A Daily Walk

John Randall: Folks, when you consider our great salvation, think of it first of all in the past tense. Our salvation was secured when Jesus went to the cross, died, and rose again the third day. Think of our salvation in the present. It provides deliverance over the reigning power of sin or our carnal nature, and through the indwelling of God's Spirit, we have victory over these things that are against us. But also think of our salvation in the future tense, as it refers to the future deliverance of believers in Christ that we will experience in a glorified resurrected body there in glory with our King.

Guest (Male): Have you ever noticed that your field of vision narrows under stress? Well, spiritually speaking, during seasons of suffering, we're prone to lose perspective, and that's actually the time we desperately need it. Pastor John Randall will show us how to maintain perspective for seasons of suffering and how to navigate through trials today. Staying focused on Jesus and our great salvation will help us make it through whatever may come our way. Let's join John now in 1 Peter 1 for a Daily Walk.

John Randall: Beginning in verse 10: "Of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into."

The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to a group of believers that had been scattered throughout Asia Minor, and he wrote to encourage them because they were suffering and grieved by extremely challenging trials. Because of their faith in Jesus Christ, some of the believers had lost their jobs. Due to the persecution, many had been forced to leave their homes, and for some, their families had completely disinherited them because they chose to follow Jesus.

Under those kinds of circumstances, it would be very easy to lose one's perspective or even lose heart and give up. Therefore, Peter wrote his epistle reminding the believers of the things that had been given to them by God that could never be taken away. He reminded them first of all that they had a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He also reminded them that they had an inheritance that was incorruptible, undefiled, reserved for them in heaven.

He also reminded them that they had a salvation that was secure because it was kept by the power of God. Even though they were being grieved by various trials, as their faith was being tested, they could rest in the fact that they knew their salvation was secure and one day they would see Jesus face to face and it would be completely worth it. What does the Bible mean when it refers to salvation? Perhaps you've been asked the question: are you saved? Have you been born again? What does salvation mean?

Salvation is God's gracious solution to man's problem of sin. The term "salvation" encompasses the total work of God by which he seeks to rescue man from ruin, from destruction, from the power of sin, and in turn bestows upon him the wealth of his grace that provides abundant life now and eternal life in heaven. The word salvation is the Greek word *soteria*, where we get the study of salvation, soteriology.

When you begin to study the doctrine of salvation, you make many fascinating discoveries. First of all, you discover that man has a need for a savior. The reason is that there is a barrier between man and God because of sin. In one of the oldest books of the Bible, the book of Job, Job saw this barrier between he and God, and he said that he wished that there was a mediator, somehow that could put his hand on Job and then also put his hand on the Lord and somehow bring them together. He was longing for a mediator because he saw that there was a barrier.

In the book of Ephesians in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul informs us that before a person is saved, before they enter into a personal relationship with God, that there is a barrier between God and man. Paul referred to it figuratively as the middle wall of separation. Historically speaking, there was a dividing wall in Jerusalem. This wall separated the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple. It excluded Gentiles from the inner sanctuary and from the holy places.

Paul used this middle wall of separation as a picture of a spiritual barrier that stands between man and God, and that barrier is because of our sin. God is holy, and we are not. Because of our sin, we are alienated from the life of God. The Bible teaches that man has inherited a sin nature. God warned Adam in the day that he ate of the fruit of the garden that he would experience death, and that death was passed to all men. That is the sin nature that we've all inherited.

Not only do we have inherited sin, but also individual sin. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned. That means everybody, and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. There's not one person in here who has never sinned. Because of our sin, we are under the penalty that sin demands. Because God is holy and man is sinful, God's perfect justice must act against man, to charge him as guilty under the penalty of sin with a debt to pay and a sentence to serve.

Thus, the law, the Old Testament, functions as a bill of indictment. I look at the law of God and it shows me I'm guilty. I have violated and broken God's law. I realize in my condition, first of all, I need a savior. But I also come to realize that there is a penalty for my sin. Because I am guilty under the penalty of sin, my sin has to be atoned for. The price has to be paid. If the penalty of our sin is not paid for, then the result is spiritual death and eternal separation from God in a real place the Bible refers to as hell.

