Sermon
What Salvation is All About
September 11, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

Last Lord's day we took a few moments to get acquainted with Peter. We went through the Gospels and we read of the various opportunities and the events that came to him in his ministry, and so we got acquainted with Peter. I did that because in knowing him better I think we'll have an open heart to what he has to say. There are a couple of items that I would like to comment on before we begin our exposition.

Number one, the conditions, the situation, in which the letters were written. We find that most agree that probably the date of writing was somewhere near 67 A.D. From the years of 30 A.D. to 60 A.D. Christianity did not have much to defend in the sense that they weren't being persecuted nor were they being threatened, and the reason for it was this, the Roman empire had set out a decree and had given the Jewish people almost religious freedom entirely across their empire, and thus Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism and thus came under the protection of Judaism, and thus during those 30 years little persecution took place.

But then came July 19th A.D. 64. Nero became the Emperor of the Roman Empire. And Nero loved to build; he was known as a builder, but he had to have some space to build, and so what he did is he lit the city of Rome a fire, and for three days and three nights that city burned. And people would try to put it out but Nero's men would light fires in other places and thus fires continued on for days.

Well the reaction of the populace at Rome was bitter. They knew that Nero had brought this situation about, and in order to find a scapegoat, Nero blamed the Christians for starting the fire, and thus broke out years of persecution and Christians were being chased, threaten, and killed for their faith. And the reason why Peter writes this letter, for many it's known as the letter of encouragement or the letter of hope, because he wants to give encouragement and he wants to give courage and strength to those who are either being threatened or who are going through persecution.

Now there's another item that I would like to just reference here for a moment, of course our Bible has its critics and some of the higher critics say Peter could never have written this letter. He was an ignorant, an unlearned fishermen; that's what he was known as. And how could a man, a fisherman, an ignorant man, write such a letter, because if we could read it in the Greek, and although I can't, but I read the writers who do, they say that the Greek in 1 and 2 Peter is beautiful. The man who wrote it understood the language. He had a great vocabulary. He understood the dynamics of rhetoric, and thus in the letter itself it is a beautiful example of wonderful Greek writing.

Well who then did write it if Peter didn't? Well Peter gives us the answer. Look in your Bible and go to 1 Peter chapter 5 and you'll notice right at the end of the first book he lets us in on the secret. He says, "By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly..." He lets us in on this secret; Silvanus was by his side. Silvanus was the same man who was known as Silas who went with Paul on his missionary journeys, and he was a man, a learned man. And so as Peter would dictate his letter, Silvanus or Silas would write it and edit it.

Now I've got to pause right here. I have preached so many years from Paul's writings I may insert Paul's name when I should be saying Peter, so you just cross it off in your mind and say, pastor is not confused, he's just preached a lot of sermons, because much of our New Testament was written by Paul and so I have a natural tendency to reference Paul. So I'm getting used to referencing Peter.

In Peter's situation he has Silas by his side, and Silas is editing and making his work beautiful. I thank God for good editors. I write things up in my office and I bring them down to the front office and here's Kiké and she goes through it and Yvonne, and all the rest of the gals, and when they finish editing my writings they look good to you, but you should see them when they come down to the office; you'd say pastor Sheley, he doesn't write like that, so they make me look good. Now Silas made Peter look good as a writer, and thus we have this beautiful piece of work in beautiful Greek writing, and it's the heart of Peter as he has spoken to his friend Silas.

Now let's start with our letter, shall we? And he opens his letter; remember he's writing to encourage and to give hope to those in persecution. He says, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ..." Now Peter remembers back that day, and we read about it last week, in Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus selects His apostles. And interesting enough, when you go through the four Gospels you'll find that Peter's name is usually at the top of the list when the disciples are named. And if we had time and went through all the four Gospels you would find that Peter's name is referenced more times than all the other 11 apostles put together.

He was a natural leader. He sometimes made his mistakes. He sometimes stepped on his words, but he was recognized by Christ as a tremendous leader, and that's why when Peter made the confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I give unto you the keys of the kingdom.

Christ recognized Peter's leadership and so as an apostle he says, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia..." Now one of the interesting things about Peter's writings, he was well versed in the Old Testament and he'll go back and pick up a picture word and he'll use it, and he'll bring it into the New Testament setting for the church, and he does that here. He picks up the word pilgrim and it's a word that was used in the Old Testament to describe the children of Israel as they journeyed from the land of bondage to their promised land. They were pilgrims. They were headed for a promised land.

And what Peter does here in a very beautiful way, he is saying, I know you've been under persecution and I know you are scattered, but never forget you are just a pilgrim, you're not home yet. And he turned the attention of those being persecuted heavenward.

You know it's true we are only pilgrims here, ladies and gentlemen, and our days are number and really our home is heaven. And we too quickly get caught up and entangled with the mesh and the mud of the world in which we live in, and we sometimes lose the focus. Peter didn't want those people to lose their focus; they were just pilgrims, soon their journey would lead them heavenward.

