If You Could See the End

1 Peter 1:10-12 | December 29, 2024

10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries…12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look.

INTRO AND PRAYER

Have you ever known a fun secret?

Kind of like when you give a Secret Santa gift.

That’s where you give a Christmas present to someone, but they don’t know who it came from.

I saw a t-shirt that said, “You know I’m your Secret Santa if you don’t get anything.”

For some people a Secret Santa gift is the only secret they keep all year long.

A secret gift doesn’t always have to be a Secret Santa gift, though.

Imagine it’s Christmas morning and someone is unwrapping a present and there’s that one person that’s kind of like Egg Stork of Stork and Sons because they have an annoying crazed grinning look on their face and they keep whispering over and over and over again in a loud voice, “I know what it is! I know what it is! I know what it is!”

Do you have a person like that in your family – can you see their face right now?

Are they really trying to be annoying?

No – they are probably just excited about having the secret knowledge that someone is about to open a gift that is going to bring them happiness. 

About 30 years after the very first Christmas Simon Peter was writing to some people who were enduring a great deal of discouragement and grief and suffering – have you ever experienced any discouragement or grief or suffering?

What Peter wanted to do was try to help those folks see that there is one ultimate gift that brings the deepest happiness a person’s soul can ever know – and in a sense that gift is a secret gift – but it is not a secret to us.

What does that mean?

Let’s find out.

Today’s message is “If You Could See the End” – and we will be looking in the Bible at 1 Peter 1.

Listen beginning in verse 10 – Peter writes…

10 As to this salvation,

As to what salvation?

Salvation in Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.

Peter just finished describing this salvation…

1 Peter 1:8

and though you have not seen Him, you love Him,

 

1 Peter 1:8

and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him,

 

1 Peter 1:8

you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

 

1 Peter 1:9

obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter just told them, “Even though you can’t physically see Jesus Christ, you love him, and you trust him and you have great joy in him.”

Does that describe your engagement with Jesus? 

The clearest and most basic understanding of what it means to truly be a Christian is…

• Loving Christ.
• Believing in Christ.
• Having great joy in Christ.

None of us are perfect, but if you profess to be a Christian are those things seen in your life?

If so, Peter has good news for you – he says that someone who spends their life loving and believing in and enjoying Christ will find one thing today and one thing especially after they breathe their last breath – the salvation of their souls.  

Real, true, lasting salvation – not just the Christmas spirit or a super religious experience but a very real and lasting escape from the penalty of sin and a very real and lasting escape from everlasting death and hell – and in turn a very real and lasting existence of satisfaction – life forever.

How is Peter helping them with discouragement?

He is bringing attention to their salvation – to the deep, rich, mesmerizing, satisfying reality of what it means to be right with God in and through Jesus Christ.

Why is he doing that?

Listen to what he says next…

10 the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,

The prophets of the Old Testament wrote and preached and declared that God’s amazing and astounding grace was coming.  

They had some details, but they did not know the exact who, when, what and how of that stunning and amazing grace, so, they diligently and carefully searched – they searched the sacred Scriptures – they searched their own prophecies and writings – they were diligently seeking and searching and longing for the grace of God.

Is that how we would define modern Christianity?

Are most professing Christians diligently seeking and searching and longing for the grace of God – or are they longing more for something else?

• Longing for a better government.
• Longing for a better economy.
• Longing for a better win for their sports team.
• Longing for a better slice of thick-cut bacon.
• Longing for a better house.
• Longing for a better car.
• Longing for a better job.
• Longing for a better health report.
• Longing for a better tomorrow for their families.

There’s nothing wrong with longing for those things – but has Christian culture – not the culture of the world but the culture of the church and the culture of professing Christians – become so casual toward seeking God that very few people who go to church on Sundays know the true character of God and the true character of his grace?

I came across a helpful way of thinking about this…

Imagine we run into each other at Mel’s Diner, and you tell me that you met my youngest son, Holden, and you start telling me how much you’ve enjoyed getting to know him – and you go on to describe him as a chubby 5-foot-5-tall diplomatic envoy to the country of Genovia and you’ve been so impressed with all of his appearances on C-SPAN and guest hosting Iron Chef Asia Minor and how he looks a little like Winston Churchill always sharply dressed in a 3-piece suit and tie and pocket watch.

And I give you a funny look and nicely say, “You must be thinking of someone else because Holden is a 6-foot-tall inventory manager who occasionally appears on Whatnot and guest hosts Five Points Website Steals on Instagram and looks a little like Benson Boone or Forrest Frank always wearing an extremely baggy 2-piece black ensemble from YoungLA.”

But you don’t listen and just keep telling me how my petite son is a great foreign ambassador and political pundit and a super natty dresser.

Although kind and gracious, your compliments about my son would be meaningless because they were based on wrong information – and no matter how strong your appreciation of him might be, I keep thinking you would like him a whole lot more if you discovered what he is really like.   

Worship leader Bob Kauflin said this…

Bob Kauflin

It’s like that with us and God. He calls us not only to love him but to “love the truth” about him…

Bob Kauflin

The better and more accurately we know God through his Word, the more genuine our worship will be…

Bob Kauflin

Regardless of what we think or feel, there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God.

The prophets of the Old Testament were true worshippers of God because they were diligent seekers of God.  

Psalm 119:2

Blessed are those who comply with His testimonies, And seek Him with all their heart.

The prophets were diligently seeking after the truths of God’s Word with all of their hearts.

And what were they so diligently seeking?

Listen to verse 11…

11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating

 

The “Spirit of Christ” here is basically Old Testament language for the Holy Spirit.  