Thankfully, there is a solution for our sin. Because of God's love for us, he sent his son to come and pay the penalty for our sin that we deserve to pay and could never pay. Jesus came to this earth to reconcile man back to God by perfectly fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law, living a perfect sinless life. Then Jesus went to the cross and died upon it for the sins of humanity. Through his death, he redeemed man from sin and its penalty by his judicial substitutionary death.

He paid the debt he did not owe. He took our place, and as our substitute, Jesus bore our penalty. The wrath of God was poured out upon him, which means Jesus satisfied the requirements of God's justice. First John says it this way in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2: John said he himself, that is Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. In the New Testament, this act of propitiation always refers to the work of God and not the sacrifices or gifts or offerings made by man.

The reason is that man is totally incapable of satisfying God's justice. There's no service, no sacrifice, no gift that we could offer to atone for our sin. The only satisfaction, the only propitiation that is acceptable to God and that could reconcile man to God had to be made by God. God himself provided the only means through which his wrath can be appeased and sinful man can be reconciled to him.

Now, because of that, God is free to bestow his love and his grace on the unworthy sinner and still act in harmony with his holiness because Jesus Christ satisfied the demands that were against us. As the Bible says, he has taken the handwriting of requirements and he has nailed them to the cross. As we believe and accept by faith the work that Jesus did on our behalf, the Bible says we are saved and we are justified. Just as if we never sinned. Mercy has triumphed over judgment at the cross.

Folks, when you consider our great salvation, think of it first of all in the past tense. Our salvation was secured when Jesus went to the cross, died, and rose again the third day. Think of our salvation in the present. It provides deliverance over the reigning power of sin or our carnal nature, and through the indwelling of God's Spirit, we have victory over these things that are against us. But also think of our salvation in the future tense, as it refers to the future deliverance of believers in Christ that we will experience in a glorified resurrected body there in glory with our King.

When you think about salvation in a spiritual sense, as the Bible describes it, what does it mean to be saved? Here is how the Bible describes it. First of all, it says we are crucified with Christ spiritually speaking. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20: Paul writes, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Spiritually, my sin was placed upon Christ at the cross.

Therefore, Paul would say, "I have been crucified with Christ." I recognize, I believe that he died for my sin. I've been crucified with him. But not just crucified with Christ, the Bible also tells us that we have been raised with Christ. Romans chapter 6, verse 4 says it: "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death," that is our old person buried with Christ, "in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

We were crucified with him, buried with him, raised with him in the newness of life. This now allows us to be, first of all, children of God. For the Bible tells us in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." When you accept Christ, you're a child of God. You are part of his family.

Not only are you a child of God, but the Bible says also concerning your salvation that you become a new creation in Christ. I love this. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." If that weren't enough, we've been made the righteousness of God in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, it says, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

I'm a child of God, I'm a new creation, made the righteousness of God in Christ. Oh wait, hold on, there's more. The Bible tells us in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 10 that we are complete in him. "And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." The Bible also tells us in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

Folks, listen, this is what you have access to. Let me just ask you a question this morning: if you're not saved, why? Why are you not saved? Why do you not humble yourself and commit your life to Christ? Look at all that is available to you. Look at everything that is accessible to you this morning. There is only one sin today that can keep a person separated from God and lost for all of eternity, and that is the sin of the rejection of Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's the one sin.

Friend, listen, if you repent of sin, you can have this hope that is provided for you, this great salvation. This salvation is what Peter wanted the suffering saints to focus on. Again, they're going through all kinds of hard times and Peter says, hey, listen, remember you're saved. Remember your salvation. Remember what you have in Christ. Why is that so important? This salvation that Peter is proclaiming, it wasn't some new idea. It wasn't some novelty. It was actually something that was prophesied and proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets.

