? We should follow their example as well, and “exert considerable effort and care in searching God’s Word, making careful inquiry, seeking diligently to learn” of our mighty redeemer, as He is revealed in all of Scripture.

Ah, you may say, but now that Christ has come, and we have the New Testament, all is made clear. But this objection only serves to strengthen my point.
Yes all is made clear, but only to those who apply themselves to diligent study and prayer to find Christ revealed in the words of the prophets.

As another example, besides John 3.16, how can we know what John the Baptist meant by

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

if we do not understand God’s gracious provision to Abraham of the ram in the thicket in the place of his son, or of God’s Passover Lamb in the deliverance of His people, or of the necessity of the shedding of blood for the remission of sins, and so on?

This is our common malady

Rather than making careful examination, we tend to be exegetically lazy. Since we aren’t conversant with all of Scripture, we become more susceptible to taking passages out of context. The inevitable result is conjecture and confusion. We end up with theology which is fragmented and inconsistent, and which gives no coherent way to understand all of Scripture together as God’s Word.

This is the common ailment, and we are not immune to it.
And there is an opposite extreme which is just as dangerous.

We see the problem of reading into the text what is not there,
But what about not reading what is there?

About 25 years ago an Old Testament scholar, Walter Kaiser, published a book called Towards an Exegetical Theology, which became popular in Christian schools and seminaries. It was an attempt to bring sanity back to the study of Scripture, and it provided a lot of remedial common sense, but had one fatal error.

Kaiser taught that no text of Scripture could ever have any meaning except the human author’s original intent.
This in effect denies the divine authorship of Scripture, and disregards what Peter says here – that the prophets did not fully comprehend what they wrote, and sought to know what the Spirit of Christ in them was saying.

The Spirit of God, the divine author, knew everything he meant to say.
The human authors did not.

“The Spirit of Christ in them” (v.11)

The prophets were seeking out the meaning of what the Spirit of Christ within them was saying.

If you want to know a historical person well, say Martin Luther, what would you do?
Read all that he wrote, since a man discloses his personality, his passions, his purposes, in what he writes.

In the same way, if you want to know Christ, read what He wrote, namely the words of the prophets. It was the Spirit of Christ in them, who wrote Scripture.

But it is even better than that. Not only do we have Christ’s words, but the Scripture says:

They shall all be taught of God (Isaiah 54.13)

If you were engaged in the study of a college textbook on a difficult subject, say Astrophysics, and you had the opportunity to choose anyone at all to be your own personal tutor, whom would you choose?

The Author, of course.

If you are a Christian, then this is exactly what you have as you come to the Word of God.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ who spoke through the prophets, the Author of Scripture, is the one sent from Heaven to dwell in your heart, and to lead you into all the truth.

When you sit down each morning to read the Scripture, the very author of Scripture is there with you, no in you, to teach you what He wrote.

And what did He write?

Peter tells us that the prophets predicted

“the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories…” (v.11)

And remember, that is Peter’s theme in this letter!

You see Peter is taking the grand theme of all prophetic Scripture, the present sufferings and future glories, and practically applying it to the life of the Christian.

This is what the Lord told his disciples after his resurrection:

“he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Luke 24.44–47 ESV)

Peter clearly understood this after the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In his sermon on Pentecost, he quotes David from Psalm 16, and then says:

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” (Acts 2.29–31 ESV)

I could mention Isaiah 53, Psalms 22 and 102, Micah 5, and many others which show what our Lord said, that “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.”

“It was revealed to them” (v.12)

…that they were serving not themselves but you…

Epistemology

How did the prophets learn that they were serving us in what they prophesied? It was revealed to them.

This demonstrates that a correct epistemology is essential.
Epistemology is that branch of knowledge which deals with how we know what we know.

The simple fact is this: we know nothing of God and His salvation unless God graciously reveals it us. Peter is giving us an example of this in the prophets when he says here “it was revealed to them.” These things are spiritually understood, and we cannot grasp them by ourselves.

Only an epistemology based upon God’s revelation is solid, and cannot be shaken. Everything else is based on human conjecture, and is thus sinking sand.

• As soon as anything depends upon our reason rather than God’s revelation, then nothing is certain.
• As soon as we go beyond what Scripture reveals, and somehow think that we can figure things out on our own, we have lost everything.

This is exactly why the current controversy over Genesis 1-11 is the issue of our times. Christian leaders and seminaries want to accommodate human reasoning to make Scripture more palatable to the modern mind. But as soon as we abandon the plain meaning of God’s Word, then the dam has been breached, and our ruin is inevitable.

What was revealed to them?

“They were not serving themselves, but you”

The prophets served us more fully than the people of their own time and place.

Sometimes we might be tempted to recall some of the spectacular events in redemptive history, and think:

• If only we had lived in the time of King David…
• If only we had lived in the time of Elijah the prophet…

But this is not the perspective of Scripture:

• They lived in the times of types and shadows and signs,
• We live in the broad daylight of the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings.

Our Lord said:

“For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13.17 ESV)

And finally, Peter further commends this salvation of ours by saying that even:

Angels long to look into it (v.12)

The Greek word παρακύψαι means “to stoop down to look carefully at something, to inspect curiously”

This salvation which we possess is so marvelous, that even the heavenly beings who stand in God’s Presence are struck with awe by the great mystery of the Incarnation and the Suffering of the Son of God for fallen mankind, and they long to know more about it.

The angels did not need redemption like man. Forever they have glorified God and His Son, whose name is called The Word of God. They were sent to sing praises at His birth, filling the skies around Bethlehem with celestial praise.

What wonder and awe they must have had when the Everlasting One, whose goings forth are from the days of Eternity, was born as helpless babe, lived and toiled as a man among men, and then suffered for them the pains of death.

They long to know more of these wondrous mysteries.

In summary and conclusion, I offer 3 points of application, drawn from the text:

Application

1. Diligently Study all of God’s Word

• Use a Bible reading plan for all of Scripture
• Learn how to study God’s Word, apply your mind and seek the help of His Spirit

2. Be taught of God

The author of Scripture is with you to teach you and to lead you into all the truth.
If we are lacking in His instruction and guidance, then we have not because we ask not.
We must ask Him. We must seek Him.
And is God is gracious – He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.
Our Lord tells us our Father is good:

“how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”” (Luke 11.13 ESV)

3. Rejoice and take courage!

Our salvation is very great.
Not only did the prophets, who received and wrote the very words of God, diligently search it out,
But even the angels in heaven, who live forever in His presence, long to look into it, because it is so great.

Prayer

Our Father,

Your servant David said: “I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.”
Teach us to rightly value your Word as the treasure it is. Give us hearts that are eager and disciplined to search out all its treasures, knowing that we could spend 100 lifetimes doing so, and still not exhaust its priceless wealth.

We cannot do this without the help of Your Spirit, the Author. Please send Him to be our guide, to open our minds to understand, and to lead us into all truth.

And finally, O Lord, we rejoice in You, and in the great Savior we have, our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant us your grace to comprehend His fulness and to walk in His power.

For His sake, and in His name we pray,

Amen.