The role of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was to focus on the coming Messiah – to press upon the hearts and minds of God’s people one reality – “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

The prophets were carefully and diligently seeking when all of the prophecies were going to happen.  

Remember what Peter just finished writing…

1 Peter 1:8

and though you have not seen Him, you love Him,

and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him,

The prophets really lived that out – they couldn’t see anything – they didn’t know person, place or time – but their hearts were stirred by the Holy Spirit to know that there was a person and there would be a place and there would be a time.

As Mark Dever has noted the message of the Old Testament is “Promises Made” and the message of the New Testament is “Promises Kept”.   

The prophets were stirred deep within their hearts and minds that God had made a promise of good news of great joy and that he would keep his promise of good news of great joy.     

But the prophets wondered when the promise would be kept – would it happen in their lifetimes, or would it take place in some future generation?

Listen to how Peter describes the promise…

11 as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

The promise the Spirit gave the prophets was no different than what Jesus said himself…

Luke 9:22

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,

 

Luke 9:22

and be killed and be raised on the third day.

The cross was not an accident or a disappointing footnote in the life of Christ – the cross was the purpose – the cross was the destination – the suffering and pain and torture and crucifixion of the cross for the penalty of my sin and your sin was always the plan.

The prophet Isaiah knew that and 700 years before Jesus was born wrote about it…

Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings;

 

Isaiah 53:5

The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.

The sufferings of Christ were always part of the deal – and the prophets of old were diligently seeking to know when and through whom these promised things of God would take place.  

They were diligently seeking for Christ.  

Did they find out?

Did the prophets of old get an answer to their questions?

Listen to verse 12…

12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you,

 

12 in these things which now have been announced to you

 

12 through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven –

Remember, Peter is writing to people who were dealing with all kinds of discouragement and grief and suffering.

And what does he say to encourage them?

He tells them this…

All of the work of the prophets – all of their labor – all of their studying – all of their searching – all of their preaching – was for you!

All of their grief and all of their trials and all of their suffering was for you!

The prophets were joyfully consumed with listening to God and preaching and writing and seeking and proclaiming so that one day we would be looking for the greatest gift of all – the gift that brings the deepest happiness and the deepest satisfaction a heart could ever know – and that gift was and is Jesus Christ.

The prophets were joyfully consumed with listening to God and preaching and writing and seeking and proclaiming so that one day people just like me and just like you could discover the everlasting gift that comes with this guarantee…

Romans 8:1

Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.

No matter how much your spouse berates you or ignores you – no matter how much your kids or your parents demand of you – no matter how much your boss burdens you – if you are in Christ right now and forever you are not condemned – at all!

The prophets were seeking and savoring what they could not see so that we might be able to seek and savor Christ Jesus.

They were seeking so that we could have joy!

Peter is telling discouraged Christians, “Look at what you have – you have what they were seeking for – you have the grand and glorious gospel!”

• All of the prophecies!
• All of the revelations!
• All of the promises!

They are all found in Christ!

The gospel is no secret to us.
 

Peter presses that point even deeper…

12 things into which angels long to look.

In God’s providential plans, there are things that you and I can read in the Bible and sing in a Christmas carol and pray about at our kitchen tables that angels cannot see. 

I don’t understand the theological quantum physics of God’s math but what we can see is some kind of glorious secret the angels can’t see like we see.

That night in the fields outside of Bethlehem the angel gave a message that angels can’t see.

The good news of great joy is just that for them – news – but for those who believe in and trust in and rely on and cling to Jesus it is the salvation of their souls!

Do you have that salvation?

Do you feel that salvation?

J.R.R. Tolkien was the author of the famed literary works of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

His son Christopher was serving in the Air Force in World War 2 and Tolkien sent him a letter and wrote the following line to encourage his son…

J.R.R. Tolkien

Well, there you are: a hobbit amongst the Urukhai (ooh-rue-kai) [a deadly enemy]. Keep your hobbitry in heart, and think that all stories feel like that when you are in them.

J.R.R. Tolkien

You are inside a very great story!

Dear Christian, you are inside a very great story – a story that angels long to look.

Greg Morse describes the story like this…

Greg Morse

Our hearts grow accustomed to the extraordinary as it becomes familiar. We lose a sense of where we live when we can drive home without a map. Life no longer invigorates.

Greg Morse

God’s epic plays out all around us, and he draws us in to play our part, and yet we halfheartedly read our lines or escape into other people’s lives. We are bored.

Greg Morse

But awake, we live in a great Story. Wild and throbbing with adventure, trying and terrible at parts. Eternity hanging in the balance. A fierce Dragon threatens. Demons surround. Hell gapes.

Greg Morse

The Light still shines in the darkness.

Greg Morse

Angels assemble. The Spirit animates. Christians stand clad in armor. The church marches on hades. Judgment hastens. Salvation is ready to be revealed. The True King – whose sandals no other character is worthy to unlatch – has died for sinners and lives forevermore.

Greg Morse

He is coming.

Greg Morse

This tale plays out on earth in what we blaspheme and call “ordinary.” With all its details and drudgery, its paying bills and crying babies, its baseball games and rush-hour traffic, an eternal drama plays. One that draws heaven’s attention. Angels ache to leave the theater.

Greg Morse

You are on the inside of a very great Story – a story to be remembered, cherished, and clung to during the most difficult scenes.

Greg Morse

Is there any other tale you would rather find was true?

The good news of great joy about Jesus Christ that will be for all the people is true – we can see the end – and the end in all of it glorious perfection is Jesus.