Salvation

SERMON # 1118 CHURCH IN THE HOUSES DATE: AUGUST 9, 2020

TOPIC: "Salvation" 1 Peter 1:8-12 What Jesus produces when he comes into a life is wonderful! One can never be the same! Everything changes in our lives! We become warriors against our old creature, and now she is our enemy! And we will have this great fight until the end of our days. But, in order to have a life full of Jesus, one has to make a firm decision: for Him to arrive and for me to die so that He will live in me!

I. Those to whom Peter wrote had not seen Jesus when He lived and walked here on earth (Vs. 8) (“…though you have not seen him…and even though you do not see him now…”).

A. But, Peter had seen Him and was with Him.

1. The apostle Peter speaks of the present joy because of our salvation.

2. It is that we have a passionate feeling for our Lord through faith.

3. EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM, WE LOVE HIM!

4. EVEN IF WE DO NOT SEE HIM NOW, WE BELIEVE IN HIM!

5. (John 20:29) Jesus mentions this beatitude to Thomas: "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

6. By believing in Him we rejoice with an ineffable joy (that cannot be said, explained or described in words) and glorious (worthy of honor and praise)!

7. To be united with Him through faith is to have an uninterrupted and eternal contact with the source of all pure joy.

8. Our joy does not depend on earthly circumstances, but on the risen and exalted Christ at the right hand of God.

9. Neither of two things is possible: a) you cannot deprive a saint of his joy b) nor dethrone Christ from His place in glory. Both things go together!

10. (Vs. 9) Peter deals with the present result of FAITH: THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL!

11. The salvation of the body is still the future; well, it will take place when Christ comes for His saints.

12. As soon as we trust Christ by faith, we receive THE SALVATION OF OUR SOULS!

13. The soul, the Word refers here to the non-material part of man, to his person separate from his body.

14. It is the soul that is separated from the body at the time of death.

15. This passage includes the spirit, by which we have the consciousness of God (with knowledge).

16. THE SOUL IS SAVED AT THE TIME OF THE NEW BIRTH!

17. (Vs. 10) SALVATION WAS THE THEME OF MANY PROPHETS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT! The ancient spokesmen of God prophesied of the unmerited favor we would receive.

18. An example of them is Daniel (Daniel 12:2, 10).

19. Daniel did not fully understand what he was writing, but thus he recorded what was to come.

20. And other prophets like Isaiah. "For to us a child is born to us...Wonderful, Mighty God... Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) Also the prophet Micah…Bethlehem Ephrathah, so small…out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel…” (Micah 5:2) And many more.

21. (Vs. 11) Many of them were unaware and spoke the prophecies that were given to them by the Spirit, who is the one who knows everything.

22. They did not understand the identity of the Person who would appear as the Messiah, our Savior Jesus Christ!

23. Nor the time of His appearance.

24. But they were indeed inspired by the Spirit of God to predict: (a) the sufferings of the Messiah, and (b) the glories that would come after them.

25. They did not understand that these two events would be separated by at least two thousand years.

26. These ancient prophets saw in visions and revelations these two events as two mountains: (a) First, Mount Calvary, where Jesus suffered and died, and (b) Secondly, the Mount of Olives, which is where He will return in His glory (Zechariah 14:4).

27. They did not see or understand the valley in the middle that separated the two mountains. That is to say, the current Age of Grace in which we live. We are able to see both events with a better perspective than them, the first: death on Calvary, which was in the past, and the other: The Coming of Christ to put his feet on the Mount of Olives, which is still future.

28. (Vs. 12) It was mysteriously revealed to them by the Spirit of God that as prophets they were serving unborn generations.

29. We know that the Holy Spirit descended from heaven on the Day of Pentecost.

30. That empowered the apostles to preach about the Christ of whom the prophets spoke, who was killed for our sins and rose again on the third day.

31. "...even angels long to look into these things."

32. It refers to the truths of this salvation.

33. Angels have a prominent place in the Old Testament and, likewise, are involved in the birth of Christ when it was His temptation, His agony in Gethsemane and His resurrection.

34. But Jesus did not come to intervene in favor of the angels, but in favor of the descendance of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16 "For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants."). Beautiful!

35. To our knowledge, there is no redemption for fallen angels.

36. The church, which exhibits the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10), is a lesson for angels.

37. But, it is not for them to know the joy that accompanies our salvation. God gave it only to us believers! Amen.