You know, I think it's so important to keep heaven in focus. If you came to my office any time during the day, many times when people say, Pastor, how are you doing? I say I'm doing fine. I'm two days closer to heaven than I was two days ago. Now I said that to Ting the other day and he greeted me graciously and said, Pastor, how are you doing today? I said I'm two days closer to heaven than I was two days ago. He said that's the first time I heard that. And I said, I want you to know too, I've got it in overdrive. He kind of shook his head and walked away, wondering where the pastor was coming from. But I was saying in my way, I don't want to get caught up too much with the things of time - it'll confuse you, it'll frustrate you - keep your focus heavenward because one of these days I'll close my eyes and I'll be in God's presence, and as a pilgrims the journey will be over.

Peter saying, listen, keep heaven in focus because you're just a pilgrim. Now he goes on and he plunges deep into the reservoir of great doctrine, "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:" There is an awful lot of theology in that one verse. He uses the word elect. We read it oft times in the Scripture - election - and it's one of those great mysteries of our Christian faith.

So I went to the writings of J. I. Packer in this little book called 'Concise Theology' for a definition, and this is what J. I. Packer says: "The biblical doctrine of election is that before the Creation God selected out of the human race, foreseen as fallen, those whom he would redeem, bring to faith, justify and glorify in and through Jesus Christ." Well that's one definition. I thought I'd go to the Scriptures for another.

Join with me in Ephesians. Paul deals with this very deep subject of election. Somebody said to me some time ago, Pastor, do you believe in divine election? And I said yes I do. Well would you explain it to me? I can't. I can just take it as far as what the Scripture says, but it's one of those great mysteries of our Christian faith.

Here's what Paul says, verse 3 of Ephesians 1, "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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him."

Paul says, before the foundations of the world God chose us to be a part of His eternal plan. So Peter is saying, in those dark nights of persecution just remember you are only pilgrims, but your salvation was planned in eternity past and secured in the divine purpose and plan of God. You are elect.

Back to the passage: and as elect he says it was according to the foreknowledge of God. God knows everything from beginning to end. In God's knowledge, in His purpose, in His plan; you were chosen; I was chosen to be a part of His eternal family.

He goes on: In the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience. Now he has brought in, in this concept of salvation, God's part. God did the choosing before the foundation of the world, and now he says the Holy Spirit has been sent. Sanctification is the setting apart for a very special purpose, for a sacred purpose, and so when he speaks of the work of sanctification by the Spirit, it is His work to set us aside from a world of sin and a life of debauchery, to make us a child of God and to live a holy life. And he said it's through the work of the Holy Spirit.

It's the Holy Spirit, folks, that from the very moment when we become conscious of the things of God, it's the Holy Spirit that begins to convict and convince us, and it's the Holy Spirit that begins to open up our minds and our hearts so that we can understand divine truth. It's the Holy Spirit that draws us to Christ, and it's the Holy Spirit that draws us when we walk in waywardness. It's His convicting and His convincing work that takes place within our hearts throughout the journey.

And Paul writes, in Ephesians chapter 4, to grieve not the Spirit of God, and one of the translations says He's the one who marks you present on that eternal day. Now when I read that translation - I think of when I was a little boy and went to school the teacher would stand before the class just at the opening and she would get out her roll book and she would say, Jamie? Here. Mary? Here. Don? Here. She marked me present in my class, and Paul gives this idea the work of the Holy Spirit commenced that journey with us, brought us to Christ, revealed divine truth to us, and it's the Holy Spirit who will take us into His eternal presence and it will be His final work to mark us present on that eternal day.

So now the Father is involved. The Father has chosen, the Father has sent His Spirit to draw us, and now the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ. And Paul adds the third person of the Trinity in this theology of salvation, he says, through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

We sing the great hymn, What can wash away my sins? nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? nothing but the blood of Christ. And Sunday after Sunday we drink from the cup. Jesus said this is the covenant in My blood. It's hard for us to plunge the depths of the meaning of the blood, but we go back into the Old Testament and God laid down the law that without the shedding of blood and there would be no remission of sin. You have all of those sacrifices in the Old Testament.

We come to the New Testament, and Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that in the fullness of time God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem us. It was Jesus Christ who went to that cross and shed His precious blood that provides cleansing for all of our sin. Those great hymns on the blood of Jesus, There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

I feel sorry, I feel sorry, for churches who have torn out the hymns on the blood of Jesus Christ. Without His precious blood there is no cleansing, and there is no salvation. So watch Peter's thought - remember we're just pilgrims; our salvation is secured in eternity's past because God chose us. He sent His Spirit to draw us and He provided His Son in love to die for us so we would have cleansing for all of our sins, sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. Let's go on.

He writes: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope..." So now he brings in that glorious truth that God takes the initiative, we are born again, we are born into God's family, and we are born with a living hope. Paul often describes the ancient world, and when you read the writings of the philosophers of the ancient world, it's a world filled with despair. When death came it was just despair.

And then comes along Christianity and Christ conquers death and comes out of that tomb! And now death has a totally new dimension. It's a passing from one life to another for a Christian, and what Peter is saying here: When we came to Christ the despair and the lack of hope disappeared because we placed our trust in a Christ who conquered death and today reigns as our mediator in heaven. Our hope is anchored in a Christ who has conquered that feared thing of death, and he says now we have that living hope, that knowledge that because He lives we are going to live also.