The Bible tells us when the Old Testament prophets were writing scripture—obviously you have the New Testament and the Old Testament. When the Old Testament was being written by major and minor prophets, as they are referred to, how were they writing? In 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 20, it tells us how they were writing. It says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

The Bible is the revealed word of God. This morning we do not believe that it only contains the word of God, but that it is the word of God, that it is inerrant, that it is inspired, it is literally God-breathed. The Bible is a harmonious and continuous message from beginning to end, a self-consistent whole whose main theme is the person and work of Christ. In the volume of the book, it's written concerning him.

When you read through the Bible, you're going to discover that there is a diversity of authors. More than 40 authors who contributed to the Bible, including a king, a shepherd, a fisherman, a tax collector, and more. They cover a range from the educated to the uneducated, from rich to poor. The Bible was written in three languages on three different continents over a 1,500 to estimated 1,800 year period of time.

One of the most astounding things about the living, active word of God is that it contains prophecy. 27% of the Bible is prophetic in nature, one out of every four verses. No other book in the world contains the kind of specific prophecies found throughout the Bible. Other so-called prophecies are so vague and so cryptic that they could be fulfilled in a number of ways. But the prophecies of the Old Testament, the prophecies in scripture, are often so detailed that their fulfillments were obvious and so clear.

In fact, many critics of the Bible have attempted to assign later dates to some of the prophecies because they say there's no way that they could have prophesied. Somebody had to come later and write that in. Well, not if you're God and you know the beginning of the end and you're breathing life into these men to write these things.

The Old Testament prophets gave both short and long-term prophecies, so that the undisputed fulfillment of the short-term predictions would authenticate the validity of the long-term predictions, which could not be verified often for many years. So God designed fulfilled prophecy to be an open demonstration of the divine origin of scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul said it this way: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

The Holy Spirit moved on men like Daniel and Isaiah and Ezekiel and Joel and Hosea and the rest of them to write these things. But they did not always understand exactly what they were writing or the timing of what they were writing, because some of the things that were written were for the future and not for the present. Many times what they were writing, it was a mystery to them.

What Peter wanted these believers to know is that the Old Testament prophets, they were searching diligently about this great salvation and didn't fully understand it. Look again at verse 10: "Of this salvation" that we're talking about, "the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what manner and what time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow."

What the prophets were particularly interested in was the timing. What's the timing of these events that we're writing about? When would this salvation occur? What was the time frame? What day? Was it in their day, or was it some other day? They couldn't figure it out, when the Messiah would ultimately arrive. Let me give you some examples of this. One example would be that of Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15, when Moses said to the nation of Israel, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear."

Following that prophetic word of Moses, people were always looking for whoever it was he was talking about. That is why when Jesus came and he started providing bread there on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, they said, "Oh, this looks a lot like the one Moses told us about because look at all the bread, and Moses had manna, and this guy's providing bread. Is this the one?" Well, he was.

Think about Isaiah's prophecy, several examples in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 7, when it talks about "of the increase of his government and peace there's going to be no end, and upon the throne of David over his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forevermore." Well, when's that going to happen? They wondered.

Think about Isaiah chapter 53, probably the most explicit and powerful of all the Messianic prophecies is Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53:12, written seven centuries before Christ arrived. "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Who is that? Who's that talking about? When is that going to happen?

The prophets didn't fully understand. Some prophecies of the suffering Messiah were right next to prophecies of a coming glorious kingdom of Messiah, and oftentimes they would be blended in the same verse and they couldn't understand it. Isaiah is writing about a kingdom at one point and then about a suffering servant the next point. Daniel, he got to the place where he said, "I need to know what this means." So he asked, "When is this?" And the Lord responded to Daniel and said, "Seal it up, for it's for a time appointed in the future." The Old Testament prophets couldn't understand. But when you come to the New Testament, you know what you find? A similar misunderstanding even when Jesus arrived.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor John Randall on a Daily Walk. His message today was based in 1 Peter and goes by the title of "So Great a Salvation." You could listen to our recent programs on our website at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer an app, too. To download our app, do a search for Calvary South OC, and check out a Daily Walk devotional video there at our website as well for daily encouragement from Pastor John. That's adailywalk.org.

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Well, that will do it for this edition of a Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall. May God richly bless you and strengthen you in your daily walk. Join us next time as we continue our journey through the Bible.

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