So he says we have been granted this glorious new birth that has placed within us this hope that's living; it's anchored at the very throne room of heaven. Then he goes on, "...to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away..." Again, he dips back into old Jewish thought that Canaan, the land of Canaan, was the inheritance that God had given to the children of Israel. They still live with that promise. They still believe today with all of their heart that Palestine is their homeland; it's their inheritance. It's been given to them by God.

When you understand the situation of the nation of Israel, you have the Mediterranean Sea (to the west) and up here (to the west northwest) you have Spain and you have Italy and you have Greece, and then (to the north) you have Turkey, and over here (to the north) you have Beirut and Lebanon and now you've got Palestine, and down here (to the south) you have Egypt and you have Africa. In the ancient past if armies wanted to travel from Europe into Africa, always Palestine was the land bridge because just east of Palestine were those massive deserts that nobody wanted to go to. And so if they came down from Europe you'd come through Palestine and take your troops on into Africa, or if you came from the east you'd come up out of Iraq and down through Lebanon and down through Palestine, and as a result, when you read Jewish history, very few years of their history were they not controlled or ruled by a foreign nation.

And here's what's in Peter's mind, I think. He said, we've lived in an inheritance that is frequently corrupted, defiled by foreigners and by false gods, but you and I as Christians have an inheritance that's secure in heaven. There are no invading armies. It's going to be undefiled and it will never fade away - never fade away. And then notice what he says, "...you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation..." Remember, he's talking to people who are going through difficult times and he said when life gets its darkest and the trials seem to be most intense, realize that underneath are the undergirding arms of a glorious God. We are kept by the power of God.

Then he gives us an insight as to how we are to view life's trials. Look at what he says, verse 6, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls."

He said I want you to see life's difficulties from God's perspective. We often see all of our problems because we view them and we become deeply concerned. We see them from the human side and we ask, God, get me out of this mess. Please answer my prayer. I don't want to continue on in this particular trial. What Peter is saying is God has a different perspective. God allows these things to take place in life so that He can mature our faith and grow our faith in Him. It has a divine purpose, and we would be wiser when going through life's difficulties just to lift our head and say, God, I want You to show me Your divine purpose and Your plan in this difficult time in my life. I can complain, I can ask You to remove it, but God really what I would like for You to do is to teach me what You want to teach me. Peter says it proves the genuineness of our faith.

The next three verses to me are fascinating verses. Look at verse 10. He's talked about a salvation realizing we are just pilgrims, chosen by God, drawn by His Holy Spirit, washed by His precious blood, begotten again to a living hope with an inheritance that's incorruptible that will never fade away reserved for us in heaven. Look at what he says, "Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven."

Here's what Peter is saying: In ancient past the old prophets moved by the Holy Spirit sat down and began to write. They didn't know what they were writing, but they knew one thing, that whatever it was it was part of God's divine plan. Can you imagine old Isaiah 700 years before Christ moved by the Holy Spirit pulls out his inkwell and his quill and he begins to write, and he writes, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Peter is saying those ancient prophets as they sat and penned those words they knew it wasn't for them, but for those in the future that would make up God's eternal plan. And he said what our salvation is, is the fulfillment of what those old prophets wrote about. They wrote about it. We experience it. And then he added a line that has always fascinated me. Look at the line there at the end of verse 12: "even angels long to look into these things."

He's talked about the wonder of our salvation, and he is saying the prophets who wrote about it really didn't understand it all, but you and I now share the joy of knowing a Christ who died for us, forgave us of our sin, placed a hope deep within us, and one day will welcome us into His eternal home. That's what the prophets talked about, and he said, even the angels make observation and look into it. There are various translations, but it's something that excites the angels. That's interesting.

Years ago as a little boy I went to church one Sunday and the pastor got involved speaking about angels and I remember a lady got up and sang, and I never have forgotten the words of the hymn. Here's what she said: Holy, holy, is what the angels sing, And I intend to help them make the courts of heaven ring; But when I sing redemption's story, they will fold their wings, for angels never felt the joy that our salvation brings.

Peter said, look at, we've been chosen just to be pilgrims, called, cleansed, washed, filled with a living hope, enjoying the fulfillment of the prophets, and having an experience that the angels never had. That's our salvation. May God help us never to take our salvation for granted. May the wonder and may the glory and may the joy always flood and fill our hearts knowing that He loved us when we were so unlovable, and He reached out by His Holy Spirit and drew us, and now we are pilgrims headed for heaven with an inheritance that will never fade away. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we sometimes let the familiar become mundane. We sometimes forget the wonder and the blessedness of our salvation. May that never happen to us, but may we find in life's journey that in the knowledge of our relationship with You, Lord Jesus, we'll find courage, strength and encouragement, and we can learn truly that our faith really is the victory. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving us. Thank you for being our wonderful Savior. It's in Your name we pray, and everybody said, amen. God bless you.